Does NOT Live Up to Book Two

 Twisted Hate by Ana Huang 

This fell short of book 2 which was SPECTACULAR and book 1 which was very enjoyable. Best friends older brother is not one my top 3 most hated tropes, but it's not on my top 3 most beloved either. It also didn't help that I saw myself in Jules and not in a good way. I liked how the relationship between Jules and Josh evolved, but this book was hard for me. The third act break up was rough, but at least Alex was there to force Josh to come to his senses. That they were able to become friends again was good. That Josh was able to get closure on his father was also good. But, this was just lacking compared to Bridget and Rhys.  If I were to re-read this series, I would probably skip this book.  

Second in a Norse Gods Duology

 A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen 

BETRAYAL. I audibly gasped at the twist and had to close the book I was so shocked. This was an amazing follow up and a great conclusion. Snorri was not the bad guy like we were led to believe; it was Harold. He was a child of Loki, and he wasn't even the real Harold. No, he ate him so he could become him completely. He did the same with Saga and was going to do with same with Snorri, but got exposed before he could. He manipulated everyone. He orchestrated tragedies so he could then come in and be the hero so he could collect Unfated and gain their unwavering loyalty. He was a shapeshifter. He and Snorri both wanted Saga, but she loved Snorri and so he took on Snorri's shape which caused Bjorn to try to defend her with Tyr's fire, but it ultimately killed her, and he then pretended to be her for DECADES. The ghost that Freya was seeing was Saga, she was trying to help her all along. Harold tricked her into killing her own people and sending them to Hel's realm. Then he trapped her and Bjorn in some runes and left them to die after Bjorn killed Snorri and discovered Harold's trickery and truth. Then Ylva shows up, helps Bjorn get out, but leaves Freya to die. She goes to Hel's realm, sees her dead brother, apologizes, and gives the warriors a chance to get back to Odin's realm if they agree to fight for her, so she takes them out of Hel's realm because she has the power of Hel and she is the one that sent them there (this makes Hel mad but so what, she won't help against Harold since Loki is her brother) and they get out. Bjorn is in prison, about to be killed as a traitor. But then the bard shows up and finally sings her own song and realizes the truth. Before Bjorn is killed she performs and shows everyone the truth of Harold and his treachery. Bjorn doesn't die and he works to save everyone, but Harold disguises himself as Bjorn to trick Freya and it works for a little while, until he makes the mistake of saying he's cold. Freya and Bjorn battle him together and she takes him to Hel's realm. Saga holds him down there. Hiln shows up and helps Freya get out and she and Bjorn get married and decide to live a quite life and they are super bored. The book ends with a messenger from his brother, who is now laird, calling for aid from raiders, and they answer the call. This book had everything I could have wanted: action, adventure, love, battles, growth, and surprises. I will definitely be reading more from this author!  

YA Sirens

 Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton 

The twists. The turns. The angst. I was hooked. Saoirse is a siren and she doesn't want to kill people, but she has to. She wants to be good, she wants to be the kind of person her sister would be proud of. But she has to kill people. She is training to be in the military (sort of) and at night she works for the Raze as an assassin. On the final day of military school she comes in first and gets offered a job protecting the crown prince. She turns down the job, until she finds a note in her sisters bag, blackmailing them both. So, she goes back to her commander and asks if she can have the job, and the prince is there and he says yes. And he is hot and he is in to her. Even without her siren magic. So, she has to guard him, protect herself from him, occasionally do assassin work, and deal with the blackmailer. Well, one of her assassinations turns out to be the princes' best friend, only she doesn't find that out until later. In fact, during the planning of his birthday is when she realizes that all of her assassinations have been related to him and his party. Then, she gets sent out and attacked and discovers that she hasn't actually been working for who she thinks she has; she's being used by the Resistance. Then, the rehearsal for his party happens and he gets pulled overboard. But, he's a water fae so it should be fine, only it's not and she has to go in the water and save him; but as a siren when she's in the water she wants to kill so that's bad. But she saves him and thinks that nobody sees her until she gets back on the beach and starts doing CPR. He gives her a promotion and says she's the only person from his guard that's allowed to be alone in a room with him because she's the only one he trusts. Meanwhile, they are looking for her, with her siren face, for questioning about his besties death. Day of the party shows up and her magic wears off of her siren face comes out and he tries to have her arrested. Only one of her guards that she's been working with tries to help her. Two guards try to kill his parents. She gives him a note, which he takes and he disappears in the madness. Turns out, it was the witch on his guard the entire time; she's working with the Resistance. She has kidnapped her sister and says kill the prince by midnight or sister dies. She finds the prince and tells him everything. The one guard that helped, keeps helping; turns out she wasn't bad, just in love with a half-human. They go to her house, travel by magic to Saoirse's witch aunts' and make a plan. Then, the biggest betrayal of them all. The leader of the Resistance, the one who was sending her out to do the assassinations, the one who kidnapped her sister: it's her best friend. She "kills" the prince, but he throws her sister into the sea, after making her throw the prince into the sea as well. But, sister had secretly untied her ropes so she helped rescue the prince and together they saved him. Then, she used her siren powers to call the citizens to try to stop the Resistance, and they stall them. One of the princes guards is fighting the King, he dies, but the Queen lives. The Hayes becomes king and says that everyone involved will be dealt with. Then, he secretly tells Saoirse that apparently there is a way out, and he wants her to go outside the barrier and meet with a specific enforcer and report back. I cannot wait to read the next book! This sets it up so well. I am obsessed!  

Horrible Ending

 The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi 

I HATE an ambiguous ending. It is right up there with: pregnancy trope, miscommunication, and age gap for things that will ruin a book for me. WHY?! Why did we go through all of that to get a non-specific ending. I don't want to decide for myself. I want to know, in detail. So, Anoor is with her Grandmother and she is being drugged, which was super obvious but she is so trusting that she had NO IDEA until Sylah rescued her right before the battle. Also, Anoor being the child of fire and being the one to ring the battle drum? Meant she was going to be put into a "god-beast" and drained of her bone marrow during the war. They were going to sacrifice her. And she was okay with it because they kept her drugged so she could be brainwashed and manipulated. Hassa is mad that Sylah has come back, but then Sylah joins with the Truthsayer to help the rebellion. The Truthsayer is Gorn and she is able to build an army, first of those who oppose the Wardens and then of those to protect the country from the Zalaam (Grandmother). Jond and Kara bring reinforcements, plus allies they weren't expecting since the water people had a coup while they were there, but their navy shows up anyway because their support was able to regain control. Hassa learns how to make and control fire so hot it can turn sand to glass. Anoor, once her drug induced haze wears off helps fights against the Zalaam and makes a beast that can rival the one that was designed for her. She kills her grandmother. Jond gets hurt in battle but survives, however he loses his ability to talk. He wants to go with the water people to learn sign language. Kara spreads a rumor that the Queen died on the battle field so she can live a normal life and she flights Jond. But it doesn't say where she takes him. Do they go to the ship? Does he learn to sign? WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM? Hassa had met her father, realized he had no idea she existed and he turned out to be a great dad. They spend the book working together and both survive. She is given the opportunity to become a teacher at the school, but she decides she wants to learn instead and they go together once he has been found to have committed no crimes. She has and remains my favorite character. I have no issues with how her story ended, we get an actual ending for her. Sylah and Anoor defeat Grandmother and then wake up under a sand dune with nobody around. Are they dead and in Kabuts realm? Are they alive and lost? We don't know. Based on the mythology established in the story, if they had died then their fathers should have been their because they were both daddy's girls and loved them desperately. But no, they are alone in the desert. We have no idea what happens to them other than they wake up together. WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM? And we know that Gorn survives, and while she puts herself up as one of the possible leaders, does she get elected? This is what I mean about ambiguous endings. There are too many unanswered questions. The epilogue should have answered the questions, not created more. I needed a second epilogue, an epilogue to the epilogue. I am irritated.  

Third in a VERY Fast Paced YA Series

 The Sorceress by Michael Scott

This is the third book in this series and so far this series has encompassed one week. That's it. One week. That's a lot of action and adventure, but can these kids catch a break? Maybe a nap? We get introduced to new characters who are helping the twins, but only because they are the twins of legend and NOT because of Nicholas (they don't really like him). Both twins get water power so now Sophie has 3 elements and Josh has 1. John Dee is struggling to kill him. Niccolo has teamed up with Billy the Kid to try to kill Pernelle; they fail and get trapped on Alcatraz. Scatty and Joan get sent back in time. But, Pernelle, Nicholas, and the twins reunite at the end of the book. I don't like this series as much as some of the other middle grade and YA books I have read, but I can see how kids would devour it; the pacing just bothers me. I would recommend it to my nephew and niece and let them make their own decisions.  

YA Sci-fi

 Ruins by Orson Scott Card 

Sci-fi is not my preferred genre. I knew this was going to be weird going in (book 1 was weird which is part of why I waited a year to pick up book 2). HOWEVER I was not prepared for just how weird it was going to get. The teen angst I could handle, the jealous, the fear, and the confusion were all fine. But the facemasks were surprising. So were the citizens who discovered selective breeding, but just kidding it was really the mice in that colony that discovered it not the humans. And then there was the more advanced facemask that let one colony live under water. So it turns out Rigg's real father didn't get killed by sea monsters, he became one. And there is one robot that all of the other robots lie to, but it turns out he might be only trustworthy robot, besides Father. And then the original Ram is still alive, except Rigg kills him, which ends up being bad so he goes back in time and stops himself from killing him and creates a duplicate of himself and now there are two Riggs and that's where the book ends. And this is why I don't like sci-fi. It's overly complicated. There is one more book in this series and I'm probably going to put off reading it until next summer.

Middle Grade: Dragons

 Wings of Fire The Lost Heir by Tui T. Sutherland 

This is the second book in this middle grade dragon series. This focuses on Tsunami, the SeaWing, and we don't have that much time with the other four dragons of destiny because of how much time was spent with Tsunami. She is, in fact, the lost princess and at the beginning it's everything she thought it would be; until it's not. She has a younger sister and she's initially jealous of, but she is able to get a few conversations with her and she realizes that she has no reason to be jealous and they start building a relationship. Her mom, Queen Coral, is super overprotective, and very easily manipulated. Also, someone is killing all of the royal eggs, but only the female ones. The other four dragons of destiny have been sent to a cave; Clay has been chained. Tsunami waits almost two days before going to check on them. She convinces the guards to give her the keys. Queen Blister shows up and she's terrible, and at the end we find out that NightWings want her to be the SandWing Queen and if the dragons of destiny won't agree, well they have a backup plan. Also, we meet Riptide, the son of Webs; he has been working with the Talons of Peace and he lied by omission about it, but he was also kind and helpful so I'm not holding that against him. We find out that Gill, the dragon that Tsunami killed in the pit in the last book, was her father, so Coral can't/won't have any more children. Tsunami takes on the charge of guarding the last remaining female egg and discovers that the statue of Orca is what is doing the killing. Then, there is an attack by the SkyWings and the dragons of destiny get away, with the help of little sister, since they were put in prison. They decide to head to the RainWings so Glory can find her family, and that is the set up for book 3. We also get the epilogue, which tells us about the NightWings treachery. I like this series better when all of the dragons of destiny are together, but it makes sense that each needs their own story, to flesh them out more as characters but to also explain each of the different tribes? races? I would definitely recommend this series to my nephew and niece!  

Third in the Series

 Seven Wonders: The Tomb of Shadows by Peter Lerangis 

This was a very fast paced book. I really like this series; it's got action and adventure coupled with high stakes and nothing feels like filler. Jack, Aly, and Cass are searching for the 3rd Loculus. The clue left by his mom sends them into a trap, so she's bad. We get to tell his dad and he starts helping and using his resources to make things to easier on this quest. They adventure to Turkey and find a portal that takes them to the Bo'gloo and there Dr. Bhegad dies, he sacrificed his soul so they could get the Loculus and live, but it wasn't there. Instead, the find out that it was at the Natural History Museum in New York, so that's where they go. But, the KI has been breached because the man who helped them in Turkey couldn't keep his mouth shut. They find the Loculus, but dad gets arrested in the process. Then, they get attacked by shadows. Mom ends up helping them and they find out from Dimitrios that Marco isn't the one from the prophecy, it's Jack because he intentionally broke the Loculi of Healing to close the portal of the underworld to save everyone. So, Jack is going to be King. Not sure what he's going to be king of, but according to the prophecy he's going to be king. This was fast paced and exciting and I can't wait to read the next one! I would definitely recommend this series to my nephew and niece!  

Book 3, Long Time Coming

 Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 

It's been a year since I read book 2 in this series so I forgot a lot of the lore and was confused. Then, I realized that Bitterblue, the main character, was confused about a lot of the goings on and realized that was the point; she was being intentionally kept in the dark, and then I felt better about my confusion. Bitterblue is Queen, and she wants to be a good Queen for her people, but she feels like she's doing a poor job. She starts sneaking out at night and meets Saf and Teddy and doesn't tell them who she is. She has a fling with Saf. Then, one day she decides to go to the courtroom and Saf is on trial; that's how he discovers who she really is. She has Prince Po come and stand up for him to get him out of trouble, but Saf holds onto his anger and steals her crown and gives it to Spook, the head of the underground. Spook gives it to their grandchild, Grey, and they start spreading rumors about the crown, but Bitterblue has the smith make her a replica to keep up appearances. Also, her four closest advisors are all lying to her and participating in a conspiracy to keep what they did under her father's reign under wraps. This all comes out in the middle of a blizzard when her most trusted advisor tells her everything before throwing himself off of a bridge because he can't live with it anymore. She finally understands why she didn't understand anything and can start rebuilding. Then, Fire, from book 2, shows up and we get more questions answered. But, still have more questions that are unanswered. This sets things up nicely for the next book, assuming it doesn't do like books 1, 2, and 3 and take a detour before joining things back together.  

Nonfiction

 Latitude: The True Story of the World's First Scientific Expedition by Nicholas Crane 

I listened to this for a reading challenge. This is not my preferred genre and I think I would have enjoyed it more it I had made it a "bedtime" book instead of listening to it; I prefer my non-fiction in small chunks before bed. However, the narrator was good. This was well researched. The primary source material was interesting. The conclusions made by the author and the interjections were logical and occasionally funny. But, because this is not my preferred genre I found myself getting distracted and zoning out and missing parts and not really caring, which is why I think it would have been better for me to to this at bedtime. But, if this is your genre, then you should definitely give this a read!  

Middle Grade, Different Series

 Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty 

It's been a while since I read book 1 so I don't really remember that much of it, but I really enjoyed this book, and I feel like I liked this more than the first. This had a lot of action and adventure as well as some twists and turns and surprises. Serafina desperately wants to shift into a lion like her mother, but she can't. She is out in the woods and sees a carriage pulled by four stallions but nobody is driving. A strange man with silver eyes gets out and she gets attacked. Then, strange things start happening at the house. She things Braeden isn't her friend anymore, especially when Lady Rowena shows up; I knew she was bad from the jump. But, they both give her a chance and that comes back to bite them (almost literally). She meets Waysa, another lion shifter. She discovers a camp with cages, that she and Braeden end up getting caught in later. Turns out, the man with the silver eyes is the mythical man in the forest and Lady Rowena is his daughter and he had been doing some shady things on the land before the Vanderbilt's bought the land and he swore vengeance upon them and this was him coming back to get it. Also, the reason Serafina couldn't turn into a lion is because she's a panther; but during the climax she is able to shift and in her panther form she attacks the sliver eye man, when he is in his owl form. Also, Braeden has powers with animals and is able to heal them, and he heals a peregrine falcon which helps them take out Lady Rowena. This was really enjoyable and I am looking forward to continuing the series.  

Middle Grade

Battle of the Beasts by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini 

This was better than the first book in this series, but still too much happened in this book. The siblings were again transported into three different books: a Roman gladiator fight, Nazi cyborgs, and Himalayan monks fighting wild beasts. Cordelia was possessed by the Wind Witch and it caused her teeth to fall out in the middle of school. Their dad was addicted to gamboling all of their money away. The Wind Witch killed her own father. Brendan is still horribly self-involved; no character growth. Eleanore is the best character: she gets rid of the book (permanently), she figures out how to stop the beasts and saves the monastery, and she is keeps the family together despite being the youngest. The Wind Witch tries to manipulate all three with horrible futures and then shows them wonderful adventures if they just pick her, but despite her revelation that they are related, they would rather take their chances with the future and all return home. Then, the find out that they are moving away from their new house because their dad lost all of their money. And the book ends with their giant friend from book 1 being in the Bay. I would not recommend this book to my nephew or niece but I will finish the series; there's only one book left. It's too busy and too big for too little pay off.  

Disappointing

 The Cartel  by Ashley and JaQuavis 

I wanted to like this. It should have been good: backstabbing, betrayal, love, loss, surprise siblings. This book had all of the makings of a good book, but it just didn't work. It was too fast and the characters never had time to grow; they were too one dimensional. Add in the audiobook narrator who did not differentiate the characters well and it was a major let down. Monroe was the only character I liked and then his literal twin killed him. I am not going to continue with this series so I read the descriptions of the other books, and some reviews and discovered that somehow Monroe comes back from the dead later on, which is giving daytime soap opera. Mecca was the literal worst and only character who didn't get what he deserved. Young Carter was just immediately accepted into the family, no questions asked. The only time Mecca acted even remotely rationally was when he was suspicious of Young Carter. The Murder Mamas had such potential, but they were under utilized. And Mia started speaking facts, and then her girls turned on her. Like, they were hired to kill Mecca, but he figured it out and killed Mia's sister. So now they want to kill both Mecca and Carter? Or Breeze? And they think the Cartel won't retaliate against them? This will just be a cycle that continues until everyone is dead. And when she said this they got mad and left her. What kind of friends are they? This had way too many pacing and characterization issues. I am disappointed because the description of the book is so interesting but it did not meet expectations. I will not be continuing with this series.  

Good Pallet Cleanser

 Love, Canter, Action by Katie Gilbert 

This was a fun, fast read; I read it in a day. My sister-in-law knows the author and lent me her copy. It was very Hallmark, and like Hallmark it had one of my least favorite tropes (miscommunication) to cause the third act break up. This starts right before Nora turns 18 and mostly takes place over the course of about a week. Nora works on a farm, but owner has to sell so she is out of a job. Except she's not because the owner, who helped raise her when she and her mom lived on the farm until a few months ago when her mom died and she had to move in with her dad who she had never met until that moment, got her set up with a spot in a prestigious horse training program in Montana and as a wrangler on a movie set. She has a bad interaction with the star of the movie the day before, without knowing who he is. She gets to set and sees him and they are still contentious, but there were pictures of them and the internet loves them so his agent wants them to fake date. I LOVE a fake relationship. But, I don't like that we are never told his age, just a guess of the range. Like any good fake relationship, they develop real feelings for each other. However, there is a problem. His ex is messaging her trying to find out who he was pictured with that led to their break up, and her belief that he cheated on her. He tells Nora the whole story; it's actually his childhood best friend and she was just diagnosed with cancer and he refuses to tell the press that because she doesn't deserve the media attention. Nora keeps his secret. He then takes her to a red carpet premier where she meets his agent and his mom. While talking to his mom about said bestie the agent overhears and leaks the story. She also runs into the ex at the bathroom. She tries to talk to him about things, but the movie is about to start and he won't talk to her. Then, he has to do a press conference and he finds out that Nora met the ex and was all like, is that what you wanted to talk about and she's like partly. Then, he gets blindsided with the news of his bestie and he takes her into an alleyway, accuses her of leaking, tells her he won't be returning to the hotel, then leaves her by herself. She can't find his bodyguard so she walks back to the hotel. Only problem is, she doesn't have a room key and they won't let her in. So, she calls her step-mom who she has had a very contentious relationship with. She jumps right to it, getting her a uber and a plane ticket. Her dad meets her at the airport. She realizes that her dad and step-mom have been walking on eggshells because she just lost her mom, not because she ruined her life and they have a much better relationship going forward. She shows up to work on Monday to get her cellphone, and she confronts Alec: tells him the truth about what happened, and that he should fire his agent, and he realizes that he's the one that leaked the story. She goes to her horse training school, paid for by her dad. She has to use one of the school horses, until one day the horse she had raised shows up, courtesy of  Alec; Ethel was his apology gift. They get back together, for real this time. Time jump one year: they are still together, but a picture of him and a redhead is all over the internet; turns out it's his cousin. They are still happy.  This was cute and a nice pallet cleanser. I would read more from this author.