Book Review – The Bone Charmer

This book was provided to me through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Book – The Bone Charmer

Series – The Bone Charmer #1

Author – Breeana Shields

Genre – YA Fantasy

Release Date – 21 May 2019

Rating – 5 blossoms

Book Review:

“Tomorrow my future will be decided by my dead gran’s finger bones.”

This is the first sentence you will read when you pick up this book. If this doesn’t make you want to know what the story is about, then I don’t know what to say to convince you…

We follow Saskia as she goes through the Kenning on her 17th year. This should determine her future career and her future bone-matched soulmate. But then something goes wrong, one of the bones used for her Kenning breaks, and her future is split in two. There is literally two versions of her, with two different plot-lines, and one eventually will disappear.

Now, the whole Declan/Bram debacle – this is a pain, and I cannot tell you how much you will be rooting for a certain main plot to disappear, and I want to say you will be disappointed, but then again, it was just so satisfying to see both stories play out.

This story has a dual main plot and several sub-plots that kept me turning pages. Every time I think I might have figured out something, it gets turned upside-down in the best possible way. The way that the two main plots intersects at the final chapters was seamless. As soon as I finished book one, I immediately wanted to start on book two. It was that good!

The world is wonderfully rich, immersive and diverse. I felt like I was right there with Saskia in a lot of the scenes as they played out. We get glimpses of history, of potential plots to come, of more interesting parts of this world, and I’m dying to learn more of what is out there to see…

“You’re playing with fire, Saskia.” “Maybe. But fire provides warmth and food and life. Sometimes fire is the only way to survive.”

Book Review – Every Single Secret

This book was provided for free by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Book – Every Single Secret

Author – Emily Carpenter

Genre – Suspenseful Mystery Thriller

Release Date – 1 May 2018

Rating – 3.7 blossoms

Book Review:

We follow Daphne as she navigates her new engagement to Heath, the man of her dreams. Only, he is having nightmares that scare her, and he wants to break their pact of keeping the past in the past. So, she reluctantly joins him at a couples therapy retreat…

“Our minds were tricky things, manipulators of time and space, coloring events with our personal palette of rage, fear or desire.”

Now, we jump around a bit, from the 19th of October, the week leading up to this day, and Daphne’s past. Daphne is an interesting character, sometimes a bit reckless. Daphne is a foster kid, has a thing for counting as a coping mechanism, and snaps a rubber band around her wrist when anxious.

I’m speechless at what this book represents and how easily it blurs the line between love and obsession. Forget what you think you know, the last few chapters throws you around and tosses everything you want to happen out.

“Sometimes I wonder if there’s anywhere we can go to escape. The pain that’s been inflicted upon us or that we inflict.” – Gladys

Emily’s writing is straight-forward, easy to follow, and to the point. She makes use of the jumps in time to keep us guessing, and while I thought I figured it all out, there were still a few surprises that I didn’t see coming at all.

Personally, I liked to read about Daphne’s past way more than the full story, and think that there is such a missed opportunity there to learn about the foster home and the girls that she shared her childhood with. Also, I liked the interaction between Daphne and Gladys too…

“We’d both kept our secrets, kept the doors shut and locked tight. And now, I had the worst feeling that those doors were about to burst wide open. That our secrets – beasts with claws and fangs and foul breath that had grown in the dark and transformed into something hideous – were on the verge of escaping.”

This story is more creepy after you finish the book and let the story run through your mind for a while. What Emily wrote can really make you think about love, hate, obsession and passion – and the lengths people will go to to keep what they think they deserve.

Book Review – The Atlantis Bloodline

Book – The Atlantis Bloodline

Author – C.A. Gray

Genre – YA Mythological Fantasy

Release Date – February 2020

Rating – 5 blossoms

Book Review

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This story starts with a dream of Maia, an immortal and an ancient village. Her sister killed two human virgins to become the most beautiful and a goddess. This corrupted her soul. Then Electra kills Maia, but she was prepared for this and spelled herself so that Electra will die too…

I started this book, knowing that I love Greek mythology. And boy, was I right. I could not put this book down, enraptured until the very last page. I do hope there will be more books in this series because I’m sure there is so much more that we can learn and explore through the pages of another book. (fingers crossed)

“Her beauty had something to do with the way she looked at me, though, with that tender trust that made me want to slay dragons to protect her.”

Ada is the main protagonist, and we see most of the story play out through her point of view. Eventually, the pov split to include some of Kai’s experiences too. This enhanced the plot.

There is a magical element to the story that felt quite interesting, although I would like to learn more about the ancient world before the sisters went their separate ways (read the book if you wanna know more…)

“The Elioud are the descendants of the Titans of Atlantis. They were the children of men and of angels, and as such, they have passed down their powers to us. On Atlantis, our ancestors had unlimited access to the golden apples of Hesperides, and therefore to immortality. In untold ages, Atlas and his kings and people learned all there was to know about the runes we now use only sparingly.”

Book Review – Hidden Princess

Book: Hidden Princess

Author: RaShelle Workman

Genre: YA Fairy Tale Retelling

Release Date: 25 October 2019

Rating: 2.9 blossoms

Book Review:

This is a modern Sleeping Beauty retelling that centers around Rory (Aurora), who is brought up by her ‘aunts’ in the human realm. After she shares her first kiss with her crush, Carson, things change for her.

Rory learns that she isn’t human. There is more than one ‘true love’ for her, and her choice can change her life. She is cursed to die. And she has to decide who to trust to possibly ensure her curse is not triggered.

A quick and easy read, with a lot of information crammed into this short story. I think that the execution could be a bit better and that at times there is a bit too much info dumping happening. If this first book is any indication then there is a lot more of this world to explore, and Rory’s tale is far from over. If the writing improves with the plot, then this will become a must read for fairy tale lovers everywhere.

Book Review – Moonshadow’s Guardian

Book: Moonshadow’s Guardian

Author: Dianna Gunn

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: 17 November 2018

Rating: 3.2 blossoms

Book Review:

Moonshadow is a Kingdom that needs protection of the demonic kind. Riminira has a complicated history and start. Telars are living in swamps, forcefully and in poverty.

At first, while reading the jumps in time through Riana’s eyes, I was confused. We get to see multiple timelines of her life. We also get the viewpoint of another character of significance in the plot. Although I had to keep track of so many details, when the story starts coming together, I couldn’t stop reading until the end.

Every jump in history in this world, every twist and turn gave so much richness to the plot and made the story more complex and enjoyable. I would say that if you struggle with different time and plot jumps that can confuse, maybe skip this one. But if you can handle this aspect, keep at it – it will make sense eventually.

The writing style is engaging, even in the slower moments I was still urged to keep reading. I have found some grammatical errors, but not enough to deter me from the plot.

There is definitely much more to this story and this world that must be explored. I would certainly be one to read more of Riana’s adventures in this magical world.

Book Review – Good Girls Lie

This book was gifted to me through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Book: Good Girls Lie

Author: J.T. Ellison

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Release Date: 31 December 2019

Rating: 3.4 blossoms

Book Review:

This story starts off with a death; whether it’s a suicide or a murder, is yet to be determined. The girl’s face has been mutilated, so at first glance we have no idea who the victim is. Then we jump between the past of the main character and the events leading up to this death.

Ash Carlisle is a blue-eyed, blonde girl, with innocence… At times she feels quite unreal, but then there might be some truth to the lies and some lies in her truths. But there is so much more to this girl.

Dean Westhaven is another character we follow. She seems to know much more, according to the narrator, but how reliable is the narrator really?

Now, the plot had kept me guessing, and while I figured some things out early on, there was also some parts that completely surprised me.

“There are truths, and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened, which is where you and I will meet. My truth is your lie, and my lie is your truth, and there is a vast expanse between them.”

The writing reeled me in with the approach of starting out with the crime, then jumping between the past and present. This is a great book to enjoy when you need to get outside your own head and lost in someone else’s nightmare…