Tag: fiction

Book Review: Painted Devils, by Margaret Owen

Image belongs to Macmillan Children’s/Henry Holt and Co.

Title: Painted Devils
Author: Margaret Owen
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

When misfortune strikes, the “reformed” jewel thief Vanja manipulates a remote village for help and in turn, accidentally starts a cult around a Low God, the Scarlet Maiden. Soon after, her nemesis-turned-suitor Emeric and a supervising prefect arrive to investigate the claim of godhood, and she realizes how in over her head she must be. But the Scarlet Maiden does reveal herself . . . only to claim Emeric as her virgin sacrifice. Desperate to save the only man she’s ever cared for, Vanja decides to seek an alternative: bring the Scarlet Maiden a drop of blood from each of seven brothers for the midsummer feast.

While the thief and prefect-in-training still have feelings for one another, Emeric must determine whether Vanja has committed fraud as his final test for prefect-hood. And as they travel the Haarzlands, a harsh land far from the rules of the city, the past that Vanja barely remembers comes into full view and she fears a future that does not require her to keep running.

The amount of snark in this novel is genius-level. I was snickering within two minutes after I started reading. Unlike the previous book, I was invested from the very beginning, and each obstacle the characters met only drew me further into the story. This is a gritty fantasy, not a sweetness-and-light one, but the characters and the world have so much depth that you feel everything they experience. I highly recommend this read and this author.

Margaret Owen lives in Seattle. Painted Devils is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan Children’s/Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Dueling Duchess, by Minerva Spencer

Title: The Dueling Duchess
Author: Minerva Spencer
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4 out 5

When Cecile Tremblay lost everyone and everything in the French Revolution, she never imagined that she’d earn her living as a markswoman in a London circus. But Farnham’s Fantastical Female Fayre has become her home, her family, and her future. Another thing Cecile never imagined was becoming entangled with the man gossip columns call The Darling of the Ton . But mere weeks after her rejection of his insulting carte blanche—and his infuriating engagement to an heiress—Darlington is back, this time to beg Cecile for help. And help him she will, by teaching him about honest work—and the right way to treat a woman.

Gaius Darlington has always led a charmed life. Until now. Suddenly, a long-lost heir has appeared to claim his title, possessions, and property, Not only that, but Guy’s fiancée has jilted him to marry the usurper! Yet there is a silver it’s no longer Guy’s duty to marry an heiress to save the dukedom. He’s free to wed the woman he loves—if only he can earn her forgiveness.

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But fury is just a step away from passion, and Guy knows just how to arouse Cecile’s. . .

This was a cute read. Nothing unexpected, although I found Cecile’s secret fascination with the ton gossip rags kind of funny. She’s very sure and capable, but when a guy grabs her out of a dark alley, she immediately becomes a helpless female, and that didn’t quite add up for me. Guy’s over-the-top swagger was entertaining, but I bet it’d be infuriating in person.

Minerva Spencer lives in New Mexico. The Dueling Duchess is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review and Blog Tour: The Viscount Who Vexed Me, by Julia London

Image belongs to Harlequin/Canary Street Press.

Title: The Viscount Who Vexed Me
Author: Julia London
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5

Daring. Darling. Determined.

Next to the Season’s newest diamond, Harriet (Hattie) Woodchurch feels like a plain Jane. But that’s of no consequence, since Hattie’s plan for her future is to earn enough to live far, far away from her embarrassing family.

That is until Mateo Vincente, Duke of Santiava and newly minted Viscount Abbott, arrives in London. While the shy European’s spoken English is impeccable, his writing is less fluent. The ton is eager to meet the handsome bachelor, and so many invitations flood in that Mateo needs a correspondence secretary.

With her perfect penmanship and way with words, Hattie is recommended, and the two bond over books and the ton’s eligible ladies. But when Hattie’s friend Flora becomes smitten with the viscount, things get complicated. Flora is tongue-tied in his presence. To help, Hattie feeds her information about Mateo’s interests. Soon things turn around and Flora appears on track to become his duchess. Yet for Mateo, something’s not quite right. Conversation with Flora isn’t as scintillating as it is with Hattie…

This was a cute read! Hattie’s family is an absolute nightmare and made my skin crawl. I think I would have lived on the street before putting up with them any longer. They were just so horrible to her. Mateo was an interesting dashing hero, with his reticence and reluctance to be around people (same), but I really liked how their growing relationship changed them both.

Julia London is a bestselling author. The Viscount Who Vexed Me is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Canary Street Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Emma of 83rd Street, by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding

Title: Emma of 83rd Street
Author: Audrey Bellezza; Emily Harding
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.

Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hell-bent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.

As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.

As I first started reading this, I was wavering if it were going to annoy me enough to stop reading. I mean, Mr. Woodhouse’s obsession with the refined sugar content in everything was annoying, and Emma’s background monologue on appearances and the labels on her clothes was low-key irritating, but…she grew on me. She seemed superficial and flighty at first—and she was—but she learned self-awareness and started to be less self-absorbed.

I loved her friendship and banter with Knightley! Their friendship was just so much fun, including their large family/friend group. I ended up thoroughly enjoying this read!

Audrey Bellezza is an Emmy-nominated producer. Emily Harding is a writer and television producer. Emma of 83^rd Street is their debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Last One to Fall, by Gabriella Lepore

Title: The Last One to Fall
Author: Gabriella Lepore
Genre: YA
Rating: 4 out of 5

Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.

Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse texts Savana in the middle of the night and asks her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.

Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, particularly once she starts getting threatening anonymous text messages.

As she attempts to uncover the truth, Savana learns that everyone is keeping secrets—and someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep those secrets from coming to light.

This was an interesting read—I read it in a single sitting, so it kept me engaged until midnight, when I really should have been sleeping. I liked Savana a lot, except for her propensity to go off to dangerous locations in the middle of the night…when some masked figure had been stalking her. That didn’t seem like a smart choice.

The author did a great job of dropping red herrings with all the characters, so the reader—or at least me—was never really sure who the murderer was. It was easy to feel empathy for all of the characters, too—except Raf—although the one thing that did not make sense to me was Jesse’s mom, and the way she completely vanished without contacting her kids.

Gabriella Lepore is from South Wales. The Last One to Fall is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Famous for a Living, by Melissa Ferguson

Title: Famous for a Living
Author: Melissa Ferguson
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5

With her millions of followers, Cat Cranwell is adored around the world. But when an app partnership goes very, very wrong, Cat suddenly finds herself shunned from the community that not only fed her soul all these years but paid her bills. When Cat’s closest living relative, Uncle Terry, offers her a position on his staff at a small national park in Montana to get away from the city, Cat hesitantly accepts the opportunity.

What she doesn’t realize is that as the new social media strategist her goal is to save Kannery National Park from being absorbed into Glacier National Park by boosting the number of visitors. And at least one of her new colleagues—namely, handsome and rugged ranger Zaiah Hudson—thinks social media is the root of everything that’s wrong with the world.

It’s a statement to Melissa Ferguson’s writing abilities that she made me like—and even root for—a social media star, because I’m not a fan of social media or the social media obsessed. Like, at all. I spent the first third or so of the book low-key annoyed because of all the fuss about likes and follows and what other people think (Okay. The truth is that annoyed me throughout the entire book, but Cat eventually let go of that nonsense a bit.). Despite the wintry weather, I enjoyed the setting quite a bit, and the national park itself greatly intrigued me (I like to hike.). In the end, I enjoyed Cat learning how to live and enjoy a real life—instead of one filled with fakeness.

Melissa Ferguson is a bestselling author Famous for a Living is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Secret Book of Flora Lea, by Patti Callahan Henry

Title: The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Author: Patti Callahan Henry
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars . Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.

I really enjoyed this read! I do love WWII fiction, but this isn’t a typical one—and it isn’t only WWII fiction. I really loved all of it, and I thought the relationship between the young sisters was so well-done and believable. Hazel is a great character, despite all her thorns and trust issues, and I loved watching the storyline of their childhood meet up with Hazel’s adult life. I highly recommend this!

Patti Callahan Henry is an award-winning and bestselling author. The Secret Book of Flora Lea is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Warrior Girl Unearthed, by Angeline Boulley

Title: Warrior Girl Unearthed
Author: Angeline Boulley
Genre: YA, mystery
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Perry Firekeeper-Birch was ready for her Summer of Slack but instead, after a fender bender that was entirely not her fault, she’s stuck working to pay back her Auntie Daunis for repairs to the Jeep.

Thankfully she has the other outcasts of the summer program, Team Misfit Toys, and even her twin sister Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, plan vigils for missing women in the community, and make sure summer doesn’t feel so lost after all.

But when she attends a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl”, an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives, and everything changes. Perry has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. Determined to help, she learns all she can about NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. The university has been using legal loopholes to hold onto Warrior Girl and twelve other Anishinaabe ancestors’ remains, and Perry and the Misfits won’t let it go on any longer.

Using all of their skills and resources, the Misfits realize a heist is the only way to bring back the stolen artifacts and remains for good. But there is more to this repatriation than meets the eye as more women disappear and Pauline’s perfectionism takes a turn for the worse. As secrets and mysteries unfurl, Perry and the Misfits must fight to find a way to make things right – for the ancestors and for their community.

I enjoyed learning so much about the Anishinaabe tribe and culture. I found those details fascinating. Perry was a great character! She truly learned from her mistakes and grew from that knowledge, and she fully embraced her culture and heritage and determined to honor it in every way she could. I also liked the connections to Firekeeper’s Daughter.

Angeline Boulley is from Michigan. Warrior Girl Unearthed is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan Children’s/Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: In an Orchard Grown from Ash, by Rory Power

Image belongs to Random House/Ballantine.

Title: In an Orchard Grown from Ash
Author: Rory Power
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3

The Argyros siblings have lost everything. With their father dead and their family home captured, they’re no longer the rulers of their fractured kingdom—and no longer bound to each other.

In the frozen north, Rhea struggles to wield her newly inherited command over death and to find her place in an increasingly distrustful rebel group. Chrysanthi travels to a distant, war-torn land in search of her elusive brother Nitsos, certain that he is there on a dangerous mission to restore the family to its former glory, this time with himself at its head. And Lexos, now stripped of all his power and a political prisoner of the Domina family, is left to rot in a hauntingly desolate palace with nothing but thoughts of revenge.

Alone and farther apart than they’ve ever been, the siblings must reckon with the pain of their past and find a new path forward—or risk their own destruction.

I really enjoyed the first book in this duology, In a Garden Burning Gold; this one, however, felt like a waste of my time. I will say that I enjoyed Chrysanthi’s growth, although she felt so passive through the first 2/3rds of the story, just letting everything happen to her without taking action herself.

Nitsos was almost a non-presence in this book—and he was pointless. Lexos was useless: all he did was whine about not having power. And Rhea…man. I really liked her in the first book. In this one, she was a terrible human being, and I just wanted her to hurry up and die already. I do not recommend this read.

Rory Power lives in New England. In an Orchard Grown From Ash is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Ferryman, by Justin Cronin

Title: The Ferryman
Author: Justin Cronin
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3 out of 5

Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera’s lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process–and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he’s been dreaming–which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.

Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group–known as “Arrivalists”–who may be fomenting revolution.

Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized–and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.

I’m sorry, but this just felt like a chaotic, jumbled mess to me. Parts of it were interesting, parts of it were just chaotic—and most of the characters weren’t that likable. Even after finishing the novel, I’m still not 100% sure what the whole point of it was, so this was clearly not a novel for me.

Justin Cronin is a bestselling author. The Ferryman is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.)

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