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Review: Awaken by Meg Cabot

Title: Awaken
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: Abandon series
Rating: ★★★★

After being left wanting a little something more with Abandon and Underworld, Awaken really stepped it up and made an impact. It was the culmination of everything that had happened in the previous two novels and when things finally happened, it was wonderful.

Pierce has accepted her role as consort to the ruler of the Underworld. She’s made her decisions based on how she felt and what she thought was right for her. She’s finally found a place where she feels at home, like herself, and she’s happy to be there. When something goes horribly wrong, she must take on a new role and fight for the ones she loves. She must rely on the help of her new friends to face this new evil and save those she cares about.

The supporting characters are what really make this novel stand out to me. They don’t let Pierce shy away or ignore them. They make sure she knows she can rely on them for help, and they’ll be there for her whenever she needs help, sometimes even before she knows she needs it. They’re a different group of people, I wouldn’t call them normal, but they are there for Pierce and John when they need to be. They provide the real element of the novel.

I’m so relieved the storyline went where it did. Most of the little pieces that had been dropped in the first two novels were put in place. There were still a few things that seemed to fall too perfectly into place, and I wish the rules of the Underworld and real world were fleshed out more, but for what it was, the story was great. I had gone into this series thinking it was a modern take on the Persephone and Hades myth, and in a way it was. But it was more about figuring out how to fit into the world and deal with the things thrown your way.

Sadly, the relationship between Pierce and John still felt off. The spark just wasn’t there for me. They said they loved each other, but I just didn’t feel like it was really there. There was development, though, and I can see how down the road, there will be a great love between them. They finally trust and respect each other. I still don’t feel like it was love, but I can sense the potential and that was enough for me.

The Abandon series was not what I expected, but Awaken was the best ending to the series I could have imagined. It put nearly all the missing puzzle pieces back together and left me with a satisfied feeling at the end. This part of Pierce and John’s story is over, but it’s easy to imagine their future together. Overall a good series, even if it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be.

If Awaken sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Thank you to NetGalley and Scholastic Inc. for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Underworld by Meg Cabot

Title: Underworld
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: Abandon series
Rating: ★★★

Like Abandon, Underworld wasn’t quite what I expected. It’s still not the Persephone and Hades myth I was expecting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Underworld definitely has more of the myth elements, and the new characters that are introduced are fantastic, but I’m still wishing there was a little more myth influence.

John has taken Pierce away from the physical world and placed her in the safer Underworld. Here, at least, he can work to protect her from the Furies. In this, Underworld is like the Hades and Persephone myth. Pierce understands why John has done this, but that doesn’t mean she likes it. She’s a little in over her head with her new life and has trouble adjusting to the idea of leaving her old life behind. When she sees that her cousin Alex might be in trouble, all she wants to do is help him, not understanding the possible consequences.

A few of my favorite parts of this novel were the cast of characters introduced in the Underworld. The shipmates John relies on to do his job are all interesting, funny characters and they provide a light note, especially little Henry. I wouldn’t mind reading a book about the adventures this little group had gotten into. They were dynamic and really added something to the novel.

The relationship between John and Pierce still feels a little off to me. Maybe it’s because there hasn’t been much focus on it, but things feel rushed and stiff. I don’t see this love they proclaim to have for each other. A deep caring, I see. Love I don’t. It makes it difficult for me to understand the reasoning behind some of their choices. There’s still a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding between them and even though I enjoy the sweet moments, I can’t believe it’s love. It just doesn’t feel that way. I’m holding out hope that Awaken has the relationship development I’m looking for.

I find myself confused by the major plot of Underworld as well. I’m not sure the part Alex and his misadventures will play in the overall storyline, but I do see pieces of a puzzle falling into place. That didn’t stop me from being confused as to the Alex plot, though. It makes the novel feel as though it has split personality. Everything either has to do with the Underworld or with Alex, but not really both. I wish there was a better blend between the two.

Underworld was closer to the Persephone and Hades myth I keep hoping for, but there are still things holding it back. The relationship between John and Pierce doesn’t feel authentic yet and there’s a little bit of a problem with the flow of the novel, in my opinion. Those issues don’t stop it from being an enjoyable novel to read, though. I’m looking forward to finishing the series with Awaken and seeing how John and Pierce work together to figure out their lives in the Underworld.

If Underworld sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Book Talk: Companion Novels

Companion novels can be a tricky thing. They can either enhance the original novel and make the story feel complete, or they can take away from the original novel and make the series feel dry and overdone.

I’m the person that doesn’t need to know everything about what happens in a novel. I don’t need every question answered or every perspective given in order to enjoy a story. I like being able to guess and fill in the pieces with my own thoughts. This is why I’m usually a little cautious when it comes to reading companion novels.

Sometimes, companion novels just aren’t needed. The original story does such a great job of saying what needs to be said, that there isn’t anything else that needs to be voiced. When these novels get a companion, I usually avoid it. I don’t want to know anything else because I don’t need to know anything else. Others might need to know the other side of the story, and that’s fine. It’s just not for me.

Companion novels also run the risk of being repetitive. If all a companion novel does is rehash what happened in the original, it can be boring and dull. A companion novel needs to be its own story. It needs to be able to stand on its own without the aid of the original novel. That’s not to say the two novels can’t work together, but they need to be unique. If a companion novel can stand by itself and yet enhance the overall story, it’s a success. Those are the companion novels you want to read.

So how do you feel about companion novels? Good or bad? What are some that you think have worked?

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Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: Abandon series
Rating: ★★★

I’m all about mythology and modern takes on mythology. The Greek myths are especially interesting to read because they come filled with all their own drama. You don’t really have to look far to find a scandal. That’s why I was excited to give Cabot’s version of the Persephone myth a try.The story of Abandon takes place in two ways. We look at Pierce’s life now and how people think she’s adjusted after a near death experience, and we look at what happened during that near death experience through flashbacks. Pierce has her reasons for what has happened in the year and a half since she nearly died, but she can’t fully explain them to people. Her trip to the underworld has given her questions and problems she isn’t sure how to handle.

Not only is she struggling to understand what happened to her, but trouble keeps finding her and John magically appears ready to save her. Pierce’s heart is good and she cares a lot for people, but that caring let’s bad things follow her. I’m hoping that in the next novel, she finds some strength in standing up for herself and being a little bit selfish. I can overlook it because I can sense Pierce’s confusion about what is going on in her life. She doesn’t have the ability to think for herself when she’s trying to protect those around her.

The romance between Pierce and John felt a little stilted, but they weren’t the real focus of this novel, in my opinion. Their relationship felt a little rushed, but I’m hoping Underworld takes the time to flesh it out and make it bloom. The focus of this novel felt more centered on the necklace and setting up Pierce’s history, which worked well for me. It gave me the background to understand Pierce and where she is coming from.

As a retelling or reworking of the Hades and Persephone myth, it didn’t quite stand up. It does however, provide the set-up for the myth. I’m hoping to have more of the mythology come into play in the next novel. From how Abandon ends, I think this is where Cabot is taking it and I hope I’m right.

Abandon is a good novel to begin a new mythology series. It provides an excellent set-up for the world we are about to enter and leaves questions and puzzles open. It wasn’t quite what I had been expecting, but it was still good. I’m looking forward to reading what comes next for Pierce and John.

If Abandon sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Review: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

Title: The White Princess
Author: Philippa Gregory
Series: The Cousins’ War series
Rating: ★★★★★

Philippa Gregory has written yet another fantastic historical fiction novel. This time it centers on Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII and the mother of Henry VIII. She’s forced into marriage in order to unite the two sides of the Cousin’s War, but rarely feels at peace with her role in the new world her husband is forging. Her story is compelling and rich, and Gregory does an amazing job of telling it.

Elizabeth has always known she would be a pawn somehow, someway. As a female, she can’t rule, but she can give her husband the authority he needs to rule. So when Henry VII defeats her lover Richard III in battle and takes the title of king, she knows it will be her job to marry the victor. Their relationship starts out on horrible terms, with neither trusting the other or even liking each other. They know their marriage is one for show; Henry must marry Elizabeth to show a united front and Elizabeth must marry Henry to show the country who is king.

Even though their relationship starts out on bad terms, they come to form a type of love and respect for each other, even though it can never fully form. Henry doesn’t trust anyone who once sided with the York cause, including Elizabeth. There is always someone around the corner trying to take the throne away from him and that makes it hard for him to trust in others. Even when Elizabeth truly does not know anything about the plots surrounding her husband, the fact that she is a York is enough for Henry to distrust her.

Elizabeth played a different role in this novel than the women of the previous novels. In the previous novels, the women were determined and worked as hard as they could to secure their line on the throne. The men may have gone off to war, but the women were fighting their own battles. For Elizabeth, the struggle isn’t so much for the throne, but for who she is as queen. She is relatively safe with either side on the throne, but she must decide where her loyalties lie. She was raised a York, believing her brothers were the true heirs to the throne. However she creates a new line with the birth of Arthur, the Tudor line. She is played by both sides and must figure out which future she is willing to fight for.

I liked this internal struggle as compared to physical battle. There is still fighting and the battles one expects of a war, but getting inside Elizabeth’s mind as she is isolated yet loved, respected yet distrusted, fought over yet pushed aside was amazing. As much as Henry never felt secure, Elizabeth was just as questionable. Her fate was tied to people she had no control over, but she still fought to make her own path anyway. I wasn’t ready for a character like her, but I’m glad Gregory wrote her the way she did.

The White Princess has a different feel to it when compared to the other novels of the series. The fighting between the cousins has slowed, but not ended, and that leaves room for other factors to come into play. Instead of reading about the fight for a crown, this novel feels more like a fight for loyalties. Do you side with the family you are born with or with the family you have created? It’s a difficult question to answer but I feel like Gregory did a wonderful job looking at how Elizabeth of York handled that very question. This is yet another fantastic novel in the Cousin’s War series and it feels very bittersweet that it’s the second to last novel. Almost every story has been told and as much as I hate to see the end, I am looking forward to reading The Last Rose.

If The White Princess sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Can’t Wait for Mondays: A Radiant Sky by Jocelyn Davies

The Beautiful Dark series is one that I fell in love with from the very beginning. I’ve always been interested in the battle between light and dark, good and evil, and the Beautiful Dark deals with that topic in a gorgeous way.

If A Beautiful Dark and A Fractured Light  were about Skye trying to decide if she’s light or dark, A Radiant Sky is about her deciding she doesn’t have to be one or the other. She can chose to be neither and follow her own path.

As taken from the book description:

Since the night of her seventeenth birthday, Skye has been torn between two opposites: light and dark, the Order and the Rebellion, Devin and Asher. But in a shocking decision, she chose neither.

With the help of her friends, Skye now forges her own path, setting out to gather an uprising of Rogues. The elusive half-angels may be the key to maintaining the balance of fate and free will. But completing the mission her parents left unfinished is more difficult—and dangerous—than she could have imagined. And doing so comes at a cost: her greatest love may now be a lethal enemy. Because it’s not just the Order that sees her as a threat who must be eliminated. The Rebellion does, too.

Dark days lie ahead, and if Skye is to survive, she’ll need to rely on her extraordinary powers and the strength of her will. Because she has a future—and a love—that’s worth fighting for.

That has me extremely excited. I can’t see how this series might end and I’m so grateful I don’t have a clue. It sounds like there is going to be drama, romance, action…everything I love in a book. I’m sure my heart is going to be in my throat at times, but I have faith that Davies will end this series in the most beautiful, wonderful way possible, whatever that may be. I’m not even sure I know what I want to happen. I’m really looking forward to the surprises that are about come.

A Radiant Sky will be released in just a few short weeks, on September 24th. I’ve got my copy pre-ordered and can’t wait to start reading.

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Review: A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Title: A Certain Slant of Light
Author: Laura Whitcomb
Series: Light series
Rating: ★★★★

A Certain Slant of Light is not what I thought it would be, but that’s not a bad thing. It had been a while since I had read the book description, so I went in a little blind. I’m very glad I did.

Hellen has been Light for well over 150 years. She’s attached herself to different Hosts over the years, trying to stay out of her personal hell. Mr. Brown is her current host, but in one of his English classes, a boy sees her. He is Light, but he has stolen a body to live in. With his help. Helen steals the empty body of a girl at the same school.

James and Helen, the Light souls, learn to live in the bodies and lives of Billy and Jenny. Even though James and Helen find themselves falling in love, the bodies they inhabit are polar opposites and their families will do anything to keep them apart. Billy was a recovering drug addict and Jenny was raised in an extremely religious household. The only similarity between the two was the original souls left their bodies.

As James and Hellen try to continue their romance, the lives of Billy and Jenny continually get in the way. Billy’s brother is on her case constantly ands Jenny has been on the outside of her family’s religious looking in.

It was interesting to see how James and Helen tried to blend into the current world. To everyone else, they had some strange perks; to each other they made perfect sense. I really enjoyed the uniqueness of each side of the characters.

A Certain Slant of Light went a lot deeper than I expected. It is not a simply Young Adult novel; it’s more complex than that. I really think this is a book anyone can read and find meaning in.

If A Certain Slant of Light sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Review: The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio

Title: The Last Camellia
Author: Sarah Jio
Rating: ★★★★★

Yet another fantastic Jio novel, this time with a bit of a serial killer mystery thrown in. It was worth staying up late to read. There’s always coffee for the morning after a good book.

The Last Camellia takes place at a manor house in England as World War II encroaches on their doorstep as well as more than half a century later. In the ’40s, it is Flora’s story we are following as she works as a nanny, all the while being blackmailed into searching for a rare, one-of-a-kind camellia tree. She doesn’t expect to love the children she’s taking care of, or to fall in love while at the manor house, but she can’t help it. More than half a century later, Addison and her husband take up residence for the summer as Addison tries to escape her past without letting it ruin her future.

The murder mystery is fantastic. I had my suspicions, but the reveal was dramatic and wonderful. It was amazing to see all these clues fall together in one pivotal moment. And the parallels between the past and the present lined up, leaving me on the edge of my seat and forgoing sleep just to finish. I cared so much for what happened to Flora and Addison that I couldn’t put the book down, even as my eyes fought to close.

Flora wants so much to be the good, helpful daughter who solves her parents’ problems. Her desires are played on and she is sent to England to pose as a nanny while working for a flower thief ring. She’s only supposed to gain the family’s trust, find the camellia, and report back. She soon finds herself enjoying taking care of the children and seeing them come alive. She makes friends in the house staff. She falls in love with the eldest son. But the con man she’s working for is always looming in the background, threatening her family if she doesn’t cooperate. On top of that, her appearance falls right in the middle of a serial killer’s rein, when girls are disappearing and no one knows who is behind it, even though they all have their suspicions.

Addison has been trying to escape what happened 15 years ago ever since the night it happened. She’s burdened by what happened in one night and someone won’t let her forget. She tries escaping to England, thinking getting away from the scene of the crime will give her a reprieve and a chance to come clean to her husband. The opportunity rarely presents itself, however, and she’s left feeling more confused than ever. She’s helping her husband write his novel, feeling inspired by the manor house they are living in. Even as everything looks like it’s falling into place, the truth starts to pop up and she can’t escape it this time.

I think at this point it’s safe to say Jio is one of my favorite authors. She has such a way with words, of blending the past and the present. Her novels show that everything is connected, even through time. What affects one person years ago can still have the power to affect people today. The stories are never easily confused, with each story having clear characters and plot, but as the novel carries on, the weaves and braids start to show themselves and it’s wonderful every time.

The Last Camellia is a superb story spanning decades that will have your heart in your throat, hands clutching the pages, needing to read just one more page. It grabs you right away and doesn’t let go until long after you’ve read the last word. This is a must read book.

If The Last Camellia sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Can’t Wait for Monday: Everneath Series by Brodi Ashton

On my to-read shelf, there are a couple of series waiting to be read. I got tired of reading a book and having to wait a year for the next one, followed by another year for the last one. So I decided to wait. The Everneath series is one that I have been watching and waiting for and finally it’s almost complete.

I love mythology and modern retelling of myths, so Everneath seemed like it would be my cup of tea. The Hades and Persephone myth is one that I’ve always found fascinating. Half the year, Persephone can do as she pleases, go where she likes, be who she wants to be. The other half of the year, she must remain by Hades and look over the Underworld, even though that wasn’t her choice.

I’ve been (not so) patiently waiting until the final book of the series is released so I can sit down and binge read. Evertrue is set to be released in January and you can be sure I will be buying my copy of Everneath, Everbound, and Evertrue  before locking myself away and not surfacing until I’ve read my way through them.

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Review: Once We Were by Kat Zhang

Title: Once We Were
Author: Kat Zhang
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles series
Rating: ★★★★

What’s Left of Me introduced me to a different world. In this world, people are only supposed to have one soul, and yet some bodies keep both souls they were born with. It’s almost like a survival of the fittest, but in individual form. It was something I had never read before and even though there was potential for confusion, Zhang pulled it off wonderfully. So when I was given an advanced copy of Once We Were, I was excited and ready to read. There is so much potential in the world Zhang has created that I couldn’t wait to get started.

Once We Were follows the ending of What’s Left of Me right away. We’re introduced to the new world Addie and Eva live in, after breaking out of Nornand, the hybrid correctional facility. They have to hide away from the world out of fear of being recognized. They want to help rescue other children facing a horrible fate of surgeries and possible death. They want to be alone, but don’t know how to live without each other.

Addie and Eva are part of a resistance group, but they feel like they aren’t doing enough. So when the opportunity to make an impact presents itself, Eva jumps on it. As they get pulled further into the band of fugitives, the divide between Eva and Addie grows. They want to do good and help, but at what cost? What are they willing to do in order to show what is really being done to the hybrid children?

Not only are Eva and Addie divided when it comes to how to deal with being a fugitive, but their hearts are going in different directions as well. As Eva falls for Ryan, Addie develops feelings of her own. Neither soul enjoys being a background participant in these relationships, so Addie and Eva begin to disappear for greater lengths of time so one soul can have her private time. Even this causes problems, though. The only thing they can rely on is their trust in each other, but there are moments this is put to the test. Disappearing from your body only to reappear hours later without knowing what happened in between has great potential for problems.

The action in this novel was perfect. I can see the struggle Eva and Addie are going through, trying to decide what is right and what is wrong, as well as how to deal with the mounting pressures around them. They are two entirely different people, living two different lives, and yet they are one in the same. I find this struggle amazing to read. It could easily be confusing and frustrating to read, but Zhang has a way of making everything clear, while still making you feel frustrated. You feel for these characters and the fact that for years, one soul was considered less than, but now there’s a way to be equal again. It’s simply fascinating to read.

Once We Were is a fantastic sequel that doesn’t fall off the Cliff of No Point, like so many other middle novels have done. It moves the story along, but it has its own growth and plot. It takes the feelings from the first novel and magnifies them to a point where they can’t be ignored. Everything about this novel has me anxious and ready for the final novel. The story of Eva and Addie still has so much to be told and I can’t wait to read what comes next.

If Once We Were  sounds like your kind of novel, you can purchase it here:
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Thank you to Edelwiess and HarperCollins for providing an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.