Hi
everyone! Welcome the newly renamed Recent Reads (previously Mini Reviews), the series on my blog where I review
books in a couple of sentences to give you my thoughts and
recommendations.There's only three books this week, but here they are. Thank you to the lovely publishers who sent me these books
There’s no such thing as a secret.
SOMETHING
happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. But Ava would
rather keep that something hidden—buried deep in her heart and her soul.
She
has her best friend Syd, and she has her tattoos—a colorful quilt, like
a security blanket, over her whole body—and now, suddenly, she has
Hailey. Beautiful, sweet Hailey, who seems to like Ava as much as she
likes her. And Ava isn’t letting anything get in the way of finally,
finally seeking peace. But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the
traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s
discovery—and what Ava finds threatens to topple the
carefully-constructed wall of normalcy that she’s spent years building.
Secrets leave scars. But when the secret in question is not your own—do
you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you uncover it from its
shallow grave, and let it reopen old wounds—wounds that have finally
begun to heal?
Quick
Thoughts:I was so excited when I read the synopsis of this one, but ultimately it fell flat for me personally. I do think that this is more of a personal taste thing, but I didn't feel in any way connected to the characters and I wasn't bothered about what was happening in the story. Ava was such a bland character and she made so many awful decisions that I did grow to resent her. I do appreciate the representation for sexual assult victims in this book though.
Meri Beckley lives in a
world without lies. When she turns on the news, she hears only the
facts. When she swipes the pages of her online textbooks, she reads only
the truth. When she looks at the peaceful Chicago streets, she feels
the pride everyone in the country feels about the era of unprecedented
hope and prosperity over which the government presides.
But when
Meri’s mother is killed, Meri suddenly has questions that no one else
seems to be asking. And when she tries to uncover her mother’s state of
mind in her last weeks, she finds herself drawn into a secret world full
of facts she’s never heard and a history she didn’t know existed.
Suddenly,
Meri is faced with a choice between accepting the “truth” she has been
taught or embracing a world the government doesn’t want anyone to see—a
world where words have the power to change the course of a country, and
the wrong word can get Meri killed.
Quick
Thoughts:I know I have rated this one two stars, but it's really more of a one star for the second half. This just felt like such a copy of Divergent or any other dystopian of that time, without any true world building. It felt like the author had done very little planning as to where she wanted to go with the story, and altogether she set up a huge story and then barely scratched the surface of the world she created. Not a favourite unfortunately.
From the acclaimed author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns comes a fantastical new tale of darkness and love, in which magical bonds are stronger than blood.
Will
love break the spell? After cruelly rejecting Bao, the poor physician's
apprentice who loves her, Lan, a wealthy nobleman's daughter, regrets
her actions. So when she finds Bao's prized flute floating in his boat
near her house, she takes it into her care, not knowing that his soul
has been trapped inside it by an evil witch, who cursed Bao, telling him
that only love will set him free. Though Bao now despises her, Lan vows
to make amends and help break the spell.
Together, the two
travel across the continent, finding themselves in the presence of
greatness in the forms of the Great Forest's Empress Jade and Commander
Wei. They journey with Wei, getting tangled in the webs of war, blood
magic, and romance along the way. Will Lan and Bao begin to break the
spell that's been placed upon them? Or will they be doomed to live out
their lives with black magic running through their veins?
Quick
Thoughts: This was a super enjoyable, early-mid YA fantasy with some great characters, excellent dialogue and well thought out world-building. It's not a new favourite, but it was really fun to read and I'd recommend it to teenagers and adults looking for a fun fantasy.
Have you guys read any of these? Please let me know!
Quick
Thoughts:I was so excited when I read the synopsis of this one, but ultimately it fell flat for me personally. I do think that this is more of a personal taste thing, but I didn't feel in any way connected to the characters and I wasn't bothered about what was happening in the story. Ava was such a bland character and she made so many awful decisions that I did grow to resent her. I do appreciate the representation for sexual assult victims in this book though.
From the acclaimed author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns comes a fantastical new tale of darkness and love, in which magical bonds are stronger than blood.
