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4-stars

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Ft. Hero Squad The World Doesn’t Deserve! Uh And Doesn’t…Want Either.)

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Since I adored The Illuminae Files, I was super curious to start this famous author duo’s next sci-fi adventure: Aurora Rising.

Like the hype was REAL for this one. 🙌🏻 Even I, who isn’t often won over by sci-fi, was left softly screaming into a galactic black hole in appreciation. I also am super proud of having Aussie authors be so so famous since mostly our books don’t even make it to the USA, let alone be bestsellers!! I assume Kaufman and Kristoff are successful because they strap their novels to the backs of wallabies to make ’em swim to the Americas sustained only on vegemite and the crumbs of lamingtons.

Anyhow. This book was was a lot of fun!

It’s mildly impossible not to compare it to Illuminae — so I have to admit I liked Illuminae better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ However Aurora Rising has a loveable dysfunctional squad + the kind of sci-fi twists we all quietly live for + scenes to make you snort/giggle. Here for it.

✨ 🚀💫🌙

| heart of the book |

Oh the squad vibes were everything! I’ve seen the authors talking about how they wanted found-family to be the central theme and they ACHIEVED. Although only truly 3 of the 6 squad was truly the “rejects”…oh and Auri who is here but has no idea what’s going on and is just silently screaming for 600 pages. Same, Auri, same.

I loved the crew (BIG squad but they were all easily individual!) but I only truly cared about Finian? Lol whoops.

🚀 Tyler: basically Goldenboy because he’s the academy’s best and brightest. Blonde, dimples, perfect etc etc. Ya know Jason from the Heroes of Olympus? Tyler is his long lost twin. Look, I like him, but also he was positive and an optimist and my pessimistic soul shrivelled a little.
🚀 Scarlett: Ty’s twin and like the super tall, cold as heck, epically smooth and everyone is in love with her including Finian and I. What am I supposed to tell you. She’s gorgeous and badass. She also has a huge heart and is simultaneously the MUM-FRIEND and the FLIRT-FRIEND.
🚀 Cat: super tattooed badass, the fighter-pilot, also desperately in love with Ty but neither of them is going to acknowledge it.
🚀 Kal: he’s an alien from a race that is kind of Elvish. So here we are, kid has pointy ears and they yell “HEY ELROND” at him once or twice. He’s designed to beat people up, and he’s standoffish and a total snob adn then he gets a crush on a human and is like “OH WELL PROBABLY NEED TO FLING MYSELF INTO A VOID OF SHAME.” Kal is beautiful and a drama queen.
🚀 Aurora: Oh she rises, believe me, like 200-year old sourdough starter. She’s biracial American/Chinese and has been in cryo-sleep until Ty wakes her up and she’s basically a 200-year-old teen surrounded by technology that is freaking her the heck out. ALSO she has creepy powers. She’s not !!! supposed !!! to be here !!!
🚀 Zila: I do not…understand why she was there. Her chapters were (no joke) like 3 sentences. She had about 3% of actual doing stuff and …look I’m uncomfortable, but she felt coded as autistic. But they referred to her as a sociopath and everyone’s mean to her because she’s socially challenged. If she *is* autistic, then she’s a terribly done stereotype. But maybe she’s not??? I hope she’s not.
🚀 Finian: Aka my LOVE. Honestly 10/10 would die for Finian, dunno about the rest of them. He is disabled and wears a special exo-suit to help him walk. The book also acknowledged his disability a lot — like how the suit was his sci-fi version of, say, walking with a cane. By the end he was really struggling with keeping his body going and that felt valid and true to disabled people using up their spoons. He’s also super queer and flirted with Tyler and Scarlett equally because we stan equal crushes. And he’s just generally a sassy little ass. I love him.

 

| the plot |

It did have a lot of your typical scifi cliches, but it was just a fun romp, so I didn’t mind a bit of “oh I’ve read this kind of thing before.” My only issue was how many Illuminae plotlines showed up here?? i have read this already sir.

But there’s government conspiracies and missing planets and telekinesis. These teens throw themselves accidentally into the criminal life and they are The Good Kids™ trying to be badass, but seriously being adorable while they run into true criminals and freak out. I LOVE THAT TROPE.

Also they sassed each other to death and back and I busted laughing out loud a few times. A family member also came into my room and asked if I was crying so…?? Thx. That was a laugh. How dare you.

I loved the diversity rep too! I can’t speak from an #ownvoices opinion for it all, but there were lots of races and abilities and some queerness. It also pushed back on toxic masculinity and let girls be into looking gorgeous and being badass. 🎉

(Just putting a big red X over the possible autistic rep and just hoping IT WASN’T or else I have to take my praise back lol.)

 

They steal things! they blow things up! They run screaming from very big bad enemies! The tag line is basically: they’re not the heroes the world deserves…or asks for…or even wants, lol, send them back pls what the hell.

 

| overall |

I had a lot of fun and it was a good book (if a little predictable if you’ve read Illuminae) and while it didn’t hit me emotionally (I am a damp stone apparently) I just had so much fun. 🤗

The cast was fab and the dialogue was spunky and sassy. Kinda concerned that these kids seemed to eat ONCE and that was like, a reheated synthesised piece of pork. They need to work on nutrition. But they were also nearly dying and uncovered something super bad and everyone’s gonna die if they don’t fix it. SO. 🎉 Good luck, Squad 312!!!

 

✨ 🚀💫🌙

thank you Allen & Unwin for the ARC

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Booktopia |★★★★☆

\ The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…
A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering
And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

✨ 🚀💫🌙

| what do you think |

is this one on your tbr or have you read the Illumiane Files!? do you like big-squads or just small-friendship-groups? 🤗

Jack Of Hearts (And Other Parts) by A.C. Rosen || Glittery Cuteness vs Creepy Terrifying Stalkers?!

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Shhh, just excuse the terrible pun while I say this book had an incredible amount of heart. 

It’s a love letter to being a minority teen (by an #ownvoices author too) and it’s a call out micro-aggressions and it’s an encouragement to kids navigating sex and friendships and high school and stereotypes and the true trauma that are origami paper cuts.

(Look not that it’s pertinent to the review, but I do origami and use a hot glue gun for some of my crafts and the amount of cuts and burns I have…dude. If you can order coordination off eBay, I would.

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Australia for the review-copy! This is out February 19, 2019!

➸ it’s also like a total hug to queer teens everywhere

You can tell how passionately the author feels about it and wants to boost and protect queer kids. The love in this novel is immense. Jack does a heck of a lot of call outs to micro-aggressions towards the lgbtqia+ community in his columns, including addressing straight people fetishing m/m sex and smacking down slut-shaming culture. And it wasn’t preachy? Jack was so heartfelt and loving the whole time…he’s just such a good egg.

 

 

➸ so yeah there is a lot of sex in this book

Jack ends up running a sex-advice column on his best friend’s blog and he’s partially doing it because everyone in his school  judges him and gossips about him. He’s a very openly gay teen who loves parties and makeup and sex and he is not ashamed of it. But he’s sick of being gossiped about (like??? yes) and slut shamed. It becomes his way of controlling the gossip and also helping out other queer kids who want advice on relationships and sex. I mean, it’s a lot more sex than I usually read lolol, but the emphasis on safe/consensual sex was really important. And I loved that the book took a moment to talk to the asexuals about how not wanting sex doesn’t mean you’re broken.

 

 

➸ the stalker plot line was intense and terrifying !!! like!!! super terrifying

It’s like a reverse-Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda. While Simon had a cute anonymous boyfriend online…Jack has a stalker sending him threatening notes on pink pretty paper. And it’s frikkin’ creepy ok. The unravelling of it all was terrifying and seeing Jack wither into an anxious mess of stress at the threats and online abuse and blackmail was horrible. Like this sparkly, kind teen turns into this muted anxious shadow and my heart b r e a k s. Writing = EXCEPTIONAL.

 

 

➸ the friendships were also my favourite thing!!

It’s about sex, not romance, so the friendships in this book are the most important relationships aND I LOVE THEM. We have Jack, our glittery flamboyant sparkle, who takes no crap from anyone and just wants to be likeable and enjoy his life. Then his best friends are Ben, who is intensely good at fashion design and hat making, and he’s black and gay and holding out for his OTP of ever. And Jenna, who is badass and an amateur reporter and made of sharp corners, who lets nothing and no one mess with her best friends. They are EPIC together. I love them !!! so much.

 

 

➸ it discussed so so many important things in a nuanced and vulnerable way

Seriously, amongst the sparkly happy tone, it really went in to talk about:

✧ stereotypes and how Jack knows he fits the “glittery flamboyant” stereotype, but he’s being himself and that’s also ok.
✧ it unpacked how we can sometimes diminish our own pain (“oh yeah I’m being blackmailed horribly but at least…I’m not dead!”) and like positivity is important! It’s good and fulfilling. But don’t discount yourself just because someone has it worse. Also his BFF Jenna wouldn’t let him get away with being apathetic about it. Like just because Jack isn’t being beaten up in hallways doesn’t mean it’s not worth calling out other micro-aggressions he faces.

 

The only things I wasn’t thrilled about was that (1) it didn’t call out the neglectful parenting from Jack’s mum, and I reeeally didn’t think it was ok. And (2) why the frick are these kids SMOKING. That is CANCER and somebody needs a cigarette slapped out of their hand. And (3) the ending almost felt so easy after all the agony we went through the entire book? But like these are tiny tiny things and probably won’t bother most!

 

The story is intense and well written and impossible to put down. It managed to be this cute and glittery story about friends and sex and being true to yourself, AS WELL as having this super intense creepy stalker storyline going on in the back that absolutely made my skin crawl. Jack is loveable and amazing and his voice is important.

 

Jack Rothman is seventeen. A solid student with a talent for art, he likes partying, makeup and boys. Sometimes all at the same time. His active, unashamed sex life makes him a red hot topic for the high school gossip machine, but Jack doesn’t really care too much about what the crowd is saying about him. His mantra is: ‘It could be worse.’
And then it is.
When Jack starts writing a teen sex advice column for his best friend’s website, he begins to receive creepy and threatening love letters. His ‘admirer’ is obsessed with Jack – they know who he’s hanging out with, who he’s sleeping with, who his mum is dating. And while they say they love Jack, they don’t love his lifestyle. They want him to curb his sexuality and personality. And if he won’t, they will force him.
As his stalker starts to ratchet up the pressure, it’s up to Jack and his friends to uncover their identity, before their love becomes genuinely dangerous.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia | Penguin

➸ similar titles to try…

   

 

tell me a book you’ve read that was cute and fluffy…but also unpacked darker themes?? and is this one on your TBR? what did you think of it?

A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer || Retelling of Monstery Perfection? I Think YES

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This book is like receiving a warm, magical hug…and then getting a little stabbed in your little heart.

Just like a little stabbing. It’s ok. It’ll be fine. I’m only languishing like a flopped rag doll on the floor wishing for book two…(briiiiiing me closer to nEXT JANUARY).

I really adore Brigid Kemmerer’s work, with Letters To The Lost being one of my all time favourites. So I was excited to see her foray into epic fantasy too. And like, pfft, of course it did not disappoint. (I’m also keen to read her Elemental series which I have the first three books of so apparently it is The Year Of Kemmerer and do I look like I am complaining. I am not.)

 

Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for the review-copy! This was out February 4, 2019!

➸ this is a beauty and the beast retelling!

I’m a ferocious fan of retellings, but I like them to bring something fresh to the old stories. And this one did. It’s obviously still Beauty and the Beast, but the plot twists were fresh and the characters felt new and I adored how this version has eternally replaying “Seasons” where Rhen tries again and again to break the curse — but he dies. And he reboots. And has to do it all over again. And over the course of the season, he has to make a girl fall in love with him as he slowly turns into a monster.

So basically he is in a Groundshog day of eternally being eighteen, a monster, and everyone hates him. HAve a good life Rhen.

Note: He is not having A Good Life.

➸ the magical castle was my favourite thing

It’s also stuck in time, so it’s this flawless cheerful and permanently lush and opulent castle (or prison) and it just mocks how horrible Rhen’s life is. Sweet music plays. Delicious food appears out of nowhere. It’s beautiful and eternal….and empty. Because his whole family is murdered, his kingdom is falling apart. He’s down to one guard (Grey). And this is the last season before the monster destroys him forever.

 

 

➸ but let’s talk about Harper ok?!

She was a fierce bucket of live-wire SPARKS. While Rhen is the Prince of a magical world called Emberfall, Harper hails from good ol’ earth (D.C. to be specific) and has a horrible home life. Her brother is a criminal, her mum is dying, and she gets kidnapped and zapped to a completely different dimension. So to say she is enormously pissed off is an understatement. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ She does NOT sit down and take this quietly. She will stab u. Twice. She also has cerebral palsy which I loved, because seeing badass girls with disabilities in magical settings is something YA needs.

 

Harper: I want answers!
Rhen: you…want to play cards??
Harper: a n s w e r s
Rhen: do you…want a nice drink?
Harper: aNSWERS OR I WILL STAB YOU
Rhen:
Rhen:
Rhen: do you want a snack”

 

➸ And shhh shh a moment for my fave: Grey.

I confess he was my absolute favourite of the whole book. He’s a secondary character, but I rotated shipping him with Harper AND Rhen. At least in the beginning, lol lol. He’s Mister Solemn Loyal Soldier Sir (but secretly plays with kids and is soft™) and he’s the mum-friend and the protector. He will BLEED for Rhen and Harper. 

THE MUM FRIEND OK.

 

 

➸ so let’s talk about the romance…was it Stockholm Syndrome?

Actually no! Obviously Harper is Not Thrilled™ to be kidnapped. But Rhen wasn’t aggressive or domineering either. He was actually…dude, he was depressed. He hide it behind being aloof and princely, but he gets tortured by a witch at night and he knows he turns into this monster that kills people and he’s just…so so done. He’s tired and sad and smol.

Harper is this woman of ACTION (let’s SAVE Emberfall! Let’s FITE the bad guys! Let’s CHANGE things!) and Rhen is this exhausted Slytherin just like…watching her go for it.

 

Harper: *charges off to save something*
Grey: should go after her
Rhen: nah
Rhen: let’s wait till she’s stabs something and falls over then we’ll help

 

 

➸ The ending freaking ruined me also, thanks for that, and how was your day?

I’m just pining for the next book. I was blatantly HIT with emotions and then left with so so many questions. The plot twist? I applaud. The end was full of monstrous action scenes, blood and viscera, aching hearts and shredded hopes.

 

➸ it was very long.

So the pacing was slow (and they spent a lot of time going back and forth from an inn lol) but this also developed Harper and Rhen’s personalities and relationship so!! There’s that.

 

A Curse So Dark And Lonely is a vivid retelling that’s full of lush magic, complex charaters and and over whelming feeling of loneliness.  It’s about people who think they are alone in their fight…until they’re not. And it’s about wanting and fierce love and getting back up when you’ve been cut down. It is about a girl who brings hope to a boy who is terrified of the monster inside him.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

Goodreads | Booktopia | Bloomsbury | Book Depository 

 

➸ similar titles to try…

   

tell me what your favourite YA retelling is?! are you a fan of Beauty & The Beast and is this one on your TBR??

Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus || Just The Kind Of Thriller I Love!

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Ok so Two Can Keep A Secret was EXCELLENT and exactly what I want a thriller to be!

Usually I’m tentative about thrillers and One of Us Is Lying, while I admire it for being super-famous, it didn’t click for me. However this one?! Miiiiine. It had the small town vibes, an autumn-y Halloween aesthetic, and siblings dynamics that I adored. It took time to develop the characters and there was muuuuurder. Obviously. It is literally a murder mystery. But someone must be Captain McObvious here and I volunteer.

And no joke: I obsessed over solving the case whenever I wasn’t reading! I was invested!

 

Thank you to Penguin Australia for the review-copy! This was out January 8, 2019!

➸ I really cared about the characters!

That’s what I want out of a book ok. Make me CARE. (Which is hard with my stone cold little rock of a heart.) But the book balanced unwinding this twisty murder mystery AND developing both the narrators (Ellery and Malcolm) into dimensional and complex humans who need a hug several times during the course of the book. Or two hugs, in Malcolm’s case. Kid had it rough.

✧ Ellery: She just moved to Echo Ridge (while her mum is in rehab) and she and her twin brother, Ezra, are staying with their estranged grandma. Ellery has a bushel of curly hair, possibly Latinx complexion (her dad is unknown), and a deep love of murder mysteries. Her brother is the chill sweetheart who frequently has to say things like: “NO MURDER BEFORE BREAKFAST, ELLERY.” And I loved them so much. (I wish Ezra had been more developed though. He’s queer, but his storyline is just a sliver.)
✧ Malcolm: His older brother is the aggressive epic jock dude, who was heavily suspected in his girlfriend’s murder several years ago. Never arrested. But Malcolm lives in that shadow, despite his mum having remarried this rich flashy lawyer and now Malcolm’s actual step-sister is like the QUEEN BEE of highschool which gets Malcolm a little school cred. (He also plays IN THE BAND so like…not that much cred.) Malcolm is a little nerdy and dorky and Soft™. I absolutely adore how his relationship with Ellery was really slow-burn, despite the shortness of the book. Also he has an epic platonic relationship with Mia and they are!! so nice !!! (Mia is also Korean-American and the book discusses how it feels to be part of a minority in an overly white town.)

I lowkey suspected Malcolm of murder at one point but like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I SUSPECTED EVERYONE. SUREFIRE WAY TO BE RIGHT AT THE END.

 

➸ The plot had me super invested.

I think because I cared about the characters so easily! I wanted to know if these string of missing-girls was connected. It reminded me of Sadie when they called out how missing girls need to be taken seriously, not just called a statistic. It’s twisty and there’s lots of theories with Ellery playing detective (but she’s not obnoxious about it). I called one of the twists about her mother’s past! I’M PRACTICALLY SHERLOCK. Nevermind that I was so wrong about the actual murderer. Lmao. Minor detail.

 

➸ I do confess I (a) got confused with all the characters, and (b) it didn’t chill me to my bones.

Honestly they’re such small complaints anyway! I felt like this was a Quiet Murder Town (shh that’s now a thing) and I didn’t actually have my heart in my mouth for Ellery’s safety. But I still WANTED TO KNOW so that’s a win. And hey I’m just generally bad at names and there are SO many characters here. And everyone just had these very common-American-names like LIZ, SARAH, MIA, DAISY, BROOKE, OH HELP ME.

It was really satisfying. I just wanted to keep reading and find out all the answers. Sure I didn’t get goosebumps, but I had a thoroughly good time investing in the characters and this odd little town of Echo Ridge. It felt like a sinister contemporary, full of autumn leaves and family secrets, with a background of murderrrr. Perfect.

 

Ellery’s never been to Echo Ridge, but she’s heard all about it. It’s where her aunt went missing at age sixteen, never to return. Where a Homecoming Queen’s murder five years ago made national news. And where Ellery now has to live with a grandmother she barely knows, after her failed-actress mother lands in rehab. No one knows what happened to either girl, and Ellery’s family is still haunted by their loss.
Malcolm grew up in the shadow of the Homecoming Queen’s death. His older brother was the prime suspect and left Echo Ridge in disgrace. His mother’s remarriage vaulted her and Malcolm into Echo Ridge’s upper crust, but their new status grows shaky when mysterious threats around town hint that a killer plans to strike again. No one has forgotten Malcolm’s brother-and nobody trusts him when he suddenly returns to town.
Ellery and Malcolm both know it’s hard to let go when you don’t have closure. Then another girl disappears, and Ellery and Malcolm were the last people to see her alive. As they race to unravel what happened, they realize every secret has layers in Echo Ridge. The truth might be closer to home than either of them want to believe.
And somebody would kill to keep it hidden.

Goodreads | Booktopia | Book Depository | Penguin Australia

 

➸ similar titles to try…

    

tell me your favourite thriller?! and did you read the author’s first book? (IT’S SO FAMOUS.) and which would you pick in: plot vs characters?

Girls Of Paper And Fire by Natasha Ngan || Dark and Harrowing Asian Fantasy That You Absolutely NEED

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This was magical and emotional and harrowing … and woah you should read this.

It’s such a dark premise and it’s handled so well. And may I just say the amount of Asian #ownvoices fantasies coming out at the moment is incredible?! Not only is GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE #ownvoices, it also features an f/f romance, demon kings and conquered realms, rebellions and secret assassins, empowering female friendships, and dresses that hide knives (YES THANKS). Also the cover…absolutely beautiful. I can’t even.

We have been blessed here tbh.

 

thanks to Hachette / @dateabook for the ARC…and I also got an exclusive signed edition from the November @owlcrate box!

➸ WORLD BUILDING!
dude, this was amazing. Complex and developed, with history and lore!! The world felt huge in scope and well developed (something I crave in YA fantasy but often find wanting?!) The author’s note said she drew inspiration from her own Chinese and Malaysian background and I think that’s incredibly special too. It was so easy to tumble headfirst into descriptions of the world, the politics, the palaces, the food (I’m so hungry now wow) — it made you feel IN the story.

 

➸ let’s talk about the dark premise, ok?
The Demon King takes teenage girls as concubines…so the premise is Lei being taken. Yes the book is about reap and sexual abuse and violence. (It also contains a content warning at the beginning of the book, which I felt was important!) It’s not graphic, but it is talked about thoroughly. At first I was like “This isn’t YA…” But you know what? I changed my mind. It is important to talk about these things with teens.

The author’s note sums it up brilliantly, where Ngan says: “While I realise these are hard discussions, especially for teens, it is of vital important we have them. Books can be safe places to explore difficult topics. While we cannot shelter young people from being exposed to sexual violence, whether through lived experience or indirectly, we can give them a way to safely engage with and reflect upon these issues. I hope Girls provides such a space.“

I couldn’t agree more. I think I read the stats somewhere that 1 in 6 women experience sexual abuse (it’s probably higher than that) and teens need to talk about it just as much as adults. And yes, this book is harrowing and it uproots your heart and makes you feel ill at times, it handles the topic so well. I still felt gutted reading it though afjkdslad I ached for these girls and I freaking hate the Demon king so viciously.

 

➸ a moment for our FAV GIRLS, Lei and Wren!
I loved Lei so so much! Her little snark quips gave me life. And she’s so real. She was emotional and unsure and made messy decisions and had messy feels (a true teen!!). I loved how she was fiery and brave, but also emotional and feminine. (This is NOTHING against stoic women, I just feel like it’s important to show books where girls don’t have to be “super super tough” in order to be brave and strong.) Also Lei @ seeing her crush? The dorky CUTENESS. It was perfect. I loved the romance, not rushed and yet not too slowburn either. Wren is mysterious and drop-dead gorgeous, and super badass. She has a Secret Thing going on too. (I really hope this, being a bestseller, brings more f/f romances into epic fantasy!)

 

➸ honestly this was just a Good Book™
Captivating and intense! It was a bit slow at the beginning, but eh, it took time to craft the world. I admit It didn’t give me all-the-feels-of-ever — but I am a tree stump. I acknowledge that. But, hello, the cast is like 80% women, with POC and queer leads, and the story was powerful. It’s not a light.

It’s heavy and unsettling but written very very well.

I want more from this world, this author, THESE GIRLS. I’m definitely pointing to this one ➸ very recommended!

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most cruel.
But this year, there’s a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.
In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it’s Lei they’re after–the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king’s interest.
Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king’s consort. But Lei isn’t content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable–she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.

Goodreads | Hachette | Book Depository

 

  

tell me a book you’ve read that had very heavy/dark themes? do you think YA should explore all topics? have you read this one? (pls do!! you’ll thank me!!)

#MiniReviews || The Library Edition (Books I’ve Wanted To Read For AGES)

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This last month I’ve been away from home and visiting my sister who…has a marvellous public library system.

Have I tried to read the whole library in a month? Why yes. Yes I have.

Actually I used to live in this town so I still feel like this is MY library. I miss it so so much. And I just freaking miss having access to free books?! I’ve never had a lot of money to spend on books (not until a year ago when I got a freelance blogging job that could pay for a few books per month!) so like libraries have always been my #1 one to sate my voracious bookish appetite. Also it’s a great way to try books you might not like. No wasting money. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also guess what I found on the library shelf!??!

There is a very very pleasant and circular feeling that comes from seeing YOUR OWN NOVEL in the library you spent your teens trying to read every book on the shelf. I am most gloriously happy.

anyway onto some mini library reviews!

also I apologise for not being caught up on comments/reading your blogs OR actually posting on Paper Fury afhsigosgso abandoning everything is new for me. But being away for a month really sent me behind and I’m rushing to do NaNo in like, um, 5 days. So bear with me!

THE IRON KING BY JULIE KAGAWA

★★★★☆ | Goodreads

I’m SO pleased I finally read this! I do love faeries and I loved Julie Kagawa’s Talon (although I still need to finish that series whoops) so why did it take me like 8 years to pick this up?! ShaME.

➸ IT’S FULL OF VICIOUS FAERIES AND BEAUTIFUL WILD WORLDS. Which is 1000% my kind of book. The plot was super fast, like you don’t get a chance to breathe with how much it throws at you. And it managed not to be graphic BUT be very bloodthirsty.

➸ IT DID HAVE TIRED TROPES THO. I’m so over boring love triangles and instalove lmaooo (not to mention you could fit all the diversity rep into a thimble).

➸ MEGHAN, ASH AND PUCK ARE ALL EXCELLENT. Well Meghan is about as dynamic as a smol loaf of bread and Ash is kind of funny with how melodramatic he is. But PUCK is the sassy light we all need. I know it’ll turn into a love triangle but Ash and Puck have actually more history, so like maybe they can just all kiss and move on to saving the world from freaky faeries. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SEA WITCH BY SARAH HENNING

★★★☆☆ | Goodreads

Ok this just hurtled my limp body of the edge of Plot Twist Cliff and for that I am grateful. It’s not the antihero origin story I was hoping for though…it’s more like this chill/kind fisherman’s daughter gets forced into being the sea witch. I was hoping for morally grey mURDER JOHN. What does this say about me. One can’t say.

➸ SLOW START BUT THE ENDING WAS WOOOOAHHHH. Like it’s just Evie and this mermaid she rescued (Annemette) vying for the attention of two princes. There’s a fair. They chop wood and stuff. Threats to burn witches. Evie does lowkey magic and hides it. IDK. It also had a sort of love square happening which I actually liked for once!

➸ …BUT THEN THINGS WENT DOWN. The ending is PLOT TWISTS and vengeance and stabbing and dark magic!! It was perfect and surprising! But it like took 200 pages to get to?!

FURTHERMORE & WHICHWOOD BY TAHEREH MAFI

★★★★☆ | Goodreads

This was such a spot of delightful whimsy nonsense…!! It’s like an ode to Alice in Wonderland but not a retelling. And it totally reminded me of the magic and delight of middle-grade ahhhh.

➸ TAHEREH MAFI’S WRITING IS A DREAM, LET’S BE REAL HERE. I will read anything she writes just because of her style!! SO BEAUTIFUL. It’s a sensory feast. And this world is based heavily on colours so it was like falling into a shiny, glittery patchwork quilt. Although there were a few times when the prose got so purple it was a bit confusing. But mostly I just wanted to eat the paperback. They eat flowers and snowflakes that taste of sugar so I feel this was Mafi’s ultimate goal tbh.

➸ FURTHERMORE IS MORE RAMBLY THAN WHICHWHOOD. Although they both kind of suffer from the beginnings being really solid and interesting…and then the endings are rushed?!

➸ AND WHICHWOOD IS BEAUTIFUL AND MACABRE. Thriving on that combo. I truly am. Laylee (in Whichwood) washes dead bodies and if she doesn’t do it in time, they’ll take the skin off living people and zip into it like an ill-fitting dress. Lovely image!! I’m so glad children’s books like this exist to freak me out!!

➸ I PARTICULARLY LIKE OUR HEROINES. They’re both stubborn and intensely themselves and quite stolidly opposed to the unfairness of life. They weren’t squishy “likeable” girls either, and I looove this. Give me the fierce argumentative ones who jump into trouble and wear bells around their ankles or ancient armour and will start fights AND FINISH THEM.

THE FORGOTTEN BOOK BY MECHTHILD GLÄSER

★★★☆☆ | Goodreads

This cover is an actual gift to the world and blessing to my eyeballs. And cover judging aside? This was fun but I was pretty unsettled by the romance yikes. It’s also a Pride and Prejudice retelling! But the protagonist, Emma, finds this book where whatever she writes comes true. So basically a soft gentle version of Death Note because Emma didn’t become a mass murder. But fine. Each to their own.

➸ I DID HAVE FUN READING IT. It’s set in Germany (it’s actually a translated novel which is lovely) and there’s an old castle turned into a boarding school. Emma has two epic good female friends! And there are creepy woods behind the school and people disappear but nobody’s super worried etc etc. I mean kids wonder off and magically disappear sometimes. It happens.

➸ IT READS LIKE YOUNGER YA. Emma is pretty quirky and bouncy…and it’s not passionately romantic or anything. ALTHOUGH…that brings me to…

➸ THE ROMANCE IS ACTUALLY CREEPY. Darcy is 20 and Emma is 16 and apparently this isn’t unusual for Europe, but it’s actually illegal in Australia. Not to mention a gross imbalance of power and maturity. They’re not madly in love or making out the whole book, but my opinion is: a heck no.

 

THE BURNING MAZE (TRIALS OF APOLLO #3) BY RICK RIORDAN

★★★★☆ | Goodreads

My first question is: HOW DARE YOU. I am actually broken here because I come to Riordan books to have a funny, safe, and gOOD time and yet my heart has been punched across the Pacific Ocean. That death better have been a typo is all I can say.

BECAUSE HOW DARE YOU.

➸ UGH I LOVE APOLLO’S SERIES. I didn’t remember much of the previous two, whoops, so I can’t remember even what their goal is lmao, but I still just love the action! The adventure! The freaky emperor’s and the super high stakes (which were made higher by actually going through on a dARK THREAT AAFJKSDAL). Apollo continues to be hilariously vain and I love him.

➸ THE PACING WAS PERFECT FOR THIS ONE. I just wanted to burrow into the pages and read forever basically. Also the poor characters barely got to eat one cheese enchilada in the whole book. My children need a nap. Pls.

➸ WE ALSO GET MORE OLD FAVES BACK! The last book featured Leo again, this time we get Piper and Jason. I actually want to reread Heroes of Olympus now because I don’t remember how it ended??? (Why do I not have a brain.) And I love that Grover starred here too. He’s such a tin can eating dork.

➸ OH AND YEAH IT RIPPED OUT MY HEART AND I’M STILL NOT OK. Thanks for that. I had literally no. idea. what. was. coming ajfdsladfjkls. Best or worst Riordan book yet?! WHO KNOWS. But I’m so entirely pleased I can never grow out of Riordan stories. Love it.

tell me what you’ve been reading lately?! and do you use libraries? also if you’ve read any of these, pls do tell me your thoughts!!!

Dry by Neal & Jarrod Shusterman || Reading This Causes Dehydration

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I just want to thank Dry right up front for making me the most hydrated person I have ever been.

I have never been so freaking thirsty in my life — and then I read this book and suddenly I consumed like 40 gallons of water in 350pages. I’M NOT JOKING. 10/10 this book will remind you to HYDRATE. Forget all those “drink 6 glasses a day” challenges, just read Dry and you will start crying over a tiny cup of water in gratitude.

Also I want to say a special thank you from my anxiety and I to Neal Shusterman, who makes me so traumatised in every. single. book. of. his. I. read. (I LOVE IT, NEVER CHANGE.)

I find it pretty awesome that this is a father-and-son collab novel too! It’s great to raise your children as writers! Although if I ever had kids I would 100% raise them as chefs so they could feed me while I write. But this is a tangent excuse me.

SOME THINGS YOU CAN EXPECT

★ your mouth being weirdly dry all of a sudden ok wow
★ an apocalyptic road trip with a bunch of teens who are NOT FRIENDS
★ you can imagine the shenanigans that are coming
★ such a realistic setting and plot…you can imagine it happening to you
★ people being severely messed up
★ america being a problem (usual tho)
★ no romance actually
★ a plot that’s constantly go go go

I really enjoyed this! In a…traumatic kind of way. The stakes are super high (find water vs die) and it throws us into a world where you can’t turn the tap on and take a drink. In fact, there is no water anywhere. Obviously humans need water to survive more than anything, so watching the universe spiral out of control so fast and viciously was both terrifying and absolutely realistic. This book is dedicated to climate change and, woahhhhh, it is such a slap in the face.We all need this slap. why did we break our planet

 

It has quite a lot of perspectives to capture the scope of the tragedy.

This is good because –> we see how WIDESPREAD it is. But it’s also bad because –> I never really connected to anyone?? I feel like the book was all about the plot/premise, and…not the characters.

But anyway! We have:

  • Alyssa ~ her personality was honestly “being trustworthy” and while I liked her, I don’t feel like I knew her.
  • Kelton ~ he’s the next-door-neighbour-kid that Alyssa always thought was creepy because his dad is an Apocayplse Prepper (before it even happened! cue their house being a fortress and they have generators/stocks of food and water and weapons etc). I reeeally liked Kelton. He’s very earnest and super awkward.
  • Garret ~ he’s Alyssa’s 10yo little brother and kind of annoying because little siblings are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 
  • Jacqui ~ I swear she is the best thing ever. She gets tangled up in their journey due to circumstances, but she is TERRIFYING and will bite things. She has bitten, will bite again. And is secretly so soft™ so basically my favourite.
  • Henry ~ he is a nasty little cunning piece of Slytherin. The actual slimiest. But I loved how he shook up the others’ story line and messed their dynamics up. He is intriguing and I hate him ahaha.

The plot was basically freak out –> travel –> lose hope –> keep travelling. 

It’s very much action/adventure focused and it keeps things moving at a fearsome pace! I admit journey-plots aren’t my true love (I just wanna get there already) it kept my attention! It was so so taut. Is everyone going to die??? Is the world going to end??? I had no idea how to predict the ending! Shout out to how stressy the finale was! WOW.

It’s a good social commentary on how the world is today…and what it could become. And seeing it explore how depraved humanity can cave to so so fast is chilling. Like what would YOU DO FOR WATER if you were about to die?! There were so many chilling scenes too.

Basically this is the book will make you think and I love that about it. 

AND IT MADE ME SO THIRSTY. That’s how vivid it was! It is more about the desperate race to get water and live as opposed to really developing the characters (it reminded me of the Gone series too) but it’s captivating and STRESSFUL and would recommend thoroughly!!

THANK YOU TO WALKER BOOKS AUSTRALIA FOR THE REVIEW-COPY. Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman is out October 2018!

★★★★☆

The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.
Until the taps run dry.
Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

Goodreads  Book Depository  Booktopia  Walker Books

 

  

do you actively think about what would happen if society collapsed?! and tell me your favourite end-of-the-world novels!! will you read this one???

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera || Does It Make Or Break Hearts?!

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This book is so adorable and makes me laugh and then proceeds to throw my face-first into the void.

Which is a skill. I acknowledge this skill. I admit that firstly (1) I said “ooh I’ll review this later!” and forgot everything about it of ever, so I have in fact read it twice in 2018! And also (2) I do have mixed feelings about it (particularly the ending) but it’s still a good story.

Also I’d like to acknowledge that this is the DREAM COLLAB TEAM. The bio says that said they were collabing on this like right after their debuts sold!!!! They are so amazing!! I love both Becky Albertalli (Simon Vs is my fav from her) and Adam Silvera (History Is All You Left Me is my fav from him) so so much. Their signature styles and quirks were STRONG here and I loved how it combined.

WHAT TO EXPECT

✧ ok this is most definitely a romcom so squishy lovey feelings ARE the focus!
✧ it is a little bit about fate pushing two people together but also about how relationships take work
✧ it is queer here, there, and everywhere
✧ huge focus also on friendship dynamics and how they change as you move through highschool
✧ DESSERT APPRECIATION (if you take a chocolate chip cookie from Arthur then his face will collapse like the saddest puppy)
✧ dorks being adorkable
✧ scenes that will make you laugh so. much. ahhh!!!
✧ there are Easter Eggs about the Love Simon movie and one to Adam’s book (History Is All You Left Me!!)

The focus of this story?! CHARACTERS and solely characters.

I’m liiiiving for this because I just read a book that was so plot-centric that I missed getting to know characters so entirely and wholly. Ben and Arthur’s lives are the kind you can easily get caught up in. Both the boys wobble so delicately on the line that is “yes you are being a nasty little slug” vs “you are having tremendous growth and I love it you’re doing great sweetie”. Honestly my heart IS caught by both of them.

☆ ARTHUR: He is actual most hyper thing ever with zero chill. I mean, seriously, he can’t shut up, he is on speed 10000 at all times, he’s freaking hilarious. I love !! Arthur!! Although, honest time right now: I was frustrating how he was so so jealous/possessive of Ben and so easily jumped down his throat. But Arthur is 16. When I was 16, I was immature and deluded and jealous and also had never eaten a churro. So I think Arthur could be grit-your-teeth-frustrating, but he was so sweet and energetic and adorable. I have a weakness for characters with no chill.
☆ BEN: He is the softest introvert™ and just the fact that he loves living in his head, playing Sims and writing fantasy novels, afjdksald it just made me really connect to him. I absolutely think it was too early for him to get into a relationship after 2 weeks-post break up with Hudson but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the universe decreed apparently. Seriously Ben stole my heart and I adore him. I think he was a lot more humble about his faults too and willing to do better.

THESE TWO. Seriously the characters were incredible and just leapt off the page with the BEST banter.

The secondary characters were all great too! Dylan reminded me of someone who faceplanted out of a John Green novel. And both boys had such wholesome (albeit messy) parents which was nice!

 

Themes of “friendship breakups” were explored as well as romance.

I think that’s so important. And sure the focus of the story is Ben/Arthur with the “will-they-won’t-they-work-out” story line, but I appreciated how ti talked about friendship dynamics changing and how friendship-breakups can ALSO break your heart. I don’t think this gets discussed enough in YA!! How many of us have had a devastating friendship-fall-out as teens?! I sure have and it still haunts me 7 years later, so I’m glad this book explored both (A) forgiveness and working through it, and (B) letting go.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It’s also a Quiet YA™ story.

I did like that about it. The world is about BEN and ARTHUR and their universes collide and tremble and change, but the world just moves on around them. It touches on homophobia and failing school and worry about divorce…but the central conflicts are mostly Ben and Arthur needing their heads knocked together because they ARE NOT PERFECT. Adorkable. But wow do they need work.

Can we have a sec to talk about the ending?!

SPOILERS!! Click at OWN RISK.
  • I’m actually a little doubtful if Ben and Arthur were truly compatible. Their rocky start isn’t so much the problem, more that they didn’t KNOW each other all that well in like 1 month of dating. They were so so cute, but Arthur was way immature.
  • I don’t understand how Arthur was so jealous over Ben even looking at Hudson, but then epilogue is Arthur is kissing boys, choosing colleges far from Ben, making no effort to get them back together…except for chats?!
  • BUT Ben is wAITING FOR HIM.
  • YOU JUST BROKE MEEEEE.
  • And my interpretation of those last 2 chapters was solidly: “Yay let’s be bros.” Like they decided the universe brought them together as friends???
  • um
  • did u boys not read the book that I read about u two hello
  • So I feel I have massively invested in 400 pages of their angst only to be rewarded with a cupcake made of sand.
  • Anyway. I CHOOSE to believe at some point Ben marched over to Arthur’s college, yelled at him, and they got back together.

So basically it is soft and sweet and entirely captivatingly written and dID THINGS to my feels. 

Maybe the ending leaves me annoyed, but the rest makes up for it. Like the writing just draws you in and the characters utterly steal hearts. I can’t even. This book has so little chill I love that. (I just really love when books crack me up!) Although I don’t think it has the complexity of the authors’ other books.

ALSO BY THESE AUTHORS

    

THANK YOU TO SIMON & SCHUSTER FOR THE REVIEW-COPY. What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silver is published October 2018.

★★★★☆

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.
Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.
But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?
Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.
Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.
But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?
What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?
What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?
But what if it is?

Goodreads  Booktopia  Publisher  Book Depository

  

ok tell me some of your dream-author-collabs!! who would you pitch together?! and have you read this one or any of Becky/Adam’s work?? Tell me your favourites!

Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd || Darkly Delicious! I Am So Here For This

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This was actually the most deliciously lovely thing.

This is the kind of book where the gorgeous cover thoroughly promises what you’re going to find inside. It was so good, OK?! I completely fell in love with the characters, the vivid world building, thE PASTRY APPRECIATION, and all the characters’ snark (despite them being about to die). Quality content right here thank you I will take 7 more of these books.

OK but where to even start?! (I FLAIL)

The setting! The world! The exquisite descriptions!

I freaking love Paris. I have I been? No. But that doesn’t stop me being a teeny bit obsessed with it. And the descriptions were gorgeous and vivid so it’s like the bookworm trip to Paris! Also Parisian pastries are keeping this world together, so 10/10 here for the appreciation they gave to them.

The descriptions are the kind that are very sensory and really pull you in with the taste of things and colours and the scruffy details of someone’s coat — I LIVE FOR THIS.

I loved that it’s from the perspective of the animals who are enchanted into humans.

You know?! Like in the Disney Cinderella movie where the fairy godmother turns mice into men, etc. THAT is what a “grim lovely” is. (They also call them “Beasties”.) So we have this witch and her 5 enchanted servants (she treats them as slaves too) but when she’s murdered they have 3 days to get someone else to cast a new humanising spell on them or GOODBYE.

Also we don’t know what their animal forms original were, but the 5 of them are: wolf, owl, cat, mouse, and dog.

So obviously we have a huge ticking time bomb here, which I looooved. Makes the pace fast! And stressful! Of course bookworms love stress haha, our grey hair and bloodshot eyes mean nothing, carry on.

I totally fell in love with Anouk as the story went on.

She’s so timid and demure to start with, and she doesn’t suddenly — ZAP — change into a saucy fighter or anything. She stays quiet and calm…but she gets confidence and she fights back and she believes in more than what she’s spoon fed. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. We need more soft™ protagonists! Her arc just ahhhhhh. SO good.

Also the cast is BIG and amazing and I feel all the things for them.

  • CRICKET: She’s like the badass older sister, made to be a thief, and she loves flowers and skulls and lipstick. Love her.
  • BEAU: So of course we must have a love interest (although it’s good that it’s the “we already knew each other” romance because otherwise a 3-day romance is always too hard to believe)…and I admit I DIDN’T LIKE HIM. He’s very overprotective of Anouk. Aka “no no Anouk you can’t do anythinggggg” and I wanted to slap him. I didn’t really see their chemistry? But he drives cars fast so I’ll give him that.
  • LUC: He’s actually missing when the book starts, but he’s the Big Bro figure and they all love him so bad.
  • HUNTER BLACK: he’s the trained assassin and actually starts off an enemy of the rest because he’s super close to the witch’s son. I feel many things for Hunter Black. Ugh the antiheroes get me every time I can’t even.
  • VIGGO: he’s NOT a beastie, but the “witch’s boy”. Basically a kid she stole to use as a blood bank (you need blood for magic) but also spoiled rotten and super rich thanks to the witch. He is AWFUL and we HATE him but by thE END….WHAT HAPPENED WE DON’T. GO VIGGO!!!

They have all the dysfunctional family vibes and I freaking LOVE IT.

Ok so a lot of people have expressed concerned over the Bury Your Gays trope appearing. I’ll put my thoughts in spoilers but I DON’T spoil the book. I’m just talking about the trope’s use:

THOUGHTS (Possibly Spoilery...mostly not)
I am very very rarely ok with this trope. Especially if it’s only the gay character who dies and no straight ones. However for Grim Lovelies: I don’t quite believe That Character is dead. Because they threw in a “probably” and there’s magic so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m hoping the author pulls through. Otherwise, people…it’s 2018 and you can’t have the ONLY death be a minority character. Enough of that. We deserve better.

So Pls Prepare Yourself For

☆ magic and witches and enchantments but in a modern setting
☆ Paris!!
☆ staying to eat pastries > running for your life
☆ dysfunctional family squad dynamics
☆ villains grudgingly doing good omg
☆ softest sweet hufflepuff being badass
☆ wickedly beautiful world building
☆ m a g i c
☆ sneaky evil plotting by people you think are sweet
☆ fashion appreciation, especially of epic jackets
☆ LIES AND MURDER

Yes I’m thoroughly in love with this one! It totally captured my imagination, from all the unique twists on old magic, and the fairy tales it wove in, to the gorgeous lush setting and the characters I wOULD DIE FOR. I’m chill as a person, for sure. I’ve wanted an intoxicating magical fantasy for a while and this !! is it !!  

THANK YOU TO HMH TEEN FOR THE ARC. Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd is out October 2nd, 2018!

Seventeen-year-old Anouk envies the human world, where people known as Pretties lavish themselves in fast cars, high fashion, and have the freedom to fall in love. But Anouk can never have those things, because she is not really human. Enchanted from animal to human girl and forbidden to venture beyond her familiar Parisian prison, Anouk is a Beastie: destined for a life surrounded by dust bunnies and cinders serving Mada Vittora, the evil witch who spelled her into existence. That is, until one day she finds her mistress murdered in a pool of blood—and Anouk is accused of the crime.
Now, the world she always dreamed of is rife with danger. Pursued through Paris by the underground magical society known as the Haute, Anouk and her fellow Beasties only have three days to find the real killer before the spell keeping them human fades away. If they fail, they will lose the only lives they’ve ever known…but if they succeed, they could be more powerful than anyone ever bargained for.

Goodreads  Publisher  Buy  Author’s Website

 

  

tell me which countries you’d like to see more books set in?! will you read Grim Lovelies?? do you like fairy tales from different angles??

Blackbird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel || Harbingers, Murder Crows, and Unique Paranormal Excellence

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Blackbird of the Gallows is all about harbingers, evil bees, music and paranormal tropes that get deliciously shaken up.

I AM SO HERE FOR THIS. This was just addictive, entrancing, and utterly beautifully told and I think I lost a little bit of my heart to this world and these characters. It’s also pretty dark and centres around destruction, death and chaos. And HI. I do like dark fantasy. Plus add in epic friendships, catastrophes and everything going badly wrong?!? We have such a good book omg I will recommend it to everyone so they can suffer with me.

Something that particularly impressed me is how it DID feature a lot of the old paranormal tropes we are a bit tired of…but it totally mixed them up and made them awesome. You know how the Hot Supernatural Boyfriend™ rolls into town? Well we HAVE THAT. But he’s not an aggressive alpha-male. He’s a super sweet athlete who is actually SO TIRED. Nine naps couldn’t fix this boy. And instead of the average vampires/werewolves…we have HARBINGERS AND BEEKEEPERS AND STRAWMEN. Instead of a mellow whingey heroine, we get blessed with Angie, a social anxious DJ who promised to deck Reece if he got uber protective instead of letting her be in charge of her own fate.

Ok but I LOVE ANGIE. She totally ruled this book and was so relatable and fun!

  • she acknowledged Reece was a Supernatural Hot Boy but also CALLED HIM OUT FOR BEING CREEPY
  • she had interests … like her life wasn’t consumed just by a boy omg
  • she had GOOD SOLID FRIENDS whom she loved and trusted a lot!
  • sarcasm is a great coping mechanism! are you sad and anxious? SARCASM IT OUT
  • she had a good relationship with her dad aww
  • sees a dog? loves the dog
  • ice cream > everything else

I’m just here for Angie appreciation until the crOWS GO HOME. (see what I did there??? instead of “cows go home”?! omg I am on fire with wit tonight)

I loved reading about harbingers and murders of crows!

The lore and backstore was fascinating and I enjoyed getting lost in this reimagined myth. The harbingers are immortal beings who turn into crows and follow around death and destruction. They arrive in town —> a tragedy goes down —> they feed off the energy. It’s a curse though and they aREN’T HAPPY. We also get creepy Beekeepers who vomit bees who sting people into madness…but at the same time you feel sorry for them and their curse too. ALTHOUGH…since I am allergic to both bees and honey, I kind of agree that it’s all evil. Finally. My opinions are recognised.

It’s about catastrophes, tragedy, death and loss and grief…and full of morally grey characters instead of black-and-white evil. I love how the book explored this! Like the beekeepers were awful but it was out of their control. And the tragedies were inevitable, but the book still talked about the devastation and how it affected the harbingers.

My only problems? Super small!

  • This may sound pedantic, but it just comes up a lot and I’m tired of it: making fun of healthy eating and allergies. It’s like this huge running joke in the book how Angie’s dad is a “fitness freak” and they all laugh and gag over not eating dairy etc etc. Ok look. This happens in books CONSTANTLY and, as someone also with a ton of food allergies, it’d be nice not to be mocked for once?!
  • And I don’t like the “uber protective dad” trope. Like if a boy looks at the daughter, the dad is all “I’ll get the shotgun lol lol”. It’s rooted in patriarchal ownership of women so I’m #tired.

Basically Blackbird of the Gallows was amazing and I fell in love with it. The plot was addictive, the pacing excellent. It had heartfelt messages and relatable characters in amongst DEATH and DESTRUCTION. I love that it talked about sadness and how deep it can run, how it’s a big deal and how it can affect your life. Solid YES (!!) from me.

Also tomorrow I’m reviewing the companion book, Keeper of The Bees! So watch out for it!

THANK YOU TO ENTANGLED TEEN FOR THE ARC! Blackbird Of The Gallows by Meg Kassel was published September 2017.

A simple but forgotten truth: Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.
Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece—and he’s not human.
What’s more, she knows something most don’t. That the secrets her town holds could kill them all. But that’s only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.

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what are your favourite paranormal books?! have you tried this one?? are there some myths/legends you’d like to see done in YA to shake up paranormal a bit??