Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Title: Caraval
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Published: January 31, 2017
Hardcover: 407 pages

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Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

Caraval is already at the top of my favorites list…of all time! This book was my most highly anticipated read of 2017 and it did NOT disappoint. I was shouting its praises before I had even finished reading it! I’ve not been able to fully convey my immense love for this book properly. It’s so magical that I immediately wanted to reread it after turning the last page.

This book is rich with whimsy, mystery and magic. There’s romance and so many twists and turns, just when you think you are certain you have it all figured out, Stephanie takes you down a path you never saw coming! While there is romance, the main theme of this book is the love and bond between two sisters. I immensely enjoyed the fact that it was, indeed, the main focus throughout the book and how that bond unfolded throughout the story. The romantic relationship brewed slowly and felt natural, not forced on you.

The best way for me to describe Stephanie Garber’s writing is to say it is like a painting; so vividly detailed it’s as if you are standing in a museum and the art is telling the story through movement and color. Her writing is fresh and animated. To sum it up in one word, picturesque. I was enthralled in Scarlett’s adventure and felt as if I were playing the game with her. Within the game of Caraval, reality and illusion become difficult to decipher.

In the end, this book left me in a state of awe and with a new appreciation of descriptive writing. The ending of the book is phenomenal and is sure to leave you craving the next. This story is a true work of art. It is one of those extraordinary books that come along every so often that bewitches you from page one. This lavish world built on magic, mystery, love and fantasy is a true testament to a new and creative voice in the book world.

5 Magical STARS!

Here are some of my favorite quotes (and this was really hard to narrow down to just a few):

“The hazy glow of a lantern caught the metallic edges of the paper, making them blaze a shimmery gold, the color of magic and wishes and promises of things to come.”

“Occasionally people confuse fantasy with reality. Accidents sometimes result. It rarely happens,” Rupert added.”

“Wishes were things of wonder that took a certain amount of faith, and Julian seemed the type to trust only what he saw.”

“A second in Caraval seemed richer than an ordinary second, like that moment on the cusp of sunset, when all the colors of the sky coalesce into magic.” 

Review: The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom

The Cruelty
by Scott Bergstrom
Hardcover, 384 pages
Expected publication: February 7th 2017
by Feiwel & Friends

When her diplomat father is kidnapped and the U.S. Government is unable to help, 17 year-old Gwendolyn Bloom sets off across the sordid underbelly of Europe to rescue him. Following the only lead she has—the name of a Palestinian informer living in France—she plunges into a brutal world of arms smuggling and human trafficking. As she journeys from the slums of Paris, to the nightclubs of Berlin, to the heart of the most feared crime family in Prague, Gwendolyn discovers that to survive in this new world she must become every bit as cruel as the men she’s hunting.

I had high hopes for this book but in the end it just didn’t work for me. The concept of this book was very intriguing; a YA version of the movie Taken but this time the daughter was in search of the father. How cool, right?! Well, sadly, it wasn’t very YA and it didn’t keep the cool factor from start to finish.

The beginning was a bit slow for me; I didn’t feel as though I was connecting to any particular character, though other than our main character Gwendolyn, everyone else was basically side characters floating in & out of scenes when needed. There never seemed to be a growth in Gwendolyn and her “relationship” with “the boy back home” left me scratching my head. The ending did not feel like an ending at all. It was as though the author simply decided to stop writing mid scene…it truly made no sense to me how it ended, especially after everything the character had been through. I’m not certain if there is to be another book but there were so many questions unanswered at the end.

My main problems was Gwendolyn herself, the rate at which the story progressed and the truly lack-luster ending. I had not heard of the controversy with the author prior to reading this so that did not factor into my review of this book. Though this book is geared as YA, I find the content to be quite heavy and would not recommend anyone younger than 17-18 read this as it entails physical/verbal abuse & the reality of human sex trafficking.

Though I am rating this book 3 stars, there were a few quotes that stuck out to me. Here are a few of those quotes:

“Strange to break into a building and find your memories living inside.”

“That’s what war means. Bullets and mistakes you have to live with forever.”

“It’s a new kind of beauty on this stranger: beauty through strength, beauty through fury. It’s frightening and wonderful, and for the first time ever in my life, what I see in the mirror pleases me.”

“But something compels me to stay: If you have the courage for the act, you have the courage to watch the outcome.”

3 Stars!

Pre-order today!

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Review: The Graces by Laure Eve

The Graces
by Laure Eve
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published September 6th 2016
by Amulet Books

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In The Graces, the first rule of witchcraft states that if you want something badly enough, you can get it . . . no matter who has to pay.

Everyone loves the Graces. Fenrin, Thalia, and Summer Grace are captivating, wealthy, and glamorous. They’ve managed to cast a spell over not just their high school but also their entire town—and they’re rumored to have powerful connections all over the world. If you’re not in love with one of them, you want to be them. Especially River: the loner, new girl at school. She’s different from her peers, who both revere and fear the Grace family. She wants to be a Grace more than anything. And what the Graces don’t know is that River’s presence in town is no accident.

This fabulously addictive fantasy combines sophisticated and haunting prose with a gut-punching twist that readers will be dying to discuss. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars as well as nostalgic classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the 1996 movie The Craft, The Graces marks the beginning of a new wave of teen witches.

I’m not really sure where to start with this book. There were parts that were interesting yet I found myself ready to be done with it so I could move on to a new book. The synopsis had me thinking it would be The Craft meets Beautiful Creatures. But it wasn’t. It was so much more boring than that. I had such high hopes for this book but in the end was left feeling robbed of the time spent reading it and the story I wasn’t given.

When I first heard of this book, I was super excited about the concept; dark secrets and witchcraft. Yes, please, sign me up! But it was none of that. Nothing really made sense until the last 10% of the book and even then I was lost as to the point of the story that unfolded.

The characters were dull, stereotypical and boring. Forgettable. River, especially, comes off as a judgmental, insecure and an obsessive baskestcase. The parents were a poor excuse for having parental figures in the story and were basically nonexistent and I’m still confused as to their actual purpose other than being in the story because these were teenage kids. The plot twist was predictable and could be seen coming a mile away. And the ending you ask? There are no words for the “showdown” at the end of the book except to say my mouth dropped open in a “that’s it?” type of way. It was laughable and utterly unbelievable. I’m not a big fan of books that withhold so much information throughout the majority of the story you are confused in a “what is going on” type of way. For me, there is nothing to grasp on to that makes me want to continue the journey with the characters. I need breadcrumbs throughout the story and this didn’t leave a single drop.

The book is essentially a 2 star but because there were several quotes I liked, I’m giving it a 3 star rating. There are so many question marks when it comes to this book.

Here are some quotes that I liked from the book:

“Sometimes you need boundaries. Boundaries tell you that you’re loved.”

“Blank pages could be transformed. They were new lives, over and over.”

“Understanding something was one step closer to becoming it.”

“You love the library, all that brooding quiet and rustling paper. You hear the call of the books, like a far-off howling of wolves.”

“What a person choses to keep secret could tell you all you needed to know about them. What they showed was who they wanted to be. What they hid was who they actually were.”

3 Stars!

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Review: My Lady Jane by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton & Cynthia Hand

MY LADY JANE
by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Kindle Edition, 491 pages
Published June 7th 2016
by HarperTeen

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The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

What do you get when you mix history with fiction and a touch of magic? My Lady Jane!

This bright and funny book is written from the POV of three main characters; Jane, Edward and Gifford. The authors, Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows were responsible for writing the view of one character each throughout the book. You could worry this might lead to a book feeling disjointed and choppy but it was just the opposite. The story flowed beautifully between each character and it was impossible to say which author wrote for which character. The writing truly delivers and never feels forced.

Though Lady Jane Grey suffered from a tragic ending in history, the authors offered, and delivered, a light-hearted and comical take on her story by giving her the ending they felt she deserved. With the kind of humor you’d find in Monty Python and The Princess Bride, they’ve given us a unique story that is sure to be enjoyed by all. I laughed out loud many times and most of the time those moments garnered questionable looks from those around me. The comedy does not waiver at any point during the story and the plot is exceptional and stands on its own, outside the comedic bits.

I thoroughly enjoyed and adored this book much more than I anticipated. It is funny, endearing and magical. Loveable heroes, despicable villains and shape-shifting magic are combined to bring a quirky yet charming 5 star tale that’s sure to make its way into your heart. Inconceivable!


Here’s a few (because there were so many) of my favorite quotes:

“Books were Jane’s great love: history and philosophy and religion, mostly, but anything she could get her hands on”

“My lady, please! I am indecent!” “You are.“ Jane agreed. “Not to mention the fact that you are also unclothed.”

“Jane had always resisted the notion that women were weaker than men, not just physically, but intellectually.”

“Who on earth could feel comfortable enough to sleep in a room with no books?”

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. Oh. Sorry, G. Not you, of course.”

Exciting news announced 7/28/16 on the My Lady Jane website: Two more Jane books are in the works. You can add them to your Goodreads now: My Plain Jane and My Calamity Jane.

5 Stars!

MY LADY JANE is available today!

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Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Hardcover, 599 pages
Published October 20th 2015
by Knopf Books for Young Readers

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Space Opera anyone?!  What about a Romantic Space Opera?!

If someone had told me last year that I would read (and love) a space opera book, I likely would have laughed and even asked what the heck a space opera genre was. Little did I know that Illuminae was waiting for me with its spellbinding storyline and incredible concept.

I’ve never read a book like Illuminae. It takes the reader on a new and incredible journey as it is more than just mere words on a page, it’s an experience. Within the pages of this adventure, you experience disbelief, shock, fear, awe, heartbreak and love. The journey begins before you even open the book as the covers are like nothing I’ve seen before. Before reading the book itself, I’d encourage readers to remove the dustjacket and read the front and back covers. Beautiful, right?!

The journey of Kady and Ezra are told through hacked emails, medical reports, instant messages, schematics and more. While there is romance between Kades & Ez, it is not at the immediate forefront of the story. I actually adored the cutesy, playfulness between these two. You could tell they love each other and could see a progression within their relationship throughout the story; it’s a young love that matured with each page. I’ll be the first to admit that I had my doubts as to whether I’d be able to follow along with the storyline and if I’d actually get a STORY from this method. To my surprise, not only was I able to follow along easily, the story continued to intrigue me with each page. 

Illuminae is a spectacular ride that should not be missed. Book 2, Gemina, is scheduled to be released October 18, 2016. I highly recommend pre-ordering now so that you don’t waste a single day in continuing the adventure of Kady and Ezra. 

This book is written by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. I’ve not read their previous works (separate works by each) but they have garnered themselves a new and loyal fan. I plan to check out their other books soon.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Illuminae:

“Am I not merciful?”

“”Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around its collective madness.”

“You have me. Until every last star in the galaxy dies. You have me.”

“He presses the triggers. And like roses in his hands, death blooms.”

“She runs. Not away, but toward.”

Available on...

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5 Stars!