Hello, bookworms, and welcome to my review of All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace! This book comes actually comes out tomorrow on February 2, 2021, so I'd like to wish it an early happy book birthday! Huge thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. Please note that this is the second book in the duology (the first book is All the Stars and Teeth, which I loved!), so this review may contain some spoilers for the first book. However, I won't share any spoilers for All the Tides of Fate, so if you've already read All the Stars and Teeth, you're good to go! So come aboard the Keel Haul with me as we sail into this review!
Amora Montara has succeeded in triumphing over a rebellion and taking her place as the rightful queen of Visidia. However, many people question her ability to rule, and with the islands in turmoil Amora cannot afford to show any weakness. She must keep the curse in bloodline hidden, keep the truth about her missing magic a secret, and let no one know about the boy who holds half of her soul. In hopes of saving both herself and the kingdom of Visidia, she embarks on a voyage to find a mythical artifact that has the potential to fix everything, but only at a terrible cost. As Amora searches desperately for a way to make everything right again, she must face the question of whether she is really meant to be a ruler--or if the power to rule might destroy her. Firstly, I must say that I had many expectations for this book, and it didn't disappoint any of them! This book was just as good as the first in this duology, full of adventure, danger, intrigue, and magic. I enjoyed seeing the crew of the Keel Haul off on another adventure. I love how all of the characters have such strong personalities and are so well-crafted and realistic. Amora is one of my favorite strong female character who isn't afraid to fight for what she believes in. I liked how this book showed her experiencing moments of confusion and doubt; it made her seem really human. Shanty and Vataea are also really unique characters, and I loved reading about them! It's so cool how Shanty can change her face and appearance, and Vataea is such a complex character. Also, the romance in this book was so good! It was interesting to watch Amora and Bastien deal with so many new difficulties in their relationship; after all, there's nothing weirder than having the person you love have half of your soul inside of them. Although, wouldn't that mean that they are literally soulmates, then?? *romantic sigh* It was really interesting to learn more about the different types of magic and all the islands in the kingdom. I also felt like the author did a good job of realistically portraying grief. Amora suffered from grief and PTSD after her father was killed in All the Stars and Teeth, and she struggled with that for the entire book. This made her seem so much more realistic than characters in other books who just magically get over their grief in a couple chapters; Adalyn Grace did an excellent job of showing that grief isn't something that goes away quickly. Also, the ending with a certain character was devastating to me--seriously, I was heartbroken. You'll see what I mean when you read this book! Aside from that moment that destroyed my heart, I found the ending very satisfying. It was a wonderful conclusion to the duology! Thank you for reading my review of All the Tides of Fate! I really enjoyed this book, and I gave it 4.5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨. I hope you'll grab yourself a copy when it releases tomorrow, and make sure to get a copy of All the Stars and Teeth if you haven't read it yet, too!
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Hello, bookworms, and welcome to my review of Not Our Summer by Casie Bazay! I'd like to thank Running Press Kids and NetGalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review. This book releases on May 11, 2021, so make sure to pick up a copy then and give it a read! I'm really excited to tell you about this book, so let's get started!
When their grandfather passes away, estranged cousins Becka and K.J. find out that, to their surprise, Grandpa left a good bit of money to them in his will. Unfortunately, the only way for them to receive that money is for them to complete a vacation bucket list together. Becka and K.J. expect these trips to be torturous--after all, they hate each other due to an unresolved family feud. But as they ride mules down into the Grand Canyon and go snuba diving in the Florida Keys, they begin to grow closer and trust each other. But when the truth about Grandpa's bucket list and their family feud is revealed, will Becka and K.J.'s new friendship be shattered into irreparable pieces? I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I especially liked the travel aspect of it; I've always loved books involving traveling, and it was fun to explore new places with K.J. and Becka. I now really want to visit Yellowstone and the Florida Keys someday! I do wish that there had been more descriptions of the locations they traveled to; I would have liked to feel more immersed their experiences. It was interesting to watch Becka and K.J.'s interactions with each other grow more friendly and less bitter. I liked how they had such different personalities, so it was easy to tell whose perspective I was reading from in case I missed the name at the chapter heading. Their bickering was a little annoying at times, but I suppose it was unavoidable since they hated each other so much at the beginning. I was also completely shocked and delighted by the twist at the end--I never saw it coming! That being said, it fit really well into the plot line and didn't seem out of place at all. I liked this book had plenty of action but also lots of personal growth in the characters. The ending was satisfying and sweet, and I had a wonderful time following Becka and K.J.'s story. That's a wrap on my review of Not Our Summer! I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick read about travel and family feuds. I gave this book 3.5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨. Hello, bookworms! Welcome to my review of Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein! This book releases on April 27, 2021. Firstly, I'd like to thank Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Now let's dive into this review!
This book follows Gracie Welles, who is miserable and bored at her third tier boarding school in Florida. She's come to accept her suboptimal life, but everything changes when she saves a new student, Wade, from getting beaten up by classmates. From that point forward, her and Wade's lives are intertwined as they grow up and explore new feelings, thoughts, and ideas. I unfortunately didn't enjoy this book very much. The story just didn't resonate with me and I disliked multiple aspects of it. The biggest issue I had with this book was the main character, Gracie. Her personality was exasperating and irksome; she was incredibly rude and had zero respect for anyone. It irritated me how she claimed to be much more mature than her classmates but acted so childish. This book turned me off from the first scene, in which Gracie was crying and yelling at her teacher whom she had a crush on because she learned he was engaged to someone. It was uncomfortable for me to read everything from her perspective because I didn't agree with most things she thought or said. This book did present some self-growth in Gracie, but most of it was packed at the very end. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of improvement until she returned to school for her junior year, and then she was suddenly much more mature. The main thing I liked about this book was Wade. He was sweet, considerate, and always did kind things for other people. His character was interesting and had depth, and I liked reading about him. He was definitely the highlight of the book for me. I also liked Gracie's roommate, Georgina. Her conversations with Gracie were always really amusing and interesting. I wish she'd been in more of the book; I would have liked to learn more about her. Two other major problems I had with this book were the abundance of swearing and the unhealthy messages about sex. This might not bother some people, but I personally didn't enjoy reading a book where the characters threw swear words into every single sentence. I'm perfectly fine with some swearing in books, but this was overly excessive. The way sex was presented in this book was also bothersome to me. One of the older girls at school tells Gracie to have sex with someone that she doesn't care about--instead of saving it for someone special so she's not too "emotional." It's also mentioned that characters didn't use protection while having sex. I feel like those aren't great messages about sex for a book to present. This book also touched on important topics like abuse and mental health; however, I disliked some of the ways the book talked about mental illness, like how Gracie said her mom was "insane" numerous times in reference to her mental illness. That's all for my review of Slingshot. I wish that I'd liked this book more than I did, but unfortunately I only gave it 1 Star ⭐️. Hopefully anyone who decides to pick up this book will enjoy it more than I did! |
Hey there, bookworms!My name is Rose (she/her) and I'm the creator of Books of Magic and Mystery. I love reading YA books, especially fantasy and mystery. When I'm not reading, you can find me baking, studying, or cuddling with my super-furry pets. Visit me on Instagram @booksofmagicandmystery! Archives
November 2021
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