Book Review | Grave Mercy | Robin LaFevers

Apr 5

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Grave Mercy | Robin LaFeversGrave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin #1
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on April 3, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 549
Format: eARC
Also in this series: Dark Triumph, Mortal Heart
Also by this author: Dark Triumph, Mortal Heart
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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five-stars

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | Everneath | Brodi Ashton

Feb 6
Book Review | Everneath | Brodi AshtonEverneath by Brodi Ashton
Series: Everneath #1
Published by Balzer + Bray on January 24, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Mythology, Young Adult
Pages: 370
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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four-stars

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she’s returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld…this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she’s forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath with Cole.

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Book Review | The Gathering Storm | Robin Bridges

Jan 19

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | The Gathering Storm | Robin BridgesThe Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges
Series: Katerina #1
Published by Delacorte on January 10, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Historical Fiction, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Also by this author: The Unfailing Light
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
three-stars

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

An evil presence is growing within Europe’s royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina’s strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar’s standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina’s help to safeguard Russia, even if he’s repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?

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Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | Firelight | Sophie Jordan

Dec 15
Book Review | Firelight | Sophie JordanFirelight by Sophie Jordan
Series: Firelight #1
Published by Harper Teeen on September 7, 2010
Genres: Dragons, Families, Fantasy YA, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 323
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
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four-stars

A hidden truth. 

Mortal enemies. 

Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

Book Review | Wildwood Dancing | Juliet Marillier

Nov 28
Book Review | Wildwood Dancing | Juliet MarillierWildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Series: Wildwood #1
Published by Knopf on January 23, 2007
Genres: Aussie YA, Fairy tales, Fantasy YA, Retelling, Sisters, Young Adult
Pages: 407
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
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four-stars

High in the Transylvanian woods, at the castle Piscul Draculi, live five daughters and their doting father. It’s an idyllic life for Jena, the second eldest, who spends her time exploring the mysterious forest with her constant companion, a most unusual frog. But best by far is the castle’s hidden portal, known only to the sisters. Every Full Moon, they alone can pass through it into the enchanted world of the Other Kingdom. There they dance through the night with the fey creatures of this magical realm.

But their peace is shattered when Father falls ill and must go to the southern parts to recover, for that is when cousin Cezar arrives. Though he’s there to help the girls survive the brutal winter, Jena suspects he has darker motives in store. Meanwhile, Jena’s sister has fallen in love with a dangerous creature of the Other Kingdom–an impossible union it’s up to Jena to stop.

When Cezar’s grip of power begins to tighten, at stake is everything Jena loves: her home, her family, and the Other Kingdom she has come to cherish. To save her world, Jena will be tested in ways she can’t imagine–tests of trust, strength, and true love.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

Book Review | East | Edith Pattou

Nov 16
Book Review | East | Edith PattouEast by Edith Pattou
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on September 1, 2003
Genres: Fairy tales, Fantasy YA, Retelling, Young Adult
Pages: 498
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought it
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five-stars

Rose has always felt out of place in her family, a wanderer in a bunch of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him—in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family—she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she loses her heart, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.

As familiar and moving as “Beauty and the Beast” and yet as fresh and original as only the best fantasy can be, East is a novel retelling of the classic tale “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” a sweeping romantic epic in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

Book Review | The Near Witch | Victoria Schwab

Nov 6
Book Review | The Near Witch | Victoria SchwabThe Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Series: The Near Witch #1
Published by Disney Hyperion on August 2, 2011
Genres: Fantasy YA, Horror & Ghost Stories, Paranormal YA, Witches, Young Adult
Pages: 282
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
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four-stars

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger-a boy who seems to fade like smoke-appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know-about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult
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