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megu's reviews
8 reviews
A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
4.5 stars
It is a gift to possess divine blood, to be blessed to have a magical ability find its way from your ancestors to you, and Niamh is one of the last in her family to have the skill. She is a seamstress, and her garments are extraordinary — each one magically radiating different emotions and memories, stitched from bits of herself. When she receives an offer to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding, in the neighboring country that once controlled her own, she can only accept. It is a job that could provide security for her family, even though each magical item she creates consumes a bit more of herself.
The city and the court, however, are unlike anything she has ever known — not to mention the complicated royal family she finds herself entangled with. There is turmoil in Avaland, not just around the errant Prince Kit and his arranged marriage, but running even deeper in the country's politics and class divides. Niamh finds herself, to her surprise, being drawn ever closer to the young groom-to-be and ever into the mess of power plays at work.
This is a sweet and engaging romance.
I adore fairy tales, and this book certainly felt like one at times. It's the story of a selfless girl who finds courage, and understanding, and love. I understood Niamh to her core and grew to love all the characters; my investment in the main relationship grew as the love between our two main characters did. The character dynamics are fun and real, and the relationships, both queer and not, are rich. Not many books recently have been so pleasant for me to read. I was truly contented at the end, in the way that I was eager to pick up something else right away to continue my reading journey.
(The one thing that pulled me completely out of the story for a bit was the part that was beat-for-beat a scene lifted straight from Pride and Prejudice, which is a lovely trope, but as it was almost word-for-word, I couldn't take it seriously.)
Truly, though, an enjoyment of a read — something sweet, and magical, and full of charming love with just a little bit of spice.
Thanks to NetGalley and the editors for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
4.5 stars
Picture it: the beautiful city of Camelot. Within it: the princess of England (Gwendoline) is betrothed to a someday Lord (Arthur). But this is not a retelling of the familiar old myths. This is 100% Gwen's and Arthur's own story.
Arthur and Gwen spend most of their lives despising each other. And then they stumble upon each other's secrets... Arthur kisses boys and Gwen has a crush on the kingdom's one lady knight.
This is a queer love story. And it's lovely.
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is such a sweet book — and literally so funny. It's one of those novels where you end the book with an entire cast of characters that you love. It was paced well, and the ending in particular really amped up for me. It's soft and fun and queer; the time I spent with this story was truly enjoyable.
Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Herbwitch's Apprentice: Illustrated Edition by Ireen Chau
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Truly enjoyed this sweet book — it feels familiar and comforting, sprinkling together fairytales like Cinderella, witches, regency-era debutantes, and charming romance to form a lovely world and story.
While reading, I kept thinking just how captivated my younger self would have been by this novel. It brought me back to the same feelings I used to have reading fairytales like Ella Enchanted. The Herbwitch's Apprentice has joined the ranks as one of those charming, magical tales that still grab at my heart.
The illustrations are what drew me to the book in the first place; it is such a treat to have beautiful illustrations within the pages. The writing and pacing are great, the characters interesting and enjoyable. While it may not be the most unique story, it is wonderful as it is: a lighthearted and lovable fairytale. And I'm very happy to have it on my shelf. :)
While reading, I kept thinking just how captivated my younger self would have been by this novel. It brought me back to the same feelings I used to have reading fairytales like Ella Enchanted. The Herbwitch's Apprentice has joined the ranks as one of those charming, magical tales that still grab at my heart.
The illustrations are what drew me to the book in the first place; it is such a treat to have beautiful illustrations within the pages. The writing and pacing are great, the characters interesting and enjoyable. While it may not be the most unique story, it is wonderful as it is: a lighthearted and lovable fairytale. And I'm very happy to have it on my shelf. :)
Luminiferos: The Omen of Light by Yana Metro
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
DNF'd this at around 20%. It is extremely rare for me to not finish a book, but I could not make myself spend my time on this. It is a "chosen one" story, where a girl has a destiny to save the human world and the Spirit world. She just sort of wanders into the story, and is brought into the Spirit world without much actually happening internally. It's like watching a paper doll stiffly be moved into random situation after situation. The writing is verbose — there are so many adjectives used, and often odd ones at that (like using the word "scent" so often in the first 40 pages that I noticed it). It's another destined girl who goes into a strangely (and over-explained) magical world, without an actual hook for why we're rooting for her... or even why her in the first place. It seemed like the magical world could have some intrigue, but I couldn't take the narrative and the writing.
Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O'Clover
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Ro Devereux can predict the future... or at least her app can. In a way, it's profoundly simple: mixing behavioral psychology with predictive algorithms. But when her school project app goes viral, Ro's life becomes anything but simple, as she navigates truth, relationships, forgiveness, and what it really is to be human.
As soon as I began reading, I found myself repeatedly thinking about this novel. I kept mentally circling the concept of Ro's app, intrigued by the concept. The plot was compelling and plausible, and it kept me turning the pages, never slowing down. It was always growing, always moving forward. I became invested in every character, in their love and pain, feeling the twists and turns with them. I could love, mourn, celebrate, yearn, and experience alongside them. It felt like a little glimpse into humanity. I cried after I turned the last page, because it felt like I had been re-shown what it is to be human, like I had been gifted a sweet sliver of rekindled hope.
As soon as I began reading, I found myself repeatedly thinking about this novel. I kept mentally circling the concept of Ro's app, intrigued by the concept. The plot was compelling and plausible, and it kept me turning the pages, never slowing down. It was always growing, always moving forward. I became invested in every character, in their love and pain, feeling the twists and turns with them. I could love, mourn, celebrate, yearn, and experience alongside them. It felt like a little glimpse into humanity. I cried after I turned the last page, because it felt like I had been re-shown what it is to be human, like I had been gifted a sweet sliver of rekindled hope.
It also touched me as someone who is in that gray area right now, someone who doesn't know what the future holds. It is reassurance and anticipation.
This is a beautiful debut. I'm going to cherish this ARC copy for a very long time.
Thank you to Team Epic Reads for sending me an ARC.
Ghosted by Amanda Quain
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
At a famous school haunted by legends of ghosts, where her mother is headmistress, all Hattie Tilney wants is to live as normal and low-profile a life as possible. When she is asked to be an ambassador for a new scholarship student, however, she is brought closer to ghosts than she wanted — ghosts of the abbey and ghosts of her past.
It's a Northanger Abbey gender-bent retelling set in modern-day high school, complete with boarding school adventures, a sweet, young love story, ghost-tales, and a broken family trying to fit back together.
I had a bit of a hard time actually getting into this book... I was so excited to receive it, but I found myself continuously pushing off picking it up again. The novel was rather slow in the beginning. The writing style is plain, so I was depending on the plot to capture me, but it took a while. There honestly wasn't much happening. Our main character was circling the same doubts and realizations for much of the book. Though, in some way, Hattie was growing (in friendship and in herself), most of what happened in the first 80% of the book wasn't revealing much new to the readers. Hattie was pushing down her true feelings, she was nervously feeling new things around Kit, she was feeling bitter about her friends, her mother, her lot in life.
It was in the last 20% of the book, when Hattie finally faces these issues we've been circling, that I became totally invested. She admits that she has lost herself and finally is forced to face change. It was then that we saw character growth, admissions of wrongs, reconciliation, and growth — not just from Hattie, but from the whole cast of characters. There were moments that I was on the verge of tears; I was suddenly flying through the chapters.
Maybe you could argue that Hattie's antagonist was change, the big thing she had to face at the climax of the story. But I found it was only once the characters were forced to push through things that they wanted to avoid that I truly was cheering them on. And I wish it had happened before the 80% mark.
As a Northanger Abbey retelling, I unfortunately can't make too many comments, since I'm not deeply familiar with the original. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised that it focused on the Tilney family instead of on Austen's protagonist (similar to Quain's other retelling that focuses on Georgiana Darcy rather than Elizabeth). This book seems to mostly be a retelling of the second part of Northanger. And it appears to use the source cleverly — gender-bending it, applying the gothic elements in an interesting way... there were many parallels that were well-done, especially in shifting it into a modern high school setting.
Overall, it was a fun YA read. And, I must say that I have been thinking a lot about ghost stories and their histories since I finished.
Thank you so much to the team at Wednesday Books for reaching out and to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Imagine a world where dreams come true. Ah — no, no, not daydreams and hopes, but those horrifying nightmares that get a stranglehold on you in your sleep. This is the world of Newham. It's a world where people distort in their sleep, where vampires become real and your sister just might turn into a man-eating giant spider. Which happened to Ness. She lives in a state of crippling fear after her sister's incident, petrified by living Nightmares and manipulating her way to survival in an unscrupulous city... until she accidentally gets caught up in a scheme that ties her to the very Nightmares and fears she tries to run from.
First off, I read this really quickly. Like really quick. Like in one day quick. That is rare for me.
This is a bonkers book. It's dark (and bloody and nightmare-filled) but at the same time a total romp. I'm not a horror lover in any way, but this book somehow remained fun and light. Everything about the world created within those pages is slightly off... but in a free-wheeling way. There are coffee shops where the characters get fluffy, sugary coffees while at the same time being in awe of the new black-and-white TV inventions. There are giant talking lizards, gangs that take each other down suddenly in the streets, superhero-esque groups that fight the Nightmares, bloody skirmishes every day, mindful cults that pass out flyers to any passersby... an imbalance all stemming from the chaos caused by Nightmares appearing in the world. It's like stepping into a dream world, a comic book world. It works.
The writing is rather simple. There are also a lot of "morals" or opinions very blatantly spelled out through the book. But most of these are well-meaning takes on how to respect other living beings or how to exist better in the world... and for the younger readers that this novel is targeting, I think that's okay.
The relationships are very sweet. The book tries hard, despite the evils rampant in the story, to keep hold of a sense of goodness. And it succeeds, it seems — somehow the assassins, and gang warfare, and child kidnappings belong to the dreamlike comic-book world, and the care for others becomes the real heart.
CW: It's not as graphic as it sounds, in any way. But... limbs being torn off, people contorting into monsters, children being kidnapped, parents being eaten, gun battles, assassination attempts, explosions...
Thanks to NetGalley and the editors for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder