Happy Book Birthday to these new releases! I’ve read a few of these thanks to NetGalley but what book are you excited for this week?
An extraordinary story inspired by the real Women’s Air Raid Defense, where an unlikely recruit and her sisters-in-arms forge their place in WWII history.
Daisy Wilder prefers the company of horses to people, bare feet and salt water to high heels and society parties. Then, in the dizzying aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Daisy enlists in a top secret program, replacing male soldiers in a war zone for the first time. Under fear of imminent invasion, the WARDs guide pilots into blacked-out airstrips and track unidentified planes across Pacific skies.
But not everyone thinks the women are up to the job, and the new recruits must rise above their differences and work side by side despite the resistance and heartache they meet along the way. With America’s future on the line, Daisy is determined to prove herself worthy. And with the man she’s falling for out on the front lines, she cannot fail. From radar towers on remote mountaintops to flooded bomb shelters, she’ll need her new team when the stakes are highest. Because the most important battles are fought—and won—together.
This inspiring and uplifting tale of pioneering, unsung heroines vividly transports the reader to wartime Hawaii, where one woman’s call to duty leads her to find courage, strength and sisterhood.
New York Times bestseller Lisa Kleypas returns with an enthralling and steaming romance between a widowed lady and a Scot on the run—who may have connections to one of London’s most noble families.
“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.
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 high stakes, pacey reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood is perfect for fans of Stephanie Garber and Megan Spooner.
For as long as sixteen-year-old Adele can remember the village of Oakvale has been surrounding by the dark woods—a forest filled with terrible monsters that light cannot penetrate. Like every person who grows up in Oakvale she has been told to steer clear of the woods unless absolutely necessary.
But unlike her neighbors in Oakvale, Adele has a very good reason for going into the woods. Adele is one of a long line of guardians, women who are able to change into wolves and who are tasked with the job of protecting their village while never letting any of the villagers know of their existence.
But when following her calling means abandoning the person she loves, the future she imagined for herself, and her values she must decide how far she is willing to go to keep her neighbors safe.
The spellbinding conclusion to the New York Times and IndieBound bestselling trilogy Serpent & Dove. This stunning fantasy take on French witches and forbidden love is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.
Evil always seeks a foothold. We must not give it one.
After a heartbreaking loss, Lou, Reid, Beau, and Coco are bent on vengeance more than ever before—and none more so than Lou.
But this is no longer the Lou they thought they knew. No longer the Lou that captured a chasseur’s heart. A darkness has settled over her, and this time it will take more than love to drive it out.
Publication Date: 7/29/21
ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE . . . AND MAGIC.
SLATE Somehow, we survived.
It was supposed to be over. No more curses. No more magic. Just a calm, little life in Brume.
For the first time ever, I’m ready for calm. So. Damn. Ready.
Just so happens that the girl I love doesn’t like to leave things unfinished.
Fine. So our little crew will assemble the Quatrefoil and bring magic back to the world. We’ve already faced death.
This can’t be worse.
Or can it?
CADENCE I could have let things be. Maybe I should have let things be.
My crew is alive. Slate is by my side. And life is returning to normal.
Except the university is a giant pile of rubble. Papa is still stuck in a wheelchair. And a girl is dead.
If magic can change all that, I want to try one last time to bring it back.
Hopefully, I won’t regret it.
*Warning: profuse cursing (and not just the magical kind).
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to MIRA for giving me a chance to read this eARC for an honest review!
WWII historical fiction inspired by the real women of the Women’s Air Raid Defense, RADAR GIRLS follows one unlikely recruit as she trains and serves in secrecy as a radar plotter on Hawaii. A tale of resilience and sisterhood, it sees the battles of the Pacific through the eyes of these pioneering women, and will appeal to fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff.
An extraordinary story inspired by the real Women’s Air Raid Defense, where an unlikely recruit and her sisters-in-arms forge their place in WWII history.
Daisy Wilder prefers the company of horses to people, bare feet and saltwater to high heels and society parties. Then, in the dizzying aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Daisy enlists in a top-secret program, replacing male soldiers in a war zone for the first time. Under fear of imminent invasion, the WARDs guide pilots into blacked-out air strips and track unidentified planes across Pacific skies.
But not everyone thinks the women are up to the job, and the new recruits must rise above their differences and work side-by-side despite the resistance and heartache they meet along the way. With America’s future on the line, Daisy is determined to prove herself worthy. And with the man she’s falling in love with out on the front lines, she cannot fail. From radar towers on remote mountaintops to flooded bomb shelters, she’ll need her new team when the stakes are highest. Because the most important battles are fought—and won—together.
This inspiring and uplifting tale of pioneering, unsung heroines vividly transports the reader to wartime Hawaii, where one woman’s call to duty leads her to find courage, strength and sisterhood.
I was drawn to this book because it is set in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu (where I live) during World War II. The author did such a wonderful job with describing my island of Oahu.
The author got the Hawaiian words right, and I appreciated that. Even though I live here, I didn’t know about the women recruited to form the Women’s Air Raid Defense. The crazy thing is that I grew up 5 minutes from Fort Shafter where the story is set, which is pretty cool. It was nice to see Hawaii represented accurately.
I loved learning alongside Daisy and her friends about Radar. I found these women to be motivated, smart, and capable.
Daisy is our main character and she’s a strong young lady without any real family on the island. She befriends some of the other women who are recruited to WARD and they form a tight-knit grip trying to figure out men, love, life on base, and learning everything they need to to help in the war effort. I liked the woman power especially because this was set in the 1940’s when women were expected to be at home cooking, cleaning and making babies. I liked learning of these women helping the military which is a male dominant world.
Triggers: sexual assault, grief, war
I felt like Daisy’s background and the drama connected to her (a missing horse) didn’t seem to flow well into the story about her being part of WARD. I found those aspects of the story much more interesting and wanted to know more about her life as part of the program.
There is a light romance taking place in the story but I wasn’t very invested in it.
Radar Girls made me learn something new about World War II and appreciate the role of women in such a challenging time. It’s a story about Daisy and her friends, women who were recruited to help fly our boys home during the war. There were some parts of the story that didn’t engage my interest, like Daisy’s personal life problems. I did enjoy her camaraderie with her new friends though. If you love historical fiction, you will enjoy this one.
📚 ~ Yolanda
Book Excerpt~
2
The Bust
Their shack, as Daisy referred to the house, was nestled in a cluster of bent ironwood trees, all by its lonesome. Set back far from the beach to protect it from a direct blast of onshore winds, it still took a constant battering and the salty air and elements had done a fine job reclaiming it. Windowpanes had been blasted opaque, you could see through the back wall, and flowers had taken up residence in the gutters. The siding had gone from forest green to pale green to peeling gray, the roof turned to rust.
When he had first started working up at the ranch, Daisy’s father had somehow persuaded Mr. Montgomery to sell him the small parcel of beachfront property for the price of a bag of sand. Most likely because it was in no-man’s-land between Waialua and the ranch. And because her father had been the best horse trainer in Hawai’i and everyone knew it.
She flung open the front door and ran inside. “Mom?” she called.
All quiet. She tiptoed across the lauhala mat in the living room, avoiding the creaking floorboards. Her mother spent much of her life in one of two states—sleeping or staring out to sea. The bedroom door was cracked and a lump lay under the blankets, pillow over her head. There was no point in trying to wake her, so Daisy ran back outside, hopped on her bike and rode for the stables.
The air was ripe with burnt sugarcane and a scratchy feeling of dread. She bumped along a dirt road as fast as her old bike would carry her. That plume of black smoke above Schofield caused her heart to sink. So many Japanese planes could mean only one thing. An attack or invasion of some kind was happening. But the sky remained empty and she saw no signs of ships on the horizon.
By the time she reached the stables, she had worked out what to tell Mr. Silva—the only person at the ranch who was even close to being a friend—and beg that he help her find Moon. Whether or not he would risk his job was another story. Jobs were not easy to come by, especially on this side of the island. Daisy counted herself lucky to have one. When she rounded the corner by the entrance, she about fell over on her bike. Mr. Silva’s rusted truck was gone and in its place sat Mr. Montgomery’s shiny new Ford, motor running and door open.
As far as old Hal Montgomery was concerned, Daisy was mostly invisible. She had worked for him going on seven years now—since she was sixteen—but she was a girl and girls were fluffy, pretty things who wore fancy dresses and attended parties. Not short-haired, trouser-wearing, outdoorsy misfits. And certainly not horse trainers and skin divers. Nope, those jobs belonged to men. There was also the matter of her father’s death, but she preferred not to think about that.
Should she turn around and hightail it out of there before he caught sight of her? He’d find out eventually, and he would be livid. Daisy pulled her bike behind the toolshed and slipped around the back side of the stables, peering in through a cloudy window. The tension in the air from earlier had dissipated and the horses were all quiet. A tall form stood in front of the old horse—Ka‘ena—she was supposed to ride. It was hard to tell through the foggy pane, but the man looked too tall and too thin to be Hal Montgomery.
Horsefeathers! It was Walker, Montgomery’s son. A line of perspiration formed on the back of her neck and she had the strong urge to flee. Not that Daisy had had much interaction with Walker in recent years. He was aloof and intimidating and the kind of person who made her forget how to speak, but he loved Moon fiercely. Of that she was sure. Just then, he turned and started jogging toward the door. His face was in shadow but it felt like he was looking right at her. She froze. If she ducked away now, he would surely catch the movement. She did it anyway.
She had just made it to her bike when Walker tore out of the tack room with a wild look in his eye. He had a rifle hanging across his chest, and he was carrying two others. He stopped when he saw her. “Hey!” he said.
“Oh, hello, Mr. Montgomery.”
He wore his flight suit, which was only halfway buttoned, like he’d been interrupted either trying to get in it or trying to get out of it. His face was flushed and lined with sweat. “Don’t you know we’ve been attacked? You ought to head for cover, somewhere inland.”
He was visibly shaken.
“I saw the planes. What do you know?” she said.
“Wheeler and Schofield are all shot up, and they did a number on Pearl. Battleships down, bay on fire. God knows how many dead.” His gaze dropped to her body for a moment and she felt her skin burn. There had been no time to change or even think about changing, and she was still in her half-wet swimsuit, hair probably sticking out in eleven directions. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I was worried about the horses,” she said.
“That makes two of us. And goddamn Moon is not in his stall. You know anything about that?”
Taking Moon had been about the dumbest thing she could have done. But at the time, it seemed a perfectly sane idea. The kind of thinking that got her into plenty of trouble over the years. Why hadn’t she learned? She looked at the coconut tree just past him as she spoke. “I have no idea. Perhaps Mr. Silva has him?”
“Mr. Silva went to town last night to see his sister,” he said.
She forced herself to look at him, feeling like she had the word guilty inked onto her forehead. “Looks like you have somewhere to be. You go on, I’ll find Moon. I promise.”
Her next order of business would be scouring the coast and finding that horse before Walker returned. There would be no sleeping until Moon was safely back at the stables.
“I sure hope so. That horse is mighty important to me,” he said.
Tell him!
She was about to come clean, when he moved around her, hopped in the car and slammed the door. He leaned out the window and said, “Something tells me you know more than you’re letting on, Wilder.”
With that, he sped off, leaving her standing in a cloud of red dirt and sand.
In the stables, the horses knew the sound of her footsteps, or maybe they smelled the salt on her hair. A concert of nickers and snorts erupted in the stalls. Daisy went to the coatrack first, and slid on an oversize button-up that she kept there for chilly days. It smelled of hay.
“How is everyone?” she said, stopping at each one to rub their necks or kiss their noses. “Quite a morning, hasn’t it been?”
Peanut was pacing with nostrils flared, and she spent a few minutes stroking his long neck before moving on. Horses were her lifeblood. Feeding, grooming, riding, loving. She only wished that Mr. Montgomery would let her train them—officially, that was. Without being asked as a last resort by Mr. Silva when everyone else had tried. Lord knew she was better than the rest of the guys. When she got to Moon’s stall, all the blood rushed from her head. The door had been left open and two Japanese slippers hung from the knob. She had hidden them in the corner under some straw—apparently not well enough.
Damn.
Just then she heard another car pull up. The ranch truck. A couple of the ranch hands poured out, making a beeline to the stables. Mr. Montgomery followed on their heels with a machete in his hand and a gun on his hip. Daisy felt the skin tighten on the back of her neck. His ever-present limp seemed even more pronounced.
When he saw her, he said, “Where’s Silva?”
No mention that they were under attack.
“In town,” she answered.
“What about Walker?”
“Walker just left in a big hurry,” she answered.
One of the guys had his hunting dog with him. It was a big mutt that enjoyed staring down the horses and making them nervous, as if they needed to be any more nervous right now. Daisy wanted to tell him to get the dog out of there, but knew it would be pointless.
“The hosses in the pasture need to be secured,” Mr. M said.
“Do you need my help?” she offered.
“Nah, you should get out of here. Get home. Fuckers blew up all our planes and now paratroopers are coming down in the pineapple fields. Ain’t no place for a woman right now.”
Daisy wanted to stay and help, but also wanted to get the hell away before he noticed that Moon was not here. “Yes, sir.”
He stopped and sized her up for a moment, his thick brows pinched. “You still got that shotgun of your old man’s?”
“I do.”
“Make sure it’s loaded.”
On her way home, Daisy passed through Japanese camp, hoping to get more information from Mr. Sasaki, who always knew the latest happenings. A long row of cottages lined the road, every rock and leaf in its place. The houses were painted barn red with crisp, white trim. On any given Sunday, there would have been gangs of kids roaming the area, but now the place was eerily empty.
“Hello?” she called, letting her bike fall into the naupaka hedge.
When she knocked and no one answered, she started pounding. A curtain pulled aside and a small face peered out at her and waved her away. Mrs. Sasaki. She was torn, but chose to leave them be. With the whispers of paranoia lately, all the local Japanese folks were bound to be nervous. She didn’t blame them.
This time when Daisy ran up to the shack, her mother was sitting on the porch drinking coffee from her chipped mug.
She was still in her nightgown, staring out beyond the ocean. When she was in this state, a person could have walked into their house and made off with all of their belongings and her mother would not even bat an eye.
Daisy sat down next to her. “Mom, the Japanese Army attacked Pearl Harbor and Wheeler and who knows where else.”
Her mother clenched her jaw slightly, took a sip of her coffee, then set it down on the mango stump next to her chair. “They said it would happen,” she said flatly.
“This is serious, mom. People are dead. Civilians, too. I don’t know how many, but the islands are in danger of being invaded and there are Japanese ships and planes all around. They’re telling us to stay inside.”
A look of worry came over her mom’s face. “You should go find a safer place to stay, away from the coast.”
“And leave you here?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Her mom shrugged.
She knew Louise couldn’t help it, but a tiny part of Daisy was waiting for that day her mother would wake up and be the old Louise Wilder. The mother of red lipstick and coconut macaroons, of beach bonfires and salty hugs. The one who rode bikes with her daughter to school every day, singing with the birds along the way. The highs and lows had been there before, but now there were only lows and deeper lows.
After some time, her mother finally spoke. “Men, they do the dumbest things.”
“That may be true, but we’re at war. Does that mean anything to you?” Daisy said, her voice rising in frustration.
“Course it does, but what can we do?”
She had a point. Aside from hiding in the house or running away, what other options were there? Used to doing things, Daisy was desperate to help, but how? Their home was under attack and she felt as useful as a sack of dirt.
Louise leaned back. On days like these, she retreated so far into herself that she was unreachable. You could tell by looking in her eyes. Blank and bottomless. Mr. Silva always said that you could see the spirit in the eyes. Dull eyes, dull spirit. That Louise looked this way always made Daisy feel deeply alone. The onshore winds kicked up a notch and ruffled the surface of the ocean. She knew she should stay with her mom, but more than anything, she wanted to go in search of the horse. Moon meant more to her than just the job. She loved him something fierce.
Only one thing was clear: their lives would never be the same.
USA Today bestselling author Sara Ackerman was born and raised in Hawaii. She studied journalism and earned graduate degrees in psychology and Chinese medicine. She blames Hawaii for her addiction to writing, and sees no end to its untapped stories. When she’s not writing or teaching, you’ll find her in the mountains or in the ocean. She currently lives on the Big Island with her boyfriend and a houseful of bossy animals. Find out more about Sara and her books at http://www.ackermanbooks.com and follow her on Instagram @saraackermanbooks and on FB @ackermanbooks.
I hope if you celebrate Thanksgiving that you had a lovely one! Are you do shopping this weekend? I have a 30% shop sale going on HERE if you need stocking stuffers. 🎁
Newly Acquired Books:
Amazon ~ (ebooks)
Amazon ~ Kindle Unlimited
Blog Stuff ~ Shout Out!!
Check out these awesome bloggers! I keep meaning to post links so you can enjoy these awesome blogs that I follow:
Julie and the Phantoms – YES…I watched again…and again LOL. I can’t help myself, Julie and Luke are the cutest thing with all their chemistry. Also their voices duet together SO good. UGH. Plus I love Alex too, he’s the sweetest. 🤷🏻♀️ And Julie’s bestie Flynn cracks me up – whatever, it’s nostalgia since I grew up in the 90’s lol, I love the 90’s band thing, the music makes me happy.
Over the Moon – YES…AGAIN for like the 10th time maybe, my daughter is obsessed! We break out into a whole dance when Ultrailluminary starts playing. And Gobi seriously is the cutest thing. 💕
Vampire Diaries – look…I read the books when they came out in 1991 or whatever. I read them religiously…like, my original copies FELL APART. That’s how much I was obsessed with this series. But when they show came out with the show on CW I was too scared to watch it because what if they ruined it? My sister was obsessed with the show (she had read the books too but not as often as I read them). Needlessly to say…I’m trying to give it a chance…now. HAHA…I got through episode one! 😅 And yes I was all like, but in the book…🤦🏻♀️.
I need some Netflix recs! Drop some in the comments please!
Adulting:
Tuesday was my late hubby’s 13 year death anniversary. I cannot believe I was 29 when I became a widow and he was only 26. He died in a motorcycle accident back in 2007 after Thanksgiving. For years November was traumatic ~ but this November has been sooo chaotic that it really made me really appreciate the small things. He will always be missed, and he never wanted me to stop living, even when he was alive it was all about let’s go out, let’s LIVE. Anyway this year just put things in perspective…AGAIN. I think this year is the most peaceful I’ve felt about his passing? If that makes sense.
Etsy WORK – work, work, work! And shipping stuff.
Christmas gifts, some of my resin pieces are gifts for fam and friends. Also used my Cricut finally to make iron decals for canvas make-up bags or masks bags. So I finished those bags up this weekend! 😅
Can you believe this is the last weekend of November? Have a good one!
What a week everyone! I am mentally exhausted my body so tight from anxiety. It was election day on Tuesday, I barely slept that night refreshing my twitter account to see election numbers. Then my birthday was on Wednesday which I spent tired and glued to the television to see if we had a winner. We didn’t. I spent Thursday having had more sleep at least and watching more results come in and wow….at one point I didn’t know it was Friday, hence why I had no Aloha Friday post! 🤦🏻♀️ This election was traumatizing!
I did not read ANYTHING this week – I was doing math in my head all week and dreaming numbers because of the election. I have never watched so much news and done so much math in my life!
Then I woke up today, Saturday morning with the election finally called. And today my family was coming over to have a belated birthday lunch for me so it was the PERFECT time to call the election!! I cheered and danced, we had cookies, cake, I had my favorite coffee drink and here I am just waiting to watch Biden and Harris speak. 💙 It is historic, I feel relief, I feel like I need a massage…and yes – we shall see what happens this week. But at least I won’t be glued to the tv for 72 hours. 😩 Please no more tv and news after this. My brain is fried. Haha…
Hopefully I can get back to reading, but I seriously feel like I need another week to decompress. But whew…how was your week? lol…
Halloween is tomorrow and a full moon 🌕. The election is on Tuesday and my birthday is on Wednesday. It’s going to be a wild few days right?
New Books Acquired:
NetGalley ~
Overdrive Online Library ~
Netflix:
Over the Moon – I love the music, the animation, the super cute rabbit, and the story. I’ll be rewatching this one a few times and my daughter loved it because of the bunny but I love that she gets to watch a girl character building a rocket. Anyway, I cried! 😭Triggers: grief. Philippa Soo who is Eliza from Hamilton is the moon goddess in this movie and I love her voice so much so yes, this soundtrack is going to be on repeat on my apple music app. Also, the voice of Fei Fei, Cathy Ang has an amazing voice too. I had to look her up and so proud to know she’s Chinese-Filipina! Yay, my kids are half Filipino so I love learning about more Filipino talent out there. I’ll be watching it again soon because my son didn’t watch it (he was in his online class haha) – so he says I have to watch it with him.
Other TV:
Masked Singer – it was my first time watching this show, though I’ve seen it trend a lot on twitter. I really loved the Mushroom’s voice!
I Can See Your Voice – my son watched this with me and he got so nervous for the contestant it was funny and sweet. We had fun trying to make our guesses!
** Weird side note, all the things I watched this week had a common theme. The actor/comedian Ken Jeong was in all of them! 😅 He’s on the Masked Singer panel, he’s the host of I Can See Your Voice and in Over the Moon he is Gobi, that strange alien dog/seal/hedgehog creature and he can SING! So unexpected but he’s so talented right?**
Adulting:
I already voted by mail two weeks ago.
My mom, sister and her son will be sleeping over at our house on Halloween. The mall near us is having a drive thru trick-or-treat so maybe we’ll do that. I was thinking of doing a scavenger hunt around the house too? But…we’ll see…🤷🏻♀️ need to look for some ideas.
What are your plans for this weekend? Stay safe everyone!
Categories: Historical Fantasy, Alchemy, Young Adult, Madness
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.
While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.
But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.
My Attention: Took me 3 days to read.
World Building: this is historical fiction, it starts in France, 1792 on the verge of revolution – then we travel to Oxford, England, but the fascinating bit is that we are following a character who is an alchemist.
Writing Style: flowed beautifully, engaging
Crazy in Love: not crazy, but it gets complicated
Creativity: to make the Philosopher’s Stone, you have to be prepared to go mad…
Triggers: violence, torture, harassment, descent into madness, self-harm, cheating/affair
My Takeaway: My sane mind vs. the power of the Philosopher’s Stone? I’ll chose my sanity! Haha
Thea is not the typical “likable” character. She grew up with no father and a mother who was more into alchemy than being a mother. Thea grew up alone except for Will who was her mother’s apprentice. Thea is smart, she’s talented at alchemy, can speak several languages but really has grown up differently compared to other girls her age.
The Philosopher’s Stone – this book really delved into it and what happens when someone is close to making the legendary and somewhat mythical Philosopher’s Stone. It’s supposed to grant the owner immense power – but first, Thea sees there is a pattern, people that attempt to make the stone, succumb to utter madness. They hear voices, they get violent, they see things. It’s terrifying and asks the question if the stone is worth making.
Thea gets threatened to make the Philosopher’s Stone, and she has to make some hard choices. Ultimately she wants to save a few people like her mom, her friend Dominic and her old friend/love, Will. This girl just needed some love.
Thea’s actions and choices when it came to Dominic was kind of suspect. She didn’t know him well, but he was her first friend outside of Will, who was an old friend she hadn’t seen in awhile. But poor Dominic – he got a raw deal!
Thea’s dad – glad he tried at the end, but their beginning was so pathetic on his part. Poor Thea, she basically had no one!
Would have like more world-building, especially because it takes place during the French Revolution! But I get that Thea was basically trapped in a house, in England, trying to make the Philosopher’s stone. But it wouldn’t been nice to get a feel for the time and place.
The descent into madness trying to make the Philosopher’s Stone makes you question if having the stone is worth it. For Thea, a smart but very lonely girl, she realizes the stone is worth it to save the people she loves – but she loses her mind to it, literally. Overall, I enjoyed this entertaining, quick, dark story about alchemy.
🖤 ~ Yolanda
About the Author:
Samantha Cohoe writes historically-inspired young adult fantasy. She was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs.
She currently lives in Denver with her family and divides her time among teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. A Golden Fury is her debut novel.
Title: Daring and the Duke (The Bareknuckle Bastards, #3)
Author: Sarah MacLean
Format: eBook (own)
Pages: 384
Categories/Themes: Historical Romance, Women Empowerment, Fighters
Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London’s darkest corners. Grace has a sharp mind and a powerful right hook and has never met an enemy she could not best…until the man she once loved returns.
Single-minded and ruthless, Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving. A long-ago gamble may have lost her forever, but Ewan will go to any lengths to win Grace back…and make her his duchess.
Reconciliation is the last thing Grace desires. Unable to forgive the past, she vows to take her revenge. But revenge requires keeping Ewan close, and soon her enemy seems to be something else altogether—something she can’t resist, even as he threatens the world she’s built, the life she’s claimed…and the heart she swore he’d never steal again.
My Reactions:
My Attention: caught
World Building: London life
Writing Style: flowed beautifully
Bringing the Heat: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 – as was expected between these two!
Crazy in Love: so so so crazy!! Lots of angst.
Creativity: we get to learn a little about life in London before Queen Victoria reigns
Mood: happy
Triggers: violence
My Takeaway: To move forward, you have to forgive the person that hurt you.
It’s a book by Sarah MacLean and she’s an auto-buy author for me. I love her writing and her characters.
It’s finally Grace and Ewan’s story and I’m not gonna lie, I was hesitant to read it because Ewan has come across so shady. He’s a tortured soul, absolutely in love and obsessed with Grace. But he did some things in the past that made him out to be the enemy. We learn what happens on the fateful night that broke this foursome apart from Ewan.
Honestly, I’m glad Grace was conflicted and yet…sought out her pleasure that she only knew Ewan could give. 😉 I mean yes, it gets complicated when their past is involved but their present? That can’t get enough of each other! I love that Grace is a powerful woman on her own, without Ewan. She’s a Queen – not a Duchess!
This book ties up the series nicely, everyone gets a happily ever after!
I knew there would be angst, especially on Ewan’s part because he is obsessed with her. Did I forgive the things he did?! I don’t know…haha, I feel like I’m still mad at him! HAHA…but he did his best to change and show Grace she wears the pants in the relationship. And I loved that but I haven’t forgiven him yet.
It’s a bittersweet story because Ewan and Grace went through so much trauma together and had a growing love for each other. The trauma they both experienced was so sad, but like I said, Grace owns her power. Ewan…he just wants Grace in his life.
While this isn’t my favorite book in the series because of Ewan’s actions in the previous books, I think it tied up up all the loose ends. It was all about Grace and Ewan from the start. They are clearly fated mates and no matter what happens between these two (and a LOT happened), they were always going to end up together again. There is no one else for either of them. I look forward to reading the next series from Sarah MacLean. Keep them coming!
The asteroid hurtling toward the earth will kill billions.
The Emperor and his Gold Court will be safe in their space station, watching from the stars. The Silvers will be protected underground. But the Bronzes must fight it out at the Shadow Trials for the few remaining spots left on the space station.
When an enigmatic benefactor hands Maia Graystone a spot in the Trials, she won’t just get a chance at salvation for her and her baby brother, Max: She gets to confront the mother who abandoned her in prison, the mad Emperor who murdered her father, and the Gold prince who once loved her. But it’s the dark bastard prince she’s partnered with that will make her question everything, including her own heart. With the asteroid racing closer every day, Maia must trust someone to survive.
The question is who?
Author: Audrey Grey
Format: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 368
Categories: Dystopia, Sci-Fi, Romance
Love the world building in this series – sci-fi is hard for me to get into but I found this world fascinating. Pandora is an asteroid that is coming close to Earth and will wipe out almost all of the Earth. There must be a way to stop it. There is, and the key is hiding in Maia, where her father put it. But what is the key? How can it stop Pandora? Along with the mission to stop Pandora is the political conflict happening with the Emperor who has safe haven along with other wealthy people in the empire, the Golds. The empire is categorized into Golds, Silvers and Bronze.
This book one is gritty and I like it that way because it has really shaped Maia’s personality and her tenacity to survive. Maia is living in the Pit and it’s a scary place! She’s alone, she’s dirty and hungry, she at the lowest point of her life. There is another boy here she meets that will be tied into her future, Riser, a Pit boy with a secretive past. They both get reconstructed into different looking people to go on a mission to enter the Shadow Trials.
I like her growing relationship with Riser. They both saw each other at their absolutely low point in their lives and together they change, grow, and feelings are growing..but are they real or manufactured?
And then again…the love triangle or tease of one. Just…sigh, it’s gonna be Riser. Caspian is nice and all and so their DNA matches or something, it will be Riser. But I think this author’s likes the love triangle thing in her series.
Now I’ve read this author’s Kingdom of Runes series and it has so much ACOTAR vibes…well this series started giving me Maze Runner, Secondborn and Hunger Games vibes! So…I can definitely see her influences in her stories.
Triggers: violence, torture, phobias
My Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: Shadow Rise (Shadow Fall, #2)
Terrorist. Rebel. Traitor.
One rash decision during the Shadow Trials led to unspeakable horrors that left innocents dead, friends injured and hunted by the Empire, and Maia Graystone imprisoned in the Tower at the Archduchess’s mercy.
Unsure if Riser Thornbrook survived, Maia must find a way to battle the Empire from within its own walls and escape so she can fulfill the promise to her father and stop the asteroid. But when she breaks free and joins Nicolai’s Rebel army, she discovers she’s been branded a traitor. With war between the Rebels and the Empire looming, old alliances shifting, and suspicion hanging over her head, she must fight in the Rebel Blood Courts—and win command—to regain their trust.
Only problem is, first she has to defeat the reigning champion, someone she knows all too well. Will Maia’s emotions lead to her defeat, or will she rise up and claim her victory?
Author: Audrey Grey
Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)
Pages: 312
Categories: Sci-Fi, Romance, Dystopia
Maia…at times I wanted to shake her. The author I think likes making her female leads headstrong to the point of making so many mistakes because she doesn’t think she needs help. She feels betrayed by Riser because he cut his memory of her out of his mind (I mean the guy was killed how many times because of her 🤦🏻♀️). But Maia is a survivor, I’ll give her that.
Riser – he doesn’t remember her but she still gets under his skin. And I love him for that. He’s a good one who’s had a really bad past. His story and Maia’s brings so much emotion to this series, they have to overcome so much. And they are good for one another, once they start trusting each other.
Maia is reunited with her brother in this one but it’s a struggle for them to open up and bond. There has been so much hurt in their lives with their father dying, them struggling being apart or thinking each other was dead and then their mother and her role with the Emperor.
In this book Maia is in the rebel camp so we meet more characters, I love Lash and Teagan. We learn more about Nicolai the leader of the rebels. There is still a lot of action in this one which moves the story quickly.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Title: Shadow Ruin (Shadow Fall, #3)
My name is Maia Graystone: soldier, commander of the rebel army . . . and the Emperor’s worst nightmare.
After going from scorned traitor to leader of the rebel army overnight, I’m now the most powerful girl in the empire.
But power always comes with a price.
My mother questions my position at every turn, my enemies wait for the right moment to strike, and the burden of leadership threatens my relationship with Riser.
When the Empire kidnaps someone I love, I’m faced with the impossible—sneak onto Hyperion, the Emperor’s highly-guarded palace in the sky.
I’ve survived the Shadow Trials. I’ve survived the violent Blood Courts. But surviving this final mission means deciding once and for all who to trust—the golden prince from my past or the dark soldier from my future.
With Pandora’s wrath only days away, I’ll enter one final twisted game of treachery, secrets, and deceit.
Winner takes all . . . let the games begin.
Author: Audrey Grey
Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)
Pages: 316
Categories: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance
This was the first Audrey Grey series I started and in between finishing the first two books and this last installment, I read two of her other series. Kingdom of Runes was entertaining even if it was too similar to ACOTAR and her Evermore Academy fell flat for me but this Shadow Fall series is my favorite out of all of them maybe because I already read so much fantasy that this sci-fi story stood out more. And this story has so much more emotion because it starts off so dark, which is fantastic. It could only go up from there and it did.
Maia Graystone has gone through hell and back. She’s leading a rebellion with her best friends at her side. But now that her mother is fighting along side her, Maia can’t help feel inadequate. So Maia questions herself a lot. She has to learn to be a leader and at least we get to see her try her best at it. I like that she’s a heroine in which nothing has comes easy. She’s gone through it all.
Riser – I love him and his loyalty. So yeah the whole love triangle thing that Maia finds herself annoyed me. It’s all about Riser! But haha, she had to find it out all in her own confusing way. Yeah it’s not fair that she and Caspian were genetically constructed to be each other’s “match” for life. But…it was always going to be Riser.
I LOVE Lash and Teagan so much. They brought the humor and friendship to Maia’s life. Maia had been alone since separated from her mother and brother, so having made friends with Lash and Teagan ugh…that was the best. I was worried for them until the end.
I think the loose ends in this series was tied up nicely and sadly 🥺. The ending is bittersweet and it made me emotional. I really enjoyed this gritty dystopian world with a heroine who has to stop an asteroid nearing Earth plus help take down a madman Emperor who keeps the people divided by class and color. The twists were good, although sometimes with sci-fi concepts I can’t visualize them fully like I do works of fantasy. I love Riser and his loyalty to Maia. They are all so complicated – down to Maia’s mother, who comes off so so evil…but in the end she does what she has to.
Categories: Drugs, Dating Abuse, Self Harm, Mental Illness, Young Adult
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
The girls at North Bay Academy are taking sides. It all started when Mike Parker’s girlfriend showed up with a bruise on her face. Or, more specifically, when she walked into the principal’s office and said Mike hit her. But the students have questions. Why did she go to the principal and not the polcie? Why did she stay so long if he was hurting her? Obviously, if it’s true, Mike should be expelled. But is it true?
Some girls want to rally for his expulsion—and some want to rally around Mike. The only thing that the entire student body can agree on? Someone is lying. And the truth has to come out.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.
First and foremost, this book has triggers all throughout the story. It delves into the thoughts and actions of two teenagers, one who is a girl who reports that her boyfriend abused her. The other girl is her friend, who is a cutter, dealing with life’s pressures in unhealthy ways.
But the way it’s written in the beginning can get a little confusing. There is more than one perspective being told but no name, just a label: The Girlfriend, The Popular Girl, The Bulimic, The Burn Out. The more you read on you understand this is the girlfriend, Mike Parker’s accuser. We get into her thoughts a lot about what happens when she tells her secret. People question her, blame her and in turn she also questions herself and blames herself. It’s no wonder why people who are abused don’t report it when it occurs. We also see her thoughts about how she felt about Mike, how he made her feel, how she had to question if what they had was love? Can it be love still, if he hit her? We are there in her thought process and it’s frustrating but eye-opening, and we eventually learn her name is Maya.
Then in part two we get a different perspective from Maya’s best friend, Juniper, but she too has issues. She’s a cutter. She’s dealing with anxiety, OCD and panic attacks. We get into her head as well and it’s stressful in there.
I really like how the story evolved. I’ve often wondered why people stay with abusers, even though I’ve seen it happen to my own friends and family members. And Maya’s character gives us a chance to see how someone can waver, blame herself, see people question her and then she in turns question herself. I mean Mike is the star athlete at school with everything going for him. People wanted to take his side and given the chance they totally did. But we see Maya is also dealing with other things like her parents’ divorce and bulimia.
Then we see questions come from Juniper as well. They are best friends but even Juniper judged Maya on the situation. Juniper has issues of her own trying to balance her parents expectations, trying to figure out if she’s good enough for her girlfriend Tess, and cutting helps release the pressure from her daily life. She plans a protest to get Mike expelled but things don’t go as planned and it pushes her over the edge.
There was a little relief for me when the best friends finally told each other their secrets. They needed each other and didn’t know what they were going through individually. In the end these two girls choose another label for themselves, the kind of girl who stands up for their truth. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
It is a story that brings up relevant issues about dating abuse, self harm and mental illness. Overall it’s an engaging and emotional read about some hard subjects.
People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.
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 sultan. 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 Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya―but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds―and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
That first line of the blurb pretty much says it all about the two main characters that we follow in We Hunt the Flame.
Zafira is the Hunter, or Huntress, but almost everyone thinks she is a man. She is the only one who can brave the Arz, a cursed forest that devours the land and the people that venture inside it. Because Zafira is the only known person to survive the Arz, she is the one that hunts and provides meat for her village.
Nasir is a hashashin (assassin) but also, the crown prince who cannot seem to fight the will of his father, the sultan. The sultan is cruel and possessed by some dark magic that has Nasir wishing for the life he had before his father turned evil.
There is a quest for Zafira to find a book called the Jawarat. She hopes when she finds it, it will restore the lost magic to the people of Arawiya. Nasir’s part in this quest is somewhat different than hers. In this quest we also meet other players and learn what is really at stake if they fail to retrieve the book.
Is the story predictable? Sure it is and I have definitely read many fantasies about a girl on a quest and an evil prince out to stop her, and needing magic to be restored to the land and people. But this book is so beautifully written. I was seriously involved in googling words I didn’t know (I love learning something new), and looking at the map in the book, studying the layout of the land because I was absolutely intrigued about this world! I love learning about the supernatural beings in Arabic culture that was featured in this book.
It’s not a book that starts right off with action. Act 1 is definitely building the world and introducing us to Zafira, her friends, her family, her life and some of the history of Arawiya. Some might find it too slow, but I’ve learned with books like these, I just have to put it down and pick it up later with no pressure and go with the flow. But I did read this in a day and a half, so that’s pretty good!
We also meet Nasir, oh Nasir…his life is so different from Zafira, but his upbringing is just so sad. The quest brings them together and breaks them and mends them in ways they didn’t expect.
There is a slow burn romance, it is definitely an enemies to lovers situation, but I don’t think it took over the story. I thought for a moment there would be a love triangle but there wasn’t, though it was interesting how Zafira dealt with the loss of her best-friend, who was a potential suitor. The other characters in the story from Yasmine, Zafira’s bold best-friend to Altair who is that annoying yet very charming guy with a secret brought so much to the story. I enjoyed the interaction between all of them whether it was funny or tense, it made me care for these characters. There is love there, especially with Zafira and her family and friends. ❤️
The story navigates many emotions like grief, guilt, love and fear. But I really resonated with the message of teamwork in this book. Everyone had a role, everyone plays a part, even if Zafira and Nasir are usually lone hunters, they had to learn and lean on one another. The book starts off on the assumption that Zafira is the chosen one, but she’s not, she wouldn’t have had success in this quest without the others.
I don’t usually talk about titles to books but this one, We Hunt the Flame, is so meaningful. In the book the phrase means to be always looking for hope, hope being the flame. But I realized after reading it, the characters were all hunting for something. Nasir wondering if anyone will ever love him 😔, Zafira hunting for forgiveness and bravery to be the woman she is, the Silver Witch righting a wrong, and so forth. We all hunt the flame…whatever the flame is to us.
Over, We Hunt the Flame is a lush Arabic inspired fantasy novel that is beautifully told and that gave me characters I cared about and leaves me looking forward to the next book.
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