Tag: YA Books

[New Post] ARC Review: The Shadows of Wren by Jen Bliton

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Title: The Shadows of Wren

Author: Jen Bilton

Page count: 386

Published: August 30th, 2023

Publisher: Netgalley

Genre: YA, Magic

Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 2/5

May the Valiant Prevail

After decades of peace within the lands of Caldumn ruled by the Red Kingdom, the southern towns have come under attack. Their libraries burned and ancient texts stolen by an ominous force. An unlikely alliance between two magic kinds is formed when Wren, a nineteen-year-old Mage, finds herself in the middle of a conflict that will take her outside of the peaceful life she’s known.

Along her journey, she meets Tyran, whose Necromancer magic is not widely trusted, and learns they share a deeper ancient magic that has long since disappeared.

Together with the help of all magic kinds, they must unite the towns to save their lands, and themselves, while the threat of the Red Kingdom looms.

Wren is orphaned as a child and discovers that she has a gift for shadow magic. As she grows, she trains with her father to learn how to work her magic. This was a book that was difficult to get into, and that may be because I don’t normally read this type of genre, it did have a good plot/storyline but it just wasn’t for me.

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[New Post] ARC Review: Accomplished by Amanda Quain

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Title: Accomplished

Author: Amanda Quain

Page count: 320

Published: July 26th, 2022

Publisher:Netgalley

Genre: YA

Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 2/5

Georgiana Darcy gets the Pride & Prejudice retelling she deserves in Accomplished, a sparkling contemporary YA featuring a healthy dose of marching band romance, endless banter, and Charles Bingley as a ripped frat boy.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Georgiana Darcy should have been expelled after The Incident with Wickham Foster last year – at least if you ask any of her Pemberley Academy classmates. She may have escaped expulsion because of her family name, but she didn’t escape the disappointment of her big brother Fitz, the scorn of the entire school, or, it turns out, Wickham’s influence.

But she’s back for her junior year, and she needs to prove to everyone—Fitz, Wickham, her former friends, and maybe even herself—that she’s more than just an embarrassment to the family name. How hard can it be to become the Perfect Darcy? All she has to do is:

– Rebuild her reputation with the marching band (even if it kills her)
– Forget about Wickham and his lies (no matter how tempting they still are), and
– Distract Fitz Darcy—helicopter-sibling extraordinaire—by getting him to fall in love with his classmate, Lizzie Bennet (this one might be difficult…)

Sure, it’s a complicated plan, but so is being a Darcy. With the help of her fellow bandmate, Avery, matchmaking ideas lifted straight from her favorite fanfics, and a whole lot of pancakes, Georgie is going to see every one of her plans through. But when the weight of being the Perfect Darcy comes crashing down, Georgie will have to find her own way before she loses everything permanently—including the one guy who sees her for who she really is.

With having a love for Pride and Prejudice, I thought that I would give this book a go, but it wasn’t something that kept my attention. I kept getting distracted by real life and not able to actually able to submerge my self into he story and have a real connection with the characters.

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[New Post] ARC Review: Hook and Crown by Nicole Knapp

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Title: Hook and Crown

Author: Nicole Knapp

Page count: 212

Published: June 11th, 2019

Publisher: Parliament House Press

Genre: Fairy Tale

Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 2/5

You’ve heard of Neverland and its inhabitants… fairies, pirates, mermaids, and a boy who didn’t want to grow up. But you can’t always believe the stories. In the vein of Aiden Thomas’ Peter Pan retelling, Lost in the Never Woods , Hook & Crown is perfect for readers who crave fresh, modern twists on classic tales.

“Where do I even begin with this book?! As a lifelong fan of Peter Pan I am a sucker for retellings and this one blew my mind. This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions that I can only hope to share with the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a dark and gritty retelling with some plot twists that will leave you breathless!”

– Verified Reviewer

Elena Hart arrives in London, bound for a new boarding school operated by her estranged uncle. A fresh start is exactly what she needs. But when strange things begin happening, things she can’t explain, she begins to wonder if she’s losing her senses. Then, a strange girl appears in her room one night, claiming to be a fairy tasked with bringing Elena to Neverland at the request of its ruler.

Skeptical, Elena refuses, until a young man with strange green eyes appears. Although she tries to resist his charm, something about him allays her doubts, and Elena is whisked away from the world she knows to one she always thought was make-believe.

But Neverland is nothing like the stories Elena grew up hearing, and she quickly learns that the boundary between the righteous and the wicked is hardly clear-cut. She must decide for herself who the heroes and villains are, or if there are truly any at all.

This wasn’t for me at all I couldn’t connect to the book at all it was a DNF at 30%

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[New Post] ARC Review: Uncaged by Celia Mcmahon

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Title: Uncaged

Author: Celia Mcmahon

Page count: 416

Published: February 5th, 2020

Publisher: Parliament House Press

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 2/5

Not every queen needs a crown.

After escaping Stormwall, Izzy and Fray have finally crossed through the Archway and into The Old Kingdom in search of allies. But finding a place within Fray’s former pack is harder than they imagined. When Izzy’s father warred with the Gwylis, it made a lifelong enemy of the Rowan name. Fray’s betrayal of siding with Aquarius in the war makes him no less an enemy to the pack.

Izzy struggles to understand her newfound magic and build a relationship with her new family, but when the new king’s soldiers arrive in The Old Kingdom, Izzy must fight to secure the protection of her new home. With war looming once again, Izzy is thrust back into the life she tried to leave behind.

As danger mounts, past, present, and future collide between kingdoms, and the lines of allegiances are drawn. Izzy must decide who she is willing to fight for, and where her loyalties truly lie.

UNCAGED is the stunning sequel to Celia McMahon’s debut UNSPOKEN, the first in her fantasy trilogy set in a world of curses, wolves, and war.

I feel like I didn’t get to enjoy this book because I didn’t read the first book in the series. I feel like I could have enjoyed it more knowing the back story. This book wasn’t for me. I wish that it was because the synopsis made the book sound interesting.

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[New Post] ARC Review: Dead School by Laura Gia West

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Title: Dead School

Author: Laura Gia West

Page count: 257

Published: November 16th, 2018

Publisher: Netgalley

Genre: YA, Horror

Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 2/5

“… an explosive comedy with a fanciful spin on afterlife. ” – Authors Reading
There is no death… only a change in worlds
Tina Crocker is having the best day of her life as she performs at the school’s largest talent show. She kills it. Literally. The moment she steps off Tina Crocker croaks and ends up in… Dead School.

This was a DNF for me. I couldn’t get past 40% of the book.

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