Fangirling on Friday Archives - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Evil Male Leaders (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on June 28, 2019June 27, 20192 Comments

It’s Friday again, so it’s time to Fangirl! Today we’re talking about Evil Male Leaders. We did Evil Female Leaders last month. This looks like it might be an easier topic to write than Evil Female Leaders, as I’m already finding some books I don’t always talk about! As always, Fangirling on Friday is hosted by Books in the Skye!

Adolph Hitler – Defying Hitler

First I’ll start with one of the most evil leaders of all. There are a lot of really evil imaginary leaders in books, but Hitler is one of the worst in modern memory. I mean, how many people name their kids Adolph anymore (I have a great-great grandfather with that name, but I swear his last name wasn’t Hitler). Sebastian Haffner’s book talks about his life during the years leading up to Hitler’s takeover of Germany. It’s a good warning for all of us.

Joffrey – A Game of Thrones

Now that we’ve gotten a real-life monster out of the way, it’s time to move on to the fictional ones. Joffrey from A Game of Thrones is pretty horrific. This book series actually has quite a few evil male leaders, if I recall, but Joffrey is pretty much the first one that really stands out to me. I was pretty happy with what happened to him. Some of the other evil male leaders in this series also get what they deserve, but the book series isn’t done yet (let’s hope it doesn’t end the way I’ve heard the HBO series ended).

Lazmet Noavek – Carve the Mark

This guy was pretty bad, although if I remember correctly, his mother wasn’t much of a gem either. At any rate, if Lazmet hadn’t been so much of an ass, then there might not have been a story for Veronica Roth to begin with. I guess I won’t say more for fear of giving out spoilers. I’m doing a reread of this series so I thought I should bring up this one.

There are a few other evil male leaders that I can think of from books I tend to talk about a lot:

The Elector – Legend
Valentine – City of Bones
Maven – Red Queen

I figured that I talk about those books all the time though.

Favorite Fathers (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on June 21, 2019June 19, 20194 Comments

::Waves:: Hello! Welcome to another edition of Fangirling on Friday, where we fangirl over something. Today, we’re going to talk about favorite fathers!

I thought this topic might be easier than Favorite Mothers, but now that I’m writing this, I’m not so sure. There aren’t too many parents — period — in YA books! I’ll do my best though.

Colm Fahey: Crooked Kingdom – Leigh Bardugo

Jesper’s dad was the first name that came to mind when I thought of good dads. Sure, he wasn’t perfect — he kinda messed up a bit when Jesper was a kid — but he also didn’t freak out too badly when he found out just how badly his son had messed up. I don’t know about you, but if I found out my kid was about to lose my house, had dropped out of college, and now bad guys were after us? I wouldn’t be that cool.

The Dad in Alex, Approximately – Jenn Bennett

So I don’t remember the dad’s name, okay? Anyway, he gets Bailey a job, fixes up a motorcycle for her, and seems like a cool guy. His relationship with Bailey’s mom didn’t really work out, and now he lives on the opposite side of the country from her, and he eventually starts to have a life of his own again, finding a new girlfriend. Doesn’t seem like such a bad dad to have.

Kin: Here and Now and Then – Mike Chen

I remembered Kin when I first started thinking about this topic. In this book, the dad is literally the hero. He’s the time-traveler with the daughter he’s trying to save. He doesn’t give up on her, even though he has to break a few rules in the process. Ultimately, he is willing to give up some of his own happiness for his daughter’s benefit. But it does turn out all good.

Cetti’s Adoptive Dad: Storm Glass – Jeff Wheeler

I almost forgot Cetti’s adoptive dad in Storm Glass (I can’t remember his name). There aren’t too many adoptive parents in YA. I haven’t read any of the other books in The Harbinger series yet, but at least in the first book, he seems like a good guy. First, he takes in this little street girl. Then, he still pursues adoption even though his social circle is against it. And he seems like an understanding and caring guy.

I tried to find some other dads, but I’m drawing a blank for good dads. The dads in Spin the Dawn, Red Queen, and A Court of Thorns and Roses meant well, but they were broken. And let’s not even talk about dads like those in The Young Elites and Heartless — those were awful. Let’s face it, it’s hard to find good parents in YA.

Best Friends (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on June 14, 2019June 13, 20194 Comments

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means: it’s time to fangirl! Fangirling on Friday is hosted by Books in the Skye! Today we’re going to talk about best friends in books.

The first pair of best friends that I thought of when doing this prompt was Clary and Simon from The Mortal Instruments. Even though their relationship is strained once Clary finds out she’s a Shadowhunter, they remain friends. That whole Shadowhunter thing eventually works out, too.

A more controversial best friend pair would be Alina and Mal from the Grisha Verse books. I happen to be someone that roots for them, although some people don’t agree with me (that’s okay). I love how they were two orphans that grew up together and still stick by each other’s sides, even though they end up going through a lot.

I don’t get to talk about Elise and Mariko from The Last Year of the War a lot, but these two are an amazing best friend pair. They both meet in a concentration camp during World War II, and are forced apart by their parents, never to see each other again. Until the end. This book put me in tears multiple times.

Another book that I don’t get to talk about a lot is When Elephants Fly, but it does have a good best-friend dynamic. Lily is so concerned about her mental health and all the drama going on in her life that she doesn’t see the stress that her best friend Sawyer is under. Their friendship isn’t the focus of this story, but it is an important subplot.

What best friend relationships do you like in books? There don’t seem to be that many of them, even though they add color to a story.

Next week, in honor of Father’s Day, we’re going to talk about favorite fathers. Fortunately, there are more fathers in YA books than mothers.

Favorite of May (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on June 7, 2019June 6, 2019Leave a Comment

It’s Friday again, and time for another edition of Fangirling on Friday (hosted by Books in the Skye). Since it’s a new month, we’re going to talk about our favorite books from last month. This month I picked two books!

The first book I picked for May was Rebel by Beverly Jenkins! I was so very happy to be picked to read an ARC for this book (although it’s out now!). I found this book after reading glowing reviews by Bookish Pisces, and I’m glad I did. There’s history, romance, and some really great characters in this book!

In October, another book named Rebel that I expect to love is coming out (the fourth book in the Legend tetralogy by Marie Lu) so I’m guessing there will be two books that I love with that title coming out this year. In my blog notes, I’ve had to be careful to designate which Rebel book I’m talking about!

I tend to read a lot of fantasy, and many of the best of the month posts I’ve written are dominated by that genre, but not this month! The other book that earned favorite-of-the-month status for May was Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett. I kept thinking about this book, even when I had to go to my job.

I’ve been trying to read some of the books I purchased on sale a while back, and this was one of the books one the list. Even though a lot of them are on my summer reading list, I’m not doing a very good job of it. There were a lot of books on sale Sunday, so… even though I read one, I bought six more. But I’m never at a loss for books to read?

Jenn Bennett has a new book coming out later this year, The Lady Rogue, and I was fortunate enough to be approved for an ARC of that book, so I’m looking forward to reading it soon.

So those were my favorite books from May! Julie Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox and Soul of the Sword were also outstanding, but I had to narrow it down somehow. Next week, we’re going to talk about bookish best friends.

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!

Favorite Mothers (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on May 17, 2019May 13, 20194 Comments

It’s Friday again (yay) and it’s time for another episode of Fangirling on Friday. Today we’re going to talk about our favorite mothers? It was Mother’s Day last week, and I hope you had the chance to talk to your mom. When it comes to YA moms, they’re generally absent. Even in the book I’m writing, I kill one off with the plague, and my male MC hasn’t seen his mom in years (although she shows up later on in the book). I guess it’s hard to be tromping off on adventures when your mom is there to keep you safe.

Anyway, I did come up with a couple good moms, after thinking about it for quite a while.

Jocelyn Fray is one of the rare examples of moms in YA fantasy that actually has some influence on her daughter. Hooray! She used to be a Shadowhunter in her own right, but decided to live life as a mortal later on. She’s not an overbearing presence in her daughter Clary’s life, although she does worry about her daughter (which she probable should; life as a Shadowhunter is dangerous). I love how sometimes Clary worries about what her mom thinks, yet at the same time, sometimes she rebels against her wishes (because otherwise she’d stay home and never have adventures).

Oh, and she was conveniently taken out for a while by being put into a coma-like state, which allowed Clary to find her way as a Shadowhunter without having to deal with her mom.

Another book that actually has a mom in it is Brenna Morgan and the Iron Key. Brenna is an older teen (which is probably fairly necessary if your parents are going to allow you to traipse about and have adventures), but her mom is still there to make sure that she does the right thing. Put on a coat! Why were you out so late! Stay safe!

Perhaps an important component of a good YA mom is that she has been on adventures herself. Brenna’s mom has traveled all over the world and at least has some inclination to let her daughter go save the world.

Next week we’re going to talk about evil female leaders. I can at least think of a couple of these without racking my brain so hard. I’ll see you then!

Royalty (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on May 10, 2019May 8, 20194 Comments

It’s Friday again! That means (looks at watch) I only have three more weeks until I get to work from home and do this writing/blogging/homeschooling thing full time! Woo! I’m excited for that, but for now, we have Fangirling on Friday, hosted by Books in the Skye! Today we’re talking about royalty.

One of my favorite series involving royalty at the moment happens to be The Cruel Prince. They’re not exactly the poster child for great royal families, but if you’ve read history (and I tend to like history a lot) then you probably see that royalty in real life isn’t a whole lot like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. Except for the bad things that happen to them. So having a messed up royal house maybe is a prerequisite for being royalty? I absolutely love Jude and Cardan, and am looking forward to The Queen of Nothing. They postponed Chain of Gold until next March, but they moved up the final Folk of the Air book to (I think) the same week that Chain of Gold originally was supposed to come out, so at least I get to read this one this year at least!

Of course, what would a post on royalty be without talk about queens? I absolutely loved Four Dead Queens. Quadara is a unique country that has not one, but four queens… and no king.

But something is going on and someone is offing the queens. Dun dun DUN! Why? Will they catch the killer? This story was quite unique and I didn’t really guess the twist to this book. I’d love to see more books by this author.

I don’t mention Heartless by Marissa Meyer all that often, but it was one of the first books I reviewed on this blog. This is the story of The Queen of Hearts before she becomes the queen in wonderland. You just have to feel sorry for her, because all she wants to do is bake, and her parents expect her to marry the king instead. And she falls in love with someone as well (that isn’t the king).

So there you go: three books about royalty that I really liked. What are some books revolving around royalty that you like? Mother’s Day is coming up (in the US, at least) and we’ll be talking about favorite mothers next week. Eep! A lot of my favorite characters have lost their mothers! Forget favorites… maybe I’ll just write about characters whose mothers aren’t dead or evil! If I can find a few of them.

Favorite Books of April (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on May 3, 2019April 30, 20194 Comments

It’s Friday, and it’s the beginning of the month, so what does that mean? Not only does it mean it’s time for Fangirling on Friday, but it’s time for me to talk about my favorite books from last month. Fangirling on Friday is hosted by Books in the Skye!

This month I’m going to pick two favorites… one a fantasy, and the other a contemporary!

Favorite Fantasy: Finale – Stephanie Garber

I was so lucky that I was approved for the Finale ARC. In fact, publishers loved me in April and I’m so thankful. Finale was my favorite fantasy novel I read last month.

I read Caraval for the first time last summer, so waiting for the next books in this series hasn’t been as long a journey for me as it has been for many of you, but I thought this series had a beautiful (and fitting) ending. I loved this book so much that I pre-ordered a finished copy. I got it on Kindle though because I’m running low on room for books!

Favorite Contemporary: When Dimple Met Rishi – Sandhya Menon

I was lucky enough to hear Sandhya Menon speak not once, but twice last month. Of course I had to buy one of her books. I bought her first book because I read that Dimple Shah liked computers, and so do I, so I figured that we already had something in common. And I loved this book. Now I’m fortunate enough to have a signed copy.

So what about you? What was your favorite book from last month?

First Books In Series (That Made Me Want More)

By Brookelorren on April 26, 2019April 25, 20192 Comments

Hello and welcome to another edition of Fangirling on Friday, where I fangirl over some of my favorite books. It’s hosted by Books In the Skye. You can make your own lists too if you’d like. Today’s prompt is “First Series” which I’m not exactly sure what that means, so I’m going to write about series where the first books hooked me and made me want to read more.

One book that hooked me from the beginning was The 5th Wave. It was one of my favorite books of the year when I read it. I just had to read the rest of the series. Sadly, although I loved this book, the rest of the series was just… okay. I was kinda hoping that it would go in a different direction. The ending of the series was… satisfactory. It wasn’t so bad that I felt I had to write fix-it fanfiction, but it wasn’t the ending that would leave me fangirling for years. Although the first book… loved it!

Oh how I loved Flame in the Mist! It was the first Renée Ahdieh book I read and this is definitely a book I could fangirl over! I enjoyed Smoke in the Sun (and loved how the duology ended) but it didn’t have quite the magic that the first book did for me. I remember reading it at work, getting to a really good part, and then I’d have to go back to work. I couldn’t stop thinking about the book while I was at work. I just love books that you just can’t stop thinking about, and this was one of them. Sometimes I still feel the need to read certain passages again.

It’s not a secret that I love Divergent. After I read the first 50 pages, I just couldn’t put this book down. When I went home, I finished this book, read the beginning of Insurgent, went to bed, and the next day finished Insurgent and Allegiant, going to bed at four in the morning in tears. Although I hated the last little bit of Allegiant, this book drug me into YA and I’ve been a fangirl over this book for years. I own the first book in the series in four languages. I even dressed as Tris to the Insurgent movie premiere.

I’ve read the complete series for all the books above, but a book I’ve read recently that I haven’t read the ending to is Sky Without Stars. J’adore this book! While it didn’t end quite on a cliffhanger, I really have to find out what happens! I hope to get my hands on a copy of it’s sequel, Between Burning Worlds, as soon as possible. Which probably won’t be until some time next year, but when it does come out, I plan to read it. And I hope I gush over the sequel as much as I did the first book.

So what book series drug you in with the first book? Next week we’re going to talk about my favorite book I read in April. Wow, it’s already that time? I have a feeling I know which book that’s going to be, but I’m probably going to finish one more book between now and the end of the month, so we’ll see if the book I loved the best so far remains my favorite.

Shapeshifters (Fangirling on Friday)

By Brookelorren on April 19, 2019April 14, 2019Leave a Comment

It’s Friday again, and it’s time for #Fangirling on Friday, where we get to fangirl over our favorite stories (of course, if you could fanboy or fanperson if you wanted too). Today’s topic (hosted by Books in the Skye is Animal Sidekicks or Shapeshifters). I can’t think of any animal sidekicks in books I’ve read about recently. I used to read a lot of horse books like The Black Stallion, but I don’t even remember very much about the books, so I’m going with Shapeshifters today.

The Fey of Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses

I can’t really think of too many shapeshifting books either, but at least I know of some. The first books that came to my name were the Throne of Glass books by Sarah J. Maas. The fae in her books all have the ability to shapeshift into some other form. In Aelin’s case, she transforms between fae and human, however, another fae in the book can transform between fae and a bird (I almost gave away a spoiler there, oops).

The fae of A Court of Thorns and Roses can also shapeshift, but I’ve only read the first book in the series, so I can’t tell you much about their abilities, but Ms. Maas has said that the characters are both from the same universe, so it’s not that difficult to believe.

Shadowhunters

The only other shapeshifters that I can think of are the werewolves in Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter books. Just like Ms. Maas’s books are plentiful and long, so are Ms. Clare’s. If you only read The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and The Dark Artifaces, you’re reading 12 books! Some of them are 700/800 pages long. Then there’s also several companion books and The Red Scrolls of Magic. I’ll be reading Ghosts of the Shadow Market, which comes out on June 4th.

Can you think of any shapeshifting books or books with animal sidekicks?

Next week’s Fangirling on Friday topic is “First Series” and I’m not sure whether that is supposed to be “First books of series” or “First series by a debut author”. I’ll probably write about the former.