Splintered - A.G. Howard

I picked up the book Splintered, by A.G. Howard, because I thought it looked awesome.  I totally judged this book by the cover.  Then I read the back and fell in love with the description.  Everything about this book seemed awesome.  Then - I hiked myself to the library and checked this book out.  See, it's the first book in a series, and I didn't want to buy it if it turned out to be awful.  Turns out, I made the right decision - because this book was not nearly as good as I thought it was going to be.

Splintered is a sort of retelling of the classic Alice in Wonderland story.  According to this book, Alyssa is the great-great-great granddaughter of Alice Liddell, a woman who actually traveled to Wonderland, then told her story to Lewis Carroll and gave him permission to write about it.  Alice's daughter, granddaughter, great granddaughter and so on, all have a touch of madness about them due to being descendants of Alice.  In fact, Alyssa's mom is even in a mental institution (where they do things like carry needles to the patients in their hands and dope them up with drugs sans the patients permission.) 

We meet Alyssa as she is arriving at work.  Later, instead of going straight home, she goes to a skate park where she falls and gets hurt.  Her kind of friend Jeb gives a ride to the mental institution - and later finally learns the truth about what's wrong with Alyssa's mother.  A couple of strange things happen that set off Alyssa's mom and send her into a fit in which she tries to kill Alyssa.  After hearing some strange speak from her mom, Alyssa makes her way to a mirror where she falls into wonderland followed by Jeb - who followed her because he wanted to make sure she was alright.  This leads to Alyssa's own personal journey through a land that everyone else thinks is fake. 

I think that in the hands of a better writer and a better editor, this story could have been great.  As it stands, the characters and the writing are weak, and there are some major mistakes that should have been caught.  For example, spelling errors of very basic words like thief (spelled theif in the book.)  The first thing that caught me really off guard was the fact that Alyssa's mother was in a mental institution.  This is not a valid plot point in any story because people who mental health issues do not go to institutions any more.   They stay in hospitals where trained medical doctors can oversee them and assist them in working towards integrated life with their families.  I also had a major issue with the description of the nurse giving Alyssa's mom a shot.  The nurse picked up the needle and carried it in her hand and behind her back towards Alyssa's mother.  She then injected this shot into Alyssa's mother with know forewarning and without her permission. This would not have been done.  In any normal setting, the nurse would have carried the syringe/needle to Alyssa's mother on a tray.  Also, Alyssa's mother would have been in her room, not out in some courtyard where any person could see what was happening. That raises issues of this place violating a person's right to privacy. 

The story is littered with weak sentences and situations that are thrown in just to move the story along. The characters do not change or grow at all throughout the book, and there are no real revelations in the story.  It was a dismal attempt at recreating a classic story and it did not live up to it's predecessor in the least.  You'd be better off saving your time to read something that's actually well written and well edited.  As for the rest of this series - I won't be following the "real wonderland."

Blythewood - Carol Goodman

Blythewood, the first in a series by Carol Goodman, is a Young Adult fantasy novel that everyone will want to pick up and read, stat!  The book takes places at Blythewood Academy, a school for young ladies located in New York's Hudson Valley.  The main character, Avaline Hall, was raised by a single mother and never knew her father.  When Ava's mother dies from a laudanum overdose, Ava is forced to seek employment at Triangle Factory sewing clothes.  Whilst there, she starts seeing a man around town who is familiar to her.  (I'll just leave it at that.)  One day, after seeing him, there is an urgent situation that arises at the factory, and Ava barely gets out alive.  She is rescued by a friend of her grandmothers, and gets accepted to Blythewood academy, where she learns a number of mysterious and magical things. 


I don't want to give away too many things from this novel, so I'll keep the synopsis to what's above, and dive right into what I thought about the book.  I heard about this book a couple weeks ago when I was reading Survive the Night as part of the Penguin Wicked Reads Campaign.  I was curious about the other books that were part of the campaign, and when I stumbled across this one, I knew I had to read it right away.  I checked it out from the library, and from the very first page, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed.  The descriptions of places, the people, the clothes they wear - all wonderful!  There is no lack of wondering how things in the book look - but have no fear: the author still leaves plenty to the readers imagination. 

The characters in the book are all very well done, and each of them stands out with their own distinct personality and flavor.  Never once did I find myself thinking the characters sounded too much alike.  When confronted with adversity or a nasty spirited person, it was great to see how Ava and her friends stood up for each other and defended their friends and fellow students. 

Their is a little love interest in the story, but unlike in some novels, it was not overwhelming, nor was it the primary focus of the novel.  That was nice, as I feel that some books let the love interest control the story. 

Overall, this is a solid 5 star read that people of any age are sure to enjoy!

The Girls from SeeSaw Lane - Sandy Taylor

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book through Netgalley.  All thoughts and opinions about this book are my own.

 

 

 

Book: The Girls from SeeSaw Lane

Author: Sandy Taylor

Publisher: Bookotoure

Release Date: December 4, 2015

 

 

The Girls from SeeSaw Lane, by Sandy Taylor, is a look at friendship and heartbreak in 1960's Brighton, England.  The protagonist, Dottie Perks, and her best friend Mary Pickles, have know each other their entire lives.  Mary took Dottie under her wing when they were young, because other people didn't want to hang out with the fat girl.  Mary and Dottie do everything together - they even work together at Woolworths, the local department store. 

 

The primary focus of the book is the relationship that Mary has with Elton, and the one that Dottie has with Ralph.  Mary's relationship with Elton, however, is not much of a real relationship.  He uses her because he knows how she feels about him - so Mary spends most of her time lamenting over him.  Ralph and Dottie, on the other hand, have a wonderful relationship that goes smashingly well until an event happens that changes the entire dynamic between Mary, Dottie, and Ralph.  From there, the novel takes a turn I never would have expected.

 

I enjoyed this book in so many ways.  I think the characters were all really well developed, and it was easy to distinguish between each character.  I like that the book also had diary entries from Mary at the beginning of many of the chapters - it helped give some more insight into what Mary was thinking about things happening in her life.

 

The thing that surprised me the most was what happens to Mary (don't worry, no spoilers.)  I didn't see it happening - and I think this worked well to have it be a surprise.  The twist fit in well with the rest of the book, and made for a sad yet fantastic ending.

 

Overall, this is a book I would recommend to anyone looking for a great read about friendship and love.  You won't be disappointed.

 

 

 

 



I am Princess X - Cherie Priest

I am Princess X, by Cherie Priest, is the authors first foray into YA fiction.  The book revolves around two girls - May and Libby.  Libby supposedly gets killed in a car accident with her mom when she is thirteen.  When they first met, May didn't have a lot of friends, and developed a strong friendship with Libby.  They developed a comic together called "I am Princess X."  However, when Libby dies, Princess X dies along with her.  Then, when May is 17, she starts seeing Princess X stickers plastered all over Seattle. 

May is intrigued by these stickers, and goes on a search only to find that there is a huge following for Princess X, a Princess X website, and all manner of other Princess X goodies around.  She doesn't know what to make of this at first, but suspects that either Libby is still alive, or that someone stole there comic stuff.   The rest of the novel leads May into some strange places, puts her in a foot race trying to escape from a crazy driver, and leads her to discover some things about herself. 

I don't want to give too much away, so I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum!  Throughout the novel, May meets several interesting characters including Trick.  Trick is an expert hacker who got kicked out of college because of one of the locations he hacked - but he lets people hire him, and he is instrumental in May's journey.  Trick and May are two of the main characters, so let's talk about them for a minute.  While the plot of the story was interesting, the character development felt low to me.  I felt like there should have been a slight bit more growth, especially in May since she goes through the most things in this book.

There was a decent amount of action in the book.  It was enough to make me want to keep reading.  However, the ending felt predictable.  I knew the "What's going to happen?" from the beginning, but the how do they get there was what kept me reading.  Overall, I'd give this a three star review.  It's a light fluffy mystery, perfect for teens and early 20-somethings.

Wicked Reads - Survive the Night: Danielle Vega

 Survive the Night, a novel by author Danielle Vega, is a novel you won't want to miss out on.  It is part of the Wicked Reads Campaign hosted by Penguin Books.   (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher.  All opinions about the book are my own.)

The story opens with  Casey, fresh out of rehab, going to a sleepover at her "parent approved" friends house.  Why only parent approved friends, you ask?  Well, she is a teenager fresh out of rehab - so of course her parents only want her hanging out with good kids.  When Casey gets to the sleepover, she notices how different everyone acts, because they are all a little weirded out by the fact that Casey was in rehab.  

When Casey's friends Shana, Aya, and Julie arrive to take Casey out for the night, she has no idea how wild their night will get.  The Survive the Night rave they attend is just the tip of the iceberg.  During their night, the encounter mayhem, inadvertant druggings, and murder.  

Now, I don't want to give too much away, so that's all you'll get by way of spoilers. I will tell you, however, my thoughts on this book.  I didn't know what to expect when I started reading it.  The plot sounded intriguing, and the description was enough to let me know it would be a little scary.  When I got the book, I ripped open the package and dug in (and I wasn't disappointed.)  The author was raised on horror books by the likes of Stephen King, and her love of scary situations certainly shows in this book.  

I, personally, would say this is a slightly different horror story than Kings, but it's scary nonetheless.  There are situations in the book that made me want to cry out "No, no, dang it, don't do that!"  If you are like me, and you like to read before bed, be prepared: this book may give you case of "did I just see something move outside my window?!"  

I liked Casey and rooted for her the entire book.  I could sense from the beginning that Casey was not that "bad girl" that people thought she was.  She had a personality that seemed so different from Aya, Shana, and Julie's, that it was easy to see why she felt the way she did throughout the book.  Let's just say: she has friends who are much more suited to her personality.  

Overall, if you read this book - you won't be disappointed.  This was definitely a most wicked read!  


I bet you're intrigued by the Wicked Reads! (I know I've already added other books from the Wicked Reads series to my reading list!)  If you're on Twitter, you can get in on a fabulous chat on Friday October 30th at 4 PM.  This fun Twitter chat is being hosted by @mashreads and will feature the following authors:

• Danielle Vega (twitter.com/dvegabooks) author of The Merciless and Survive the Night
• Peter Kujawinski (twitter.com/kujawinski) author of Nightfall
• Kim Liggett (twitter.com/kim_liggett) author of Blood and Salt
• April Genevieve Tucholke (https://twitter.com/apriltucholke) author of Slasher Girls & Monster Boys
• Carol Goodman (https://twitter.com/C_Goodmania) author of Blythewood series
• Sally Green (https://twitter.com/Sa11eGreen) author of the Half Bad series
• 
  
• 
  

 
And, in case that wasn't enough, there is also a fun Twitter Ghost story event being held from  October 26th through October 31.  Anyone can participate, and if you're Twitter Ghost Story wins, you have the chance to win a Prize Pack of the featured (wicked) books!  Just type up a spooky story in 140 characters, and include the hashtag  #twitterghoststory!  I'd love to see your ghost stories too: come find me on twitter @magglepie.

Now go on and have some Wicked Fun! 

Harry Potter Read-A-Thon

If you follow my blog, or know me in real life, you probably know that I LOVE Harry Potter.  I am a huge Harry Potter Fangirl.  I have always loved the entire series.  So, since it's been a while since I've read my way through the entire series, I thought, "What better way to do that than to do a read-a-thon?"

The Basics:

*The Read-A-Thon will occur from November 1 to December 31.  These are busy months, and doing the event over a two month period gives the participants a chance to take it easy and read at their own pace. 

*You pick the pace.  You can read all the books super quick, or take your time getting through them.  The idea is to just have all seven books finished by the end of December.

*All sign ups must be completed by October 31.  This gives me a chance to create a linkable list of all participants because:

*You are encouraged to go to other participants blogs and cheer them on as they make their way through the books. 

*Check back to this blog regularly, because in addition to writing my thoughts on the books, I will also be having trivia and prizes!  I will also have links to other blogs who are participating in read-a-thon prize giveaways so you can check them regularly as well! 

*Make sure to post updates on your progress on your blog - we may award prizes to people who post regular updates!

Most of all: Just Have Fun!

If you are interested in participating: Fabulous!  You can sign up as a reader using the form below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19JtNjULUIA-WOoLy9Txt1UFUeYbJYjloejQuMsxsMa8/viewform?usp=send_form

Be sure to include your name and blog link on the sign up form.


I would like to have prizes as part of the event.  I will be donating a few prizes of my own, which will be posted here on my blog in the coming weeks.  If you are interested in donating a prize, please fill out the form below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/148tmoi6fWGUFK5S9PGm0X6-bXbfXVqdbC-HrJQHrQvU/viewform?usp=send_form

Drama - Raina Telgmeier

So, it's been a while since I've  read a graphic novel.  Drama seemed like an interesting choice.  It's a shortish graphic novel based off one year in a middle school drama production.  This is going to be a short review.

The drama group is split into people who love to act and audition for every show, and the people who just prefer to be in the background.  Callie, a seventh grader, is a strictly backstage lady.  She loves being involved in set building and lights.  The story follows Callie and her friends as they put together and star in their production for the year.

As you can imagine, the title has a double meaning, since the friends in the novel have their own real life drama.  Their are breakups and make-ups, new discoveries, fights, and all the other stuff that goes along with being in junior high.  The novel covers the span of one school year and is definitely geared towards kids in junior high. 

The characters are well developed and thought out, and all have their own distinct personalities.  The story was quick to read and fun.  If you have a kid who loves the theater or a kid in junior high, have them read this - they are sure to love it.

The Testing - Joelle Charbonneau

*SPOILER ALERT*

You know me, inevitably a couple spoilers will make their way into this review.  So, if you don't want any spoilers, wait to read this review.  Otherwise: Enjoy.

The Testing, by author Joelle Charbonneau, takes place in dystopian US, now converted into 14 districts (oops, I mean Colonies.)  Outside of each colony, the land is barren and broken.  The government, based in Tosu City, has developed a system called the Testing, in which they take the smartest candidates from each colony and test them to determine who should go on to receive a University education.  Each candidate is put through a series of written tests, a puzzle test with other candidates, and a test in which they are thrown into an arena - oops, I mean open landscape leading back to Tosu City - where they must fight the remaining candidates in a race for survival.

Cia Vale, a resident of the Five Lakes Colony, has hopes of being part of the Testing.  She succeeds, becoming one of four people from her colony to go on to the testing.  There is no guarantee that her family will see her again.  She and her classmates are carted of to Tosu city to undergo a life altering event that is dotted with mutated animals, hover ships, tracking devices, and murderous classmates.

Does any of this sound familiar?  It should - because this book is basically just a ripoff of Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games.  The only difference is that this book has more "testing" prior to going into the arena - I mean, barren wasteland.

 

In this book, the Five Lakes colony has not had a testing candidate in years (just as District 12 in THG did not have a winner for many years.)  Then Peeta and Katniss - I mean Cia and Tomas - come along, and suddenly Five Lakes Colony has hope.  They have a chance to gain more attention, to send off their students to be tested, to go to university, to help save a failing country.  

 

 Cia and Tomas, as well as two other candidates from their colony, get sent to the testing arena, and put through the first test with the 106 other candidates.  After the first round, there are less than 100 candidates left, and suicide, murder, and more failing grades in the next two rounds leave just over 50 candidates to pass the arena test.  Before going into the final test, each candidate can choose three weapons to bring with them.  They are then launched into the testing area from an underground location (sound familiar?)  They are told to form alliances with at least one other candidate, but are also told not to trust anyone.  

During their almost month in the arena Tomas and Cia fall in love, meet and kill other candidates, get injured, meet mutated animals, and almost die from hunger and dehydration.  They finally make it back to Tosu city and 20 of the 24 remaining candidates get chosen to go on to university.  

This book was well written, but too much of a familiarity with The Hunger games for me to really get into it.  I would have loved the book a lot more had it been more original and unique.  The fighting in the arena, the mutated animals, almost dying from dehydration, the betrayal from others - it was all just too much of a retelling of the Hunger Games, that I can't really give it more than 2 or 3 stars. In addition to the similarities, there was also the paltry love story between Cia and Tomas.  It was flat at best, and seemed to only exist because the author felt like it should be there.  Not all stories have to have a love aspect to them.  

If you like stories that are similar to The Hunger Games, go ahead and give this a shot.  Otherwise, move on to something more original. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss - Max Wirestone

 

***Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley.  This is my honest review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.***

 

 

 

Title: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss

Author: Max Wirestone

Release Date: October 20, 2015

Publisher: Redhook

 

 

Dahlia Moss has been unemployed for going on two years, and has no prospect.  She lives with her friend Charise, who has very kindly fed and housed Dahlia for two years for free.  Dahlia's luck changes with Jonah, a man she only met once, shows up at her apartment and offers her $2000 to find a sword that was stolen through a MMORPG called Zoth.  Now, I am not a gamer, so I had to look up what MMORPG meant.  It stands for massively multiplayer online role playing game. 

 

Throughout the novel, many things happen that seem utterly and totally outrageous, and in some cases downright unbelievable.  I won't give everything away - let's just say that by the time Dahlia gets shot at and dragged over the edge of a balcony by a crazy lady, I have to wonder how all this stuff could possibly happen to one person in the course of just a few weeks.

 

Anyway, throughout the novel you meet a host of crazy characters.  In addition to Dahlia and Charice, we meet Jonah, who is not around for very long, Kurt, who is generally kind of annoying, and some other people who are mostly referred to by their Zoth names. 

 

If you follow my blog or know me in real life, you may have figured out that I am a not so closet nerd.  So, the nerdy part of this book resonated with me.  However, I am not terribly familiar with online role playing games.  I live in the land of books and movies.  (I mean, Harry Potter and LOTR anyone?!)  But, even though this book was mostly about computer games, it was fun to read none the less. 

 

The story was great - I really loved the idea of melding nerd-dom with mystery.  However, there were some glaring grammatical errors that really pulled me out of the story and made me go "What?"  I appreciated how the characters were each separate from each other, with their own distinct personalities.  The author did a good job of developing the characters throughout the story.  I also appreciated the humor thrown in throughout the book.  Most mystery books don't have the humor aspect, because it doesn't usually fit - but in this book, the humor worked well.

 

Overall - I would give this book a solid three stars.  Five for the story, but one for the grammatical errors. 

 

 

 



Next Stop: Love - Miranda J. Fox

***DISCLAIMER*** I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts on the book are my own.

Book: Next Stop: Love

Author: Miranda J. Fox

Publisher: Amazon Publishing (Amazon Cross)

Release Date: September 15, 2015

Sophia - a 25 year old recent law school graduate - has been living under the thumb of her controlling mother her entire life.  So she finally leaves and moves to Berlin.  She has an interview on the day of her arrival - and while riding the train, she meets a man who grates on her nerves in more ways than she can count.  Little does Sophia know that this man, Luca Marcs, is about to become her boss.

Sophia attends her interview and begrudgingly accepts that job, if only to prove that she can do it.  In the end, she loves the job, and much more.  Throughout the novel, we meet a host of weird, funny, and in one case, downright nasty characters who make the novel come alive.  There's Aileen, the tattooed 40 year old secretary, Mary, the snide, rude, callous secretary, Mr. Marcs, Luca's overbearing father and the owner of Marcs Entertainment, and Lisa, Sophia's best friend and roommate.

This novella was short and well written - I whipped through it in a day, and enjoyed ever second of it.  Both Luca and Sophia make changes in their lives and work towards being better people throughout the novel.  They come to trust each other in a way I wondered if Sophia ever could.

Even though this book was shortish, I got into it right away, and fell in love with the characters.  I cheered when Luca and Sophia went on their first date.  I was appalled at Mr. Marcs when he attempted to break them up.  I wanted to cry when Sophia believed Mr. Marcs, and tried to end it with Luca.  I laughed out loud when Sophia met Aileen's mom for the first time.  The characters all fit together so well throughout the entire story, and each had their own distinct personalities.

I found the story to be believable and well thought out and structured.  It was funny at the right moments, and I genuinely believed this story could happen.  I would give this book a solid 5 stars.  Get your hands on it as soon as it comes out - you won't be disappointed. 

The Maze Runner - James Dashner

 

***Spoilers:  If you're one of those people who hasn't read The Maze Runner yet, save this review for later, as there are a few spoilers.  If you don't mind knowing a few things that happen, read on.***

 

 

The Maze Runner, the popular fantasy novel by James Dashner, is certainly worth the read - but make sure you know that it has an open ending and is part of a trilogy.

The book opens with Thomas, our protagonist, being brought to the Glade in an elevator.  He has no memory of anything that has happened to him in the past.  No memory of family, friends, or even his name.  He meets several other people who live in the Glade, including Chuck, Minho, Gally, and Alby, amongst others.  The first day there is eventful and obviously frightening for Chuck.  The next day something even more frightening for the Gladers happens - another person arrives.  However, this person is different - because she's a girl.  She's the first girl the Gladers have ever had, and she's unconscious.  She wakes up briefly to let them know that she's the end.  The last one.  Then she's out again.

I don't want to give too much of this book away, because I really want you to be surprised.  So, as far as the story, I'll tell you this: the very basic premise is that the people in the Glade are trying to get out by solving a maze (which people called Runners go through every day to figure a way out.) 

Throughout the book, people die, survive griever attacks, fight, discover things about themselves, and learn something they never thought they would. 

The characters in the book are fairly well-developed.  The story kept me wondering from beginning to end, just hoping that the next page would be the one where they found a way out.  From the first Wicked beetle to the last griever attack, I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book.  It's dystopian and marvelous - and it's a book that anyone age 14 and older should read! 

The Misadventures of a Playground Mother - Christie Barlow

***DISCLAIMER*** 

I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Those of you familiar with the world of Harry Potter have undoubtedly heard of and/or read The Tales of Beedle The Bard.  This cute, fun collection of stories is based in the wizarding world. 

There are five stories in this book:
*The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
*The Fountain of Fair Fortune
*The Warlock's Hairy Heart
*Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump
*The Tale of the three Brothers

The stories are read to wizard kids in the hopes of presenting wizards in a good light, since so many muggle stories tend to make witches and wizards look bad.  The stories fit well with the rest of the Harry Potter books, and give the reader some more insight into what the wizarding world is like.

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot is about a wizard whose father has passed away.  The wizard does not want to help people the way his father did.  He learns, however, through soe magical events with his cauldron, that helping others is really the best thing he can do!

The Fountain of Fair Fortune teaches kids about love and perseverance.  It's a wonderful tale for kids of all ages.

The Warlock's Hairy Heart is a tale about greed and hate, and is best read by more mature readers.

Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump teaches kids about the importance of helping others and teaches that we should not be arrogant about what we can achieve or who we are.

The Tale of the Three Brothers is a story that any Harry Potter fan is familiar with.  It is a great story that teaches that we all pass sometimes and that we should help each other however we can.

These are stories I would recommend to any Harry Potter fan, young or old! 

Lizzie & Jane - Katherine Reay

I just finished reading Lizzy & Jane, by Katherine Reay.  I can honestly say this is one of the first books in a long time that I've had to force myself to finish. 

The story is about two sisters and their... stilted relationship with each other.  Jane, older than Lizzie by eight years, left town as soon as she could and stayed away even when their mother was sick with and died from cancer.  Lizzy, one the other hand, was home because she was 17 and still in high school.  She was there through the whole time her mom was sick, and was the only sister/daughter at the funeral.  However, as soon as she graduated, Lizzy, who now goes by Elizabeth, moved to New York.  She went to a culinary institute and now works at a restaurant named Feast.  Jane, on the other hand, has moved back to Seattle with her husband and two kids.  They see Jane's dad on a regular basis, and have grown to love the area. 

Around the time that Jane is diagnosed with cancer, Elizabeth starts having troubles with her restaurant.  Elizabeth finally resigns herself to the fact that she may, in fact, need a vacation.  Her investor and boss, Paul, brings in a guest chef named Trent.  They work together for a few days before Elizabeth makes the decision to go to Seattle for a few weeks.  While in Seattle, Elizabeth learns many things, not only about herself, but about her family.

This had the potential to be a great story, potential being the keyword.  There was minimal plot or character development and the storyline was weak.  Both Jane and Elizabeth are selfish, shallow women who don't care about anyone other than themselves.  That doesn't change by the end of the novel.  The only difference is that now they get to be shallow and selfish in the same city. 

Jane's husband, Peter, isn't much better.  He only thinks about himself and doesn't really seem to care that his wife may die.  Nick, Elizabeths love interest, may just be the only saving grace in the entire book.  He is charming and genuinely seems to care about other people.  If only we could have had more of him, then maybe the book would have been better. 

The thing that irritated me most of all was that when Elizabeth decided to start cooking food for cancer patients, it took her too long to think about them, because all she thought about was what she might want.  She never thought that some foods might not taste good to them, or that each person might have different foods they like. 

I would give this book a solid D-.  Save your time and read something else.

The Winner's Crime - Marie Rutkoski

 

****SPOILERS**** I usually have a few spoilers that make their way into my reviews.  So, if this is on your must read list and you want to be totally surprised, save this review for later.  If you don't mind a few spoilers, read on.

 

 

 

 

If you have read The Winner's Curse, you know that the novel ends with Kestrel becoming engaged to the emporer's son. It should come as no surprise that this is purely a political move, one made in an attempt to save the man and the land that she really loves. 

 

We find ourselves, in the beginning of The Winner's Crime. with the emporer making attempts to feel out Kestrel.  They have breakfast together, meet together in his office, talk political strategy.  All of this is simply so that the emporer can determine where Kestrel's allegiance lies.  My opinion: Kestrel is loyal to nobody but herself.  She may love Arin, but when all is said and done, she is who she wants to please.

 

Throughout the novel, many events are held in honor of Kestrel's engagement to Verex, including a ball that lasts through the night.  Arin, claiming he couldn't come, sends another Herrani to the ball, only to show up later and engage in a tryst with Kestrel behind the curtains in her bedroom.  Kestrel hides her tryst well, or so she thinks, but you can imagine that there is some fallout from her behavior.  In addition to this hidden event, Kestrel also manages to offend Jess to such a degree that Jess removes herself from the emporer's home with no goodbye and refuses to speak to Kestrel ever again.

 

The remainder of the novel is mostly political ploys and games designed to keep us guessing as to whom is on whose side, and making us wonder who loves whom.  There are spies created, allies made, and friendships broken, but what would be the point of a shaky revolution without all that?  

 

To be honest, this is a slower moving novel than The Winner's Curse.  There is not as much action.  There is no revolution, not as much meeting of the hidden lovers.  But, there is intrigue.  There is a blackmail feel to the relationship between Kestrel and the emporer that will make you want to keep reading.  I loved this book, and I loved the political intrigue in it.  I loved learning about the new characters and their land - Dacra.  (There are three lands here - Valoria, Herran, and Dacra.)  I think it was brilliant the way that all the characters secrets are revealed slowly (and some not at all.) 

 

Overall, this book is a must-read, so add it to your list!  I give it 4.5 stars all the way!