Knight Assassin

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for giving me this book to review.

17 year old Zayn and her mother have never fitted in their town, especially as Zayn has supernatural powers which are unpredictable. After some Templar knights burn her mother at the stake for witch craft and Zayn is raped by local knight Guy de Molay, she is about to kill herself until a mysterious figure offers her another option, to become the first female assassin and be able to seek her revenge. After she completes her training, she is sent to Jerusalem to assassinate Guy, but there she meets childhood friend Earic Goodwin, who is also a knight. Will she be able to get her vengeance at the cost of the person who holds her heart?

Knight Assassin is a good YA historical fantasy book, full of political intrigue vengeance and romance. It is a unique setting as most historical fantasy books I have read are set in Europe not the Middle East. I found it hard to get into this book but when I got about halfway though I was really interested to see what happened next.

I just could not connect with Zayn as, although I felt very sorry for her and she was described as being a very strong person, at some points she can across as really weak, even in situations that she should have been strong. I also found it hard to connect to Earic, even though he seemed nice, he was not in this book much and they seemed to close to each other, considering they had not seen each other in years.

I would recommend Knight Assassin to fans of Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. 

Songstone

***

3 Stars/5

Kita has always been an outcast in her village, as she was found in the forest as an infant and is believed to be one of the mysterious Huwi tribe. The village medicine man, Makito is her master, but though everyone in the village likes and respects him, he is hiding a dark secret, he uses black magic with Kita’s blood. This is why she has never told anyone that she can meld song into stone, for fear that Makito will be able to use it for evil purposes. That is until Pono, a journeyman from a tribe on the other side of the island come to take back a storyteller to his village, Kita sees this as her opportunity to escape. But there journey is fraught with danger, will they survive to complete their mission.

Songstone is an enjoyable book based around the New Zealand Maori traditions. This book is very describitve as you could really see the island, however, the plot was a bit slow and it felt like there were two different stories in one, the mission to go to Pono’s village and their time with the Huwi.

I liked Kita as she was nice yet very much struggled to fit in anywhere, but I did find her a bit weak as I felt she relied too much on Pono to save her. Pono is brave and is willing to fight against those who put him down, but I felt we did not know him very well. The romance felt forced as there was no spark between Kita and Pono.

I would recommend Songstone to fans of Broken Aro by Jen Wylie and Unknown by Melissa Pearl.

Enchanted

***

3 Stars/5

Sunday is the over looked youngest daughter in the Woodcutter family, who is meant to be powerful as she is the 7^th daughter of a 7^th daughter. One day she meets an enchanted frog and they soon become very close, until when she kisses the frog goodbye and he turns back into Prince Rumbold. However, Sunday’s family hate both him and his family for what happened to their brother. Back at the castle he must find a way to woo Sunday and stop a plot which could tear the Woodcutter family apart.

Enchanted is a quick, cute fairytale read, but, it did come across a bit disjointed as there were too many references to different fairytales. However, I did like how days of the week poem was incorporated and how they fitted with the sisters personalities.

I found it hard to connect to Sunday and Rumbold as, both them and most of the characters, felt flat and unbelievable, the one person who really captured my interest was Thursday and I wish were was more of her in this book. Even though it is a fairytale and you expect quick romance, this was just too quick and unrealistic. I was confused quite a bit in this book as Jack and other plot points were mentioned and came across as being important only to never come up again.

This is a nice light book which is good to read if you are feeling under the weather. I would recommend Enchanted fans of fairytale retellings. 

The Bone Season

****

4 Stars/5

In an alternative England, 2059, being a Voyant is illegal in Scion controlled London. That’s why 19 year old Paige is in the underground criminal cell called Seven Seals, where her boss likes to collect rare Voyants like Paige who is a dreamwalker. When Paige is captured and arrested, she finds out that there are things more sinister than the Scion, when she is taken to the prison city of Sheol 1. It is ruled by creatures called Rephaim and they keep Voyants as their army, entertainment and food source. Paige is assigned a Rephaim keeper called Warden who will look after her needs and will train her. To get her freedom and protect her friends, Paige might have to learn to trust someone who is meant to be her enemy.

The Bone Season is a really good and original dystopia/fantasy novel with action, mystery, tension and a hint of romance. I knew there was a lot of hype about this book when I started it and I recommend that you take it with a pinch of salt as, while I really liked this book, comparing it to JK Rowling does not help it, as it is completely different. This book is really descriptive and fairly dark and is a quick read considering how long it is however, the beginning of the book was slow as there is a lot of information given. However, by the second half of the book the story is really addictive and I did not want to put it down.

Paige is a mature, loyal and tough girl who is surer of herself than most YA heroines and does not go weak at the knees around a good looking man. However, she is not perfect as she does pick fights, for no good reason that I can tell, which she cannot win and puts others in danger. Even after finishing the book Warden is a big mystery and is a really intriguing character.

I like how this book did not really have a love triangle as I am really getting sick of them, but like another review has said, the romance is a lot like the one in the Black Magician Trilogy, but not as good. While I like that the romance was slow building instead of insta-love it felt a bit forced to me as there was no romantic chemistry between them two. I hope in the next book we get to see more of Jaxon and the rest of the seven seals as the bits and pieces we saw of them were very interesting.

If reading the physical book form, like me, you will need to flick to the glossary at the back of the book as there are a lot of new weird words which was confusing if you did not know what they mean. I also got confused by the time line in this book as this book felt like it took only a few weeks whereas it is actually months.

This novel is a Marmite book as people seem to either love or hate it, but I feel this series has a lot of potential and with a lot of unanswered questions and I am looking forward to reading the next book. I would recommend The Bone Season to people who like unique books with both dystopia and fantasy elements in it. 

Into the Deep

**

2 Stars/5

Thanks to Untreed for giving me this book to review. 

After losing her leg in a shark attack when she was 6, Zoey has always been wary of the ocean, yet at the same time is drawn to it. On her 16^th birthday she is accidentally swept into the sea and is turned into a mermaid and finally feels whole. Zoey decides to find out more about her mermaid half, and finds a kingdom full of danger under the sea and her father who did not know she existed and is also the king. However, both the mermaid and human world is under attack from a merwitch called Calandra and Zoey may be the only person able to defeat her.

Into the Deep is an ok paranormal book which is a quick romantic read, but it is a bit predictable. It felt like this is book was just the first half of a whole book as, even though it is not a long book, it had a lot of filler in it.

Zoey is a likable YA heroine but I thought that she was a bit flat and I found her character hard to connect to. This book has a love triangle, which I am not a fan of but while I really liked Xander and I hoped she would end up with him, I did not like Nerio as he was moody and very judgemental. I know I was meant to not like her, but I felt very sorry Eustencia, as she was ignored and overlooked by her father, who seemed much more interested in his other daughter, so no wonder she did not like Zoey.

Into the Deep is an ok paranormal read which was let down a bit by the drawn out story and flat characters. 

The Shadow Prince

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Edelweiss and EgmontUSA for giving me this book to review.

Haden is the shunned prince of the Underrealm, but he, instead of his favoured twin brother, is chosen by the oracle to be sent to the Olympus Hills in the mortal realm. His job is to gain the trust of one girl in 6 months and bring her back as the boon to the Underrealm. All Daphne Raines want to be is a singer and move away from her tiny town. Her wishes are granted when her absent rock star dad sends her to Olympus Hills and the schools renowned music programme.  Haden has to find a way to woo Daphne, but this is difficult as she distrusts him, he is new to this world and might have to become more human. Fate has Daphne and Haden’s destiny’s entwined and their decisions could affect both their worlds.

The Shadow Prince is a good paranormal novel with interesting Greek mythology. However, while good, it is predictable as there was no unexpected surprises and a bit forgettable.

I like Daphne as she likes to be in control but, like Lexie says in the book, she is a natural and finds everything easy which makes her really hard to relate to her. Haden grew on me during the book, as at the beginning I did not really like him, but as he struggled with becoming more human he got better.

I am interested to find out what happens next to Daphne and Haden in the next book. I would recommend The Shadow Prince to fans of YA paranormal book or books about Greek Mythology.

The Seers

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Strange Chemistry for giving me this book to review.

After almost dying, Becca has only one clue to find the power mad Darragh, and that is a man called Ciaran Shea. Becca, her boyfriend Alex, her estranged father Jocelyn and Cormac set out to meet the Bhunaidh, an aristocratic pure blood group of the Holders who Ciaran is rumoured to be a member of them. However, it seems they are not the only ones after Ciaran, and that the Bhunaidh might not be as uninvolved with Darragh as they seem.

The Seers is a quick, enjoyable and fun paranormal book. It is also not as predictable as The Holders, as I did not see most of the twists coming.

It was enjoyable to learn more about Becca’s powers and she is the same person we grew to like as she is protective and caring, apart at the end of the book, as she is not there for someone when they need her, which seems out of character. I really like Alex as he seems kind and caring, but is also comes across as a regular guy, and I love the romance as it is really sweet and normal. My favourite new character is Bastian as he is witty, arrogant and really interesting.

With the cliff-hanger ending I really want to know what happens next. I would recommend The Seers to fans of The Holders.

Cress

*****

5 Stars/5

Cinder and Thorne are still fugitives from both Luna and Earth forces, and along with Scarlet and Wolf are determined to stop Levana’s wedding to Kai and her plans for Earth. Their best hope is to free Cress, a Luna shell who has been stuck alone in a satellite for 7 years but is an excellent hacker. After Cress’s rescue attempt goes terribly wrong the group are separated, and they have to fight to survive and find each other again to have any hope to overthrow Queen Levana.

Cress is the brilliant third book in the Lunar Chronicles and it is just as good as Cinder and Scarlet, as it was fast paced and never dull. Meyer did a good job with the different POVs as she never focused too much on one character and I never got confused about whose mind we were in. However, while I love this book, it had the feel of a middle book as it was mostly set up for the last book, Winter.

I like how Cinder is surer of herself in this book and is will to risk her life for people she has never met, but she is still trying to deal with the morals of using her powers even for good. I also like how, even though they are miles apart, both Kai and Cinder are struggling with their responsibilities even with fighting again the odds. I really liked Cress as she is a very different person from Cinder or Scarlet as she is very naïve and not confident but gets past this by pretending to be someone else and going into her own imagination.

I did not get on that well with Thorne in Scarlet, however, I really liked him in this book as we get to see how intentionally heroic yet imperfect he is, although he does remind me a lot of Flynn Rider in Tangled. I felt very sorry for Wolf in this book and I missed Scarlet, as even though she is in this book we did not see as much of her as we did in the last book. My favourite character is Iko as she makes me smile and I hope she gets a happy ending.

We get to see a bit of Winter’s character in this book and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next in the last book. I would recommend Cress to people who enjoyed reading the first 2 books.

Scintillate

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for giving me this book to review.

When Cora was 5 her mother disappeared, and she and her father moved away from Ireland and since then he became overprotective of her. Now, after almost dying from a mysterious illness, Cora has developed the ability to see people’s auras and her own which is unique as it is just silver. She is drawn to the Irish exchange student, Finn and they have a whirlwind romance, but then his mother demands he come home. After her father gets too protective and secretive of her and their past Cora decides to go to Ireland to look for her mother and the mystery surrounding her ability.

Scintillate is a likable YA paranormal book, which is a quick, light read. However, I would have liked to have meet Cora before she got her abilities, even if only for a chapter or two, to see how much her life has changed because of it. This is a minor thing but it annoyed me, is that Cora came very close to dying at the beginning of the book and they are not sure what was wrong with her, but they still released her after only spending one night in hospital.

Cora is a kind and likable main character, however, I found her a bit too stubborn and reckless as she ran head long into danger and would not listen to advice or reason. The romance between Cora and Finn happened way too quickly, which meant I could not connect to their relationship, and then there is the love triangle which is really starting to get boring. However, my favourite characters are Cora’s best friends, Mari and Dun, as they seemed willing to help her out.

This book ends on a fairly big cliff-hanger and with lots of questions left unanswered. I would recommend Scintillate to people who enjoy Twilight and Evermore. 

Jaded Stone

****

4 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and All Night Reads for giving me this book to review.

Crown princess Valencia Roth is lonely and all she wants to do is her duty to her kingdom, Sheas, and her people, and to bring peace to all three kingdoms, Sheas, Thalmas and Eltar. Having decided to try and marry Oren, ruler of Eltar, who is also a cornerstone like Valencia but some people what to kill her because they are against bindings the lines. Then she meets Reid and dares to hope that she can have something for herself and fall in love with someone she wants. However, after a disaster, Valencia decides that she is not going to do what she is told and to make her own path.

Jaded Stone is a very enjoyable fantasy book with action and romance. I have not read cornerstone, however, I did not feel like I missed anything but it might be more enjoyable to read it in the correct order.

Valencia is not your normal lovable YA princess, as she is sure of herself and does not let herself get walked over especially if it is what is best for her kingdom even if it is not what is best for her. The secondary characters are all well written and three dimensional, however, I wish we could have seen more of Oren’s POV.

I will sometime be reading Cornerstone as I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend Jaded Stone to fans of YA fantasy books.