Tag: yafantasy

Book Boxes, Products I love!!

Unboxing and Review: April Illumicrate

Megan Nicole
  • Theme: Squad Goals
  • Overall: **
  • Cost: $52 shipped to the US
  • Shipping: ** Second month in a row that boxes have been damaged and items have been broken or missing.
  • Quality of items: ** A few of the items seem like free products you get at a convention and the print included is regular paper and not even stock or photo paper. I was also bummed to find that we only had a book plate vs a signed book this month, even though the edition is gorgeous.
  • Value for the money: ** Hopefully some of the items can be sold for enough to make up the cost, especially since I don’t want anything the box but the book

Sadly this was another disappointing box for me and all I want to keep is the book. Unfortunately due to US shipping there is only a few dollars difference between the book only and the whole box so I keep trudging on for those special editions :-).

Whats in the box:

April Illumicrate Unboxing Dangerous Remedy

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

COVER REVEAL: The Green Door by Heather Kindt

Megan Nicole
From award-winning author, Heather Kindt, author of The Weaver Trilogy, comes the first book in the Eternal Artifacts series, THE GREEN DOOR, a YA fantasy with the game-like excitement of The Hunger Games and the adventure of the Chronicles of Narnia.
COVER REVEAL: The Green Door by Heather Kindt
 
Blurb:
 
The game was supposed to be easy… enter the door, find the object, collect the prize money.

But nothing is ever that easy for Meg Covington. Her dad keeps a roof over her head, but college is out of the question. Her best friend, Brek, will leave for school, and she’ll be trapped in her hometown—that is until Meg discovers the flyer for Rosenbaum’s game hanging in the entryway of the record store.

Within the basement of the mansion lies the white passage, a hallway lined with colorful doors. When each door turns out to be a portal to another world, things get complicated quickly. If they find the object within the world, Meg will take her first step towards freedom. But is it really just a game, or a one-way ticket to something much more dangerous?

The Green Door is the first book in Heather Kindt’s young adult fantasy series. If you like strong female leads, adventure, snarky attitudes, and sexy sirens, then you’ll love the first installment in the Eternal Artifacts series.

The Green Door Releases on June 11th but is available for preorder  on Amazon now and don’t forget to add to your Goodreads TBR!

 
Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Book Review: Storybound by Emily McKay

Megan Nicole

Storybound (Book #1) by Emily McKay

  • Overall: ****
  • Romance: *
  • Reading Rate: ****
  • Pages: 320
  • Publisher:  Entangled: Teen
  • Release Date: May 5th 2020
  • Recommend if you like: The Unicorn Chronicles
  • Purchase on Amazon here

Such as cute book!!! This book is on the younger side of the YA scale but was still a fun and unique read for all ages. What book lover can’t relate to wishing they could get sucked into their favorite series and meeting their Book Boyfriend?

What I liked:

  • The whole premise of the book is super fun and they way the author tied the parallel worlds together
  • I feel like it was a little love letter to use bookworms.
  • Really fast paced story all the way through, I almost finished the entire book the first night I picked it up.

What I struggled with:

  • There was still a lot left unsaid and unknown, but this is the first book in a series so I am sure a lot more information to come in future installments.

The book did wrap up in a way that left me satisfied (no cliffhanger) while leaving the door wide open for a lot more. I will definitely be on the look out for future books in this series to find out what happens next!

Synopsis:

I’ve lived in nine towns in the past six years. I know my mom feels bad about it, but I don’t mind. Who wants friends anyway?

All I’ve ever needed are my books. I’ve lived a thousand lives, had adventures I couldn’t even begin to imagine. To me, the places I discovered between the pages of a book are as real as the world I live in.

When I walk into my favorite bookstore, the last thing I expect is to walk out onto the pages of the kingdom of Mithres…or that the book boyfriend I’ve loved more than life, Kane the Traveler, really exists. And he has no clue the fate that awaits him in book five…

Now that I know the truth, I have a chance to save Kane. But if I change the story, will I ever find my way home?

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled:Teen for a copy of Storybound in exchange for my honest opinion.

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Gilded Ruins by Chantal Gadoury Book Review

Megan Nicole

Gilded Ruins (Blinding Night 2) by Chantal Gadoury Book Review

  • Gilded Ruins (Blinding Night Book 2) by [Gadoury, Chantal]Overall: **
  • Romance: ***
  • Reading Rate: ***** Short and fast paced, finished in a single day
  • Publication Date: May 12th 2020
  • Publisher: The Parliament House Press
  • Purchase on Amazon here

Gilded Ruins is the second book in the Blinding Night duology which is a Hades and Persephone retelling. This book will contain spoilers for Blinding Night so check out my prior review of Book 1.

We pick up right where we left off at the end of book one with Darce and Summer heading to face Zues and Demeter to try and obtain her freedom to return to the underworld.

What I liked:

  • Very interesting take on the Greek Mythology

What I struggled with:

  • It seemed like the same scene repeated several times with slight variations.
  • The FMC was a challenge to deal with in this story as she was very insecure and whiny, she would start each interaction saying she was going to be string and then quickly crumble.
  • The author started a bit of a love triangle in this book but then never really took it anywhere
  • It almost seemed like she started to build out the plot and decided to just end the story instead of tying everything together.

Overall both books were worth the read. I feel this duology would actually have been better as a single stand alone book, taking out some of the repeated instances and wrapping up the ending.

Synopsis:

The Story Continues. . .

Summer and Darce are summoned by the order of Zeus himself to travel to the home of the Gods: Mount Olympus, where they’re to face even more ancient Gods and Goddesses.

Summer braces to confront her mother again, illuminating secrets about the truth of her tragic pasts, while also persuading Zeus to allow her to stay with the God of the Underworld, her true love – Darce.

Aboard Poseidon’s luxury yacht, Summer meets her mythological family, while also uncovering what exactly happened to her past lives – and the true roles her mother and Darce played.

When Darce and Summer suddenly find themselves separated, Summer must find her inner power and unite them together, before her mortal time runs out.

Thank you to Chantal Gaudry for a free copy of Gilded Ruins in exchange for my honest opinion

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Shiver Book Review

Megan Nicole

Overall rating: ****

Romance: ***

Reading rate: **

I was a massive fan of the Raven Cycle by Stiefvater and as soon as I finished it I started trying to devour everything written by her. The Wolves of Mercy Falls popped up as a Scribd suggestion so I went for it!

Shiver Stiefvater book review

The first book in the series is Shiver and while it is a very different type of story from the Raven boys I loved it all the same. One of my favorite things about Stiefvater’s writing is how all of the people and little details always end up being important… and it may not come back around to even register until much later. The love story that she weaves between Sam and Grace is wonderful and all of the twists and turns that the story takes are on that “hurt so good” level. The author even said in an interview that she set out to make her readers cry and she delivered! The book switches back and forth between each of their points of view throughout.

What I liked:

  • I love all of the characters and the way that they are done, even when it is a character that I dont “like as a person”. I always feel like I was given real insight into they someone is good or terrible and what led them to their actions.
  • This was a take on werewolves that I have never encountered before. It was made to be more of a real world issue than a paranormal or magic phenomenon that you traditionally see.
  • I genuinely could not get enough of how cute Sam and Grace are!

 

What I didn’t like:

  • I felt like the characters were just skipping over all kinds of important details and could have resolved the issues much faster had they paid more attention. I felt like when watching a movie when you are yelling at the person no to go in somewhere scary.
  • The one down side of the detailed writing of Stiefvater is that these books are not easy to consume quickly. I had a hard time trying to stay tuned in to the physical book so had to go back to audio, and will finish the rest of the series that way.

 

Synopsis:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan Book Review

Megan Nicole

Overall Rating: ****

Romance: ***

Reading Rate: ****

Wicked Saints was so hyped I was nervous to read it as I thought there was no way it could live up to everything being said about it, but it did! Not to mention the gorgeous covers that were available! I am always a sucker for a pretty book. Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan Book Review

I loved how dark this whole book was from the characters to the countries. I thought the author did a great job of raising a lot of religious and moral questions without being pushy in either direction. It was more of “In a world where all everyone knows is war are anyone’s hands really clean”? It was serious Shadow and Bone vibes,  Malachiasz and The Darkling may have to battle for my dark little heart…

What I liked:

  • I found myself really enjoying all of the characters, but at the same time not knowing if I should trust any of them (which I also loved)
  • Because of the morally grey and mysterious nature of the characters I think readers could choose different sides or a variety of ships. I think this book would be great for a book club discussion.
  • I think the author did a great job of giving just enough information about the world and characters to allow you to understand the story, but left you wanting more and forming so many more questions.

What I didn’t like:

  • It was not very original. While I did feel that it elevated elements of other series it also made a lot of things predicable. This is why I left it a 4 stars instead of 5. Had this been a series I read before the Grishaverse books or Sarah J Maas I would have rated 5 stars. I am really hoping to see some deviation from the inspired story line into something more original and surprising in future installments.

This is the first book in the Something Dark and Holy series by Duncan so I am so sad I have to wait until next year to read the sequel!! If you are a fan of the Grishaverse or Throne of Glass I would highly recommend giving a read.

Official Synopsis:

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy…

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Release Date: April 2, 2019