Tag: beautiful covers

YA

Review: Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Chantress #1

chantress -amy butler greenfield“Sing, and the darkness will find you.”

This warning has haunted fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now it is 1667, Lucy is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on the wind. She can’t help but sing—and she is swept into darkness.

When she awakes in England, Lucy hears powerful men discussing Chantresses—women who can sing magic into the world. They are hunting her, but she escapes and finds sanctuary with the Invisible College, an organization plotting to overthrow the nefarious Lord Protector. The only person powerful enough to bring about his downfall is a Chantress. And Lucy is the last one in England.

Lucy struggles to master the song-spells and harness her power, but the Lord Protector is moving quickly. And her feelings for Nat, an Invisible College apprentice and scientist who deeply distrusts her magic, only add to her confusion…

Time is running out, and the fate of England hangs in the balance in this entrancing novel that is atmospheric and lyrical, dangerous and romantic.

2.5 Drink Me Potions

I was very excited for another historical fantasy, but my expectations may have been too much. Don’t get me wrong. The premise of the story was beautifully created. In this fictitious version of olden day England, evil creatures known as Shadowgrims create fear in the hearts of all people, especially in those that the Lord Protector to the King condemns as traitors to the crown. Chantresses, magical women who weave magic through “song spells”, have all been hunted down. Except Lucy, of course.

A lot of originality has definitely gone into creating such a world, with certain facts that are actually based on real English history. For that, I had to round up my rating. Because other than my admiration for this world the author has created, everything else was sub-par.

The beginning of the story was an information overload. I understand that to allow readers to fully grasp the history and background of this version of England, a lot has to be explained. However, it just wasn’t done very tactfully. The information felt more like it was dumped and squished into the first 100 pages in order to make sense of the next 200+ pages. That was NOT the end of it, though.

I thought there’d be some sort of adventure to this story. Come on! Throwing a rebellion against the Lord Protector? Learning magic in order to do that overthrowing? Sounds exciting, right? Please, I had to read continuously in order to get through those pages, as I knew I would never pick up the book again if I stopped in the middle. I kept hoping there would be more twists, but barely any came through. Learning magic? More like pages written about Lucy practicing scales and holding notes. For months. And explaining the goings of the scholars as they checked in on her for the months she was holed up in practice. Honestly, the plot could’ve gone in so many directions, but it was just TIRING. And dragged a whole lot.

Picture it. The whole chunk of the middle was like explaining what Lucy did that day, what problems she encountered with magic, and possibly who checked in to see her progress, which was namely Nat. Then multiply that by like quite a number of days that seemed endlessly the same. Talk about tedious.

Speaking of which, the romance part of Chantress? I had such hopes for that. There was barely any true chemistry between Nat and Lucy. Oh sure, it was actually written that Lucy felt a spark pass between them as they gazed at each other, but explicitly written chemistry doesn’t equate to a chemistry that is just felt through their banter and time spent together. They hardly hung out, and when they did, Nat was rather cold to her. So his change of heart to her and the magic she did felt kind of…off. I wanted to believe in it, but I’d rather Greenfield didn’t tell me to believe in their love but rather showed it through their actions.

I must say that although I am disappointed in the start of the series, I will give the rest of the series a shot. I do love the idea of Chantresses a lot, and maybe the author can redeem the story from here on out, considering all the background information has been laid out already. Here’s to hoping, optimistically.

Overall Recommendation:
Chantress could have been a beautiful historical fantasy set in olden day England (which by the way, is one of my favourite settings for historical books). However, it lacked an exciting plot, although its premise was creatively imagined. There was a lot of potential in the adventure of overthrowing a tyrant, but Greenfield never built the story up to any sort of climax and thus the whole story kind of fell flat. As for the rest of this series, I still believe in its potential and will give it a shot. However, I may not recommend this for those who bore easily.

YA

Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

the fill-in boyfriend -kasie westWhen Gia Montgomery’s boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she’d been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it’s not the real Bradley she’s thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn’t even know. But tracking him down doesn’t mean they’re done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend’s graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

The synopsis makes this story sound like it’s some light, fluff piece, but it’s so much more than that. The Fill-In Boyfriend follows Gia Montgomery, a girl whose life seems as normal as it gets. Popular, president of student council, has some close girlfriends and a family that hasn’t been torn apart by divorce. Everything looks perfect on the outside. That all started to change with the fill-in boyfriend (aka FIB) who is rather insightful.

Breaking from Perfection
With the arrival of the lies starting at prom, Gia’s life starts to unravel into imperfection. I love how it explores the family dysfunction in a way that’s different from other stories. Sure, her parents and brother get along fine with each other, but maybe, that’s the problem. When things don’t get resolved in order to maintain peace and have the appearance of perfection, you start to hide emotions deep inside and only work with surface emotions in every relationship. Who knew that not getting punished enough for something could cause just as many problems in a family? It also prevented Gia from being able to talk to her parents when her life was falling apart. Too emotional, right? And that would require admitting that something in her life wasn’t working just perfectly.

Outgrowing friendships
There was just so much emotion in Gia’s story. With a frenemy that was out to get her, it was awesome to have someone to hate. Sometimes, I find stories like to give redemption to those that may initially seem awful. Not this one. I absolutely can’t stand her friend who is so hell-bent on destroying Gia’s close friendships. And all for a reason that is rather lame. Although the story concludes without the neatly wrapped up ending, I was a little sad that there wasn’t as much closure with her friends. There was hope, but I guess the message is that sometimes, you outgrow even lifelong friends who may become different people as the years go by.

Finding out who you are
Besides family and friends, this story touches so much on Gia’s journey into opening up to people and finding out who she wanted to be. I love character development and this story focused so much on this gradual change that was working its way through her. By the end of it, she had grown so much that it literally brought tears to my eyes. My favourite advice was something the fill-in boyfriend’s mother had told Gia when her world started to fall apart. She was asking about how to truly gain life lessons and find herself when nothing terrible has happened to her. This is the wisest thing I’ve heard yet to answer such a question.

“We rarely find depth by looking inside of ourselves for it. Depth is found in what we can learn from the people and things around us. Everyone, everything, has a story. When you learn those stories, you learn experiences that fill you up, that expand your understanding. You add layers to your soul.”

Love, of course
Speaking of tears, The Fill-In Boyfriend definitely had a lot of romantic chemistry going on there. He brought so much insight into Gia’s life, that even though they were only going to spend just two nights together, it was hard to get him out of her life and mind. I’m so glad that there was this simmering attraction between them that was so tangible, I almost felt like I could reach out and touch it. It wasn’t only the attraction that was enjoyable, but also their witty banter that was hilarious to read. The path to romance doesn’t always have to have constant staring and romantic lines, but it may very well lie in a deep-rooted friendship. The ups and downs to their relationship was beautifully written. Falling for someone for real while pretending to only be each others’ dates definitely complicates things.

Although Kasie West’s On the Fence wasn’t as huge of a favourite with me, The Fill-In Boyfriend has quickly shown me that this author has so much to offer in YA literature. This is a beautiful story of finding who you are in the imperfections while falling for the very person who challenges all those cracks in your life and learning to let go of emotions. A definite must-read.

Overall Recommendation:
The Fill-In Boyfriend is so much more than its synopsis limits it to be. It’s a remarkably well-written story about finding love in the unexpected, seeing the beauty in life’s imperfections and staying strong when your world starts to crumble from the lies in your past catching up to you. This is Gia’s journey in finding herself, and all I can say is that it’s heart-warming and almost brought me to tears as it is so relateable in so many ways. I highly recommend this book to anyone to read. It’s way more than just fluff.

YA

Review: Now and For Never by Lesley Livingston

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Never #3

now and for never -lesley livingstonPast and present collide on the high seas when Clare and Allie hurtle back in time once more in a perilous attempt to retrieve Marcus Donatus—Allie’s blast-from-the-past crush—and put an end, once and for all, to the Time Monkey Shenanigans. But when Clare and Allie unexpectedly find themselves temporal stowaways on a Roman warship full of looted Celtic gold, sailing straight for the heart of a magic-fuelled maelstrom, there’s not much they can do but hang on for the ride—and hope Milo can tap into the Druid lore trapped in his genius brain to help bring them home, before it’s too late. The only thing that’s going to save Clarinet Reid and Allie McAllister now is if they join forces with old enemies, new loves … and unexpected friends.

2.5 Drink Me Potions

It’s been a long time since I’ve last read the other two books in the series. However, I feel that Lesley Livingston did a great job of kind of recapping the important parts of what had happened earlier. I wasn’t left feeling lost for long, and for that, I greatly appreciate it.

I really tried to enjoy the concluding installment to the Time Travelling Monkey Shenanigans Gang. But I found myself a little disappointed. Now, I’m a fan of Livingston’s, even have a personally autographed book from her, but her other series are more….serious. The mythology was more compelling and suspenseful in the way the plot slowly unwinded.

Clare and Allie are both very unique protagonists. You won’t find another personality quite like theirs. Allie is all fireball attitude, wears only black, references nerdy things like Star Wars and Star Trek ALL the time, and is quite good with the tech stuff. Meanwhile, Clare is the more serious of the two and not so great with the nerd lingo, but she dives head into crazy time travelling adventures to save people (and trying not to change the course of history).

This series is all fun and definitely more lighthearted out of Livingston’s collection of stories. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for that kind of the story so it was harder to enjoy the crazy hairball plans the two came up with to save Marcus from the past (where Every Never After left off).

What I can say that was positive is that Livingston did an amazing job trying to wrap up the loose ends after all the time travelling the two girls did in the previous 2 novels. No one wants to change history so….there goes the girls again for their last adventure to the past to make sure their reality doesn’t change after all their meddling. It was a little confusing at times as to what artifact had to be found where and when exactly so that, say, Clare could find it two millennia later.

I’d say that Now and for Never concludes the series well. It just wasn’t the kind of book I was looking for so that may have skewed with my rating. It’s definitely ideal for younger readers, possibly in their earlier teens. The lighthearted banter and nerdy lingo were great additions to the comical atmosphere.

Overall Recommendation:
Now and for Never concludes the Time Travelling Monkey Shenanigans that have been going on in the previous two novels of the series. Although I didn’t rate it too high, I still think it was a good way to wrap up the adventures that Clare and Ally had experienced back in the past, with appearances of both the Druids from Clare’s story and the Romans of Allie’s.

With the usual fun and lighthearted atmosphere, this book is perfect for those who enjoy some history (and meddling with it through time travel!), magic and nerdy references thrown in there. I recommend it for a light and funny read, so if you’re in one of those moods, this would be more enjoyable.