Books and Cafes

I wanted to like this book so much! It has all the elements I typically want: enemies to lovers, a secret magical island, a feisty protagonist with a quick wit, even a training montage (albeit a mediocre one). But the way these elements are thrown together feels contrived. The characters’ motivations are largely black and white, especially when it comes to the villains. And many of characters and their actions are used as obvious plot devices. That said, the second half of the novel really picks up and I’m tempted to read the next in the series to see if we venture out of ACOTAR fan-fiction territory and into a story and characters that can stand on their own.

Oct 1

Oct 1 Book Review: Bone Crier's Moon

Meanwhile, Ailesse is also trying to murder Sebastian because that’s how being a Bone Crier works and this book is all murder, all the time. The fact that Ailesse doesn’t get why Sebastian doesn’t want to be murdered defies belief. Girl, would you be down if the roles were reversed? It’s like she expects him to just stand still real quick while she stabs him. She’s just trying to gain her mom’s approval, after all.

Sep 10

Sep 10 Book Review: The Queen of Nothing

Aug 27

Aug 27 Book Review: The Wicked King

While I adore The Wicked King and once again devoured it in two days, I slightly preferred The Cruel Prince. This is partially due to boredom and frustration with the scenes involving Taryn and Locke. This may be a symptom of my personal feelings for these characters; I hate them. Especially Locke—he’s the actual worst, though Taryn is certainly not far behind him. Of course, my visceral feelings speak to Black’s masterful characterization, so this isn’t a glaring issue. But because several chapters are devoted to Taryn and Locke’s wedding (gag), I found myself pushing through just so those scenes would end.

Aug 20

Aug 20 Book Review: The Cruel Prince

What a start! Black establishes her faeries and the world of Faerie as brutal and vicious. Magic is used for manipulation and deceit, pain and selfishness. Faerieland is a beautiful trap requiring constant vigilance. Jude and Taryn suffer the wrath of the Faerie gentry, who resent that the mortal twins are raised and educated alongside royal Faerie peers. And none hate Jude more than her schoolmate Prince Cardan and his merry band of bullies.

Jul 31

Jul 31 Book Review: King of Scars

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Jul 17

Jul 17 Book Review: Wicked Saints

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself. A prince in danger must decide who to trust. A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

Jul 10

Jul 10 Book Review: Kingsbane

In this sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Furyborn, two queens, separated by a thousand years, connected by secrets and lies, must continue their fight amid deadly plots and unthinkable betrayals that will test their strength—and their hearts.

Jul 3

Jul 3 Book Review: Sorcery of Thorns

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Jun 26

Jun 26 Book Review: King of Fools

On the quest to find her missing mother, prim and proper Enne Salta became reluctant allies with Levi Glaisyer, the city’s most famous con man. Saving his life in the Shadow Game forced Enne to assume the identity of Seance, a mysterious underworld figure. Now, with the Chancellor of the Republic dead and bounties on both their heads, she and Levi must play a dangerous game of crime and politics…with the very fate of New Reynes at stake.

Jun 21

Jun 21 Cover of the Week: The Rest of the Story

Books & Cafes

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Jun 19

Jun 19 Book Review: We Hunt the Flame

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.

Jun 12

Jun 12 Book Review: The Rest of the Story

Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.

May 29

May 29 Book Review: Two Like Me and You