Tag Archives: YA novels

Review: Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

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This was a fun book. Winter is the biggest pop star in the world. He also happens to be the favorite singer of the daughter of one of the most dangerous men in the world. So when Winter gets invited to play her birthday party it is the opening that Sydney, a covert operative for an agency that does what the CIA won’t. Which if you know the CIA’s history that’s some real shit. Sydney poses as Winter’s bodyguard as they try to infiltrate the bad guys inter-circle to get the evidence needed to finally take him down. One problem. Sydney and Winter don’t really like each other. Well mostly Sydney doesn’t like Winter. She just thinks he’s just another spoiled rich, famous person and she doesn’t like being saddled with him on this mission. Of course the more time they spend with each the more they start to find they like each other. Maybe even love each other. The mission gets complicated and the must work together to survive. Everything you need in a spy romance novel. I loved it and I can’t wait for when they make the movie and cast a real C-Pop star. I could also see them trying to tap the Hallyu wave and change Winter to Korean and cast a K-Pop or Korean actor because why not. I don’t even know if there is a movie or TV show in the works but this would make a great one and with sequels on the way. It will have more material to work with.

Quick Review: Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

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I don’t know where to begin with this one because it’s not easy to describe it. It says it’s based on Antony and Cleopatra, which is not a Shakespeare play I am familiar with. We have 3 main characters. Princess Calla who is in hiding, Prince August who is the heir to the throne and Anton, a former quartier who has been exiled. Once a year, the Kingdom of Talin sponsors a hunger games style competition that the winner wins money and an audience with the king. Calla and Anton both enter for different reasons and August makes it possible for them to compete for his own reasons. Basically everyone wants to get rid of the King.

This book was a little hard for me to get into. Some people have the ability to transfer their consciousness into other people’s bodies and while many people can do it, it’s also kinda illegal? The whole concept I found to be confusing and after awhile I just kinda just went with it because while it was important to the stories, it is a small part to the story. I liked the characters and they all have valid reasons for doing what they are doing. I immediately picked up on the twist ending and I’m intrigued as to how this play out in the next book.

Quick Review: Theonite: Planet Adyn by M.L. Wang

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This was a fun book. Joan is a little 13 year old She has powers that no one else has and no one really to talk to about it or would understand. Daniel comes from an alternate universe and does have powers but is new to Joan’s world. Joan is excited to meet Daniel because she finally has someone to ask questions to and maybe get some answers to why she has these powers but it can’t be that simple. Daniel and his father are there to track down a dangerous person and that threat has come for Joan too. Will they escape in time?

Reading about Joan’s life was definitely heartbreaking. Here is a smart girl who feels that she has to hide herself away because no one understands her and will only dismiss her. Her parents are more concerned with their own troubles to really pay attention to her. She has mastered the skill of being invisible. The way she lights up when she discovers that Daniel might have similar powers and finally some answers is so pure and just shows how lonely she has been. I can only hope that she finds what she needs in the sequel.

What are your comfort reads?

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Do you have that go to book that when you just need something to read but you don’t have something lined up? For me that is the Unearthly series. I was on my commute to work earlier this week and I had about 15 minutes left and I had just finished The League of Gentewoman Witches and nothing new downloaded to my Nook. So I do what I always do when I’m in the situation. I open up Unearthly. It’s definitely a comfort read. It’s a simple romance about a girl who is part angel who is balancing her purpose with high school and college. It also has the best book boyfriend of all time, Tucker Avery and it bothers me that not enough people know about him

This made me wonder. What are your go to books when you are in between books? And why do you always go back to it?

Quick Review: Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

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This was the last book in the Last Hours trilogy and honestly, it’s a good thing. I don’t think I really connected to any of these characters as much as I have with other characters in Clare’s other Shadowhunter’s novel. It’s not that I think they were not interesting. I appreciate that she continues to populate her books with a diverse set of characters, even in Edwardian London but maybe there are so many times you can save the world. I realize that these books takes places in different eras throughout history but it’s like the later generations have no idea of what happened before them. Which is weird since history since so important to Shadowhunters. So this was fine. It ended as I expected. They saved the world. Mos of them survived. Set up was made for not just the previous books that we already know what will happened and the next series coming out in a couple of years. Maybe I’m ready to move on from series as they are becoming predictable.

Quick Review: Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

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Sloane is a scion in a world that has tried to erase them. She has powers believe to come from one of her people’s Gods but all traces of their heritage have been all but erased by a Colonial like authoritarian regime that has taken over her country. To make matters worst she has been drafted into a child’s army in service of her oppressors. She has to hide who she is while trying to survive basic training. This book is not for the faint of heart. It does have a trigger warning because the topics of Child Army, sexual assault and violence and doesn’t shy aware from any of these things. The very first chapter there is an attempted Rape. The death count in this novel is very high. Al I can say is don’t get too attached to any characters. As a hard of a read to get through, I found myself spellbound by it. I had to know what Sloane was going to do next and hope that things would work out for her. Well, that’s yet to pan out and this is only the first book in the series. I didn’t know that when I started it. The sequel can not come out soon enough.