angelreads, Author at Angel Reads

About angelreads

This author hasn't written their bio yet.
angelreads has contributed 1344 entries to our website, so far.

Book Review: And I Darken by Kiersten White

May 25, 2016

And I Darken by Kiersten White

Pages: 496
Publish date: June 28th 2016
Publisher: Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House)
ISBN: 0553522310
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who’s expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

And I Darken:

I received an e-arc of And I Darken by Kiersten White from Penguin Random House via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, this has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

When I heard And I Darken I knew that I had to read it. A book set in an ancient country is always a plus for me. Then add a gender switch, so that we have a female Vlad the Impaler; yes please.

And I Darken follows siblings Lada and Radu as they try to survive in a cold and brutal world.

Lada was quite interesting, she is very brutal and has little to no remorse. Sometimes it was hard to connect with her nevertheless, I do understand why she was that way. She does have quite a bit of trust issues, but again the world she lives in; explains it all. Lada also doesn’t form relationships well, even with her own brother however, let’s just say that her father wasn’t the best in the world.

Radu on what a special snowflake. I wanted to cuddle him and make him my best friend. He has this nature about this that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone in a world where anyone wants to hurt everyone. He does become stronger throughout the novel, but at what cost?

Mehmend was very into his religion and that contributed to his character and how he saw the world quite a bit. He also has this nature about him, which was intriguing. He wants to be friends with Lada and Radu. However, there were things later in the novel that he did, that I didn’t like at all. It was heartbreaking.

The romance in And I Darken was problematic and quite a mess. There was a love triangle of sorts, with other people jumping in between and I am not the biggest fan of them. So that kind of was a downfall for me

This wasn’t just a romance between three people, but two siblings loving the same person – And I don’t know who deserved it more. They all had their issues and betrayed each other in so many different ways. There was no honesty and it did get on my nerves sometimes. But, like I said there was also so many other people.

The relationship between Lada and Radu was complicated. They never trusted each other, yet they were always there for each other. They never really loved each other, but they still care. Sometimes I wasn’t a big fan of the way that they treated each other. Though I did like it because I haven’t seen it before. It was tense from the get go and that played out throughout And I Darken.

The world of And I Darken is very interesting. It’s complex, but understandable. It’s kinds of base on the Ottoman Empire, but not. It was captivating and very different. The world building well thought out however, if people are not all that familiar with the history it might have been better to explain how everything ‘look’ landscape and city wise.

I loved that the characters were diverse in many ways from ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. It was also fascinating to see Islam in a fantasy/retelling/historical fiction.

And I Darken was also pretty gruesome, there are executions that are described and it’s not one – they are done is some horrible ways. There are some torture scenes, though we don’t ‘see’ these, but we hear them. The world is brutal – very much like the ancient countries.

Nevertheless I did have a problem with the pace of And I Darken. I felt that the plot was quite slow and nothing happened at all for a lot of the book – this could be hard for some people; but, I was immersed into the world that it didn’t bother me too much. This isn’t saying that things don’t happen – because there is a lot of shit that goes down. I felt that And I Darken was an introduction into the world and characters.

And I Darken tells a story of the lengths people would go to for love, approval and just the thought of being forgotten. It was captivating and dropped you into a vivid and brutal world that you might not want to get out off.

Have you read And I Darken? Did you like it? Are you going to read it? Have you read any other Kiersten White books? Did you like them?

Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed

May 24, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list that members at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. All bloggers are then welcomed to join. This week’s topic is Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed.

I found this weeks topic quite hard, it’s not often that I change my mind about how I think of a book. I normally always think the same, I don’t know why but it just happens.

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling

I know I talk about this series a lot and I am sorry, but I love it too much and I find that every time that I re-read it I love it even more. I am currently reading Philosopher Stone with my little sister and we are loving it.

The Winners Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski

I loved the first two books The Winner’s Curse and The Winner’s Crime, and then I read the last book – this series has become one of my favourite – if not favourite fantasy series.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Okay I used to love these books – like a lot. But after re-reading it a couple of years ago I needed a slap on the head.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

So I didn’t love the first one, but I liked it enough to buy all the books when Sarah came to Australia last year, however after reading reviews and all – I am not 100% I am going to continue with the series.

So that is it for this week, I cannot think of any more at all. What are some of the books that you feel differently about in time? Let’s Chat.

#LoveOZYA Interview: Ellie Marney

May 20, 2016

I love Aussie YA. I love reading books from authors that live in the same country as me, that know things that people out of Australia might be so confused about. I love how sometimes they can incorporate this into their book and it is fabulous.

So in saying that, I have decided to start a new feature on Angel Reads spotlighting Australian YA Authors. Each Friday for the next couple of months, I am going to interview an OZYA Author. I thought it would be a fun way to share my love for Australian Young Adult authors with not only fellow Aussies, but everyone around the world. I want more Australian YA books to be read, because they are amazing.

First week I interview Sarah Ayoub, then Fleur Ferris, followed by Will Kostakis, then Shivaun Plozza, and Gabrielle Tozer, followed by Jay Kristoff and then last week Kylie Fornasier. This week we have none other than Ellie Marney author of the Every Series (2013, Allen and Unwin).

Hi Ellie, and welcome to Angel Reads. First can you introduce yourself to everyone? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hey Angel, thanks for having me to visit. I’m Ellie Marney, I’m a teacher and a writer of YA fiction – I wrote a YA crime series, the Every series (Every Breath, Every Word, Every Move) that has gone out to readers in eight countries – yay Rachel and Mycroft!

What has your writing journey been like? Where did you start? Why?

I started writing in primary school, so yes, I caught the bug early. I think it was a direct consequence of being a big reader. I think my writing journey looks – from the outside – like a fairly straight line, but from my end it looks more like a twisty turny caterpillar trail. Every Breath was a bit of a hit, but like I said, I’ve been writing a very long time. I wrote stories as a kid, then when I went to uni and studied literature, I became very intimidated, so I stopped writing altogether for years.

I got back into writing through fanfiction – it’s a great way to write anonymously, get feedback, and (as Amie Kaufman once said) ‘build your writing muscles’. I wrote about seventy fic stories, publishing them under a pseudonym, before I got my mojo back and started writing originals again. Then I entered some stories in competitions, to test the waters…and I won the Scarlet Stiletto Award in 2010 (through Sisters in Crime Australia). Everything took off after that.

What was the process of getting your first book published?

I wrote Every Breath in about six months, then spent about a year polishing it (as you do, when you have no obligations re: deadlines) before submitting it to publishers and agents. It was accepted by Allen & Unwin, the first publisher I approached, and I ended up being represented by Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management, the first agent I approached. I think that qualifies as a bit of a dream run with a first book.

Was it different when getting your proceeding books published?

Why YES, it’s interesting you asked! Allen & Unwin really got behind Every Breath in a big way; well before the book was published they were championing it all over and generally being awesome, and they asked me to write a sequel. Which was good, because I already had half a book’s worth of sequel ready to go! But the timelines for each subsequent book got shorter – I had nine months between each release – which was very demanding, especially for Every Move, when I had to write and edit a book, and prep it for publication, inside nine months. It was such a hard book to write and I was frantic right up to the to-print date.

What was the difference between getting your books published here in Australia and internationally?

When the books went international, the covers were changed – they were hardcovers, for a start (why don’t we have hardcovers for YA in Australia? I don’t know. Maybe people don’t think Oz teens can look after nice things!), and the designs and taglines all changed. They also changed some of the lingo, like asphalt for bitumen, and flashlights for torches, and flip flops for thongs etc – but that was mainly to clarify meaning for overseas readers (you can particularly understand about the thongs). Most of the Aussie content was retained, which really surprised me, so there are still references to all the Melbourne locations, like the MCG and Sydney Road, and all the swearing is still authentically Aussie, which made me very happy.

You are an OZYA author, what are some of your favourite Aussie YA books?

Is this where I get on the desk and shout ‘MELINA MARCHETTA FOREVER’? Because she is like my OzYA superhero. I’ve also been in love with John Marsden’s Tomorrow series since they were first published (Homer ftw, by the way), Simmone Howell’s work, and I’ve always loved Cath Crowley and Leanne Hall’s This is Shyness duology.

New YA is much harder to nail down, because there’s so much great stuff out there…but I think some of the coolest OzYA books I’ve read recently are Summer Skin (Kirsty Eagar), Illuminae (Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff), Calypso Summer (Jared Thomas), Black Spring (Alison Croggan) and Clancy and the Undertow (Chris Currie).

I have read all three books in the Every Series and gosh did I love them. They are fantastic, engaging, full of romance and crime – it’s brilliant. You can find Ellie at @elliemarney on twitter, elliemarney.com and add her books on your goodreads.

Every Breath by Ellie Marney

Pages: 335
Publish date: 5th Spetember 2013
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 1743316429
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks

Rachel Watts has just moved to Melbourne from the country, but the city is the last place she wants to be.

James Mycroft is her neighbour, an intriguingly troubled seventeen-year-old who’s also a genius with a passion for forensics.

Despite her misgivings, Rachel finds herself unable to resist Mycroft when he wants her help investigating a murder. He’s even harder to resist when he’s up close and personal – and on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer.

When Rachel and Mycroft follows the murderer’s trail, they find themselves in the lion’s den – literally. A trip to the zoo will never have quite the same meaning again…

***

I have meet Ellie quite a couple of times name and she is just fantastic. She is amazing to listen to and always has something to bring.

Thank you Ellie for joining me at Angel Reads. That is it for this week’s #LoveOZYA Interview. What did you think of Ellie and her books?

Come back next week for some more Aussie fun. If you want to know more about the #LoveOZYA movement check out the website for all the details.