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pub 9/26/17 by Margaret K.
McElderry Books
Young Adult - Fantasy
Received at BookCon |
An Enchantment of Ravens introduces a unique take on the fair folk and as someone who really enjoys books about the Fae, I'm always excited to see an author bring their own twist to their lore. In her world, fairies are immortal, often manipulative, powerful and occasionally sinister. Their one weakness is their inability to partake in the creation of anything, be it baking bread or painting, without literally crumbling to dust. To fulfill their love of beautiful things, they seek out talented human and become their patrons. This is how we're introduced to the heroine, Isobel, who is a prodigy portrait artist. She paints for the Fae and in return, they offer her enchantments that she uses to protect and provide for her family. One day she receives her first royal patron–Rook, the autumn prince–and mistakenly paints a mortal emotion in his eyes. This puts both Rook and Isobel in danger and sets them on a dangerous path together as they're hunted by the fair folk, especially as their uneasy alliance turns into something more. The world and the lore was so, so good but it was the writing and even the characters that lost me as I kept reading. The pacing of the plot was uneven and while I don't mind insta-love sometimes, it didn't work for me here. I just never connected to the two people I was supposed to be rooting for and I wish there had been more time placed on getting to know them, understanding more about the humans' role in the Fae world and even knowing the Fae themselves.
Do I recommend? No, unfortunately it just wasn't for me. it's frustrating though because I see
so much potential but I didn't like the execution.
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pub 9/7/17 by Harlequin Teen
Young Adult - Contemporary
Gifted ARC from Steph |
Whether it's paranormal, urban fantasy, romance, new adult or as of lately, young adult contemporary, I am here for anything and everything Jennifer L. Armentrout writes. Diving into one of her books has this familiar feeling to it and I always know that I'm going to enjoy (or at the very least, be entertained by) her novels and
If There's No Tomorrow is no exception. It deals with a lot of heady topics like grief, peer pressure, forgiveness, mistakes, first loves and friendship and the catalyst is
one night. One night, Lena Wise makes a choice that changes her life and she's not sure if she can or even wants to move past it. She's not sure if she even deserves to. And that's where she's at for the majority of the book as she works through a multitude of feelings. With her are her family, friends and her best friend Sebastian (who is your typical swoonworthy JLA guy).
Before she was just starting to think about admitting her longtime feelings to him but in the
after, everything is so mixed up. It's a surprisingly quiet novel for Armentrout as she hones in on this one girl's internal struggle but I really enjoyed it. It's honest and raw and I felt for Lena every step of the way.
Do I recommend? Yes! Whether you're an old fan like me or a newbie to JLA's work, I highly recommend this book.
I'm so sad about Enchantment! I wanted to love it so badly but I had the same issues as you.
ReplyDeleteI still want to catch up on all the JLA books I haven't read yet, but that would be quite the undertaking! And even though I'm wary of Enchantment after hearing your thoughts, that cover still always draws me in.
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