Book Review: The Rose & the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

The Rose & the Dagger
By Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath & the Dawn #2
Paperback: 448 pages
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Publisher: Speak
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | 5 / 5 |
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Related: | The Wrath & the Dawn | Star-Touched Queen |
Categories: Fantasy, Magic, Fairy Tale, Favorites

Book Review: The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath & the Dawn
By Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath & the Dawn #1
Paperback: 432 pages
Publication Date: May 12, 2015
Publisher: Speak
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | 5 / 5 |
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| Official Site | @RAhdieh | Facebook | 📷 |
Related: | Star-Touched Queen | Cinder |
Categories: Fantasy, Magic, Fairy Tale, Favorites

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Caraval
By Stephanie Garber
Series: Caraval #1
Hardcover: 407 pages
Publication Date: January 31, 2017
Publisher: Flatiron Books
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ( 5 out of 5 Stars )

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Related Reviews: | Splintered | Cinder |
Categories: Dark Fantasy, New Release

Remember, it’s only a game…

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away.

Book Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Uprooted
By Naomi Novik
Hardcover: 435 pages
Publication Date: May 19, 2015
Publisher: Del Rey
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ✰ ✰ ( 3 out of 5 Stars )

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Related Reviews: | The Shadow Queen | Cinder |
Categories: Fantasy, Magic, Fairy Tale Retelling

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Book Review: Beauty of the Beast by Rachel Demeter

Beauty of the Beast
By Rachel Demeter
Series: Fairy Tale Retellings Book 1
Ebook: 342
Publication Date: March 15, 2017
My Rating: ★ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ( 1 out of 5 Stars )

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Related Reviews: | The Shadow Queen | Heartless |
Categories: Fairy Tale Retelling, Historical Romance

A BEAST LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF HIS PAST

Reclusive and severely scarred Prince Adam Delacroix has remained hidden inside a secluded, decrepit castle ever since he witnessed his family’s brutal massacre. Cloaked in shadow, with only the lamentations of past ghosts for company, he has abandoned all hope, allowing the world to believe he died on that tragic eve twenty-five years ago.

A BEAUTY IN PURSUIT OF A BETTER FUTURE

Caught in a fierce snowstorm, beautiful and strong-willed Isabelle Rose seeks shelter at a castle—unaware that its beastly and disfigured master is much more than he appears to be. When he imprisons her gravely ill and blind father, she bravely offers herself in his place.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Stripped of his emotional defenses, Adam’s humanity reawakens as he encounters a kindred soul in Isabelle. Together they will wade through darkness and discover beauty and passion in the most unlikely of places. But when a monster from Isabelle’s former life threatens their new love, Demrov’s forgotten prince must emerge from his shadows and face the world once more…

Book Review: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Heartless
By Marissa Meyer
Series: Standalone
Hardcover: 453 pages
Publication Date: November 8, 2016
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
My Rating: ★ ★ ✰ ✰ ✰ (2 out of 5 Stars )

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Related Reviews: | Splintered | Cinder |
Categories: Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy, New Release

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.

Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Book Review: The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

The Shadow Queen
By C.J. Redwine
Series: Ravenspire #1
Hardcover: 387 pages
Publication Date: February 16, 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ( 3 out of 5 Stars )

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| Blog | @CJRedwine | Facebook |
Related Reviews: | Cinder | Heartless |
Categories: Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy, Dragons

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder
By Marissa Meyer
Series:The Lunar Chronicles #1
Hardcover: 390
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ✯ ( 4.5 out of 5 Stars )

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Related Reviews: | Heartless | Splintered Series |
Categories: Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy, Favorites

Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interference has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it "a matter of national security," but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on. Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that's been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an "honor" that no one has survived. But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.