Author: Lady Nightwolf

Historian. Wife. Dog Mom. Book Hoarder. Gamer. When she's not working or studying, she can most often be found in a hammock devouring a book, buried under her 70 pound lap dog, or in the kitchen creating new delicious things to feed to her mountain man husband.

Categories
Historical Fiction Romance

The Reluctant Duchess

By Jane Goodger, Pub July 9, 2019

4.5 Stars, Best enjoyed in one sitting.

Rebecca Caine never planned to be a duchess. She never planned to have to be sold to settle her father’s gambling debts. She never expected that she would be brought far north of her St. Ives home and into a dark and foreboding estate, one in which the master, her own husband, was believed to be cursed and ghosts could be heard in the walls. She also never expected the passion she would experience with the man who hid himself in darkness.

Oliver Sterling, Duke of Kendal, was cursed with an affliction that pushed him into the dark, scurrying about the hidden passages in his own estate, and causing rumors and fear in the servants and nearby villagers alike, who were convinced that to look in the Cursed Duke’s face would turn them to stone. The only person who saw the Duke was his guardian and estate caretaker, Mr. Winters. His affliction made him a very lonely man, wishing only for a wife, a companion, when he sees a painting of a girl from St. Ives and requests that Mr. Winters find her, marry her in proxy, and bring him back to the estate. He only expected a wife in Rebecca. He never expected to find love, and he most definitely didn’t expect that this union would allow him the chance to walk in the light once again.

This was my first Jane Goodger book, but it will not be my last. I absolutely loved the rich atmosphere and the overall story. The undertones of Beauty & the Beast, one of my personal best-loved fairy tales, only further enhanced it. The characters are well thought out when needed. Rebecca is resilient, Oliver is empathetic, and Mr. Winters is someone you absolutely grow to hate for the part he has played and the other things that he’s done. Rebecca finds her feet under her rather quickly, which says something given that she’s been thrust into a new world and new, much more lofty social status than she ever could have imagined. I’ve always loved a good gothic tale, and this had plenty of that feel even if the cover itself is rather deceptive. It’s atmospheric, creepy at times, scary in others, and both heartbreaking and undeniably romantic. The very estate itself felt real, even with all of its hidden passages and dark chambers, and the reveal of Oliver’s affliction was very surprising and the build up to it kept this reader on her toes. This was an absolutely amazing read. I devoured it in one sitting. ENCORE!

I received an advanced copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley and Kensington Books in return for a fair and honest review.

Categories
Historical Fiction Romance

Game of Spies

By Pamela Mingle. (Spies in Love, #2)

3.5 stars, best enjoyed with mulled wine by firelight.

Isabel Tait has known little of the world outside of her home where she lived with her mother, half brothers, and recently deceased step father, who was not a very nice man, other than the world can be a cruel place. Cloistered all her life, she is both grateful and afraid when her mother tells her that she is getting remarried and her spinster daughter is to be married off or sent elsewhere. Hope comes in the form of Bess Shrewsbury, an acquaintance of her family, who offers Isabel a place amongst the circle of companions for Mary, Queen of Scots. Isabel takes the position and is thrust into a world she has never been a part of, full of plotting, dancing, intrigue, gossip, and secret trysts.

Amongst those at Shrewsbury is the handsome and beguiling Gavin Cade, a reluctant spy sent on behalf of queen and country to look into a suspected plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I, with the Scots queen at the very center. Isabel, who is quickly taken into Mary’s confidence, become a pawn in a game she never wanted to play, and falls prey to Cade’s charms. However, Cade’s own allegiance seems to shift as he gets to know the demure and intelligent ‘Bel’ and finds himself falling for the fiercely loyal young woman. Their love grows even as their lives are thrown into chaos, with an attempted abduction, murder plots, and other unsavory dealings. Apparently, that’s just court life with an imprisoned Queen whose very existence is a threat to the crown.

I’m a sucker for historical spy romances, especially when the romance was one of the slow burn kind. It’s a super niche interest, but Game of Spies satisfies and checks a lot of the boxes. I was pretty hesitant when it came to this because I recently studied this period in history and Queen Elizabeth and Mary’s relationship is hotly contested, and historians are still trying to figure out whether Mary truly was involved in planning the plots in which she was embroiled and also whether Elizabeth meant to put her to death (spoiler alert–not in the book, but historical spoiler if you don’t know anything about this piece of history). However, Mingle showed her hand and expertise on staying as true as possible to the historical subject matter and did an excellent job of straddling that line, allowing her characterization of Mary to still leave the reader to decide if she was, in fact, guilty. It’s always difficult to take on controversial subject matter like this in a novelization and I was left entirely satisfied.

Additionally, Mingle used the actual places that Mary was during that period, which only added to the realism of the story. It’s also pretty fantastic to be able to see pictures of the actual places and get a sense of what it was like. One such example is Tutbury Castle. Although the castle isn’t exactly intact 500 years later, recent pictures nonetheless still lend credence to the events that took place and also allow the reader to visualize what it looked like for these historical players and their fictional counterparts, bringing us further into the story.

https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/tutbury-castle-staffordshire

Although the book admittedly seems to drag around 75% of the way through, I was invested enough in knowing how it turned out and also enjoyed reading the author’s interpretation of Queen Mary, which helped me keep my pace. Overall, Game of Spies was an enjoyable read, and the only reason I didn’t read it all in one sitting was because I looked up and it was 3am on a ‘school night’ and I’m sure my husband was getting tired of the light from my e-reader.

It’s the perfect season for an escapist read like this one. If you’re into historical romance I recommend you pick up a copy for a summer escape!

Thanks to Netgalley & Entangled Publishing for this advanced copy in exchange for a fair review!

Categories
Fantasy Survival

The Grace Year

By Kim Liggett, Pub Date Oct 9, 2019

5 Stars. Best enjoyed with a handful of berries and clean glass of water

I. AM. BLOWN. AWAY. Don’t let the pink cover fool you like it did me at first, although it’s a perfect representation of the world that Liggett built: pink, pretty, but also with a very gritty vibe. Things aren’t always what they seem.

I finished this book at 4 am yesterday and it’s been invading my dreams and thoughts ever since. Other reviewers have said that it’s a cross between Handmaid’s Tale and Lord of the Flies, and I agree, but it’s also got a healthy dose of MK Ultra and survival horror, but it also fully feels like this could happen in our world and this preys on the fears of many women these days–which makes this a wild and visceral experience. I’m a complete sucker for survival horror.

Tierney is 16. In our world, that means sweet 16 birthday parties, getting to drive, and finding freedom. In Tierney’s world, in ‘the county’, that means becoming a women in a society where women are seen as dangerous and only have a chance at few jobs within society: as a wife, as a servant, or as a laborer, working in factories or the fields. Otherwise, they are dispelled into the Outskirts to work a sex workers. Women aren’t allowed to wear their hair down, or dress immodestly, gossip, or even dream. It doesn’t help that society and the magic of the Grace Year have seemingly pitted them all against one another.

During their 16th year, they are sent to ‘the encampment;’, an unforgiving fenced-in island far in the woods away from the county, to dispel the magic that crawls under their skin and makes them irresistible to men. If you come back and haven’t dispelled your magic, it means death. They call this the ‘grace year’. And the grace year is like fight club: You don’t talk about it. You don’t talk about what happens there, and no one escapes without scars.

Tierney just wants to get through her grace year. She’s always rebelled in small ways against the way things are, and the last thing she wants is to become a wife. She’d rather work in the fields, where she can reach into the dirt and do something real. But even the best laid plans often go awry, and Tierney finds herself going into the grace year with a target on her back, as if avoiding starvation and the poachers, sons of the Outskirts women that hunt grace year girls down to carve up their bodies to sell back to the county in bottles–for the ‘magic’, of course–wasn’t enough.

If it seems like there’s a lot going on in this book, there is. The world building is amazing and the story is absolutely enrapturing. I went through the entire gamut of emotions with this one and when I started reading, I could not stop. I had to know if my hunches were correct. I had to know if they would make it out alive. I had to know how this would end, but I also was left wanting more.

I think when the release date hits and more people have the chance to read this, I will most likely have to post more. There is so much to say about this story, but I don’t want to give too much away. All I will say is that we have power and we need to start using it.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for a fair review ❤

Categories
Fantasy Graphic Novels

Sparrowhawk: A Graphic Novel of Faerie (Originally Released in 5 Installments)

https://www.boom-studios.com/2018/09/07/sparrowhawk-1-first-look/

Written by Deliah S. Dawson, Illustrations by Matias Basla

3.5 stars. Best Enjoyed on an empty stomach and FAR from a mirror.

I had the opportunity to get one of my Netgalley wishes answered. Thanks to Boom Studios and Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy of the compendium to be released on 8/20/19 in exchange for a fair review.

Sparrowhawk is a collection of comics-come-graphic novel detailing a young woman’s fall into faerie and the subsequent journey she had to take to escape it and save her own world from the Unseelie Queen who took her place. A picture is worth a thousand words, and this story is all pictures and color, portraying much, betraying little.

Artemisia is the adopted mixed race daughter in a family in dire straights. Although her father and sister love her, her stepmother is a complete pill, wishing to marry her off to her deceased older sister’s betrothed in order to save the family. If Artemisia disagrees, her stepmother has threatened to marry her beloved younger sister, Caroline, to a wealthy elderly Baron. However, before Artemisia can make a choice, the Unseelie Queen, bent on destroying the world (starting with Victorian England), reaches through the mirror and switches places with her.

https://www.boom-studios.com/2018/09/07/sparrowhawk-1-first-look/

Artemisia, now stuck in faerie with little knowledge on how to get out, is greeted by Crispin, an abomination created by the evil Unseelie queen. Crispin offers to strike a deal with Artemisia: to help her through faerie and get back home in exchange for her most treasured memory. Anyone who knows anything about faerie or faerie lore also knows how terrible of an idea this is, but Artemisia agrees. Crispin, in turn, tells her exactly what she needs to do to get out:

Grow Stronger. By Killing.

But she better hurry, because the Wild Hunt is on her trail.

https://www.boom-studios.com/2018/10/11/your-first-look-at-sparrowhawk-2-from-delilah-s-dawson-and-matias-basla/

During her journey, she struggles to remember the important memory she gave away to Crispin in exchange for guidance. Artemisia must kill other faeries in order to get back to her own world while also trying to maintain some semblance of her humanity. Along the way they meet an Unseelie prince who abhors the evil world his mother has created and detests that Artemisia must kill to save her own, and Dean, a giant pig like monster who, at times, is reminiscent of Falcore from Never-ending Story.

I enjoyed the illustrations. The comic covers which were peppered throughout the compendium were illustrated by Miguel Mercado and absolutely enhanced the overall story. The story itself at times felt a little disjointed, but that’s to be expected when it comes to graphic novels about faerie, especially given that they were originally released in individual sections, and there was a lot of ground to cover so you really need to rely on the illustrations to guide those missing pieces into place. There were some dream sequences that sometimes felt oddly situated and I didn’t really understand the rhythm of them until literally the last one, which was definitely jarring, but then I got that they were referencing the memory she had lost and does not regain until the end. But I won’t spoil it, you’ll need to pick this one up for yourself.

Overall, although I was expecting more and it felt a little shallow during the first read through the more I sat with it the better it got. It was a fun read and I think it’s well worth the time spent. I have a feeling I’m going to be dreaming in lime green, teal, and purple for awhile.

https://www.boom-studios.com/2018/10/11/your-first-look-at-sparrowhawk-2-from-delilah-s-dawson-and-matias-basla/
Categories
Contemporary Fiction Science Fiction

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*# With Her Mind

By Jackson Ford. Pub date: June 18, 2019.

3 out of 5 stars. Best enjoyed with a black coffee and some good sushi or Phó.

MY FIRST ARC! Thanks, Netgalley! I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair & honest review. Paying the reaper in spades:

The Girl Who Could Move Shit With Her Mind focuses on our protagonist, Teggan, a devil-may-care-Deadpool-esque early-twenty-something who somewhat mysteriously has an X-Men-level mutation in her genetics that causes her to have PK, or psychotelekinesis–the title says it all: she can move sh*# with her mind. She works for a super secret military organization that goes after bad people while fronting as a moving company called China Shop. Her rag tag team of what basically amount to the Expendables includes Reggie, a super smart hacker whose time in the military left her as a paraplegic, clean-cut office manager Paul (or as Teggan calls him “Agent Whiteboard”), Teggan’s best work friend Carlos, the Mexican ex-pat getaway driver outrunning his past, and Annie, a street tough former inmate who is super secretive about her personal life, and for good reason. The teams works for Moira Tanner, who is honestly a conspiracy nut’s wet dream/worst nightmare, and whom is seemingly obsessed with the greater good.

When their current mark is found dead in a way that only someone with PK could have accomplished, all eyes are on Teggan. But she knows it wasn’t her, which means she has to prove she’s not the only one out there with these abilities–a prospect that is both exciting and terrifying to her. However, Tanner has put an expiration date on her head–prove in 24 hours that there’s another person who could have done this, and she and the team are spared. Fail, and end up in the darkest hole the government can drill. Commence the superhuman-charged high-octane detective story you didn’t even know you needed in your life.

I will admit, it took me a couple of chapters in to really adjust to the writing style and get absolutely hooked, but I did. Ford does a good job at keeping the reader on their toes. Like every book, though, it had is pros and cons:

PROS:

  • I don’t usually enjoy more than one POV in a story, but the bounce between Teggan and Jake, the other person with PK abilities who is only committing the murders because he wants to know where he comes from (not giving anything away with that, it’s pretty clear from the first perspective change), is actually really engaging. They’re both anti-heroes who have been dealt a seriously messed up hand. Teggan was experimented on as a kid while Jake has been bounced around the foster system. Life is tough even with superhuman abilities. You really want to root for both sides on this one. I love the level of grey we get with these characters.
  • There’s something that Jackson Ford absolutely nails that even grizzled veteran writers don’t always hit on, and that is that his characters are really well fleshed out, even the auxiliary ones. I could almost see the corded muscles on Annie’s arms, the glint on Reggie’s glasses, and hear Africa’s laugh. That’s a huge plus. I felt invested in what happened to these people. Even Jake. Some characters, like Tanner & Chuy, were purposefully elusive. The only character I have a real complaint about is Nic. I really wish he had been more fleshed out. He didn’t even seem like that important of a character when we first encounter him, so when he comes back into the picture it’s kind of like “um…okay? Who is this guy, again?”
  • The banter between the characters is seriously hilarious at times. As much as it seems that Teggan got on a lot of people’s nerves, she didn’t get on mine. I get why her personality is the way it is. She’s just super jaded with life and is absolutely limited on choices with very short leash and little free will. Of course she’d end up being a smarta$$–her words are the only way she can actually rebel and she’s got to keep that cushion of humor going or it’ll let the despair in. It’s very clear as the book goes on that she really does care about the people around her, even if she is sarcastic and exhausting at times. It just makes her feel more real to me.

CONS:

  • As much as I liked the book overall, the beginning really was difficult to get into. It felt a bit like it was trying too hard, which made it a bit of a slog until you get to the high-stakes part. It also makes you question some of the better parts of the book. I won’t mention anything super specific because *spoilers* but ***SPOILERS***: suffice it to say that the weight limits on her powers are a tad questionable when you add velocity into the mix. Why was she able to stop two people from falling from the sky yet no one questions why she only has a 300# weight limit on her powers? However, this requires a cursory knowledge of physics so not every reader will be as keen on this. It’s also not a deal breaker–this is a work of fiction, not a textbook.
  • There’s a slight romance between two characters but it honestly fell super flat. However, not the focus of the book. I just wish that relationship had been a little more well laid out or just ignored all together. It just seemed really hasty and felt like it was a last minute addition to reach a different audience. I am a stickler for romance, but this one I couldn’t care less about.
  • (Also may change in the final copy edit:) There were a couple of moments when I think the writer might have made an editing mistake that was missed in post. There was a particular situation where it seemed like an entire paragraph of dialogue was missing because one character asked a question and then the next character responded and the response was clearly for something else that should have be said. It was only blatantly obvious one time and it was a minor situation that I just kind of glossed over, but there were also a couple of situations where words were omitted which kind of messed with the sentence structure. These items are very minor and although they are jarring when you’re trucking along enjoying an action packed book, they weren’t enough to make me stop reading.

Although it took me a bit to get into it, I’m super glad I did. It was a seriously wild ride. However, there was also a cliff hanger ending that has made me really wonder where else the author plans to go with it. It also seems kind of hastily written, but it nonetheless has left me intrigued.

Categories
Musings of a Bibliomaniac

Mission Completely Possible: LadyPower

I’ve been on hiatus for a couple of weeks while trying to finish my BA in History. I will get back to the book reviews soon. I’m working on a couple of pretty amazing books that I’m really enjoying. Another piece of good news is I graduated, and I graduated with a pretty good gpa, enough to get honors recognition. Super psyched and hyped. Yes: I’m bragging. Yes: I know it’s not always the most becoming thing to do, but I worked very hard for a very long time. To be honest, it most likely it’s not over for me yet as I may be applying to grad school (more to come on that later).

Putting aside the efforts towards self praise, the actual essence of today’s entry is something I hold super close and dear to my heart and that is the importance of women supporting–and subsequently praising–other women. I had two very excellent examples within the last week, one being from a professor I was in close contact with throughout my journey into the very relevant subject of history whom I finally had the chance to meet (I did distance learning–I work full time, it’s nearly impossible for me to drive to classes & still find time to live). The other was from today with an acquaintance-come-friend from high school (that feels so long ago) who just recently started to share a blog that she’s been working hard on for awhile and I think it’s beautiful.

The first story is in regards to the professor whom, whether she knows it or not, was a serious guiding light both during and after I took her class. She is the kind of teacher that makes you want to learn. She provides the instructions, soil, and the sunlight needed to help a student grow. When I finally met her in person, I wasn’t at all surprised to see she was just as warm and intelligent as she was via email, but I was completely taken aback by how infectious and magnetic she was face to face. Let me put it this way: my spouse was with me when I met her and she made him want to learn things even in our extremely short interaction. My spouse, who completely abhors most educational institutions and is skeptical of most teachers. That’s saying something. I was also surprised when she turned to me and looked me in the eye and asked what my plans were. She then proceeded to effortlessly convince me that I should consider grad school, throwing in some extra incentive by offering to write me a recommendation. She is the kind of woman I aspire to be, the one who builds other people up, and guides and inspires other women to strive for their highest potential in the most uncomplicated and subtle-yet-straightforward of ways. However, I realized that the reason I know these qualities is because I look for them so often now because those are the kinds of women I want in my life.

Sometimes all you need to do is like their post, send them an encouraging text to let them know you think they’re doing something awesome or that they’ll get through a hard time, or even by following or sharing their blog. Sometimes the best way is to create something using your own personal experiences that allows others to see our truth and commiserate and grow in the knowledge that we are all flawed and it’s not the end-all-be-all of who we are.

So many people these days think that showing success as an uncomplicated and flawless marble staircase is the way to encourage others. “If you do ‘a’ you will get ‘b’–it’s easy! You just have to seem perfect and courageous and thin and rich and you can’t show anyone any of your flaws ever!!!! I’m totally perfect so that’s how I got here, and I also never slow down or fail.” But that’s now how you lift others up, it’s how you discourage those in this world who see themselves for who they are: perfectly imperfect humans. That’s not providing handholds, that’s building a wall. It’s just greasing those marble stairs in a way that discourages all who try to step on them and slide off due to the weight of expectation that you’re dropping on their shoulders.

In reality, success and life in general are a messy and complicated set of wooden stairs that sometimes make you feel like the blueprints were drawn by M. C. Escher. This is why I find it so amazing that people like Ashley (http://momsbeautifulmess.com) are writing blogs about their messy lives and are realizing that their journey has brought them wisdom that needs sharing. She talks about her life experiences with anxiety, substance abuse, infertility and PCOS and how they’ve affected her journey. However, they were never the destination and that is the crux of it. She has a beautiful family and a home and although these experiences were a part of her, they never defined her. Although we’ve known one another since we were kids, I don’t think we ever actually knew one another. I’m not even sure we wanted to back then. However, as women who have lived our lives and made our mistakes and suffered mental and physical illness, our experiences and flaws have made us anew. We’re changed. We’re survivors, and we understand the importance of letting others know that the ugliness in life is only a small part. We’ve owned our experiences and through this we are able to explore the strengths that have come from them and encourage others to do the same.

It absolutely is beautiful because life is so messy and so complicated and it’s an experience we all share, despite the scrubbed, brushed, and patched public face we try to show every day. Owning your experience is something that is so important both for the world to see and for your personal self worth. Our flaws make us human and despite what the world wants us to think, they’re part of our success as well and are sometimes the very thing that make us successful. Our flaws are the things that actually bring us closer to other people. Our weaknesses make us vulnerable enough to open ourselves so other people can see us and grab hold.

Allowing other women to see our own vulnerabilities helps them find a kindred spirit and also helps us to find peace. Given that we’re often more empathetic because that’s how we’re built, we can connect to other women who are similar to us, and it’s through this connection that we can see their strengths and encourage them. It is so easy to step on someone to elevate yourself, but you don’t get as far as when you lift those around you to a place where they can reach a hand down and pull you up when you need it. Success comes in all shapes and sizes as well and sometimes you don’t even see it until you look at another person and see what success looks like to them, but you will never see it by stepping on them without looking. By crushing others, you are only burying yourself.

We just need to be honest with ourselves and those around us. Encourage others to reach their potential whenever you find the opportunity. Share your experience with another person and build bridges with them so that you can know them and help them and they can know you and help you as well. Ladies, I implore you to reach out to your sisters and brothers and embrace them. Show everyone how valuable we are to this world. I truly believe that in doing so, we will create a place we all want to live in and if we can do that, we can make it better for all of humankind.

Categories
Musings of a Bibliomaniac

Book. Book…Turtle?

If you didn’t get the hint already, I really love to read. I really, really love to read. I also really love to buy books. If I could make clothing out of books I would do so just to make sure I always have one with me. I made my wedding flowers out of old books (I’ll post a pic another time). I have both the Nook app and the Kindle app on my phone, as well as both e-readers, just to make sure I always carry a book with me.

Books Here

Books There

Books Everywhere

Most of the time when asked what I want for Christmas, it’s pretty easy: Gift Card to Amazon, B&N, or 2nd and Charles (for those of us who like to go used for physical copies–less waste). My idea of heaven is a comfy hammock under a canopy of paper birch and maple trees, surrounded by an outdoor library that always has the right book and they all smell new. When I die, cremate me and put some of my ashes in a batch of paper that is going to be used to make fantasy novels written by a female writer featuring a kick ass heroine, or throw half of me from the highest balcony in the Library of Congress (pretty sure both are illegal, but what a badass way to go out).

You get the point, I really love reading…and books.

That said, sometimes I love too many types of books at the same time and it makes it difficult to decide what to read next, so I end up reading all kinds of things at once. I’m actually in the middle of writing the final paper for my degree on the Black Death, so I’m working on 4 books about the plague (super interesting, btw) my textbooks, my first ARC (yay! I will have a review up about three weeks before the book is released, so look for it in the last week of May/First week of June) and a few novels I’ve been interested in lately, namely Ash Princess, Wicked Saints, Heart of the Fae, etc. I also have a career, which just seems to get in the way of All. of. This. Reading! Actually, my job is great. It’s like a required break from my obsessions and it helps that the majority of the time I really love what I do.

With all these books, it’s probably going to be really easy to keep up with this blog. I won’t run out of material to write about. I’ve also read a ridiculous amount of other books previously that still run up on me occasionally that I may start doing mini entries on (ACOTAR series, Folk of Air Series, Rizzoli & Isles, maybe HP?).

TBH, I’ve been meaning to start this blog for forever, but I never really knew how to begin. I know now it’s both feet forward and take the leap as it is with most new hobbies in life, but sometimes they need to fall in front of you in a very real way when you can be most enthusiastic about them. There are seasons in life where the stars need to align juuuust so, so good things can flourish.

Now you know my evil master [blog] plan and have a little insight into how I feel about all those little hardback things I continuously collect on various shelves both in the cloud and around my one bedroom apartment: Turtles.

Wait…that’s not right.

Categories
Fantasy Romance

Echo North (& East/West)

A Review of Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

4 Stars. Best enjoyed wrapped in a blanket thinking of all that snow!

I’m obsessed with fairy tales. Not just any fairy tales, but the kind where the author rehashes the old tropes and injects some steroids into the often meek heroines that plague the originals, creating a stronger & smarter female lead. There are very few fairy tales where this doesn’t need to happen, and most mainstream classic Disney-type stories are often guilty of containing weaker protagonists.

However, these are the stories that act as the gateway drug into the world of the folkloric fiction found in anthologies containing the likes of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. It was in one of these anthologies where I found one of my absolute favorite fairy tales, East of the Sun, West of the Moon. When I see new fiction which claims to take its basis off of this story, I jump on it. Echo North was one that made such claims–and delivered quite well.

Our protagonist, Echo, is a sympathetic character who has been deemed as ‘lesser’ and ‘cursed’ by the people in her village because of the horrific scarring on her face caused by a white wolf whom she was trying to save from a trap when she was a mere child. This act of compassion led basically to social exile. However, she never lost the kindness in her heart or her compassionate nature, even when the only people in the village who looked at her as a person were her father and brother. Her new stepmother, whom her father brings home, seems revolted by Echo. Echo decides to try to leave for university in the nearest city, an endeavor which is sufficiently roadblocked by this vile woman whom has quickly driven her once somewhat prosperous father into poverty. In order to try to improve their conditions, her father ventures out to sell his most prized possessions just to keep them fed and housed. Many months pass without his return.

Echo’s father goes missing, but the Wolf returns.

The Wolf gives Echo a choice: She can let her father die, or she can save him in exchange for spending one year with him in a house in the middle of a deadly forest where the rooms must be kept sewn to the rest of the house. She chooses to save her father.

In going with the wolf and staying in the house for one year, she must follow two simple rules: don’t open the door at night, no matter what is heard, and do not light the lamp.

The bulk of the story follows East/West pretty well, but the ending–Oh The Glorious Ending. It absolutely took me into a brand new place. Although I was able to suss out a lot of the midway plot points, the end was so far beyond what I could have guessed it would be and it was so very beautiful and completely fulfilling in its unpredictability. Naturally, some of the magic revolves around the big ‘L’ word.

“What is the oldest magic?” “Love. That is what created the universe, and that is what will destroy it, in the end. Threads of old magic, binding the world together.”

The overall imagery and well thought out protagonist help to keep the story going at a fair clip, even though there is a slight slow down in the plot, but that’s to be expected as she is staying in the house for a year. She almost makes that full year, too…it if not for [spoiler] the Wolf Queen and her meddling. But Echo doesn’t give up, despite the trials she endures in her life and the trials she must endure to save the boy hidden within the wolf, no–she persists.

That’s my favorite part.

Categories
Fantasy Romance

With a Thunderous ROAR

REVIEW OF ROAR (STORM HEARTS #1) BY CORA CORMACK

3.5 Stars. Best enjoyed in a thunderstorm.

Aurora Pavan is princess and heir to the throne of Pavan, Stormling kingdom, in a completely new world, Caelira, where storms move and destroy on instinct and the only way to stop them is by stealing their hearts. Stormling royals are known to be the only people in Caelira who are capable of ripping the hearts from the storms. This makes the the only barrier keeping humans safe from these disastrous and destructive forces.

Raised with grace, dignity, and diplomacy, the highly intelligent princess seems primed to take the throne when it is her time….except that Aurora is strangely void of the very ability to control storms that makes her an asset to Pavan. The Queen and Aurora have kept this secret for as long as they could to avoid risking the loss of their kingdom. However, As the sole heir, they can only keep this weakness hidden for so long.

The Queen arranges a marriage for Aurora to prince Cassius of Locke, a Stormling who is well versed in bringing storms to their knees. At first, it seems like the perfect match, but the mood quickly sours when Aurora finds out that Cassius has ulterior motives. Desperate to find out what he’s up to, she follows Prince Cassius in the dead of night to a hidden black market in the heart if the city. She gets more than she bargained for when she runs into a handsome and enigmatic Storm Hunter name Locke. Because of this encounter, Aurora discovers that Storm Hunters are able to control storms.

People who aren’t born Stormlings.

Aurora disguises herself as a girl named Roar and strikes out on her own, joining Locke’s band of misfit Hunters. She discovers that there is more magic in the world than she knew, and slowly the gilt of her world chips away. She sees the government corruption that has taken over the world outside her ivory tower, the people put in danger by politics, and is all the more determined to gain storm magic so she can take her rightful place as Queen and right the wrongs that have been done to the citizens of not only Pavan but all of Caelira.

Okay, so first things first, the story grabbed me from the beginning and shook me into the story, whispering ALL the promises. The start was amazing, although the characterization of Rora was a little surface-y, but that makes sense given that she was pretty much kept from society with very little consistent human interaction so as to not tip off the people around her that she was without the powers that they expected would keep them safe when she took the throne. However, she gets more and more fleshed out as the story goes on, and her determination to learn and adapt to life in the wilds with the storm hunters makes you really want to root for her. All other characters felt a lot more ‘there’. I could picture Jinx, Bait, Sly, and the rest of the Storm Hunter crew just perfectly–they were all a pretty unique and motley crew. It would have been hilarious if there was a character called Sixx…but alas, no classic rock band references in sight (yet).

It was so interesting seeing how the characters interacted. In all honestly, though, the reason I left one or two stars off was mostly because of the middle of the book. It slowed down to a point where I felt like I was just slogging through and the new plot points were just interesting enough to keep my inner detective curious, like her strong emotional reaction to the storms, and the occasional dip into the mind of an unknown enemy who is hatching a nefarious scheme–and whose soul seems to sense Aurora’s! However, if you just keep reading, it gets so incredibly amazing near the end. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. There are so many new things that are revealed, but so few pages left that you just know that this was only the beginning.

**Spoiler**The romance with Locke left something to be desired, although it is very clear that they go well together (it didn’t hurt that all I could picture was a longer haired version of Sam Winchester). I think maybe it’s because he never really knows who she is until near the end, and the feelings seem so surface and they purposely bait each other, with Roar getting genuinely mad but not really mad? I don’t know, it doesn’t feel deep enough for me. Cassius is a bit arrogant, but also super cunning, and his trying to play his cards close to his chest. I know this romance option is so problematic from minute one, but he also has some back story that makes me feel that all he really wants is to rule the kingdom with Aurora by his side and also to figure out a way to brush his family off. Even if it’s not love, there’s definitely some delicious lust brewing in there, and I kind of just want him to be okay? Then there’s the third option–the one I’m most curious about, the one we haven’t actually seen yet, and he’s pure evil, but I have a feeling the StormLord is going to the be Yang to Roar’s Yin.

IN conclusion, I’m super excited for the next book. I feel like it’s going to get the true start of the Storm Hearts saga/trilogy and I can’t wait until I get the chance to devour it!

Categories
Musings of a Bibliomaniac

Heroines Are My Heroine

Dude. Life is hard. Being and adult is never what we think it is. The freedom is nice, but it truly only goes so far. When you’re a kid, the only people you’re really held accountable to are your parents, teachers, and some religious figures, but you always have your parents as a buffer to the most other authority. As an adult, the only people who can act as a buffer between us and other authority figures are called ‘lawyers’. As adults, we have to contend with our managers and coworkers at work, the IRS, the Law, our phone companies, the power company, landlords, mortgage brokers, and all other people who may want to open a vein in our bank account and drain away the funds that we trade our souls for at our nine-to-fives.

I love my job and some freedoms that come with being ‘of age’, but it’s an indisputable fact that being an adult really sucks most of the time–so many consequences.

This is why it’s nice to have some kind of escape from it all. Some people choose alcohol, some choose pot, some choose hard drugs, some choose to numb their bodies and minds with strenuous exercise that takes whatever energy they have left and throws it into barbells and treadmills. I choose books and the occasional whiskey. Podcasts are probably the only thing that get me through the day at work, keeping the office dementors at bay, but when I get home there’s nothing better than climbing into my hammock with some strong female who is fighting against all odds to get what she wants, whether that be the hot warrior who struts into her peripheral or to save her entire kingdom from the hands of some conquering patriarchy. Heroines are my heroine.

As much as I would love to get into realistic fiction and be one of those people with a history degree that likes to just read all the serious history material, my life has already been serious enough. I love the fantasy and creating a new world in my mind, guided by an author who is just as bent on escaping this time and place as I am. It’s like a friend who gets you, who understands that what you need isn’t a reminder of where you are, but that you need to be somewhere else. Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband and my baby girl-dog, but sometimes I need to be able to travel to a completely new place and our budget does not constitute a trip around the world or a time machine. $10.00 for a brand new world and seeing through someone else’s eyes for a few hours is a pretty damn good deal.

I’m closing a chapter of my life right now, nearing the end of one thing that I’ve always wanted, getting my Bachelor’s. It’s in history with a minor in Gen Bus. I’ve been an accountant by trade for about 10 years, and I honestly all I have every wanted was to find a thing I’m passionate about and make it my bread and butter.

However: not how life works.

Most people end up doing something to put food on the table and find their passions through hobbies. What’s one thing I’ve always loved? Books. So now I’m going to take that love and put it toward something constructive. Even if my book blog doesn’t take off, it’ll help my writing–yeah, I kind of want to write a book. It’ll keep me going. It’s something I’ll have fun with. Plus, it’ll give me some place that I can refer people to when they want book recommendations, because that happens ALL. THE. TIME. Sometimes I can’t even remember why I like a book, I just remember the amazing high that the story gave me and I want to share that experience. Books are a great drug in that way. They’re fully legal, people encourage you to share the habit, and they don’t cause physical dependency (though I have a book on me in some form at all times–just in case).

I’m heading into this rabbit hole and you’re all coming with me.