Daughter of the Burning City (ARC Review)

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Mystery
Format: ARC (received at BookCon)
Page Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: July 25, 2017

About Daughter of the Burning City (via Goodreads):

A darkly irresistible new fantasy set in the infamous Gomorrah Festival, a traveling carnival of debauchery that caters to the strangest of dreams and desires.

Sixteen-year-old Sorina has spent most of her life within the smoldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the traveling circus-city, Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years. This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival’s Freak Show.

But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that—illusions, and not truly real. Or so she always believed…until one of them is murdered.

Desperate to protect her family, Sorina must track down the culprit and determine how they killed a person who doesn’t actually exist. Her search for answers leads her to the self-proclaimed gossip-worker Luca, and their investigation sends them through a haze of political turmoil and forbidden romance, and into the most sinister corners of the Festival. But as the killer continues murdering Sorina’s illusions one by one, she must unravel the horrifying truth before all of her loved ones disappear.

Daughter of the Burning City was one of my most anticipated novels of the year, and it definitely did not disappoint. The was as twisty and dark as I had hoped, and Amanda Foody did not fail to conceal the many tricks she had up her sleeve. Even when I started suspecting people or started to piece together the details in attempt to solve the mystery, Foody threw me for a loop, revealing and connecting even more underlying details to the schemes that took place in and out of the festival.

I loved Sorina as a protagonist. She was so imperfect and human and real. She was a strong and powerful person overall, but she also wasn't afraid to let her emotions show and allowed herself to grieve and feel hurt and all the feelings when she needed to. On top of being strong though, she did face a lot of internal struggles, especially with her self-confidence and appearance. It was definitely a difficult journey for her (emotionally and just overall), but I felt myself rooting for her throughout all the different obstacles and conflicts she faced. Although there definitely were times where I wish she had been more assertive and inquisitive, I still thought she was a great main character.

All of the characters were super unique and probably one of my favorite aspects of the story. Although a lot of the characters were Sorina's illusions come to life, they all had their own unique personalities and minds of their own. Their different abilities and personalities both harmonized and clashed (I know that sounds oxymoronic but it's hard to explain) at the same time and it was a wonderful sort of family dynamic, which is not very prevalent in the novels that I normally read. (I do wish the other characters were explored a bit more though, especially Iosef and some of the other residents of the Gomorrah Festival that weren't a part of Sorina's family.)

The plot definitely varied in speed a lot, which was frustrating at times, but also kind of nice? For example, there was a decent stretch in the book where there was a lot of sleuthing and not much actual action, but it did give me some emotional reprieve and some answers, which was nice. All in all though, I will say that I had trouble putting it down, even when there were slower parts because I was so intrigued by the story.

The only other issue for me throughout the novel was the world-building. The fundamentals were mostly covered, and Foody's descriptions of the festival as a whole were wonderful, but there were a decent amount of underlying political problems in the world outside of the festival that played a role in the story that were not fully fleshed out and a bit difficult to understand. The descriptions and explanations of the magic system were also a bit confusing and not fully developed, which were not a huge problem for me as I was reading, but as I thought more about the book as a whole afterward, became more problematic. A lot of the major workings of the magic system that made the plot possible were not ever explained or made clear. Although the magic system was a bit messy, I still loved the concepts for all the different styles of jynx work and loved seeing how those different abilities shaped the festival and the story as a whole.

Overall, Daughter of the Burning City was an immensely enjoyable read full of twists and turns, a fun and exciting cast of characters, and an intriguing world I loved to explore.

My Rating: 3 stars

Daughter of the Pirate King (Review)

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
Series: Daughter of the Pirate King #1
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Adventure
Page Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

About Daughter of the Pirate King (via Goodreads):

There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

I went in with high expectations (DOTPK was one of my most anticipated books of the year) and greatly enjoyed it overall, but was a bit underwhelmed in some ways. The plot and premise were absolutely fantastic, and I completely devoured the story, but the writing itself didn't quite live up to the grandeur I was expecting from such a swashbuckling and entertaining story.

I really loved all of the characters, but I would have liked more from them. The characters all seemed really unique and fun, but none of them seemed fully developed (even Alosa and Riden, despite being the main characters on the adventure). They definitely were developed enough to make the reading experience enjoyable, but I would have appreciated just a bit more character development throughout the story.

Alosa and Riden were definitely an interesting pair. Although the romance was a bit rapid and on/off (and not a major factor of the story), I really enjoyed how much they butted heads and the rollercoaster of emotions between them. Even though Riden was her captor, he was a genuinely kind person who I really loved learning about throughout the novel.

Overall, Daughter of the Pirate King was an immensely enjoyable read and wonderful debut from Tricia Levenseller. Diving straight into the action from the very first page, Levenseller hits the ground running (or the sea speed-sailing??? Idk if that's even a thing but I give up on my attempt to make this more applicable to the setting of the book *hangs head in shame*) and never relents with keeping up the pace.

My rating: 3 stars

The Orphan Queen (Review)

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Series: The Orphan Queen #1
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Page Length: 391 pages
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 10, 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books

About The Orphan Queen (via Goodreads):

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.

I've never hit such a block trying to write a review as I did with this one. I did enjoy reading the book, it just didn't stand out to me so much, so it's hard to articulate my thoughts. I overall did enjoy the story though! I especially loved the world Meadows created. The concept of the Wraith and the glowmen and flashers and everything… it was really exciting and unique! I would have loved to see it explored more. Maybe it will go even more in-depth in The Mirror King? *hopeful face*

The characters were… meh for me. I feel like there wasn't much interaction between them and I never really felt connected to any of them. At least at the beginning, anyway. None of them made a huge impression on me, and a lot of them seemed kind of flat. (Although Patrick just needed to die in a hole from the very beginning. UGH. He disgusted me so much.)

The only characters I truly liked were Wil and Black Knife, which brings me to my favorite part: the relationship between them. I shipped them SO hard—even though I suspected who Black Knife was all along (and was right). So naturally that ending killed me. And apparently the ending to The Mirror King has left people drowning in oceans of tears, so I guess I'll have that to look forward to.

The Orphan Queen wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but for better or worse, I'm not sure. It was slow at times, and I was actually tempted to DNF at one point, but I'm so glad I didn't. Although it wasn't the most incredible novel I ever read, I did end up really liking it and sped through it. In fact, I finished it late at night even though I had to wake up super early the next morning. (I ended up only getting 3 hours of sleep but I NEEDED TO KNOW HOW IT ENDED AND IT WAS WORTH IT DESPITE THE HEARTBREAK.)

I seriously NEED to know what happens next because the characters may have started to grow on me and also the massive, overly emotional cliffhanger was too brutal to handle *shakes fist and Jodi and curls up in a ball and sobs* I know the second book comes out soon, but will I be emotionally prepared? Probably not. Will I read it anyway? Definitely.

Rating: 3 stars

Red Queen (GIF Review)

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen #1
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian/Fantasy
Page Length: 383 pages
Format: Hardcover

About Red Queen (via Goodreads):

This is a world divided by blood - red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance - Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart...

Aveyard's writing style was superb. Despite the fact that I saw a lot of common tropes and typical elements of other popular YA in Red Queen, I thought Aveyard wrote Mare's story masterfully (and better than 99% of those books with similar tropes). It was overall a pretty good read. I'd definitely give it 3 stars.

I have been trying to come up with words to describe how I feel about this book, but I've been struggling a bit since my feelings are a bit all over the place about the book. So I figured today would be the day to have my first ever GIF review!!! *throws confetti*

~ MY THOUGHTS ON THE CHARACTERS ~

Mare

It wasn't exactly like I ever hated Mare, but I wasn't exactly sure what I thought of her at first. I don't think that she's the most amazing protagonist out there, but she definitely has some good qualities and I overall liked her as a character. I feel like she could have had a bit more character development, but I'm satisfied, I suppose.

Cal

I loved Cal, but at the same time he had this rough exterior and also this hidden hatred that kind of scared me. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye on him in the next book!

Maven

That was... interesting, to put it lightly. I sort of saw it coming, but at the same time I didn't. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FEEL. RIGHT NOW ALL I FEEL IS RAGE AND HATE AND BETRAYAL. BUT HE WAS SO GOOD AT BEING A LIAR *cries*

Kilorn

Kilorn was barely there throughout Red Queen but I really want to see him more throughout the rest of the series because I loved him when he was there.

Evangeline

~ MY THOUGHTS ON THE ROMANCE ~

Mare and Cal

They definitely have an interesting relationship, but I love it. I love it so so much. Probably more than I should. (I guess it didn't help that there was a romantic dance scene though. I am a complete sucker for those <3)

Mare and Maven

MEHHHHHHHH. I was never really invested in their relationship. Not one bit. And by the end I just hated Maven too much to even care. And that last ditch effort to get Mare back... NO.

Mare and Kilorn

I'm not usually a fan of the childhood crush romances, but Kilorn didn't play a huge role in the book, and I really want to see them together. Maybe. I don't really know. It's hard to say. But so far, I really do like Kilorn.

Cal and Evangeline

Because their relationship was totally existent. I mean, the whole Queenstrial thing made sense. But even when they were trying to look like they were actually happy. Nope nope nope. Not convincing at all. (Although maybe it was supposed to be that way because it was from Mare's POV the whole time?? Who knows.) Is this even going to be a thing after everything that happened?!?

The horrible thought that has plagued my mind:

IS THERE GOING TO BE A LOVE-PENTAGON?!?!?!?

~  MY THOUGHTS ON THE PLOT ~

I guess there were supposed to be a lot of twists in the book, but whenever a "twist" came, it felt like this to me:

Okay, so not quite like that. But basically none of the twists completely shocked me the way I think they were supposed to. I guess I was expecting a lot because my friend told me there were a lot of twists involved, so I was kind of coming up with scenarios way before things would happen, so even though I didn't know the exact twists, I was not really surprised when things went awry and people were betrayed by the people they trusted most.

Despite the lack of shock factor, the plot was overall pretty good, although most of the action did not occur until the last hundred or so pages. In fact, those last hundred pages were probably my favorite part of the book. SO MUCH ACTION AND REBELLION AND BETRAYAL AND SO MANY FEELINGS.

Finding Cinderella (Review)

Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover
Series: Hopeless #2.5
Genre: New Adult/Contemporary/Novella
Page Length: 90 pages
Format: eBook

Spoiler Warning: possibility of minimal spoilers (nothing that the synopsis doesn't already spoil)

Until I picked up Finding Cinderella, I had never read any books by Colleen Hoover.  I am so glad I finally did, however, because Finding Cinderella was a very cute and fun read.  I wish it was a full-length novel, rather than a novella (or at least a longer novella) thought, since 1) I didn't want it to end, and 2) there were some things that I thought were missing that could have developed the story and characters more.

I absolutely loved the concept of the story.  Daniel and "Cinderella" have a chance encounter in a broom closet in their school, and they instantly click, without even knowing who the other is.  Their moments together are fleeting, but they make the most of it, giving each other a piece of their hearts, if only for a little while and even though they believed it was just an act.  I loved their relationship because it was open and genuine, without being too revealing.  They were in the dark together and had absolutely no idea who the other was, so the two characters bared their souls and just had to trust each other.

The story then shifts to Daniel a year later, while he's in a relationship with his controlling girlfriend.  Although I understand why Hoover jumps ahead to when things begin to change for Daniel, it is not extremely clear that he still has feelings for this "Cinderella" girl he barely knew and hasn't ever seen.  He only mentions "Cinderella" once or twice before he even pieces together who Cinderella actually is, and it bothered me just a bit.  If he's so infatuated with this fairytale he created for himself, why didn't he think of her more often?  It just didn't quite add up for me.

I really liked the idea of Daniel as a character, but there were quite a few things I had problems with.  He was extremely defensive of his girlfriend, one he himself despised, and when he found out about Cinderella's not-so-happy-ending, he completely lost his temper and it was totally unreasonable.  I understand people mess up, but he really just bothered me at times.  Also, as the narrator, I was surprised by how little Daniel seemed to share his feelings and thoughts.  It was difficult to see much of a character transformation because it was difficult to place his personality to begin with. He fell a little flat for me.

I absolutely loved Six.  She was spunky and a bit crazy, but she was also really vulnerable at times too. She seemed to be aware of her boundaries and her demons, and she seemed to be struggling to hold on at times.  All of these flaws, personality traits, and secrets, however, just added to her character and I respected her and the decisions she made, both in regard to her relationship to Daniel and in general.  She wasn't perfect by any means, and neither was Daniel, but I felt more for her than I did Daniel.  She just seemed fleshed out and real.

In terms of Daniel and Six's relationship, I thought it was absolutely adorable.  Their crazy antics were so much fun to read about, and their romantic moments were too cute.  Although they had their ups and downs, I really enjoyed reading about the development of their relationship.  And even though Daniel himself thought it was (as I like to call it)"the dreaded instalove", it really did seem genuine, as they did get to know each other and learned to accept each other for their flaws.  There was no "oh my gosh you're gorgeous I'm clearly in love with you" thing going on at all (like some relationships with instalove seem to have), and I appreciated that.

All in all, Finding Cinderella was an enjoyable read.  It was a quick novella that satisfied my hunger for a contemporary, but that was all; it satisfied, but did not wow.

Rating: ✪✪✪

About Finding Cinderella (via Goodreads):

A chance encounter in the dark leads eighteen-year-old Daniel and the girl who stumbles across him to profess their love for each other. But this love comes with conditions: they agree it will only last one hour and it will only be make-believe.

When their hour is up and the girl rushes off like Cinderella, Daniel tries to convince himself that what happened between them only seemed perfect because they were pretending it was perfect. Moments like that with girls like her don’t happen outside of fairytales.

One year and one bad relationship later, his disbelief in insta-love is stripped away the day he meets Six: a girl with a strange name and an even stranger personality. Daniel soon realizes the way he pretended to feel about Cinderella and the way he really feels about Six may not be so different after all. Especially when the two loves of his life end up being one in the same.

Unfortunately for Daniel, finding Cinderella doesn’t guarantee their happily ever after…it only further threatens it.