Review: The Betrothed by Kiera Cass

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Publication date: 5th May 2020

Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books

Pages: 400

When King Jameson declares his love for Lady Hollis Brite, Hollis is shocked—and thrilled. After all, she’s grown up at Keresken Castle, vying for the king’s attention alongside other daughters of the nobility. Capturing his heart is a dream come true.

But Hollis soon realizes that falling in love with a king and being crowned queen may not be the happily ever after she thought it would be. And when she meets a commoner with the mysterious power to see right into her heart, she finds that the future she really wants is one that she never thought to imagine.

I do not expect anything deep and meaningful with a Kiera Cass book. On the whole, they’re light, fluffy romances, that don’t really require too much thought and yet are highly addictive books. Which was exactly what I needed when I picked this up, and precisely what I didn’t get. There wasn’t really anything to redeem it - the character’s are flat caricatures that never develop or turn into anything worth sticking with. There is little to no plot until the last part where suddenly what could have been an entire book's worth of plot is rammed in and has little to no emotional resonance because of the aforementioned rubbish characters and lack of time spent developing the plot that’s shoved in. And insta-love. Oh boy, the insta-love. 

There were a couple of characters I would have been interested to have a book from, but nothing is really developed.In short, it is an absolute hot mess, that I’m staggered made it to being published. 

Review: The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross

Publication Date: February 19th 2018
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 464 pages

Born out of wedlock, Brienna is cast off by her noble family and sent to Magnolia House - a boarding house for those looking to study the passions: art, music, dramatics, wit and knowledge. Brienna must discover her passion and train hard to perfect her skill, in the hope that she will one day graduate and be chosen by a wealthy patron, looking to support one of the `impassioned'. As Brienna gets closer to the eve of her graduation, she also grows closer to her smart (and handsome) tutor, Cartier. He can sense that she is hiding a secret, but Brienna chooses not to reveal that she is experiencing memories of her ancestors - memories uncovering the mysteries of the past that may have dangerous consequences in the present. A daring plot is brewing - to overthrow the usurper king and restore the rightful monarchy - and Brienna's memories hold the key to its success. Cartier desperately wants to help Brienna, but she must chose her friends wisely, keep her enemies close and trust no one if she is to save herself and her people.

I bought this book months ago because I was super excited to read it, and then it ended up languishing on my to read pile for ages. Why? Because I didn't want to squander it. Have you ever experienced that rare but wonderful feeling, where you know a book is going to be perfect and wonderful and important for you, but you want to save it for just the right moment? That was what I felt for this one, so I waited until the stars were aligned, then I picked it up and began to read.

And did not put it down again.

It was unexpected. It was beautiful. It had  wonderfully well drawn and crafted characters. And it had a compelling story at its heart. In short, I loved it. I loved it in a way I was hoping to, yet didn't dare fully express.

The story didn't follow the well worn paths I was expecting, and instead took me in several different directions. Some may find that jarring, but I personally found the unexpectedness refreshing. I enjoyed not knowing where I might be taken next, or how the plot might unfold. It can become so frustrating when you feel you know how a book will develop, so to be surprised was a welcome change.

The writing is beautiful, and really helps to pull you into the story and fully engage you in Brienna's world. I felt for her - her heartbreaks, her disappointments, her desperate desire to help protect her country and those she loves. It was gripping and wonderful, and so good to have a heroine who isn't afraid to get embedded in, to protect and look after herself, to not diminish herself for any man. She is strong within herself, with determination, her strength of character, her convictions, and her knowledge. Not all strength is in wielding a blade, and Brienna shows that beautifully, and I loved her all the more for that.

I cannot fully articulate how much I loved this, but it is most definitely one of my favourites of the year, and I cannot wait for the sequel to grace our shelves early next year.

There were echoes of other stories I enjoyed, so if you liked "The Belles", "A Great and Terrible Beauty", "Grave Mercy", or "The Queen of the Tearling" then you really should pick this up and start down Brienna's adventure with her.

Review: The Piano Man Project by Kat French

Publication Date: July 30^th 2015
Publisher: Harper Collins UK/Avon
Length: 400 pages

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK/Avon for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

A delightfully romantic, heartwarming read for everyone who’s ever looked for The One and found someone better.
You: kind, piano-playing sex god
Me: hopelessly romantic charity shop manager
Honeysuckle Jones has a problem, and her best friends Nell and Tash are on a mission to help her solve it. She needs a man – a caring, intelligent, funny man. But most importantly, a man who’s good with his hands…
Luckily Honey’s new neighbour – moody, antisocial ex-chef Hal – fails on almost every count. Even though the chemistry between them is electric, he’s obviously wrong for her in every way.
But when Honey discovers the devastating reason for his moods she decides to give him another chance. And discovers that the best songs aren’t always in tune…

It’s summer time and I always need a few good chick-lits to curl up and read when it gets warmer, and that blurb had me more than a little bit intrigued.
The book starts with one of the most attention grabbing scenes I’ve read in a long time. Honey and her two best friends in a sex shop, discussing vibrators and sex. This is not a book that holds back, and you’re thrust in (no pun intended) right from the very first sentence.

I wasn’t initially convinced, I mean yes the book had my attention, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be good. But ‘The Piano Man Project’ ended up surprising me until by the end I was thoroughly invested and more than a little bit emotional.

Honey and Hal are fantastic together. The banter is brilliant and I frequently found myself laughing out loud. Add to that their chemistry and that alone would be enough to make this a good book. But it had so much more depth to it. It tackles sex, the culture and emphasis on orgasm. It tackles the plight of the residents of the home, the problematic attitude that so many have about sweeping the elderly under the rug and forgetting the things they have done for us with their youth. It has strong and brilliant friendships between Honey and her two best friends, plus the friendships Honey has developed with the residents of the home. There was so much to this book that it stopped being ‘just a romance’ from only a handful of pages in.

Whilst the relationship developing between Hal and Honey was fantastic, and the side story of the search for an elusive piano man was amusing/cringeworthy at points, the real show stealer for me was the story thread about trying to save the home. I loved watching Honey come out of her shell and start to really put herself out there and speak up for these residents. I loved the protests and the humour that came through above the fear in those moments. I loved the quiet determination throughout, but I particularly loved the crowning glory, the giant protest at the end where everything comes to a head. I was so emotional by that point reading the speeches from Honey, and the support from all of the other characters that I was actually in tears on the train whilst reading. I was so drawn into the narrative and invested with these characters and their lives.

My only issue was with some of Hal’s character points. I got that he had to be grumpy and abrasive, but there were several points where the way he was treating Honey was just too awful to really then sell the romance. I could have done with his terribleness being toned down a little bit so that I wasn’t constantly questioning why Honey was falling for him. It was decidedly problematic at several points. That said I loved the slow build-up of their relationship. The kisses, the cooking, the dinner and talking through the door. It was brilliantly done. I loved that we had a hero who wasn’t the norm. Kat really embraced the challenge of having Hal be blind, and I loved seeing how he dealt with that, the emotional and physical problems, how he tried to deal with it and the fall-out from that. It added more unexpected depths that I truly wasn’t expecting and surprised me in the best possible way.

This whole book surprised me. I was expecting a light romance and instead I got a romance with some much deeper themes underlying it. It was emotional, and poignant and utterly brilliant. I was swept away with this story and loved spending time with Honey. This is definitely one that I’m going to come back to again and again.

Review: The Heir by Kiera Cass

Publication Date: May 7^th 2015
Publisher: Harper Collins
Length: 352 pages

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.
But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.
Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

I’m going to be upfront and say that in my eyes, The Selection was not a good trilogy. It was littered with problems, yet despite all that it was like crack. I wanted to know what happened next. So in some ways you could say it was a very good series in that despite my better judgement I kept on shelling out for the next book no matter how dirty it made me feel.
Then it was announced that there would be a new duology of books to turn this trilogy into a five book series, this time with Maxon and America’s daughter as the heroine and she would be doing a selection of her own, this time with thirty five boys. Against my better judgement I was intrigued. After all, turning the tables like this and making the boys do all the things that America and the girls had to do? Putting the woman in a position of power? All of these things sounded good to me. I was just incredibly wary about the execution.

And it turns out that was justified. I’m still feeling a little incoherent after reading this one and doing anything other than face palming is a little hard, but I’m going to try and articulate what went so terribly wrong with this one.

The biggest thing? Eadlyn herself. She was a truly terrible protagonist. I mean if Cass was aiming for one of the most unlikeable heroines in fiction then she was doing brilliantly, but really you need to have a protagonist that the reader can get behind and identify with, someone that the reader wants to know their story and their thoughts and feelings, and that really didn’t happen with Eadlyn.

She was self-centred, spoiled, insulting to everyone, manipulative and plain awful. I was hoping that she would experience some sort of growth and character arc and that by the end of the novel we might begin to see a change, to see how she could begin to grow as a person throughout the next book, but sadly that didn’t occur. She spends the entire book being downright awful to people, feeling sorry for herself whenever anyone calls her out on it and going on about how she is the Queen and there is no-one more powerful than her. I dearly wanted someone, anyone to give her a slap.

She has a serious power complex and a lot of control issues. I am all for independent women and Eadlyn not needing a man to help her rule, but actually her response wasn’t anything related to that. She was convinced she was god’s gift to the masses, and as a result was utterly awful to everyone. She goes on and on about all the work that she has to do but we never see her doing anything other than complaining, sketching and reading newspapers. I mean if her and her father rely on the newspapers to get their information then it’s no wonder the entire country is going downhill.

There was no logic to this. Maxon and America got rid of the castes but didn’t put anything in place to deal with the inevitable problems?! They don’t have advisors and, oh I don’t know, some sort of council and information from somewhere other than their newspapers?!?!? I mean you can see the state I’m in just thinking about it, overuse of punctuation and the italics function…

So there are all of the gaping holes in the country structure and running, the fact that Eadlyn is terrible and unlikeable and manipulative and then we have the boys…

Whilst in The Selection trilogy we got to see America and the girls take on tasks and lessons to help prepare them for the role of future Queen, the boys seem to end up doing nothing at all. I know Eadlyn doesn’t want to end up with any of them and wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible at the start, but it seems a little implausible that the boys wouldn’t have to go through any sort of training. Then we have the obligatory awful boys. I mean there were some pretty awful girls in America’s selection but nothing on the scale of this. It felt unrealistic when more and more ended up being awful. And we don’t really get to know any of the boys, there are a couple of vaguely stand out ones that I can just about recall their names, but on the whole they just blur into one big mush of terrible.

So it’s a bit like watching a train wreck. And yet. There it is again, that against my better judgement that I want to know what happens – and no that isn’t because of that awful cliffhanger. The series is like crack. Terrible characters, awful plot, so full of problems it should sink. But I want to know what happens. Admittedly a peering through my fingers and wincing kind of want to know, but there you have it. If you fancy a quick read that you really need to not think too hard about when you’re reading, then it will definitely pass away an afternoon in the sunshine, but don’t expect anything too much or look too hard at it, your brain will just start to hurt.

Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Publication Date: June 4^th 2015
Publisher: Harper Collins
Length: 446 pages

Huge thanks to Harper Collins for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

One of the most perfect books to find as a reader is one that sweeps you away. That immerses you so fully that you live and breathe the story. You laugh and weep with the characters and rage on their behalf as you tear through the pages, desperate to see how it ends.
This is one of those books.

I loved Elias and Laia for very different reasons. Elias’ chapters are packed with action and fraught with the dangers and horrors of the trials and Blackcliff. As a result some people will lean more towards favouring his chapters as they push the story along at a breath taking pace and catch you easily in his twisted world and the terrible decisions he must constantly face.
However Laia holds her own, just in a much quieter way. She is no hero, no super spy, no assassin trained for vengeance. She is just a girl who has lost too much and desperately craves safety and comfort. She is terrified and wants to run away from the danger. This is no chosen one, no lioness rampant. And yet. Her character growth and arc are incredible. She comes to terms with the life she has been forced into, she tries desperately to find her way through this impossible situation and as a result you feel for her. You want to protect her and help her. You cheer for her as she gradually finds her courage and pieces it together to form something she can use. Yes her chapters are quieter, the action less dizzying, but they are still fraught and full of fear and you come to know her character better in those stolen moments of fear in the darkness better than you could in any other situation.

I also loved the characters surrounding them, even those I loathed and feared. Fierce and wonderful Helene, Izzi and Cook – I loved these strong and clever woman, all fighting for the things they love and believe in. The female friendships in this book were a breath of fresh air, and I found them so compelling to read.

The world building was also incredibly strong. There was just the right amount of information, with enough gaps and holes to be filled in in later books. You got the feeling that this was only a small slice of the world. Admittedly an incredibly brutal one, but still only a piece. Because Laia and Elias are so enmeshed in this piece of the world it makes complete sense that we only see this, but I loved the whispers of a world outside of the corner we are shown, of the other places we might see. It made it clear that this is not a small world, that there are larger pieces at stake than just this, but that this part of the world is important, vital even to these two particularly. It was a brutal world, filled with horror and bloodshed, but whilst it was overwhelming it points it never felt ridiculous. 

Everything felt like it had roots in our own worlds history, whilst then subverting and twisting it and adding in some dark fantastical elements. You get the sense that there is something inherently wrong, a darkness, a tipping balance that has reached the crucial point. It leaves the reader feeling a sense of wrongness, a prickling that all is now ok, a tension that is reaching the breaking point. We never find out the true picture and scale of what that is, but I love this slow build. It is a novel that takes its time whilst never dragging at all. It is brutal and non-stop, but it left me desperately wanting more – more of the characters, more of this world and answers, above all, answers. Not as with some novels, out of frustration and irritation, but simply because I have been pulled so thoroughly into this world and I want to know everything.

This novel was fantastic. A beautiful and horrifying start to what is sure to be an incredible series. It’s very dark, very twisted, but filled with gorgeous prose, electrifying action and complex characters. I loved it.

Catch up with the Harper Collins 'An Ember in the Ashes' tag #FantasyIRL in the first of two videos I'm doing for Bookish Brits here

Book Trailer: Illusionarium by Heather Dixon

Book trailers and I are still unsure of each other. Occasionally we'll go out for coffee and everything will go great, and then the next day I'm upset and refuse to call. You know how it goes...

So to say that my response to book trailers is a bit hit and miss would be an understatement. Every now and again though, something wonderful comes along and I am reminded all over again about how brilliant book trailers can be.

Case in point - the new trailer for 'Illusionarium' by Heather Dixon. Dixon, like Stiefvater is a double threat. She can write incredible stories, but she's also an amazing artist and as a result has created a truly stunning video for the book.
It's simple, it's incredibly effective and I get goosebumps watching as I pine for the far off release date of May 19th. And if that's not the kind of reaction you want to get after watching a book trailer I don't know what is.

So here it is, feast your eyes on the beauty!

And afterwards go and check out her blog

And pre-order Illusionarium on Amazon here!

Release Date: 19th May 2015

What if the world holds more dangers—and more wonders—than we have ever known? And what if there is more than one world? From Heather Dixon, author of the acclaimed Entwined, comes a brilliantly conceived adventure that sweeps us from the inner workings of our souls to the far reaches of our imaginations.

Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—as every good adventure begins—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he's a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, Jonathan is knocked off his path. Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that calls to mind The Night Circus and Pixar movies, but is wholly its own.