DNF Review: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Title: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) 
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 816
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Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

Well, this is awkward. I guess it's time for my first unpopular opinion review of 2020! I'm not Sarah J. Maas's biggest fan, but A Court of Thorns and Roses is (embarrassingly) one of my favorite books. I didn't enjoy the way that series ended, but the first book is one I've read over and over. I've also been reading the Throne of Glass series and have been mostly enjoying it, so I was hesitantly excited for Crescent City.

To start, why in the world is the series name the biggest thing on the cover? Why doesn't the title of the book look like the title of the book? I haven't heard a single person call this House of Earth and Blood. But I digress.

Let's dive into this 800+ page "adult" urban fantasy novel that is holding out at 4.47 stars on Goodreads as of this review being written. I didn't really know what I was getting into with this book, but I certainly wasn't expecting to be completely overwhelmed by swearing as soon as it began. It's as if Sarah J. Maas decided all she needed to make a book adult was an F-bomb every third sentence. And I'm not exaggerating. Fun fact(s) about me: I am an Air Force veteran who spent time in Afghanistan and I'm married to a sailor. I am no stranger to swearing and honestly have quite the vocabulary in the comfort of my home, but this book was extremely excessive for no good reason. There was no point in the amount of cussing shoehorned into Crescent City. It didn't add anything and came off as extremely unnatural and it took me a long while to get used to it. So that was strike one.

Have I mentioned that this book rings in at over 800 pages? For a first book in a series, that's quite a lot. In the past SJM series have begun relatively short and got longer as they went. This worked because the reader (me) had time to get invested in the characters before diving into such a massive book. There was plenty of time to get the backstory and the world building. For whatever reason, this time she dove right in with 800 pages and, let me tell you, not much happens at least for the first 300 of them, which is where I gave up. There's an awful lot of info dumping and characters being sad and talking about how gorgeous everyone is, but not much story to actually care about.

Speaking of the characters, Bryce Quinlan has red hair. I just need everyone to know that because all I got from the 300 pages I read was that she has red hair, nice legs, and likes pink underwear. Oh, and she hates "alphaholes" even though they're the only "males" she seems to be attracted to. Yes, despite all the criticism SJM has received for using the terms "male" and "female" in both her previous series, she still does it here and it's cringe.

Hunt Athalar, said alphahole, is Rhysand but worse, at least from what I've seen so far. Where Rhysand was at least "woke" and "feminist," Hunt is judgmental and overbearing. He has big wings and super strong powers. As much as I love Rhysand (and Rowan is growing on me, I guess), I felt nothing for Hunt at all. I'm not sure at what point there's supposed to be any chemistry whatsoever between Bryce and Hunt, but by page 300 there was nothing.

I know everyone and their brother loves this book, but I just could not get into it. The world building was so info dumped I couldn't tell you anything about it outside of the places Bryce visits and I literally couldn't care less about the characters. There's also kind of a murder mystery, but I didn't care enough about the characters to care about their motivations. I wanted to love this SO much, but it just was not for me. I was repeatedly told that it picks up 200 pages from the end, but no one should have to invest in reading 600 pages of an 800 page book for it to get good.

DNF Review: The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Title: The Deathless Girls
Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Publication Date: September 19, 2019
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
Pages: 304
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They say the thirst of blood is like a madness - they must sate it. Even with their own kin.

On the eve of her divining, the day she'll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community.

Forced to work in the harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens, Lil is comforted when she meets Mira, a fellow slave who she feels drawn to in a way she doesn't understand. But she also learns about the Dragon, a mysterious and terrifying figure of myth and legend who takes girls as gifts.

They may not have had their divining day, but the girls will still discover their fate...

The Deathless Girls caught my eye with its gorgeous cover and wonderfully gothic synopsis. I've only read a couple Dracula retellings and I was SUPER excited to get my hands on this one. I traded literally five books to get the Waterstones exclusive edition with the beautiful sprayed edges and jumped right in as soon as it arrived.

Lil is the main character of this story. She and her sister are Romani travelers, enslaved and forced to work for the cruel Boyar. Lil and Kizzy were fine but halfway into this book I found I wasn't really connected to either of them. Kizzy was the superior sister in my opinion, fighting at every turn, while Lil just kind of went along with her fate. There was a bit of an instalove romance between Lil and one of the other girls who literally start falling for each other without speaking.

There's actually just not a lot going on in this book. I made it to the fifty percent park before giving up and the Dragon had yet to make an appearance. Supposedly this is a story about the brides of Dracula, but I never made it that far. There were no vampires, although I suspect there must be later in the book, but by a hundred and fifty pages in I was bored to death of these girls gutting fish and Lil making heart eyes at someone she'd never spoken to.

I wanted to love this book so much but nothing EVER happened! At the very least I expected an atmosphere that would sweep me to another world, but I never saw that at all. The only locations explored were a few minutes in the sisters' camp and a kitchen. I may come back to this eventually to see how it plays out, but right now I'm just disappointed.

ARC Review: Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford

Title: Crown of Coral and Pearl
Author: Mara Rutherford
Publication Date: August 27, 2019
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Pages: 432
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For generations, the princes of Ilara have married the most beautiful maidens from the ocean village of Varenia. But though every girl longs to be chosen as the next princess, the cost of becoming royalty is higher than any of them could ever imagine…

Nor once dreamed of seeing the wondrous wealth and beauty of Ilara, the kingdom that’s ruled her village for as long as anyone can remember. But when a childhood accident left her with a permanent scar, it became clear that her identical twin sister, Zadie, would likely be chosen to marry the Crown Prince—while Nor remained behind, unable to ever set foot on land.

Then Zadie is gravely injured, and Nor is sent to Ilara in her place. To Nor’s dismay, her future husband, Prince Ceren, is as forbidding and cold as his home—a castle carved into a mountain and devoid of sunlight. And as she grows closer to Ceren’s brother, the charming Prince Talin, Nor uncovers startling truths about a failing royal bloodline, a murdered queen… and a plot to destroy the home she was once so eager to leave.

In order to save her people, Nor must learn to negotiate the treacherous protocols of a court where lies reign and obsession rules. But discovering her own formidable strength may be the one move that costs her everything: the crown, Varenia and Zadie. 

Crown of Coral and Pearl came onto my radar a few months ago when I saw the gorgeous cover and read a synopsis that promised an incredibly unique fantasy novel. I love the idea of a village in the ocean and forbidden romance is my favorite trope! This book had so much potential to be amazing, but sadly turned out to be one of the most generic fantasy books I've read in awhile.

Nor and Zadie are twins in Varenia, a village on the ocean that values beauty above all else. Nor was unfortunate enough to have a run in with some coral that resulted in a scar as a child, making her less desirable than her sister. Zadie is ultimately chosen to be sent to Ilara to marry the prince, but doesn't want to go, while Nor desperately wants to see more of the world. When Zadie is injured, Nor gets her chance.

All of that - that one paragraph - took over 30% of the book to get through. Almost 150 pages in and Nor is only just getting ready to leave for Ilara. When I read the synopsis I expected that actually getting Nor to Ilara would be a very small part of the story, especially since it's all laid out in the synopsis, but it dragged on. The writing (especially the dialogue) also left a lot to be desired.

The slow pace would have been fine if I was able to connect with any of the characters, but I just didn't care about any of them. There's a romance plot not mentioned in the synopsis that I just couldn't care less about and the instalove between Nor and Talin was already apparent when she was getting the warm fuzzies after literally seeing him once for a few minutes.

Varenia was really the one saving grace, but I really would have loved if it had been developed a bit more. It took me several chapters to realize it was apparently a city built on stilts. That is an amazing idea and I would have loved to see more done with it!

I wanted to love this book so much! There was so much potential here, I just wish it had been executed better. I went back and forth over whether to finish this, but after seeing that many people thought the first third was the best part, I knew this just wasn't the book for me.

DNF Review: The Last by Hanna Jameson

Title: The Last
Author: Hanna Jameson
Publication Date: April 9, 2019
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 340
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For fans of high-concept thrillers such as Annihilation and The Girl with All the Gifts, this breathtaking dystopian psychological thriller follows an American academic stranded at a Swiss hotel as the world descends into nuclear war—along with twenty other survivors—who becomes obsessed with identifying a murderer in their midst after the body of a young girl is discovered in one of the hotel’s water tanks.

Jon thought he had all the time in the world to respond to his wife’s text message: I miss you so much. I feel bad about how we left it. Love you. But as he’s waiting in the lobby of the L’Hotel Sixieme in Switzerland after an academic conference, still mulling over how to respond to his wife, he receives a string of horrifying push notifications. Washington, DC has been hit with a nuclear bomb, then New York, then London, and finally Berlin. That’s all he knows before news outlets and social media goes black—and before the clouds on the horizon turn orange.

Now, two months later, there are twenty survivors holed up at the hotel, a place already tainted by its strange history of suicides and murders. Those who can’t bear to stay commit suicide or wander off into the woods. Jon and the others try to maintain some semblance of civilization. But when the water pressure disappears, and Jon and a crew of survivors investigate the hotel’s water tanks, they are shocked to discover the body of a young girl.

As supplies dwindle and tensions rise, Jon becomes obsessed with investigating the death of the little girl as a way to cling to his own humanity. Yet the real question remains: can he afford to lose his mind in this hotel, or should he take his chances in the outside world?

I don't remember precisely how I came across The Last, but I was hooked after reading the description! I absolutely adore post apocalyptic fiction and I loved Annihilation, so I knew this would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, this book failed to deliver in almost every aspect.

The Last is a book that really doesn't seem to know what it's doing. At the very start, Jon finds himself stranded in a Swiss hotel as the world around him and everyone he loves ceases to exist. It's spectacular. But once the initial action ends, things begin to meander and get lost. This book quickly became a story about watching random people go throughout their days with no purpose other than getting high and having sex. Which, I mean, sure. If the world is ending, why not? But why is this marketed as a dystopian thriller?

There were also several plot lines that literally went nowhere. One character sees ghosts, but nothing ever comes of it. The main character briefly mentions that he doesn't think they're alone in the hotel, but that is never mentioned again either. There's also a pointless murder mystery that, although I didn't finish the book, I did see had a very unsatisfactory outcome.

I fully expected to be blown away by this book that compares itself to Annihilation, but it was one of the biggest letdowns I've had recently. There was SO much potential here for a great story. If you're looking for a post apocalyptic thrill ride, this is not the one for you. There's no tension here. If you want to read a story about a few people going through the motions in a remote hotel, maybe you'll enjoy it.

DNF Review: After by Anna Todd

Title: After (After #1)
Author: Anna Todd
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 582
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Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She’s got direction, ambition, and a mother who’s intent on keeping her that way.

But she’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, tattoos, and lip ring, Hardin is cute and different from what she’s used to.

But he’s also rude—to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessa should hate Hardin. And she does—until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she’s never known before.

He’ll call her beautiful, then insist he isn't the one for her and disappear again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.

Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin’s prejudice about nice girls like her?

Unless…could this be love?

I didn't know much about After going in. All I knew was that it had originated on Wattpad and was being turned into a movie, so it fit as the "2019 movie adaptation" category for one of the reading challenges I'm participating in. I went in with no expectations, but I still managed to be extremely disappointed with this book.

Long after I turned the first page of After, I found out that it had started out as Harry Styles fanfiction. Honestly, I didn't really know who Harry Styles was (One Direction was a bit after my time), but I do know that I've never loved a fanfiction turned novel in my life and this is no different. I made it 83% through before I finally gave up.

Tessa and Hardin are the main characters of this romantic story. They start off well enough - Hardin is the Bad Boy and Tessa the Good Girl. They're polar opposites who end up being drawn to each other. Of course, Hardin acts like a complete jerk, but I was fine with that at first. Angst can be fantastic, especially in hate to love romance! Unfortunately, this reads about how you'd expect from an average hate to love fanfic. It's bad. The writing is bad and the story is bad.

He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.  

If this line doesn't completely sum up the entire book... About half the page count could have been removed from After had the angst been cut to a reasonable level. There is more back and forth than in a Colleen Hoover novel, which is saying something. Not only that, but Hardin's jerk attitude only gets worse. This is absolutely one of the most toxic relationships I've ever read.

After is a book I might (MIGHT) have enjoyed as an angsty teenager, but I absolutely can't as an adult. I have a difficult time understanding how this series has such a huge following. I also have a hard time understanding how this story could possibly drag on for four more books. But I'm having the hardest time understanding how this ever got turned into a movie!

I hated Fifty Shades of Gray, but I'd rather read that fifty times than be subjected to the last 15% of After.

DNF Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Title: Forbidden
Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Publication Date: May 27, 2010
Publisher: Definitions
Pages: 418
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She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Everyone has told me to read Forbidden over the past few years. At least, it seems that way! As a huge fan of Flowers in the Attic, I decided that I could definitely handle the subject matter and that I'd probably love this too. "How bad can it be?" I said. Welp.

Forbidden is the extremely melodramatic story of Lochan and Maya, teenage children of a single mother, and siblings of several other children who they're increasingly responsible for. As they go about their lives taking care of their siblings while their mother lives her life as if she was single, they begin to realize their feelings for each other are more than what's normal between brother and sister. While I got all of that from the synopsis, I was not prepared for this actual book.

My issue with Forbidden is totally "it's not you, it's me." I know that this book is beloved by a huge number of people. I get it! But as someone with a brother who I have a close sibling bond with, I just could not. I love a good romance story as much as the next person. I don't know what exactly was different with this than Flowers in the Attic. Perhaps it's because in that book we see the relationship develop from earlier in their childhood. Maybe it's because they're so completely innocent for so long while the romance starts quickly in Forbidden. I'm not sure, to be honest.

Aside from the cringey relationship between Maya and Lochan, I also had problems with the way the characters were written. I can't stand the back and forth of their romance. The acting on feelings immediately followed by dramatic discussion of how they shouldn't have done it, again and again. It was just a bit too dramatic for my taste. I have read a spoiler for the ending and I have to say I'm not upset that I quit when I did. It seems like the drama continues until the very end.

If you are an only child, maybe you'll enjoy this book more than I did. If you don't mind the kind of drama that makes everything out to be more serious than it is, perhaps this is the book for you. Unfortunately, I just could not make myself keep reading.

DNF Mini Review: East by Edith Pattou

Title: East (East #1) 
Author: Edith Pattou
Publication Date: September 1, 2003
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 507
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Rose has always been different.

Since the day she was born, it was clear she had a special fate. Her superstitious mother keeps the unusual circumstances of Rose's birth a secret, hoping to prevent her adventurous daughter from leaving home... but she can't suppress Rose's true nature forever.

So when an enormous white bear shows up one cold autumn evening and asks teenage Rose to come away with it--in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family--she readily agrees.

Rose travels on the bear's broad back to a distant and empty castle, where she is nightly joined by a mysterious stranger. In discovering his identity, she loses her heart-- and finds her purpose--and realizes her journey has only just begun.

East only came to my attention last year when people started actively searching for ARCs of West by the same author. I'd never heard of this book, despite my love of retellings, and new I had to read it as soon as possible for the retellings challenge I'm hosting this year!

This is a retelling of East of the Sun West of the Moon, a fairy tale I'd honestly never heard of before even though (I guess??) I've read a few retellings already. Rose is the main character, born to a large family and a very superstitious mother. One day she leaves with a white bear to help her family and then her adventure begins.

I... didn't care for Rose. This book is written with a definite fairy tale flair, but it ended up making me feel extremely detached from the characters. The author also chose to use multiple viewpoints, so there were multiple characters I couldn't care less for and I never really felt like I knew any of them. The white bear was very strange, along with all the other characters in his home. One plot point involving a strange person sleeping in Rose's bed without her consent was just creepy.

East also happens to be incredibly long, much longer than it has any need to be. There was a lot of walking and talking and swimming and eating and sleeping and I was just so bored. The author does a lot of showing rather than telling, which made me feel like I couldn't truly see or appreciate the world that should definitely have been magical.

I toughed it out for 250 pages, which is probably about how long this book should have been. It seemed that if, after 250 pages I couldn't care less if the characters died, it was time to give up and move onto something else. I wanted to enjoy this retelling so much, but it just wasn't for me.

Mini Reviews: Out of the Easy & A Wrinkle In Time

Title: Out of the Easy
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publication Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Philomel Books
Pages: 348
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It's 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.

Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny. 

Before Out of the Easy I had read two other Ruta Sepetys books and loved them both! I knew I had to get my hands on this one and had every intention of loving it. Unfortunately, this one just was not for me.

Josie's story is set in New Orleans in the 1950s. Josie wants to go to college, but her life does not seem to be going in that direction. Her mother is a prostitute and she has been raised in the brothel, but she is determined to make her own path. On the way to her goals, she finds herself caught up in a murder mystery.

I found the relationships in this book to be really well written. I liked the strained dynamic between Josie and her mother and Willie was really my favorite! I also really liked getting to know Josie's friends and acquaintances, but that's where my enjoyment ended. As good as the synopsis sounded, I just was not intrigued by the plot at all. I was so bored reading this that I eventually just gave up.

Sepetys novels are character driven and this is no different, but I've always been intrigued by the stories as well and that wasn't the case here. If you can enjoy a painfully slow book with great characters, you may love this historical fiction novel! I just need a little more to keep me hooked.

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Title: A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet #1)
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Publication Date: January 1, 1962
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 288
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It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract".

Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

I distinctly remember reading A Wrinkle in Time for the first time in the fourth grade and loving it. I didn't continue the series, but the first book made a huge impression at the time. This year, a very long time later, I needed to read a childhood classic for a reading challenge and decided to visit this again. Sadly, it just didn't hold up.

A Wrinkle in Time is about a girl named Meg whose father has been missing for years. She gets the chance to rescue him along with her brother and friend after meeting a strange woman named Mrs. Whatsit. The three find themselves catapulted through time and space and end up on fantastic adventures while on their mission.

This book has a message and it hits you over the head with it from beginning to end. As a child, I suppose things being spelled out could be beneficial. It was too much as an adult and I quickly became annoyed with the preachiness. I also found that, even as a lover of fantasy books, this one was just too ridiculous and cartoony.

I can appreciate that I am not the target audience and I obviously did love this when I was, but man. A Wrinkle in Time managed to be over the top while also being extremely dull. The characters were terribly annoying and I didn't care for the way the plot jumped from one thing to another. This is a hard review to write because, like I said, I adored this as a fourth grader! Sadly, the nostalgia was not enough to keep this on my favorites shelf.

DNF Mini Audiobook Review: The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore & Jeff Strand

Title: The Haunted Forest Tour
Authors: James A. Moore & Jeff Strand
Publication Date: September 26, 2017
Publisher: Createspace
Pages: 378
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Haunted Forest Tour! Sit back and enjoy a smooth ride in air-conditioned comfort as your heavily armored tram takes you through nature's most astonishing creation. The forest is packed to capacity with dangerous and terrifying creatures of all shapes, sizes, and hunger levels, and you'll get to observe these wonders in complete safety.

Howl with a werewolf! Gaze into the glowing eyes of a giant spider! Look right through a spooky ghost! See horrific monsters you couldn't even imagine, only inches away from you! Things with fangs, things with claws, things with dripping red jaws -- you'll see them all!

Not thrilling enough? Well, it's Halloween, and so we're offering a very special tour through the Haunted Forest. The new route goes deeper into the woods than any civilians have ventured before, and you're guaranteed to get a good scare! Rest assured that every possible security precaution has been taken. The Haunted Forest Tour has a 100% safety record, and technical difficulties are unheard of. You will be in no danger whatsoever.

We promise. 

I started reading The Haunted Forest Tour as part of Fraterfest this year, but ended up not completing it, so it carried over after the read-a-thon. Unfortunately taking extra time to battle through it didn't help very much.

This book is about a forest and really that's about all. It definitely isn't about the characters. I made it 40% in and I honestly couldn't tell you the name of a single one of them. The action begins on the first page and the initial sequence is fascinating! I truly wish we'd gotten to stay in the creation of the forest much longer. Instead, the book jumps to the tour and from there it feels a bit Jurassic Park, but without the tension.

In Jurassic Park, we knew the characters and came to care about what happened to them. When the cars die in the forest of The Haunted Forest Tour and monsters come out of the woodwork, it's very difficult to feel any kind of way about the characters who die. I'm not sure what happens later in the book, but at the point where I gave up, there had been a lot of running and monster kills and very little emotion.

I'm sure there was a great idea here and it's possible that it was better after the 40% mark, but I just couldn't care any less about the characters or what happened to them. A book can have tons of action, but without any attachment to the characters, it's a whole lot of nothing.

Mini DNF ARC Review: Black Wings Beating

Title: Black Wings Beating (Skybound #1)
Author: Alex London
Publication Date: September 25, 2018
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Pages: 432
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//I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review//

The people of Uztar have long looked to the sky with hope and wonder. Nothing in their world is more revered than the birds of prey and no one more honored than the falconers who call them to their fists.

Brysen strives to be a great falconer--while his twin sister, Kylee, rejects her ancient gifts for the sport and wishes to be free of falconry. She's nearly made it out, too, but a war is rolling toward their home in the Six Villages, and no bird or falconer will be safe.

Together the twins must journey into the treacherous mountains to trap the Ghost Eagle, the greatest of the Uztari birds and a solitary killer. Brysen goes for the boy he loves and the glory he's long craved, and Kylee to atone for her past and to protect her brother's future. But both are hunted by those who seek one thing: power.

Black Wings Beating was one of my most anticipated books of this year! It's gorgeous and the synopsis sounds so unique! I was thrilled to receive it in the mail earlier this year. Once I started reading it though, I quickly realized it wasn't going to be the book for me.

I don't have a ton to say about Black Wings Beating, but the main point I took away was that if you are not interested in birds and falconry, you may not love this book. I slogged through the first few chapters and there was just SO much bird talk. I guess I should've guessed as much from the things I mentioned drew me in, but I really didn't think it was literally going to be primarily a bird book.

The characters also weren't captivating enough to keep me interested. It's possible that they could've pulled me in had I kept at it, but Brysen seemed impulsive and annoying, and Kylee just didn't make a huge impression. I do like that the main characters were siblings, though.

Apart from the focus on the birds, the world building was interesting, if a bit of an info dump. The mythology surrounding the two clans was unique and in the bit that I read of this book I did find it to be well written. Sadly, these things weren't enough to keep me reading. If you love birds, you'll probably love this book! I just couldn't get into it.

ARC Review: A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

Title: A Blade So Black
Author: L.L. McKinney
Publication Date: September 25, 2018
Publisher: Imprint
Pages: 384
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//I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review//

The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.

Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head . . . literally. 

A Blade So Black caught my eye because it was an Alice in Wonderland retelling and I was so excited to dive in! Of course, some of my favorite books of all time are Wonderland retellings, so it also had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations.

This retelling is different than many others in that it's really more urban fantasy than fantasy. Honestly, I feel it would have worked better as an original urban fantasy book than a Wonderland retelling. While I liked the idea of a more badass Alice taking on monsters in Wonderland, I didn't love the way A Blade So Black got there.

Wonderland itself is strange, and not in the great way that it's meant to be. When I read a Wonderland book I want to BE there. I want to see the weird, dreamlike landscapes in my head. A Blade So Black doesn't describe the world in a way that paints an easy picture of Wonderland, and this is a world that needs to be vivid, especially when there are so many portrayals already.

One of my biggest issues with this book, though, is the way the beginning is written. In the first eight pages, Alice sees her first Wonderland creature, then there's a six month time jump during which she has been training with Hatta. We don't see any of this training - we're just told that she's "ready" for Wonderland. There also isn't a really good description of what she's ready for, just vague discussion about weapons and Nightmares. By page thirty Alice has had her first (very rushed) trip to Wonderland followed by another one year time jump. This entire thirty page chunk could have been the first half of the book, but for whatever reason the author decided to jump over all of the training and just get to the part where Alice has to save Hatta. It made the entire intro to the story feel extremely rushed and clunky.

I've seen A Blade So Black compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but a huge chunk of Buffy is seeing her grow into a badass. With such a huge chunk of the character growth fast forwarded, it's hard to feel invested. Sadly, I just couldn't get into this book.

DNF ARC Review: Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer

Title: Not Even Bones
Author: Rebecca Schaeffer
Publication Date: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 368
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Dexter  meets This Savage Song in this dark fantasy about a girl who sells magical body parts on the black market — until she’s betrayed.

Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet—her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” Until her mom brings home a live specimen and Nita decides she wants out; dissecting a scared teenage boy is a step too far. But when she decides to save her mother’s victim, she ends up sold in his place—because Nita herself isn’t exactly “human.” She has the ability to alter her biology, a talent that is priceless on the black market. Now on the other side of the bars, if she wants to escape, Nita must ask herself if she’s willing to become the worst kind of monster.

Not Even Bones was high on my TBR and one of my top priorities at ALA this June! While I'm not necessarily huge on paranormal romance, the synopsis sounded amazing! I love the idea of a dark, Dexter-style book about a girl who finds herself on the brink of being sold for parts. I was lucky enough to receive a copy and started reading it shortly after I got home.

This book begins with Nita working on dissecting bodies for her mother (and loving every minute of it). Her mom brings home bodies of supernatural beings and Nita takes them apart for her mother to sell on the black market. It's work she has been doing, and loving, for her entire life. She doesn't concern herself with where the bodies came from or how they came to be deceased, but when her mom brings home a boy who's still alive, she's forced to confront the morality of what she's doing.

I thought that Nita's moral struggle was really interesting. She knows that taking apart a live person is wrong and decides to help him get away, knowing this will bring down her mother's wrath. I appreciated that she was able to understand the issue with what her mother was asking her to do, but it seemed like she never connected that back to the dead bodies she dissected and planned to continue dissecting. I'm assuming this was dealt with later in the book, but it's very strange to see how her brain is able to keep the two things separate.

Soon after helping the boy, Nina finds herself up for purchase and then has to deal with the fact that all "bad" supernatural beings may not be completely bad. Again, it's interesting to watch her realize that the world is actually shades of gray.

Unfortunately, all of her realizations drag on and on and I lost interest. Nothing in Not Even Bones was exactly bad, it was just boring. Even the big events lacked urgency and I found myself dreading reading another page of Nita sitting in a glass room and talking to the girl next to her or the guard who feeds off pain.

Everything in this book had potential to be really good! The world could have been interesting had we seen more of it, the variance in supernatural beings was interesting, and Nita's family dynamics while working for her criminal mother were certainly interesting. I just wish it had all moved along a bit faster. I gave up at 50% and at that point Nita was still sitting around talking to people. I'm sure many people will love Not Even Bones! It just isn't the book for me.

Mini Reviews: Long Lankin, Without Merit, & City of the Lost

Title: Long Lankin
Author: Lindsey Barraclough
Publication Date: April 7, 2011
Publisher: Bodley Head
Pages: 464
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Beware of Long Lankin, that lives in the moss. . . .When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their elderly aunt in the isolated village of Byers Guerdon, they receive a less than warm welcome. Auntie Ida is eccentric and rigid, and the girls are desperate to go back to London. But what they don't know is that their aunt's life was devastated the last time two young sisters were at Guerdon Hall, and she is determined to protect her nieces from an evil that has lain hidden for years. Along with Roger and Peter, two village boys, Cora must uncover the horrifying truth that has held Bryers Guerdon in its dark grip for centuries -- before it's too late for little Mimi. Riveting and intensely atmospheric, this stunning debut will hold readers in its spell long after the last page is turned.

I heard of Long Lankin while reading reviews for And the Trees Crept In, a book I had high expectations for and was hugely disappointed by. This was supposed to be the better version of that, so I was ready for an amazing, terrifying read!

Honestly, I don't remember how far I made into Long Lankin, but a valiant attempt was made. The book begins when Cora and Mimi are sent to live with their aunt where they're unwanted. They make an attempt to enjoy their time with Auntie Ida while conforming to her strict rules and making friends with a couple local boys. They, of course, get into trouble and things supposedly start getting creepy...

I couldn't find the creep. Horror books need to be good and terrifying if I'm going to enjoy them and, despite the synopsis and the reviews, I just couldn't get into this. It dragged and, while it was atmospheric, it wasn't in a frightening way. Ultimately, I was way too bored and uninvested to make it to the end of Cora and Mimi's story. Coming in at 464 pages, this book is much more of a best than it needs to be.

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Title: Without Merit
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 385
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Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

I have read and hated two books by Colleen Hoover in the past few years, but when I found myself in the mood for a contemporary novel and saw that she had published a YA book, I decided to give her one last try.

Merit is the MC of this story and, shockingly, I didn't hate her. She runs into Sagan one day and feels instant chemistry, but through a series of misunderstandings and assumptions, decides that they can't be together. Sagan was an enjoyable character who I thought made a good romantic interest. I wouldn't mind reading more about him, honestly.

Without Merit contains the usual angst and drama you would expect in a Colleen Hoover novel, but this one was actually bearable and kind of cute at times. I think part of what made it more enjoyable was that the angsty romance wasn't the main focal point of the story. Merit and her family was much more at the forefront and, even though that's not my usual kind of read, I enjoyed it a lot more than the author's other novels. If you've hated her other books, this might be the Colleen Hoover pick for you!

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Title: City of the Lost (Rockton #1)
Author: Kelley Armstrong 
Publication Date: January 14, 2016
Publisher: Sphere
Pages: 471
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Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

This was my first Kelley Armstrong book and I picked it up after seeing it a few times over at Greg's Book Haven.  I was in a true crime (but not) kind of mood, so I decided to give it a try!

Casey and Diana have been best friends forever and both have troubled pasts that they could stand to escape from. The chance comes in the form of Rockton - an off the grid town that gives people a fresh start, for a price. Casey is allowed in as the town's new homicide detective because of the recent murder in the town that the current sheriff can't handle alone. Once she gets there, she must navigate the town and the murder with a town who keeps its secrets close.

I don't read a lot of adult fiction, so I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this one, but I was pleasantly surprised! Casey was a fantastic main character and the Rockton characters were all well developed. I liked that I was never completely sure if anyone was who they said they were. The murder mystery part of the story was twisty and well written! My main complaint was that it did take a while to get moving and the story dragged for me until halfway through. Overall, I enjoyed it and I'll probably be picking up part two.

DNF Review: King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

Title: King's Cage (Red Queen #3)
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: Way too Many 507
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Reviews for book 1 & book 2

In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl's spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother's web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare's heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

"In this breathless third installment..." Spoiler: it's "breathless" because Mare uses all her breath WHINING AND MOANING.

The Red Queen series is one of the most disappointing series I've ever read. Book one started strong for me, although I still had issues with it. In fact, I rated it FOUR stars! Then Glass Sword was one of the absolute worst sequels I've ever read, getting a one star, ranty review. But I decided to give King's Cage a try anyway, thinking maybe the series would redeem itself. Alas.

So what went wrong with this series? The number one reason I despise these books is because all Mare does is whine, especially in Glass Sword and King's Cage. Every single page that Mare appears on - whining and complaining. I get it, her life is tough. How sad. I've read a lot of books with about a lot of characters who have a lot of crappy luck, and never have I read one that made me hate a main character THIS much. 

I had forgotten how bad it was, really. I downloaded the audiobook and immediately remembered how much I hated Mare. Why did I immediately remember? The first few chapters are one long whineeee. Literally, Mare sits in a cell and whines about how badly she wants to be OUT of the cell, then when she gets out, she whines about how she wants to be back IN the cell. I. Hate. Her. I really thought I must be at least an hour into this whinefest, when I looked at my phone and saw that there were SIXTEEN AND A HALF hours left in the book! Sixteen! 

Which brings me to my next point: why is this book so long?? Red Queen, the only decent book in the series, was a respectable 383 pages long. A normal length for a YA fantasy book. Of course, Glass Sword grew to 444 pages, having to make room for all Mare's complaining. And this one? King's Cage is over 500 pages long! I'm not saying that a YA series can never be over 500 pages (ACOTAR is one of my favorite series!), but I am saying that it should definitely be under 500 pages if half of it is filler. While serious events have occurred in this series so far, the whole thing could be considerably shorter if we didn't have to spend so much time inside of Mare's head.

I didn't make it far enough into King's Cage to know if it continues the rinse and repeat formula of the previous book, but I definitely made it far enough to know that I was right to say I wouldn't continue the series at the end of my Glass Sword review. I'm not sure if I had on rose-colored glasses while reading Red Queen or if the next too books really actually declined that much, but I won't be giving the series a third chance. 

DNF Audiobook Review: The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

Title: The Valiant (The Valiant #1)
Author: Lesley Livingston
Publication Date: February 14, 2017
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 372
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Princess. Captive. Gladiator.

Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king, the sister of the legendary warrior Sorcha, and the sworn enemy of Julius Caesar.

When Fallon was a child, Caesar’s armies invaded her homeland, and her beloved sister was killed in battle.

Now, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is eager to follow in her sister’s footsteps and earn her place in the fearsome Cantii war band. She never gets the chance.

Fallon is captured and sold to an elite training school for female gladiators—owned by none other than Julius Caesar. In a cruel twist of fate, the man who destroyed Fallon’s family might be her only hope of survival.

Now Fallon must overcome vicious rivalries and deadly fights—in and out of the arena. And perhaps the most dangerous threat of all: her forbidden yet irresistible feelings for Cai, a young Roman soldier. 

I am a huge fan of any fiction set in this time period - movies, TV shows, books, I love them all! I hate when people say they minored in stuff, but I minored in Classics, so I adore getting to read about Ancient Rome. I was SO excited for this book! I love the idea of female gladiators and I didn't think there was any way this book could possibly be awful. But here we are.

The Valiant begins with Fallon and her first love. She puts off his romantic advances because she intends to join her father's war band. Nothing goes as planned though, so Fallon throws a tantrum and ends up getting kidnapped and sold to a school for gladiators. Up until this point, I was intrigued, but once Fallon gets to the school, everything went a bit off the rails for me.

There are a few issues I couldn't get past with this book, leading to my decision to put it down instead of trudging on through the last 30% of the story. There's a big twist about halfway through that doesn't make any sense. Without getting into spoiler territory, I'll just say that the reveal and the way the story progresses afterward is a stretch. There is no reason for certain secrets to remain secret and honestly, why is Fallon even still a slave?

The other major issue I had with The Valiant was the romance. Fallon's first love is so quickly forgotten once she arrives in Rome, I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. Not only that, but her new romance comes completely out of nowhere and is kind of... gross? I absolutely didn't buy it. I actually thought her love interest, Cai, was way older than he was for some reason. I love the forbidden love trope when it's done well, but here it's instalove that I just couldn't get on board with.

Lesley Livingston does a decent job with the setting and incorporating characters from history, although I'm a little skeptical of her portrayal of Cleopatra. I also thought the scenes of Fallon training and interacting with the other girls were interesting. Unfortunately, those things weren't enough to keep me hooked or make up for the issues I couldn't get past.