Review: A Gathering of Shadows

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was torn between reading this book now and then waiting a whole year before learning what happens after the cliff-hanger that apparently everyone already knows exists OR waiting until book 3 was released and then reading this book knowing I had the next one available.

Well, I just couldn't stand it. I HAD to read this book right away. And I loved every moment of it. There's just so much to this world that Schwab created, so many new ideas and characters and it was better for me to read it than to wait. I'm dying to know what happens next but it almost doesn't matter because I know that Schwab has something awesome planned and it'll be worth it to know that once A Conjuring of Light is released, I only have to take the book home and start reading it without having to catch up on the story first.

I can't recommend V.E. Schwab's books enough. I just have to tell people to read everything she's written under this name and under the name Victoria Schwab. Trust me, I have ALL of her YA and science fiction novels, and each one of them is worth the read.

Rating: 10 Stars because I loved this world and I can't wait to read book 3!

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Review: The Star-Touched Queen

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Maya is cursed with a horoscope that makes her feared and alone. When her father arranges a political marriage for her, Maya is forced to go along with it for the sake of the safety of the kingdom. But when Maya marries Amar and becomes queen of Akaran, she learns that her curse is intertwined in a fate that spans more than she could have ever imagined and she needs to understand just what her destiny is before its too late.

I'm still banging my head over this one. My entire problem with this book was the lead, Maya. Apparently, at the start of the book, Maya doesn't like the wives of her father because they're all out to better their position and will tear each other down, and they believe that Maya is cursed. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop her from listening to their warnings before big plot twists hit.

Why on earth would anyone listen to a woman that hates them and then take their words as a truth that they need to remember from then on forward? WHY??

And that's not the only time that Maya does that. Oh no, once a stupid, gullible idiot, ALWAYS a stupid, gullible idiot. Maya got to a happy point in the book but she's in a place that she's not familiar with and she's a little wary about who she's with and what's around her. Again, she remembers the warnings of the woman that hated her and she keeps things to herself because somehow, Maya knows better and only she can keep herself safe. Then a villain rears their ugly head, and starts filling Maya's head with all sorts of lies, obvious ones too, and Maya takes the villain's words as the TRUTH and mucks everything up, even though she KNEW that the villain was a villain.

How does that even make any SENSE???

I can't support a book where the story is propelled forward by the stupid actions of a lead character. For a someone who thought she was smart and so much better than others, Maya was an extreme disappointment. Add to that a whole lot of insta-love and a "blink and you'll miss it" plot, and there's nothing I can really say to make me like this book.


Rating: 1.5 Stars. I was expecting some sweeping, magical tale and all I got was definitely not that.

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Review: The May Queen Murders

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had been waiting for this book to be released for what felt like ages. I loved the cover art and the synopsis intrigued me from the get-go. The idea of an old mystery, a town filled with superstitions and an old threat coming back to torture the present has all the makings of a classic horror movie. Unfortunately, that's where the good stuff ended.

Honestly, I wanted to love this story, truly I did. I was intrigued from the start about the shrieks in the woods from the town's own boogeyman, Birch Markle and the unease that seems to drift through the town at the idea of celebrating their "May Day" again after the last celebration a quarter of a century earlier was marked by the death of girl that Markle apparently killed before fleeing into the woods that same night. I mean, this book really did have all the classic marks of a true horror story. But the book didn't concentrate on that part of the story, all of that was just a backdrop for a tale about a young girl who is being left behind while everyone around her is growing up and trying new things. The fact that the story has Ivy, the lead, trying to understand what her cousin Heather, the new girl to now disappear, was keeping secret from her made me think that either I got the synopsis completely wrong OR Ivy needed to get her priorities straight.

Guess which one was right.

Review: The Mark of Cain

The Mark of Cain by Lindsey Barraclough
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

Back in 1567, Aphra Rushes was raised by two witches, learning to harness a terrible power that she had deep inside her. She fell in love with Cain Lankin and sets the story in motion when she curses the descendants of the Guerdon line after she is burned at the stake for murdering her employer's infant son and for being a witch. In 1962, Cora and Mimi have returned to the ancestral home several years after the events of Long Lankin, with Cora determined to put the past behind her. But the curse needs to be fulfilled and Aphra will have her revenge, no matter what the cost.

I remember reading Long Lankin and thinking it was wonderfully creepy, giving just enough horror for the deep recesses of my mind to twist the images in the book and make them just that much more terrifying. When I learned there would be a second book, I waited impatiently for it to be released.

Unfortunately, The Mark of Cain didn't feel like a book from the same world as the first one.

Review: Red Queen

Red Queen by Christina Henry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alice and Hatcher have escaped through a tunnel to the lands outside of the Old City, only to find the place has been destroyed. Determined to continue on their mission, they set off across the wastelands to find Hatcher's missing daughter. On their travels they hear stories about the powerful White Queen and they see hints of the goblin she keeps to do her bidding and they see the true wrath of the creature called the Black King. Each powerful figure wants something from Alice and Hatcher but it is up to the pair of them to work together and save themselves before they are separated for good.

First things first, there is a rhythm to Christina Henry's works, a pace that is set from the get go. It's what makes these books such a quick read, especially in you are interested in the story. When I read Alice last year, it took a few pages for me to catch on to the music of the writing but once I had it in my head, I zipped through the book fast. However, there was an element to the story that was a bit of a let down so I didn't love the book, I only really liked it.

This book suffered from the same kind of let down.

Review: Roses and Rot

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Imogen and her sister, Marin, have both been accepted to attend an artists' retreat, complete with a fairy tale feel to the campus and the motivation to create whatever their hearts desire. Imogen is a writer, heavily influenced by fairy tales, and Marin is a dancer. Both women work hard at their craft while trying to keep distance between them and their abusive mother.

However, not everything is as it seems at the idyllic setting of their retreat. There are things in the woods and whispers of the truth about the true sacrifice it will take for the sisters to achieve their dreams. The question for them is do they try to get their dream, letting the competition force them apart, or is it safer for them to get away before it's too late?

I wanted to love this book so much but I didn't connect with anything in this story. I felt that the characters were forgettable, both for their actions and their feelings.

Review: Company Town

Company Town by Madeline Ashby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hwa is an expert at self-defense and the last person in her community that has chosen not to have bio-engineered implants. She's hired to protect the heir to the Lynch family, a young man named Joel, while also teaching him how to protect himself. But there's a murderer on the loose and it seems that Hwa is the only one who can put the pieces together and figure out who is after the women she calls friends. Hwa has to work out if the deaths are a coincidence or if someone is targeting the people she loves in an attempt to get to her.

It took me a while to finally sit down and get myself to read this book. I guess there's been too much distracting me from doing real reading for the last few months. But when I did start to seriously work through this book, I was charmed by Ashby's lead character, Hwa, a young woman who has made the best out of her situation.

Hwa was smart, resourceful, with snark and snap and a lot of bite. I really enjoyed her character, her interactions with Joel, the young boy she is hired to protect, and her back and forth with her boss, Daniel. Ashby created a well-rounded character, all facets of her understood without it needing to be spelled out. The same can be said for most of her characters, although there are a few tidbits I felt didn't mesh with the story but more on that in a minute.