March 2019 - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

New Release Challenge First Quarter Reviews

By Brookelorren on March 30, 2019March 30, 20192 Comments

Can you believe that the first quarter of the year is already over? It’s time for my first quarter review of the New Release Challenge, hosted by Unconventional Bookworms. I might be doing it wrong and I’m supposed to link up all of my reviews? Either way, I’m linking them all here.

I read 13 new releases this quarter, although I haven’t reviewed them all yet (reviews will be incoming). I’m partially done with King of Fools and expect to review that on April 1st, but that will go in the next quarter. I’ll link here to the reviews that I did write.

The Gilded Wolves – Roshani Chokshi
The Wicked King – Holly Black
The Unbroken Hearts Club – Brooke Carter
Spectacle – Jody Lynn Zdrok
The Last Year of the War – Susan Meissner
Second Star – J. M. Sullivan
The Iliad – Gareth Hinds
The Waking Forest – Alyssa Wees
The Dysasters – P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Four Dead Queens – Astrid Scholte
Sky Without Stars – Jessica Brody and Joane Rendell
Blood Heir – Amélie Wen Zhao
The Devouring Gray – Christine Lynn Herman

Since I read the majority of these as ARCs, most of them already have reviews. Up until today, I hadn’t realized that I hadn’t reviewed Four Dead Queens yet. Whoops.

So many of these books were amazing… it’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think I liked Sky Without Stars and Four Dead Queens the best.

What new releases did you read this quarter?

Least Favorite Tropes (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on March 29, 2019March 22, 20197 Comments

It’s Friday again, which means it’s time to Fangirl. Fangirling on Friday was started by Books in the Skye. Every week, we have something new to fangirl about.

Last week, we talked about our favorite tropes, and this week, we’re talking about our least favorite tropes. These sometimes even appear in my favorite books even, but they get overshadowed by the things I love about the books.

Unnecessary Love Triangles

Some love triangles are done well. Cassandra Clare handled the Will/Tessa/Jem and the Mark/Cristina/Kieran love triangles well; the book I’m writing right now, as well as a fanfic that I hope to write this year have love triangles in them. It’s just when a love triangle is thrown in there for no reason other than to increase tension that I’m not a fan.

In Divergent, there seems to be this hinted love triangle between Four/Tris/Uriah… fortunately, it doesn’t go very far, but in Allegiant, we get Nita and Matthew that seem to barge in. Do people really get jealous that easily? In Prodigy, all of a sudden Tess develops an interest in Day now that he’s fallen for June? The Anden/June relationship seems more realistic in that book, at least. I thought the Magiano/Adelina/Enzo love triangle in The Rose Society seemed realistic enough though.

If an author is going to do a love triangle, it should feel realistic… not just thrown in there to create tension.

Bad Boys Without a Soft Heart

No pictures, because I don’t spend a lot of time reading these kinds of books. I guess 50 Shades of Gray would be an example of this (I haven’t read it)? There are some boy (and girl) characters that I love that have done some bad things, but the bad is not typically who they are. Chatine from Sky Without Stars, who steals to survive, is an example (she’s a girl, but same concept). You don’t get into a relationship to reform a boy, right?

Weak Girls

So last week I said that I liked to read about strong girls, but on the other edge of the coin, I don’t like to read about weak girls. It’s probably a good thing that I never got around to reading Twilight, because I’ve read that Bella is the kind of girl that hangs onto her man and doesn’t really act much for herself.

While I thought The House of One Thousand Eyes had good historical information that was important to know about, there were aspects of the main character that frustrated me to no end. Lena, the protagonist, was foolish and allowed herself to be assaulted without doing something about it. I guess a corollary to not liking weak girls is I don’t like foolish, stupid girls either. Or boys.

Fortunately, I don’t read too many stories where the main premise of the book happens to be one of the above tropes. Maybe I’m lucky, those kinds of stories don’t appeal to me in the first place, or they’re just not popular enough with my reading friends to attract my notice.

Next week is already April, and I’m going to talk about which book was my favorite this month.

The Light Between Worlds

By Brookelorren on March 28, 2019March 25, 20194 Comments

I recently read The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth. Look at that cover! Plus, Ms. Weymouth is a really sweet lady, so I ended up pre-ordering her book. The Light Between Worlds is inspired by Narnia. Who doesn’t love Narnia? I found that my favorite aspect of this book didn’t have anything to do with C.S. Lewis’s world, however.

In The Light Between Worlds, Evelyn (the Lucy character) longs to return to Narnia, errr… The Woodlands, and is having difficulty functioning in the real world. Just like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the characters spent years in the alternate universe, and when they returned to World War II Britain, they had to re-adjust to being children again. Evelyn couldn’t make that transition.

Philippa (the Susan character) would like Evelyn to become a functioning member of society again, and when it doesn’t happen, she’s frustrated, and this puts a strain on their relationship. Not only does Philippa feel guilt over what happens next, she feels guilt over a decision she made long ago…

The book is told in two sections, with the first half focusing on Evelyn’s voice, and the second half in Philippa’s.

Narnia Inspiration

To be honest, the Narnia inspiration was my least favorite aspect of this book. The Narnia books are still copyrighted until 2034. It doesn’t look like the Lewis estate is interested in allowing permission for an extension of their work. Another author, Francis Spufford, actually tried to get a Narnia work published; the estate won’t talk to him. So the book is like trying to tell the story without any of the original characters or the original world. Although we know who all the characters are supposed to be, it’s just not the same.

Where This Book Shines

Although I wasn’t exactly impressed with the Narnia inspiration, this book does shine when it comes to the relationship between sisters and how they deal with guild and depression. Philippa is overwhelmed with guilt. Evelyn is depressed because she had to leave the place where she felt most at home and could never return. I enjoyed the second half of the book (where this seems to be the main focus) better than the first part.

The setting, characters, and language of the book were nice enough and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for Narnia fanfiction, then you’re probably better off heading over to AO3 – there are thousands of stories there to choose from, and they don’t have to hide the characters behind false names. However, The Light Between Worlds is much more than just thinly disguised fanfiction. This is a fantastic story about sisters, guilt, and depression, and I recommend it for that aspect.

Observations About Audiobooks (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on March 26, 2019March 25, 201938 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means! Top Ten Tuesday! Today we’re talking about Audiobooks. I don’t listen to a lot of audiobooks, so I’m just going to make ten random observations about them. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

Audiobooks allow you to get more reading done. I listened to Fangirl on audiobook last fall. It’s possible that if I hadn’t listened to it on audiobook, I’d still be saying “someday I’ll have to read this book.”

Audiobooks help you pronounce names correctly. I recently listened to Legend on Audiobook. I’ve read the story several times, but I wanted to listen to it on audiobook for a very specific reason: I discovered that I was butchering the pronunciation of some of the names. I didn’t know how to correctly pronouce Iparis, Metaias, Kaede, and even Batalla Hall. After reading this book on paper a lot of times, I figured if I listened to the book on audiobook I could beat the incorrect pronunciations out of my head.

Sometimes audiobook accents are really annoying. If I recall, Frostblood was a book which was pronounced with a British accent. While I enjoyed the book, I was really annoyed by it. I don’t know if it was because the reader has a British accent or if they think because it’s in some medievally-Europe setting that it needs one… all I know is, if I ever get a book published and they make an audiobook, my characters don’t speak with British accents.

Some books are more disturbing on audiobook. I got Pennies from Amazon.com free on both audiobook and in print. The subject matter of this book can be disturbing enough to read, but I found it even more difficult to listen to on audiobook. I might be able to get more reading done this way, but I just can’t do books with disturbing subject matter this way.

Audiobooks make great walking companions. I listened to The Great Influenza on audiobook years ago, back when I used to live in Arizona. I’d walk back behind my house, listening to this book at about midnight. If you have a good audiobook, there’s great motivation to get out and walk!

I typically don’t listen to my favorite books on audiobook. This is probably just me, but I often find audiobooks as a way to get extra reading in. So I don’t always listen to the books I’m most excited about on audiobook. Daughter of the Pirate King didn’t end up being my favorite (although I’d try other series by this author).

But sometimes I find books I want to continue… in print. I thought Furyborn was a good book, but I was a little confused by the time switching of the book, especially at first. I think it would have been easier for me if I had read it as a print book. I’d like to continue this series… in print.

Sometimes you can get good deals on audiobooks. I found Storm Glass for free on audiobook. I ended up liking it so much that when I saw the sequels to this book go on sale for $1.99 each, I ended up buying them.

But sometimes they can be expensive. Everless was a good audiobook, but I got it from the library. If I wanted to buy this book, it would cost $28.99 (the Kindle edition is $9.99). I suppose if you get an Audible membership you can get them for a better price. That might be the way to go, because the wait at my library is pretty long for audiobooks.

My overall take on audiobooks: I like how audiobooks give me the option of getting more reading done, although I prefer the print format better. After writing this topic today, I went and subscribed to an Audible membership, because there’s always room for more reading in your life, right?

So what do you think about audiobooks? Do you like to listen to them? When do you listen to them the most? Should I get an Audible subscription so I can get more reading in?

Next week, we’re going to talk about Things That Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book. See you then!

The Devouring Gray

By Brookelorren on March 25, 2019March 23, 20197 Comments

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman is a creepy novel about a small town that’s… just a little different than most small towns. I enjoyed it a lot and plan to read the second book when it comes out. Thank you to Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Violet is new to a town where everybody has known each other since they were babies. She soon discovers that even though she’s new to the town, her family’s roots in Four Paths run deep. Not only did her mother grow up in this town, her family is one of the founding families. While that might not mean much in most places, founder’s kids in Four Paths are revered, have special powers, and are tasked with protecting the town.

Oh, and Four Paths has a dangerous monster roaming about that kills people. No biggie.

As Violet gets adjusted to her new life in Four Paths, she learns about the town’s history, the long history between some of the kids, her powers, and the danger that lurks in the town. She also learns that… there may be some corruption in the town itself. While dealing with small-town politics and the monster lurking about in The Gray, she also has to deal with her family’s past and her own grief over the loss of her sister.

The Good

The Devouring Gray is a compelling story with delightful descriptions. The characters and friendships are complicated and realistic. The setting is creepy, and the small-town vibe is perfect for this book. I haven’t read Stephen King in a long while, but it reminded me of his books, with a lot less cursing and less gore.

The Downsides

The only downside I could see to this book is that there’s a little bit more head-hopping than I would prefer. One moment you’re reading through Violet’s eyes, the next paragraph you’re in one of the other character’s heads. The ARC’s format could have contributed to that a bit, as it still needed to get the paragraph breaks fixed an all that (the finished copy shouldn’t have these problems) but it still switches between POVs a little often. That was the only drawback I could see to this book.

Conclusion

While The Devouring Gray wraps up nicely, there’s more to this story. I enjoyed this creepy book, and plan to read the next book when it comes out.

Tower of Dawn

By Brookelorren on March 22, 2019March 13, 2019Leave a Comment

Tower of Dawn is the sixth book in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series. Like the other later books in this series, this book is epic in size, but it’s well worth the read.

I was sad to say goodbye to Aelin and her friends to read this book, but a lot goes on in this book that will tie into the big finale when I finally get around to reading Kingdom of Ash.

Chaol and Nesryn have traveled to the Southern continent in hopes of finding a healer that might be able to repair Chaol’s broken body. At the same time, they’re hoping to find some allies to help them in the upcoming war. Here, we find more major worldbuilding going on, as well as some new characters. In a book series this epic, it can be a little difficult to keep track of everyone and every place. Fortunately, there are plenty of clues for those of us who get a little hazy on the details after a while (it’s been a few months since I read the last book with Chaol in it, Queen of Shadows. I can imagine what it would be like if you haven’t read that book since it was first released!).

Chaol’s healer Yrene is talented, but she has a few things against the old king, and she initially takes this out on Chaol. Yrene is a complex character like many other people in this series, and I enjoyed learning about her and her family. Eventually, Yrens is able to see Chaol as more than just the former king’s Captain of the Guard.

The royal family in Tower of Dawn is roughly based on the khaganate, which I thought was pretty cool to see. As a student of history, it was interesting to see elements of this historical civilization come to life.

You won’t want to skip over Tower of Dawn and move straight to Kingdom of Ash, because there are some significant revelations you’ll find in this book. My husband is better at guessing where plots are headed than I am, but I was surprised at some of the things that were revealed. Plus, you want to find out whether Chaol is healed or not.

I don’t think Tower of Dawn was my favorite book in the series, but I still enjoyed it a lot and was glad to read it. Perhaps the only drawback to this book is that 700 pages can be a bit much sometimes. Anyway, if you’ve followed this series so far and liked it, I recommend you continue with this book.

Favorite Tropes (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on March 22, 2019March 13, 20196 Comments

It’s Friday again, which means it’s time to fangirl. Fangirling on Friday is hosted by Books in the Skye. This week, we’re talking about favorite tropes.

Cinnamon Roll Boys

I’m not a big fan of bad boys in fiction. I was never attracted to them in real life, and I don’t really care for them in fiction either. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be strong either, I just love when they’re super-sweet, even though they might have gone through some things.

Maybe this is why I just love certain authors? I just love Four and Akos from Veronica Roth’s Divergent and Carve the Mark, or Magiano from the last two books of Marie Lu’s Young Elites series.

Enemies to Lovers

I tend to love the enemies to lovers trope as well. Bonus points if the boy is a soft, squishy cinnamon roll! I think this might be one of the reasons why I enjoyed Echoes by Alice Reeds. Fiona and Miles didn’t really have a reason to be enemies, and once they figured this out, they discovered they were into each other. Marie Lu’s Legend is a classic enemies to lovers story that I just have to read again every once in a while. I have my fingers crossed that Chatine and Marcellus from Sky Without Stars will have their own love story in the sequel.

Strong Girls

I don’t think all girls need to be deadly and kick butt like Aelin in the Throne of Glass series, but I do prefer girls that have some spine to them, like Keralie from Four Dead Queens or Nathalie in Spectacle. A lot of Cassandra Clare’s female characters aren’t pushovers either, even if they don’t always make the smartest decisions (but who does?).

Perhaps I tend to like strong female characters because I tend to be pretty stubborn myself. Whatever the reason, a strong female character will often give a book bonus points in my mind.

Next week for Fangirling on Friday, we’ll talk about my least favorite tropes. See you then!

Empire of Storms

By Brookelorren on March 21, 2019June 3, 2019Leave a Comment

One of the outstanding books I’ve read this year is Empire of Storms, the fifth installment in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. A part of me was disappointed to finish the book and move on to Tower of Dawn (although I wasn’t disappointed with that book either). I still have to finish Kingdom of Ash, which I’m looking forward to reading this spring.

Aelin is supposed to be the queen of Terrassin, but not everybody wants to see her that way. Even a girl with a queenly bloodline that can incinerate cities as easily as taking a walk through the park needs supporters, and with the dire situation of the world, she can’t exactly incinerate her way onto the throne. Aelin makes some very shrewd decisions that I’m sure will pay off when we rejoin her in Kingdom of Ash.

Empire of Storms spends a lot of time with different points of view. Sometimes I was disappointed in leaving one POV for another, but the story kept on building and it was great nonetheless. There are many great characters in this book, and even though Chaol is gone from the scene (for now), many of them meet up for an epic showdown towards the end of the book.

The ending of Empire of Storms was absolutely crazy. I’m not sure if I had been Aelin I would have made the same decision she did, but she did what she thought was right and I can’t wait so see how everything works out in Kingdom of Ash. It’s an ending where you are left scratching your head and wondering how they’re going to make it.

There is some mature content in this book that isn’t in the previous ToG books, so I wouldn’t recommend this for younger teens. Aelin and Rowan do find some time alone… and end up enjoying it quite a bit.

The worldbuilding here is epic and as a writer… I just hope that I can do worldbuilding even a fraction as well in my books as in these. The territory is so vast that as a reader (who didn’t binge read the series) I sometimes have difficulty keeping track of all the towns and people, but I always have a general idea of where they are on the map, so I don’t really need to. The world is populated with animals and magical creatures that Lysandra (the shape-shifter) must have had a blast with.

The whole plot is so complex and involved that I can tell it took a lot of planning to create it. But real world wars are complex too… that’s why historians write volumes on events like World War I.

If you’ve enjoyed the previous Throne of Glass books, I recommend you continue with Empire of Storms. I thought it was great and can’t wait to finish the story with Kingdom of Ash soon.

Champion (the Graphic Novel) is Cute

By Brookelorren on March 20, 2019March 18, 2019Leave a Comment

The third book in Marie Lu’s Legend series is Champion. I bought Champion the Graphic Novel with some of my Christmas money. It was well-done, stayed true to the original, and is a pretty quick read.

In both the original book and in Champion the Graphic Novel, the Colonies are winning the war against the Republic. The colonies are angry because the Republic’s biological warfare has unwittingly unleashed a disease that nobody has a cure for. They think Eden might have the cure in his blood… but Day doesn’t want the Republic touching him again.

Day not only has to worry about his little brother, he also has to worry about his own mortality and perhaps even June’s life as well. There’s a lot of political maneuvering at the end of this book, but I won’t give it away. I will say that this book does end in a little heartbreak, but there’s hope too. Life after Legend (I and II) and the Rebel quotes I have seen just tell me that it’s only temporary heartbreak. The ending didn’t leave me unhappy like the ending of Allegiant did (although it did make me want to write fanfiction).

The graphic novel doesn’t go into as much detail as the original Champion does. It doesn’t touch on how Day is upset that the wealthy people get preferential treatment in the evacuations, nor does it reveal who the true patient zero is for this strain of the virus (and neither will I because spoilers) but it does cover most of the big points in the book. Both books end the same way, so you’ll be ready to read Rebel this fall after reading this book (although Prodigy the Graphic Novel doesn’t have the scene where Day talks about how he wanted their story to begin so it’s not quite as sweet).

If it’s been a few years since you last read Champion and you don’t really want to spend a lot of time reading the whole Legend series before Rebel comes out, I recommend this book. I might let my boy borrow this series. It takes him a lot longer than it takes me to read a book, and he was enjoying Legend the other day on audiobook when we were in the car together, so this might be a good way for him to become acquainted with the series.

Although the graphic novel isn’t a complete replacement for reading the original books, it is a lot of fun. I recommend it.

Books on My Spring 2019 TBR

By Brookelorren on March 19, 2019March 18, 201941 Comments

Hello and welcome to another addition of Top Ten Tuesday, where we talk about our favorite books. This week, we’re going to talk about books that we plan to read this spring. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

First, let’s see how I did with my Winter 2018/19 TBR:

Empire of Storms/Tower of Dawn — Sarah J. Maas: Read
A Thousand Perfect Notes — C.G. Drews: Read
Twisted Roots — Shelly Goodman Wright: Read
The Girl King — Mimi Yu: Read
The Gilded Wolves — Roshani Chokshi: Read
The Invisible War — Ailsa Wild et. al.: Read
Shadow and Bone — Leigh Bardugo: Read
A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas: Read
The Bear and the Nightingale — Katherine Arden: Unread
Sky in the Deep — Adrienne Young — Unread

8/10 books isn’t bad. Especially since one of the books on the list is actually composed of two very long books.

So here are some books I want to read this spring:

I’ve been reading the Throne of Glass books since last summer. I have one more book to go: Kingdom of Ash. The book kind of fell into my cart at Walmart last November, so I don’t have to wait for the library to get it for me.

Don’t you love it when you say “I have to read this series” for the longest time, and then you finally get around to reading the series and you love it? Well, I finally read the first two books in the Grisha Verse over the winter, and I just started reading this final book on Sunday night. I have the Six of Crows duology on audiobook to read as soon as I’m done with this one. Then I’ll have to read King of Scars, but there are other authors I want to read too, so I might not get to them this spring.

I pre-ordered The Priory of the Orange Tree, and even though it magically appeared on my Kindle on the evening of February 25th, I still haven’t read it yet. I got Four Dead Queens the same day, and since Four Dead Queens was shorter, I read it first. But it looks like it’s time to read this lovely little dragon book… at least sometime this spring.

I still want to read The Bear and the Nightingale. Even though the cover is pretty snowy. Sometimes it snows as late as May or June around here, so if I read it in the early spring, the mood might still match the weather. We just had a blizzard that kept me home from work last week, so the weather might match the cover for a while.

Since I’ve been doing pretty well with actually reading the books that I put on these seasonal TBRs, I figure I might as well roll over this book as well. Hopefully I’ll get to Sky in the Deep soon.

I scored an ARC for King of Fools, so I’ll definitely be reading this one, because I hope to write a review before it publishes. Whenever Amanda Foody talks about it on Twitter, I get excited to read it.

Another book I have an ARC for is Spin the Dawn. This book doesn’t come out until early July, but I hope to read this one this spring, so I can have the review out a few weeks in advance.

Ever since I saw a tweet from the author saying that The Tiger at Midnight had Legend as one of its comps, I knew I had to read it. I was hoping to see it on Netgalley, but since it’s not there and the book comes out next month, I pre-ordered it (the Kindle edition was a pretty good deal).

Ghosts of the Shadow Market doesn’t come out until June, but I pre-ordered it months ago. I’ll probably start reading this one on release day. Its 624 pages, so I probably won’t finish it on release day.

I bought The Poppy War last summer when it was on sale. It’s one of the books I meant to read last year, but never got around to. There’s way too many of those. But at least there’s several older books on my Spring TBR, so I’m getting some of them read.

So that’s my Spring TBR. Some old, some new, one that I’ll borrow, some that are blue. What’s on your Spring TBR? Did you manage to read most of the books on your Winter TBR, or do you prefer to wing it most of the time?

Next week I’ll be posting about Audiobooks. I don’t read a lot of audiobooks, so I’ll probably post 10 random thoughts about them in general and ones I’ve read specifically.