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The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory

Here’s the thing. I love history. A lot. I love when Philippa Gregory novels. A lot. The fact that her books are historical novels makes me nearly giddy. I might love Gregory’s novels to the point I almost hate them just a little bit, too. The Kingmaker’s Daughter was no exception.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the story of Anne Neville and her road to becoming queen. It starts when she is 8 years old and ends when she is 28. She starts off as her father’s pawn, a way to move higher in importance by marrying her off to the best offer. Her father uses her to try and win back his power over the king after King Edward’s (of the York side) wife and her family steal his influence away. She is married to Prince Edward of the Lancaster side as a way to buy a tie to the kingship. After her husband dies and the Lancaster line is officially ended, she loses nearly all her potential power and influence.

It is at this moment she starts to make choices for herself. She knows there are very few options to gain independence for herself, so she takes the next best road and marries someone she cares a great deal for, and eventually loves. Richard. I never doubted for a second that they came to love each other. To begin with, it almost feels as though the marriage is one of purpose. She wants to leave the house of her sister and brother-in-law, and Richard wants access to the land, wealth, and power her name brings. But by the end of the novel, there was love there.

The princes in the tower are touched upon, and yet nothing is definitively said about their fate. I like that Gregory doesn’t try to take a side. She keeps that mystery going and I appreciate that.

In the past 3 novels, I had come to form an opinion of Anne Neville and it wasn’t the greatest. Even though I saw her as a product of those around her, I wasn’t overly fond of her character in the last three books. However, when it’s finally her turn to tell the story, I fell in love with her and started to despise characters I had loved previously.

This is what I love most about The Cousins’ War series. In one novel, a character is painted as horrible, but the next makes him or her lovable. There isn’t one “villain” you can root against. They are all good and bad. Gregory has taken the stories we read in history books and made them into people. I can’t get enough of it.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is yet another brilliant addition to The Cousins’ War series and I’m hopelessly upset I have to wait another year to hear Elizabeth of York’s story.

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Covet by Melissa Darnell

I really liked Crave. I wasn’t sure Covet could top it. I was totally, completely, 100% wrong. As much as I liked Crave, Covet was so much better.

Savannah is trying to deal with her changing body, mind, and life. She had to promise the vampire counsel she’d break up with Tristan, and she has to start learning to deal with her emerging vampire self. On top of that, she has to deal with the Clann members’ prejudices and being a teen in high school. She doesn’t have it easy in this book. And yet, she faces it all with bravery and keeps her strength through the entire book.

One little thing I absolutely loved was that after Savannah and Tristan broke up, they weren’t together again two pages later. Savannah stuck to her decision, knowing that at the time, it was what was best in the long run for every single person involved. As much as she wanted to give in and be with Tristan, she knew too many people would be at risk, Tristan especially. Even though it broke her heart, she knew not being able to be with Tristan, but keeping him alive, was better than giving him and possibly draining him. Her strength when it came to this was amazing.

Savannah’s best friend Anne really steps it up, too, which I didn’t see coming. But I am so, so happy she did. It was one of those things I didn’t realize I wanted until I read it. She doesn’t sit back and play the quiet best friend. She makes herself powerful in her own right.

The Clann series is not about vampires and witches. Those are only the backdrop for a fantastic series filled with tension, growing up and making tough decisions, looking beyond yourself to see what needs to be done, and finding the strength inside yourself to be the person you need to be versus the person you want to be.

Covet was a fantastic follow up novel to Crave. I couldn’t put it down. It’s definitely a must read.

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Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin

I liked parts of this novel, and others fell a little flat. I’m not sure this was the best book to introduce me to Martin’s writings.

The book starts off in the future, with Freya being carted off for evacuation. And then we’re suddenly in 1985. The thing I really loved about Martin’s writing was how she fit her writing style to what was happening in the book. When we first come upon Freya in 1985, the writing was stunted, had shorter sentences. It made everything feel just a little off, exactly how Freya was feeling. When Freya begins to understand, the writing becomes more free flowing and comfortable. This was able to get the feelings across, even if the words themselves had a bit of trouble doing the same.

There isn’t a lot of character development, but it didn’t bother me as much as it usually does. Neither main character goes through anything majorly transforming, but I feel like Yesterday is more about getting away from the people after them and less about gaining major personal insight. I think that’s why I was okay with the characters’ small growth.

The future described in the novel is something that could actually happen, in a way, and I liked that. Martin didn’t create a hugely exaggerated future in order to make her characters fit. She created an extremely realistic picture of the future and didn’t have to go through great and drastic lengths to make it work. It was easy to believe and I liked that.

Overall, Yesterday is a fine novel that isn’t exceptional, but isn’t horrible. It’s a good read if you’re in the mood for an action story with some love sprinkled in. It’s not a deep, character rich novel, but it is a good read.

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The Mephisto Kiss by Trinity Faegen

The thing I like most about book series like The Mephisto Covenant is that one story does not entirely depend on the other. Unlike trilogies, where if you don’t read book 1, books 2 and 3 don’t make sense, it helps if you read book 1, but it is its own story. It’s part of a whole, but separate as well.

The Mephisto Covenant was a fantastic book. The Mephisto Kiss was even better. Kyron, Key gets his turn at finding redemption in the Anabo Jordan. However, as much as she can get past his being a son of Hell, there are certain other things that she doesn’t know if she can forgive and accept as a part of him. That’s the major influence of this book; finding that understanding and being able to love all of a person, including those parts that are the toughest.

I liked Jordan. She wasn’t princess like at all, even though she could have easily been taken that way. She wanted to fight for herself right away and refused to let anything hold her back. She was going to work to be what she needed to be, and she was even able to sacrifice part of herself to help people she just met.

Key is broken in a unique way. He keeps himself closed off from his brothers, being the leader instead of having a relationship with them like they have with one another. He doesn’t show emotion and keeps everything under the skin, away from where people can see it. Jordan can see right through him and makes him confront the parts of him he’d rather hide. Their relationship felt like a slow build, even though it didn’t take much time at all. It still felt completely right and wonderful.

The ending nearly broke my heart. I definitely wasn’t prepared for that, but after finishing it, there was no other way for this book to end. I can’t wait for the next book to come out and I get the chance to see who the next brother to be featured is. Faegen has created a world and a family I’m 100% invested in and I love her for it.

The Mephisto Kiss is definitely a book to read, even if The Mephisto Covenant wasn’t your favorite book. The Mephisto Kiss will grab your heart and not let go, but in the best way possible.

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The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegen

I put off reading The Mephisto Covenant because I had read some not so good reviews and I wasn’t really in the mood to read a book that might let me down. And I kept putting it off until I finally decided I was being weird and just needed to read it for myself. My only regret is that I did not read it sooner.

This isn’t a huge thought-provoking read. It’s not going to turn you on your side and twist you around before leaving you a little dazed and confused. There’s a ton of clichés, some inconsistencies, a few too many convenient coincidences, and quite a bit of info dumping in the first few chapters. And yet, I really enjoyed it. Somehow, the new twist on the mythology was able to make up for everything else in the novel that would usually annoy me.

Sasha’s life is upended in the span of just a couple days. She escapes death at the hands of some of her classmates, her mother is sent to Russia, she moves in with an uncle she didn’t know she had with an aunt that hates her, and she learns she is an Anabo, a daughter of Aurora (the daughter of Adam and Eve). Despite all of this, she doesn’t give up on her life and makes the best of what she has been dealt. Yes, she is a bit of a damsel in distress at times, but she can also take care of herself.

Jax is the son of Mephistopheles, a son of Hell. He can only find redemption in the love of an Anabo. He comes across Sasha one evening while on a raid of Eryx’s Ravens, lost souls, and he knows that there is a reason he has found her.

These two don’t fall in love immediately, like so many young adult novels have their characters do. Instead, there’s lust at first sight, but both characters try to act the way they think they should, and don’t act upon that lust (much). Only after spending time with each other, which admittedly is still not much time, do they start to fall for one another.

There was enough action to keep me turning from page to page, not wanting to take a break. There was enough romance to make me smile and swoon. The story was unique and not the typical angel story. The Mephisto Covenant is a fantastic book that despite a shaky start, and having more of the typical Young Adult pitfalls than I can usually read, managed to pull me in and make me enjoy it. This is definitely a book for anyone who likes a bit of angel mythology wrapped up in the action and romance.

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Blink Once by Cylin Busby

This book was both predictable and completely unpredictable. I knew what was coming before I even started reading, and yet I was completely shocked by how much I love this story anyway.

West wakes up, unable to talk, to move, to breathe on his own. He knows he’s in the hospital, but he doesn’t know why or how he got there. And then he meets Olivia.

Olivia understands what he’s thinking, and becomes West’s best friend. Eventually, they start to fall in love with each other. But then things get difficult between the two and where there hadn’t been a wall before, now they can’t get around it to see each other.

Blink Once follows the plot you think it will follow. But what you won’t realize when you start is how much it will pull you in and make you feel as you read it. Sure, I wasn’t flipping through pages anxiously, trying to figure out what the next plot twist was going to be, but that was okay. Not having to know what’s next left the door wide open for me to fall in love with this story, the characters, and their relationship.

If you are looking for a book that knows how to mix a complex enough plot, a love story, some mystery, and just a touch and heartache, then this is a book you need to read. It will grab you by the heart and not let go until the final word.

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Beyond: A Ghost Story by Graham McNamee

Beyond is not your typical ghost story. Instead of a ghost haunting a thing or location, this time the ghost is haunting a girl. And trying to end her life in the process.

It took me a little while to get into the story. The beginning felt like a lot of explanation and not much of the creepiness a ghost story usually has. However, once the ball got rolling and the book started to deal with the ghost, why Jane was being haunted, and what caused the boy haunting her to die, I was hooked. The stories of Jane and her ghost are weaved together wonderfully, telling a little bit of the ghost’s story, but not enough to figure it out.

There’s a nice mix of suspense, romance, and action. There wasn’t a dull moment, and with every page I was wondering what was going to happen next. The fact that Jane doesn’t always trust herself with what she’s seeing or feeling makes you wonder if what she sees is true, or if it’s her head playing tricks on her. It only made the suspense better.

Overall, Beyond is a good ghost story that won’t have you feeling absolutely freaked out, but you’ll jump when you hear any unexplained noises.

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The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

I’ve only read one of Albom’s books, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, but I loved it. He has a way of getting a message across without becoming too preachy. The Time Keeper is no different.

Dor is an amazing character. He’s brilliant in life, discovering the patters that mark the passage of the day. But it comes at a cost. As he falls deeper into tracking the progress of the as yet unnamed time, he loses track of what he really needs to pay attention to. His family. He sees them, yes, but he loses those little tiny moments you appreciate later in life, more than any big gesture that may happen. Because he has taken his knowledge of time, and it has spread, unwillingly, he is taken and made to live in solitude, listening to people bemoan the passage of time.

Sarah is a teen girl, ridiculed for things in her life, lowering her self esteem to a point where she wants no more time in her life. She can’t see the future waiting for her; she can’t see how these problems are something she can overcome and in the end make her life so much better than she thinks it can be. She doesn’t see that the teen years give way to the twenties, the thirties, the forties and beyond, giving her so many years to experience the love she desperately wants.

Victor is a man who wants more time. He’s not ready to give up his time on Earth, to give into his age and let the natural order of the world take over. He only looks towards the future, forgetting he needs to live in the present and appreciate what he has when he has it. He can’t see the amazing life he has had and appreciate the time he has been given.

The almost choppy style of the writing fits really well. Albom doesn’t spend too much time one each person’s story before jumping to the next, tying them together, showing how so many stories can carry on at the same time.

In the end, I was left tearing up, and thinking about how well I manage my own time, giving it to the people and things that matter most in life, and making moments that I’ll remember later on in life. The Time Keeper is yet another amazing Mitch Albom novel that everyone should read. It makes you think and leaves your heart feeling happy.

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Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I wasn’t a huge fan of Divergent. I didn’t like Tris’ moral character, I didn’t swoon for Four, and I certainly didn’t buy their relationship. The only thing I really liked was how well Roth can write action.

Insurgent didn’t really change my feelings toward the series all that much.

I will still say Roth can write action. There’s hardly a moment of rest, and the few moments the characters do get are filled with the tension of waiting for the next big scene. It was fast-paced and amazing. I could picture everything in my head as I read, and the fight scenes were complex, but written in a way that makes it easy to picture.

Unfortunately, I still don’t really like Tris. Where in Divergent I thought she lost all sense of a moral center, in Insurgent she become reckless and stupid, under the guise of being brave and strong. Being brave does not mean tossing yourself into situations because you can. Brave is knowing when, how, and why to fight and when, how, and why to stand down. Tossing your life around because you can is not being brave or strong. I really, really hope Roth can finally make Tris the character she needs to be in the last book, but to be honest; I’m not holding my breath at this point.

The relationship between Tris and Tobias (Four) feels strained. There’s too much hidden, too many lies and little betrayals to have it feel like a good relationship. There’s only so many times a couple can ignore the problems with their relationship by making out before it blows up in their faces and can’t be repaired.

The action is the only thing that kept me reading this book. Knowing me, I will read the last book, simply because I’ve made it this far and I want to know how it ends. The twist at the end does have me interested, but unless the characters can manage to salvage themselves in the third book, this isn’t going to be a stand out series for me.

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Frozen by Mary Casanova

I really, really enjoyed Frozen. More than I thought I would. It tells Sadie’s coming of age story extremely well, and even though the mystery wasn’t really much of a mystery for me, I still found myself reading as quickly as I could, wanting to know the next chapter of the story.

Sadie Rose has been the unofficial daughter of the Worthingtons for 11 years, after the death of her mother and nearly freezing to death herself. She’s been mute since then, finding other ways to communicate. When she stumbles across pictures of her mother, something starts to change. She finds her voice, and learns that words can make her powerful.

She starts to fight against the confines she’s been held in for 11 years. She wants to think and be her own person, not held back by who her mother was, who the Worthingtons want her to be. She wants to find out where she comes from, and use that to decide who she wants to be. It makes for a compelling story about finding your own power and knowing who you are.

The relationship I loved most in this novel was the one between Sadie Rose, Aasta and Hans. Aasta and Hans give Sadie the loving relationship she needs and wants, and they give her the care the Worthingtons don’t. Their interactions always gave me a smile.

Frozen is a novel different than what I’ve been reading lately. It’s 1920’s setting gives it an interesting backdrop that really works with the underlying mystery. It’s a good read and definitely one I’ll be recommending to people.