Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Retellings (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on April 12, 2019April 10, 20196 Comments

Hello! It’s Friday again, and once again, it’s time to Fangirl with #Fangirling on Friday hosted by Books in the Skye!. Today we’re going to talk about retellings. I know some people absolutely adore fairy tale retellings, and usually it doesn’t matter to me one way or another. There are some retellings that I like quite a bit though.

As I was reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, there was something that seemed a little familiar with it. Why? I found out it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It’s not predictable though. I haven’t read any of the follow-on books, even though I plan to at some point. These books are really popular at my library and there are so many other books I want to read. Someday.

Ms. Maas tends to get a lot of her inspiration from history. As I was reading Tower of Dawn, I noticed that the people of the Southern Continent were a lot like the khans of history. As a writer, I also get inspired from different real things. Sometimes I’m inspired by history, other times I’m inspired by our daily headlines.

I’ve actually never read Les Misérables, but I know I really should at some point. I really enjoy the retellings and books inspired by this story, such as Sky Without Stars and Legend. Plus, historical France in this time period was fascinating.

With really old books like this that are in the public domain, sometimes it’s difficult to find a translation/edition that is good. If you’re okay with an abridged version, there are plenty of editions out there, but if you’re looking for a good unabridged version, that can sometimes be a little difficult. I downloaded a few copies of Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire before I found an edition that worked for me.

One retelling that I still have to finish is Renée Ahdieh’s duology The Wrath & the Dawn. I read the first book in the series, and really liked it, but I haven’t gotten around to reading the second book in the series, The Rose & the Dagger. I would like to, but there are so many other books out there that I want to read that I haven’t really gotten around to the second one.

That’s all I have for this week. Next week we’re going to talk about Animal Sidekicks and Shapeshifters. I’m going to have to think about that one.

A Thousand Perfect Notes

By Brookelorren on April 11, 2019March 29, 2019Leave a Comment

What can we say about A Thousand Perfect Notes… it’s a beautiful book! I bought this book on the Kindle, but if you’ve ever seen the paperback copy with the beautiful butterfly that folds out, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s by C.G. Drews… AKA Paper Fury! That alone is probably enough to make you want to check out this book.

A Thousand Perfect Notes is about a boy named Beck. He loves his little sister and lives with an abusive mother who tries to compensate for her broken life by forcing him to become the person she wanted to be. This means practicing on the piano for hours a day, neglecting his school work in favor of the piano, and never having a social life. It’s a pretty dreary existence.

Things change when his teacher teams him up with August for a school project. Even though he keeps telling her no, she won’t give up on him. Her intrusion into his life changes his family forever.

What I Liked

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. A Thousand Perfect Notes brings us into an impoverished fictional town somewhere in Australia. Beck and August weren’t the only characters I felt for in this book. Everybody seemed to have a difficult life. But aren’t we all facing something?

The main characters were great. Beck’s mother was a monster, but she had her own personal demons to deal with too. Beck was a sweet, caring cinnamon roll who you just have to with a better life for. August was a sweet, optimistic girl with a dash of crunchy-granola.

Drawbacks?

This is a beautiful story and I think the only thing that separates this book from one of my favorite books that I read this year is a matter of taste. It’s a sweet story with a small but adorable cast. There’s no world-shaking politics, oh-no-we’re-all-gonna-die! moments, or anything like that. The book is light on romance. And that’s okay. We need stories like this one.

Conclusion

If you’re in the mood for a sweet contemporary with adorable characters that deserve better in life and find comfort among each other, A Thousand Perfect Notes is a good choice. I enjoyed this book, although I think I will choose to read C.G. Drews next book, The Boy Who Steals Houses, at a moment when I’m tired of dark fantasy and need something lighter. Because this author is definitely worth reading again.

Outrageous Things I’ve Done for the Love of Books (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on April 9, 2019March 25, 201941 Comments

It’s Tuesday again, and my favorite thing about today is that it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday. Today’s topic is Outrageous Things I’ve Done for the Love of Books. My first thought was “I haven’t done anything outrageous for the love of books.” As you’ll see, that’s not quite true. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

10. Bought a book on Vacation Because I Left My Copy at Home. I’ve read Legend in Spanish. Although I do sometimes read books in Spanish (and occasionally German or Russian) just to improve my language skills, the reason why I read Legend in Spanish is because I left my paperback copy at home while I went on vacation. After I bought the set for my neice as a Christmas gift, I really wanted to read the book again, so I bought it in Spanish so I could read it without buying the same thing twice.

9. Stay Up Late. Is there anybody that hasn’t stayed up to read? Ever? I’m sure this happens a lot, to a lot of us.

8. Spend a Lot of Money. I’m sure I’m not alone on this one. Yes, I get books from the library, and I get books on sale, but sometimes you just have to have the hardcover version of that book from your favorite author, or you have to read the book now and can’t wait.

7. Write Fanfiction. Most of my fanfiction (which I post on AO3) is based on books. I wrote two novellas that were based on bands when I was in high school, but you’re never going to read them. Most of my fanfics are short novels or novellas.

6. Learn Welsh. In the book I’m writing (see number 3 below) a lot of words in my story are based on Welsh. So I learned some. I’m not a proficient reader or speaker of the language, but I can say a few things.

5. Get Tickets to a Literature Conference. I haven’t gone yet, but I’m going to the Colorado Teen Literature Conference this upcoming weekend! Tickets weren’t free, and I have to get up über early, but I’m excited (and a little nervous, since I’ve never been to one of these things).

4. Spent the Night in the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium Parking Lot. I wonder if I’m the only person that will be listing this one for Top Ten Tuesday. Probably. Did you know they lock up the parking lot in the middle of the night? Good thing I didn’t have to go to the bathroom. It was July too. Anyway, I was waiting there because I wanted Glenn Beck to sign my book. I ended up being first in line, and I met some really nice people there too.

3. Write a Novel. I’m not ready to query my original fiction work, THE BRIGHTNESS OF SHADOW, just yet, but I wrote it, and if I didn’t love books, I wouldn’t have written it.

2. Name my Kids After Book Characters. Yes, both of my kids are named after book characters (see the book below). They’re actually the second generation in my family to be named after elves. My middle name comes from Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien. While my real middle name isn’t actually Lorren, it’s close, and now you know that it ultimately derives from a Tolkein work.

1. Marry a Boy. I think I can say that this is probably the most outrageous thing I’ve done for the love of books. My then-boyfriend gave me Dragons of Autumn Twilight shortly after I met him. Not only that, he’s an author. What more could you ask for?

Of course, there’s a lot more to love about my husband than the fact that he gave me a book. But I can probably say that it helped, and certainly didn’t hurt.

So what outrageous things have you done for books? Are you glad you did them? Next week we’re talking about Rainy Day Reads. Any day is a good day to read, but I guess I’ll have to look into books that are good for rainy days. I’ll see you then!

Finale Goes Out With a Bang

By Brookelorren on April 8, 2019April 5, 20192 Comments

I was so excited when I got an email from Netgalley saying I was approved to read Finale by Stephanie Garber. I loved Caraval and Legendary, and had already pre-ordered it. My Advanced Review copy was given to me in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved this book.

Because this is the third book in a series, this review contains spoilers from the previous two books.

Finale starts shortly after Legendary ends. Legend is going to be the emperor, and after leaving Tella at the end of the last book, only visits her in dreams. Their mother is still asleep. Scarlett has decided that she wants to get to know her former fiancée Nicholas even though she has feelings for Julian. Nothing is perfect.

And everything is about to get worse.

When the Fates start waking up, Tella witnesses something heartbreaking… and disturbing. She vows to get back at The Fallen Star, who seems to be the worst of the Fates. In order to hurt him, she has to find out what his weakness is. Then she has to exploit it to kill him.

Meanwhile, Scarlett decided that she wanted to have Julian and Nicholas compete with each other so she can decide who she will marry. Almost as soon as she makes that deal, she realizes that she wants Julian. Before she can tell them both that, her life turns south as well.

What follows is a beautiful, twisty story where secrets are revealed, people have to work with people they otherwise wouldn’t want to work with, and love triangles resolve quite nicely. All of this neatly packaged amidst a sea of gorgeous words and lines that give me all the feels.

I recently started a book journal where I write down some of my favorite quotes and reactions to books I read. There were so many quotes I wrote down from this book. “She looked the way Love might have looked if Love looked in a mirror, infectuously happy and radiantly beautiful.” Also I loved the line “maybe no one deserved love. Maybe love was always a gift.” My favorite line in the book was the last two sentences of chapter 59. I can’t quote it here because of spoilers.

The heart on the cover of Finale tells you exactly how I feel about it. The ending was amazing. I highly recommend it.

Hundreds

By Brookelorren on April 6, 2019March 28, 2019Leave a Comment

After reading Pennies and Dollars by Pepper Winters, I had to read the next book in the series, Hundreds. Never mind that I still haven’t read the next two books (I will though). This third book in the Dollar series has more twists and allows us to get to know Pim and Elder a little bit more.

Since Hundreds is the third book in the series, there are spoilers for the first two books.

Pim is now talking, but as you would expect, she’s still dealing with the hurts of her past. She’s falling for Elder, but he doesn’t seem to think it’s such a good idea. In this book, we learn why.

We learn a lot about Elder in this book. Despite his dark past, I still like him. He’s written in such a way so that even though you know he’s made mistakes, you still like him (or at least I do). I root for his character, and I root for him and Pim to get together.

Elder tries to get Pim to become a thief like he was, and in a way, I’m rooting for Pim not to go down this dark path. I don’t know what direction this series is headed in (and since I haven’t read the last two books yet, I still don’t know), but I hope that she doesn’t go down the path of darkness.

This is another great book in the series, although it’s left at something of a cliffhanger. I imagine that Hundreds will take quite a different turn in the next book. There were revelations in this book that will probably raise their heads in Thousands.

If you enjoyed the first two books in the Dollar series, you’ll probably want to continue with Hundreds. I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first two, and plan to continue reading this series with the last two books at some point.

Favorite Book of March (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on April 5, 2019April 4, 20194 Comments

It’s Friday again, which means it’s time to fangirl! Today’s Fangirling on Friday topic is “Favorite of March”. I read so many great books this last month, so even though I have one book in mind, I also have several honorable mentions.

So I think I’m going to give the favorite book of the month award to Sky without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell! This was a great book. I loved the main characters, Chatine and Marcellus, and I hope that when the next book comes out I get to see more of them together. Of course, Alouette is an interesting character as well, but I’m hoping for Chatine and Marcellus to get together.

The book is described as Les Miserables meets The Lunar Chronicles. I need to read both of those books, but I haven’t yet. Why? Well, maybe because of the other 300 books on my TBR…

I read so many good books last month, but I should give an honorable mention to The Grisha Verse books by Leigh Bardugo. So I started reading Shadow and Bone in February, but in March I read Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising. I completely ship Malina! I also listened to Six of Crows on audiobook (same universe, different story). They were all good.

In March I found out that Leigh Bardugo is releasing a book on October 1st (what’s up with that date… it’s also the date Rebel and The End and Other Beginnings comes out) called Ninth House. I want to pre-order that book, but I looked at my budget for this month, and since I’m meeting Sandhya Menon next week, I’m getting When Dimple Met Rishi instead. I’m sure I can pre-order her book next month, but October is still six months away, so there’s plenty of time to come up with $22 between now and then.

So that’s my favorite from March. What were your favorites?

Dollars and More…

By Brookelorren on April 4, 2019March 28, 2019Leave a Comment

Dollars is the second book in the Dollar series by Pepper Winters. It was another book that was difficult to put down. After reading Pennies, I was happy that my library had this one ready to read (I had to request that they buy Hundreds, I’ll probably buy the last two books). It is far less disturbing than the first book, and deals with a person in recovery.

Because this is the second book in a series, there are spoilers.

Dollars starts where Pennies leaves off. Elder has rescued Pimlico from Alrik, but the damage done from over a year of abuse has already occurred. Not only is her mind damaged to the point where she can’t even wear clothes without being uncomfortable, her tongue is damaged and her body bears the scars and burdens of someone much older than she is.

Even though she has been “rescued”, she still is not free. Pimlico may be in a gilded cage rather than a torture chamber, but she still belongs to someone. With her damaged mind, will she ever be able to be truly free? There’s a scene where Pimlico and Elder are on a business trip and Elder runs into someone who plans on attending one of the auctions run by the same company that sold her in the first place. Her mind nearly shatters again at that. She fears that she might be sold again.

In Dollars, we get to know the mysterious Elder, although there is still much about his past that needs to be revealed. He says he’s dangerous, but there doesn’t seem to be much that he does to hurt Pim.

The book was difficult to put down. It’s hard to put a finger on why, but there’s something about this book that was addictive. Fortunately, Dollars isn’t as dark as Pennies, otherwise I’d have trouble finishing this series. Pim and Elder are obviously developing an attraction to each other, but Pim still refuses to talk.

Pennies is still free (probably with the hopes of sucking you into the rest of the series) and Dollars and the rest of the series is reasonably priced. I haven’t had the chance to read any of the series past Hundreds, but I do plan on reading the last two books at some point. If you liked Pennies, I recommend continuing with this book.

Pennies is Dark But Worth More

By Brookelorren on April 3, 2019March 28, 2019Leave a Comment

I got Pennies for free last November; it came with a matching audiobook at the time. I figured if I got more audiobooks, I’d be able to read more books in general. I had been interested in reading A Boy and His Ribbon by the same author, so I figured I might as well pick it up.

This is definitely not a YA book. It’s fairly disturbing. But it’s worth reading if you’re okay with that.

Tasmin is strangled, revived, then renamed as Pimlico and sold as a sex slave when she was eighteen. She endures brutal treatment by the jerk that bought her, whose name is Alrik, but she is expected to refer to as Master A. After two years, she is just a shell of what she used to be, half starved and covered with scars and bruises.

Will she ever escape this living hell before death claims her? At one point this book seems hopeless and you know something has to change, or it wouldn’t be a good story. Fortunately, it does.

Alrik invites a client over, Mr. Prest, who sees Pimlico for what she is: a slave. He’s not a very nice guy himself and doesn’t want to get involved. Any involvement on his part could result in worse treatment. When he leaves, you want him to come back and take her away. You’ll just have to read the book to find out what happens next.

The book is very dark and hard to read at points, but fortunately, even though Pimlico undergoes extremely harsh treatment, we don’t have to read any graphic rape scenes or anything like that. We just know that it is happening. You have to feel sorry for her, want her to escape, and want her tormentors to see justice.

Pennies is difficult to put down. I stayed up a little bit to late so I could finish it. There are more books to this series, and you’ll want to find out what happens next, so you’ll probably want to plan on reading the next books in the series at some point after this one.

Things that Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on April 2, 2019April 1, 201938 Comments

Happy Tuesday! Once again it’s Top Ten Tuesday, where we make a list based on a new topic every week. This week’s topic is Things that Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! Let’s get started!

The Cover – So I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes I do. Usually it’s for the better though: I’ll read a book with a bad cover, but sometimes an amazing cover will make me pick up a book that I might otherwise overlook for the time being. Wicked Fox is one of those books that I saw the cover of and I knew I had to read it.

I Like the Author’s Other Books – There are a couple of authors that, if they write it, I will buy it. They could write about the alphabet and I know it’d be good. Veronica Roth is one of them. There’s also a slowly growing list of authors where I love their books enough that if they write something, there’s a good chance I will buy it. I might like most of what they write, but the occasional story doesn’t appeal to me.

I Like the Author – While this might seem like a repeat of the last reason, it’s not. If I know an author in person, interact with them on Twitter, etc. then I’m more likely to pick up their book. Walking With Angels is my husband’s book, so of course I read that one. I don’t read all of my friend’s books, but I’m more likely to.

People Keep Talking About It – If enough people tell me about how wonderful a book is, I’m likely to at least look at it to see if it sounds interesting. I heard so many people talking about how wonderful the Six of Crows duology was, and then King of Scars, that I decided to start reading Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Verse books (they’re great, by the way).

Comp Titles – If I like a book’s comp titles, I’m more likely to want to read it. To be honest, I wasn’t really impressed with The Tiger at Midnight‘s cover, but one of its comp titles is Legend, and I just have to read it.

It’s Popular – Some people don’t like to read hyped books, but more often than not, books are popular for a reason. Goodreads has a Listopia feature which has lists of the most popular YA books from different years. My TBR is so packed that I don’t always rely on this any more, but I do sometimes.

It’s Part of a Series I Already Love – It doesn’t take much to make me read the second or third book in a series that I already enjoy. I’ll typically pre-order books like that months in advance. I’ve already pre-ordered Rebel, and Queen of Nothing became the first book coming out in 2020 that I’ve already pre-ordered.

Twitter Made Me Do It – Whoever is behind The Incorrect Cruel Prince Twitter account is a marketing genius. While I would have eventually read The Cruel Prince, it definitely moved up a few slots in my TBR because of that Twitter account.

It’s On Sale – I’m a sucker for Amazon’s monthly sales. Or if a book goes on sale for the weekend and I see it on Twitter. I won’t buy any book because it goes on sale, but if it’s a book that seemed interesting and it goes on sale, I’ll probably get it. I got Ace of Shades for only $1.99.

It’s an ARC that Fits Into My Schedule – I attempt to review one ARC every week. Sometimes I get approved for the big books that everybody is talking about. Other times, I need to find an ARC that is publishing within a certain time frame that I can download immediately. Even though I might have unread ARCs available, publishers typically don’t like reviews out too far ahead of time, so I have to wait on them. Into the Hollow was a book that was coming out at the right time and looked interesting, so I picked it up.

There are other things that will make me pick up a book, like an amazing-sounding story. Often, it’s a combination of several factors.

What things will make you pick up a book? Next week, we’ll talk about outrageous things that I’ve done for the love of books. I didn’t think there was anything at first, but… I have a few that probably most people haven’t done. See you then!

King of Fools… On April Fool’s Day!

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

Happy April Fool’s Day! It’s entirely a coincidence that I’m reviewing Amanda Foody’s King of Fools on April 1st; the book just happens to be coming out within a month and this was the next book on my list to review. I was provided with an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

After beating the Shadow Game, Enne and Levi’s lives are about to change. Enne has earned a notorious reputation as her alter ego, Séance, and Levi’s gang is in ruins, but he wants to rebuild it. Levi sees a potential opportunity when Harrison, Vianca’s son, contacts him and wants to 1) win the upcoming election, and 2) see Vianca dead. The difficult part is going against Vianca when she has an omerta against him (and Enne).

While Levi is trying to rebuild his gang, Enne (Séance) is forming hers. Enne’s girl gang is a lot different than your typical gang. Instead of your typical guy clothes, these girls wear fancy gloves and skirts. And they have cats (so does that make them crazy cat ladies?).

King of Fools excels in many areas. First, the relationships are great. Levi and Jac’s friendship is tested in several ways, as is Levi and Enne’s budding relationship. There are several characters, not just Levi and Enne, that have lives and make independent decisions that drive this story. They also have to deal with their consciences and past demons. It’s well-done.

Another place where this book is great is in how it deals with power. Power (both among the gangsters on the lower rungs and among the powerful politicians) is a huge theme of this story. The way the politicians’ decisions affect the people’s lives and the way they fight back is great.

While this book kept me interested the whole time, it did seem to lag a little bit towards the middle, but then picked up and I stayed up a little too late so I could finish it.

The ending of King of Fools! I definitely plan on reading the next book because I want to find out what happens. I don’t want to say what happens because – spoilers – but the next book will definitely see some changes.

I definitely recommend King of Fools if you like power manipulation and exciting books with gangsters and a little magic. You’ll want to read Ace of Shades first though, if you haven’t, otherwise you might be lost.