test lol: May 2018

Hiya guys! I'm excited to reveal the cover of Elise Kova and Lynn Larsh's new novel, Birth of Wishes! It's the third book in their Wish Quartet, and comes out June 20, 2018!

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Are you guys ready?

Without further ado...

I present you...

the cover for Birth of Chaos!

{ about the book }

Birth of Chaos by Elise Kova & Lynn Larsh

Wish Quartet, book 3

Publishes June 28, 2018 from Silver Wing Press
Add it on Goodreads!

A WISH FOR DESTRUCTION...
HAS JOSEPHINA UNRAVELING

A new wish is pushing the weary members of the Society to their breaking points. But as Jo’s complex relationship with their leader reveals dangerous truths about who she truly is, and was, her priorities quickly change. Now, she seeks to expose the enemy lurking in their midst, but it may already be too late to thwart an ancient goddess bent on stealing Jo’s power and destroying everything she loves.

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Amazon

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Isn't the cover beautiful?? I adore the covers for all the books in the series!

Check 'em out! How wonderful are they?

Society of Wishes | Circle of Ashes

{ about the authors }

Elise Kova is the USA Today bestselling author of the Air Awakens series, Loom Saga, and Wish Quartet.

In her past lives, she has graduated from an MBA program, lived in Japan for a bit, and worked for a Fortune 500 technology company. However, she finds herself much happier in her current reincarnation as full-time author. When not writing, she can usually be found playing video games, drawing, watching anime, or talking with readers on social media. She’s happy to call Saint Petersburg, Florida, her home, but is always looking forward to her next trip.

Website

Lynn Larsh considers herself to be a serial hobby-dabbler. She got a bachelors degree in music (which she used for all of four months), studied aerial acrobatics and classical piano for many years, worked briefly as a stunt woman in a Wild West stunt show (it’s a long story), and eventually settled down into the bar tending business in St. Petersberg, FL. When she’s not acting as a purveyor of fine libations, you can find her diving head first into her newest venture as a New Adult author, or simply writing Voltron fan fiction on Archive of Our Own.

Website

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{ about the book }

Magic of Wind and Mist by Cassandra Rose Clarke

bind-up of The Wizard's Promise & The Nobleman's Revenge

Published October 24, 2017 by Saga Press

goodreads

Taking place in the world of Cassandra Rose Clarke’s Magic of Blood and Sea, this is the story of a would-be witch who embarks on an adventure filled with intrigue, mystery, mermaids, and magic.

Hanna has spent her life hearing about the adventures of her namesake Ananna, the lady pirate, and assassin Naji, and dreams to have some adventures of her own.

One day when Hanna is with her apprentice—a taciturn fisherman called Kolur—the boat is swept wildly off course during a day of storms and darkness. In this strange new land, Kolur hires a stranger to join the crew and, rather than heading home, sets a course for the dangerous island of Jadanvar. As Hanna meets a secretive merboy—and learns that Kolur has a deadly past—she soon realizes that wishing for adventures can be deadly… because those wishes might come true.

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{ my review }

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Once again, be aware of any possible spoilers!

I was not sure if I would like this book considering what I felt about Clarke's other series set in this world. So imagine my surprise when I found myself liking it better.

I will admit that this duology didn't intrigue me as much as Blood and Sea. For one, there weren't any pirates or assassins. I was worried I would be bored, but something I noticed almost immediately was how different the writing was!

Part of what bothered me about Ananna's series was that her voice was so annoying. It got under my skin so often it was a miracle I managed to finish those books as soon as I did. Not only that, but there was this... lack of emotional connection to whatever was happening, it felt like.

Anyway. Hanna's voice was so different! It was refreshing and it was easy to like her. Hanna herself was a great character. I hated how often she'd be left in the dark by various people on her adventure—she's part of it, so she should know exactly why and what the hell was happening! It infuriated me and I'm glad that Hanna dealt it the best she could. She went her own way and she was smart about it! At times I thought she'd just endure it, wait until they offered her bits of information, but I'm so glad that didn't happen.

Hanna's story wasn't... as adventurous as Ananna's. At least, not the first book, The Wizard's Promise. The beginning was exciting but everything after was very lowkey. It was a different pace and I was surprised, but I think it worked really well for this series. But, at the same time, there was no urgency to Hanna's situation? She's so far from home and everything she's been doing was to get enough money to sail home, but she also had to deal with the Mists coming after her/her old captain. But... I just never really felt that supposed deadline her old captain (Kolur from the synopsis) had.

I liked the romance! Must of it happened in the second book, and there wasn't really any buildup in book one, so everything was sort of left to happen in The Nobleman's Revenge. But it was so sweet! I liked the love interest, Isolfr. He was so different than typical love interests! Hanna had constantly called him a coward—and for good reason—and seeing a guy love interest in that aspect rather than the protector/fighter was so refreshing.

(Also, considering Isolfr was one of the people who kept things from Hanna, it was amazing to have Hanna not deal with that bs.)

I can't help keep comparing this to Ananna's story. Where in Blood and Sea we had two very capable people handling things, Wind and Mist was not like that. Isolfr and Hanna have magic but they're not accustomed to fighting for their lives. And having them be the stars of book 2 was a refreshing take.

Well! I guess that's it for me. Overall, 4 stars! I'm glad I gave this one a chance!

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{ about the book }

Magic of Blood and Sea by Cassandra Rose Clarke
bind-up of The Assassin's Curse & The Pirate's Wish

Published February 7, 2017 by Saga Press

goodreads

A pirate princess and a cursed assassin find their fates intertwined in this gorgeous and thrilling adventure.

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an ally pirate clan. She wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to a handsome and clueless man. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns that her fiancé’s clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when this assassin, Naji, finally finds her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse—with a life-altering result. Now, Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work to complete three impossible tasks that will cure the curse.

Unfortunately, Naji has enemies from the shadowy world known as the Mists, and Ananna must face the repercussions of betraying her engagement that set her off on her adventures. Together, the two must break the curse, escape their enemies, and come to terms with their growing romantic attraction.

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{ my review }

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I'd just like to start off this review by saying that using the bind up was a lot easier than using the books in their separate, uh, entities? I guess. Whatever. In any case, I read them separately, in their old editions:

So, now for the review. Beware, there will be spoilers for both books.

I've had The Assassin's Curse on my goodreads TBR for what seemed like eons. It sounded like the perfect fantasy: pirates and assassins and curses. Like, I was sold. It might have taken me approximately 6 years (holy shit?) to get to it, but I did! I got to it.

And... I'm a bit disappointed, to say the least.

I won't lie, the books were kind of entertaining. I read both of them in right after the other without stop. So while I did have issues, I can't say they weren't a bit addictive. The plots of both books makes them highly readable!

Part of what I really liked of the series was the slow burn romance. And it definitely is slow burn, and had lots of unwilling pining—meaning, one party is sure they love the other but totally hating that they do so. It's also sort of? Enemies to lovers... but not entirely? In any case: Naji was sent to kill Ananna and, y'know, if someone were trying to kill me, I'd kind of thank them but also think of them as my enemy. Back to the point: I liked all of it! In The Assassin's Curse, the feelings thing happened naturally and over the course of the entire book, so really, there was hardly any romance. In book two, it was full of those little scenes that kind of build up. I looooved those—each scene actually made me have feelings.

Like I said about the plot: high readable. Not entirely fun, per se, but I didn't put them down once after I got started. I felt like I just had to know where Naji and Ananna were going next, and what go wrong. Because, face it, everything always goes wrong. These characters really don't get a break lmao.

Now... for what I did not like. Part of it was the writing. Since Ananna is a pirate, she also had the dialect of one, and while I give Clarke the credit for writing her accurately like that... it was also so annoying. I really was not a fan of how she spoke and it made me wince at times. I guess I'm just not fond of pirate speak? Which is unfortunate since their stories are so much fun.

I think it also had to do with Ananna herself... I didn't find myself warming to her often. Yes, she was rash and made ridiculous decisions sometimes, but a lot of those could have been avoided. The first book alone just made her seem like a too rebellious character, doing things without thinking them through entirely. In the second, she was just so petty, and look. I am, like, a queen of petty, so I totally get it, but holy shit, she was way out of line with how she treated Naji sometimes. (Not that he was a saint either, but in this regard, it was unfair. I'll get to it.)

There was also a whole bit where she was awful to some girl who was pretty—Ananna doesn't trust pretty people—so it created for some girl hate. It did not help matters that the other girl was technically Naji's ex-girlfriend, either, so. I wasn't here for that entire part of book 1.

In addition, there just... felt like there was no emotional tether? To a lot of the things that happened? Like, you'd expect something to be there after running away from your whole life and family, nearly getting killed, and a lot of other things, but... nothing.

And a lot of the time, I only found Ananna to have the most voice in the entire series. But for a lot of the side characters, especially Naji, I just never... felt? They weren't fully real, or fleshed out to me, and most of their dialogue didn't hold enough voice to make them seem authentic or anything.

At some point, I thought I would really like The Pirate's Curse. For one, we met a new, not human character who was so much fun. The manticore—whose name is so beyond complicated even you wouldn't be able to say it, much less remember it—had the attitude of an entitled kitten and was actually a man-eating beast. Love it! There was also the addition of another old character, who played more of a role here: Marjani! So yeah, I was hoping it would be better.

BUT THEN. There's all of this drama with Ananna being in love with Naji, who doesn't reciprocate. I get that. Someone you like doesn't like you back, it happens. It hurts, yes, but it happens. The way Ananna reacted to it was not only childish but way out of line? Like she blamed him for not feeling the same way, while also accepting that who could possibly love her kind of thing? It was a mess. Plus, there was a whole Thing as the end of the series which I won't get into, but also lessened my liking of the book.

So! That's all of my thoughts on this book. Would I recommend it... Ehhh, not really? The idea of the book is superb but the execution is less so. Overall, my final rating for the series is 3 stars!

(And my review for the next bind up will be up soon!)

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{ about the book }

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo
standalone novel

Published May 8, 2018 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
e-ARC received from netgalley

goodreads

From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?

With Maurene Goo's signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look.

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{ my review }

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Well. This book wasn't bad by any means but it wasn't the best contemporary I've read, either. I will give it this though: it was highly readable. You know those books where, once you start, you can't seem to put it down because of how fun it is? The Way You Make Me Feel was like this—I started this around midnight or 1 AM and finished around 5. So. Yeah.

Moving on. One of my favourite things about this book was the relationship between Clara and her dad, Adrian. Rarely do you see parents playing an active role in the main character's lives—they're always conventiently dead or just absent??—and even rarer is a single parent. A single dad. I really loved Adrian! He was funny and how he got along with Clara made me so, so happy. Even though the both of them mess up sometimes, it was incredibly heartwarming to see the two of them make up and be a unit together.

I also liked the friendship! I mean, it started off awfully... well awful, between Rose and Clara. But nothing warms the heart better than a hate to love friendship. (I'll fight anyone on this—these types of friendships are better than the romantic relationships most times.) Reading about the two begrudgingly becoming friends was a lot of fun! I just loved seeing how Clara and Rose went from snarking at each other every other minute to joking around and hanging out together.

As much as those things made the book good, there were a few things that bothered me. Going off the friend thing... it started of with girl hate and I really wasn't about that. I mean. I get why between Rose and Clara and I like that it changed! But it also happened with one of her friend's girlfriend. Every scene the two of them were in, it was Cynthia glaring at Clara for doing something or Clara antagonising Cynthia... or both. No thanks.

And going off that, I really wasn't a fan of Clara in general. The type of person she and her friends are in the beginning of the book were the type of people I'd generally avoid at all costs in high school—the obnoxious kids. Just reading through her perspective made me aware of how at odds our two personalities are. The things she considered funny or some of the things she did for whatever reason, it was so against what I would do if I were in her situation.

It didn't help with some of the situations she finds herself in—namely, the one near the end of the book. It was dumb and impulsive and, honestly, I'm surprised she got off as easy as she did. SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT. I absolutely hated the last 25-30% of the book! Clara's decision was not only selfish and beyond reckless, holy shit I just cannot fathom it. She basically had brushed aside everything and got herself on a place to fly to another country, and it felt like she hardly cared about how she'd left things not only with her father but with her boyfriend too. To make things worse, the way this issue was fixed between her and Hamlet just didn't make sense to me. I liked the scene with her father, but definitely did not feel the same type of resolution with her boyfriend.

Whew. Guess you never know how much something bothers you until you get to complain about it.

Anyway! Overall: I'm beat. The book definitely had its ups and downs, but in the grand scheme of things... I'm not entirely sure I'd recommend it. 3 stars!

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{ about the book }

Legendary by Stephanie Garber
Caraval, book 2

Publishes May 29, 2018 by Flatiron Books
e-ARC received from netgalley

goodreads

Stephanie Garber’s limitless imagination takes flight once more in the colorful, mesmerizing, and immersive sequel to the bestselling breakout debut Caraval

A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval... the games have only just begun.

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{ my review }

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I don't remember a lot about Caraval to be honest. I liked it when I first read it but that was so long ago for a person who hardly remembers the plot of the last book she read. Still, I liked it enough to really want this book, so I guess that's something?

I did like Legendary. I liked Tella more than Scarlett—I liked how bold she was and how unashamed she was to be herself. I liked her sharp tongue and sharp wit and the exchanges between her and certain characters. Tella, I think, was my favourite character.

I even liked the romance, as push and pull as it was! The love interest was enigmatic as you would expect and combined with Garber's writing, he was also more enticing than I initially thought. It was so different than Scarlett's relationship with Julian that I couldn't help but be drawn to this character, even though I spent a lot of time side eyeing him at first. I wouldn't say he won me over, but I did like him well enough. Plus, it got a little heated sooo [insert eye emoji].

There's also the matter of another character, a certain friend. It's clear where he stands to Tella but honestly I loved him. I wish he had more page time. He was probably the only other character I really loved straight off the bat? And it was just clear that he wasn't a "good" person—you guys should know by now that I love my morally ambiguous characters.

The thing that gets me most about Garber's books is the writing. Look. I hate it. I hate purple prose and overly descriptive writing. It's annoying and most of the time, it comes out either pretentious or sounds ridiculous and it felt like that a lot in this book. I probably rolled my eyes no less than 20 times getting through it because, at some points, it was just straight up ridiculous.

Anyway. This ended in a weird place for me? Like it doesn't really feel finished. Maybe Tella's story but there's definitely an opening for another book because it ends at strange note. So! 3.5 stars! Do you guys have those books where you feel like you won't care about later but like in the moment? This feels like that to me.

[Update: there's now going to be a 3rd book! So yay to not having to deal with this weird ending!]

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