Book Talk: April Wrap Up

I have a love-hate relationship with this reading month. On the hate side, it took me so long to get through one of the books that it ate up most of the month. Since I'm not one to read two books at once unless absolutely necessary, I was stuck on the one for a while. However on the love side, I got out of my reading slump! All it took was a couple good high fantasy novels to kick me back into gear. Although I had the potential to read more than I actually accomplished, I can't say I'm disappointed with this month.

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Stats:

• Books Read: 4
• Genre:
• Mystery: 1
• Fantasy: 3
• Page Count: 1,360

Books:

Before the Fall: Arrival by Ally Carter

I was halfway through the month and I still hadn't finished a single book. When this happens, I like to pick up a novella, a short story that adds on to an existing series, to get myself reading. Shorter works are more engaging and can speed up my reading tempo. That being said, calling this a novella would be overstating. It really is a short. On my Kindle, it was only about fifteen pages. I spent no more than ten minutes with this short and it's the kind of thing I'm interested in when I become invested in a character. What was their journey like? How do they get out of sticky situations? It was nothing spectacular, but it was extra content that gave some insight into Grace's personality and a glimpse at her demons. In case you haven't gathered, Before the Fall: Arrival is the prequel to All Fall Down in the Embassy Row series. 

Deception by C.J. Redwine

Deception is set in a world that is kind of difficult to imagine. It's set in a dystopian-esque future North America that has regressed to what I associate with medieval times (although that may be an inaccurate description, I don't know much about medieval times). Deception is the sequel to Defiance in the Defiance trilogy. What drew me to this series was the world but as I'm reading the books, that's really not what I'm getting. You catch some glimpses of it but the bulk of these books happen in the Wasteland, which I picture as forests. Ooh, scary. This was not the right book to pick up during a reading slump but I can't pick up another book until I've finished the one I started so there I was. For more than half of this book, it was entirely doom and gloom. Nothing was going right for our characters and even in the end, the characters had a couple minor victories but it was a hopeless ending. The only thing driving the third book is Rachel's rage and determination to exact revenge. I get that it's supposed to be a cliffhanger but this whole journey was really pointless. I can't give too much away since it's a sequel but the plot was literally just foiled plan after foiled plan. This is another one of those books where the secondary characters are so much more lovable than the protagonists. I do have to give credit to the author for adding another POV to this book because I'm sure I would've gone insane if I was in Rachel's head for the whole 480 pages. The times when we do see Rachel trying to cope with her guilt (a result of events in Defiance) made me want to gnaw my hand off. It was ridiculously overdone. It's hard not to sound insensitive when a character you can't really connect with is so persistently annoying. It may be a while before I pick up the third installment, if I ever do. Better books exist.

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

I absolutely devoured this book. It was just what I needed to pull me out of my reading slump. AHH I cannot even begin to express how much I loved this book. Snow Like Ashes is set in a land called Primoria (you know a book is gonna be good when there's a map) where there are eight kingdoms. Four Seasons and four Rhythms. The Seasons (Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring) are perpetually in their respective seasons. The Rhythms cycle through all the seasons. All eight kingdoms have their own magic, which the royals can access through their respective conduits (see map). Sounds pretty awesome, but Spring is savagely power hungry and has not only enslaved Winter, but also taken away their magic. Snow Like Ashes follows Meira, an orphaned Winter refugee, as this small group of survivors fights to free Winter. This book was one of the best things I had read in a while. There was a love triangle but I actually didn't mind this one. Since the romance wasn't what the plot revolved around, it was fun to sprinkle in a little jealous guys (read: new book boyfriends). There was also a scene where there was testosterone flying all over the place and I had a real good time with that. I want to gush about this book forever -- Meira is so strong and determined and if I say more I may breach spoiler territory (note: Meira's weapon of choice is a chakram and she is such a bamf). I've heard Meira described as Celaena's younger, less blood thirsty sister and I cannot think of a more succinct illustration. Another thing I love about this world is how each kingdom has a distinct look and specialty. It's fun because you can kinda place what kingdom you belong in, like Harry Potter but more options. Snow Like Ashes ended on a positive note but left off at a good place to start the next part of this story. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to be able to wait until October for Ice Like Fire but I do like thinking about what the title of the third installment might be. Hail Like Ember? Frost Like Char?

Talon by Julie Kagawa

First off, dragons. If that's not enough to sell you on this book, I don't know what to tell you. This book isn't what you'd really expect, though. I don't know about you, but when the weather starts to warm, I'm always in the mood for cutesy contemporary novels. There was enough of that in Talon to satisfy my craving, but there was also dragon training and action as well. I will say, however, if you are expecting action packed dragon fights for most of the book, you're going to be disappointed. Another interesting aspect of Talon is that the protagonist is not a humanoid in their true form. I've read from the perspective of other fantastical creatures before but never from an entirely different species. I like to think of this book as a balance between the fantasy dragon world and the contemporary summer romance which is quite fitting seeing as that is one of the main overarching conflicts. Talon follows a young dragon named Ember Hill who is learning to assimilate into human society to avoid being discovered by civilians or hunted by the Order of St. George, the militaristic organization whose sole purpose is to wipe out the dragon population without alerting civilians. By the end of the training, should Ember be successful, she would take her position in Talon, the dragon organization that they have trained their whole lives for. Should be easy enough, but then there's Garret, a St. George soldier. His mission is to take out Ember Hill, but things get complicated. Typically, dragons don't have human emotions but guess what, Ember does. I think you can deduce what happens next. With Ember's humanity as well as her dragon instincts, we get to see a little of this dichotomy that she has to face especially when it comes to boys. I tried to keep it short and sweet but that failed miserably. Bottom line: pick up this book.

Let me know if you plan on reading any of these books and if you have any recommendations for what I should read next! What have you been reading this past month? Have you read any of the books I've read this month? What'd you think of them? Let's have a chat.


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette