Title: This Coven Won’t Break (These Witches Don’t Burn, #2)
Author: Isabel Sterling
Format: hardcover (borrowed)
Pages: 321
Publication Date: 5/19/20
Publisher: Razorbill
Categories: Young Adult, Witches, Romance, Duology, Paranormal, LGBT
In this gripping, romantic sequel to These Witches Don’t Burn, Hannah must work alongside her new girlfriend to take down the Hunters desperate to steal her magic.
Hannah Walsh just wants a normal life. It’s her senior year, so she should be focusing on classes, hanging out with her best friend, and flirting with her new girlfriend, Morgan. But it turns out surviving a murderous Witch Hunter doesn’t exactly qualify as a summer vacation, and now the rest of the Hunters seem more intent on destroying her magic than ever.
When Hannah learns the Hunters have gone nationwide, armed with a serum capable of taking out entire covens at once, she’s desperate to help. Now, with witches across the country losing the most important thing they have—their power—Hannah could be their best shot at finally defeating the Hunters. After all, she’s one of the only witches to escape a Hunter with her magic intact.
Or so everyone believes. Because as good as she is at faking it, doing even the smallest bit of magic leaves her in agony. The only person who can bring her comfort, who can make her power flourish, is Morgan. But Morgan’s magic is on the line, too, and if Hannah can’t figure out how to save her—and the rest of the Witches—she’ll lose everything she’s ever known. And as the Hunters get dangerously close to their final target, will all the Witches in Salem be enough to stop an enemy determined to destroy magic for good?
This series reminds me of the paranormal books that started my obsession with the genre and everything in it since I was a teenager. It has the witches and witch hunters who are enemies. The beauty of this one that the books I read as a teenager didn’t have is the lgbt romance.
I didn’t re-read book one but I could kind of remember what happened in it just by jumping into book two. Hannah is now with Morgan, a Blood Witch – the kind of witch even Hannah’s coven looked down upon for ages. But Hannah and Morgan make it work because they are seriously into one another.
The story is a light, quick read, with a race against finding the poison the witch hunters have concocted to remove magic from all witches. Hannah also has to figure out what has happened to her magic and why Blood Witch magic can actually help her and not harm her.
Triggers: violence
I did enjoy the first book more than this one but I still think this was a solid conclusion. I mentioned it was nostalgic and reminds me of paranormal books from the years ago and yes it gives me that fun, light, thrilling vibe where we are in it with the characters to stop disaster from happening. It would make a fun tv show!
I thought Benton turning around to help Hannah in this one seemed like a stretch. Yes he was conditioned and brainwashed by his parents and then all of a sudden he realizes it wasn’t all supposed to happen this way? He wasn’t supposed to burn her at the stake? I wouldn’t have forgiven him so easily haha. And the betrayal at the end by the true villain felt rushed.
I’m all for witch stories and this one is not only witchy but it has a lot of LGBT representation. The f/f romance is sweet, now that Hannah is over her ex Veronica. Overall, I thought this was a light, quick read and a solid ending to a fun, paranormal duology.
Categories: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Romance, Paranormal, Lite Horror, Historical Fantasy
Ellerie Downing lives in the quiet town of Amity Falls in the Blackspire Mountain range–five narrow peaks stretching into the sky like a grasping hand, bordered by a nearly impenetrable forest from which the early townsfolk fought off the devils in the woods. To this day, visitors are few and rare. But when a supply party goes missing, some worry that the monsters that once stalked the region have returned.
As fall turns to winter, more strange activities plague the town. They point to a tribe of devilish and mystical creatures who promise to fulfill the residents’ deepest desires, however grand and impossible, for just a small favor. But their true intentions are much more sinister, and Ellerie finds herself in a race against time before all of Amity Falls, her family, and the boy she loves go up in flames.
This book cover is so absolutely beautiful and oh so deceptive! I like that about it.
World Building ~ This author knows how to write books that are tinged with creepiness and loaded with suspicion. I suspected everyone, I couldn’t trust anyone – not even our main character, Ellerie! The story had me hooked with the setting, the tone, the silver eyes in the woods and I just imagined if I lived there, I’d die right away. Haha…of fear! The story is set in a historical atmosphere, during the time of settlers in America. People settled in a valley surrounded by pine trees and wilderness, they farm for their livelihood and live far from the city. They ride horses and make their own clothes, so you can imagine the kind of life they live.
Characters ~ Ellerie and her twin Sam are the eldest of four children but certain events come to pass in their village of Amity Falls and they are left without parents. It’s a hard life in Amity Falls but a good one. The neighbors are friendly and help each other out until mysterious deaths and incidents take place around the village. Then we see everyone get suspicious of one another and their tight community start to unwind. We meet a lot of characters in this book, but Ellerie is our main storyteller.
Plot ~ Ellerie and the townspeople need to survive the winter without a ration run because of the creatures in the woods. But they start turning on one another. What are these fast creatures with silver eyes in the woods? For most of the books I guessed they were werewolves, because what else could they be? But it was something else preying on the people of Amity Falls. It’s a mystery.
Triggers: Violence, blood
I was impatient with the lack of information we got about the creatures by the middle of the story but most of our information about the creatures in the woods come at the latter part of the book. The story builds slowly and then really picks up as the situation in Amity Falls gets worse but the ending feels a little bit rushed, like that’s it ~ the problem is neatly solved.
Creep factor ~ there is blood, gore, deformities, eyes play tricks on people, and what every horror novel needs, a doll.
There is a romance but one that left me suspicious of Ellerie’s love interest, Whitaker. So I wasn’t too invested because there were too many red flags.
Overall, I was on the edge reading this book as the mystery surrounded me like the wilderness and pines in Amity Falls. I love the beautiful writing, the atmospheric setting, the creepiness that edges into the story as tempers flare and blood flows in Amity Falls and everything seems…wrong. The ending was a little abrupt for me but this one is perfect for mystery, paranormal and suspense lovers.
Marin Cole has never: Seen the ocean Climbed a mountain Taken a risk on love ….But if her sister’s plan works, she just might do all three.
Ever since her journalist mother died on assignment, Marin has played it safe, refusing to set foot outside the state of Tennessee. Her wild-child younger sister, Sadie, has trotted the globe as a photographer, living off of art and adrenaline.
When Sadie returns from a tough assignment abroad and looks a little worse for wear, Marin reluctantly agrees to a sisters’ spa weekend on the tropical island of Saba. But her lifelong fear of travel is affirmed when Sadie misses the flight, Marin’s luggage gets mixed up with another passenger’s, and an episode of turbulence sends her hurtling into the lap of Lucas Tsai, the handsome stranger who stole her sister’s seat.
For the first time in a long time, Marin has to step outside of her comfort zone as she explores the island with Lucas and learns what she’s been missing out on. With each breathtaking new experience, Marin gets closer to her real self, the man she’s falling for, and the heart-wrenching truth about why she’s there in the first place.
Warning!! This is not a cutesy rom-com. Please don’t go into this one thinking it’s this funny cute rom-com because of the vibrant cover. That’s what I did – and I ended up crying a lot while reading this book.
It starts off with two sisters – it’s mostly told through Marin’s POV but Sadie comes in here and then because she has a story to tell as well. Sadie is the wild child and Marin is the safe and anxious one but there is a reason for that due to their mom’s death when they were young. But Sadie wants Marin to break out of her shell and she definitely makes that happen.
Marin finds herself waiting on the tropical island of Saba for her sister who has decided to blackmail her to have fun. I thought that was cute and you can tell right away these sisters are close, which is heartwarming. Marin even finds herself doing unexpected things on the island with Lucas Tsai who is rich, and gorgeous. From the moment Marin touches down in Saba it’s a very beachy kind of summer read, but things take a turn at the end.
There is a big twist in the story though and one that is heartbreaking. Oh my heart!
Let’s just say yes this is a story about love – one that is so deep between sisters and also a love that is newly found even through the pain of what they are all dealing with. I did love how Marin and Lucas get to know each other in the week they are together, fast maybe? They’re both adults though, and it happens – it’s not insta-love or anything just a really good time.
This story deals with a lot of grief and that topic always speaks to me personally.
Triggers: grief, death, cancer
This book is emotional from the middle onward – bust out the tissues! If you don’t want to read a book about grieving – stay away from this one. For me I thought the story was beautiful from beginning to end, but that’s me. I love Marin and Sadie. Marin and Lucas was just bonus.
Lucas at times came off hot and cold but he also is going through grief, having had lost his dad just recently. Then he went through everything with Marin and Sadie. It made me think this man is strong emotionally and I’m glad Marin had him. I know their romance had to take a backseat in the second half of the story but I didn’t mind. I thought it was cute how they found each other again – the time apart was good and I’m glad Marin got to explore on her own a little.
The book cover is misleading and I went into this expecting some hot summer fling story but what I got was Marin’s personal journey through breaking through her anxiety and then dealing with grief from her past and present. Marin grows a lot and meets so much people on the island of Saba that are kind, and open, something she was missing in her life. She needs that kindness when life deals her more heartbreak. Lucas is there too – with space or open arms, and ready to climb any mountains with her. It’s a story about sisters who love each other so much. It turned out to be a beautiful story about love in the past, present and future.
📚 ~ Yolanda
Quotes from the Book:
It’s a special kind of torture when the one person you want when you’re lost in a black ocean is the very person who just blew up your boat.”
~ Meet Me in Paradise by. Libby Hubscher
It is a truth almost universally acknowledged by survivors that you will ask yourself if you missed something. If you should have known.”
~ Meet Me in Paradise by. Libby Hubscher
I’m not as brave. But I am, finally, after all this time, myself. I’m not all the way there yet, but every day I spend out here on my own in places I’ve never been, the closer I get.”
~ Meet Me in Paradise by. Libby Hubscher
I wasn’t ready to be without you. But I’m doing it.”
Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.
What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.
Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is…
It’s been awhile since I read a Jenn Bennett book so I was happy to find this one at my library!
Josie and her mother return back to their hometown after leaving years ago. Her mom and grandma doesn’t have the best relationship and Josie’s dad is a famous photographer who she hardly sees but Josie has a plan to one day leave and go be with him.
Coming back to Beauty, Josie runs into her old best friend, Lucky. He is the town’s bad boy now mostly due to some rumors and the way he dresses (leather jacket) and he rides a motorcycle (these boys always get the bad rep). From the first staring contest between them you can feel the sparks flying. But something happens and Lucky takes the fall for her and Josie doesn’t know why.
There’s a lot of family drama in Josie’s life. Her mom has a bad woman reputation in the town, her grandma and mom have a tense relationship, and she has a dad who is basically non-existent in her life but she wants a relationship with him. This whole story was about communication or the lack there of – Josie and her mom doesn’t communicate, her mom usually flees a town and dates a lot to avoid problems. Josie hasn’t really had close relationships since bouncing from town to town – so the closest friend she has is her cousin Evie. Josie’s lying to her mom about a lot of things too. And of course, the communication between Lucky and her is sometimes good, sometimes bad when there are walls between them. But Josie learns to get better at communication and that’s the main thing.
The thing I loved about Lucky and Josie was that they stuck it out and talked – even when it was difficult to get a conversation started. They got angry with one another and even would push so much that one person would shut down (usually Lucky)…but they also cared about one another so much that they couldn’t stay away from one another and wanted to make it work.
Triggers: Bullying, Slut-Shaming
Why was Evie with Adrian? He was such a jerk yet she kept going back to him but he really had no redeeming qualities. He played the villain I suppose but honestly Josie already had enough issues to deal with her mom and dad situation that even without Adrian it would have been enough drama for her to sort through.
Some of the family drama felt unnecessary like the mystery of who Drew was – did Josie and Lucky really have to fight about that?
There is a sex scene but it is not detailed and really it’s like a paragraph long.
Josie has a lot on her plate with high school coming to a close and her plans of leaving her mom is stalled by some events. But these events and Lucky teach her that running away isn’t the only way to deal with a situation. I liked Josie, and I loved Lucky. The drama might have been a tad bit too much for me at times but I still enjoyed the story. It’s not my favorite of Jenn Bennett’s but she definitely has a way of making me want to read a book to the end just to watch two characters fall in love.
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.
But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.
Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.
Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.
First thing I love about this book is the cover. It’s vibrant and has a beautiful girl on the cover looking fierce. The synopsis sounded intriguing and for the beginning part of the book, I was hooked.
Deka is going through a rough time – her blood ceremony went haywire and it showed she wasn’t pure as she was hoping. She finds out she’s an alaki, basically a half-demon and she gets sent to the emperor to join his alaki soldiers to fight the Deathstrikers. Deathstrikers are demon creatures terrorizing the empire and Deka has a link to them, which makes her different.
I liked how the other alaki ~ all girls ~ decide to bond together instead of fight one another. They realize it’s not going to be pretty training as alaki but together, they can come out of this period successfully. So they become their own family and look out for one another. There was a lot of women power themes in this story.
There is a tiny bit of romance, nothing that takes away from Deka and her journey of finding out what she really is.
Triggers: death in many gruesome ways, violence towards women, torture, mention of rape
It’s gory. Deka is killed multiple times, in various ways but she’s a demon so – she doesn’t die yet, but her village elders definitely used her golden blood to profit from. Ugh. Many of the other alaki girls who didn’t arrive with Deka were violated and killed multiple times as well. So there is a lot of violence towards girls! On the other hand, the emperor’s elite fighting warriors/assassins are women, so the story showed both violence towards women and women committing violence. It showed the girls suffering because their survival shows how strong they are.
The story lost me at the halfway point when I felt like I wasn’t connecting to Deka at all. She tries to find out more about her mom, she keeps changing and as a reader, I could guess what she was changing into. I got a little bored and not even Ixa the shapeshifting animal could rouse my interest. Maybe I wanted Deka to be more angry? Like Belcalis? If my community tried to kill me nine times in every way possible, I’d be enraged and come back with a vengeance – but that’s me. Deka has more grace than I do! Haha! She’s a good person.
The message of The Gilded Ones is great – though we may suffer, whatever doesn’t kill us – makes us stronger. I enjoyed the world building because it is unique but I wish I connected more to Deka, I think I connected more to her friends. I think many readers will definitely love this book even if I didn’t, because it has a strong message and so much girl power infused in the story.
Welcome to the blog tour for the Legends of the North Cascades by. Jonathan Evison!
My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Title: Legends of the North Cascades
Author: Jonathan Evison
Format: ebook and paperback
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 6/8/21
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Categories: Fiction, PTSD, Survival, Mental Health
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Dave Cartwright has had enough. After three tours in Iraq he has come home to Vigilante Falls in Washington State only to find that he feels incapable of connecting to the people and the place that once defined him. Most days, his love for his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, is the only thing keeping him going. When tragedy strikes, Dave makes a dramatic decision: he will take Bella to live in a cave in the wilderness of the North Cascades.
So begins a compelling adventure, a story of a father and daughter attempting to cope with a breathtaking but harsh environment. Once they are settled in the cave, Bella retreats into a different world, that of a mother and son who had lived in that same space, but thousands of years before, at the end of last Ice Age. As the two dramas begin to merge, a timeless odyssey unfolds, both as a meditation on the perils of isolation and an exploration of humans’ indelible struggle to survive.
Perfect for readers of Peter Heller’s novels or Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone, Legends of the North Cascades is Jonathan Evison’s return to sweeping, multicharacter narratives like his New York Times bestseller West of Here and is an immensely satisfying read.
I don’t read a lot of survival stories but when I was asked to be on the blog tour, I thought to give this one a chance. This one did not disappoint me. I found it intriguing as we meet Dave and he takes his daughter to the mountains to live in isolation.
Dave is living with PTSD after three tours in Iraq. He doesn’t know how to function back at home without having the trauma of war affect him and his loved ones so he makes a decision to leave it all behind and retreat into the wilderness with his daughter. What scared me was his daughter Bella toughing it out with him. He teaches her to survive but barely and when something happens where the roles are reversed he realizes what his decision may have cost him.
Bella is a loving daughter who has already lost her mother and doesn’t want to lose her dad. So she follows him. The one good thing that came out of their time in the wilderness is Bella did learn how to survive.
There were accounts in the book from the people in the community, sort of like a documentary at times. We heard from Dave’s brother-in-law, the ranger and others into Dave’s mindset and maybe when they realized things went wrong for him.
Trigger: scenes from war, injury, PTSD, depression, grief
The story jumps a lot from Dave’s present, his past, the accounts from community members and then a story that Bella experiences through memories of Ice Age people that lived in the cave she and her dad live in. The Ice Age story ~ though I can see it’s parallel to Dave/Bella’s story, took me out of the story at times.
I was so frustrated with Dave but I understood he needed help also. But as a mom, I was about to march up there and get Bella from the mountain.
This is the first book I’ve read from this author and it’s not usually the kind of book I tend to read. I found the story to be a quick read. It was also an emotional story about a father and daughter living in isolation. I felt the setting of the Cascades really captured how Dave felt isolated in his suffering with PTSD after his tour of duties in Iraq. The parallel Ice Age story didn’t quite keep my interest until the ending when Dave and Bella’s time on the mountain becomes a dangerous situation. I think that is when both stories confronted the issues of guilt, grief and anger the main characters were feeling. Overall, I found it to be a captivating story.
📖 ~ Yolanda
*****
Early Praise forLegends of the North Cascades
“Evison’s majestic and panoramic latest conjures the beauty, power, and unforgiving nature of the Cascade Mountains in alternating narratives separated by thousands of years. Evison masterfully delivers a subtle yet pointed commentary on how society marginalizes veterans and how we profess to admire yet distrust the individualist ethos while also offering a profound meditation on the human spirit.”
—Booklist (starred)
“Engaging . . . This modern back-to-the-land story feels like John Krakauer’s Into the Wild meets Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear, a combination that makes for a compelling read in its appreciation of the monumental properties of nature and recognition of the history of humans in the North Cascades.”
—Library Journal
“Evison (Lawn Boy) delivers an intimate . . . story of grief and parenthood with characters from two distant millennia . . . Evison’s empathetic vision offers much to consider about the limits of parental authority and the capacity for both physical and emotional survival.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Evison weaves the prehistoric past and the troubled present together with imagination and tenderness in this haunting, timely meditation on the redemptive power of love.”
—Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound
“Jonathan Evison’s Legends of the North Cascades is a beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of a place and its evolution through time; it is also—pure and simple—a story of survival and the love and devotion between parent and child.”
—Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics
“Under the daunting and impassive mountains of the title, two dramas, one ancient and one contemporary, intertwine to become a greater story of parent and child attempting to survive in the harshest of circumstances. For me, the heart of this fine novel is Bella, a young heroine whose courage and steadfastness are a timely reminder of how human decency can prevail in the darkest of situations.”
—Ron Rash, author of Serena and In the Valley
“Only a writer of Evison’s talent could so brilliantly weave the struggles of a PTSD-stricken veteran and the ghosts of an ancient family into such a powerful social commentary. Wildly original and breathtakingly big-hearted.”
—Willy Vlautin, author of Don’t Skip Out on Me
Praise for West of Here
“ An enjoyable, meaty read—a vision of a place told through the people who find themselves at
the edge of America’s idea of itself.”
—Los Angeles Times
“ Riotously funny … Wonderfully charming.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“ West of Here has it all. It’s a literary page-turner of epic sweep and elegant syntax.”
—Louisville Courier-Journal
“ [A] big, booming ruckus of a novel … Evison is a tremendously gifted storyteller.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
Praise for The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
“ Engaging … The journey is reckless and wild, infused with the sad rage that makes good
comedy great.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“ Bittersweet … Moving and funny … Refreshing.”
—The Washington Post
“ Even-keeled, big-hearted, and very funny and full of hope.”
—The Boston Globe
“ An entertaining picaresque and a moving story of redemption.”
—The New Yorker
Praise for This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
“ A book that speaks to all of us … The themes Evison presents—disappointment, delusion,
redemption—are universal, and he deals with them beautifully in this wonderful novel.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“ Infused with Evison’s characteristic empathy and heart and humor.”
—The Los Angeles Times
“ A quirky, fun writing style pulls you through this wonderful tale.”
—Sunset Magazine
“ Bittersweet but buoyant, with a heart-tugging finish.”
—Good Housekeeping
Praise for Lawn Boy
“ Mike Munoz is a Holden Caulfield for a new millennium.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“ An effervescent novel of hope that can enlighten everyone.”
—The Washington Post
“ Irresistible … Funny, honest, and real.”
—Seattle Times
“ Evison’s voice is pure magic … In Lawn Boy, at once a vibrant coming of age novel and a sharp social commentary on class, Evison offers a painfully honest portrait of one young man’s struggle to overcome the hand he’s been dealt in life and reach for his dreams. It’s a journey you won’t want to miss, with an ending you won’t forget.”
Categories: Fantasy, Indigenous/Pre-Columbian Americas, LGBTQIA+ , Political Intrigue
The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.
A god will return When the earth and sky converge Under the black sun
In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.
Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.
I love that this series is set in the Pre-Columbian Americas. I have always been fascinated by the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and so many I don’t know about. I absolutely love it.
With the story set in this time period, there is so much wonderful world building. There is the priests that study the stars, the clans that worship their own Gods, and a fight between the two. There is witchcraft, mermaids (we’ll find out more about this hopefully in book two?), a doomed slow burn romance, and political intrigue. There is even large crows, and other large creatures in the story. Just everything about this book made me feel like I could see this as a tv series or movie.
There are three main characters: Serapio who is blind, mysterious, mystical and dangerous. He was quite a past and upbringing and he has a destiny to fulfill. There is Xiala, a ship captain and Teek, which makes her mysterious as well, she’s like a Siren and has some powers with use of her Song. Then there is Naranpa, the current Sun Priest but a woman who grew up in poverty and rose up the ranks. I feel like we got to know all three of them pretty good in this first book.
There is a lot of diversity in Black Sun. Xiala is bi, Naranpa used to be involved with someone who is transgendered, and so many more characters in this story are just open with their sexuality and that was nice.
The mutilation in chapter one almost took me out! I was horrified but of course later on we learn why it happened. A lot of this book is about setting the stage for what’s to come, so the mutilation parts come at the beginning and end of the book (thank goodness). There are a few others scenes that are just as gory. I feel like it’s comes as such a surprise because the first half of the book seems so “quiet”…or Serapio is, at least.
I felt like the beginning was slow after that eye opening first chapter, but because it’s a world so intricate, I didn’t mind the slowness and it really builds until the ending climax. I took a few days to read this one, not because I wasn’t enjoying it though.
This is adult fantasy as opposed to all the young adult fantasy I usually read but I found this very enjoyable despite it not something I tend to read.
I look forward to reading book two whenever it comes out, after that cliffhanger of an ending. Has Serapio’s destiny changed? What’s going to happen to Naranpa? I have questions and I also want to know about Xiala and the Teek. There is so much more to uncover in this world of Black Sun. If you like fantasy, you might enjoy this one.
Categories: Young Adult, Body Image, LGBTQIA+, Romance, Coming of Age, Small Town, Contemporary
Waylon Russell Brewer is a fat, openly gay boy stuck in the small West Texas town of Clover City. His plan is to bide his time until he can graduate, move to Austin with his twin sister, Clementine, and finally go Full Waylon, so that he can live his Julie-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music-Andrews truth.
So when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favorite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape accidentally getting shared with the entire school. . . . As a result, Waylon is nominated for prom queen as a joke. Clem’s girlfriend, Hannah Perez, also receives a joke nomination for prom king.
Waylon and Hannah decide there’s only one thing to do: run—and leave high school with a bang. A very glittery bang. Along the way, Waylon discovers that there is a lot more to running for prom court than campaign posters and plastic crowns, especially when he has to spend so much time with the very cute and infuriating prom king nominee Tucker Watson.
Waylon will need to learn that the best plan for tomorrow is living for today . . . especially with the help of some fellow queens. . . .
I watched the movie Dumplin’ but never read the books and didn’t even know there was a book two! But I loved the cover of this one and decided to borrow it. I’m glad I did!
Waylon is fat, gay and has plans to leave the small town he’s from after graduation. Luckily he has a very supportive family and a lesbian twin sister, who is his best friend. He thought he knew his plans for life after high school but plans are changing and maybe for the better, though it doesn’t seem like it at first.
I loved a lot of things about this book. We meet Waylon, who is gay and out of the closet but still holding back a little and still exploring everything about his sexuality. He’s meeting guys, but still wants to meet the guy who won’t be ashamed to be with him in public. He is trying out drag, even though he doesn’t know how to put on makeup and enjoys being on stage. Waylon’s family is awesome. They are so super supportive from his grandparents down to his twin sister who is also part of the LGBT+ community. She has a girlfriend Hannah, who I believe was in Dumplin’.
We have a lot of representation and diversity in this story. There is an LGBT school club called Prism and mind you, this story is set in a small town in Texas. There is a m/m couple, and a f/f couple, which I adored because these couples were in loving relationships and we get to see that love. And of course there is a drag show – I feel like there should always be a drag show in this series!
Waylon doesn’t only deal with being gay but being fat as well. For the most part he is confident about himself until he is with his ex-friend Kyle who used to be fat and lost weight or if he’s an event where his body would be exposed, like the pool. But mostly Waylon doesn’t let it stop him from living. He is a good son, grandson and brother – he’s funny and charming.
I enjoyed the romance! For one, his sister, Clem and her girlfriend Hannah, are the whole opposites attract cuteness. Waylon has some prospects as well and the chemistry with Tucker is heart-thumping! I mean, Tucker was flirting-flirting! I totally understood Waylon’s insecurities about the whole thing though.
Triggers: bullying, body shaming, homophobia, alcoholism
Waylon has a supportive group of people in his family, but at school it’s a little bit different. He doesn’t do anything to stand out and say he’s gay – he tries to blend in, even though he is out of the closet. Many of the jocks bully him about being fat and gay – that’s why it was interesting to see Tucker’s reaction to it all, since he was a jock too or friends with them.
Kind of wished I read the two previous books because I don’t know if I missed anything? I felt like I did because there is a cast of characters I don’t remember such as, Millie and Callie. But even without reading the books, I enjoyed Pumpkin a lot.
Overall I thought this book was fun, heartfelt, well-written and a joy to read. I cared about Waylon and his lovely family and the sparks between him and Tucker were undeniable. It has a happy ending and this should definitely be made into a movie like Dumplin’.
📚~ Yolanda
Quotes From the Book:
Ground shifts around you and you figure out the fastest way to fall is to stand still. But sometimes when we know we need to take a leap, we’re jumping off the wrong cliffs.”
-Pumpkin by. Julie Murphy
You gotta get it wrong before you can get it right.”
-Pumpkin by. Julie Murphy
When the world isn’t selling what you’re looking to buy, you just have to take it upon yourself to cut your own pattern.”
Title: A Vow So Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers, #3)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Format: Hardcover (borrowed-library)
Pages: 408
Publication Date: 1/26/21
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Series
Face your fears, fight the battle.
Emberfall is crumbling fast, torn between those who believe Rhen is the rightful prince and those who are eager to begin a new era under Grey, the true heir. Grey has agreed to wait two months before attacking Emberfall, and in that time, Rhen has turned away from everyone—even Harper, as she desperately tries to help him find a path to peace.
Fight the battle, save the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Lia Mara struggles to rule Syhl Shallow with a gentler hand than her mother. But after enjoying decades of peace once magic was driven out of their lands, some of her subjects are angry Lia Mara has an enchanted prince and a magical scraver by her side. As Grey’s deadline draws nearer, Lia Mara questions if she can be the queen her country needs.
As the two kingdoms come closer to conflict, loyalties are tested, love is threatened, and a dangerous enemy returns, in this stunning conclusion to bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s Cursebreaker series.
I’ve made it to the end of the Cursebreakers series with this final installment called A Vow So Bold and Deadly. I thought the second book was just okay. It wasn’t my favorite, I didn’t like how Rhen got worse after the curse was broken, and I was hoping Grey and Harper would have a shot together.
This book picks up right away from the last. Grey and Rhen are on the verge of war, Rhen and Harper are not as tight as before since all the events in book two where Rhen was just awful. Grey is with Lia Mara in Syhl Shallow and about to march on Rhen’s kingdom. Can’t they all just get a long?
There was a lot of issues to be resolved. With Rhen and Harper, it’s not as easy between like it was before. Rhen was always a cold character and he is still a tough one to crack. Sometimes Harper gets through, but most times – he just doesn’t let anyone in and it’s frustrating. Did he have to go through hell though? We get some explanations, lots of talk about choices that were made and all of them trying to move forward from the past.
I loved that Harper had Zo beside her, her only real friend in Emberfall. And I’m glad Grey had Tycho and Iisak.
Grey at least is happy with Lia Mara. He seems more sure of where he stands and what he’s chosen for himself. Grey and Rhen confront one another in the end, but it’s when Rhen is just finally broken – it’s sad really that their relationship has come to this.
I will say, Lilith is a badass villain. I hate her but she’s written well. She is so hateful, I wanted Harper to kill her many times over. She manipulated people so well, played into their fears so they gave in to her and hurt Rhen so much. It’s no wonder he’s so cold and detached.
Triggers: abuse, manipulation, death, violence
I always had a wish for Grey and Harper together so Rhen at times just didn’t live up to my standards, for what I think Harper deserved in a guy. But the heart wants, what it wants, as they say.
Did Lia Mara need to be in this series? She didn’t live up to my expectations. We get to see her try to set a different precedent in her own kingdom by not being as kill happy as her mother was, I suppose. But why couldn’t she and Grey be happy in Syhl Shallow together and call it a day? They could have had peace!
After I put the couples and romance aside, because it didn’t go my way lol…I said fine, what is this all about? Rhen and Grey. It’s a heavy relationship because they have a scary past together. They were abused and traumatized by Lilith when they only thought they were friends and then finding out they were actually brothers broke them. It made me sad. So sad. Rhen who was broken over and over, who shielded Grey…needed to be broken some more in this series because why? Lilith just did not quit. Now Rhen and Grey only confront each other at the end which means most of this book is talking, explanations and preparing for war. There isn’t any action until the very end.
All four characters and yes, the story is told by four POV’s – we see all their flaws in this story, we examine their choices and actions. It’s all very real and muddled and nothing is just black and white.
Overall, I think this series went in a direction I never expected. I was all in for the Beauty and the Beast reimagining in book one but I didn’t expect Rhen to stay a “beast” after the curse was broken. I guess the story reflected how in real life, it is hard to break the effects of trauma and abuse. It showed how as people in close relationships, miscommunication happens a lot, at times our choices affect others in ways we don’t think about all the way through. I didn’t get the couple pairing I wanted, but after I closed the book I was okay with that – I just wanted Rhen to be okay, and I don’t even know if he is. It’s a start I guess, towards healing the past and starting afresh in his present with he and Grey at peace…finally.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Avon for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
“The devil never tries to make people do the wrong thing by scaring them. He does it by tempting them.”
Lady Merritt Sterling, a strong-willed young widow who’s running her late husband’s shipping company, knows London society is dying to catch her in a scandal. So far, she’s been too smart to provide them with one. But then she meets Keir MacRae, a rough-and-rugged Scottish whisky distiller, and all her sensible plans vanish like smoke. They couldn’t be more different, but their attraction is powerful, raw and irresistible.
From the moment Keir MacRae arrives in London, he has two goals. One: don’t fall in love with the dazzling Lady Merritt Sterling. Two: avoid being killed.
So far, neither of those is going well.
Keir doesn’t know why someone wants him dead until fate reveals his secret connection to one of England’s most powerful families. His world is thrown into upheaval, and the only one he trusts is Merritt.
Their passion blazes with an intensity Merritt has never known before, making her long for the one thing she can’t have from Keir MacRae: forever. As danger draws closer, she’ll do whatever it takes to save the man she loves… even knowing he might be the devil in disguise.
I am a big fan of Lisa Kleypas and have read all her books. As this is the seventh book in the Ravenel series, I absolutely love seeing how characters from past books intersect in this series. The Wallflowers and their escapades were among my favorite of her books so seeing Sebastian, Evie, Marcus and Lillian and their kids is like having a family reunion! It’s chaotic but lovely at the same time.
Merritt is a widow and she’s got a head for running her late husband’s business. She’s smart, knows herself, nice and yes she has an instant connection with one of her clients. A sexy Scotsman who makes whiskey. Keir MacRae is in lust with Merritt right away but he knows he is beneath her station and tells himself not to make a move. But that doesn’t last long since the attraction between them is hot. Their love story is sweet though, I love how they are together.
There is a reveal in this story and without revealing it, I thought it fit well and enjoyed it but some fans may not like it.
I read this in one sitting because like I said, I am a big fan and I tend to devour Lisa Kleypas historical romances pretty quickly!
This is an arc version and near the end, a whole chunk of paragraphs need to be edited out because they are repeated haha. So that made me pause in my reading for a moment.
I devoured the Devil in Disguise and I’m ready for the next Lisa Kleypas. This book gave me everything I wanted in a historical romance! It had the perfect balance of sexiness, warmth, humor and nostalgia. If you like historical romance, definitely try out Devil in Disguise.
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