Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

The Evil Queen

By Brookelorren on June 3, 2019June 3, 20194 Comments

We all know the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Disney cartoon came out over 80 years ago and, to be honest, the story feels dated. The Evil Queen is a Snow White retelling that gives the story an interesting twist.

Everly is a girl who grew up in a typical high school in America. Only she’s not normal. Everybody seems to hate her for some unnatural reason. She doesn’t know why. She’s only had one boyfriend (over the summer) but he broke up with her before school started again because he was embarrassed for people to think they were together. She’s very cynical towards life.

Her mother always told her fairy tales, like most mothers do, but she doesn’t think anything of it until she starts seeing a girl other than herself in her mirror. The girl is kind to animals, helps the villagers… the calls the girl Angel.

One day, Everly’s world is turned upside down when she realizes that the girl in the mirror is an actual girl living in a land called Enchantia, she is a sorcerian, and she has to leave her current world for the fairy tale one. She falls for a boy who hates sorcerians (although he doesn’t know she is one). Events outside of her control force her to do things that make her think that she’s the Evil Queen in the Snow White story. While everybody seems to be against her, her sister seems to be in trouble and she’s helpless to save her.

Things aren’t exactly as they seem, but you’ll have to read the story to find out what happens.

What I Liked

This story is unlike other fantasy books I’ve read. In most fantasy books, the characters talk differently. Everly, who came straight from your local high school, talks like a teenager. Sometimes the locals in Enchantia don’t really understand her, since she’s using contemporary slang.

The Enchantian characters in this book also don’t seem like your typical Disney characters straight from the 1930s. Prince Charming and Everly exchange sexual innuendos, and two of the female characters are romantically involved. It’s nice how the story breathes a spark of new life into an old classic story.

This story also conveyed the message that we are who we choose to be, not who we are fated to be. I can’t say much more without giving away the plot, but not all the characters seem to fit into their given roles.

What I Didn’t Like

I didn’t care for the prologue, but I don’t like most prologues. Everly had her problems at time, but that’s typical of teenagers.

Overall

Overall, I thought The Evil Queen was an interesting take on the Snow White fairy tale. If you’re looking for a story about a damsel in the forest washing clothes for some elderly dwarfs, this isn’t it. What it is is a story about a girl from today, who gets thrust into a fairy tale world, thinking she’s expected to be one character, but discovering that she can make her own choices and isn’t necessarily stuck to one particular role. I enjoyed it, and will probably read the second book in the series when it comes out.

Aladdin Book Tag

By Brookelorren on June 2, 2019June 2, 20196 Comments

I’m going to see Aladdin tonight with the family, so I thought, what better time to do the Aladdin book tag?! I found this tag over at A Great Read, but it was actually started by Amber at Du Livre.

The creator of this tag would like you to link to the original post (Du Livre, listed above).

There are so many good fantasy books out there, but I think that one fantasy book that ended up not getting enough appreciation was Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark. I don’t really blame readers for not wanting to give this book a chance… after all, the ending of Allegiant didn’t exactly give me the warm fuzzies and drove me into fanfiction. Then, the tagline for The Fates Divide is He’d die for her. She’d kill for him. I don’t blame people for not wanting to read it.

But… this is not an Allegiant part two. I actually liked the ending! I’m also looking forward to The End and Other Beginnings, which comes out on October 1st.

No offense to Mr. Haffner (I’m assuming this is is face) but the cover to Defying Hitler leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, I heard about this book from a podcast, not by browsing the shelves. This book is about a guy who was a teenagers in the years leading up to Hitler taking over Germany. It’s really interesting because the people around him started off normal, but then they started getting sucked into the Nazi propaganda. Towards the end of the book, it even tells of his time in a forced Nazi boot camp.

Definitely more interesting than the cover implies.

This tag has some difficult questions! So many characters in books I’ve read either turn evil, simply develop as characters, or come to a bad end as a part of their redemption. I had to go with Jesper from Six of Crows for this question. He made a lot of stupid mistakes and almost loses his father’s farm, but he ends up examining himself, figuring out how to turn his life around, and he does just that. Plus, he doesn’t die as a part of redeeming himself!

So I think I have to give this one to Day from Legend. He grows up poor, last sees his dad on his eighth birthday, spends his tenth birthday in the morgue, spends the next five years living on the streets, then is almost murdered by the government! Oh, and then he nearly dies, gets amnesia and loses the love of his life. Still, he manages to maintain his humanity and become a hero in the process.

I really hope he gets a happy-ish ending in Rebel.

I might have a good time hanging out with Cath from Fangirl. We both like to write, and we’ve both written fanfiction. Plus, we both really don’t like hanging out with strangers. So there’s that too.

Besides, there’s safety in numbers, even for those of us who’d rather spend our time sticking needles underneath our fingernails than going to a party full of strangers. We could both find the cafeteria together, and then we wouldn’t have to eat energy bars to keep ourselves from starving to death.

So that is the Aladdin book tag! If you want to do this tag too, please do! Don’t forget to tag Du Livre if you do, and I’d be happy to see what you have for this tag too!

Soul of the Sword

By Brookelorren on June 1, 2019June 1, 20192 Comments

I was recently given the opportunity to read Soul of the Sword, the second book in Julie Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox trilogy (thank you, Netgalley). I loved this book, just like I did the first book in the series, and I’m looking forward to reading the conclusion when it comes out.

Since this is the second book in a trilogy, there are spoilers for Shadow of the Fox in this review. I wrote a review for the first book if you’re interested.

Kage Tatsumi is now possessed by the demon Haikamono, who is still trying to find the scroll for his own reasons. He now knows that Yumeko is half-kitsune, but for now, they part ways. Both of them are still trying to get to the Steel Feather Temple.

Soul of the Sword still has the great Japanese-inspired setting and rich mythology that Shadow of the Fox had, but the characters and the world develop more fully in this sequel. We learn more about the corruption that has seeped into the universe, as well as more of the history.

Yumeko develops into a stronger character in this book. Although she keeps her sweet spirit, she continues to develop as a person, taking her destiny into her own hands and fighting for her friends. She needs this strength of character (as well as the kitsune magic she is getting better at wielding) when she faces enemies towards the end of the book.

Suki, one of the minor characters in the first book, takes a more important role in Soul of the Sword. I was wondering why she was in the first book; in the second book, her role becomes clearer. I still think that she will have a part to play in the final book of this trilogy.

Yumeko and Tatsumi continue to develop feelings for each other in this book, but will they ever have a happy end together? At the end of this book, I don’t even know if they’ll end up together. There is another couple in this book, but I won’t give it away here. I did see it coming long before they actually became something of an item.

The book doesn’t exactly end in a cliffhanger, but Yumeko and Tatsumi’s job is not done. There is a twist at the end that I didn’t expect. I definitely want to read the next book to find out how this story concludes.

May 2019 Monthly Wrap-Up

By Brookelorren on May 31, 2019May 31, 20192 Comments

Hooray! It’s the last day of May! Today’s the last day at my job… 6 hours, 360 minutes (of work, I’m not counting lunch)… but who’s counting, right? Anyway, I’m excited because then I get to work at home again! Part of me is sad because I’ve already had to say goodbye to some of my coworkers, although I’ll probably go out of my way to shop there sometimes when I’m at the library (which is just down the road) so I will see some of them sometimes.

But let’s wrap up May first!

Books Read:

I only finished reading eight books this month. Expect more next month as I’ll have more time to read, and I also have a few unfinished books. But here are the books:

Rebel – Beverly Jenkins
Storm and Fury – Jennifer L. Armentrout
Circe – Madeline Miller
The Poppy War – R.F. Kuang
The Thirteenth Guardian – K.M. Lewis
Alex, Approximately – Jenn Bennett
Shadow of the Fox – Julie Kagawa
Soul of the Sword – Julie Kagawa

I just realized that these are all new-to-me authors this month.

Blog Stats:

Twitter: 2050 followers. Can’t complain here. I didn’t spend as much time playing Twitter games this month as I have been, but I hope to do more next month.
Blog visits are about the same too. I have had the chance to visit more blogs, as my Spanish classes have finished, but mostly on Tuesday, because I was still working pretty much every other day.

Writing:

I’m still working on Draft 3 of THE BRIGHTNESS OF SHADOW (which I might rename). I added slightly over 2000 words this month, but that doesn’t really tell you the full picture, because I also replaced more scenes that didn’t fit into the tweaks I’ve been making to the book. Some days that I work on it, the changes are small (like I added a thunderstorm to one scene). I hope to work on this nearly every day starting tomorrow.

I did more Attic Notebook prompts this month too. Attic Notebook is a concept that Laini Taylor started where you write a scene for 15 minutes (I use the #vss365 prompt most of the time) and when you’re done with it, you don’t look at it again… until you fill up the notebook and set it aside for a month or two. Some of the prompts I’ve done might make good stories at a later date.

Life:

I love my new laptop and phone. So that’s good.

This was not a good month for fish. One of our fish got caught in the fish filter, so we went and got two more fish, and another one just got caught in the fish filter. Ugh! We’ve had this fish filter for over a year with no problems until now.

Last day of work today. Happy about that.

Had another hospital trip, but this one was short. Hopefully none in June?

So that was May. It was pretty good, but I’m looking forward to an even better June!

Cover Love (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on May 31, 2019May 31, 2019Leave a Comment

It’s Friday again, so it’s time to fangirl with Fangirling on Friday (hosted by Books in the Skye)! I literally waited until… just now… to do this post, so let’s see what I come up with. It’s a very special day today (I’ll be writing that post after this one). Today we’re writing about books with amazing covers.

I just love the cover to Wicked Fox. The expression on their faces, the moon and the forest in the background… all make me want to read this book. I got to read a preview of this book with Bookish First, and fortunately, the first few pages of this book are just as wonderful as the cover. I even won an ARC! Although I’m still waiting for it to arrive.

Finale is another one of those books where I just adore the cover. The story is great too. The font, the heart, they all point to the gorgeousness that is inside the book. I bought this book on the Kindle, so I don’t actually get to pet the book, but I love the cover nevertheless.

Four Dead Queens is another book whose cover drew me in. Just look at those beautiful crowns! And I love the sparkle in the font. This is another book that I only own on the Kindle, but that doesn’t keep me from admiring the picture.

I give A Thousand Perfect Notes a place on here because of the paperback copy of the book. I absolutely adore how this book unfolds to make a complete butterfly! I don’t own the paperback copy of the book (just the Kindle version) but I’ve seen pictures of it, and it’s magnificent.

The last spot that I’m giving to today’s highlight on cover love is Queen of Air and Darkness… not because of the front cover (although there’s nothing wrong with it) but because of what’s underneath the dust jacket. The picture underneath is fantastic.

The picture under the dust jacket shows most of the major characters from the book walking along the beach by the Santa Monica Pier. They even included Church the cat (pictured here). I don’t have a full picture of the backside of the jacket, and doubt I could take one myself that would do it justice, so I’m not going to try. But it is gorgeous.

So that’s all I have for today’s Fangirling on Friday. Next week we’re going to talk about my favorite books from May. See ya then!

Shadow of the Fox

By Brookelorren on May 29, 2019May 30, 20193 Comments

There are some authors that I consistently see, week after week, and always think “I have to read something by that author” whenever I see their name mentioned. Julie Kagawa was one of those authors. So when Netgalley offered the Soul of the Sword ARC, I had to apply for it. Then I realized it was the second book in the Shadow of the Fox trilogy. Luckily for me, I just happened to have seen the book on sale earlier this month and I picked it up (sadly, it’s not on sale as I write this). I loved this book and am enjoying the second book in the series at the moment.

Yumeko is half-kitsune (kitsune are magical fox-creatures in Japanese folklore). She grew up in a temple, and is quite naïve to how the world works. Still, she has a pure heart. Suddenly, her life is thrust into chaos, when the temple is attacked and she is tasked with guarding a scroll. Should she fail, the world could descend into darkness. At the same time, she runs into Kage Tatsumi, a boy who has been tasked with finding the scroll. They end up traveling together to try to find the Steel Feather Temple. If Tatsumi finds out that Yumeko is kitsune or has the scroll, it could be curtains for her.

What I Loved

This was a really cute adventure story. Yumeko is such a sweet, innocent character who always seems to see the best in people. As she travels with Tatsumi, they are attacked by someone who wants to stop them from getting the scroll. Still, her kind, optimistic nature attracts other characters that join her, vowing to protect her (despite the fact that Tatsumi would rather be traveling by himself in the first place). Tatsumi and Yumeko start to develop feelings for each other in this book, but don’t expect any kisses any time soon.

The setting to Shadow of the Fox is gorgeous. It is full of Japanese mythological creatures, and I kept highlighting words for me to add to my book journal later on. The world itself has a vibrant history of its own. Since I’m reading the second book at the moment, I’m seeing more of the world, and I absolutely adore it.

There are also complex villains and relationships in this book. In the very beginning, we are introduced to Suki, a young maid who is killed by her mistress. How does this all fit in? You actually don’t really begin to see much of how she fits into the whole story in this book, but there is more in Soul of the Sword. Who is attacking Yumeko and Tatsumi? I’m just beginning to see the bigger picture in the second book, but there’s a lot here.

Conclusion

Should you read Shadow of the Fox? Yes, if you enjoy Japanese inspired fantasy and fun, sweet characters. I’m definitely a fan of the series, plan to read the third book at some point after it becomes available, and am likely to read more Julie Kagawa books in the future.

Favorite Books From the Last Ten Years

By Brookelorren on May 28, 2019May 27, 201952 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! This should be an interesting week, because we’re going to talk about our favorite books released in the last ten years! I’m interested to see what some of our favorite older books are, because we’re always talking about the new books, but although I’ve been a reader for my whole life, I haven’t been a book blogger for that long. As you’ll see, some of these years were a challenge for me! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

Since 2019 isn’t even halfway over yet, I’m going to start my blast from the past in 2009. Like my “Favorite books I read for the first time in 20XX” lists, I’m only going to list the first book that I enjoyed in a series. Unless I say otherwise, you can assume that all the other books in the series should be on this list too (that way you don’t see the same series year after year).

2009: Aяguing With Idiots – Glenn Beck

This was a hard year for me to do. Even though I’ve been a reader for years, this is the only book I could find that I read that was released in 2009. Weird, huh? I can find books from 2008, books from 2010, but I went through an entire list with over 1600 books released this year, and the only other books I found on that list that I’ve read… weren’t actually released that year (or they were books in the middle of a series, like City of Glass or Catching Fire). So while I did enjoy this book and it has a lot of good information, this book actually won the year by default.

2010: The Twelfth Imam – Joel C. Rosenberg

2010 was a much easier year to find books from. Perhaps it was a little too easy. There were so many amazing books that came out this year. Not only did The Twelfth Imam, the first book in the David Shirazi series, come out, but so did Clockwork Angel, the first book in The Infernal Devices, as well as Unbroken and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. They were all great books, although the last two are nonfiction books. It’s been a while since I read this book, and I almost picked Clockwork Angel, but I remember totally shipping David and Marseilles (I think that was her name) and now I want to read the series again, so I’m putting it here.

2011: Legend – Marie Lu

This was probably the most difficult choice I had to make on this list, because Divergent came out in 2011 as well. These are two of my favorite books by my two auto-buy authors. I’d like to say that they are tied, although I’ve read Divergent so many times (in English, Spanish, German, and partially in Russian even) that I kinda need a break from it for now. So Legend wins out by a hair (today), but if we did this list five years from now, Divergent might win.

2012: Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo

Going through a list of books that were released in 2012, a recent read of mine, Shadow and Bone, tops the list. Throne of Glass also came out this year. They’re both fantasy books, but completely different. I think Shadow and Bone ultimately wins out because of 1) its Russian inspiration and 2) the sweet relationship between Alina and Mal. I go for that over the Throne of Glass relationships any day (sorry Sarah J. Maas, your books are still good).

2013: The 5th Wave – Rick Yancey

Normally, when I think a book is really good, I’ll recommend the entire series to someone. That really isn’t the case with The 5th Wave. While I loved this book, the last two books in the series disappointed me. That’s pretty much the opposite of how I feel about Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, which started out as a 3 star book for me, but by the end of the series got consistent 4 and 5 stars (Clockwork Princess came out this year, which made me ugly cry). But this book was good, and I’d read it again, but maybe not the rest of the series.

2014: The Young Elites – Marie Lu

Although I think The Rose Society and The Midnight Star were better books than The Young Elites, 2014 was a year of sequels. The Grisha Verse Trilogy was ending, as was The Mortal Instruments. Four: A Divergent Story Collection also came out this year. The Young Elites was the first book on this list that I actually read the year it came out, which I find surprising. I remember reading it shortly after we moved to Colorado, which was in late 2014.

2015: An Ember in the Ashes – Sabaa Tahir

There were a few books I loved that came out in 2015. Not only did An Ember in the Ashes come out, but so did Six of Crows. Since I already gave Leigh Bardugo a book series on this list, and I kinda like the both quite a bit, I’ll give this year’s book award to Sabaa Tahir. A Court of Thorns and Roses and Red Queen also came out this year, which I liked, but still, I think Ember deserves the top spot. At least today.

2016: Lady Midnight – Cassandra Clare

I read so many Cassandra Clare books last year that I’m a little surprised that this is the only of her series that ended up on this list. Several other great books came out this year including Summer Days and Summer Nights (a collection of summer stories) and Ever the Hunted, but I have to give Lady Midnight the top spot for this year, especially since I loved so many of her other books that didn’t make this list.

2017: Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth

To be honest, Marie Lu’s Wildcard might win this year (I put it as the best book I read for the first time in 2017), but I really liked Carve the Mark (I’d kinda like to reread it again soon) and since this was the #2 book, and I gave Legend the top spot for 2011, I’ll give Ms. Roth the spot for this year. Other amazing books from this year include Caraval, Flame in the Mist, and Strange the Dreamer. This was a great year for books!

2018: The Cruel Prince – Holly Black

Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince gets the final spot in our favorite books from the last ten years list. It was my third favorite book I read for the first time in 2018, but the ones that beat it were Enchantée (released in 2019) and Wildcard (the second in the series) so I’m giving this the top spot for the year. Queen of Nothing, the final book in this series, was the first book I pre-ordered for 2020 (although they moved up the release date to November, so yay!).

So there you have it, some of my favorite books released in the last ten years. If I were to do this list next year, there would probably be many of he same books, but there might be a few changes as I get to try out new books.

What were your favorite books from these years? I’m looking forward to seeing your lists, especially for some of the older years. Next week, we’re going to talk about some of my favorite fantasy books.

Crooked Kingdom

By Brookelorren on May 27, 2019May 27, 2019Leave a Comment

After finishing Six of Crows, I immediately wanted to read Leigh Bardugo’s sequel, Crooked Kingdom. The first book of the duology ended in a cliffhanger and I didn’t want to go for too long without finding out the ending. Fortunately, I already had a copy. I was not disappointed in how this duology turned out, and I definitely plan on reading the next Grisha Verse book, King of Scars, in the future (I’ve already pre-ordered her first adult book, Ninth House, which comes out October 1st).

Because Crooked Kingdom is the second book in a duology, expect spoilers in this review.

Inej has been taken and all the plans that Kaz and his crew had to become wealthy beyond imagination… went up in smoke. Not only does Kaz want to get Inej back… he also wants to find a way to enact revenge upon Jan Van Eck. Maybe he’ll be able to find a way to get wealthy in the process.

What Makes This Book Amazing

I thought this book was great and I can’t really think of anything I didn’t like about it (okay, I wasn’t a fan of the prologue). However, there are a lot of things I can say that I loved.

Setting: the setting in this universe = author goals. I just love how this universe has a rich setting. Every location in this world has a unique culture, climate, foods, and history. Ms. Bardugo brings it to life in a magnificent way.

Characters: over the course of Crooked Kingdom, we’re able to learn more about these characters and what makes them tick. They all have demons that come from events in their pasts, and we get to learn more about them. We learn more about their families. This was as well done as the setting.

Incorporation of the previous Grisha Verse books: even though this book is set in a different part of the world, I love how the previous Grisha Verse books were incorporated into this one. Crooked Kingdom even incorporates some of the old characters; as readers, we have inside knowledge that the characters initially don’t have.

The plot and ending: I love how these characters solve the problems at hand and bounce back from their setbacks. I also love how the characters (mostly) get their happily ever after. Now I want to read more from them!

Conclusion

I highly recommend this book, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be reading most of Leigh Bardugo’s books in the future. I do recommend reading this book after reading the original Grisha Verse books and Six of Crows. You’ll definitely get more out of this series if you read them in this order. If you start with Six of Crows, it’ll still be good, but the worldbuilding will be more awesome if you start with the original books.

Six of Crows

By Brookelorren on May 25, 2019May 17, 20192 Comments

Last year, after I started really getting into this book blog, it seemed like everybody was talking about the Six of Crows duology. I was even in the bookstore and almost got it. But I waited until I read the Grisha Verse Trilogy first. It was worth the wait, because both series are amazing, but they both are part of the same world. I listened to this on audiobook.

Ketterdam is a dangerous place to be. There are slavers that will capture Grisha (and other people) around here. Money is their god and the wealthy have all the power. It’s into this world that we are introduced to Kaz Brekker and his group of gangster friends.

A new drug has been discovered: jurda parem. This drug can make grisha do amazing things, but it is highly addictive and will shorten the grisha’s lifespan. Kaz has been given the opportunity to earn an incredible amount of money if he can just do the impossible: capture it’s creator, Bul Yul-Bayur, from the impenetrable Ice Court. It’s a dangerous job, but if anybody is going to do it, Kaz and his crew can.

What I Loved

Worldbuilding: I loved everything about this book, but one of the things I loved about this book was the amazing worldbuilding. It’s obvious that many of the cultures in this world were inspired by real cultures, but as the characters travel though the world, you can sense that all these little details were well thought out. The characters have favorite foods, the lands have different climates, and even the different people groups have different senses of morality. I also love how this world builds on the Grisha Verse universe. There is the occasional mention of the Ravkan civil war (from the original trilogy) or even Sankta Alina.

The characters in Six of Crows are amazing and well thought out as well. They each have their own histories and motivations, but we don’t get to learn about it right away. Their pasts bring demons into their present, which causes them to act the way they do.

I kept wanting to read more of this book. The plot was fast-paced, and not everything went exactly according to plan (which happens in so much of life). I kept wanting to root for these characters, and the cliffhanger at the end made me want to read the next book (which I did).

Conclusion

You definitely want to read Six of Crows if you like fantasy books with great worldbuilding and amazing characters. While you can read this book without reading the Grisha Verse books too, I recommend that you do, because it just adds depth and meaning to this story. I highly recommend you add this to your TBR.

Evil Female Leaders (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on May 24, 2019May 20, 20195 Comments

It’s Friday again, and time for another episode of Fangirling on Friday. Today we’re talking about Evil Female Leaders.

Adelina Amouteru: The Young Elites

When I saw this was the upcoming topic, the first evil female leader that came to my mind was Adelina Amouteru.

Even though she does a lot of evil things, she’s portrayed as a sympathetic character. She went through a lot in her life, and it shaped the person that she turned out to be. Even though she does have a redemption arc, she’s pretty darned evil for most of the story.

Elara: Red Queen

I had to think to find out what evil female leaders I could include in this week’s list. A lot of the evil leaders that I could come up with were male. But then I remembered Elara.

If it weren’t for Elara, Maven might not have been such a bad guy. Perhaps he would have turned out evil anyway, but he didn’t really have a chance because of his mom. Plus Elara set a lot of bad things into motion.

Redacted: Blood Heir

I’m so happy that they’re going to release Blood Heir! The release date has been pushed back to November 19th, but they’re going to put it out. There will probably be several changes made to the ARC that I read before the finished copy comes out, but it probably will include an evil female leader, which I’m redacting so I don’t give out spoilers.

No, the main character is not the evil female leader. But there is an evil force acting behind the scenes in this book — and she happens to be female. Now that this book is back in production, I’ll eventually get to see how they overthrow this evil female leader in books 2 and 3 of this trilogy!

What evil female leaders can you think of? Next week, we’re going to talk about books with covers that I love!