Tag: bookworm

book review · books · Covers · Fairy Tales

What I’m Reading: The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

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This is a winter made for reading! I’ve finally been getting around to reading some of the 200+ books on my to-be-read shelves (yes, they are a little bit out of control, yes, I do hope to vlog about this soon).

The other week I finally picked up The Near Witch by V.E.Schwab, as I was looking for a nice, easy read. Something fantastical and magical and well written. Well, V.E. Schwab is a marvelous writer. The Near Witch was a good read. It was like a long fairy tale with a simple, straight forward plot and a lovable heroine that is everything a girl in a backwoods town isn’t supposed to be. I think the cover of this book says something like “One for Neil Gaiman fans”, and I found that was definitely true. This book reminded me a bit of ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’. Also many of the fairy-tale-esque short stories that Gaiman writes.

I did wish for a bit more of the witches though. But that’s just me. Give me all the witch stories you got!

All in all, 4/5 Stars. A nice quick read for anyone who enjoy fantasy.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

JEH

book review · books · reading

What I’m Reading: Ghost of an Enchantment by J.E. McDonald

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First and foremost, I’m going to acknowledge that I was provided an ARC of Ghost of an Enchantment in exchange for an honest review. I was so happy to receive this book because I read book one of the Wickwood Chronicles and loved it.

Ghost of an Enchantment, while it is book two of the Wickwood Chronicles, can be read as a standalone. The main character, Stella, is a witch who inadvertently ends up in a lot of trouble when a mysterious artifact falls into her hands and she accidentally opens a portal to another world. When the police arrive, she finds that the man she’s been obsessing over has been assigned to her case and, well, you can imagine all that fun that happens after that.

Now, I love witch books, I love paranormal and fantasy fiction, and I love a good, sexy romance, and this book has that all! Right from the start I fell in love with the two main characters, Stella and Lucas, who both have a knack for getting in trouble. And Wickwood, the fantastical city where all of the Wickwood Chronicle books take place, is realistic and charming, and a place I would love to visit if I could.

The thread of mystery in Ghost of an Enchantment kept me reading well into the dark, well after I should have turned off the lights and gone to be. The details were fantastic and well-woven together, resulting in a satisfying ending. Ghost of an Enchantment was a satisfying, magical read and a true romance. If you love witch books or paranormal romance like I do, then pick up this book, you won’t be disappointed.

5/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Covers

What I’m Reading: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

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Every so often, a book calls to you. That was how I felt when I first read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss a few years back. I loved this book so much I dreamed about it. I loved it so much I refused to read the sequel because I wanted to save it for later, since no one seems to know when the Third book of the Kingkiller Chronicles will be released.

A year ago I bought the special ten year anniversary edition of The Name of the Wind because I absolutely love beautiful books. The anniversary edition is hardcover and has both beautiful maps and illustrations. It is heavy, it is thick, and it is still my favourite.

I decided to reread this book last month, because I was in that epic fantasy super-giant book mood I get into every so often. And I loved it all over again. For me, The Name of the Wind is the kind of book I read without checking to see what page number I’m on. I just read. And then before I know it I’m at the end of the book. All too soon.

My favourite part of the book is the mystery around the Chandrian. Kvothe, though, is just a great character. And Rothfuss’ writing is so spectacular that in my dreams it is like I’m actually living on the streets of Tarbean myself (not such a great place to me if it were real).

Have you ever read The Name of the Wind? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it.

JEH

book review · books · Covers · Paranormal

What I’m Reading: Ghost of a Gamble by J.E. McDonald

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Book Review: Ghost of a Gamble by J.E. McDonald

This review is a little different than the young adult titles I’ve mainly reviewed in the past, but I’m a broad reader and earlier this year I decided I would post more about everything I read, not just YA titles. Not that I’ve been finding much time to post reviews due to the day job, but I’m here now, and I’m back with a review of a brand new paranormal romance.

I’m lucky enough to be friends with the author and was provided a free copy of Ghost of a Gamble to review, and I’m so glad because I loved this book! This is J.E. McDonald’s debut novel and fans of paranormal romance won’t be disappointed.

Bree can’t hold down a steady job, and when she once again finds herself unemployed she snatches up work with Zack in the hopes she’ll be able to pay her rent. Zack is mysterious and hot and a paranormal investigator and Bree has no idea what she’s in for.

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Ghost of a Gamble is full of twists and turns and bursting with a haunting atmosphere that I loved. J.E. McDonald has a great sense of humor and smooth writing and plot make it easy to keep reading and hard to put down the book. Ghost of a Gamble is also the first book in the Wickwood Chronicles, names after the fictional town where this book is set. If Ghost of a Gamble is a sign of things to come, then I’ve very glad there will be more books in this series.

Ghost of a Gamble is out today, and if you want to check it out, just follow the links below.

Amazon: smarturl.it/Wickwood1Amz                                                                              B&N: smarturl.it/Wickwood1BN                                                                                      Kobo: smarturl.it/Wickwood1Kobo                                                                              iBooks: smarturl.it/Wickwood1iBooks

To find out more about J.E. McDonald, check out her website at

https://www.jemcdonald.net

 

book review · books · Covers

What I’m Reading: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

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Book Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

I had this book on my shelf for about a year before my mother told me that she had read it and that she liked it. As a library technician, my mother knows books. So I knew I should pick it up and read it soon, and I’m glad I did.

The Bear and the Nightingale takes place in historic Russia and is full of folk and fairy tales. It consumes you, bringing you into the past and a deeply detailed life of a family struggling to survive the winter. Before reading this book, I vaguely remembered the tale of the Bear and the Nightingale from my childhood love of fairy tales, and I think I thought that this book would be as simple and straightforward as a five-page fairy tale, but it was much more intricate than that.

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I love the characters, especially Vasya, the strong heroine. But the book was slow to start and took me a good fifty to seventy pages to get immersed in, but once I was over that hump, the book flew by. I can’t wait to read the next one (I just have to wait for my mom to finish with it first!)

Have you read The Bear and the Nightingale?

5/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Young Adult Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Last year I reviewed Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse Trilogy, which I really enjoyed. I borrowed Six of Crows from a friend, and finished reading it at the tail end of last year (it has taken me forever to post this review but that’s another story of a busy writer’s life). I have to say that I was hesitant to read another book in Grishverse, but in the end I preferred Six of Crows over the initial Grishaverse Trilogy, mainly because Six of Crows was more adult than Shadow and Bone.

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I’ve written before about my preference for mature young adult fiction, books along the lines of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, The Raven Boys trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater, and anything written by Holly Black. These authors don’t treat their characters like sheltered teens with perfect, non-dangerous lives. Their characters are constantly being forced to make tough choices, and they do. Life is about tough choices, and I love seeing this in young adult novels.

Six of Crows is about a rag-tag team of thieves brought together for a singular purpose, but everyone has their own agenda (of course!). It is a fast-paced heist novel, set in the Grisha world, which is a near steampunk, somewhat Gothic, almost Victorian but kind of Russian fantasy world. It is so unique and fun that Six of Crows was hard to put down.

I guess I’ll have to read Crooked Kingdom, the sequel to Six of Crows, because I know it will be just as fun.

JEH

 

book review · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

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Young Adult Book Review: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte is a young adult fantasy (with a little bit of tech), about a girl who ends up embroiled in a plot to kill the four queens of the land.

From the start, this book was a bit different than the other young adult fantasy books out there because of the little bit of tech thrown in, which I found interesting. But for me, this book was an up and down read, I really liked the beginning, which was promising, felt a bit lost in the middle, and liked the near ending, and wasn’t sure quite what to think about the ending.

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Four Dead Queens certainly kept me on my toes. I’m pretty good at guessing plot twists, but I didn’t quite guess these ones correct, which is always a nice surprise. This is also a stand alone fantasy, which can be hard to find (and sometimes it’s so nice to read just one book, don’t you think?).

I loved the maps in the book, but wish that the main characters would have traveled a bit further a field. I mean why have elaborate maps in a fantasy book if the characters aren’t going to journey to these far off lands? Still, it was a worthwhile read for me, as it’s nice to find a fantasy with a bit of mystery.

3.5/5 stars.

JEH

book review · books · Covers · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

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Young Adult Book Review: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

The final book in the Grisaverse Trilogy, Ruin and Rising, was everything I expected it to be—almost. Same great writing, same lovable characters, broken hearts and action and adventure. But there was on thing I didn’t get, and from what I’ve read of other reviews, other people seem to feel much the same way. If you want to know more, scroll past the picture, but if you don’t stop reading now.

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The one thing I felt this book didn’t deliver to me on was the ending. I was expecting much of what happened. But I was expecting/hoping for all of it to end much more tragically than it did. Maybe I’m just all dark and twisty inside, but sometimes a happy ending seems to me to be too happy, almost forced, and almost not realistic. But also, I was just hoping for a different pairing at the end than what I got.

Still, I love this magical world and all of the unique elements to Grishaverse. I’ll probably read the other Grishaverse books. I hear that the other books are even better. Maybe I’ll even start one this weekend.

4/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Covers · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

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Young Adult Book Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Book Two of the GrishaVerse trilogy starts off pretty much where the first book ends. Now, this book begins with one of my pet peeves. If you haven’t read the book yet, or even finished the first book of the GrishaVerse, you may not want to read the rest of this review below, as I’m going to share this particular pet peeve of mine. But don’t worry, after the beginning, the book did get better.

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This book began with a pet peeve of mine. It’s a particularly common trope in fantasy: end book one with the hero/heroine breaking free, and begin book 2 with them instantly being recaptured. I find this a complete waste of plot, as often, absolutely nothing happens when the hero is free. Instead, it’s used a device to end book one in a ‘happy ever after’, just in case the publisher never releases book two. I really dislike this plot device. However, as I said above, the book does get better after the beginning.

Alina grows more as a character in this one, and the story moves from Alina having choices made for her (ie. capture and release), to her making choices. But the best part about this book was Nikolai. I love Nikolai. He is by far my favorite character in this series. I wish there could have been more of him. That’s all I’m going to say. Read this book for Nikolai. End of.

4.5/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Covers · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

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Young Adult Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

GrishaVerse is one of those series that you can’t stop hearing about. I was able to borrow the original GrishaVerse trilogy from a friend a while back. The books are told by the perspective of Alina Starkov, a teen-aged orphan who, surprise, turns out to have magical powers. While this series starts like many a fantasy novel before it, Leigh Bardugo manages to create a fairly fresh fantasy landscape with strong, believable characters.

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The first novel of the trilogy sets up the world of the Grisha, the magic wielders  in this universe. Borrowing on Russian history, culture, and mythology, Shadow and Bone has a fresh appeal for those used to reading more ‘European’ type fantasy. What I liked best about Shadow and Bone, however, was the play between Alina and the Darkling. This book had twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting, and Bardugo did a good job of keeping me on the edge of my seat.

Have you read Shadow and Bone? What did you think?

4.5/5 Stars

JEH