Tag Archives: Seriously…You Must Read This

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Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

I haven’t read anything of Jio’s before. Blackberry Winter was a Kindle Daily Deal and the description sounded interesting. At worst, I’d be out three dollars. At best, I’d find one of those gems that sneak up on you. Blackberry Winter is definitely a gem.

Blackberry Winter weaves together two different tales of struggles and loss. Vera heads to work one evening and when she leaves there is snow blanketing the ground and her son is gone. Claire’s life is in pieces and it takes a snow storm to put her on the path to fixing herself. The stories are beautifully interwoven, constantly pulling at my heart and never giving a moment of rest.

I did figure out early on most of how the characters are connected. I initially thought that knowing the big mystery would take me out of the novel. It didn’t at all. I still needed to know how things got from point A to point B and all the little pieces in the middle.

Vera’s story had me in tears. The pain she went through is something no mother should ever have to go through. And to have it set in 1933, when times were dire or times were fantastic, all depending on how much money there was to your name. She worked hard to make life as good as she could for her son, and it was so easy to feel the love she had for him.

Claire is going through her own heartache. Her world has been broken to bits and she’s not sure how she’s supposed to put it back together. When a May snowstorm hits and she comes the story of Vera and Daniel Ray, something in her compels her to dig the truth out. She needs to find out how Vera’s story ends and I loved going on that journey with her.

Sarah Jio is an author that hadn’t been on my radar before. But after reading Blackberry Winter, I will definitely be reading more of her writings. She wove a breathtaking story through these pages and had me tearing up at the end. This is a book that needs to be read.

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The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Some books are so good that when you reach the last chapter, after every line, you look away and say “I just can’t handle this. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” The Crown of Embers is one of those books.

Elisa grew up so much in The Girl of Fire and Thorns, that I wasn’t sure there would be any room left for her to grow. I was so wrong. She still doesn’t have the strength she needs to rule a country. She’s not that sure of her own power yet. Despite her best efforts, she’s able to be manipulated and the glory of her victory in war is starting to fade. She’s not weak, however. She is willing to do whatever she needs to save her country and its people, and she’s definitely not stupid about how she fights her battles.

The romance in this one had me feelings like a giant puddle of goo. Her love with Humberto was sweet, and it’s a love she’ll never forget. First loves are like that. I’ll even admit to spending the first couple chapters just wishing Humberto would make a surprise appearance. But then, something wonderful happened and now I’m even more in love with Elisa’s romance. It’s built upon trust and respect and it’s so, so, so amazing.

Once again, Carson is able to build Elisa’s wonder fantastically. Every location is beautifully described, jumping off the page and coming to life.

The Crown of Embers is one of my favorite books of the year. It’s filled with everything I love and nothing I don’t. Carson writes the story I didn’t even realize I wanted and she does it so perfectly that there really isn’t anything I can say against it. The Crown of Embers is a book that deserves to be read and I really can’t wait for The Bitter Kingdom.

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Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

I had never read a book written in free verse style. It’s not really my thing. I prefer my poetry to be poetry and my novels to be novels. That said, there is no other way this story could have been told. I simply don’t think all the emotion and passion and heartbreak could have gotten across any other way.

The characters in Exposed are amazingly well-written. They aren’t really black and white, but I felt for them in some way in every poem. The story is told through Liz’s point of view, and her aching was completely visible and palpable. It oozed off the page and crawled under my skin until I was a teary mess because it was horrible, and yet the book was so good.

The way Marcus didn’t really give a definitive answer on the major plot point was genius. I didn’t need to know the yes or no answer. Either way, it was a horrible situation and an answer wasn’t going to solve it. Too much hurt had already happened for any result to heal the wounds.

There honestly isn’t anything else I can say about this book, except that people need to read it. It is so incredibly raw and powerful that there aren’t words that adequately describe how stunning this book is in its heartbreak.