Let’s try something different in this review. Let’s just talk about what I love about this book and this series (now that I have finished Lair of Dreams!!!)
1. Evie O’Neill is the Elephants Eyebrows, which I assume in 20’s slang for the Bees Knees. She’s joyful, funny, sarcastic, brave and yes a bit spoiled but at her core she wants to help and make difference. If that happens to get her name in the papers so be it.
2. All of the female characters are awesome. Mabel, Evie and Theta are all completely different. I mean seriously, I don’t think you could find different girls. Well, you probably could but as different as they are they compliment each other. Yes, they fight, yes they have their falling outs but when it matters, they are there for each other.
3. The guys are not bad either. Sam, Jericho, Henry and Memphis all have book boyfriend potential. You have bad boy Sam with a heart of gold. Studious Jericho who is more then he appears to be and mysterious Memphis with a poets heart and brother’s loyalty. Henry is the class clown.
4. Libba Bray does a great job of setting a tone of 20’s optimism with darkness and foreboding of something big that is about to happening.
5. You can tell that a lot of research went in to writing of this novel. Everything from the tone, to the slang to the description of clothes and city to the politics and social issues that really brings you into the time and truly makes for a lush reading.
6. I sorta can’t believe that I’ve made it this far without mentioning their super powers! The story revolves around a group of 17-18 years old who start to discover they have strange powers. Like, walking in dreams, reading objects for a person’s past, seeing into the future or healing the sick. It’s like an X-Men origin story!
7.The big bad is truly terrifying but nothing is truly terrifying to me then someone who truly believes that what they are doing is for good even though it is bat shit crazy!
8.Speakeasies, night clubs, Follies and so much more of the Roaring 20’s.
9.For all the optimism of the 20’s, Bray is not afraid to touch on the less happy things from the era, like racism, the Chinese immigration laws, religious fervor and eugenics movement.
10. The diversity of characters. Memphis is black and Henry is gay. Not to mention it’s filled with characters from all spectrums of life in smaller roles as well and more of those characters to come in the sequel.
There are some authors that other authors just swoon over. Nova Ren Suma is one of them and I really don’t get it. Her prose is quite beautiful but I’ve always had a hard time getting into her books and they are not that memorable after I have read them. The only thing I remember about the other book I have read by her, Imaginary Girls was that it had a good ending and I think one of the girls died for the other. The common thread of these books is that her characters are shrouded in mystery. I’m not sure what I’m missing. It’s not that I don’t like her books but I don’t find them to be as wonderful as I they are supposed to be. Then again, reading is subjective. What someone likes someone else might not.
I liked this a lot more then I thought I would and what a perfect time for me to read with just the French Open starting on Sunday. The players of Outer Banks Tennis Academy are gearing up to play Roland Garros. There is Penny Harrison, rising star on the WTA, who has just beat the number one player in the world. Indy Gaffney, a natural talent who is getting back in the game after the death of her mother and Jasmine Randazzano, the daughter of two Grand Slam tennis. They all of their sights set on tennis greatness and boys. Despite being billed as a romance it’s pretty heavy on the tennis. It actually has more tennis action then 
This contains a few spoilers, mostly on how the original The Selection Trilogy ended.
Stop what you are doing right now and read this book. I mean it! I really wish it had been written when I was a teenager because I could have used this book. That being said, my 32 year-old self needed this book too. It works on so many levels. Taking on feminism, sexism and the unrealistic expectations of beauty on it’s head. Let’s be honest, no one really expect much from teenage girls. We expect them to be agreeable, charming, pretty, and happy and not much else. Just like you probably wouldn’t think much about a book about beauty queens stranded on a deserted island either but this is one fine satire.
In the second review of a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (
This is actually the second book I’ve read this year that is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This one is only okay. I liked the concept but I’m only meh on the result. Arcadia was once ruled by a line of wise Kings until about 900 years ago when the King died and the Prince was overtaken by the Gentle Lord, aka the Prince of Demons. The Gentle Lord cuts off Arcadia from the world, covering the sky and granting citizen’s bargains that never go as they hope. Nyx’s father was one of those who thought it he could bare the price. He asked for his wife to bear children. The Gentle Lord agreed to help and granted her with twin girls. For payment for granting him his wish, one girl would live happily ever after but the other girl, would have to become his bride on her 17th birthday. If he did not hold up his side of the bargain, the Gentle Lord would kill both girls. Nyx’s father, who is the leader of a group set out to destroy the Gentle Lord so for 17 years, Nyx has been groomed to a weapon to bring him down. In those years, she has become bitter and full of hatred for her father, her aunt and even her sister who loved her. So Nyx goes to the Gentle Lord’s castle as his wife, with the full intention of destroying him. Two things that Nyx was not prepared for is finding an ally in the Shade, a shadow of the Gentle Lord, and the Gentle Lord himself. For all the monstrous deeds, the Gentle Lord is nothing like she expects. He doesn’t force himself on her nor does he grant her freedom. He gives a choice every night. Guess her name and she will be free. Guess wrong and she will die. As time goes by, Nyx starts to realize that the Gentle Lord is not who everyone thinks he is and like in Beauty and the Beast falls in love with him.
Things are getting real for Calaena, Chaol, and Dorian and they have new friends too! Just like my review of the previous book
2 Women, So Many Books 