Book Review: Heroine Complex

TITLE: Heroine Complex
Book 1 in the Heroine Complex series
AUTHOR: Sarah Kuhn
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 2016
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Romance, Superheros
PREMISE: An assistant to a superhero struggles with new found super powers...
MY REVIEW: I've been meaning to read this forever. I don't know why it took so long for me to get to it. It just did. I enjoyed this one a lot. I will warn, there's actually a lot of sex scenes in this. Way more then I was expecting, actually. I don't mind sex scenes, but I know that can be an issue with some readers.
This was actually more romance focused then the summary let on. If you're a romance reader, you actually should probably like this. It follows a lot of the romance genre beats. There's some good character stuff in it as well. I love that it wasn't afraid to make all its characters flawed.
If you want a really serious urban fantasy...this probably won't be for you. It's more character/romance focused then it is on world-building. But the character stuff is great and is what is going to keep me reading the series. The next book goes into another character and her romance and I actually am really looking forward to that. I found the character really interesting.
WHO SHOULD READ: superhero fans, romance fans, Marvel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five kick-ass women with powers

Book Review: Undead Girl Gang

TITLE: Undead Girl Gang
AUTHOR: Lily Anderson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: May 8th, 2018
GENRE: Urban Fantasy. Mystery
PREMISE: A girl raises her best friend back from the dead to find out how she died, but...she winds up bringing back two other girls as well.
MY REVIEW: I normally am not interested in zombies. I don't know why, but they just honestly bore me. There's usually not really much you can do with them. But this one interested me, because there was a mystery and female friendship attached to to it.
For the most part, it's a fun ride. You have to suspend a lot of disbelief while reading it. The main character is a bit prickly, but I personally enjoyed her. But I find all the characters the YA crowd deem "unlikable", are characters whom I wind up liking a lot. Go figure. If you were picking this up because you heard rumblings about there being "great" LGBT rep...there really isn't. The rep is just two adult female side characters who barely get any screen time and it's just mentioned that they're in a relationship. I found them interesting, and would honestly love a book about them. But I'm not sure why it was advertised as great rep as honestly...the characters don't really do anything.
That disappointing bit aside, this was a decent read. I particularly liked where the mystery went. After this, I went and picked up Lily Anderson's debut book, and wound up loving that one as well. The review is coming soon. I think I have a new author to enjoy now.
WHO SHOULD READ: Buffy fans, those looking for books with witches/zombies
MY RATING: Four out of Five female friendships

Book Review: The Wicked Deep

TITLE: The Wicked Deep
AUTHOR: Shea Ernshaw
PUBLISHED: March 6th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
PREMISE: In Penny's town, every year a trio of witches come back from the dead and possess girls and then proceed to murder three boys...
MY REVIEW: All the stuff in this book is what I wanted from How to Hang a Witch and did not get. It didn't help that book that I was reading these at the same time and that really showcased just how cliche How to Hang a Witch was. Yes, this book has its fair of YA tropes (like insta-love) but this takes those tropes, subverts them, and does it in a fun and not boring way.
This is a very atmospheric book for starters. That's what really helps it. It gives you that spooky summer feeling (I highly recommend reading it on a hot day) that kind of reminds me of the Fear Street series by R. L. Stine. The witch characters are also great. There's a twist around the last third of the book that actually managed to surprise me.
It was just a fun and wild ride from beginning to end. It's not a perfect book, and there is stuff that reminds me of other things I've read. But I always say if you're going to do tropes, do them in a fun and entertaining way. And this book did exactly that. If How to Hang a Witch left a bad taste in your mouth, like it did with me, read this one to remind you that witch stories definitely can still be fun.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Hocus Pocus, Fear Street fasn, Charmed fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five fun witch stories

Book Review: How to Hang a Witch

TITLE: How to Hang a Witch
Book 1 in a series
AUTHOR: Adriana Mather
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl who is a descendant from one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials moves to Salem, Massachusetts....
MY REVIEW: Sigh, I wanted to like this one so badly. Really, I did. I honestly should of. It has witches, Salem Witch Trials, girls banding together...this should have been right up my alley. Unfortunately the author did every YA cliche in the book, so what should have been a fun ride, turned into a boring cliched mess.
Literally every bad YA trope is in here: girl moves to new town and is automatically hated for no real reason, adults are all incompetent and honestly should not be in charge of children (especially that principal who basically victim blamed the main character for being bullied), girls can't be friends nonsense, love triangles, insta-love, obvious villain being obvious, and so much more. I honestly lost track of how many times I rolled my eyes while reading this.
This book was just...lazy. I've read this book a million times and I've read books that do the premise better. The writing is okay, and I guess the plot gets the job done. But I was just so bored throughout it that I can't even call this an enjoyable cliche read. It's just..dull. With nothing new to really say or do.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that don't mind lots of cliches
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five cliche boring books

Book Review: Renegades

TITLE: Renegades
Book 1 in the Renegades series
AUTHOR: Marissa Meyer
PUBLISHED: November 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Superhero, Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: In a world where superheros and villains are all over the place, Nova infiltrates the superhero group known as The Renegades, with the hopes of taking them down from the inside...
MY REVIEW: When I heard that Meyer was doing superheros, I was both really excited and super nervous. This was different then her usual retelling thing, so this would be a test to see if she can do other things and I'm happy to say: she absolutely can. Renegades was a highly enjoyable read.
This has all of the things I've come to associate with Meyer: lots of action, fun characters, snappy dialogue, interesting setting, and just a nice breezy pace. The set-up for the world is nicely done. The characters...could use some work, but it's a first book so I'm expecting that we'll get much more development for things down the road. There's twists galore and even a romance I actually don't mind because it's actually realistic about the chances of the romance in this world and the circumstances that the characters are in.
Personally, I loved this one. Meyer completely sold me on it and I can't wait for the next books in this series. It does what it set out to do: entertain. No, it's not ground-breaking or super duper unique. But not every book has to be that. I honestly think people have forgotten that things don't have to be super amazing to be a enjoyable read. Sorry, I made the mistake of reading Goodreads reviews again. I really have to stop that. They just put me into rant mode.
WHO SHOULD READ: Marissa Meyer fans, superhero fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five fun books

The Big Giant End of the Year Review Wrap-Up PART 1

Okay, it's time to face facts: I'm behind. If I don't catch up now, I won't ever catch up. So Here is one big random wrap up of what I read in the last half of November.:

TITLE: The Hearts We Sold
AUTHOR: Emily Lloyd-Jones
PUBLISHED: August 8th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Liked it a lot. Unusual ending and lots of good themes.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: In Other Lands
AUTHOR: Sarah Rees Brennan
PUBLISHED: August 15th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Utterly hilarious fantasy parody. One of my favorite reads of the year.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five

TITLE: A Study in Scarlet Women
Book 1 in the Lady Sherlock series
AUTHOR: Sherry Thomas
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Mystery
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Wanted to like it, but for something that was supposed to be a female Sherlock doing sleuthing, the female Sherlock didn't do much of the actual sleuthing.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: The Collapsing Empire
Book 1 in the Interdependency series
AUTHOR: John Scalzi
PUBLISHED:March 21rst, 2017
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Science-Fiction
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Good start to a new series. Don't have much to say about it. It was good sci-fi, that's about it.
MY RATING: Four out of Five

TITLE: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
Book 1 in the Rise of the Empress series
AUTHOR: Julie C. Dao
PUBLISHED: October 10th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Wanted to like it because the idea is great and the writing is good, but there was just too much girl hate going on in this. There is some major internal misogyny going on here.
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Warcross
Book 1 in the Warcross series
AUTHOR: Marie Lu
PUBLISHED: September 12th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopianish, Sci-fi
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Lu has done it again and delivered another awesome series start. One of my favorite new series of the year.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five



Graphic Novels:
Spinning by Tillie Walden
Giant Days Vols. 2 and 3
Princess Jellyfish Vol. 2

Book Review: Etched in Bone

TITLE: Etched in Bone
Book 5 in the Others series
AUTHOR: Anne Bishop
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: March 7th, 2017
GENRE: Urban Fantasy/Alternate History
PREMISE: Things in the Others series finally come to a head...
MY REVIEW: Have you ever had a series give great build-up only to get to the end and go "really? That's it?"? Well, that is sadly me with The Others series. It pains me to say this too, because I really loved this series.
The first problem is: this book is really slow. I know, I've said that with all the books. But with this one....that slowness was doubled down on to the point that when I got to the ending, I was a little confused and didn't realize I had read the ending. Turns out, I actually haven't. See, now there's going to be new books in this series, but it's going to deal with new characters. I suspect this was a last minute decision and that caused this last book to suffer because the author had to change things. I might read the new book next year, I might not. We'll see how I feel next year.
So yeah...I don't know guys. I still like this series. I recommend it for all who like in depth world-building and don't mind slow-burn plots. Emphasis on slow. But this last book....yeah, I kind of get the feeling that author didn't really know what she wanted to do with it and the book suffered from an anti-climatic ending as a result.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first four books, Anne Bishop fans, fantasy readers who don't mind slow plots
RATING FOR THIS BOOK: Three and a half out of Five disappointed sad sighs
RATING FOR SERIES (I'm counting the first five books as their own series #don'tcare): Four out of Five

Review Catch-up: Four mini-reviews of books I've Read Recently:

Okay, I"m way behind on book reviews. I meant to have more this past week, but time got away from me. So here are five quick reviews of some books I've read in the past two months:

TITLE: Lady Midnight
Book 1 in the Dark Artifices series
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare
PUBLISHED: 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
THOUGHTS: Same old, same old from Cassandra Clare. Sorry guys, I don't see this amazing breakthrough people on YouTube kept saying this book was. This had literally the same plot points as Mortal Instruments had, down too beloved adult figure turning around and betraying them all.
But, we've established I'm trash for this series, so despite issues I have with it...I'll still read the next one. Curse my weakness.
WHO SHOULD READ: Die-hard Cassandra Clare fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: The Refugees
AUTHOR: Viet Thanh Nguyen
PUBLISHED: February 7th, 2017
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Contemporary/Short Stories
THOUGHTS: Typical short story collection. Some better then others. I suspect there was some nuance in these stories that was lost on me though, because a lot of it focuses on issues in Vietnam and I don't particularly know much about that country (other then we had a war there, and whole lot of issues sprung up from that war). It has made me interested in picking up The Sympathizer though.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the author's book The Sympathizer
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: Madly (called The Potions Diaries in the UK)
Book 1 in the Potions series
AUTHOR: Amy Alward
PUBLISHED: 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
THOUGHTS: Cute fantasy about a girl entering a potions contest. The writing is a bit juvenile so this probably geared more towards the younger YA crowd, rather then the older one. So if you know any tweens who love Descendants and are looking for something to read, I would absolutely give them this.
WHO SHOULD READ: younger teens, Descendents fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five

TITLE: My Life, My Love, My Legacy
 AUTHOR: Coretta Scott King
PUBLISHED: January 17th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Biography
THOUGHTS: Pretty typical biography. What was most interesting to me, was the peeks into the Civil Rights movement that we don't often see. Since she was the wife of MLK, King did get a front row seat into the planning that went on and in many cases during and after her husband's death, often organized things like marches and many other things she didn't get enough credit for.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested in learning about civil rights history
MY RATING: Four out of Five

Book Review: Winter of the Gods

TITLE: Winter of the Gods
Book 2 of The Immortals series
AUTHOR: Jordanna Max Brodsky
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: February 14th, 2017
GENRE: Urban Fantasy/Mystery
PREMISE: Selena aka the goddess Artemis and Theo look into a murder that may be the work of a cult trying to murder the gods...
MY REVIEW: The Immortals was a hidden gem from last year that I still feel should have been way more popular then it was. Think adult Percy Jackson series from the gods POV with murder mystery thrown in.
This series deftly continues from the last book. We get more of the gods, more character development for everyone involved last time and a great lead in for the next book. I love that the author doesn't make everything easy for Selena and Theo they actually have to work at their relationship. It doesn't ignore that this is a goddess and a mortal in a relationship.
There's just so much in this series that I love. It's part mythology, part mystery, and has an awesome female character at the center of its plot. I can't wait to read more.
WHO SHOULD READ: Adult Percy Jackson fans, mystery fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five awesome PIs

Book Review: The Dark Prophecy

TITLE: The Dark Prophecy
Book 2 in the Trials of Apollo series
AUTHOR: Rick Riordan
PUBLISHED: May 2nd, 2017
CATEGORY: YA/MG (it's sold as MG. I think the series is more YA)
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Apollo continues his adventures as a demi-god.
MY REVIEW: This one will be short. My opinion on this series doesn't really change much: I adore these books. They are utterly silly at times. But Riordan writes them in such a charming way I kind of don't care.
If you've read the first book in this series, you know what to expect. This is very much the same. Apollo continues to be a delight. I can't wait to read the next one as well as the next Asgard book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rick Riordan fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five favorite series continuing to be favorites

Book Review: The Bane Chronicles

TITLE: The Bane Chronicles
Part of the Mortal Instruments series
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Maureen Johnson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: 2014
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A bunch of short stories written by Clare and others that deal with some of the history of Magnus Bane.
MY REVIEW: I know what you all are thinking: hey, didn't she say she was done with this series after the last Mortal Instruments book? Yes. Yes, I did say that. But come on, we all knew it was a lie. We knew I'd come crawling back to this series because I just can't seem to resist it despite my many many many issues with it. I blame all the gushing on YouTube about the new series. It's made me curious again.
So I figured I'd just dive in again like the weak person I am with The Bane Chronicles, because Magnus Bane is basically my favorite thing about this series. As usual with story collections, some are better then others. Most didn't really reveal anything new to me. It was kind of fun seeing what the MI world was like during history, but other then that....not much to these stories. I think my favorite bit in this was when all the characters called Magnus' phone to bug him about the break-up in...I don't remember which book. But this story was hilarious.
So yeah...expect a review of Lady Midnight soon. Because I just can't quit this damn series.
WHO SHOULD READ: Mortal Instruments fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five favorite characters being awesome

Book Review: Dreadnaught

TITLE: Dreadnought
Nemesis Series Book 1
AUTHOR: April Daniels
PUBLISHED: January 24rth, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Superheroes, Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A trans girl gets not only the body she's always wanted, but superpowers as well. With the superpowers comes all sorts of new problems...
MY REVIEW: I don't know about anyone else, but I wanted to read this one the minute I heard about it. For the most part it did not disappoint. I will put a bit of a trigger warning on this one though: Danny faces a LOT of transphobia in this book. She gets it from her parents, her supposed best friend, and there's even a gross TERF on the superhero team that tries to recruit her. The author makes it very clear this transphobia is wrong and whatnot. But it's still quite a bit and I imagine it might be triggering for some. So I'm going to just let people know before they dive in.
If you think you can handle that though, this is a great read. It does deal with Danny and her going through the pains of coming out as trans and how that effects her life, but you then also have the superhero plot and that's also very interesting. It's a bit meta at times actually and I really love that aspect of the book.
All in all this was a good read and a very strong debut. At times the writing felt a tad...juvenile, like it was maybe meant for middle-grade originally. But overall, this was exactly what I wanted from this book. It looks like we're getting a sequel in July and I have to say, I look forward to it.
WHO SHOULD READ: those looking for more trans representation in their books, superhero fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five capes

Book Review: The Hanging Tree

TITLE: The Hanging Tree
Book 6 in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London series
AUTHOR: Ben Aaronovitch
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
PREMISE: Peter agrees to do a favor that he owes, that favor leads him right to his biggest foe...
MY REVIEW: This review will be short, because my opinion on this series hasn't changed very much from the last series. Basically: I love it.
This is a wacky world with a charming main character. It's a bit like Dresden Files, but with more of an overall plot and not as much accidental (I hope) sexism as that series can have (seriously Butcher....do some research on how not to write female characters. It'll do you loads of good). These are more police procedural oriented then urban fantasy focused, so if that's not your thing, it may not be for you. Luckily, it is my thing so I adore this series.
Basically, if you're already a fan of this series, this latest book will not disappoint. If you haven't discovered this series yet, seriously get on it. Particularly if you love urban fantasy/mysteries.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read the first five books, Dresden Files fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five I need the next book now feelings

Book Review: Kate Daniels series books 7-9

TITLE: Kate Daniels series
Book 7: Magic Breaks
Book 8: Magic Shifts
Book 9: Magic Binds
AUTHOR: Ilona Andrews
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: 2014, 2015, 2016
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Kate continues her relationship with Curran despite things such as the return of her father.
MY REVIEW: So the past year or so, I've been playing catch up with the Kate Daniels series. There was no particular reason I stopped keeping up with it. Things just sort of happened that way. Too many books on the TBR list.
But this past year, I've been catching up on series, and this is one of the series I was determined to catch up on and I'm so happy I did. Because, wow, have things gone down in these past few books. I can't help but compare this series to Mercy Thompson, where after her getting together with Adam, things have gotten boring. That is not so in the Kate Daniels series. Things are still happening, and Kate's character continues to develop beautifully. Thank you authors for remembering that character development doesn't just magically stop when people get together. So many long series tend to forget that little detail.
If you have read the first few Kate Daniels books, absolutely continue the series. Even if you've gotten to Curran and Kate getting together. I promise, the fun doesn't just stop because they're together now. The chemistry is still there, and plot is still there. I can't wait for the next book as always.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read the rest of the Kate Daniels books, Mercy Thompson series fans, Urban Fantasy series fans
MY RATING (for series): Four out of Five bad-ass women leads

Book Review: This Savage Song

TITLE: This Savage Song
Monsters of Verity Book 1
AUTHOR: Victoria Schwab
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: July 5th
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: In a world where violence creates monsters, two new kids start school: one is the daughter of a mobster for one side of the city, the other is a monster hidden for a leader of the other side of the city.
MY REVIEW: May I just say I love that Victoria Schwab is finally getting her due? Ever since I first read Near Witch...gosh a few years ago now...I had a feeling she was going to take off as an author and after reading The Archived I really wanted it to happen. Now, it looks like it's finally happening and I'm just so thrilled because I adore her stuff. I have yet to read a bad book by her.
What I really love is just how all different her books are. They usually are always fantasy oriented, but the fantasy is all different and so interesting. This latest new book is no exception. I love how she's not afraid to do complicated characters, including female ones and manages to have books with little to no romance in them. This includes her YA books. Yes, I know, YA without romance! Who knew? Also, she doesn't dumb down her YA books. Some authors who write in both categories I've noticed tend to tone things down for the YA crowd. Schwab, does not, and I appreciate that so much. This book is just as dark as Vicious or her Shades of Magic trilogy.
If you are a Victoria Schwab fan, whether you're familiar with her YA books or adult books, absolutely pick this up. It's just as good as her previous offerings.
WHO SHOULD READ: Victoria/V.E. Schwab fans, dark fantasy fans, Neil Gaiman fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five man made monsters

Book Review: The Immortals

TITLE: The Immortals
Book 1 in the Olympus Bound series
AUTHOR: Jordanna Max Brodsky
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: February 2016
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Mythology tie-in
PREMISE: A woman turns up dead and Selene DiSilva, formerly the goddess Artemis, goes on the hunt for her killer....
MY REVIEW: This was a book I went into totally blind. I had heard very little about it, found it randomly on a list somewhere and I picked it up at my library. Sometimes books like this backfire on me (there can sometimes be a good reason a book is not getting much buzz), but in this particular case, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise of a read.
Basically this book deals with gods being immortal and dealing with a world that has forgotten them as they live on but also are dying out. I love what the author has done with the mythology here. That combined with a actually rather good murder mystery...made for a really interesting read.
Brodsky did a great job on this. If this is her first book, we're in for some good stuff in the future from her. This is one of my favorite debuts this year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Adult Percy Jackson fans, mystery/thriller fans, urban fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five lady PIs getting things done

Book Review: Bright Blaze of Magic

TITLE: Bright Blaze of Magic
Book 3 in the Black Blades series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Estep
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Victor Draconi finally makes his play against the other families. Lila and her friends get caught in the middle of it...
MY REVIEW: And so another trilogy comes to a close. I'll always have slightly mixed feelings about this one. It's fun, no doubt. It's got Estep's voice written all over it. It's just...a tad predictable. It's not what I'd call must read reading. It's more: if you like urban fantasy a lot sort of reading and are looking to tide yourself over until your next favorite book comes out.
It's got all the standards there, about the only thing that sets this one apart from other urban fantasy series is that there's no love triangle. Yes my friends, you can write a YA series without one! There's still romance and it's all very cute. At least this love interest doesn't make me want to pull the heroine aside and say "girl, he's a sexist douche, run away" like some of these YA male leads can nowadays.
If you've enjoyed the characters and the plot in this series, it's perfectly well worth a read to see it through till the end. Estep brings everything to a satisfying conclusion...it's just a rather predictable conclusion. But I'll take predictable over confusing/makes no sense endings any day of the week, so I say it's a perfectly decent last book.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first two books, urban fantasy fans, Jennifer Estep fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five shrugs
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Er....three and a half to four out of five (I can't make up my mind between the two, sorry)

Book Review: Library of Souls

TITLE Library of Souls
Book 3 of Miss Peregrine
AUTHOR: Ransom Riggs
PUBLISHED: September 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Jacob and his friends travel all over London searching for their friends and Miss Peregrine...
MY REVIEW: I have racked my brain trying to figure out why it is that I'm just not as enamored with this series as everyone else seems to be. It wasn't the writing. I actually quite like Riggs' writing style. I love the concept. It's not a terribly original concept (it's basically a redux of the X-Men) but it's still well done. The photographs are great, so why is it that I just can't get into this?
It finally hit me about halfway through: I care about none of these characters. Mostly because they're just all so bland. They are stereotypical characters who never veer out of the strict box they're put in. About the only character I semi care about is Miss Peregrine because she's the most entertaining. But she was barely in this book, which made getting through this book somewhat of a chore. Don't get me started on how few female characters there are here and how poorly developed they are.
Plot wise it's also a bit average and lack luster. Nothing happened here that shocked me. No side character even died! It was honestly a ho hum end to a average at best trilogy. I honestly just don't get the hype surrounding this one, sorry. Should make for a pretty movie though. I might see it because Eva Green as Miss Peregrine will be perfect.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that enjoyed the first two books, X-Men fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five shrugs
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Three and a half out of Five

Book Review: Tell the Wind and Fire

TITLE: Tell the Wind and Fire
AUTHOR: Sarah Rees Brennan
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Retelling
PUBLISHED: April 5th, 2016
PREMISE: A urban fantasy retelling of A Tale of Two Cities
MY REVIEW: Judging from the reviews, I'm apparently one of the few who actually really loved this book. Every review I've seen has ranged from "I hated it" to "eh." and I just am kind of scratching my head because this book was in my opinion, fantastic.
My only explanation is that people probably didn't like the ending. This is a retelling of A Tale of Two Cities and if you know that book, you know it ends very sadly. Brennan does not ignore that, and does not change that fact. And I'm sure people didn't like that. Me, I think it was great and I have more respect for authors who put in a more realistic ending then the typical happy one that is usual nowadays. Once again, I have to ask YA readers: what do you all want? You say you're tired of the "everything ends happily, tied in a bow" endings and then when a author gives you such an ending, you hate the book for it. It's the same story with love triangles and with complicated female characters. I could go on all day about how frustrating this is, but I'll spare the rant for now.
From where I'm standing, this is a great book. It is in fact, one of my favorite reads this year. It's not perfect, this is one of the few cases where I feel this could have done better as a series. But once again, the masses and I don't see eye to eye on something. So, I'm giving it a high rating, but since I seem to have different tastes, I suggest checking it out of the library to see if it's for you, first.
WHO SHOULD READ: A Tale of Two Cities fans, those that don't mind sad endings
MY RATING: Four out of Five magic rings

Book Review: Down With the Shine

TITLE: Down With the Shine
AUTHOR: Kate Karyus Quinn
PUBLISHED: April 26th, 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl takes her families illegal moonshine to a party, not realizing its power to grant wishes is in fact, very real.
MY REVIEW: I don't know what to make of this book to be honest. I...think I liked it. Maybe. However, there are issues. I'm not crazy about the romance in it. I also feel like there were two stories crammed into one here and the stories kept competing with one another.
I will say I like this author's imagination. This was one of the most unique ideas in urban fantasy I've read in awhile. I loved what she did with the wishes and the chaos it produced. If the author had just stuck to that element of it, this might have been a better story. But she started throwing all these other plot ideas that seemed to come from somewhere else. I kind of get the feeling they're trying to make this into a series. If it is a series and these plots are going to be explored more...okay. Then this is a perfectly decent first intro. But from what I see, it's not going to be a series so we're left with a bunch of plots that don't get explored enough instead.
There were things I liked about this book and there were things I didn't like. It's definitely a quirky one and it's a little too rough around the edges plotwise for my taste. It was interesting, if nothing else.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Kate Karyus Quiin, urban fantasy fans, fans of quirky books
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five moonshines