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.

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Their killer was there when I woke up. He was dead before I saw his face. I know what he did, but I don't know his name. 

It was an accident, the first time I killed. It was an instinct I didn't know I had. I had never made a choice.

The second time was on purpose.

So I go into the bookstore. 

I see this on the new release shelf.

I stare at it.

It stares at me.

I message Linnea to see if she's read it. She hasn't.

I debate for a while. Then, I finally just pick it up and find a corner of the store to read. 

It all went downhill from there. 

This is a very good monster book. At a glance, it is a mash up of a lot of different possible plots, all packed together. Was it a hit or miss? I'm thinking both. But I liked it.

Soooo.....

Stats:

Genre:  Paranormal. A sort of “monsterology” book

Feelings: A few here and there.

Cuteness: There was no romance! Some adorable friend-ships, though.

Fast pacing: More or less. It’s all over the place

Series: Not that I believe.

Read if you like: Monster type books. Think Jackaby meets Supernatural meets like…Warm Bodies. With elements of like....Dexter. And Minnow Bly. All smooshed together.

Content: A few mentions of sex, but none actually occurring. Some violence. Plenty of that good ole bloody factor.

Trigger warning? Loss of family. A few mentions of suicide.

(Note for more conservative people: Main character IS a bisexual character)

In summary... She’s pretty sure she’s supposed to be dead. After all, waking in a grave after being dead for a year is a pretty solid reason for thinking that. But now she simply can’t die, and some crazy cult is after her, and her only friend is a couple of ghouls and a nightmare.

Thoughts: Dirt. A lot of dirt. Dried blood under your nails.

Messages: Not a theme-heavy book, but some internal battles dealing with starting over, and revenge. 

Overall

Rating: 4/5

Spoiler Free Review

So. This book. While it was far from the atmospheric horror story I wanted and was expecting, putting that aside made me see that yes, I actually really did enjoy this book. Okay, it did have a pretty solid atmosphere, and there was some creepy stuff that went down. But. You have to understand, they compared this book to Holly Black and Nova on the back, so my expectations skyrocketed.

-The Characters-

Unfortunately, this character did not hold past the never-can-connect-to-main-character disease that I have. I definitely liked Breezy. She was funny, far from whiny, snarky, and realistic. She was a diverse character, the first bisexual that I’ve actually found in this genre so far. And I loved her backstory.

But. I just kind of didn’t care. But that’s my fault.

HOWEVER. The side characters.

The side characters.

Rain was so cool. I don’t have anything eloquent or insightful to say about her. She was just so cool. Her monster aspect was new and fascinating, and her interactions with everyone else amusing.

And Zeke. Hello yes I very much adored Zeke. He was the ghoul, the kind of very grumpy why-must-i-do-these-things kind of guy. Hated everyone. But did nice things because he begrudgingly didn’t want these people to get murdered. But then sulked some more. But not in the broody way. Just kind of the i-quit way. Also: he ate humans. So there’s that.

His brother was great too. Honestly both of them were so great. I wanted MORE of their relationship, because the snippets I saw of them were fantastic. I just really love brother relationships.

-Story, writing and plot-

This…was a cool story.

No, this book is not horror. It was advertised as such, but I don’t consider it that. I think this was a very well done book, by an author who I look forward to see more of. At first, I was a tad overwhelmed. I felt like Wallace had become very excited and thought LETS JUST PUT EVERY MONSTER EVER IN ONE WORLD.

But then, after I got passed the initial shock….I thought “Yes. Why not, though???” Because I love that type of monsterology book. All the monsters! All of them!

I just wished this was advertised as such.

And so, I think people should definitely read this. It’s funny, it’s entertaining, it’s a fun story.

What even was the plot of this book. I get it, Breezy wants to know why suddenly she’s a re-animated corpse. And why suddenly there’s like banshees and ghouls and monsters everywhere.

But then there’s that weird cult that’s got this twisted idea that they have to remove all darkness and kill monsters. Which is interesting. But it felt very underplayed. Both plots of the story were very interesting, but the pacing just felt…off.

Also: The ending wrapped up so fast. And so neatly. I’m pretty sure this is a standalone, and if so…color me a bit disappointed by the end. Not quite the Huge Conflict Climax I was waiting for.

-Other-

I really like characters. I love characters that have a distinct shape even when you know them for a few pages. I love when you can tell that the author developed each and every character. I like characters not think poorly of their families every page. I love families. I love monsters.

So, this book was a compilation of a lot of things I love. Even as it flopped in a few areas, this book was right for me. The negative reviews consist of people saying it is “too much” and while I can see where people are coming from…it wasn’t too much for me.

And so, overall, solid book. If you’re a fan of monsters GALORE…then this book is right for you.

The Dark Days Club by Allison Goodman

She remembered other whispers too, echoes of Lord Carlstons words: souls and darkness And one that she had heard over and over again: loss.

Another ARC I received! Of course it comes out in like 6 days but I was really busy okay.

Reading the reviews is a bit of a ? experience? Everyone seems to adore this book? I certainly didn't hate it. This book is a Good Story, a Good Historical, but a Meh Horror.

~this book will be released on Jan 25th~

the coveeerrrr, guys. ThE COvErR

Stats:

Genre:  Historical fiction paranormal

Feelings: Naw

Happiness: Fun?

Cuteness: Not really, for me at least. VErrrryrYYyyY vague romance. Like it's romance but not in your face insta-love

Fast pacing: Slow, but it fit given the time period for some reason 

Series: Yup

Read if you like: Paranormal regency? Quirky plots?

Content: Some sex talk. Like. The monsters and stuff. It's complicated. But there's sex stuff. Kissing very c l o s e l y. And that's about it?

Trigger warning? Vague rape-like situations. 

In one sentence... Helen is supposed to focus on finishing her Season and getting married....but paranormal abilities and monsters are definitely things that can get in the way of that

Thoughts: Parasols. Dripping in blood. 

Messages: I guess you could call in feministic but it's not really. it's what you'd expect from Regency-Girl-Can-Do-The-Thing but I found it far from annoyingly feministic 

Overall

Rating: 3.5/5

Vague Spoilers regarding the paranormal aspects of story

-The characters-

Helen was kinda just a lot fantastic. Like. She was a well put together heroine. She was realistically curious, not overly annoying, but also not overly Merida-istic. You know, the whole "I CAN CHOSE WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE FIGHT ME" Don't get me wrong I love Merida but this trope can be overdone, especially when books are set in decades when the way people treated woman was crap, even to anti-feminists.

And like. I love how Goodman didn't force the femisim. Helen didn't complain about stitching or cooking or parties because that's a part of her life. Helen didn't complain that she was being smothered in womanly duties because she was raised for that.

Anyway. Helen. I'm glad that she was noble, ready to do the right thing, without being arrogant about it. She genuinely wants the best for everyone including herself, and that's shown well. She's not too mary-sue, but she's not too I Am ~Special~. 

Normally I don't care much about "Special" characters, but after reading so much of this genre, I have started to grow more accustumed to what is used a lot. 

Which brings me to why I am the few not raving about this book. 

-Writing and structure-

I feel like I would have asbolutely adored this book if I was fourteen. Back when I first started writing. Back when I wanted an epic histroical girl kicking ass and gifted with COOL POWERS. That was the type of story I loved. 

Okay, I still do. Who doesn't want historical settings with cool powers and weird creatures?

But something about this story didn't feel quite as dark, gothic and unsettling as I like historical paranormals to be. This book felt like the type of story younger-me would write. A story that tries to be scary and Big but doesn't quite get there. A story that uses different fonts for when characters write letters and all that. If it weren't for the sex stuff, it'd feel more vaguely middle-grade-y, at least for me.

Please don't get me wrong. A lot of people will love this. A lot of people do love this. But I love gothic atmospheres, and so I went into this expecting a Regency Creepy Atmosphere, with fluid writing and scariness. And I didn't get it. Allison is definitely a good storyteller, and I think her voice fits well with this decade. But it wasn't quite there for me.

Fourteen year old Mariesa is dying of the Awesome inside of me right now, that's for sure. But as for my horror loving side....meh. It's fully my fault for expecting horror, since it wasn't advertised as such but what can I say. I really like horror. And I like my paranormal stories to scare.

-Other-

Okay, Goodman, you did your research.

I've read a lot of speculative historical, given that's what I write. And you can tell when an author cares about historical accuracy not just cool monsters. And I appreciate that.The setting was so vibrant, and I adored it.

Basically, this book has a lot going for it. The atmosphere is good in everything except the fact that it's trying to be scary.

Also like. The sex stuff. Really weirded me out. The monster legit sucks the energy from someone while fornicating with them. 

What.

What.

Yeah I was weirded out. 

I was glad that Goodman didn't fling too much at you. She actually invented her own demon thing. And it was weird and uncomfortable. But she didn't just have this regency setting and suddenly go "OH YEAH SO VAMPIRESWEARWOLVESWITCHESZOMBIES EXIST"

Because all those would be so freaking awesome but all at once is hard to pull off

Overall, this book did a good job of telling a story with some well done characters. The paranormal atmospehre was lacking for me, but overall I think Goodman has a great start to a series on her hands, and the more I think about it, the more ready I am to give book two a shot. 

Go you

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

There's a big difference between hating someone in peace and hating someone during war

This book comes out August fourth. I was hoping to review it way before it came out but I got so swamped with NaNo and life. But here we go! My first ARC review!

Stats:

Genre:  Fantasy

Feelings: Not really, actually

Happiness: Eh

Cuteness: Did not ship anything. Like. How many people is Beckan gonna make out with?

Fast pacing: Slow, but still it did a good job of engaging me

Series: Nope

Read if you like: ...Weird books. Unique fae type things,

Content: LOLOLOL what does this book NOT have.
a) cursing? Check. A lot of it.
b) Sex? Definitely. Nothing graphic and most of it off page.
c) Prostitute faeries? Why not.
b) Lesbian? Yep. Totally caught me off guard. Like. Wot.
c) Violence? You could say. It's just got some weird concepts
d) Thematic elements? lololol yes

In one sentence... Told back and forth from past and present, a very unreliable narrator tells the story of Beckan and her friends, and the struggles and conflicts with gnomes and other creatures, filling in the gaps with whatever he wishes.

Thoughts: glitter and dirt

Messages: It's kind of got some really neat family vibes here. And a lot about honesty. 

Overall:

Rating: 3/5

This review is SPOILER FREE

The Lovely Bits:

This was...a weird book. I am so conflicted about it. More so then I ever have been.

-Characters-

What was Beckan. See, I saw her from our narrators POV. And our narrator was...special. Beckan was spirited and crazy, but still realistic. She was a damaged, far from perfect character and I had fun reading about her. But I still don't think I'll really care about her.

Then there's Tier, the weirdo. Piccolo, who was random but totally fascinating. And Scrap. Scrap made me feel feelings.

See, there's no character that really stand out. I'll have to give it to Hannah Moskowitz. She knows how to write some crazy realistic damaged characters in a story with as many crazy concepts as this one did. Each one was so...human. Which was surprising, giving they were faeries, gnomes and tightropers. These were some nasty people. Nasty, sad, hurting. 

You have to give me a tiny break because I just got back from a writing workshop and I'm noticing more successes in books. This story had a very big struggle, a very good thing for a book.

-Writing and Structure-

The story just had...such cool concepts. Seriously. I love weird concepts. And this story had a lot of them. The worldbuilding, though sparse, was really fascinating. There was little description but there were just enough hints dropped that I could paint a picture of what I pictured it to look like and I loved that. This is one of those books where I am happy about the lack of descriptions.

The story had very little Big Events, but it did such a good job of getting into your head. I think it's good that it was short. It's hard to pull off a "no the writer did not write this the character did" book but Moskowitz did this so masterfully. It felt like someone had actually found this old notebook with the story in it and typed it up. I read this on a weekend trip and half the time forgot I was sitting curled up in a bunk bed at the beach because I was so tangled in this story.

-Messages and other-

This is a light-theme book, but the themes it does have were beautiful when you dug them out. There was a lot about redemption, and war, and recovery. All of it fit well with these characters.

The Less Lovely Bits

For as much as I loved it, there was a lot I didn't care for.

Okay. First off. It was just weird. I mean, I love weird books. I live for weird books. I write weird books. 

I think what happened is I really didn't know what to expect. I did not expect prostitute faeries that swear every single sentence. I did not expect this wacky world, these wacky characters. Everything was so random. And on one hand, it added to the texture of the story and the whole " a character wrote this not the author" vibe, but it also felt off.

There were definitely some scenes that just felt extremely random. As stated above, there is a gay scene towards the end. I didn't get it. I'm sorry, it's not that I had a problem, it was just that I really didn't get why it needed to be there. 

I don't know, man. This book is a weird one. I think a lot of people can really care about it. It's a concept and character driven book. But that's the problem.

You have to care about the characters to enjoy the book. If you don't, you'll hate the book. And if the character are impossible to dislike that's fine. But I can see how it would be easy to dislike this cast, which is what makes it a tricky book.

See, there was nothing blatantly bad about this book. Nothing that made me a Rage Monster and want to burn it. There was nothing truly wrong. The whole story as a whole just didn't sit perfect for me as a person. This can be different for everyone. 

I honestly thought this was a debut at first. Because I didn't know going in this was written as a character-written-book so it felt very off. As I got into it, I saw more clearly what Moskowitz was trying to do, but starting out it seemed like she had written a NaNoWriMo and published it without edits. (But I do seriously know that's not true because if all NaNo first drafts were like this then we'd be all lucky)



Overall, I did like it. I defintly found myself thinking about it a lot, even if it was less fondly then I wanted. If you can handle some randomness, I'd give it a shot. It really was a fun book.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

There's a monster in our wood. She'll get you if you're not good. Drag you under leaves and sticks. Punish you for all your tricks. A nest of hair and gnawed bone. You are never, ever coming... home.”

I did just review the Raven Cycle series, but I am determined to catch up on my reviews. You can read that here!

And I really needed to review this. Because Holly Black has blown me away once more.

Stats:

Genre: Paranormal, and fae.

Feelings: Some sibling-ly feels.

Happiness: Siblings.

Cuteness: Siblings!

Fast pacing: Ish

Series: Nope.

Read if you like: Fae, twisted creatures, dark secrets, and magical towns.

Content: It depends on how conserved you are. There is some swearing, and quite a lot of kissing. If you're more sensitive to gay characters, keep that in mind. There are three-ish gay characters in this book.

In one sentence... In a town where Fae and Humans live side by side, there's a horned boy in a glass coffin deep in the woods, and he's waking up, sucking Hazel and her brother in a dangerous journey, uncovering secrets from the past and future.

Thoughts: Muddy footprints, shattered glass, a broken sword.

Overall:

Rating: Tentative 4 stars. I really liked some bits, but only /liked/ a lot of other books. But this book is just too good to be only three stars.

This review has LIGHT ROMANCE SPOILERS in the negative section

The Lovely Bits:

Holly Black is a stunning storyteller. After Coldtown, I was rather conflicted. I don't like vampires, but it was so good?  Her stories are strange and thoughtful, weird and lovely. This whole book is lovely, slow parts and all.

The character were great. Everyone dislikes some character, for various reasons. Sometimes I find that people dislike certain characters because of morals, or actions. I feel like Hazel is one of those characters that many people may dislike, because of her personality. But for me, she was a very interesting character. She was a well written girl, with flaws and all. She was realistic. Not perfect, not always happy, and not too optimistic.

I am also very happy with the diversity. I find it annoying that it's hard to find gay characters in fantasy or books like that. It's either a contemporary distinctly about homosexuals, or the character is a side character you don't see much of. While the effort is appreciated, I'm sure that there are many people out there who would love to have a gay character who you actually see a lot of. Those subplots did catch me a little off guard, but it was one I know people will be happy about.

Holly Black's stories are always dark, and strange, and deep. It's so easy to get lost in her books. When I was finishing this, I blanked out on the fact that I was sitting in the library listen to two other people geek out about comics. All I cared about was Hazel, the Alderking, and what the heck was even happening. 

I really did like how Holly Black only hinted at this story in the synopsis. Automatically, I thought I knew what was going to happen. I have this thing I call the OTP Sensor. I can usually tell right away what romance is going to happen.

This one totally messed up my scanner, man. I had it all figured out. The guy in the coffin+Hazel. Yep! Done. Figured it out.

Yeah that didn't happen. I'll cover the love stuff in the next section.


The Less Lovely Bits

This book seemed to have a bit of the middle cycle disease? Either that or the story arc is a lot different than most books.

The beginning started out strong. I was sucked in for about 150 pages. But then it felt almost....jumbled? We spent a lot of time of sub plots that seemed out of place and rushed. It all made sense, and the pieces got put together at a nice pace. It might be that I was in a tad of a slump. After all the mystery happened, I was less interested. Still, there were twists I enjoyed. I just think it could have had some stuff cut. 

As much as I liked Hazel, there were some weird bits. Why the heck did she keep Jack's gum, guys. Why. 

(LIGHT ROMANTIC SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT. You can skip to the very end if you want to be surprised, though I will say you can kind of see what's coming)


On to the romance. I didn't hate it. But I just didn't love it. And it was /crazy/. I made a diagram, a lot like what I made for Kill Me Softly, but the romance pentagon thing wasn't as annoying.

Disclaimer: The "Connection" section is debatable. I am simply saying that it's either "a crush", or "You're pretty sure they're going to end up together" or "They are together at some point,"

Yeah it was crazy. And odd? I really liked Jack, but I didn't care for him and Hazel. I wish there romance hadn't been in it as much? The end seemed a bit cliche, for me, which is weird. I'm a hopeless romantic, and yet I didn't like them as much,

Still, Holly knows how to write a crazy cool couple.




Overall, this was a lovely book. I'm not sure how to write what I didn't like, but I didn't love it as much as I hoped. Still, I highly recommend this. Like a lot. I loved this a lot. And that epilogue? Agh. I have feelings.

I WANT A CHANGELING BOYFRIEND.