Tag: yaARC

Hush by Dylan Farrow

I won a free copy of Hush by Dylan Farrow in a sweepstakes in exchange for an honest review. Special thanks to Wednesday Books for hosting the sweepstakes and providing the ARC. All opinions expressed are solely my own. *Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. You can read more here.

We follow Shae, a 17-year-old girl determined to figure out the secrets of her world. A world that’s kept quiet by Bards who use magic to silence its citizens. Shae must figure out who to trust and find strength to break the Hush. After a deadly plague tormented her world, killed her brother, and marked her family as cursed, Shae has lived a fearful life. When strange things start happening to her, Shae can no longer hide behind her fear, but instead must use her fear to find out the truth.

I was intrigued by this book from the start. The synopsis hooked me and I couldn’t wait to read it. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. A book about words being cursed? Sign me up! You can imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I opened up the mail to find I had won an ARC.

Strengths of Hush

You should know by now that I enjoy a good strong female protagonist. While Shae has her faults, I think she is a great main character. She is determined, having to know the truth behind her mother’s murder. She is strong-willed, stubborn, and smart. I appreciate that she isn’t painted as a damsel in distress. Being the only one left in her family, she doesn’t succumb to the “I need a man to protect me” ideal.

Another aspect that I love is the magic, although I wish we learn more about it. I love that Shae is told how it is a blessing and a curse, and she often thinks of comforting things to get her magic to “work.” I actually like the fact that it’s marketed as one thing and then we learn it’s another; it reminds me of true life.

The detail in the story, for the most part, is very vivid and well done. The way they dress, the way things smell, it is all described so well.

What Could Have Been Better

While I think Shae is great, for such a strong protagonist, she is very naive. She trusts some too easily considering her background and her world. I also don’t understand why she questions herself about stuff that she knows to be true.

Some things just don’t make sense to me. This included Shae’s ability to get away with stuff. Although it’s not allowed, Shae breaks into the men’s barracks to search Niall’s belongings for evidence. After she’s caught, essentially nothing happens to her.

Again, I want to mention the magic. It is so interesting, but we don’t really get a good understanding of it. I’m hoping that we get to learn more of it in the sequel.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. I look forward to the sequel.

Hush by Dylan Farrow Physical ARC
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The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

I won a free copy of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London during BookCon thanks to Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

This book is about an alternate London set in 1983 where the magical and the ordinary worlds, the Old World and the New World respectively, are intertwined. The booksellers are the ones who enforce the boundary of the Old World, making sure it doesn’t spill into the New World. Susan has always wondered who her father is and when she turns 18, she decides to find out who he is. Strange things start happening to her, and it is then that she meets Merlin, an odd fellow who coincidentally turns up whenever these odd things happen proclaiming he’s there to help Susan. As we find out, he is indeed not there with ill-intent but to aid her. He is a left-handed bookseller. We follow Susan, Merlin, and right-handed bookseller Vivien as they journey to find out who Susan’s father was.

Left-Handed Booksellers of London: Is It Worth The Hype?

As I’ve been on a bit of a fantasy kick, this book certainly hit the spot. It’s a nice light fantasy, with a twist of mystery sprinkled in. The synopsis had me hooked: magic, books, secret father? All things that I want to read about. I devoured the book and it’s stayed with me since I finished it. I can’t get the characters out of my head. My favorite character has to be Merlin. He was so magnetic and I enjoyed his sense of humor. I loved that his solace was to dive into a book when he was feeling particularly bothered; I related quite a bit to this.

Another character trait that Nix employed that I loved was Susan’s fearlessness. All of these crazy things happened to her, hardly any of them easily explained away, and she just took it all in stride and continued moving forward. Strong female main characters are always a plus, in my book, and in this case Nix had not only Susan but he also had Vivien. Vivien helped save the day on numerous occasions. It’s always great to see the woman being the hero instead of the damsel.

This was my first novel by Garth Nix. I’ve heard good things about his writing, and the premise sounded good, so I was excited to dive in. After reading this book, I have to agree that Nix does craft quite an intriguing story. I recommend you read this book if you’re into magic, fantasy, mystery, and adventure. It is now available for purchase.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix Physical ARC

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

I won a free ARC of this book during SDCC online thanks to Simon and Schuster in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Legendborn is about a girl, Bree, who attends UNC Chapel Hill in a program for high schoolers. Upon arrival, she notices things aren’t as they seem. It appears there is some type of magic afoot. The more she learns about this magical society, the more she realizes her mother’s death isn’t as black and white as she was led to believe. We follow her as she joins The Order and the Legendborn and tries to uncover the truth of what really happened to her mom. But the more Bree finds out about her mom, the more she discovers about her past and truths about herself. What will Bree do with all of the knowledge and thus the power she is searching for?

Let me start off by saying, for some reason I hadn’t really heard much about this book. I saw it during SDCC and I was intrigued, but again, I hadn’t heard much hype. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that. So, after I was lucky enough to win an ARC of it, I dove right in. That was the best thing I could have ever done for myself.

Y’ALL. I absolutely LOVED this book. It isn’t even on the SHELVES YET and I need to read book two! I can’t rave enough about how good this book is. It’s probably my favorite so far this year. I gave it a 5/5–my first of the year! It will be in stores tomorrow–September 15th. Let me get into why I love it and why you need to go get yourself a copy and read it ASAP!

Why I Loved Legendborn

Tracy Deonn has a gift. Her writing is amazing. It was lyrical and powerful. I felt connected to the characters and each character left me feeling different emotions. I was hooked from the beginning and didn’t want to put it down. The magic system was so interesting, too. I don’t want to go into great detail, because spoilers. But there were two main categories, really, and they were both developed pretty well.

Bree was such an amazing main character. I loved that she was such a strong female character who did what she needed to do despite what others wanted. Her “take no shit” attitude was one of my favorite qualities about her. Another favorite quality she possessed was her determination. Not only did she never give up trying to infiltrate The Order, but she never gave up trying to find out the truth about her mom. Her compassion was also an admirable quality. Even though she was there essentially for revenge, she still cared about the members of The Order and tried not to hurt them. I liked that Deonn included connections between Bree and a few characters (no spoilers!) and I’m so anxious to see where that goes in book two!

I liked the diversity that Deonn incorporated. It didn’t feel like any of it was included just to mark off on a checklist, and it felt more organic. There were a few same-sex relationships and non-binary representation as well. The discussion of racial disparity was a great inclusion in the book. Not only is it poignant as the story takes place in the south with mainly white characters, but it is important that we don’t forget the injustices and discriminations that still are prevalent in our world today.

Legendborn