Book Reviews Archives - Page 27 of 114

Book Review: Heartland by Sarina Bowen

Feb 9, 2020

Heartland (True North #7) by Sarina Bowen

Pages: 239
Publish date: January 28th 2020
Publisher: Tuxbury Publishing LLC
ASIN: B07ZD8WWLZ
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

An emotional friends to lovers romance full of risky secrets and late-night lessons in seduction.

Dylan is my best friend and the only person in my life who understands me. He doesn’t mind my social awkwardness or my weird history. The only glitch? He doesn’t know that I’ve been hopelessly, desperately in love with him since the first day we picked apples together in his family’s orchard.
But I know better than to confess.
Now that we’re both in college together, I’m seeing a new side of him. College Dylan drinks and has a lot of sex. None of it with me.
Until the night I foolishly ask him to tutor me in more than algebra…and he actually says yes.
But the cool morning light shows me how badly I’ve endangered our friendship. And I don’t know if anything will be the same again.

Heartland:

I received an e-arc of Heartland by Sarina Bowen in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I’ve been reading Sarina Bowen for a couple of years now, and I’m always excited to read something new, especially about someone that I really enjoy. So when I heard that she was writing a book about Dylan and Chastity, I was intrigued. It wasn’t the matchup I was expecting, but I wanted to know more.

Jens Johnsson

Heartland by Sarina Bowen follows Dylan and Chastity as their once seemly easy friendship turns into something more that could change both of their lives. Chastity has always thought about Dylan as her best friend. He accepted her for who she was, where she came from and why she is a little different. When they were both on their farm’s things were easier. But now away at college, Chastity gets to see Dylan, the party boy. But then things start to change between them and both Chastity and Dylan see different sides of one another and life is about to get a little different.

I’m not going to lie, it took me some time to really like Chastity. I understood where she came from and where she grew it, but it also made it really hard to read at times. Her thoughts were very ‘childlike.’ But as the novel went on and Chastity came out of her shell, I really enjoyed getting to know her. I felt like her character arc was fantastic. Seriously, I loved it so much. The reader truly gets to see Chastity grow throughout Heartland. She becomes this strong, independent woman who can stand up on her own. That doesn’t let her past define her. And that was so fantastic to see.

Dylan was a pretty entertaining protagonist. Readers have gotten to see Dylan grow quite a bit and it’s finally time for him to shine and boy he does. There were so many times that the reader will want to scream at him, get him to face what’s in front of him. But he eventually got it. Dylan is a lot of fun to be around and while sometimes he acted like a dickhead, it wasn’t that bad. Throughout Heartland, the reader really gets to see Dylan grow. He comes into himself, he starts to understand and know what he wants, but he also has to face his past. And that comes with a lot of emotions. One of my favourite things about Sarina Bowen is that she can write male leads that are able to show their emotions that don’t hide from them. Stijn te Strake

The romance in Heartland for me had its ups and downs. For the most part, I loved it. Dylan and Chastity were totally adorable together. From the start, the reader is able to see how much they like and care for one another. But they can also see that there is a lot of push back from both Dylan and Chastity. It was really nice seeing them fall for one another, to see them go from friends to lovers, to something more. There were times throughout Heartland that both Dylan and Chastity had a lot of doubt, not just with their relationships but with themselves. And it was great seeing them work through that.

There are a lot of other themes that pop up throughout Heartland one of those guilt/regret. This was really interesting to see and I loved that it was looked into. This also caused a lot of tension between Dylan and Griffin. This really brought out a lot of issues that they have with one another, but it was also great to see them work through it all.

Laura Fuhrman

Overall, I really did enjoy Heartland by Sarina Bowen. It’s not my favourite in this series, but I really enjoyed getting to know Dylan a whole lot more. The reader gets to see them grow throughout the series and really come into himself in this one. The reader also gets to see Chastity put her life back together, to try and find a new normal. Heartland explores family and changing relationships. It has friends to lovers romance that is adorable and just put a smile on my face. I love the Shipley family so much and this really looks into a different side of them. If you’ve read the rest of the True North series, pick this one because it will melt your heart.

Book Review: Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz

Jan 16, 2020

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz

Pages: 300
Publish date: November 5th 2019
Publisher: Entangled Teen
ISBN: 9781640637320
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

Isabel has one rule: no dating.
It’s easier–
It’s safer–
It’s better–
–for the other person.
She’s got issues. She’s got secrets. She’s got rheumatoid arthritis.
But then she meets another sick kid.
He’s got a chronic illness Isabel’s never heard of, something she can’t even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father who’s a doctor.
He’s gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her.
Isabel has one rule: no dating.
It’s complicated–
It’s dangerous–
It’s never felt better–
–to consider breaking that rule for him.

Sick Kids in Love:

I received an arc of Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz from Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

From the very first moment, I knew that I needed Sick Kids in Love. It sounded like everything that I needed. Sick Kids in Love follows Isabel as she tries to navigate life, being a teenager while also managing her chronic illness. to do this Isabel has a rule – no dating. All is going well until she meets another sick kid. And he might just change her mind – because he understands. Sasha understands what it’s like to be sick, what it’s like to feel alone. For once Isabel might consider breaking her rules.

Olga Kononenko

Isabel was an interesting protagonist throughout Sick Kids in Love. I didn’t really fall in love with her, but I still was able to enjoy her as a protagonist. Isabel was really easy to connect with throughout the book that made me fall in love with the novel even more. I loved her resilience not just regarding her health but with life as well. She had a lot of things going on and was being pulled in so many different directions. And sometimes she did feel overwhelmed, but that was fantastic to see. You see it a lot in YA, especially in contemporary. Characters being able to deal with everything that is thrown at them without a care. But Moskowitz was able to really show the realistic side of any human in Isabel and that made the book that much better.

Like Isabel, Sasha was a fantastic protagonist. It was easy to connect with him and I loved seeing him grow throughout the novel. Sasha had fantastic characterisation and character arc. I really enjoyed seeing the way that he shared his emotions and the way that he looked at life. It’s not often that you see an honest male character. And I don’t mean honesty. Sasha felt very real. His emotions, his character and everything in between. I loved that he cared for his family, it added another dimension to his character and made me love him even more.

Alice Donovan Rouse

I adored the romance in Sick Kids in Love. Like the characters, the romance felt so natural and real. I loved seeing Isabel and Sasha’s relationship grow throughout the novel. It’s a very slow burn kind of romance and it was really nice to see. At times Isabel did pull away and because of this pause in the romance, it made it feel jarring. But it’s also what made it feel very real. Isabel and Sasha were totally adorable together and that just made me fall in love with them even more.

Now to the nit and gritty part. Reading books that focus on disabilities is always a hit and miss for me. Sometimes I adored and the representation and other times, it makes my blood boil. But Hannah Moskowitz did an absolutely fantastic job. Now I can’t talk about the preciseness of the medical conditions. However, in relation to chronic pain and illness, it was done so well. I have chronic illness and pain so I was really able to connect with the characters on this part throughout Sick Kids in Love.

Another reason why I loved this book, was the disabilities weren’t everything. Sometimes in novels, I find that disabilities take over and it isn’t about the characters anymore. But Hannah Moskowitz was about to find the perfect balance between representing disabilities and life with chronic illness and pain, while also letting Isabel and Sasha be characters, and people who just aren’t their medical condition.

Coming of age is a massive theme throughout Sick Kids in Love and Hannah Moskowitz was able to excel at representing it in an honest and real way. Isabel and Sasha are both at that stage in their lives where there is a lot to think about and decisions to be made. And the exploration fo this was really enjoyable. Along with coming of age, relationships of all sorts are explored through Sick Kids in Love. One of the highlights for me was the contrast of Isabel’s friendship with her ‘healthy’ friends and with Sasha. I really liked how Moskowitz explored it and I was really able to connect with the troubles.

Fabrizio Verrecchia

Overall I really enjoyed Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz. It’s the perfect example of exploring disability and illness in a book without it being all about it. Sick Kids in Love explores coming of age, first love, and finding yourself. Isabel and Sasha are put through a lot throughout the book. And their honesty and resilience really shine through. Throughout the novel, Hannah Moskowitz is able to explore and represent chronic illness and pain through Isabel and Sasha in a way that worked so well. If you are looking for a book that would make you smile and cry, then this book is perfect.

Have you read Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat!

Book Review: The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

Dec 30, 2019

The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising #1) by Kiersten White

Pages: 352
Publish date: November 5th, 2019
Publisher: Penguin – Bantam Juvenile US
ISBN: 9780593123836
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl.

Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.

To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.

Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?

The Guinevere Deception:

Over the past few years, I’ve fallen in love with Kiersten White’s historical fiction and retellings. So when I heard that she would be doing an Arthurian retelling, I knew that I needed to read it. And I’m so glad that I did because The Guinevere Deception was fantastic.

The Guinevere Deception follows Guinevere as she arrives in Camelot to start her life as Arthur’s wife and Queen. But everything isn’t always what it seems. Guinevere isn’t just Arthurs’s wife, but now also his protector. Her real identity is a secret, and she has to navigate court intrigue and all the attempts to save the city that many want to see fall. And it isn’t just humans that want Camelot, but magic as well. But what started as a job, might turn into something much more and Guinevere might end up doing just about everything to save Arthur and Camelot.

Tobias Tullius

Guinevere was a really interesting protagonist and I loved her. For most of The Guinevere Deception, the reader is in the dark on a lot of things, including who Guinevere really is. And that is what made her character so intriguing. She was an unreliable narrator and I love seeing that. Because it gets the reader really think. We don’t know if the person that she is showing is anything like her true self. But as the novel goes on, the reader is slowly able to see who Guinevere truly is. I loved her feistiness and her willingness to protect Arthur and those she grew to love in Camelot. I really enjoyed getting to know all the sides of Guinevere and I can’t wait to see where her character arc is taken.

Arthur was also an intriguing character. For a lot of the book, I felt very distant from him and that made it very hard to connect with him. But as The Guinevere Deception went on, his characterisation really shone through. And there were reasons for his distance. The reader just doesn’t get to know them for some time. Like Guinevere, I can’t wait to see how the next books go for Arthur, I really think that the reader will get to know him a lot more by then.

The romance in The Guinevere Deception had a lot of ups and downs. From the start, the reader knows that both Guinevere and Arthur and married for the protection of Camelot. But as the novel goes, we really get to see them both get to know one another and understand each other. It’s a slow burn kind of romance – a real slow burn. But I also really enjoyed that. It was a real focus on cementing the story and the characters as their own.

Paweł Furman

I think one of the hardest things about The Guinevere Deception, for me, was distancing everything else I know about Guinevere, Arthur, Merlin, and Camelot. I’m a massive fan of the ‘Merlin’ TV series and it took some will and power for me not to imagine them as these characters. But once I was able to do that, I enjoyed the book even more.

If you know anything about Camelot and the Knights of the Round table – you know that there is a lot of characters. And the fact that Kiersten White still had most of them was awesome. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it was a great feeling having prior knowledge of characters and then being right. I can’t wait to see how White takes this in the following novels, it’s going to be really interesting that is for sure.

There is a lot to be said about the plot of The Guinevere Deception. While I really enjoyed it, I can understand that some readers may find it long. But I love court intrigue, it’s one of my favourite things in fantasy novels. I find it so fascinating and always adds another dimension to the novel for me. While the novel was filled with court intrigue, it’s also filled with magic.

I really enjoyed how magic was written and explored in The Guinevere Deception. One of my favourite things about novels that deal with magic. It’s the different ways that magic is represented and used. This is another thing that I cannot wait to see more of as the series go on. Joanna Kosinska

Overall, I loved falling into the world of Kings and Queens. Of Knights and Magic. Of Camelot and King Arthur. It’s something that has always caught my attention, and The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White is such an interesting retelling that I can’t wait to read more. It’s a magical journey that leaves the reader hanging with so many questions but also wants them begging for more. I loved Guinevere and Arthur and I can’t wait to see where their stories go. Full of court intrigue, magic, and unreliable characters, The Guinevere Deception is a series to watch out for, because you never know what is going to happen next.

Have you read The Guinevere Deception? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it any time soon? Have you read any other Kiersten White novels? Let’s Chat!