Review of 'Spark' by Alice Broadway

A few months ago I plunged into Ink, the first in a soon-to-be trilogy by Alice Broadway. As soon as I finished it, I downloaded Spark to my kindle because THE ENDING. I needed to find out what happened asap.

Review of 'Shiver' by Maggie Stiefvater

It's no secret that I love YA fiction, and fantasy makes up such a decent amount of the YA fiction I love to read. I saw a few tweets the other day about how YA shouldn't be classed as a genre in itself because it's so diverse, and I really think that's right: there's such a wealth of great young adult fiction out there, and it ought to be respected. 

Anyway, I bought Shiver because the cover was beautiful and it reminded me of a book I'd read as a teen with a similar cover. I'm a sucker for good cover marketing, especially now that I work in publishing and know how much effort and thought can go in to them.

Grace lives in a small American town, which is pretty normal if you ignore the wolves skirting around the edges of it hidden in the forest. When Grace was a child she was dragged into the forest by a pack of wolves and almost killed, but rather than fearing them, she feels a deep affinity to one wolf in particular who saved her. 

Each year she spends her time looking out for 'her' wolf, and spies him watching her back from between the trees. Grace is fully obsessed with the wolves, and she'd do anything to (safely) reach out to them. But when a boy is attacked, and another one goes missing, Grace is forced to face the fact that there might be something more sinister than she ever thought going on with the pack ...

This is the first in a trilogy that I'm determined to make my way through. Although the writing was a little simplistic, I really enjoyed the plot of the book, and I want to see where it goes next. This was such a great read for October when things are getting a little spooky, and I might save the next one in the set until that time this year to fully embrace the season!

This is a great YA read for those interested in fantasy and people that enjoyed the Twilight series.

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Review of 'The Girl in Between' by Laekan Zea Kemp

Sometimes when it comes to picking out a favourite quotation from a book I find it really hard - some authors just don't write in a way which appeals to me lyrically. But, with The Girl in Between I really was torn between a handful of quotations because this book was written so well. This one spoke out to me largely because it impacts the way I read, as well as the way I think about people. I'm always looking for the 'bad' character or 'good' character and sometimes it's nice to have a reminder that, just like real people, characters aren't always that simple. 

I haven't read a book with a fantasy aspect to it in what feels like absolutely forever, so this was really quite refreshing. The main character, Bryn, has an incurable disease called Klein-Levin Syndrome (or KLS for short). This means that sometimes when she falls asleep she doesn't wake up for days, or occasionally even weeks. Normally people who suffer from KLS experience a dreamless sleep, but every time Bryn has an episode she wakes up in an almost new world. This world is filled with all of her memories, and the details are so intense in it that she can even see the words of books she read years ago and the weather on certain days that she spent with family or friends.

Bryn is fairly used to this dream world, but what she doesn't expect is to find a boy washed up on the shore there one day. She knows she hasn't met him before, so what is he doing in her memory bank world? The boy can't give her any answers either: he has no idea who he is, where he came from or what he's doing stuck there. Is he just a figment of Bryn's imagination, or is there something more serious going on here?

This was another free kindle read that had a MASSIVE cliffhanger at the end, and next time pay day rolls around, the second book in the series is going to be at the top of my to-buy list. 

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "The Deathsniffer's Assistant" by Kate McIntyre

I haven't read a fantasy novel in YEARS, and this was definitely a good'un to return to the genre with. The trick with fantasy novels is to make them believable, and I think if the author doubts themself, or the story they are writing in it's potential veracity, then the story is lost to the world of poor quality fantasy novels (of which there are many). However, MycIntyre makes it possible for readers to utterly immerse themselves in the world of The Deathsniffer's Assistant with her excellent prose and manifold plot streams. If you've ever read any of Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, I would say that this is probably a read for you. Mixing darkness with love, honour and a little bit of social scheming, The Deathsniffer's Assistant is definitely going on my list as a 2015 must-read.

Chris didn't choose to be his younger sister's guardian, but after the incident at the Floating Castle left them orphaned he had no choice. Now, a few years on the family inheritance is starting to run dry and Chris must find a job to support himself and Rosemary. However, when he was categorized, as all young men and women are, he was designated to become a simple wordweaver: something that is hardly highly regarded, or highly paid for that matter. The only job he can get is with a Deathsniffer. Although Truthsniffers in their own right are a decent sort of folk, one that specialises in death, and more so, proclaims that they are a Deathsniffer is bound to be a little ... repellant. But, faced with either working for the Deathsniffer or ending up in abject poverty, Chris must join forces with this individual and seek the murderer of a member of the old blood: Duke Val Darens. 

However, perhaps there are darker forces at work even than the person who so brutally killed the Duke and defaced his dead body. Rosemary's secret wizardly binding skills have been kept hidden for years by Chris, but with the creatures starting to break loose from their binds, causing damage and turmoil everywhere, perhaps it will be harder to keep her safe than he'd ever thought ...

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "Candra's Freedom"*

(photo from harperimpulse)

This is the second in a series of romance-fantasy books by A J Nuest - as I loved the first one (Rowena's Key - check out my review here), I was lucky enough to be sent an e-copy of the sequel. Believe me, after the cliff-hanger at the end of Rowena's Key, I REALLY needed to get my hands on this. Candra's Freedom felt a bit more like a novella to me than a full-blown novel, but with my time restrictions at the moment (imagine me surrounded by mounds of books and reams of paper in a slightly dingy and untidy student room), this was just what I needed for a bit of light reading. 

Rowena finds herself trapped in a castle with no memory or her life before the room she is in. After a number of unsavory advances from her captor, Prince Braedric, combined with the unwavering belief that the people of this mystical place have in her being a sorceress, she begins to strengthen herself for escape. However, this also starts to go downhill with Caedmon returns and states that they're ... betrothed?! And she's expected to love him?! - Fuck that!

This really spoke out to me about female empowerment. Rowena is a strong-headed female protagonist who recognises that she has sexual desires, yet does not allow them to alter her convictions or plans. If you want to read a really realistic (read believable, frustrating, tear-your-hair-out 'why are people like this' moments!) romance that happens to be set in a mystical world, this is your bag. This series is shaping up to be something really spectacular, and I cannot wait to see what comes next!

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph

Review of Rowena's Key

Before I start looking at the book I'll just apologise quickly for not posting as frequently at the moment. I've just moved into my new uni house and have been dealing with a load of departmental issues at university, whilst working, having my family up and so on. Anyway, I managed to actually get a free e-book copy of Rowena's Key for my kindle, and I'm pretty glad I did. It was the first fantasy novel I've read in a while, so was quite an enjoyable read on that front.

The main character, Rowena, is (as the quote above suggests) a pretty standard woman in her mid-twenties. She owns an antiques store which her two best friends Ollie and Violet help her run. At the beginning of the book she manages to secure possession of an old family armoire, which she pays quite a hefty sum for. Soon she finds that it is not simply something which she can put her clothes in, but a kind of portal into another realm. It has a mirror in it through which she can see into another Earth. At first she thinks it's a trick, but what she didn't expect was to be faced with an incredibly handsome young man who claimed to be her prince.

In my opinion Nuest really succeeded in making the fantastical elements of the novel seem almost realistic. Often I've found that if writers attempt to set up the "real world" in too much detail before adding the element of fantasy it doesn't sit right, and the whole plot ends up seeming ridiculous. However, fantasy and reality work in harmony in Rowena's Key to make it seem as though these kind of things could happen to any woman. I also found it quite refreshing to have two protagonists who clearly have an interest in each other, rather than one remaining aloof.

All in all, it was quite a quick, easy and enjoyable read. Plus the plot twist at the end definitely makes you want more from this series of books!

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x