A Court of Thorns and Roses

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

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Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Performer: Jennifer Ikeda

Length: 16 hr, 7 min

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2015 by Recorded Books

Format: eAudiobook

Review: For diehard fans of Beauty and the Beast *cough**me**cough cough*, this was a delightfully unique retelling. It had a bit of a slow start, very much unlike her Throne of Glass series, and slowly picked up speed until it reached it’s heart-pounding conclusion. I honestly didn’t think I was going to give it more than 3 stars for the first half of the book, but the last 25% of the book was epic enough to make me reconsider my rating. It’s very easy to see the influence of the Beauty and the Beast tale in this book, however, based on the conclusion, the next book in the series will more than likely be moving in an entirely different direction.

My favorite character by far was Rhysand, and it makes me very excited that he will play a central role in the second book. Maas seems to have a thing for building interesting love triangle-y sort of situations, and it does not seem that this series will be an exception. Rhysand is clearly the polar opposite of golden boy Tamlin, which should make for an interesting rivalry.

Jennifer Ikeda is a great reader and I enjoy her narration. I look forward to listening to the next book!

As a side note, my library categorizes this book as Young Adult Fiction, but I think it is more like New Adult Fiction. It is one of those books that hovers in the gray area and is hard to categorize. The sexual content is pretty graphic, which is not typical for the Young Adult Fiction genre, especially in the realm of Fantasy.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

The Everlasting Rose

June 17, 2019October 17, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

39080472

Title: The Everlasting Rose

Author: Dhonielle Clayton

Performer: Rosie Jones

Length: 10 hr, 19 min, 4 sec

Series: The Belles

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2019 by Blackstone Publishing

Format: eAudiobook

Review: After being completely enthralled by The Belles, I was very excited to check out this audiobook. I eagerly waited weeks for my turn in the holds queue and when I finally got it, well I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t nearly as good as The Belles. I still enjoyed it immensely – the author really has a poetic way with words and I could listen to the reader all day. Rosie Jones could narrate the dictionary and I probably wouldn’t be able to stop gushing about her talent.

Unlike the first book, the plot of this book is incredibly drawn out. The first 80% of the book was essentially just Camille evading capture, and it didn’t get really juicy until the end. Although Sophia is still the villain of this story, she was only present from afar for most of the book. Part of what really made the first book special was her direct role in the plot development.

The conclusion of this book was very satisfying. I was actually a bit surprised when I saw on Goodreads that there is a third book scheduled to be released sometime next year. Perhaps it will focus on another character? It really felt like Camille’s story was wrapped up nicely, and there were not a lot of loose ends, if any, left to be addressed. All I know is that I will definitely be checking it out, because I enjoyed this world well enough to be immersed in it a little longer.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Historical · Romance · Young Adult

Blood and Sand

June 8, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

30975382

Title: Blood and Sand

Author: C.V. Wyk

Performer: Brittany Pressley

Length: 8 hr, 58 min, 58 sec

Series: Blood and Sand, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2018 by MacMillan Young Listeners

Format: eAudiobook

Review: I really enjoyed the first half of this book because I thought the author did a great job introducing the time period, setting, and characters. The second half of the book is where she started to lose me. I would say that this book is more strongly categorized as historical fiction rather than fantasy. I typically enjoy both genres immensely, but I hesitate to even call this fantasy. It’s more like unrealistic historical fiction. The only thing that could qualify this series as fantasy was how preposterous the fight scenes were in the second half of the book. One scene in particular, the most pivotal in terms of driving the direction of the story, was a monumental disappointment because quite frankly it made no sense. The fallout of this particular scene was equally disappointing. A lot gets thrown at you at the end, and the puzzle pieces just fit together too perfectly to be realistic.

All criticisms aside, I think that Wyk is a talented writer and I enjoyed enough things about this book to continue with the series when the next book is published.

Finally, I thought the reader for this eAudiobook had a nice voice, but in my opinion wasn’t well suited for this particular book. I’ve heard her narrate other books and liked those performances far more than I did this one. Perhaps this is because I did not care for the character voices and accents she chose for some of the main characters, particularly Attia.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Romance · Young Adult

Throne of Glass

May 28, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

16034235

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Page Count: 404

Series: Throne of Glass, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: May 7, 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Format: Paperback

Review: Well I finally read it, and it did not disappoint. I don’t know how this book stayed off my radar for so long. It really had all the elements of everything I love in YA fantasy. Admittedly, the storyline was predictable, but for the first book in a series, it had a surprising amount of action and I remained engaged the whole way through. The main character of the story, Celaena, serves as both a heroine and an anti-heroine. She manages to be both a total badass and a relatable young woman. This is a difficult mix to achieve in YA fiction and I have rarely seen it done so well.

As I noted above, this book was relatively predictable, so I knocked a star off of my rating; however, after perusing reviews for the second book in the series, it seems that Maas’ character building and plot development improves dramatically in the next installment. I am really looking forward to continuing with this series!

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

The Belles

April 26, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustme1 Comment

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Title: The Belles

Author: Dhonielle Clayton

Performer: Rosie Jones

Length: 13 hr, 2 min, 45 sec

Series: The Belles, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2018 by Blackstone Audio

Format: eAudiobook

Review: This book knocked my socks off. I have been eyeing it for some time due to the beautiful cover art, but kept passing it over in favor of other fantasy novels. That was my mistake, because this book blew me away with it’s originality and spectacular character development. Camellia is not by any means a perfect heroine, and this makes her all the more relatable. The antagonist of the story made my skin crawl, and was a total psychopath. This made for a very interesting story chock full of political intrigue, manipulation, and mystery.

What I find truly fascinating about this book, and what really sets it apart in my mind, is the author’s commentary on beauty through the story. Beauty standards are fickle and ever changing in today’s world, and it is no different here. All over the world people are obsessed with achieving impossible standards of beauty, and are never satisfied because beauty is perceived differently by everyone. This is reflected in the world Clayton has created, where physical appearance can be changed in a matter of minutes, but at great personal and financial cost. People are constantly changing their appearance to match changing beauty trends and endure a great deal of physical pain to make it happen. The parallels this draws to real life make this a wholly believable story despite its fantastical elements.

I deducted a half star from my rating because there were a couple things that I did not feel were fully explained, but these minor plot hiccups may very well be ironed out in the second book in the series. I have already requested it from the library and look forward to listening to it.

The performer for this story was perfection. She easily ranks as one of my top favorite readers after listening to this performance. I can’t wait to hear her in other works.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Romance · Young Adult

We Set the Dark on Fire

April 13, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

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Title: We Set the Dark on Fire

Author: Tehlor Kay Mejia

Page Count: 384

Series: We Set the Dark on Fire, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: February 26, 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books

Format: Hardcover

Review: I enjoyed this book and I can see a lot of potential in this series. This book was mainly setting the stage and the characters for the overarching storyline, so it doesn’t feel like a lot happens, but it is clear that there is a lot more action yet to come.

This book draws a lot of interesting parallels with current events, and I thought that the mythology aspect was very expertly woven into the threads of the story. The author did an excellent job establishing the conflict, and I am excited to see where the story goes from here. Also worthy of note is that all the characters are Latinx and there is an LGBT romance that is central to the story.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

Sherwood

March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

38734256

Title: Sherwood

Author: Megan Spooner

Page Count: 480

Series: N/A

Publishing Date/Publisher: March 19, 2019 by HarperTeen

Format: eBook

Review: Well I am embarrassed to say that I did not finish this book before my Advanced Reader Copy expired (I should have been paying more attention to the publication date).

That said, I did admittedly drag my feet in finishing this book. I can generally finish a book in under a week, and yet I have been reading this one for over a month. Why? Mostly because I was not a fan of the pacing. I absolutely love the Robin Hood story, and I thought this was a unique premise for an adaptation. Girl power! It was, however, underwhelming. I was expecting far more action than was actually delivered (at least not in the first 70% of the book; that’s about as far as I made it before the title expired). I also found it completely perplexing that it took so long for any other characters to actually catch onto the fact that Marian was masquerading as Robin. The author very clearly tried to make the “villain” of the story multidimensional with backstory, but he still seemed like a complete dope for falling for Marian’s lame excuses and poorly created masquerade.

I really don’t know how the author is going to end the story, but quite frankly I probably won’t be rushing to find out.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

The Darkangel

February 1, 2019February 2, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustmeLeave a comment

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Title: The Darkangel

Author: Meredith Ann Pierce

Page Count: 238

Series: Darkangel Trilogy, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: April 1, 2007 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (originally published in the early 1980s)

Format: Paperback

Review: I checked out this book from the library because it came to me as a patron recommendation. I was helping her find a book for her son, and we began reminiscing about book series we read and loved in our youth. She was very nostalgic about this particular book series, and when I discovered that we had a couple copies left floating around in our system, I decided to read it.

This book is categorized as Young Adult Fiction (I assume because of the dark content), but it read to me more like Juvenile Fiction. There is very little world building, and the Darkangel gets surprisingly little page presence despite the fact he is constantly being mentioned by the other characters. He is more like a periphery character, yet he drives the plot. The heroine of the story, Aerial, reminds me of the character of Belle in Beauty and the Beast. She is selfless and kind, and for whatever reason sees good in the Darkangel. She is the only one who can save his soul from the clutches of his evil witchy “mother.”

This book was highly predictable and sometimes I became frustrated that the characters came upon their revelations so much later than I did as a reader. I didn’t have to be frustrated for long though because I was able to read this book in a matter of a few hours.

This book lacks broad appeal, but I can see how some people might really enjoy it. It’s gothic feel and dark brooding anti-hero would certainly titillate people who fetishize this sort of paranormal subgenre.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

A Blade So Black

January 17, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustme1 Comment

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Title: A Blade So Black

Author: L.L. McKinney

Performer: Jeanette Illidge

Length: 11 hr, 24 min, 1 sec

Series: A Blade So Black, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2018 by MacMillan Audio

Format: eAudiobook

Review: This book wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t really my cup of tea. It was sort of Alice in Wonderland meets The Mortal Instruments meets Social Justice Warrior.

The author was clever in how she wove the aspects of the original tale into her adaptation, which is why I thought it was an OK read. Unfortunately, many of the hot button issues that were addressed in the story such as race relations and violence were not fully fleshed out and I was bothered by the occasionally prejudiced dialogue, the selfish characters, and the anti-law enforcement undertones.

I will, however, note that many of the elements I found to be problematic are mostly in the first half of the book. The second half of the book is, in my opinion, a much more enjoyable read than the first half. I initially thought I would be rating this book with two stars, but it went up to three as I neared the end of the book. I believe this is McKinney’s debut novel, so I imagine her character/plot development and pacing will continue to improve in any subsequent books in this series.

I did listen to this book in audiobook format, and although I thought that the various voices chosen by the performer worked for the characters, I thought that she had some difficulty with transitioning between those voices. At times this was confusing, but overall I liked the cadence of her voice and thought she did a good job.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

The Hazel Wood

January 10, 2019January 10, 2019 youwanttoreadthistrustme2 Comments

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Title: The Hazel Wood

Author: Melissa Albert

Performer: Rebecca Soler

Length: 10 hr, 35 min, 25 sec

Series: The Hazel Wood, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2018 by MacMillan Audio

Format: eAudiobook

Review: This is an example of a fairytale done right. In the same fashion as the Brothers Grimm, Albert weaves together a series of dark and twisted tales with no morals and a whole lot of death. I can honestly say that I never knew what to expect with this story, because it is not an adaptation of anything I am familiar with. It does have echoes of Alice in Wonderland in the sense that a character named Alice portals into a fantasy world; however, that seems to be where the similarities end. I enjoyed the characters, and the dialogue, and the way the author wove together a modern day setting with a more fantastical one. I am also a sucker for stories within a story, and I was very pleased to find out that although this could easily have been a standalone, there will be a continuation of this story in another book. There were a number of story titles mentioned that were not told, and I am hopeful that those stories might be revealed in the next installment. I also hope that there is more to the story of Alice and Finch. Fingers crossed!

As always, Rebecca Soler was a perfect performer in this story. Loved it in audiobook format!

Reader: Bekah

Rating: