Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where you chose a random book from your Goodreads TBR and show it off. This meme is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog.
From Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold comes the harrowing story of a young girl’s struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania.
Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a wreck and their grandfather as their only stable family. He’s done his best to provide for them and shield them from antisemitism, but now, seven years later, being a Jew has become increasingly dangerous, even in their beloved home of Czernowitz, long considered a safe haven for Jewish people. And when Astra falls in love and starts pulling away from her, Rieke wonders if there’s anything in her life she can count on—and, if so, if she has the power to hold on to it.
Then—war breaks out in Europe. First the Russians, then the Germans, invade Czernowitz. Almost overnight, Rieke and Astra’s world changes, and every day becomes a struggle: to keep their grandfather’s business, to keep their home, to keep their lives. Rieke has long known that she exists in a world defined by those who have power and those who do not, and as those powers close in around her, she must decide whether holding on to her life might mean letting go of everything that has ever mattered to her—and if that’s a choice she will even have the chance to make.
Based on the true experiences of her grandmother’s childhood in Holocaust-era Romania, award-winning author Elana K. Arnold weaves an unforgettable tale of love and loss in the darkest days of the twentieth century—and one young woman’s will to survive them.
Do you have plans to read this book? Let me know in the comments below!
Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.
Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.
Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.
When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.
And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.
Content Warning: violence
I loved this author’s book The Hacienda so I was excited to read Vampires of El Norte and I was not disappointed. I love how this author blends historical fiction and gothic horror together. Her writing is beautiful and I just get so swept away in the story.
There are many things I love about this book. I mentioned the writing, which only makes me want to read more of her work. But I love the historical aspects of the story. This takes place in 1837 and at the border of what is Texas and Mexico. The Yanquis (yankees) are trying to take land from the Mexicans that already own land there. So there is a war between them and the yankees are also described as vampires as well. I was expecting vampires (the kind with fangs) and horror, but I can say that this wasn’t scary at all. I love the setting of the ranchero and how I never realized how creepy and isolated a ranch could be. I also love Abuela’s ghost stories that she tells the children. I could envision a dark ranch, lands for miles, and pitch dark nights as Abuela told her stories. If I was a kid living there, I’d be terrified of the night! And there are vampires but I like the different take on them, where they don’t necessarily kill but can leave a person in susto – a shock to their aura – almost like they are spiritually dead but can be revived by calling them back, calling their spirit forth. I thought that was really fascinating! They do have the fangs in this story and there were some gruesome scenes but not anything that scared me.
Another thing I loved was the romance between Nestor and Nena. They are childhood sweethearts, torn apart by an incident that left both of them broken hearted and now they have a second chance at romance. I love their story and how they have to learn to trust and fight for one another.
I would have liked a little more horror factor to the story just to get some chills and thrills but even without it, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
My Final Thoughts:
I think this author is about to be put on my must-read list! I love her writing and the historical fiction aspect of her stories which I feel makes her books so exciting to read. I do think this one was more historical romance than historical gothic horror but I was entertaining regardless and look forward to her next book!
How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!
Categories: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Political Intrigue
Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic outlawed; its royal family murdered down to the last child. At least, that’s what Sylvia wants people to believe.
The lost Heir of Jasad, Sylvia never wants to be found. She can’t think about how Nizahl’s armies laid waste to her kingdom and continue to hunt its people—not if she wants to stay alive. But when Arin, the Nizahl Heir, tracks a group of Jasadi rebels to her village, staying one step ahead of death gets trickier.
In a moment of anger Sylvia’s magic is exposed, capturing Arin’s attention. Now, to save her life, Sylvia will have to make a deal with her greatest enemy. If she helps him lure the rebels, she’ll escape persecution.
A deadly game begins. Sylvia can’t let Arin discover her identity even as hatred shifts into something more. Soon, Sylvia will have to choose between the life she wants and the one she left behind. The scorched kingdom is rising, and it needs a queen.
In this Egyptian-inspired debut fantasy, a fugitive queen strikes a deadly bargain with her greatest enemy and finds herself embroiled in a complex game that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever.
Content Warning: violence, trauma, death
The Jasad Heir is an adult fantasy novel with wonderful world building and the slowest slow burn enemies to lovers romance ever. Maybe not EVER…but it sure felt like it. And it will probably be even slower in book two!
Sylvia is the lost heir of a kingdom that was ruled by magic. It’s a kingdom that is no longer one because the surrounding kingdoms put an end to their magic use. Now having and using magic is a crime, so Sylvia stays undercover because if people found out she was the heir to Jasad who supposedly died in the uprising, well – that wouldn’t be good news for the kingdom of Nizahl. I really enjoyed the world building and learning about the different kingdoms. I like that there was two sides to the story of Jasad’s demise. I also love the political intrigue.
I really liked the cat and mouse game between Sylvia and Nizahl’s own heir, Arin. He is cold, doesn’t show much emotion, always steps ahead everyone else and constantly planning traps. Sylvia is his opposite in every way. It’s hard for her to hide her emotions and she is constantly in conflict about her situation. Her people are looking for her, they want someone to lead them but she wants nothing to do with it. She also has powers that are hindered by the magic cuffs her grandparent put on her when she was younger. So she’s constantly questioning her role and responsibilities, if she has any, to her people. I like that she’s not perfect, and wonders if she is truly a horribly selfish person and how being a leader is not something she wants. She’s been traumatized and comes from a scary place of hurt and fear. She can’t even stand people touching her. There is growth for her in the book though as she remembers more of her past, hears recollections of the massacre from both conflicting sides and starting to care for people in her life.
The romance between Arin and Sylvia is such a slow burn. For an adult book, I was hoping for more steam but I can see they have a few things to work between them since they are from rival kingdoms. Arin abhors magic, but Sylvia has tons of magic – so where does this leave them? We’ll see in book two but I really love the tension between them!
It is a long book, coming in at 529 pages so sometimes when a new character’s name would appear I would try to remember who that was because there is a lot of information about the different kingdoms, and many names to know. I think there is some pacing issues also because there was also a lull in the middle and that’s when I put it down to finally go to sleep and picked it up the next day again.
Quotes from the Book:
“When you choose who you are willing to fight for, you choose who you are.” ― Sara Hashem, The Jasad Heir
“You think your mind is a blank slate, where you can build your own networks of information from scratch, through pure logic and reason. You ignore that each child enters a completely unique world, founded on different truths. We build our reality on the foundation our world sets for us. You entered a world where magic is corrosive and Jasadis are inherently evil. I entered one where turning a shoe into a dove made my mother laugh. Have you considered, in that infinite mind of yours, that the truly brilliant people are the ones who understand the realities we build were already built for us?” ― Sara Hashem, The Jasad Heir
Tropes: enemies to lovers, slow burn
My Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this debut book and I’m glad I picked it up. I was very much into the political intrigue, world building and characters. The enemies to lovers slow burn was full of tension and that is one thing I’m crazy about in a fantasy with romance is tension! There were some pacing issues but I was still entertained and am looking foward to book two!
Where did September go?! I thought August was tough because we all got sick but September was mentally rough because so many of my loved ones are dealing with health issues. I just did what I could this month in terms of reading and posting on this blog. I almost took a break but I do have a break coming in November when I go on vacation to Osaka, Japan. Here’s what I posted in September…
What I Posted: 19 Books
5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
4.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:
4 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:
3 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️:
2.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️💫
2 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️
I posted 19 book reviews which is probably the most I posted this year! A bunch of these were read before September. I think I read 12 of these this month which is still pretty good. I hope all of you had a good September!
Categories: Young Adult, Series, Dark Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
A bloodstained tale of a girl torn between her vows and her heart, where falling in love may be the deepest sin of all…
Everline Blackthorn has devoted her life to the wardens—a sect of holy warriors who guard against monsters known as the vespertine.
When a series of strange omens occur, Everline disobeys orders to investigate, and uncovers a startling truth in the form of Ravel Severin: a rogue vespertine who reveals the monsters have secrets of their own.
Ravel promises the help she needs— for a price. Vespertine magic requires blood, and if Everline wants Ravel to guide across the dangerous moorland, she will have to allow him to feed from her.
It’s a sin for a warden to feed a vespertine— let alone love one— and as Everline and Ravel travel further across the moorland, she realizes the question isn’t whether she will survive the journey, but if she will return unchanged. Or if she wants to.
Content Warning: self harm, violence
I was wary going into this book because I just finished Forestfall, the conclusion to Lakesedge, and didn’t love it. But whereas Forestfall disappointed me, this new book, Unholy Terrors, is really amazing. I might love it even more than Lakesedge!
Here we are with another book about vespertines, and I’m always wondering what a “vespertine” is now that more books are including them. But in this book, they are monsters. And Everline is a warden, a holy warrior, but one and maybe the only one who doesn’t have magic – which her half-sister, Briar, likes to always remind her of at every chance she gets. Everline wants answers about her birth, the death of her mother, and why her father treats her differently. All she wants is his love and attention, but she feels like a burden instead.
This author does such a great job with dark fantasy. The setting, the lore, the magic, Everline’s search for truth, the boy who is a monster, and the fight against evil are some of the things I love about this book. I loved the romance too which is an enemies to lovers, forbidden romance. There are hard choices to be made between them because of who they are and how they were raised. But I love how in the end they choose one another.
Tropes: forbidden romance, enemies to lovers
Why you should read it:
dark vibes, dark fantasy perfect for Fall
romance between a girl and a monster
Why you might not want to read it:
not into dark stories
My Thoughts:
This one will be perfect for Fall and releases just before Halloween. It’s a dark romance fantasy with monsters, warriors and a love that unites both sides.
Categories: Young Adult, Horror, Suspense, Mystery, Secret Society, Dark Academia, LGBT+
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to HarperTeen for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Everyone knows the students in Corbin College’s elite academic society, Magni Viri, have it all—free tuition, inspirational professors, and dream jobs once they graduate. So when Tara is offered a chance to enroll, she takes it.
But once she’s settled into the gorgeous Victorian dormitory the academy calls home, something strange starts to happen. She finally has the chance to write, but her stories are dark and twisted. When she’s not sleepwalking, she’s dreaming about being trapped in a coffin, buried alive. And she’s starting to feel an unseen presence stalking her through the halls of her dorm.
As Tara slowly loses her grip on everything she’s ever known, she discovers a terrible secret at the heart of Magni Viri, one that just might turn her dreams into nightmares, one that might destroy her before she has a chance to escape.
All That Consumes Us will pull readers into a hypnotizing, utterly lush and gothic reverie that blurs the lines of reality and shows that the addictive nature of ambition, and its inevitable price, always claim their due.
Content Warning: death, self-harm
I’ve read only one other book from this author called The River Has Teeth and I enjoyed it a lot. When I read the synopsis for this book it sounded so intriguing I had to request it.
I like that this book is set in college because I feel like there isn’t many young adult books set in college, but so many things happens to a young adult after high school. And we see it in this case with Tara who is trying her best to do good in her classes, hoping one day to be a novelist but she is a young woman who has to pay her own tuition and make things meet. Tara doesn’t have a wealthy family to help her pay for school so when she is invited to the secret society, Magni Viri, she feels this is her one chance to realize her big dreams.
The secret society gives the whole story its mystery. There is a backstory with the founding fathers of Magni Viri and we learn about it with Tara who is new to it all. The twist in the story is a good one and so unexpected. I found it creative and definitely gave all the dark academia vibes! Tara lives in a Victorian dormitory, there are woods around her and a graveyard. She also feels like she’s being haunted and obsessed with writing this novel – she feels like she’s becoming someone else which becomes really creepy.
I like the diverse cast of characters but I wish I felt like I could connect to them but I didn’t. I do like how each student had lofty ambitions and being part of Magni Viri was a chance to reach those goals – but at what cost? And was it all worth it to be so consumed by their passions that they would do anything to make their dreams come true.
Tropes: secret society
Why you should read it:
you want to read a modern gothic horror story
good twist in the story, dark academia vibes with ghosts, obsessions, strange things happening
Why you might not want to read it:
not into horror
My Thoughts:
I thought this one was fairly entertaining but maybe a little too slow for me in the beginning and I wish I could’ve connected to the characters. Once everything starts unraveling for Tara is when I got more engaged and I was trying to figure what was going on with these Magni Viri kids. I like that it’s a college setting and it has a diverse cast. I thought the twist in the story was good and I like how the characters question if everything they are doing to achieve their goals are worth it.
Categories: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Romania, WWII
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Balzer + Bray for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
From Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold comes the harrowing story of a young girl’s struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania.
Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a wreck and their grandfather as their only stable family. He’s done his best to provide for them and shield them from antisemitism, but now, seven years later, being a Jew has become increasingly dangerous, even in their beloved home of Czernowitz, long considered a safe haven for Jewish people. And when Astra falls in love and starts pulling away from her, Rieke wonders if there’s anything in her life she can count on—and, if so, if she has the power to hold on to it.
Then—war breaks out in Europe. First the Russians, then the Germans, invade Czernowitz. Almost overnight, Rieke and Astra’s world changes, and every day becomes a struggle: to keep their grandfather’s business, to keep their home, to keep their lives. Rieke has long known that she exists in a world defined by those who have power and those who do not, and as those powers close in around her, she must decide whether holding on to her life might mean letting go of everything that has ever mattered to her—and if that’s a choice she will even have the chance to make.
Based on the true experiences of her grandmother’s childhood in Holocaust-era Romania, award-winning author Elana K. Arnold weaves an unforgettable tale of love and loss in the darkest days of the twentieth century—and one young woman’s will to survive them.
Content Warning: sexual assault, rape, violence, death
Frederieke (Rieke) and Astra are sisters and they are growing up in a Romania before and during World War II. The story is being told by Rieke, who has a neglectful and always heartbroken mother, an older sister who is prone to getting and doing what she wants, and her Opa – the grandfather that loves them all and does everything in his power to keep them alive and happy. We see her go from a young girl and then grow into a young woman during trouble times.
I’ve read various historical fiction about WWII and the Holocaust and each time I learn something new. This story is set in Romania and I learned so much about the history with the Romanian government and their stance on Jews, and then the Russians and then the Nazis coming through to ravage their country. I felt Rieke’s confusion seeing her homeland torn apart and her countrymen hating on her and her loved ones because they are Jewish. I felt her fears and her will to survive and sometimes her will to maybe give up. I felt like she was soft like her loving and doting grandfather. Bless his heart for taking care of these girls no matter what they were going through. I loved his character so much. And though Astra came off mean and bold – she was vibrant and wore her anger on her sleeve and I admired her for that too. I love the complicated, messy family dynamic they had but under it all – the hurt, the pain, the fighting – there was always love.
I’m glad stories like these are being told because we cannot forget what happened. This is a powerful story, with very ugly things happening around Rieke and to her as well. I felt like I was there with her and to think the author wrote it inspired by her own grandma’s story is really amazing. It’s a wonderfully written book which broke my heart many times but I love that it ended with hope.
My Thoughts:
I loved this book and it’s so powerful and impactful. I love that it’s a story set in Romania and that I learned so much about what was happening there before and during WWII. I think the fact that this was based on the author’s grandmother’s life makes it beautiful and heartbreaking.
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