Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers #1) by Nicki Pau Preto

Synopsis:

 

I had a sister, once…

In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart.

I promised her the throne would not come between us.

Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks.

But it is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled.

Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals a tangled web of lies between them that will change everything. And meanwhile, the new empire has learned of the Riders’ return and intends to destroy them once and for all.

Sometimes the title of queen is given. Sometimes it must be taken.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Whoa. I did NOT expect to enjoy Crown of Feathers as much as I did. In fact, I never thought I'd read it at all. As much as I love animals irl, I tend to find magical animal-based stories a bit childish and boring. So while I love the cover for this novel, the synopsis didn't intrigue me at all. But after finding the OwlCrate edition of this in a used book store, I thought "what the heck, why not?" and gave this a try. BOY AM I GLAD I DID.

I will admit, this started off rough. Between the constant info-dumping and not especially engaging writing, I really believed I wouldn't get more than 100 pages into this before dnfing. The beginning of this book is so clunky and lackluster, but once it hits its stride, Crown of Feathers ends up being a lot more deep and interesting than its beginning makes it out to be.

Despite the massive info-dumping at the novel's open, I thought this world would be nothing more than what I would expect from a standard YA fantasy - some dead queens, oppression of the magical folks, a past war - as usual lacking complexity and feeling generic and interchangeable with similar titles in the genre. But this book ended up being so politically driven?! Rather than being a backdrop, the repercussions of the dead queens and past war are still felt by every single character throughout the novel in complex and interesting ways. The world-building still didn't blow me out of the water, but it did feel unique.

But even as the characters become more and more entrenched in the politics and consequences of their world, I really appreciated how the characters still felt like teens. This didn't feel like young YA, which I personally don't enjoy, but nor did it feel like YA where the characters act like they should be in their mid-twenties. The three main characters - Veronyka, Tristan, and Sev - were dynamic and complicated, yet still had the uncertainties that come with being young. This was probably one of the most realistic portrayals of teens in fantasy I've seen yet.

Also, can I just shout out how wonderful the LGBT+ rep in this is? It's so organic - perhaps to the point of subtley, but as a queer person that always has eagle eyes on the page for my people, it was really refreshing to read about LGBT+ characters that weren't coded as such through stereotypes or explicit on the page romance. Of course, I expect those romantic elements will kick up a notch in the next book, but I just loved seeing queer people being queer without queerness defining who they are as a person. While those stories are obviously important in literature, sometimes a bi girl just wants to read about queer people without overwhelming romance elements.

Overall, this book took me by such surprise in the best way possible. I expected a younger side of YA story with a generic plot and world, but instead got realistic and complex teen characters, a politically charged world, and LGBT+ rep that really meant something to my little bi heart. I can't wait for the next book!

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black

Synopsis:

 

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…

Rating: 🌟🌟

 

I'd like to preface this review by saying that The Cruel Prince is my favorite book of all time. It's stood the test of two years and four reads and still managed to be my #1. So to say my expectations of The Queen of Nothing were high is an understatement. But considering how great The Wicked King was as a follow up to my favorite book and Holly Black's two decades of experience as an author, I had so much hope that this would be incredible.

I was wrong.

I just wanted so much MORE from this novel. Just like how The Wicked King amped up everything that made up The Cruel Prince - more scheming, more bargains, more betrayal - I expected The Queen of Nothing to intensify that even more. I wanted to see Jude raise an army. I wanted Jude to march on Elfhame to steal back her kingdom. I wanted Jude to find some clever way to backstab or blackmail her way back to Faerie, just as she made herself a kingmaker and a queen in the previous two novels. I wanted this novel to be so big and dramatic that I was white-knuckled on the book screaming the entire time I read it. And that just...never happened.

The pacing in this is terrible. With the previous two novels, the events of the books built so carefully, getting crazier and more intense with each chapter, until everything finally came to a head with an insane plot twist at the end. But in The Queen of Nothing, what felt like post-climax events were occurring 150 pages in and it was completely jarring. And, unlike the previous novels that meticulously set up for things to occur, I felt like events in QoN happened and were resolved so quickly that I had no time to feel the weight of them. Holly Black packed A LOT of content into this book, but the novel simply isn't long enough to support the sheer amount of characters and story that happens, so everything that happens in the book feels rushed.

The characters by far suffered the most because this book is too short. Considering what Taryn reveals to Jude within the first few chapters, there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL to explore the similarities between Jude and Taryn - rather than their differences, as the previous two books did - and complicate their relationship. But that doesn't happen. The Bomb and the Roach? Deserved so much more than the three pages their relationship got. And don't even get me started on the 180 Jude and Cardan's relationship takes. While I expected the outcome of their relationship, the development of it was so incredibly weak in this book that it feels almost like it came out of nowhere. Jude and Cardan's relationship was absolutely magnetic in the previous two books, as these two incredibly layered and dynamic characters overlapped. All that chemistry is just GONE in The Queen of Nothing. I'm frankly devastated over it.

Plus, everything felt a bit too convenient. Jude needed x thing? Oh, this super powerful old faerie side character will just give it to her! While I was reading, all I could think to myself was, "what the hell happened to the complicated bargains and clever thinking needed on Jude's part from the previous books?" I have a hard time believing that just because Jude is secretly queen of Elfhame, suddenly all these literally ancient faeries are just going to give her things without extracting their pound of flesh.

And don't even talk to me about that final plot twist. I won't be spoiling anything, but I hate it. I hate it. It's the kind of mediocre, clunky twist I would expect from a debut author finishing up their first trilogy, not a seasoned writer with two decades and a massive backlist of titles under their belt. Not only is it lame, but it's a complete tonal shift away from what the trilogy has been about: politics and the machinations of court. What I love about Jude is how her strength doesn't necessarily come from her physical prowess, but her knowledge of faeries and skill in manipulating them through her own cleverness. I feel like that's the whole point of the books: to show that even though Jude lacks the immortal body and power of a faerie, she can be just as "worthy" and powerful as them because of her intelligence. So the fact that the climax of the final book, the literal PINNACLE of the entire trilogy, has absolutely nothing to do with that...I could scream, friends. For days.

(I also guessed how the final twist would resolve as soon as the twist happened and guess what? I was right. I loved these books because they always caught me by surprise. My disappointment has projected me onto another plane of existence.)

I still have questions too! Like what was the point of Cardan's mom being freed? After the events of The Wicked King, I assumed she'd be a major player in the final book, but she isn't. Why were there no consequences or follow up for what Taryn reveals she's done at the very beginning of the book? And I still don't really understand the Ghost's actions in this book, considering he told Jude he "serves Dain, not her" in The Wicked King. Holly Black set up for several threads at the end of WK and beginning of QoN, yet never follows through on them. It's frustrating, because not only do I lack closure in those areas, but as a result, I was baited to expect a certain direction for the book and it went down a totally different path.

But you know what? I think I could've been okay with this conclusion - still very disappointed, but okay - if the dang novel hadn't been so short. Just 100 more pages, and I think the characters and plot would've been developed enough for me to feel satisfied with The Queen of Nothing, even though I wanted so much more. But the book wasn't. So, completely heartbroken that my favorite book of all time was done so dirty by such a weak conclusion, it's a 2 stars from me.

Side note, but I went to one of Holly Black's tour events for The Queen of Nothing. During the event, she explained that she knew the most about The Cruel Prince and the least about The Queen of Nothing. She also said she threw out her entire outline for QoN and did something else, which is the book we got. It makes me so sad to think about, because I feel like this novel really reflects how unplanned it was.

There Will Come a Darkness (The Age of Darkness, #1) by Katy Rose Pool

Synopsis:

 

For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations―until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared.

All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation . . . or the cause of its destruction. As chaos takes hold, five souls are set on a collision course:

A prince exiled from his kingdom.
A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand.
A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart.
A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone.
And a dying girl on the verge of giving up.

One of them―or all of them―could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer?

Rating: 🌟🌟

 

I'm heartbroken that I didn't really enjoy this. I was SO excited for it before release.

The main reason I didn't care much for There Will Come a Darkness boils down to this: it felt too young for me. I don't expect YA to cater to me as a 22-year-old adult, but I often find YA stories still appeal to me and because this book was described as a more mature version of the Falling Kingdoms series, I thought I'd love it.

The writing style and characters were just too simplistic for me. Not to mention, the pacing as so break-neck that I felt more "wait what?" when a conflict was introduced and solved within 30 pages, rather than engaged.

I heard that the book gets really crazy and twisty around the halfway point, but was I the only one that could see every plot twist from a mile away? The foreshadowing was so obvious with every "twist" that nothing surprised me. In fact, I was more surprised when the novel treated something as a big reveal, when it had already been obvious to me for chapters and chapters before.

Additionally, I really didn't like how the LGBT+ characters were written. I can't exactly put my finger on what exactly made me uncomfy about how they were portrayed. But as a queer person, the LGBT+ rep felt more like the book was trying to win diversity points than boost up the LGBT+ community. The way that the male queer characters were portrayed, especially, felt really off to me. Again, I'm not exactly sure what exactly made me feel that way, only that I did whenever there was a hint of non-straight romance.

I think if you liked Children of Blood and Bone or The Gilded Wolves, you'll love this. But as someone who didn't enjoy either of the aforementioned novels, There Will Come a Darkness just wasn't for me.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Synopsis:

 

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

If you loved Naomi Novik's Uprooted or Spinning Silver, you have to read this.

Objectively, this is an excellent novel. It's got mythology you likely haven't read about before, a quietly lovable heroine, and intense fairy tale vibes. In a sea of retellings, Gods of Jade and Shadow stands out as something fresh and unique. However, I just couldn't jive with the writing of this novel and so, while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it.

One of my favorite aspects of this novel was the history and mythology. I've never read a novel set in 1920's Mexico, and so a lot of the folklore surrounding the story was entirely new to me. Because of that, the story and setting felt very original to me personally. The 1920's setting added an interesting juxtaposition between the ancient and the modern, and I liked seeing how gods and demons adjusted - or didn't - to the presence of technology. Additionally, Silvia Moreno-Garcia set the scene at the beginning of most chapters by giving a brief history of the areas Casiopea travels to, which I really enjoyed. I'm not nearly as familiar with Mexican history and mythology as I'd like to be, so it gave me needed context that only enhanced my reading experience.

Where the book didn't work for me was in the writing and type of story. The writing is fairly blunt and doesn't rely much on sensory detail to tell the story. Instead, Moreno-Garcia is the type of writer that paints a picture for you, rather than has you experience it. I think this writing style enhanced by the folklore vibes, but as someone who prefers sensory writing to picturesque writing, it made me have a hard time losing myself in the story, and thus connecting with the characters.

I also found the story itself to be kind of boring. Gods of Jade and Shadow is a journey narrative, and I don't tend to enjoy journey narratives. The events usually feel too random and disjointed to engage me, and this novel was no different.

Ultimately, my 3 star rating of this book comes down to personal enjoyment more than anything else. If you don't have an issue with journey narratives or specific writing tastes, I reckon you'll thoroughly enjoy this. 

 ARC provided by Penguin Random House via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely (A Curse So Dark and Lonely, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

Synopsis:

 

Fall in love, break the curse.

Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

3.5 stars. I was really excited for this, but it ended up being a pretty standard YA fantasy. This probably would've been a ~2 star book for me if not for two things: the cerebral palsy rep and Grey.

I hate to say it, but this is the first book I've read that depicts cerebral palsy. I've never read a book with cerebral palsy rep in it until now. And that is a damn shame. Because while I don't have cerebral palsy, I do have two degenerative, herniated discs in my back that cause me chronic pain and weakness. Seeing Harper embrace her condition and realize that it doesn't define her, but is simply a part of her really spoke to the core of me and my experiences. This novel could have very easily taken the route of Harper "overcoming" her cerebral palsy - which would've been fine I guess while still having issues - but it wouldn't have rung as true, nor have had as powerful an impact on me. Harper becomes a badass in harmony with her cerebral palsy, not despite it, and having that narrative depicted in YA is so important.

The second thing that made me really enjoy this book was GREY!!! Heart eyes directly @ him, honestly. In a YA fantasy that features pretty stereotypical characters for the genre, Grey alone stood out as unique to me. I did like Harper as a character, but I feel like I enjoyed the depiction of her cerebral palsy and character arc as a result of it more than I actually liked her as a character. Rhen I didn't really care for, as a result of him being really cookie-cutter YA fantasy love interest. But Grey, with his to-death dedication and stony demeanor, felt really original to me. He was hard to pin down and I could never call how he was going to react to things, which naturally made me more interested and invested in him than the other characters. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him in the next book.

But other than that, A Curse So Dark and Lonely doesn't really bring anything new to YA fantasy. You've got your badass girl, your arrogant yet tortured princely love interest, a kingdom in peril that needs to be reclaimed...sound familiar? The events of the book itself weren't anything especially stand-out and honestly edged on boring sometimes. The world-building doesn't really exist and is superficial at best. Even the plot twist was something that I called from a mile away.

Overall, I enjoyed A Curse So Dark and Lonely, but only because it brings in a new element or two to an otherwise really standard and kind of bland YA fantasy. However, I encourage you to read it if only for the cerebral palsy rep, because as someone who doesn't have cerebral palsy but similar experiences with chronic pain and weakness, its portrayal meant a lot to me.

Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars #1) by Elizabeth Lim

Synopsis:

 

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she'll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There's just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia's task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor's reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

3.5 stars. Spin the Dawn started off as a 5 star read for me. I'd been in a bit of a reading slump prior to starting this but right off the bat, this book had me hooked. I loved the writing, the world, the characters - everything! I read about half of the book in one sitting, because I just couldn't put it down.

Writing is always what makes or breaks a novel for me. Because YA tends more towards simplistic prose than its adult counterparts, I often end up dnfing YA books because I can't get into the writing. But as soon as I started reading, I knew Elizabeth Lim was a skilled writer. Her lush descriptions and interesting language is what pulled me into the story before anything else did. Only 3% of the way into the novel and I was already loving it, simply because the language on the page was so lovely.

Though the writing itself initially drew me in, one of my favorite tropes is competition stories, and so I expected the tailor competition to entice me right away. But, surprisingly, it was the characters. I was anticipating a reality TV-type competition, full of drama and beautiful clothes - and was totally wrong. The competition was pretty reserved, if I'm being honest. But seeing Maia's courage, skill, and determination as she tried to navigate the competition and become the emperor's tailor made me root for her. She wasn't just a vehicle for drama during the competition, like other characters have been in other competition-focused series. Lim takes the focus off the competition and puts the spotlight on Maia, which is something I haven't seen much before.

During the competition, several other characters orbit Maia, mainly the Lord Enchanter, Edan, and the emperor's betrothed, Lady Sarnai. Both remained very unpredictable characters for me in the first half of the novel, which was really refreshing to me, as a person who tends to call the twists before they happen. Lady Sarnai, especially, was a hard character to nail down. Whenever I thought I knew how she'd react to something, she'd do the exact opposite and always kept me on my toes.

As for Edan, it's established early on in the novel that he's much older than he looks. I have trouble with the believability of immortal/long-lived characters in YA sometimes, due to their young behavior or way of speaking. But the way Edan spoke and acted felt unnatural to a 20-year-old to me, and I loved it. I felt the weight of his years on him, despite his young looks. He was so enigmatic that it made him all the more alluring to me.

But while I was so completely engrossed by the first 60% of this novel, the second half is where things started to go downhill for me. The novel shifts in a very different direction than the first half, from court intrigue to a journey narrative. I don't tend to be a fan of "road trip" stories, but I think Spin the Dawn could've convinced me, seeing as how much I loved the first half. Unfortunately, it didn't.

In the first half of the novel, there's such a delicious build-up to the romance between Maia and Edan. Unlike a lot of other YA, which rushes into insta-love so quickly your neck still aches days later from the whiplash, the romance in the first half of Spin the Dawn builds so quietly and sweetly - to the point where I couldn't guess who the love interest was at first, which almost never happens to me. But as soon as Maia and Edan start getting their flirt on, they rush into romance so quickly that it becomes an avalanche and the plot in the second half simply can't recover from it.

My biggest problem with the second half of this book is that everything hinges on the romance. Unlike the first half, which focuses on Maia's personal goals and love for her family, her entire life becomes consumed by her overwhelming love for Edan. And because Spin the Dawn becomes another YA fantasy with a romance-centered plot, the stakes had no weight behind them because I knew that everything would mostly turn out all right until the climax. I've read this type of YA story many times before. In the second half of the novel, Spin the Dawn lost all of its unpredictability for me and became a much less engaging read.

However, I would like to acknowledge that though I personally wish the second half of the novel was more unique, I also realize the importance of telling stories written by and featuring characters of color with tropes already explored by white authors. Just because a trope has been written over and over by white writers doesn’t mean its “overdone” when written by marginalized authors.

Overall, I have really mixed feelings on this book. It’s a 5 star beginning coupled with a 2 star ending. Spin the Dawn starts off with gorgeous writing, unpredictable and engaging characters, and slow-building romance, but unfortunately loses sight of its plot and characters in favor of romance in the second half. Should you still read it? Yes, if only because the beginning is such a winner.

ARC provided by Random House Children's via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Synopsis:

 

Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

Rating: 🌟🌟

 

I really wanted to love this. Despite going in with low expectations, I still came out disappointed. More than anything, I think this book has a lot of missed potential because it's too short. I was drawn in immediately by the writing, characters, and setting, but those quickly got sacrificed in order to rush through the plot in the small amount of page space.

This book's biggest downfall is that it's not longer. It clocks in at 297 pages, which just simply isn't enough for a fantasy story that is driven primarily by love. If there had been even 100 extra pages, I think the romance would've felt more fleshed out and the main antagonist more present earlier in the story. But because this story didn't have that extra space, An Enchantment of Ravens is plagued by insta-love and an ending that doesn't have any weight because the antagonist was introduced in the last 50 pages.

The insta-love was definitely the most harmful aspect to this book for me. Unlike other YA fantasies, where the romance is a subplot to the main plot, the story of An Enchanment of Ravens hinges completely on the romance between Isobel and Rook. Even if in other YA fantasies, the romance overwhelms what's actually happening in the main plot, a main plot still exists outside of the romance. In this book, all of the stakes and consequences are derived from the romance. The characters are only in peril because of their love. And so when we don't actually get to see that love develop on the page beyond a few scenes of the characters interacting, the whole story just feels hollow.

I'm also personally just not into journey books. I usually find them meandering and kind of boring. The synopsis set me up for court intrigue, which I love, and instead I ended up with a journey narrative. I would've reconsidered picking up this book, had I known half of it would've been a journey story.

Overall, An Enchanment of Ravens falls flat because of its short length. Margaret Rogerson is a good writer and has interesting ideas, but the length of this novel just did not do the story Rogerson wanted to tell justice.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Synopsis:

 

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.

You know how, in the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas, at the end of the film the Grinch's heart grows three sizes and he's filled with overwhelming love and affection? ME WHILE READING THIS BOOK.

Queer rep in this: biracial (Mexican/white) bisexual man, white gay man, bisexual woman, Latino gay man, Asian transwoman with a wife, and a pansexual man. And that's what's just on the page - there are at least two other characters I can think of that I suspect are queer. (Yes, I also just about died seeing such a variety of queer folks on the page.)

I cannot even begin to express how deeply I loved this book. It made my cold, shriveled heart feel things. It had me laughing harder than any novel has in a long while. But most of all, it gave me hope during a time in U.S. history where hope is such a difficult thing to hold on to. Do not doubt how self-aware this book is about how race, sexuality, and gender interact with politics, especially in the U.S..

The characters in this are so insanely lovable. Alex and Henry are such realistic, well-written characters in their own right, but together? They were so sweet they made my teeth ache, oh my goodness. I adored every single step of their relationship and I felt their emotions right there with them. Honestly, this book probably has the most realistic, healthiest portrayal of a hate-to-love relationship I've ever read. I flippin' loved it, y'all.

But even though Alex and Henry are the main show, I literally loved every single character??? June, Nora, and Bea especially, but I have to give a shoutout to Zahra. Just about every sentence that came out of Zahra's mouth had me screaming with laughter. Each female character in this novel is really complex and well-fleshed out, even if they have less screen time in comparison to Alex and Henry.

I don't tend to read a lot of voice-heavy novels - probably a result of reading too many fantasy novels - but I a b s o l u t e l y l o v e d the voice of Red, White & Royal Blue. It was so millennial in tone, and I say that unironically. I've never felt more seen in how my peers and I communicate. Casey McQuiston's writing is clever and existential and laugh-out-loud funny. I'm lucky I was able to read this exclusively in the comfort of my own home, because otherwise I would've been that one person silently heaving in public, red-faced from trying to choke my laughter down.

The pacing in this was also really well done. Pacing tends to be an issue I see often in novels, but McQuiston makes it seem effortless. You feel the months of time passing, beyond the text telling you that time has gone by. It makes the progression of Alex and Henry's relationship feel really organic. Insta-love? We don't know her. Also because of how great the pacing was, this novel felt like it had SO MUCH packed into it. When I was halfway done, I couldn't believe I was ONLY half-way done - that's how much was happening on the pages. Yet despite having so much content, never at any point did I feel like anything in this book was rushed. Every single scene felt necessary and exactly the length it needed to be.

By far, this book brought me more unbridled joy than anything I've read in recent memory. Casey McQuiston has become an auto-buy author for me, hands down.

My suggestion to you? Go pre-order this book. Go make a suggestion to your local library to purchase this book. Go put a hold on this book at your local library, so you can love it on release just as much as I did. If you're queer or support queer people, go shout about this book from the rooftops because I promise, this is the type of queer book queer readers have been waiting for.

Furyborn (Empirium, #1) by Claire Legrand

Synopsis:

 

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

4.5 stars. Oh my goodness, I flipping loved this! Imagine the addictive quality and vibe of a Sarah J. Maas book, but with queer characters, characters of color, more cohesive world-building, and a narrative beyond romance, and you get Furyborn.

Gosh, where do I even start? What drew me in with this novel initially was the SJM vibe. I used to love SJM's books, despite all their faults and problematic elements, but there has been a noticeable decline in the quality of her works in the past few years. I just can't get into her books like I used to, and I feel really disillusioned with her new works. I've been mourning it, honestly, the loss of these addicting, guilty pleasure reads. So discovering Furyborn as a comparable, but distinctly better, work was such a delight. My feelings for this book went from zero to 100 REAL QUICK.

One of my favorite parts about this book was the world-building. I can't believe I'm saying this, but in an age of YA fantasy where belief typically takes the form of a pantheon consisting of multiple gods, Furyborn's obvious inspiration from Christian mythology was really refreshing. Typically, portions of Christian myth are cherry-picked - angels as ~cool supernatural beings~ or religious Renaissance art aesthetic, for example - and slapped into a fantasy world without context. But in the world of Furyborn, there is/was a God with a capital G. And that's something I've never seen in a modern fantasy novel. Angels are ultimately the focus of this world and their existence is cohesive with the world-building, rather than just being an intriguing, powerful fantasy race. I loved that continuity.

In terms of the characters, I have mixed feelings. Both Rielle and Eliana can be intensely unlikable characters at times. There were times were I was ready to jump out of my seat and root for them, and other times their foolishness had my eyes rolling so far into the back of my head. Eliana is such a hard ass that I think she's a difficult character to write, so her characterization sometimes felt inconsistent and unbalanced in those moments of vulnerability. Rielle definitely felt more constant. But despite their flaws, I LOVED these two women. I adore heroines that aren't easy to love with my entire soul.

Plus, they're both bisexual! I know some have had some issues with the bi rep in this book, but as a bisexual woman, I absolutely loved reading about two amazing, complicated, powerful bi women. Acting like a bi women is suddenly "not bisexual enough" if she's in a relationship with or attracted to the opposite gender is frankly biphobic and if you feel that way, I strongly encourage you to rethink your attitude towards bi folks. I think critiques regarding the "promiscuous bisexual" stereotype are valid, though, even if I personally don't think this novel is enforcing that. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Also, Corien. That's it. That's the entire paragraph.

Okay, no, but I freaking loved Corien. 11/10 Claire Legrand did an amazing job at writing him. He's a bastard, but I haven't been so intrigued by a character since the Darkling. If you think I was Rielle every time Corien spoke to her...you so right. I enjoyed Simon a lot too, but like Rielle, I thought he suffered uneven characterization towards the end of the novel.

The pacing wasn't the best at times, but switching between queens every single chapter was such a smart strategy on Legrand's part in keeping me engaged. Almost every chapter ended on a cliffhanger. So when I was just about bursting with excitement for Rielle's journey, suddenly a new chapter would begin following Eliana. But then by the time I would get to the end of Eliana's chapter, I'd be so engrossed in her story that switching back to Rielle would be difficult. It kept me consistently excited for both Rielle's and Eliana's stories, so I never favored one storyline over the other and it made the pages fly by.

So now that we've established that MY ENTIRE BODY SANG WITH LOVE THE WHOLE TIME I READ THIS, why isn't this a 5 star read? What it comes down to is that I didn't enjoy the last 1/3 of the book as much as I did the first 2/3. Eliana's chapters felt especially meandering towards the end of the novel, and I still don't understand what Navi or Remy are contributing to the story besides convenient outlets for character development that doesn't feel organic. That, combined with Eliana and Simon's uneven characterization, made the last bit of the novel significantly less exciting for me. I have a feeling my rating will change to 5 stars on a reread, but for now, Furyborn is a 4.5 for me.

If you got this far, my advice is this: If you loved Throne of Glass, read this. If you hated Throne of Glass, read this.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Synopsis:

 

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Rating: 🌟🌟

 

I think I would've enjoyed this a lot more had my expectations been different. Between the vague synopsis and "mind-blowing" twist everyone always talks about, I was anticipating a mystery thriller about a bunch of spoiled rich kids on a private island doing scandalous things. Instead, this is a slow-moving mystery about a girl with amnesia wandering around her family's private island. Because of my wrong expectations, I was a bit bored with the story overall.

But let's talk about the things I liked first. The writing in this is gorgeous. I understand why its not some people's jam, but I adore well-done purple prose and E. Lockhart is undeniably a skilled writer. The beautiful prose really helped carry me forward through the novel, because even if I was bored with the story, I loved the images I was experiencing. However, I do think Lockhart did take metaphors a bit too far in places, especially in the beginning of the novel when Cady says her father shot her in the heart when he leaves. It took me a moment to realize he didn't literally shoot her and Lockhart meant these moments of her being wounded as metaphors.

Because Lockhart is a such a strong writer, I thought she did a really fantastic job of setting the atmosphere for this story. Everything felt so surreal, it made me feel really uneasy and unsettled. Obviously I knew there was a big twist coming based off of reviews, but if I hadn't, the novel's tone definitely made me feel like something was very wrong and something huge was about to happen.

But that's about all I enjoyed.

Without getting into any spoiler territory, I was severely letdown by the plot twist and it honestly tainted the entire book for me. Instead of shocking me, it just made me sad and disgusted, which was amplified by how sensory the writing was. I really wasn't sure what direction the novel would take, but the plot twist was one of several guesses I had, so it had less impact on me. Plus, I didn't really care about any of the characters, including Cady.

But ultimately, what disappointed me most was how much potential this novel had to critique the wealth gap between the white elite and people of color in the U.S., and its failure to do so. With all the little hints of critical thought littered throughout the novel, I really believed that was the direction it would take. I thought this was leading to a Get Out scenario, only in book form. But it didn't, and I'm really sad about it.

Overall, I think this novel has gorgeous prose and a carefully cultivated atmosphere, but fails to deliver a satisfying twist due to bland characters and missed potential to talk about important issues.