Windwitch (The Witchlands #2)

                Hello happy readers!  I hope you all had a great weekend and  Happy Belated Fathers day to any fathers reading.  I'm currently waiting on my filling to cool before I finish up the cupcakes to take to my dad (I had to work the whole weekend) a bit late.  First order of business for today is to announce the winner of my Blacksouls (Blackhearts #2) giveaway is Sabrina!  Congrats!  And it's Monday so I have another review to share with you and today that would be Windwitch (The Witchlands #2) by Susan Dennard.  This was an anticipated release for me this year because I enjoyed the first book and the authors other series as well.  I got it when it first came out but then like so many things as of late I didn't get to it right away and it sat.  But I got the audiobook at some point as well and I was ready to dive in and give it a go.  Spoilers for book one…duh.

Rating:  5 Stars

                This is pretty much picking up where the previous book left off.  Now I admit it has been a while, since I read Truthwitch (review) about a year and a half.  That said I did forget some of the details but as the story started to play out it all came back to me.  I also read book one but was listening to this book, which I really enjoyed, but it took a little bit to figure out who was who.  The narrator was great, it was more that I had been way off on the names so I had to readjust the names in my head.  After that things got good and the book flew by. 

                In Truthwitch I loved the sisterly connection between Safi and Iseult.  I loved the other characters as well don't get me wrong but I loved their connection how they knew one another so well and balanced the other out.  I still love that, but in Windwitch our duo is separated.  Safi, our Truthwitch, is with the Empress of Marstok while Iseult is out on her own at the start.  Though she quickly finds herself in the surprising company of Aeduan, the Bloodwitch that hunted them earlier, as allies of a sort.  Seeing both Iseult and Safi working on their own but constantly thinking about the other and how they would react or get out of situations kept their connection strong and present.  While I wanted them to find one another I did enjoy seeing them on their own where they shone a bit brighter, unable to rely on the other. 

                Merik, who was a favorite last book.  He nearly died and instead is badly burned and disfigured.  People who see him think of him as the Fury, a justice seeking demigod, and as he is on a mission he rolls with it.  I understood why he was so upset and convinced about certain things, though as the story builds I loved seeing the parallel and how things were in fact different for every person.  It's a tale as old as time, one persons truth is another persons fiction.  You can't know the full story until you have all the sides not just one.  I also enjoyed getting to see things from his sisters POV.  So many different stories weaving into one another, all connected in the big scheme of things.

                This book was a bit slower and more building than book one and while I could find fault with it there I kind of enjoyed it.  I liked building up the world and the stories as a whole as we got to know more about Merik's sister and her foxes, Marstok's Empress, Hellbards, and of course Aeduan.  I felt like a lot was built up and will be important to future installments but I also enjoyed the story this book told.  Iseult really had her own journey, not just physical but she has come so far as a character.  Her connection with Aeduan is really special as well and I see I'm not the only one secretly shipping them in book one but fully opening shipping them in this one.  They both have a darkness to them but truly have a good heart.  Safi is trying to find her own ground and a way to live her life and not be imprisoned or killed because of her ability.  She has found an ally of sorts and watching her fight for her own way is empowering.  And I loved seeing the dark shadows coming into play both with Iseult and her dream visitor that cleaves and binds and just what is happening with Nubrevna court both from inside and out.  I liked how in depth this took me into the world and opened up so many more story lines.  It also have lots of different action and suspense throughout while again building up something much larger.

                I really enjoyed this book and it had plenty of twists and turns and such that have me on the edge of my seat and ready for book three.  I have some theories and such on some things but for the most part I'm just happy to be along for the ride and watch the story play out before me.

                Until next time…

The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1)

                Hello happy readers!  I had this review typed up for last Friday but after being up for 36 hours helping my mom and running her to her appointments I was a bit forgetful.  The delayed review is for The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco which is the first book in a planned series.  I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and was thrilled to start this new series.  I mean come on first, this cover is beautiful and the title makes you wonder.

Rating: 3.5 Stars   

                The Bone Witch is town from two different perspectives in two different times.  One where we have Tea, she is young and learns she is a bone witch in a rather explosive way.  She is both feared and praised depending on where you look, though many fear what they don’t understand.  She leaves her homeland to train under an older and wiser bone witch and learns to be an asha.  We follow her training and get to know her and her struggles in the world plagued by daeva, beasts who bring destruction.  As a bone witch much is expected of her as there are so few of them left.  The other POV is that of a bard, someone who has sought her out at a time much later on and is seeking to learn her story.  

                I had a bit of trouble finally putting a rating on this book as I was on the fence about it.  I enjoyed the story overall but I felt the book focuses less on the story and more on description.  I understand we are building a whole new world and a magical system and that takes time but it felt at many points like a set up book.  I was interested to see how Tea from the start became Tea telling her story.  I liked when things were happening and there was some type of action to move the plot along.  At the same time I think the last quarter of the book really picked up and improved for me.  This makes me even more interested to read book two and see what happens with Tea, Fox, Kalen, Kance, Zoya, Likh, Lady Mykaela and some of the other characters. 

                The story itself though if it had been condensed a bit was pretty interesting; raising the dead, the life of the asha and a bone witch none the less.  The political struggles.  While reading it I kept imagining a Geisha (from my limited knowledge of them anyways) with the parties and formality of the asha life in the asha-ka.  Only if they also trained in magic runes and in combat.  But things like the musical instruments and dancing for sure.  I wanted to know more about the daeva, we got good descriptions of most of them but the azi I felt was covered the most.  I did love how the author managed to bleed some small things in that when reading you see one part of the “future story teller” Tea more sense.  I liked the tale it told and I even liked the way it was told from the past and present sides. 

                I liked the battle between what is expected and what she desires.  She is expected to train and earn money and then when ready do what is expected of her.  Even as the way things are, sitting on tradition, how they cause harm to those she has come to care for.  I loved the questioning of gender policies and why only one gender can do certain things not those that they excel at.  I also loved the buildup of expected romance to happen, though we didn’t get much of any real romance, just the promise of it to come and wow in a very interesting way I imagine.  A slow build is nice and it lets you get to know the characters and really develop connections without any insta-love. 

                Now while I liked the story itself I had some struggles here and there where it would lose me in the pacing with over exaggerated detail of certain things.  On one side I loved the description of the world and getting into the magic system and the culture, on the other side it did sometimes drag after the first several in detail descriptions of the different hua.  At one point the character even makes a comment about going into so much detail each time and explaining the reasoning which I liked but it didn’t make reading about it each time after any better. 

                Overall I enjoyed the story but this one was a bit of a struggle at times.  I think I’ll be checking out book two for sure and hoping with all the world building being done in this one the next may have less of that and much more on the story and plot. 

                Until next time…

~I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson~ Review and Giveaway!!!

                Welcome back!  Okay so I have a moment of ‘duh’ to share first.  I kept hearing everyone mention time change and how I should make sure I don’t forget about it.  I figure ‘I got this’ I will not forget.  Trouble is I don’t have a normal 9-5 job and my days off rotate by week.  Well I was off and I had spent the day down at my families and all so it was like a weekend and I had to work the next day.  It felt like Sunday apparently, even though my TV schedule didn’t agree my brain was set it was the day for time change.  I figured I’d gain an hour, which is really a free hour to read, and then when my alarm went off and I had 20 minutes to get up showered food ready and out the door I realized my error.  Yep it was Tuesday night not Sunday night.  So bright side is I didn’t forget time change I just got a bit eager in it.  That little bit aside the moral is this Sunday (I’ve confirmed this per Google and set an alarm) you book lovers gain an hour that can be spent reading! 

                That aside today I really have a review and giveaway for you, one I’ve been putting off for some time because…well my feelings are a bit complicated.  The book giving me all these conflicting thoughts and feels is I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.  Before I rate this I wanted to go ahead and share that this book was a high 5 Stars for me through most of the book, I was loving it, but then after one thing that is more of a personal pet peeve of mine that makes me blow a gasket I lost all my love for it and wanted to give it up with not much to go.  I did keep reading, and ranting to my read along pal Bogdana, and while my one thing still annoys me to the point of insanity I have had a chance to look at the whole thing.  While I don’t think it’s fair to give a book I loved so much a 0 star for one thing that is such a personal issue, yes I wanted to for a while, I decided to just take some time and space from it before I rated it.

Rating: 4 Stars (I only took 1 star)

                I’ll Give You the Sun is a story told from two different POVs and from two different times.  Before and After.  Twins Jude and Noah are super close at thirteen but things change and only three years later they hardly speak.  Something wrecked the twins in different ways.  The early years are told from Noah’s perspective and the later years we hear from Jude.  What the twins don’t realize is that they only know half the story and it’s not until you have both sides that you have a whole picture and maybe a chance to find their way back to one another. 

                The time jumps between the different time lines and character was done in a way that really showcased the story.  I liked going from one time line to the other and seeing how things played out.  It was great since I found Jude to be a bit unlikable in the early years but in the later chapters I got to see a different side of her and it soothed the rougher edges of her personality.  Noah is the only character I think I enjoyed through the whole story.  He may have had his not so grand moments but I totally understood each move and understood them from the start. 

                 I can’t really discuss the story line itself but they do overlap in characters they meet and interact with and such.  It showed how far they had fallen from one another as twins.  From their game of dividing up the world to the love of art they both shared.  The story covers it all from family, loss, first loves, and betrayal.  It’s a sweet and compelling contemporary read I think I would have loved without a shadow of a doubt if I didn’t have a specific pet peeve.  So not wanting to push others from it, as most don’t agree with my pet peeve or think I over react which I admit is a strong possibility, I say to give it a go because I really did like the story.

                I figure I’ll get some questions on this so I’ll add it here.  My nuclear pet peeve with this is:  Someone screwing up, realizing it was big, and never apologizing.  Or some lame and vague apology that doesn’t have any depth and expect everything is good 5 minutes later like it magically never happened makes me roll my eyes.   Maybe it’s too many experiences where people have hurt me in the past and never apologized or did in a way that you couldn’t tell if they were sorry for what they did or for being caught doing it/called out on it.  I get wanting to get past the awkward phase but you can’t ignore it or it will never be repaired.  What kills me is this story would never have made me blow a gasket if two scenes had been switched that’s it two little things…so in my head and for my sanity I just change the order a bit.  Again totally my personal preference.  I just find I can’t like a character who can hurt someone and not apologize and someone who can just go on like nothing happened without anything I lose respect for them.

                 Anywho those are my thoughts on this story and a bit more about myself.  Please share your thoughts below in the comments.  I’m really interested to know if any of you have any personal pet peeves that can ruin a perfectly good book for you.  Let’s discuss I know I can’t be the only one out there in the world.  Now for the giveaway curtesy of Amazon and the mix up.  I ordered this book and they sent me two copies, and after I tried to do the right thing and advise them of the mix up they told me I could keep the second copy for their mishap so I figured it would be perfect for a giveaway! 

                Until next time…

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