Mostly YA Book Reviews

[yabookrevu]

Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer

Okay, I have now calmed down from my Twilight-induced tantrum from two days ago, so now I can talk about the reason I subjected myself to these book again, Midnight Sun.

Now, a tiny amount of internet history, for those of you who didn't know or weren't paying attention approximately 10 years ago. Smeyer started writing this book ages ago, and then it somehow leaked onto the internet. Someone she gave a draft to shared it, I guess. So she decided that she was not going to finish writing the book, and she put the bit of the book that had been leaked onto her website, free for anyone to read. Which is where I found it.

I liked it, from the beginning. I liked Edward as a narrator better than I liked Bella. And I wished that the author would please please PLEASE finish it. Well, ten years later, she did. And I, now a bitter 32-year-old, finally set aside my pride and bought a copy.

I'm not going to make an effort to avoid spoilers in this post, because it's literally the exact same story as Twilight, so there's really no change in the action.

I still like Edward as a narrator, and I find that I understand his motivations, all his weird twitches and sudden mood changes a lot better from inside his own head. Which makes sense, of course. We all make more sense to ourselves than to anyone else.

There is no escaping the sad sack emo boy element of Edward though. The "I can't possibly take Bella's choices away from her!" bit, while ignoring the fact that Bella has made her choice over and over again. It's very... on brand.

Some scenes (the scene in the meadow comes to mind) were a lot more intense from Edward's perspective than from Bella's, and I appreciated that. Also, because Edward is an old man, his style of speaking and thinking is very different. It almost felt like the book from Bella's perspective was for teenagers, and from Edward's perspective was more for adults, simply because of the change in style.

You can't deny, however, all of the flaws in the story. Those haven't changed. This is still Twilight, at the end of the day. But after jamming the entire Twilight series into my brain in preparation for Midnight Sun, I honestly found it to be refreshing in its differences.

Has this reinvigorated the love of Twilight I had as a teen? Pfft, no, absolutely not. But it DID kind of make me want to read more? Like, I want to read Eclipse from Edward's perspective. I can't deny, if Meyer continues the series (which I have no reason to think that she will), I would continue to buy the books, bellyaching about it the entire time. But still reading. It's... not great. But if reading is for enjoyment, I can't deny that I did enjoy reading Midnight Sun.

[yabookrevu]

Ink in the Blood - Kim Smejkal

This book tested me in any number of ways, and I'm pretty sure I failed:

So, first off, I almost didn't finish reading this book. That, in itself, is an extreme rarity for me. I can count on one hand the number of books in my life that I have just put down and never finished. I started reading this one about a month ago, got maybe 50 pages in, and put it down. Meant to pick it back up the next day, but I kept finding other books that looked more tempting, and this one just sat quietly taunting me from my bookshelf. Finally finished it last night.

Now, I want to make it clear. I don't think this is a bad book. I just think it was perhaps not the book for me.

Some (spoiler-free) points about it:

- Reading this book was an experience. I'm not sure what it is, but something about the writing style reminded me of looking out of a foggy window on a rainy day. Like, the story was just there, but nothing was incredibly clear, like I had to squint to see it. I think that's part of why I struggled so much to connect with it.

- There is a lot of world-building in this story. One could say that there's sort of an Italian vibe to it... a lot of the words thrown in have an Italian flair, there are gondolas, there's a main church that oversees a large religion, which you could obviously tie to the vatican. Those are really your only touchstones to something in the real world. It was difficult to sort of pinpoint a time and a place in which this might fall, for "picturing things in your head" purposes.

- REPRESENTATION, BB! This book has the MOST nonbinary representation of any book I've ever read. It's spelled out in the first chapter or so that each person has a Timber (basically an aura) that says if they most closely identify as male, female, both, or neither. It also explains that this timber can change. Tons of they/them pronouns. Just about everyone seems to be bi or pan, though no one ever says that explicitly. It's just kind of assumed that a person's lover might be a man one day, a woman the next. So there's more representation. And characters are of all different races as well.

- There's something of a circus element to this story, so if that's the sort of setting you like (I know there have been a lot of them lately), this might be a story you enjoy.

There is a reason I don't do star ratings on books, and it's exactly for books like this. Because I didn't enjoy reading it, but there is absolutely nothing technical wrong with it. It's a well-crafted story, with some things (like the NB representation) that I have rarely, if ever, found in another book. It's a book that I think would speak loud and clear to the right audience. It just wasn't me. And who am I to say a book is bad or good?

I bring this up a lot (too much) out in the real world, but it bears mention here. A well-renowned sommelier (wine expert) was asked what the best wine is. His response was, "The best wine is the one you enjoy." Whether that's a bottle of two-buck chuck, or a $1,000, 20 year old vintage, what matters is the enjoyment. So I can't tell you if any book (including this one) is good or bad. The best book is the one you enjoy.

Ink in the Blood, Kim Smejkal, $9.99, First in the series, 437 pages

[yabookrevu]

Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer (in which I finally fully lose it)

I am putting on my calmest mental voice. I am remembering that I made a choice to do this. I am refusing to blame myself for anything. I'm not going crazy. Probably.

I re-read Breaking Dawn, along with the rest of the Twilight series, to prepare for reading Midnight Sun. There's more of an explanation in my Twilight post for why, but it doesn't really matter. I did it, it's done, and now I get to talk about it, shouting into the void of the internet about the nonsense we have all endured. Spoilers a-plenty, if you haven't already read the book. Only a masochist would.

Bella finally gets boned down. It is awkward, not for either of the participants of said boning, but for the reader. Bella manages not to die, but does get bruised up by Edward's passionate lovemaking. To which I say, he warned you, madam. You're lucky your head didn't pop off mid-coitus and roll out onto the beach. Bella is totally cool with their little bit of unplanned S&M, Edward thinks he's a monster. At this point, that could be the summary of the entire series. Sad sack emo boi.

Oh yeah, Jacob has OPINIONS about B&E having sex on their honeymoon. They are not positive feelings. He almost squeezes Bella's arm off when he finds out. She is less okay with this bit of bruising. But still, she's more upset that she hurt Jacob's ~feelings~ than that he hurt her arm. What a shock.

Edward and Bella somehow produce a vampire baby. Never mind that the sperm of a dead man would be dead as well (or that he probably wouldn't even be able to get an erection), because I'm straight up not touching the mechanics of vampire sex with a ten-foot pole. Many others have done so, notably in the form of fan-fic, so I'm just gonna leave that alone.

Edward wants to remove the little presumably monster baby, Bella says no. It's very important that you know she's pro-life, guys! Monster baby is too strong and keeps breaking Bella's bones. She is, of course, totally cool with that. This is what gets me... babies don't actually HAVE to stay in the womb for the whole time. When the baby was big enough, why didn't they just safely c-section that sucker? Like yeah, it was growing at a strange rate, but they can all do math. They can figure out when the baby is the size at which it would have developed working lungs and stuff. Especially when it's sending out its little love thoughts into the world. That means its brain is working. Carve that ho out.

But no. For some reason (lazy storytelling), the baby had to stay in until it could rip itself out like the chestburster from Alien.

Bella explodes, dies, becomes a vampire. Jacob feels a need to comment mentally on Bella's naked, broken body. Everyone in this book sucks.

Bella names her baby the dumbest fucking name ever, closely followed by what she intended to name the baby if it came out as a boy (Charlisle? I can't remember, and I refuse to open the book again). Jacob imprints on baby dumbname.

Look, a lot of people are severely creeped out by an adult imprinting on a baby. This is one of the rare times that I think smeyer laid enough groundwork earlier on that the audience DOESN'T have to take it as creepy. Weird, sure. Heavy-handed? Obviously. Not necessarily creepy.

Bella and Edward do some more boning. Bella is apparently the best baby vampire that ever was. Baby dumbname grows too fast and has magic powers.

Seth is the only acceptable character in this book, and I will not be taking comments on that.

We meet lots of other vampires. They are mostly strange, some seem chill. I skimmed over a lot of their names, so I didn't really have any attachment to them. The book (helpfully?) includes a list of their names, but with no other information than where they came from. I didn't care.

There is a final "fight" in which no one fights. The movie version was a lot more entertaining. We learn that baby dumbname isn't going to grow old and die immediately. Shame.

The book ends, and everyone is happy, except me. I became much more bitter over the reading of this series. I remain bitter as I write this. Just... if anyone knows a GOOD vampire book, let me know. Recommend something. I need a palate cleanser.

[yabookrevu]

Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

I'm getting more unhinged with each one of these I do. Pretty sure that by the time I get to book four, my review is just going to be a video of me standing in my backyard screaming at the sun. But anyway.

The usual caveats: I read this book to prepare for reading Midnight Sun, I regret it, you now get to regret it with me, and I have spoilers below.

Bella has absolutely zero agency. Edward controls who she sees and when, and all Bella can seem to do is be lightly annoyed about it. She seriously needs a female friend who knows what's up. Like a friendly local witch or something to tell her, "Hey, he may think he's doing what's best for you, but he doesn't actually get to decide that. YOU do." Just a note to anyone reading this... if your SO attempts to separate you from your friends, that's a classic sign of impending abuse. It MAY be abuse on its own. At a minimum, it's controlling. Stop that shit in its tracks.

Bella wants to BONE DOWN. She is, in fact, so eager to have sex with Edward that she's willing to risk being crushed to death. She also doesn't super respect Edward telling her no? Like, there are a lot of consent issues with all of these books, but when one partner says, for whatever reason, that they don't want to have sex with you, you shouldn't then attempt to take their clothes off of them.

Jacob isn't any better. He continues to challenge Bella about her not being interested in him. I mean, to be fair, she IS kinda interested in him, but again, she has said no. He continues to challenge that no. And then the whole thing about him allowing himself to be killed because Bella doesn't want him, thereby forcing her to kiss him? What the actual hell? I mean, duh, obviously that's not gonna happen, but I think Bella gets more stupid with each passing book. If someone ever said, "I'm gonna go get myself killed unless you prove you love me", I think my immediate response would be, "Oh, go fuck yourself." But Edward is just, like, chill with all that. Immediate forgiveness, total understanding. He deserves a solid smack too. They all do.

There's also kind of an emotional blackmail thing with Edward trying to get Bella to marry him. I honestly don't know what to think about that one. She wants sex, he won't do it until they're married, and he leverages that to get a yes from her. I just... I don't know. There is no part of this relationship I would want to be involved in. I think I just despise all of these people. It has made me lose any objectivity.

I want to find one good thing to say about this book, to reclaim some edge of my sanity. If I had to say one good thing, I would say that I liked learning more about Rosalie and her story. I liked getting a better understanding of why she is the way that she is, beyond "she wishes she was still human". It actually gave some dimension to one of the characters. I'm sure a complete accident on Stephenie Meyer's part, since she clearly had to work very hard to keep the rest of her characters one-dimensional, but nonetheless, it was a good thing.

Okay. one more to go, and then Midnight Sun, and then I can pretend I never saw these books. That they haven't made me essentially feral. We're almost there.

[yabookrevu]

New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

Okay, I'm just gonna force myself through writing all of these in one day, so I can get back to writing what I actually want. Couldn't I just skip writing these reviews? Yeah, sure, but I made a commitment (to myself, who is a jackass) to write reviews of ALL the books I read, not just the good ones. So here goes.

I re-read this thing. Look at my previous Twilight post for exactly why I would do this. This review (more of a commentary, really) has spoilers. I only say this as a courtesy, because really, if I can spoil this book series, I'm doing a better job than most.

Edward leaves. Bella sad for long time. The whole thing is just straight up unhealthy, and Charlie may be the only voice of reason in this whole thing. People DO generally get over breakups. They DON'T go comatose for months on end, refusing to do anything other than exist. Even if they loved each other, there is legit NO reason to be like this. You get a couple of weeks to be sad. And then you shake it off and move on. You're not even in the same place anymore, so you don't have to deal with the whole "bumping into your ex, getting sad all over again" thing. My aromantic ass was just NOT having it.

Then there's Jacob. He is nice to Bella. He notices when things upset her, even if she doesn't say it out loud. He's also a big idiot, but given that he is a teenage boy, it's somewhat forgivable. No shade to teenage boys (or otherwise), we're just all a little dumb at that age. They become friends. Good! Bella seems to need a friend. And then, yet again, she yields her agency.

Jacob is interested in more than a friendship. Bella is not. After politely shutting him down a couple of times, she decides to just... let him have a crush on her. To try to make herself fit around what he needs.

And then there's the "If I risk my life, Edward talks to me" element of things. Girl, that's not healthy. I don't know enough about mental disorders to correctly diagnose her, but that's something to see a shrink for. You should NOT be hearing voices, no matter what you're doing. But no, instead, she repeatedly endangers herself in order to hear more. It's bonkers.

And Jacob is just kinda there the whole time. He turned into a werewolf, got a little shitty for a while, got back to being less shitty but still way too cocky, and then kind of normalized. And then oh no! Alice shows up, and Jacob turns into an alpha male dickbag.

Honestly, the whole thing just tires me. Bella HAS to rescue Edward. Mmm-kay. You've been falling apart for months, you know seeing him will make it worse, but you're gonna do it anyway? Dingus.

Battle of wits with the Volturi, blah blah blah. The only thing that made this part bearable is that now I can picture the fabulous Michael Sheen as Aro, so I got SOME mental entertainment out of it.

Of course, Edward left because he loved her too much. I haven't figured out if I can do emojis on Tumblr yet, but just envision a big ol' eye roll here. He said, 45 times, that he was going to try to leave. And then he does, and you lose your everloving shit? And assume it's because he suddenly was over you? Killing me, Bella.

I think that's approximately where the story ends, and I just... can't. Shockingly, this is one of my favorite two books of the series, simply because I like the Quileutes. Just everyone in this story (with the notable Charlie exception) needs a good solid shake. And therapy. Tons of therapy.

[yabookrevu]

Twilight (yes, goddamn Twilight) - Stephenie Meyer

There is a reason for this, I swear.

So, the thing is, I read a lot. I read too much and I read too fast. It's not a brag. If anything, it makes reading (well, purchasing books) an expensive hobby. But I started my blog with the intent of reviewing all of the books that I read in May and June, currently sitting behind me on my "Already Read" shelf, and then any new ones that come along (big book haul arriving this weekend). Which means, I have a lot of catching up to do. Which also means, I have to admit to re-reading Twilight.

I had a reason. I finally bit the bullet and bought Midnight Sun, and I wanted to re-read all of the original books first. Get me back in the right headspace for Twilight.

I first read Twilight when I was about 17. Like a lot of you, I loved it. I'm now 32, and refreshing my memory on the things that I enjoyed then was... an experience, to say the least.

Also, because everyone has either read Twilight by now or has decided they're not going to, this is NOT going to be a spoiler-free review.

This book is where we find Bella at her most self-sufficient. Pre-awkward relationship with Edward, Bella generally handles her shit. She falls down a lot, sure, but seems fine with it. When presented with the impossibility of vampires, she does research. She stands up to Edward (which I'm pretty sure never happens again) when he's being dishonest or cruel.

She is, however, determined to get herself killed at every turn for almost no reason. I mean, think about it. She's surrounded by people/vampires who are eminently capable of handling things, and she DOESN'T tell them that someone has kidnapped her mom. Like, I swear to god, the first thing out of my mouth would have been, "Hey, the hunter is here in town, he has my mom, and he wants me to go to him. He says if I bring anyone with me, he'll kill her. Can you guys make some kind of plan?" Because, uh, guess what, Bella? The vamps aren't as fragile as you are!

Also, if I had to listen to Edward say he has to leave Bella for her own good ONE MORE TIME, I was going to lose it. Dude, go or don't, but repeatedly saying you were gonna leave is just dumb, and whether he meant it or not, it's emotional manipulation.

Am I being overdramatic about a book for teenagers that came out fifteen years ago? Sure, most definitely. My great criticism, my biggest problem, is that apparently they fall in love through a combination of Edward being mean, then being suspiciously nice, saving Bella from being crushed by a car, being mean again, and then preventing Bella from being assaulted. And suddenly, oh no! We're in love! Ladies and fellas, if someone acts like that, that is NOT husband material. Run fast and run far. Thank them for saving your life, and then hit the bricks.

This book makes me unconscionably angry. I'm not mad at myself for enjoying it when I was a teen. I AM kind of mad at myself for reading it again now. One star. Zero stars. Negative 3 stars. I'm done.

[yabookrevu]

Heartless - Marissa Meyer

Another day, another book review.

Read this one last night. As usual (because I am a disaster person), I didn’t correctly guess what story this was a retelling of. And even though it says very clearly on the back of the book (in the first line of the blurb, no less) something about Wonderland, my brain went to Snow White. No idea why (maybe something about the huntsman being sent to cut out Snow White’s heart? idk), but anyway: This book is related to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

But there’s no Alice in this version. The main character is Catherine, the daughter of a nobleman in the (approximately Victorian-era) kingdom of Hearts. Catherine is not good at the things that are expected of her as a noblewoman, but is instead an excellent baker. She finds herself falling for the new court joker, a mysterious man named Jest. This is complicated by the fact that the king of Hearts has chosen her to be his bride.

Now, all of that is covered by the blurb on the back of the book. So let’s dive into some (spoiler-free) points about the story itself, in no particular order:

- This book is distinct from a lot of the YA books I’ve read in that it is a gentler love story. Meaning that there’s no sex. The most scandalous it gets is a couple of kisses, and even those aren’t aggressively described. So if you’re not into that element of a book for any particular reason, then this might be a better choice for you than a lot of the other ones.

- The love story is, I would say, the main plotline of this book. There are absolutely other things: friendship, monsters (one monster), court intrigue. But it seems like the budding love between Cath and Jest is the main component. Y’know, the more I read, the more I narrow down the types of stories that I like. This book nudged me closer to figuring it out, because the answer is clearly “not this.” I like a love story as much as the next person, but I have come to realize that I more enjoy a story where people are pushed together to overcome some obstacle, and they happen to fall in love during their quest. There’s not a lot of quest to this book. It’s first and foremost, a love story.

- This is a personal note. I’ve never read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve watched Alice in Wonderland (it’s not one of my favorite Disney movies). There are a lot of characters in this book that you would remember from the movie version (again, can’t comment on the original book). You’ll see appearances by the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter and the March Hare, along with, I’m sure, many others that I’ve forgotten. I felt like there were quite a few references that I would have had a better appreciation of if the movie were more clear in my mind. Just little callbacks sprinkled throughout that tugged on something at the back of my mind, but not strongly enough for me to remember anything about them. So, you might want to watch the movie BEFORE reading this book. It’s not the same story at all, so you’ll still go in fresh.

- There is a lot of silliness in the way the characters talk. I read the same joke at three different points throughout the book before I slowed down and really looked at it. (”Are you alright?” “No, but I’m mostly right.”) If you’re a fan of any part of the Wonderland mythos, you’ll probably have a good time reading these little exchanges.

Now, the million dollar question: Would I recommend this book? The answer is a resounding... I don’t know. This wasn’t my favorite of the books that I’ve read, simply because of the story. I probably won’t re-read it. BUT! The book was well-written and told a solid story. I will definitely be seeking out the author’s other books, which are loosely based on other fairy tales. So I would say, if you already like Alice in Wonderland, definitely give it a read. If you think you can give the story more of a chance than I did, then go for it! If, however, you’re also not a fan of Alice in Wonderland, maybe skip this one and look for other books by the same author. It was a good book. Just not my cup of tea. ;)

Heartless, Marissa Meyer, $11.99, 449 Pages

[yabookrevu]

Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin

Ummm, okay... I have THOUGHTS on this one. I read this book and its sequel (Blood & Honey) over the weekend, so this is just where my brain is right now. And it’s conflicted.

Some thoughts, in no particular order.

- This book has sex scenes. Not the standard “sex scene” in a YA book, where they get naked and then it says something like “and we fell together in bliss” or whatever. No. This book has full-on sex scenes. Thrusting, writhing, climaxing sex scenes. Which, I mean, I’m an adult, so, like, fine? But according to Barnes & Noble, this book is for ages 14 to 17. I know kids today grow up younger than my generation (solidly millennial), but I would have been shocked to find a sex scene in a book when I was that age. I know I said I had thoughts, but I don’t honestly know how to feel about that one.

- Are the characters compelling? I would argue that one is more interesting than the other. This book is split (approximately every other chapter) with the POV shifting between the two main characters, so if you find one of them to be boring, that’s half the book that you get to roll your eyes through. The main characters are Lou, a thief and witch with a mysterious past, and Reid, a witch hunter and man of God, with a slightly less mysterious past. I found Lou to be a pretty one-sided character, which is unfortunate, considering most of the action in the story comes from her. Reid is a classic stick in the mud in the chapters where Lou is telling the story, but I found him to be much more interesting from inside his own head. His motivations, his conflicted nature, etc., all line up to make a potentially compelling character.

- Mmmmm, okay. This is going to sound like a spoiler, but it’s literally the only thing that the back of the book tells you, so I think it’s safe. The main characters (Reid and Lou) are forced to marry each other in the beginning of the book to avoid the implication of impropriety. It just kind of seems like the literary version of “There’s only one bed. Maybe we could... share it?” Like, it’s how the characters get forced together. I’m not saying it’s lazy. I AM saying that it’s an incredibly convenient way to shove your characters together. Since the characters basically start out the story as married, it’s a pretty straight line to them falling in love. Not a lot of conflict there.

- There’s a fair amount of French in the book, and I don’t 100% know if that’s a problem or not. Here’s the thing: between high school and college, I took about 6 years of French. The little French words or phrases thrown into this book didn’t present any struggle. Which is to say, I didn’t feel like they took me out of the action at all. I would be very interested to hear from someone who speaks no French if they felt the same. If they were able to figure out what the words meant from context clues, or if they just shrugged and moved on.

- There are 3-ish side characters, and I enjoyed all of them, more than the protagonists. I wanted to know more about them, and maybe future books will provide that. As I said, though, I read the sequel already, and didn’t get what I wanted from it. No one in this story seems capable of speaking openly about literally anything. It’s like... have you ever been watching a RomCom where they get in a big fight over a misunderstanding, and you’re yelling at the screen, “Just explain that woman she saw you with was your sister!” or whatever? Literally every character in this book needs someone to shake them and tell them to just say what’s on their minds for ONCE.

So then I read the sequel, which was, y’know, FINE. And then there’s another one coming out, and I’m sure I’ll read that one to finish off the story, but even after spending the last two days entirely immersed in this story, I’m still not even sure if I liked it, or if I just kept reading out of habit. I’m sure a zillion other people have read it, so maybe you have more coherent thoughts than I do?

Serpent & Dove, Shelby Mahurin, $11.99, First in the series, 513 pages

[yabookrevu]

The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

Okay, so admittedly, I’m about ten years late to the party on this one.

First things first: I absolutely judge books by their covers. I am like, 500% more likely to purchase a book that has an ~ aesthetic ~ cover. It’s why I initially picked up this one, and, because I’m a completionist at heart, also picked up the rest of the series. Does this make me a shallow fool? Perhaps. But I also think that a good cover shows an overall care for the book itself. Why would an author go to all the trouble to write a book, only to throw an incredibly slapdash cover on it?

None of this is important, except to say, I saw the cover, I liked it, I picked it up, I said, “ooh, fantasy”, and I dropped it in my cart. I’m easy to please.

As per usual, (I say, on my second post, where “the usual” definitely hasn’t been established yet) I am going to try to avoid spoilers. Just some things I did and didn’t like about the book, cover notwithstanding:

- The main character is fat. Did you hear me? She’s fat. If you forgot, you WILL be reminded and told again within a couple of pages. Now look, I’m a fat woman myself. Always have been. I’ve never felt a particular need for representation, but I know other people have. In this edition, there is a statement from the author about why she felt it was so important to have representation for fat women in the media. And that’s great! My issue is more that the main character (Elisa) comments on her own weight constantly in her internal monologue. Nearly everything is, “I can’t do that because I’m fat and ugly.” “They say my eyes are pretty, but that’s not true because I’m fat and ugly.” I gotta be honest, I don’t think about my weight that much. It doesn’t color literally everything I do. It does for Elisa. Look, I’m not one to shit on things that other people enjoy. I found the “representation” to be a bit heavy-handed. Maybe you won’t. Maybe that’s the representation you’ve been looking for. If so, this is the book for you.

- Descriptive language. There are a lot of settings in the book. Jungles, deserts, cities. Rae Carson does an excellent job describing all of them. Like, a truly excellent, you can absolutely picture it in your head, job of describing things. It makes for a pleasant read.

- This is more of a commentary on the series as a whole, but since the groundwork is laid in the first book, I feel it’s apropos. This series does NOT go where you think it’s going to go. With a lot of books, you pick them up and within a few pages, you can say, “That’s clearly the love interest. I’m sure they will team up, fall for each other, something will separate them in the third act, and wow! They’re back together. Happy ending.” Not with this one. The love story is really the secondary plotline (as it should be), but even the main plot (war, kinda) is unpredictable and circuitous. The ending that you saw coming disappears before your eyes, and you are given something else entirely, over and over again. I love an unpredictable story, so this is definitely a point in the favor of this series.

So, question time: would I recommend this book? No, not especially. But would I recommend the SERIES? For sure. I’m actually glad that my hoarder nature won out on this one and I bought the whole series (3 books) all at once. If I had purchased just the first one, I would have given up after finishing it. I didn’t find book one particularly compelling. However, because I already owned all 3, I pushed through, and I’m very glad I did. The overarching story, as a whole, is excellent. Book one just has to lay the groundwork, which it does well. So if you can commit to reading the entire series, I definitely suggest you do.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson, $10.99, Book 1 of the Series, 423 pages

[yabookrevu]

For The Wolf - Hannah Whitten

Okay, so... First book to review is this one:

This book is most def not what I expected. Look at the cover. Just look at it. Can you guess what this is a retelling of?

If you said “Little Red Riding Hood”, you’re wrong. Mostly. It’s Little Red Riding Hood in that the main character is named Red, she wears a red hood, and she goes into the forest to find “The Wolf”. That’s all covered in the first 20 pages. After that, it’s something else entirely.

Is it closer to Beauty and the Beast? Perhaps. But the magic in this version doesn’t lean toward talking candelabras and wardrobes that bodyslam villagers. The magic is more of a growing magic, a connection magic. Maybe “the true magic is the friends we made along the way” magic.

I want to avoid spoilers, because (unlike a lot of the books I read) I actually want you to read this one. So just some things I enjoyed or didn’t:

- The story goes back and forth between what is happening in the forest and what is continuing OUTSIDE the forest. If you’re a fan of political machinations, these bits will intrigue you greatly. They bored me. It is what it is.

- There is romance. It’s a YA book, what did you expect? One thing this book does well is that when the actual romance happens, it has been EARNED. A lot of these books go from “we hate each other” to “we’re making out and planning a future” in a couple of pages. Not this one. This isn’t an enemies to lovers slow burn, because there are no enemies, but it is a slow burn nonetheless.

- Anything that’s good doesn’t last for long in this story. It’s kind of heartbreaking. The happy ending is not what you thought it was, and every happy ending before that is broken by the time the story ends. That bit is unfortunately realistic.

- This is more about the physical book than the story inside, but the book has those “rough cut” pages. The ones where the ends don’t all line up so that it looks like an old book. Personal irritation for me, but some people love them. I find that it makes it hard to turn the page.

- You gotta PAY ATTENTION to this book. What you think will just be a one-sentence throwaway line or a little bit of background history/worldbuilding will become important later. Over and over again. Words are NOT wasted in this book.

I enjoyed it. I recommend it. Will you enjoy it? Who knows? But I sure as hell did, and I think it’s worth your time to check it out.

For The Wolf, Hannah Whitten, $17.99 (on sale for $15.99 at Barnes & Noble), First in the Wilderwood Series, 430 pages