Showing posts with label Guest Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Review. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

REVIEW: Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1) by Sara Raasch

Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1) by Sara Raasch
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.
Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.
So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.


Oh my dear sweet snow! I could NOT get enough of this book! I am the first to admit that I am a cover whore. If it looks pretty I'll send it a drink at the bar. Walk up to it with a smile and say "Hey beautiful, do you come here often? No? Why don't I show you around? Oh come on, just a little peek at your jacket won't hurt anyone. I promise I'll even read the acknowledgements." Then you finally get it open and read the first chapters and you are neglecting the world around you. Suddenly you don't need to eat, all the loved ones that start talking to you irritate you and you just want to know what happens next regardless of the emotions of the real live people in your bubble.

Snow Like Ashes deserves all the praise. The world is so well built that you feel like you have been hearing about Primoria all your life. Of course you know about the Rhythm and Season Kingdoms why wouldn't you? In the story, Meira is from a land that she never saw herself. She was made to leave because her country was taken over and her people enslaved. She has had to create loyalty to a land built on other peoples memories. In away the reader is swept in there with her. The way she talks about the chill in the air and the smell of fresh snow on the ground made me cold. I love the growth of Meira. She is not your typical wide eyed teenage girl. She was raised to be a soldier and knows that she is more than a pretty face. Granted she does have normal problems being stuck in a hunk sandwich.

You heard me right swooners, prepare yourself for an epic tale of the teen love triangle. Meira has to not only understand her feelings for her King, which she was raised next to and until recently thought she harbored feelings alone for, but she is also introduced to Theron who swoops her off her feet at a time she feels the most vulnerable. What makes this triangle epic is that they are fighting for her at the same time in front of each other. There is no maybe he does maybe he doesn't, this is a pissing contest from the locking of eyes and the way Sara writes it is pure magic. Meira knows that the two guys she has feelings for are fighting for her but she knows that is small pebbles compared to the greater evil of getting her people freed from the Shadow of the Seasons Angra.

 Angra is a whole new level of evil. I love it when I love to hate a villain. He makes you want to reach out and punch him in the face just in hearing his name. He is the king of Spring and the master mind behind the whole oppression of the Winterians. He alone sought out every single one of them and brought them to heel. But even that is not enough for him. The entirety of his need for more makes him darker, slimy even. It makes you root for Meira and her people even more.


I have always been a fan of Fall. 1) it holds my birth date, 2) the color changes 3) the weather always seems right. But after this book I'm ready to shake off my rabbit skins and get me some snow! We are WINTER! 

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

REVIEW: Red Queen (Red Queen #1) by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen (Red Queen #1) by Victoria Aveyard
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: Orion
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):


The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.
To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.
Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win

Damn this book for being so good! Damn its sexy cover for luring me to buy it in February! Now I have to wait until 2016 to get book 2! Damn it! I don't know where to start about this flipping book because it's been a whole 48 hours from when I read the final page of the epilogue and I still think about this book. Lets start with the negatives.

  1. If you are a fan of the Game of Thrones franchise you will have an ah-ha moment at the way the royal structure is set up. Once the correlation of the two stories are made you can't pull away from it. I wanted it to be not so obvious, I would have had less of a bad taste in my mouth if the resemblance was more distant and hints of loved characters and not shadows. Since I made this correlation it ruined a lot of the plot line because it became too obvious what needed to happen.
  2.  If you enjoyed the Hunger Games, you will smell something similar to Katniss and Gale in Red Queen. Mare and her BFF Kilorn grew up together and Mare is trying to figure out how she feels for him when she's thrown to the lions. They have this back and forth draw to each other that I hope Victoria takes in another direction than the expected.
  3. You can tell this is her debut novel. Not knocking her writing, I ate this book so quickly I can still taste the pages in the back of my teeth. There were moments where she had a killer line, and then kept drawing out the idea farther than it needed to. I found my self skipping those lines. I didn't want to let it take away from the meat of the story.


Phew, did that hurt you guys as much as it did me? I really liked the story though. This book really made my imagination work overtime. From the super cool powers to the scenarios that the royal families travel through. At first I thought it would be a medieval world, no electronics, no cars, limited passage and manipulation of the resources. But then you find out the world is a little more third world modern than completely medieval. The amount of poverty Victoria weaves in her tale makes you feel the dirt under your nails, the smell of mud under poorly made shoes, the sound of an empty stomach who has forgotten the feeling of being full.

The range of powers in this world is pretty awesome too. My favorite has to be Mare's electricity. If the literary powers that be except prayers in the next book she will have leather whips that are conductive to her electricity. They will wind up her arms and slowly coil out when she needs to attack. If you were a mutated red who could have power which would you want? Would you want a traditional power like the silvers share? or something never before seen, untamed? If I was born silver blooded I would want to be a whisper, and if I was a mutated red I would want to be like a super shield. I would be able to protect others from strangers ability kinda like what Bella can do in twilight.


Then of course the love interest. TRUST NO ONE! That is all. If I write anymore I will give it all away because that's what they do to you, they get you invested just to mess with you and hurt your feelings. Oh hum! When does the second book come out.... *looks at good reads* [enter facebook distraction time] only 2016... the stories continues, le sighe.  

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

REVIEW: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfield

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfield
Publication Date: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):


Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings…
Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.


I AM DARCY PATEL! Well the warning tale of what happens when us Darcy's of the world don't follow that nagging need to write. Since I was a pre-teen I have been writing stories, poems, anything to take up the time felt between breaths. But not once did I feel brave enough to really finish the story, send it to the right agent and hope for the best. Reading about the life after the submission was my favorite. I am fairly (brand spanking) new to the literary world and this candid glance of what it can be for authors new and old truly had me turning pages. 

               Not only was I excited to read about the makings of a story but the story that Darcy writes i found myself wanting to read alone, as a separate book. I can definitely see myself sitting on the floor of the local Barnes and Nobles and thumbing though pages of "Afterworlds" and thinking when does the sequel come out? And how can I get my hands on it before that date. The story isn't one that I would have thought of writing, a love story that plays with the notion of life that is lived versus the life that is remembered. Scott Westerfield being a white middle aged man writing as a 18 year old Indian girl who wrote about a white California girl who falls in love with a Hindu death god, is a lot to get your head around. You wouldn't think that the story would work, but I gotta say it does.

               My only hiccup was that things were too easy for Darcy. There was no struggle in falling in love with her friend. (No spoilers, read it if you wanna know!) Then no struggles in finding out who she really is. The story was written for it to be pretty straight forward. This girl is paid to write this book, they work to publish the book, she gets a love interest for the first time then things go in a straight line after that. I wanted more movement. More pain, more realness of emotion. The only emotion Darcy allows herself is self doubt and worry. Through out the book she states that she is worried that one day the world will realize that she is an impostor and just take her "adult card" away.  For me, if you were brave enough to bare your bones by writing a story, you should be a pretty tough cookie. I wanted Darcy to be more like her protagonist Lizze who took her troubles as just that, troubles. They did not change who she was or what she decided to do.


               So to all my fellow Darcy's, you are not alone. You can live vicariously through Darcy in Afterworlds and get a good story at the same time. Win, win!

Monday, June 8, 2015

REVIEW: Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3) by Laini Taylor

Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3) by Laini Taylor 
Publication Date: April 8, 2014
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael’s brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz…something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.


At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dram of? And does anything else matter?

             What a journey it has been and now being faced with the final book I wonder how I would want it to end? Do the star struck lovers find their new beginning in one day? Do all the big bad meanies get their just due? Do the missed come back with a final message of hope and insides on how to get the world back into balance? I don’t know. I feel like something was missing though. So much was introduced in the last book that I am slightly hung over still trying to figure out what I read.

               One story line that was introduced in the beginning of the series was that of “The Fallen”. This is a group of angels that were literally stripped of their wings and thrown down to earth because of something horrible that was done. The plot was sprinkled in and out of the other two books and was made a point to seem important though we didn’t get closure with it until Dreams of Gods and Monsters. We learn about Razgut and how he came about to be the slimy leech he is and we are introduced to Eliza or should I say Elazael who is a direct descendant of a fallen with a secret of her own.
               The next story line to follow is that of the angels invading earth and the havoc it caused. I gotta admit they way Laini described the event is pretty much how I would imagine it going down. The never ending war of reason over religion. It doesn’t matter that these celestial beings came out of NOWHERE but that they were wearing the right thing and had harps and LANDED in the Vatican. I mean if that isn’t a Catholics wet dream I don’t know what is (PG13 ideas only nasties!!)

               Then we have the illusive cousins of the far isles. The only thing we knew about them before was that Akiva got his seductive eyes from his mother who hailed from the islands and (my favorite bit) gave Jael the scar that marks him as the evil he is. Now we get to see the civilization for what it is and the power they poses. They are not to be messed with and they know it.

               Finally we get to our characters and by the time I got to their chapters I didn’t want it to end. I really wanted a closure that was just Karou and Akiva. Not to say the other bits were not well written and did in the end fall together but I really just wanted Karou and Akiva, hold the world ending thank you! As if their trying to bring peace isn’t enough now they have to deal with prophecies, back stabbing, more war, more secrets and no CHOCOLATE. For peets sake let them have CAKE! Haven’t they earned it by now?

               I felt like the reason for layering everything was to really bring home the idea that little choices are pieces to the bigger puzzle. In the end the happiness no matter how bad you want it you sometimes really have to wait. Waiting doesn’t mean that you will never get it. It just means that it will come when you can appreciate it most. Don’t get me wrong many were the times I wanted to skip over all the extra stuff and skim to just the Karou and Akiva bits, but I didn’t reader. I stayed the course and felt the feels. As I suggest you do. I can’t say the ending is satisfactory or I have a better means in mind for my beloved. Each will feel their own way about it. I guess I just wanted as grand of an ending as the war and evil and twist were. But then again what is peace but the silence after the storm?      

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

REVIEW: Burn (Michael Bennett #7) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Burn (Michael Bennett #7) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Publication Date: September 29, 2014
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Detective Michael Bennett and his family come home to New York City. The ruthless crime lord who forced them into hiding is down for good. Bennett takes over a chaotic Outreach Squad in Harlem, a caller claims well-dressed men held a bizarre party in a condemned building. Report is dismissed until a charred body is found there -- leading to underground depravity


What do you get when you mix the children from the sound of music, the private detective from the 1950's black and white films, add in a sprinkle of California scandal, two cups of New York City sound, and all the Irish beer in Ireland? Burn by James Patterson.

I will say this, I don't like starting a series in the middle. It can go either way, I absolutely love the series and have to know what came before, or I will feel so lost in the private jokes and character relations that I feel more like an intruder than a reader. Having said that I also have to admit that my taste for thrillers and action books go to the darker spectrum. I am a huge fan of Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson, they have set the standards pretty high on the thriller threshold for me to consider it a page turner. Though the plot line of this book made me raise and eye brow, I gotta say the execution of the plot line was... meh.

The story starts in California, Michael Bennett is testifying on a big case to put away some serious players in a local cartel. After the trail, he is released from protective custody and returned back to the hustle and bustle of New York City. The Bennett clan is 13 members deep. There are 10 adopted kids of ranging ages and sexes, Michael the detective, Mary Catherine the nanny and Michael's grandfather. Though you would think the family dynamic would be a bit cray-cray it actually works. The saint of a nanny is on top of all the daily needs of the family and the needs of the detective. You read right swooners, the nanny is making goo-goo eyes at the detective. This relationship has been off and on through out the series it appears, but as of this book it's pretty on.
              
When the detective gets back to the city, he is anticipating to be given a promotion and all the accolades a returning veteran of the NYPD should receive. What he actually gets is a nice spoonful of disappointment. Not only is he not returning to solving high profile cases but he is made the head of a department of misfit cops. What does this department handle? All the public complaints that the neighborhood has and New York being New York there's a ton of that. Even so, he stumbles onto case of sexual cannibals that whips his department into shape and makes him rethink getting his own departments was so bad as he first thought. The crime story is more of an after thought to his family life and relationship to Mary Catherine.

If you are looking for a book with sarcastic banter and a hint of crime, then this series might be for you. As for me? I'll stick to the broken detectives and defective psychopaths they chase. 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

REVIEW: Nest by Esther Ehrlich~ BEA 2014

Nest by Esther Ehrlich
Publication Date: September 9, 2014
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

For fans of Jennifer Holm (Penny from Heaven, Turtle in Paradise), a heartfelt and unforgettable middle-grade novel about an irresistible girl and her family, tragic change, and the healing power of love and friendship. In 1972 home is a cozy nest on Cape Cod for eleven-year-old Naomi “Chirp” Orenstein, her older sister, Rachel; her psychiatrist father; and her dancer mother. But then Chirp’s mom develops symptoms of a serious disease, and everything changes.
   Chirp finds comfort in watching her beloved wild birds. She also finds a true friend in Joey, the mysterious boy who lives across the street. Together they create their own private world and come up with the perfect plan: Escape. Adventure. Discovery.


Being 26 years old, and reading a story about a 13/14 year old you might say i was setting myself up for a few "i-remember-when" moments. This book did not let me down there. I was very nostalgic reading the antics that our protagonist Naomi "Chirp" Orenstien gets put through. One of my favorites was set during a thunderstorm; Chirp and her older sister, Rachel, danced outside with their mother watching from the front porch. Usually their mother would be out there with them, but because of a soar leg her mother decided it would be best to sit this one out. They wiggled and swayed and brought the performance to an end with a grand can-can routine. When i was about ten or tweleve I too went outside to danced in the rain. Mind you i didnt have a porch, but a stoop nor a yard but a field of cracked concrete. The feeling was still the same though. We were lost in our movements, in feeling the cold water running down our skin and the warmth in the laughter our mother released as we did a twirl just for her.
               
Unfortunately for our little Chirp those days were few and far between once her mother became sick. This book goes from "i-remember-when" moments to "i-cant-believe-that-just-happened" moments within pages of each other. Don't read this book if you can't handle sad endings. The family dynamic of the Orenstien household goes as follows. Rachel is the daddy's girl and Chirp the mother's side kick. When their mother was at full health she lived with a light so bright that it attracted loyalty from everyone she encountered. She is loved by her husband, looked up to by her daughter and worshiped by her Chirp. As the story goes on, you see the light go out and the strains of these relationships tested. So much so that when they snap the sound of the whip reaches out of the pages and makes you hurt with them. I wanted this book to be a buddy-buddy journey with Joey and Chirp finding birds and discovering themselves together. Something with a background music of flutes and harps not something with violins and clarinets.
              
I think Joey was meant to be an outlet for Chirp, something to distract her from what was happening in her own home but it sucked that Chirp wasn't more of an outlet for Joey. At the end of the book all we got from Joey was that he was a germ-a-phobe who had two mean brothers and a meaner dad with an itch to hit. We don't get to hope for a happy future for him, or that he may get out. I really wanted Joey to get some justice for what he was experiencing. In the end Chirp is reminded that she is not the only one hurting and through this it re-builds her world enough for her to return to it. What about Joey? Nothing changes. I couldn't help feeling that these were building blocks for a good house down the street murder mystery where Joey is the murder with a messed past that could have been changed if one little girl cared just a little bit more.
               
Nest will make you relive little moments from your youth, going to school, taking the bus, playing games that your siblings made up with you to kill time while the adults did what they needed to. It will also make you sad. The story makes you want to reach out to your parent and tell them you still love them. If you lost a parent and read this it will take you back to them for a moment. I gave it 3 out of 5 because I really wanted a friendly feel good book. Though this book gave me glances into the happiness they had, the meat and feels of it was the relationship of Chirp to her mother. 

Monday, March 2, 2015

REVIEW: Murder at the Brightwell (Amory Ames Mystery #1) by Ashley Weaver~ BEA 2014

Murder at the Brightwell (Amory Ames Mystery #1) by  Ashley Weaver
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Amory Ames is a wealthy young woman who regrets her marriage to her notoriously charming playboy husband, Milo. Looking for a change, she accepts a request for help from her former fiancé, Gil Trent, not knowing that she’ll soon become embroiled in a murder investigation that will test not only her friendship with Gil, but will upset the status quo with her husband.


Amory accompanies Gil to the Brightwell Hotel in an attempt to circumvent the marriage of his sister, Emmeline, to Rupert Howe, a disreputable ladies’ man. Amory sees in the situation a grim reflection of her own floundering marriage. There is more than her happiness at stake, however, when Ru[pert is murdered and Gil is arrested for the crime. Amory is determined to prove his innocence and find the real killer, despite attempted dissuasion from the disapproving police inspector on the case. Matters are further complicated by Milo’s unexpected arrival, and the two form an uneasy alliance as Amory enlists his reluctant aid in clearing Gil’s name. as the stakes grow higher and the line  between friend and foe becomes less clear, Amory must decide where her heart lies and catch the killer before she, too, becomes a victim.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. All the ingredients were there, 1930's era, British characters, murder mystery and a very alluring cover. All I could think of though was this is an interesting retelling of the movie "Clue."

The story is told by Amory Ames, an elite whose who of 1930's England who is married to Milo Ames, international playboy and wayward husband. I use wayward lightly. Milo is one of my favorite characters. Now don't judge me yet, read his lines first then tell me you don't want to smirk every time his name comes on the page.

"I hadn't expected to see you back so soon," I said. His last letter, an offhanded attempt at keeping me informed of his whereabouts, had arrived three weeks before and hinted that he would probably not return home until late July."Monte Carlo grew so tedious; I simply had to get away.""Yes," I replied. "Nothing to replace the dull routine of roulette, champagne, and beautiful women like a rousing jaunt to your country house for toast and coffee with your wife."
Without really meaning to do so, I had poured a cup of coffee, two sugars, no milk and handed it to him."You know, I believe I've missed you, Amory."Pg.2 

Amory fell in love with Milo when she was suppose to be planning her wedding to another. Now five years later she finds that the grass indeed wasn't greener on the other side. Amory is faced with the truth of her actions when she is asked a favor from her ex, Gil Trent. The pretense is that Gil wants Amory to go with him to The Brightwell Hotel to convince his sister away from mysterious and flirtatious Rupert.

The story tests the strain on Amory's marriage to Milo and her actual feelings for Gil. She is put in situations where she takes liberties that she knows she shouldn't but she feels she must to protect Gil from being prosecuted as the murder of Rupert. As the mystery is being unraveled Amory discovers that those things she felt were so black and white are really variant shades of gray. This is not just with the other characters in the book but with herself to.

The book has a steady pace, good character voices but nothing that really made it stand out as a contender. I found myself talking to Amory on occasion, begging her to listen to reason and not do or say the things she was about to. Also suppressing a giggle when the reality of the situation hits her and "all the pieces fall into place." I really wanted to just scream it was Mrs Plum in the hallway  with the candle stick!

This is book one for Ashley Weaver's series "Amory Ames Mysteries". Will I look for book two when it comes out? Of course! Why? Well I'm a sucker for Milo Ames and any dosage of him and his antics will help the simple plot line go down. 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

REVIEW: Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) by Laini Taylor 
Publication Date: November 6, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster’s apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is-and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, karou must decide how far she’ll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age –old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.


But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

Before I get into the in-depth (tears free edition) of this review let me just say that my feels were all over the place. Laini Taylor broke my heart and I fully let her and probably would let her again. What can I say I’m a sucker for punishment. At the end of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Akiva drops a bomb on Karou that shatters her world to a thousand little Ikea-size no-manual-included pieces. Gutted out and seeing red Karou disappears until we meet again in Days of Blood and Starlight.

               The title couldn’t be more accurate of the feel of the book. Though we were introduced to Eretz in the first book we really dive into the world now and see the disaster the end of the war has caused for the chimera still alive. I use the world alive loosely because being alive in Eretz as a chimera is worse than finally being allowed to die. This book is full of the big bad meanies that the world has to live through and unfortunately our beloved Akiva and Karou have to be on opposite sides.
               Talk about war of the villains. It was like Laini thought “Hmm, who else can I throw in the pot to make it surely impossible for anyone to survive… oh yea lets throw in the ugly uncle and give him a scar to cause nightmares! Oh yummy!” We hear about the emperor Joram’s blood lust and we know about Thiago’s higher than thou persona but when we meet Jael all bets are off. The hunger in these characters to not better the world but to enrich themselves only is staggering. The saddest part is that they have support systems in play that allow them to be this way! Say what! No one, that is whose opinions matter, cares to speak up and stop them. Therefore leaving the world to the flames and the people who hold the torches.

               Karou has taken up an alliance with Thiago and is continuing the work of resurrections. Slowly but fully Karou is re-growing the rebel army to take back some of Eretz and avenge the murders witnessed by Loramendi the chimera strong hold. So many innocent lives were burnt. So many families destroyed. Karou carries this load and she bares it in stride only with the hope that she is doing the right thing.

               We find Akiva shamed and remorseful. Still part of the misbegotten army Akiva does what he can to slowly tithe for the deaths he’s caused. At the same time trying to rebuild the broken strand between Hazael, Liraz and himself. He has done what no other angel has ever done. He’s fallen in love with a chimera and how is he to explain that to the ones closes to him? Especially when they too have been brain washed by the past laid before them. The story and the events that unfold in the book really test the strands that hold the characters together. This is not exclusive to the brothers and sisters but to the chimera as well. Who can you trust when all you see is blood and war?

               If you thought the previous book was all about layering and organizing the moving bits to form an image prepare yourself for Blood and Starlight. Hope though once was a beacon for the future and beamed so bright for our characters is now just a piece of thin paper beaten to it limits. We watch them fight all urge to do what they feel is right for what they feel is their responsibility. It’s not all sad ladies and gets there are those characters that allow you to hope for a better tomorrow with every appearance. We meet Ziri the last of the Kirin, and Mik the one and only to Zuzana.

               I was saved by the love duo of Zuzana and Mik. Though they are just humans in their small appearances they bring the little glimpse of happiness that Karou and Akiva want for themselves one day. That’s the theme of the journey. One day. Even if the path to one day is laced with the guts and tears of all those other people… le sigh….

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

REVIEW: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor 
Publication Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she's prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.


When a beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

What is in a wish? We do it every day without giving it a second thought. I wish this traffic would clear up. I wish the speaker would just finish the presentation. I wish I hadn’t worn the same ugly sweater as my arch nemesis (who has those any more).I wish I was taller, skinnier, tanner, lighter, prettier, less intimidating, more aggressive. What if you found out that for the price of a few teeth these desires as small or large as you’d like could come true?         In the world Karou lives these thoughts are not fiction but stone cold truths, and though she cannot tell anyone about them directly, the two worlds find a way of meeting.
               
Karou is a slight teen with vibrant light blue hair who is on her way to art school for the day. In her messenger bag is one in a long series of sketchbooks she has collected that as soon as she gets to school will be viewed and looked over as just an extension of Karou’s imagination. Little do the observers know that within those pages there are sketches of real events, real traders bringing teeth for wishes and real creatures called chimera bargaining the wishes. So far Karou hides the truth in plain sight by ending her tales in a sly smile none are the wiser. Well that is until we meet Akiva.
              
I want you to imagine a tall handsome tan black hair muscular warrior. Got that image yet? Don’t worry I’ll wait. Now add tiger flame eyes and big 12 foot span of wings that are on fire; that my dear reader is Akiva. He’s the bastard son of the emperor and bad-ass member of the don’t- fuck-with-me club. Akiva comes to earth to hunt down the portals that the wishmonger uses to get his supply of teeth. Once a portal is found Akiva places his hand on the door and marks it to be burned later. Long Akiva has been waiting for this moment to come where he will exact his revenge on the very monster who has sustained the war that has taken Akiva’s love away from him 18 years ago. Driven by vengeance and empty to any remorse Akiva is confident that with the help of his brother Hazael and sister Liraz. The thousand year war between chimera and angel will soon come to a close.
               
Laini Taylor makes you root for both sides. That is until her little secrets start unraveling and you have that final AH-HA moment. Since the story is written in third person you are able to see understand the perspective of both main characters and the story couldn’t be layered better. You fall in love with the chimera because to Karou they are her family and all she knows. Then you get Akiva’s side of things and suddenly you’re wondering who is right? Who is the actual good guy? It really brings to life the adage that the right side is the side you’re on. This story is unique in that it also brings into the world the idea of the never ending soul. Karou, through the help of Akiva, finds out how she came to live with the chimera and why she feels this magnetic pull to this angry hostile angel.
              
Oh yes reader! In this tale the romance is HEAVY. Not Fabio hair in the wind heavy, but makes you want to cry heavy. The love story is one that quite literally has with stood decades to become once again and has been fought for by at least one person to be kept alive. Not that the other person hadn’t fought for it. It was just she didn’t know she was. Daughter of smoke and bone was a really good read. I laughed, I conspired, and I wanted nothing more than to get the second book ASAP once it was completed. I recommend this book for the fantasy lover since it really does incorporate two worlds really well.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

REVIEW: Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising (The Grisha, #3)Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo
Publication Date: June 17, 2014
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Guest Reviewer: Doris C. AKA La Chiquita

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

The capital has fallen.

The Darling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.


Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction-and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she's fighting for.

She reached for the walls to stable her from the run. She opened her eyes expecting to find rubble at her feet and smell the thick air in the tunnels. Little did she know that she would be safe on her reading knook and only a crick in her neck to tell her of the length of time that has passed. Despair slowly set in as she remembered the chase. The feeling of loss as her heroine swam in and out of consciences and the fear that in the end the villain22 was not destroyed. No one is safe. All she can do is close her eyes shake off her feels and pick up the final chapter. Pouring herself a strong glass of wine and walking off the last bit of anxiety she turns her eyes on the cover of Ruin and Rising and dives into the end with no hopes for a life line but all expectations that she will survive. 

Can I start this off with a I just HATE the Apparat!! WTF can you make someone more slimmy? He’s not even trying and you want to push him down one of the tunnels never to be heard from again. I also was not a fan of the St Alina cult. I get the desperation to believe in something but even Mal takes a sip of the kool aid and at that I just want to scream. I’m with Alina, she is far from saintly but even if she is her place is not in the tunnels hiding but out there repairing the damage she has left behind.

By now you have either read the series or have been hiding under a rock because after reading book 1&2 how could you have waited not to read and digest book 3? I have a few confessions. #1 I don’t want Mal and Alina together. I am rooting for Stormhond! I know this is just in my mind but a girl can dream can I not? #2 I want the darkling to be killed by his mother #3 I want Toyla and Zoya to hook up #4 if I was in the compound I would have killed the king after Genya’s confession.   

The book opens up with Alina saved from the tragic destruction of the chapel and hidden under the city of Os Alta under the thumb of the apparat, with her is her team of Grisha and Mal at the ready. All of them are devoted to get her out of the tunnels and reunited with Stormhond who they assumed survived the attack and is just buying his time to bring down the darkling.

 I find myself wanting Alina to be able to do more with her power than lighting up a room and cutting things. I mean she can yield heavenly fire… shouldn’t she be able to burn things or bring life or take life at will? I feel like Leigh made her out to be one big light bulb. Where as the darkling has no limits. He is just full of surprises. Don’t get me wrong in book 3 we find out that the connection that draws the darkling to Alina can be used by Alina as well and of course the darkling has had more time to practice his limits but Alina should really be given a learning curve.

The love between Alina and Mal takes a turn too. Mal is desperate to keep his distance because he is convinced that Alina is meant to for so much more than he can offer. Where in book 2 we see him resigned to his role as guardian in this one hes just not there. Alina on the other hand has never been more in love with Mal than before. She knows that the choice she has to make is pretty much already made for her and she just has to find peace with it now. With that peace is the knowledge that this drive for power could be the very thing that waltz her back into the capable hands of the darkling.

He is too ready for that to be the case. The story faces a lot of what should be and what actually is. Each character has their own rendition of how this should play out. Alina wants all the amplifiers with hopes that all three of them will give her the advantage she needs to bring the darkling down. Mal wants Alina safe and feels he has to close off his feelings to protect her and serve his purpose of finding the amplifiers for her. The darkling wants Alina to stop playing saint and help him bring Ravka into the new world where he is king and the Grisha are no longer hunted but respected. Can we all just get along? Well in this world the answer is no… no we can’t.

The end to this story is lack luster. I will admit that I didn’t see it coming. I thought it would be bells and whistles and lots and lots of hope for the future but it wasn’t. It has a very simple ending and we find that the end is very much like the beginning. I did not have a book hangover on this trilogy but I appreciated the journey very much. In true form Leigh never let us believe that it would end in other way than it did. For all things in the end cannot be all powerful. Fears are faced, weaknesses strengthened and friendships are reinforced. In my heart Alina will shine as bright as the morning star, Mal will run free as Morosovas stag, the darkling will have his peace with his past, and Stormhond will fly with his wings spread through the world.  

Thursday, October 2, 2014

REVIEW: Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Guest Reviewer: Doris C. AKA La Chiquita

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.


The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk everything to the oncoming storm.

The girl could feel her heart beating again. She knew such books existed that could transport you but she never thought she would find one so soon. She placed her hand on the cover of the new book and closed her eyes to feels the pulse given off from the ink within. The characters called to her from the shores of unexplored lands and begged her to turn the cover and return to them. She knew this was crazy. How can she be so involved with lives that never took in a breath? Share dreams with a heroine that she knew so little of? And hope with all her strength that this tale would come to a happy ending even though she knew that no such thing could possible exist. Even though her brain told her it was just a simple tale, she drew in a deep breath and turned the page to read the tale of Siege and Storm.

Let take this moment to just draw in a deep breath because by the end of this book you would not have breath left. All thanks to the ever twisting plot and adventure that Leigh Bardugo puts us on. In the last book of Shadow and Bone our Alina and Mal are running for their lives and towards sunnier shores to start a new life away from the madness that has ensued in Ravka and the wrath of the Darkling. We start our tale on a boat as Alina and Mal cross the true sea.

Mal of course is being his usual best-at-everything self and just charming his way through crew and passing folly as our poor Alina is still the fly on the wall that would rather buzz on her own than let anyone into her world. I give her this if I was in her place I would be more worried with changing whatever I can about myself and not playing nice with the locals. I don’t want to give too much away but I will tell you NO ONE IS SAFE. Never let yourself fall into the false sense of maybe they will get away with this because the Darkling will have none of it.

In book two we are introduced to some of the most colorful characters that I can’t get over. We have the twins Toyla and Tamar, Stormhound, a fun loving crew of bandits, some of the royal family and not to mention the grisha. As you read you will have your own favorites but know that all characters show more of who they are and where their alliances lean towards. Of course never let yourself fall into the knowledge that you know who is who to whom. Leigh as always loves to play with your feels and you must keep them guarded or you will find yourself at the bottom of the tissue box before you know what hit you.

This book though faster moving than the first one has a lot of the meat of the story that we didn’t really get a chance at in book 1. We see more of the relationship between the two armies and the real extent of the Darkling's reach through out Ravka. Also we see the extent of the relationship between Alina and Mal. Though now it is out and in the open how they feel, they have to make really strong decisions about their feelings and not soley base those decisions on the well being of each other but the well being of Ravka. Mal grows up a lot and comes to a realization that I am still not sure that at the time Alina was ready for. Through thick and thin those two have always had each other and now they are faced with should that even matter or should they hold what is best in the end.

The roller coaster ride just never stops with these books. There are politics, romance, and constant humor that you cant get over and really brings home the emotions of the tale. You start questioning your own perception of the tale and whether how you want it to end really is the way you would want it to end. The whole book is just one decision away from just everything blowing up and you cant  help but want it to blow up just so you can see how it would be written. 

Monday, September 22, 2014

REVIEW: Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo
Publication Date: June 5, 2012
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Guest Reviewer: Doris C. AKA La Chiquita

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.


Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

Once upon a time in a far away place there lived a girl who believed that books contained magic that could solve any worldly woe. She was determined to fill her life with the words found in these books with hopes that she would find the answers to her personal questions. Unfortunately through her journey she discovered that not all books were as magical as she would have liked them to be. There were books that contained emotions powerful enough to make her cry as she read, then there were books that made her read the same sentence four times because it never made sense. Then there was Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.
Before I get into the complete review let me explain the world you are going to walk into. The book takes place in Russia. This Russia is split into four sections, there is Fjerda to the north, Shu han in the south and our home land of Ravka is split in two by a river of dark sand called the unsea. The unsea is where all the big bad beasties live and no one wants to get caught there alone. Not that you would last long, the unsea is pitchblack and inhabited by creatures called volcra. Think of your worst nightmare and let it have a family reunion where you are the main course instead of burgers.
In this world there are two types of people, people with abilities called the Grisha, and people without abilities called otkazat’sya(nothing). All otkazat’sya are tested at a young age to see if they have Grisha ability. If they do, they are recruited to the second army to hone their skill and become warriors. The Grisha are split into three categories, Corporalki (people that can heal and manipulate blood and organs), Etheralki (people that can manipulate air, fire and water) , and materialki (people who can build/design and chemist). One piece of advice I will give is that you get ready to mash up some words. Most things are very Russian but it gives into the world you are walking through.
Now to the juicy stuff. The story is about a girl name Alina Starkov who is an orphan and is part of the first army to the king with her BFF Malyen Oretsev. He of course is the hottie mc hot-hot of the town and she is in love with him and he has no clue. Mal is a tracker (the best tracker ever) and Alina is an apprentice the cartographer. They are being sent to the unsea to cross and bring back goods from West Ravka. Needless to say the troops are apprehensive about the journey but they are mandated to go so they just have to suck it up and hope for the best.
I looked up to see Mal’s familiar face, a smile in his bright blue eyes as he fell into step beside me. “C’mon,” he said. “One foot in front of the other. You know how it’s done.”
“You’re interfering with my plan”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. Faint, get trampled, grievous injuries all around.”
“That sounds like a brilliant plan.”
“Ah, but if I’m horribly maimed, I won’t be able to cross the fold.”
Mal nodded slowly. “I see. I can shove you under a cart if that would help.”
“I’ll think about it,” I grumbled, but I felt my mood lifting all the same.  Pg.10-11
  The relationship between these two make you want to scream. Even though you don’t really get to see them flourish because Alina is found to have a rare and powerful ability that even she was not aware she had. This ability pulls her away from Mal and into the arms of the leader of the second army called the darklilng. When he finds out about Alina’s power he is immediately all I must protect her at all cost and this means taking her away from the position she held in the first army and taking her to the little palace at the captiol of Ravka called Os Alta.
In Os Alta we watch Alina transform from lost simple orphan to developing Grisha who is still trying to figure out what this new found power means for her and what the darkling really has up his sleeve. Leigh Bardugo is a cruel mind manipulator and I love her for it. You never know when the twist is coming and if you do time it right then you don’t anticipate what the twist will be. I found myself many times re-reading passages to make sure it was her and not me that this was happening it to. This tale is action packed and full of feels. Good feels, ugly feels, and very humorous. I love the conversations of the characters and the development of the plot. No it is not truly one thing or another but what in real life is? You never really know what a characters true intentions are when you feel you do please change your mind. This book flies buy and when you are done and you don’t have book two handy you will be upset with yourself. I don’t give 5 stars often but this story was well worth it.