Genres

Audiobook Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

March 5, 2018 Leave a Comment

8 hours 39 minutes| Hachette Audio | Fantasy | 1/02/18

Jude and her twin sister Taryn were taken from the mortal world as children by their mother’s vindictive ex-husband and raised within the gentry of the Faerie world, where they have always been seen as outsiders especially by Cardan–youngest prince of Faerie–who delights in torturing them. Jude has had enough of being a victim and is ready to show she deserves a place in the Faerie courts. Her ambition gets her mixed up in a world of espionage, power plays, violence and oh so many plot twists.

I just ate this story up, which is saying something because I am def not the ideal reader for a book like this. I have always struggled with fantasy and have no base for Faerie mythology, but Holly Black draws the world so vividly I was able to put most of it together and quickly learn the rules of Faerie, If you like lush descriptions of fantastical beasts, clothes and greenery this is your book.

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Book Review : Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga

February 15, 2018 Leave a Comment

Unrated | 304 pages | Balzer + Bray | Contemporary | 11/07/2017

Here We Are Now is the captivating story of a family being broken apart and brought back together at the same time. At just 304 pages Warga tells this very insular story about family, loss and love. I mean once this story knows where it wants to go it hits all the marks.

Taliah Abbaldat summer afternoon takes a dramatic turn when the father she has never knew, famous rock star Julian Oliver. shows up on her doorstep. Julian is facing the impending loss of the father he had a tumultuous relationship with. Inspired by the impending loss Julian finds himself ready to do right by his own daughter before it is to late. Together Taliah and Julian set off for his small hometown together as they begin to unearth the murky waters of her parent’s relationship. I was very tempted to comp this to a Sara Dessen novel but there is a sense of closeness and focus on character building to this narrative that makes it less so.

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The Sidekicks by Will Kostikas

February 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

This Aussie YA follows three boys at a Sydney private school who have nothing in common except their dead best friend, Issac Roberston.

The boys in this book are labeled as the swimmer, the rebel and the nerd and they each share their unique perspective on the aftermath of Issac’s death. Of the three boys, Harley, the “rebel”, feels partially responsible for the death (and who is just asking to be compared to Holden Caulfield) and Miles, the loner “nerd”, have the most compelling stories because of how Issac’s death changes the way they navigate the world.

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Audiobook Review : Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

January 9, 2018 Leave a Comment

Hachette Audio | Fantasy | 3/28/17

*Trigger Warning : Infanticide, and Sexual Assault

If you read Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bones series and said “I want more GIVE IT TO ME NOW”—well here you go ! In this duology Taylor pits science against imagination and an impossible future against centuries of pain.

Strange The Dreamer is the unusual tale of young librarian Lazlo Strange and how a mysterious city without a name becomes his great adventure. Strange The Dreamer roots itself in many of the same themes from the Smoke and Bone series; there arevividly imagined characters woven out of tragic histories, blinding hope and dreams… .literally on that last one. In a way it’s a love letter to fiction and the power of stories.

Lazlo Strange’s world appears to have a tenuous connection to the world of Smoke and Bone.

Laini Taylor’s imagination is just plain interesting, seriously what goes on in her head? Is it the pink hair? Her brand of YA fantasy is so immersive and her worlds are complicated and beautiful.

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Book Review : The Glass Spare By Lauren DeStefano

December 31, 2017 Leave a Comment

The Glass Spare is a semi-steampunk/ fantasy mash-up that is in many ways a retelling of the King Midas story and in other ways very similar to just about any YA fantasy you might find.

I remember when DeStefano first debuted in 2011, her Chemical Garden series was taboo, dark, creepy and IIRC very popular. DeStefano has been churning out books ever since and I hadn’t really heard much about this one except I know it was featured Owlcrate.

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The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virture by Mackenzi Lee

December 30, 2017 Leave a Comment

10 hours 47 minutes | Harper Audio | Historical/Fantasy | 06/27/2017

In The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virtue an all around scoundrel is about to embark on a dangerous high stakes road trip to self discovery. It’s hard out there for a YA historical to top the YA bestseller list (I mean except for Ruta Sepetys and just reading the synopsis of her books makes me sad) and I think what helps this book stand out is it’s outstanding originality,

The book is primarily told in a semi-anarchistic self deprecating tone that emanates from our narrator, Henry “Monty” Montague. Monty is about to embark on his Grand Tour, where he plans to spend the year drinking and partying, all while trying to keep the fact that he is madly in love with his best friend a secret.

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