Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

And then all I could see was the sand and I forgot about everything. About fear. About bombs. About Jin. The desert reached out for us all with huge open arms. The churning mass that was chaos in the streets became order in the sand, welcoming us home.

 I started this book at my friends beach house, simply planning on getting it done for the review. I actually went into it with no expectations. I'd heard about it, but I hadn't really put it high on my anticipated list. But of course, I am so lucky to have received an ARC from my local bookstore, so I went into it with much excitement. (I'm very lucky for this bookstore)

And then I read it.

Goodness gracious.

Guys. 

Stats:

Genre:  High fantasy

Feelings: Eh? Sort of?

Cuteness: oh my go s h

Fast pacing: A bit slow in the middle, but every chapter it seemed there was a reason for me to keep reading

Series: THANK GOODNESS, YES

Read if you like: Fantasy westerns. Westerns in general. The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. Horses!!! Magic!!! DESERTS. And sass.

Content: I made the mistake of waiting to write this, so I don't completely remember. I know there's some shooting. Some removal of bullets. But nothing bad enough for me to remember a week later.

Trigger warning? Loss of siblings, friends. Death??

In summary...Amani, the girl with the killer shot needs to get out of Dustwalk, her dumpy little town. And if it means joining impossible shooting contests, stealing magical horses, bribing, drugging or robbing mysterious foreigners and hitching a ride on some train, she'll do it. Until everything goes south and she realizes what she's gotten herself into....all thanks to that awfully sassy foreigner guy. (At least he's cute)

Thoughts: S a n d. And gunpowder.

Messages: Bravery.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Right of the bat, I loved this book. From the first few chapters I loved the characters, the sass...all of it. Overall a satisfying read, flaws and all.

-The characters-

Amani. Ah, Amani. As stated in previous reviews, I have the hardest time liking main characters. No matter how well done they are, I never can seem to really care enough to be worried about what happens to them. And here come Amani, and somehow I cared. A lot.

She’s realistic. She was well shaped. I mean, she’s another snarky-stubborn-impulsive female character in a fantasy series. It’s easy to expect her to kind of fade away upon finishing the book. But I liked her. She was stubborn. She was snarky, but it never once felt forced. Her sass never felt like a shoved in character trait, but an actual part of her story.

And boy was she far from perfect. She made so many mistakes in this book. Or missed things that seemed so obvious. I appreciated her not being too much of anything.

Side characters. Jin. Um, Jin. Jin! Jin was adorable. Again, another snarky male love interest, and yet I didn’t care. I didn’t even once notice anything stereotypical in these characters, even if there was some, because Alwyn Hamilton did just such a good job of making you care.

Character interactions were on point. The side characters, the characters there for only a few pages were marvelous. All in all, this was a success in the character department. I loved all the side characters that came along later. But honestly I don’t remember their names. Or who was who. But I did like them.

-Plot and Writing-

Ahh. Goodness, this story. Worldbuilding is hard. Okay, it’s so hard. And a novel under 400 pages, I can only imagine how tricky it is to make a story world fit. But Alwyn nailed it. This story world was interesting, unique, and in depth, and all in 350 pages.

In the opening chapters, I could picture the scenes and setting so well, and that’s always the best feeling. I could taste the dust and the feel the coarse sand and feel the sun. It was wonderful.

My one complaint, is there are info dumps. That I will admit to sort of skimming. I just liked the story too much. And honestly during Amani’s character arc, when she stopped shooting and sassing, it was saddening. But I got over it.

Pretty much all of the plot twists were predictable. I mean, I didn’t see them coming, but I wouldn’t have seen them coming if they were dangled in front of my face. I’m that oblivious. But, looking back, it’s pretty easy to see what’s going on.

The ending did feel a bit…rushed? And confusing? It might be that there were so many characters that I lost track of who was shooting who and who was bad and all of that. But oh my god, that ending. That…showdown. The MAGIC. AMANI KICKING ASS.

Okay this book is just very cool.

Looking at the plotline itself, there was this huge switch somewhere in the middle, in which it went into a direction I wasn’t expecting. At first I immediately missed the excitement of the first half, but once it got magicky I was okay with it.

-Messages and other-

Amani started out as a nobody. A girl, struggling to just get enough money to get out of her crappy little town. And somehow, she gets caught up in mayhem and chaos and magic.

And she doesn’t lose her head. She doesn’t cry, freak out, and fall apart. Well, she does fall apart. But internally. She’s brave. She’s incredibly brave. And I like that.

I really like underdog stories, but what I liked about this one is even though Amani could be classified as one, she never acted like one. She didn’t buy anyone’s crap, didn’t care about marriage or the sexism or the things she faced. She just wanted to get out of that town. And even when things got so intense, she didn’t give up.

And I can stand by that.

Overall, this was a great book. If you’re looking for a well done fantasy western, then this one should definitely be on your tbr list. Like now.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Maybe Charlotte Holmes was still learning how to pick apart a case; maybe I was still learning how to write. We were Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I was okay with that, I thought. We had things they didn't, too. 

I have so many mixed feelings about this story. This book had a lot of hype, and I was lucky enough to get an ARC. In the usual Mariesa-fashion, it took a few months to actually get to reading it. 

And I....enjoyed it?

This book comes out on March 1st

Stats:

Genre:  Modern day Mystery

Feelings: Eh?

Cuteness: -cough- i'm trying not to but I ship it. Honestly I'd sib-ship too. I just love the dynamic between these two.

Fast pacing: While the pacing was nice, this wasn't a -stay-up-until-2am-book for me

Series: IT BETTER BE.

Read if you like: Gee, Sherlock Holmes, maybe?

Content: Highschooly situations. As in, partying, dating, smoking and such. Drug use. A character was raped in the past, and this is discussed now and then but never in graphic detail.

Trigger warning? Drug use. Rape.

In summary... Jamie Watson has won a scholarship to a Connecticut prep school! Except...the downside is this school is home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective great-great-great-granddaughter. And when someone gets murder and both of them are framed...things go downhill.

Thoughts: Heels clicking on stone walkways, glass beakers and rough tree branches

Messages: I mean, there's drug stuff but this book never really has any MESSAGE about it?

Rating: 3.5/5

So I adore Sherlock Holmes. Naturally, this resulted in intense fangirling upon receiving this ARC.

But it took me so much longer to get through it then I'd wanted.

-The Characters-

Charlotte. She was wonderful. I had rather hoped that this Charlotte Holmes character would be a bit different than the BBC Sherlock, which she really wasn't. So while that was a tad disappointing, she still remains my favorite character. She was realistic, and her times of showing that humanity were well placed. Often times I can get a bit tired of female characters who are Too Much and Too Strong, but Charlotte was brilliant and strong-minded, but she still showed her human side. Like...three times. If that makes sense. She was just a fun character, okay.

Jamie Watson. The human equivalent of a vaguely sullen teddy bear who just cares a lot. He plays rugby. Meh. But he tries very hard. Kinda messes up a lot. Literally follows Charlotte to the ends of the earth. And you can tell he really likes her. Like really likes her, but that's not how Charlotte works, so I appreciate that he didn't push it. He was perfectly happy being her best friend and I liked that.

The side characters were fun, if kind of stereotypical. The villain was a bit meh, I guess is my major complaint. I loved the main characters enough to read this book, but the mystery side was a bit lacking.

-Plot and Writing-

This is a mystery novel. And it did have it's Murdery and Mystery-y aspects. But unfortunately, I just didn't care? I found myself skimming all the mystery-parts, which probably isn't good, but the parts of them sleuthing weren't as engaging as I'd hoped.

The climax came with the big villain info-dump, and the showdown itself wasn't all that exciting. Other parts of the book were actually more intriguing then the actual showdown.

Brittany is a great storyteller. I really look forward to reading her other stories, and I am hoping she writes more about these characters. Jamie's voice felt very strong and realistic to him, but to be honest, after reading the epilogue which is written from Charlotte's POV, I wanted the book to be her POV. Of course, that wouldn't have worked out. But I can hope, can't I?

To be perfectly honest, I think that Epilogue is the reason I enjoyed this book. I liked it, but that epilogue put the perfect bow on this story, and after reading it, I set it down and thought "Yes. Yes, I like these two. I'll keep them."

-Messages and other-

There's not much to say about the themes and messages of this book. Probably because this book doesn't have much to say either. There was no stance on the drugs, or any of the things dealt with, really. Some of the more serious things dealt with did feel a bit like plot-devices.

That basically sums up my thoughts on the story. This is a Good Book. But this isn't the type of book with hidden gems, lovely metaphors and themes and messages to take from it. It's just that. A Good Story with some Good Characters. I'm not saying that every book has to have these things, but it does help to make something memorable. Luckily, this book is clever enough that I don't think I'll be forgetting it anytime soon.

And SO. I did really enjoy this book. I'll put it back on my shelf fondly, and look forward to the next release. There better be one. I hope that if there are more installments, that they will have a bit more meaning.

Overall, I do really recommend this book. It's funny, it's fun to read, and these characters are quite easy to love. Read it, love it, just don't expect to learn from it.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys plus a Guest Blogger!

“Yet amidst all that, life has spit in the eye of death.” 

Dear neighbors,

Sorry for randomly crying at our most recent dinner party. This book is to blame.

Dear friend group,

Sorry for randomly hand flailing when mentioning this book.

Dear Barnes and Nobles,

Sorry for squeaking vaguely loudly when seeing this book at the shelf and considering running at everyone in the store and shoving it into their faces. 

I just really like this book.

(Also: Yay! First co-written review! With my favoritest and bestest friend-person, Emma, over at Bookishly Minded and also: Of Starry Knights and Lullabies)

Stats:

Genre:  Historical Fiction feat. pain

Feelings: Hahahahahahahahaa. Ow.

Cuteness: I went into this not wanting romance and came out with an otp don't judge me

Fast pacing:Oh yes

Series: HA. HA. HA.

Read if you like: Tragedy stories, ww2 books, or her previous book, Between Shades of Grey. THERE. ARE. CAMEOS.

Content: VIolence. Some very bleak things, and a few images that are very haunting. Some disturbing things regarding what humans do under that much panic and chaos. Some things that cast vague suggestions towards sex, but none actually happening.

Trigger warning? Violence. Loss of babies, siblings, children, pretty much every type of person. Suggestions at rape though it's never said outright.

In summary... Four teenagers. Four different lives. Millions of people on the coast during a soviet advance, trying to get aboard a ship that will take them to safety. One of those, is the Willhelm Gustloff. These characters paths will cross and their lives will never be the same.

Thoughts: Snow, rot, rough cloth and a hand tightly wrapped around yours

Messages: Forgiveness, prejudice, the powers of relationships, no matter the type. At it's heart, this book is about love and courage, but not always in the sense you would expect.

Rating: 5/5 stars

This is a spoiler free review, HOWEVER, if you know nothing about the Willhelm Gustloff, I suggest reading this book first, because I'll spoil that part. But it's history, so.....

I read Between Shades of Grey when I was like twelve, and it wrecked my life. Out of the Easy still remains unread, but when I found out that her new book was coming out....I freaked. Especially after hearing what it was about.

I don't really know what I was expecting. I wanted friendships, prose, fear and sadness. I definitely got it, and still somehow this book blew me away even though everything happened exactly as I expected it to.

This review will be broken up into the usual chunks, but will variate from me and Emma’s thoughts.

-The Characters-

My thoughts:

Books like these rely on you loving the characters. I mean, *SPOILER*, but the Willhelm Gustloff sinks. That event was the worst maritime disaster in history, even worse than the Titantic. So, characters are important.

I never thought I could fall in love with characters on page one. But I did. Each character's voice and personality was so vibrant. The contrast between them was so beautiful to see.

Joana, and her bravery and goodness....but so much grief. Her smile. Her bravery. . And Emelia, that child who persevered even when she looked weak. Her vibrant personality. The struggle.. Trying and trying. Florian, his bitterness and anger, but the tenderness that is shown, the care, and the forgiveness he needs and deserves. And Alfred. His determination, bravado, confusion.....madness. All of them were so brave in their own way. They fit in with the setting, and the wind and sea and I loved them.

Also: The side characters. Oh my goodness. Poet. And every single person you meet. Ruta has mastered the knack of making each character stand out, seem real and different and new.

And I cared.

I will note, that this book is told in very short alternating chapters, which means that for some it might be hard to fully connect. But I still do think these are some of the most well crafted characters, seeing as she had to spend so much time on history and keeping everyone straight but shaped....all in a barely 400 page book.

Emma on characters:

There are four points of view in Salt To The Sea: Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred. It was really interesting to watch the story unfold from the different viewpoints and while in the beginning it was a little confusing to follow, I thought it worked really well.

Salt to the Sea opens up with Joana’s point of view. She’s the same Joana as in Between Shades of Gray, which was really cool. I loved getting to see her story and her point of view. Joana’s also a nurse, which I loved so so so much. Nurses in any capacity during World War II is one of my all-time favorite things to study, ever, and getting to follow Joana and see her struggle through war-torn countries with people who needed were was amazing. Joana is pushing past what you are afraid of to do what you know is right; she is fiercely protecting the ones who need it and holding out your hand to people who can’t stand on their own.

       

Florian is bitterness and sharp edges and somewhere past all that really caring. I love Florian so much. I will probably say that about everyone, but that’s because it’s true. Florian, though, he has a special place in my heart. He is such an interesting character, and his relationships with everyone else are beautiful. I love how his voice sounded. I love the dynamic between Emilia and him, and I a d o r e Joana and his relationship. In Florian’s POV we also get to see Doctor Lange, and the art that was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. I’ve always found that part of history super interesting so like, reading that made me internally freak out just a little.

        Emilia, okay? Can we talk about Emilia? She’s so much younger than everyone else, which really got me, and she is so strong and she’s been through so much. The first thing we see of her is when she is hiding, in the ice and the snow, in her pink woolen cap and it felt so vivid and real. Emilia is so brave. There are so many things about her that I can’t talk about because of spoilers which is sad but. Her story is so heartbreaking and beautiful and g a h. I loved her so so much. Emilia is hope that winter will end, and memories of home, and seeing the worst and the cruelest and the awfullest and then somehow seeing something more.

The last POV in Salt to the Sea is Alfred’s. I…spent most of the book kind of blinking at his POV and trying to figure out what was going on. However. He is a very interesting character. And watching his role in everything coming together at the end was definitely interesting. His point of view was also a complete change of pace; Alfred’s a sailor on the German ship Wilhem Gustloff, a marked difference from every other point of view in this novel. Above everything Alfred wants to be honored and celebrated and be a hero, at least I felt like. Alfred is fear and he’s confusion and wanting to be and belong.

There were also a lot of side characters , all of whom were intricate and interesting. Ruta Sepetys never disappoints with characters. I loved Poet, an old man who was once a shoe maker and whom they now call the Shoe Poet, and Sorry Eva, who has a tendency to say somewhat appalling things but prefaces it with an apology before she does so. There were a lot people who only played a small role and who weren’t even named , and somehow they still felt real. Ruta Sepetys excels at writing these sort of characters; the ones who you can almost believe were real, who are so firmly rooted in their settings and so complexly written their stories don’t feel like stories anymore. There are so many scenes where the crowds of people and families are described in passing and it’s these small little moments and phrases and pictures that bring this story to life.

Overall: amazing, complex characters that each show really unique and interesting parts of history. Although the four different first person points of view are a little confusing, I felt like it was done well and once I got into the book and got to know each character and their voice, that confusion faded.

-Plot and Writing-

My thoughts:

This book is thrilling. It's not a thriller, and they don't even get onto the boat till well to the end, but this book kept me turning pages rapidly. If I hadn't been doing a readalong with Emma I probably would've just finished it in one sitting.

Ruta. Sepetys. Can. Freaking. Write. Her prose is like wading through water. You stub your toe on a rock that stings for a good while, brush into seaweed that snakes around your ankle and you keep going until everything feels numb.

Yes. Wading through water. But ocean water. Because it's salty. FROM YOUR TEARS.

Anyway. I enjoy Ruta's writing a lot. Her pacing and plotting is wonderful, with the flashbacks tastefully thrown in. There are a few nitpickiy scenes that you might have to suspend belief for if you even notice that kind of thing, but who even cares. This was a good book, one that I have tabbed and marked and ready to look back at as a reference for a well paced historical.

Emma on Plot and Writing:

Ruta Sepetys writes and phrases words a certain way, or she describes a certain feeling or picture, and I look at it and it is absolutely beautiful. She somehow combines stunning prose with historical details and creates one massive story that leaves you breathless.

Reading this is intense. Like I said, it’s incredibly immersive, and even though she never goes into gorey details, Ruta Sepetys doesn’t shy away from the darker side of things, and the reality of war. Everything feels very real and very present. If I wasn’t doing a readalong with Mariesa and I also didn’t have to keep stopping said readathon to go do life things, this would have been one of the books that kept me up way too late reading. It would have been one that once I stopped there was no stopping. The way that Salt to the Sea is written keeps you needing to read the next page, needing to know what happens, even though for most of the book, we are just watching a group of people travel to the ship.

(I suppose this next part coulddd be considered a little spoilery, but guys. It’s history. This is like asking people not to spoil Titanic.)

(that was not a good example) (I’m going to stop talking in parentheses now)

Speaking of ships…

Before reading this book, I had never heard of the Wilhem Gustloff. Ever. I didn’t know it existed or what a tragedy it was. I didn’t know it sank.

ANYWAY. Salt To The Sea brings forth the story of the Wilhelm Gustloff, and of the thousands of refugees who sought passage on it to escape the Red army. Because I am me, I went and googled the ship after finishing STTS. I thought that this website was really interesting.

-Messages and other-

My thoughts:

I love history. My mind is forever stuck in the past rather than the present. I love learning about people who lived and breathed just like I do but somehow were so much that they have books about them.

But my favorite part, is wondering about those people who didn't get books written about them. Those people who know one even knows, who get on boats with dreams and hopes, who could've done something so big that they had books and movies centered around them but instead.... they sunk.

That's why I love historical fiction, because it takes these situations, and gives you fictional characters to love but also gets you thinking. Because Joana, Florian, Emelia and Alfred may have all be fictional....but there were people just like them on that boat and they're gone now, and we're left to wonder and dig up their stories.

This is an important book. It's about the things that haunt us, that follow us even in times of danger. I can really appreciate a book that doesn't spend so much describing the brutality of history that it forgets that these characters are still human. They still love and dream and struggle, even in the middle of disaster.

Ruta takes a lighter approach to these tragedies. While they're brutal to read, she doesn't go into so much description of the horror of war that leaves you drained. While there are times for those books, I love hers because they leave more for you to think, to see the times of glory that humans have even surrounded by harsh circumstances.

Emma on messages and other:

Salt to the Sea left me breathless. I read the last page and I didn’t actually do anything; I just sat there and looked at. It was so amazing, and even though I don’t really remember what I was expecting going into it, it was so much more. I adore history and I always have, and historical fiction – stories that take the past and the people who lived in it and bring them to us today, stories who are rooted in our history and teach us about who we are today – are my favorite. Salt To The Sea was all of these things.

Buy this book. Read this book. Read all of Ruta Sepetys’s books, while we’re at it, because Ruta Sepetys, okay. But read this one specifically. This is a story about a lot of ordinary people who saw and experienced things that I can only ever imagine, and it’s a story about their hope. This book is so raw and it hurts but it is hopeful. Everything about it screams that. Hope isn’t always pretty; it doesn’t always look nice. Sometimes hope is a sacrifice; sometimes it hurts. Sometimes hope seems a lot like being naïve or feels a lot like helplessness. Salt To The Sea is light in darkness; life from death; hope from some place that feels absolutely hopeless. There is hope in Joana and hope for Emilia and Florian and Alfred and in the unnamed thousands who died on the Wilhelm Gustloff, because their story is being told, and they are remembered.

What I Took from It.

It's been quite a while since I've read this satisfying of a book. While I can't depict what exactly it is that resonates so well with me, i'm pretty sure that it's the people. The mistakes and love and perseverance that these teenagers show. I have cried for them and laughed for them, and I've loved watching them grow on these pages. This book at it's heart is just the perfect example of what I love about history, and so it will forever be on my favorite shelf, the shelf of books that whispered to my soul in some way.

Humans, no matter how nasty and awful and prejudiced and blind....are capable of doing wonderful things, and books like this one show that in little snippets.

This book is hope and fear and sadness and relationships. With a good dose of realism.

Read it.

To see what Emma took from it, go see her review! Her blog is Here .