Do NOT Recommend

 Fablehaven by Brandon Mull 

 I borrowed this from the library to see if it would be something my nephew would be interested in, but I did not enjoy it so I won't be recommending it to him. (He read the synopsis on the back, but didn't ask about it so it's fair to say he wasn't interested). This book was slow. But, it might just have seemed slow because I kept putting it down because Seth is the most irritating character I have encountered in a while. I get that he's a child, but he doesn't listen. Every problem that occurred in this book is directly related to Seth NOT following directions. A fairy preserve is an interesting idea, one I should have liked, but I just could not. I will not be reading any more of this series.

As Good as the First

 Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh 

This book picks up almost immediately after the previous. I am OBSESSED. I spent most of the book worried about Okami; he was the only character I cared about, but as it progressed I began to care about others. Mariko spends a good amount of time trying to play the different members of the court so she can get information, stay alive, and try to help the Black Clan. Then, after dark she goes and tries to break Okami about of prison. Her brother, the Dragon of Kai, is being manipulated by Riordan's mother (he is her fiance). That relationship between the brothers, turns out it's not as strong as we were led to believe, and the consort was right to try to stop Riordan from being close with his half brother because Roku is crazy. He is focused on Okami and not on the country so the consort is able to control the minds of a bunch of people and turn them into a zombie army. Fake Ranmaru (I can't remember what his actual name is, but he was pretending to be Ranmaru because Okami didn't want to go by his real name and be associated with his family) is in love with Okami, but he handle's Okami and Mariko well. Okami's sister is not actually his sister, she is Fake Ranmaru's sister, and she also thought she was going to marry Okami when she was a child. We learn about Okami's family, the death of his parents, and how many people still support him after Dragon helps him escape so the Black Clan can rescue him. Fighting happens. It's dramatic. Roku sentences Mariko to death and puts her in the prison. Riordan confronts her and she stops lying to him. He wants to meet with Okami and together they let her out. Roku shows up and Riordan kills him by pushing him down a flight of stairs. He becomes emperor. Okami becomes Shogun. Riordan tells Mariko that the didn't actually complete the wedding ceremony so they are not married and she and Okami take their own vows. The reason this was 4.75 and not 5 was because the conflict between the consort and the empress (Roku's mom) felt unfinished. We saw a lot of the consort, but none of the empress until the consort kills her with a spider bite. It just felt like not enough. She should have been with Roku, advising him in opposite ways of Riordan or something. She was a catalyst for his quickened descent into madness, but she wasn't around.  I listened to this audiobook, but I might need to buy a copy of it because it was so good. Obsessed! I will definitely read more from this author!

Historical Romance, but NOT the Usual Era

 Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

This story takes place in the more recent past, which is not the time period I am accustomed to for my historical romances (I'm used to Queen Charlotte and Prinny, not Queen Victoria), so it took a while to get myself oriented. Sebastian was the strong, silent type. Annabelle, though older (25), just wanted to go to school. Because her scholarship was supplied by the Suffragists she had to participate in their activities. And because she is from the country, she had no idea who Sebastian was when she first approached him. He was impressed by her fearlessness, which was really just cluelessness. However, through the friends that she made with the Suffragists, she meets and ends up at a house party being hosted by Sebastian's younger brother. Sebastian mistakes her for the paramour of his brother and kicks her out of the house which causes her to leave, on foot, to walk the eight miles to the nearest town with an inn. In the snow. Sebastian is made aware of his blunder, but not until she had already left so he sends a servant to bring her back. She refuses. He then rides out to get her, they argue. She relents, but she does not know how to ride so she must ride with him. Then she gets sick from the exposure. He freaks out. She has to stay with him, at his house, until Christmas. Then he invites her to his New Years Even party, the one he has been instructed by the Queen to have. They spend quite a bit of time together and his widow lady friend is jealous so she tells the Queen, which makes her upset, but also puts the reelection campaign that he's working on in danger for the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, she gets arrested at a protest and he bails her out, and a few others. She gets kicked out of school, until the scandal dies down. She moves in with her chaperone, but he shows up and proposes. She refuses and gets kicked out of the chaperone's home. She tells her friends and the head Suffragist and they decide she will stay with Lucy. Then, it's time for parliament. Sebastian doesn't know she's there watching when he brings up the Married Women's Property Act and gives a moving speech before leaving the Tories for the Liberals. She hears and runs out. He follows. She finally agrees to marry him. They vacation in Greece, near his brother who is acting as assistant to her professor, which is much better than joining the army like Sebastian wanted. This was an interesting take on historical romance, using this time period. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it wasn't the worst. I like the audiobook narrator and will probably be listening to more in the series.

OBSESSED!!!

 Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh 

I listened to the audiobook so there is no way I will correctly spell any name. This book relies heavily on secret keeping, which I normally HATE. BUT, it worked so well for this book, and one of the reveals was SO GOOD. I was smiling, giggling, and kicking my feet. So, she is sent to marry on of the princes (the older one, but not the one that will become king since he was born to the concubine and not the empress). But, on the way they have to go through the forest and their caravan gets attacked. She survives only because they do not look for her because her carriage is on fire. She escapes and assumes that it was the Black Clan, but she doesn't know why they would want to kill her. See sees a wolf who tries to warn her of some danger and a gross, dirty man shows up. She kills him and takes his knife and cloths and then roams until she finds an inn/pub. She waits for the Black Clan to show up and they finally do. But, while there one of the guys accuses the leader of cheating them; he didn't, they just wanted more money. There is a fight, one of the attackers tries to be shady, and she, dressed as a boy, warns them. This gets her "kidnapped" by the Black Clan, but really they are testing him to see if he would be a good new recruit. Okami, the fighter, is unhappy because the new boy rubs him the wrong way. No, he's just feeling things and is confused. It's giving Mulan and Shang. Fast forward, he is sent to find a specific mushroom but while looking finds foxglove and is planning on using it to get away, or get answers about why they tried to kill her. But, he falls, lands in the water, and doesn't get out so Okami has to save him. That's when the first secret is discovered. And they kiss. Okami still has to pretend that she is a boy because nobody else knows. Meanwhile, her brother, the Dragon of Kai, is looking for her. He wakes up covered in blood and surrounded by ashes with the bodies of the pub owner and his kids dead around him. This makes the Black Clan mad and they try to take revenge by redistributing the wealth of her family. But, he gets warned and it's almost a disaster. But, Dragon sees his sister and is confused as to why she's dressed as a boy. Also, the love of his life tries to save people from the burning barn but she dies so he vows revenge on the Black Clan. Okami realizes that she had something to do with it and confronts her, but she asks him why they tried to kill her in the first place and he doesn't answer. He leaves her with his sister who tells her that she didn't really know her brother at all. Then, says she needs to get him a message so she goes back into the forest to try to find them and the forest helps her. They are shocked that she is a girl, but Okami is happy because he no longer has to pretend or fight his attraction. Her brother shows up with her betrothed and she allows herself to be captured/saved and Okami allows himself to be captured to keep her safe, but they are the only  ones who know that. Also, the leader can control the wolf that saved her the first night so he knew she was a girl from the start, but she doesn't get to ask him. Also, the leader took on Okami's real name and pretended to be him to protect him. That was one secret that did not get explained very well and I expect that it will be elaborated on in the next book. Also, the empress poisons her husband because he refuses to get rid of the concubine. The concubine can do magic and she is the one that was behind the deaths of the pub owner. And I am thinking she is the one that had the convoy attacked to stop the marriage. She wants her oldest son to rule and not just run the military, but he doesn't want that; he likes his brother and their roles. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out in book two. I devoured this book and immediately put the second on hold. I cannot wait to find out how this ends!

Dragons! But Cute

 Wings of Fire The Dragonet prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland 

This was so good! We have little dragons, not babies anymore but not yet teenagers either. And we have a prophecy. I love a prophecy. So there are five dragons who are supposed to determine the next queen. They have been hidden and "trained" by the Talons of Peace for like six years. But, one of the eggs was killed so they substituted a different dragon and are just hoping that works. The dragons are raised inside a mountain and the conditions are horrible. Then, the substitute dragon is given a death sentence so Clay, who is the main character, follows the river to escape. He gets hurt and Tsunami luckily followed him. They escape but run into Queen Scarlett, which is bad. They think they get away, but she made it seem like they. They break out the other three dragons, but Scarlett and her guard show up, kill one of the adults that was protecting them and takes the young dragons and one of their caregivers prisoner. Clay makes friends with Peril while he is locked up. Peril is Queen Scarlett's enforcer and she is super brainwashed. There are lots of fights. Glory, the substitute dragon, learns she can spit venom. Clay learns he can withstand heat and fire. Peril develops a crush on him and is jealous of the other dragons so she turns on them because she wants him all to herself. But, they get away and go looking for Clay's family since they are the closest to his current location. But, turns out his breed of dragon aren't exactly good parents and they sold his egg. He meets the rest of the dragons who he was supposed to grow up with and learns about his culture, then he leaves with his friends. They decide they are going to try to find Tsunami's family since they are the next closest. Also, there is Starflight, who was saved by his tribe and then reunited with his friends. In the epilogue we learn that he is supposed to cause havoc from within so that they fulfill the prophecy the way the adult Nightwings want. So that is shady and a bit of a cliffhanger. This had action, adventure, deception, heartbreak, and optimism. I will definitely read more from this series!

Alice in Wonderland Reimagined

 Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor 

It has been a very long time since I read the first book in this series and even after reading my review and the synopsis of the previous book I do not remember anything that happened and the characters were unfamiliar while still being familiar because it's a re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. I did not enjoy this book. So much so that I question why I put it on my list to check out from the library. Also, I am glad that I borrowed it from the library instead of buying it; I would be upset if I spent money on it with how much I did not enjoy it. But, it had the benefit of helping my local library because every book you borrow helps! As for the book, Arch, the king of one of the neighboring lands is very manipulative and he thinks he's a master but by the end of the book both Alyss's supporters and Redd's supporters have bested him, ruined his plans, and killed him. We discover that Molly is the child of the Hatter, one he didn't know he had. Her insecurities are manipulated by Arch but her parents save her and the day. Redd is amassing an army on Earth and uses the Jack of Diamonds to really unite the tribes controlled by Arch and uses them to take control of him before killing him. Alyss is trying to make a relationship with Dodge, but both are bad at communication. Redd goes through her maze and now has lots more power and the Hatter is the only reason she doesn't defeat Alyss. There was action, adventure, and deception. I should have liked this, but I just didn't. I am not sure if I will finish the trilogy or if I am going to call it after this book.

Child Ghost Hunters

 The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud 

This was well written and engaging. The three main characters were fairly well developed, but not all to the same extent. This is about children who are ghost hunters. Lucy is the narrator, but Anthony is the main character. I know they are children, but Anthony is hard to like. He does not communicate well, he keeps his colleagues in the dark, and thinks he's smarter than everyone else. I do not like any of those characteristics in any main character. Plus, he makes a mistake during the first job they go on and he blames it on Lucy. She was not responsible for his stuff! So, on that job they find the skeleton of Annie Ward, who was haunting the house. But she was very aggressive and they ended up burning down part of the house during the job. But, not before Lucy grabbed her locket. Well, turns out the locket was really the item holding her to the world and not her skeleton. They end up getting sued because of the fire, but they also get a lot of publicity because of Annie's ghost and unsolved murder. A rich, eccentric old man shows up and says he will pay off their debt and give them double their regular salary if they can take care of his super haunted house. While they are researching for the job their house gets broken into but nothing is stolen. They go on the job and Anthony is acting super weird, keeping secrets. The house is really haunted and it manifests in multiple ways. They are able to deal with the source of the haunting. But, they also get trapped by the old man who, as it turns out, is the real killer of Annie. He has his driver hold them at gun point while he monologues and then asks where the locket is. Lucy is wearing it and she takes it out of it's protection and sets Annie's ghost on the old man. This kills the old man and sets Annie free. They get their debt paid and get their salary and go home to celebrate. Lucy goes down to the basement to get refills and the skull in a jar that George keeps to experiment on starts talking to her. She nopes right back upstairs and the book ends with them getting called to deal with a new haunting.  This had a good pace and was consistent. I was engaged and entertained and will read the next book at some point.