I pretty much love everything Ruthie Knox writes and surprise, surprise...this one was no different. Knox pulled me in with great characters in book one (Truly) and continues this by giving us a better introduction to Allie, May's sister. I loved finding out more about who she is and what has been going on with her. It was also great to see May and Ben show up in this one.

Allie happens to be in New York...even though she is supposed to be in Wisconsin but she has some concerns about her mom and dad's relationship so she is trying to figure out what her mother is up to and while spying on her in a bar, she meets Winston. I loved these two together and loved how they challenged each other and the bucket list was fantastic.

There is a great link to one of my FAVORITE books by Ruthie Knox, About Last Night, that until I read it I didn't really make the connection. I guess that means I should be doing a re-read of that one soon. Honestly, Ruthie Knox is one of my auto-buy authors and this book is one of the reasons why. If you haven't read anything by her yet, you are missing out and should fix that. She always writes great stories with characters who aren't perfect but make you love them anyway.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Legion by Julie Kagawa is book four in the Talon series and if you are at all interested in dragons, romance, and danger you should definitely check this series out. I had been waiting (what seemed like FOREVER) for this book since I closed the cover on book three and was so excited to jump into this world again. If you haven’t read the other books yet, you may want to hold off on reading this book. I can’t guarantee I won’t spoil something from the prior books.

Legion picks up right where Soldier left off which means they are trying to save Garret from bleeding to death. To get him to a safe place, the group ends up doing a transfusion with the only blood that is a match…Riley’s. This definitely has some downstream impacts but for now, it gives Riley and Ember enough time to get him to a place where they are not in danger from The Order but also to heal.

While that is happening, Talon still has plans and they aren’t giving up on bringing Ember back into the fold, no matter what. I’m not going to give anything away on this part of the story but we find out that Ember has a purpose and Dante, while he has a pretty big role in getting her where Talon needs her, has no clue what they are up to and planning for her. Also, Dante makes me so angry. He sees his work for Talon as something that will grant him freedom and I support his motive but the fact that he is willing to do anything to get that freedom is disturbing. That includes selling out his twin sister and leading an initiative that includes hatchlings that were bred strictly for war/fighting.

The relationship between Ember and Garret does progress in this book and I am glad that Ember finally told Riley that she chooses Garret and she doesn’t want him to wait for her. The fact that he was just hanging out on the sidelines for Garret to go away just didn’t feel right and while I’ve always liked Garret more, I also didn’t think that was fair to Riley at all. Tied into this, is Ember realizing she has been fighting both her human side and her dragon side. Ember finally comes to terms with both by realizing she is both and while she can’t fight her instinct, it doesn’t have to define her. I liked seeing this growth in her character.

As this story moves forward, we get a bit more action and background story. Not only do we learn more about Ember and Dante’s origins but we also learn more about the plans Talon has to attack and destroy The Order. They also happen to have a full list of Riley’s safe houses which puts all of the Rogues in danger. As the group learns more about the plans, they decide to take some dangerous steps to come together to fight Talon. First, Gabriel needs to warn The Order and when he does, he also makes the decision to fight with them and the Rogues decide they need to join in the fight.

There are so many things that happen in this book that I can’t talk about all of it. I also don’t want to ruin any bit of the story for you so other than telling you that this series continues to keep my interest and even surprise me at times, I can’t say much more. If you like Kagawa’s other books, definitely check the Talon series out. I am looking forward to finding out what happens next with these characters and can’t wait to get my hands on the next book!

Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis is a book I have been anticipating since I heard about it. I loved McGinnis’ other books and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one since it falls into my favorite genre, Fantasy.

This story has multiple POVs and I admit, at first the book felt really choppy as we were jumping from one POV to the next and the chapters were fairly short. The Witt chapters were the ones that made things feel off for me and I suppose it is because the other characters are with each other. With that said, once the story picked up for me, it didn’t seem as distracting.

The world that McGinnis has created is interesting. The Kingdom of Stille has always had a Given who dances into the sea and the belief is that she is what prevents a wave from destroying the kingdom like it did before. Khosa is the Given and was expected to be ready to go by now but before she can, she has to have an heir. The problem for her is that she can’t stand the touch of any other human and now things are at a point where she may not get a choice about what happens. Even though she struggles with human touch, there is one person she is drawn to.

Vince is the third in line for the throne and when Khosa shows up at the castle, he can’t help but be drawn to her even if she is destined to die. As time progresses, Vince does what he can to protect her but his father has made it very difficult for him. He is willing to give up everything to protect Khosa but when the plan goes awry, things change for both of them.

Donil and Dara grew up with Vince but they are considered outsiders by most of Stille. They are Indiri, a race connected to the earth, and they possess magic. While Donil aligns to life, Dara aligns to death and while these attributes help them, they also cause some problems. When Vince and Khosa learn more about them and their magic, things change for all of them.Vince (and his mother) has always considered Donil and Dara family and they are all pretty close but when Khosa arrives, things shift a bit for them.

Let’s talk about feelings for a moment. Dara has always felt something for Vince and now she sees that Khosa has drawn Vince’s attention. This has created some definite tension between Dara and Khosa and it eventually comes to a head. Remember when I said that Khosa is drawn to someone…well that happens to be Donil. There is something about Donil that allows Khosa to touch him without flinching or drawing back. So…now we have Dara loves Vince, Vince loves Khosa, and Khosa has feelings for Donil. We do get to see how things end up for this group by the end of the book but I am curious to see where McGinnis will take this in the next book.

Outside of these relationships, there is another vein to this story and that ties back to Witt’s chapters. He leads the Pietra and they are driven to get more land so that his people can survive. Because of this, a war is coming to Stille and they are in no way prepared to fight such a strong army. Add to that, the agreement Witt makes with Ank, the leader of the Feneen, and they really have no chance considering how much they lost the last time they faced the Feneen. I’m looking forward to how this agreement plays out in the next book as things didn’t necessarily work out as planned for the group in this book.

Overall I found this one interesting. It felt like a departure from everything else McGinnis has written (which I have loved) but that isn’t a bad thing. My best recommendation is to not go into this with any pre-conceived notions about what this book will be about. As with her other books, McGinnis does a wonderful job of creating the world and developing the characters, but that is where the comparisons end. While this wasn’t my favorite book by McGinnis, I still thought the story was solid and am looking forward to the next book to see what happens next for these characters.

Review to come.

Review to come

Review to come

Loved this! Review to come.

Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel is one of those books that as soon as I read the summary I was excited to dive right into it. Good versus evil, swoony boy who is not quite human…I’m hooked.

The main character here is Angie Dovage and she is a survivor. Her past isn’t great because of her mother. When Angie’s father finally finds her, it is unclear what Angie really went through but having lived in a van with her drug-addicted mother, she tends to stay out of the limelight and melt into the background as much as she possibly can. Things change a bit when Reece Fernandez moves into the house next door. Angie is drawn to him and from their first meeting it is clear they have a connection.

Reece is the new kid at school and he is immediately taken in by the popular kids but there is something different about him. Crows tend to flock around him and Angie can’t help but be curious. It is because of that curiosity that she attracts the danger that she does and Reece can’t help but do whatever he needs to in order to protect her.

I thought Kassel did a great job of developing the good versus evil story and explaining how the harbingers of death curse works. I also thought the detail put into the transformation of these harbingers, how they follow catastrophe, and the linkage to the beekeepers was interesting. I have to admit, those are the pieces that made this story unique.

The secondary characters are great. Angie’s friends – Deno and Lacey are very supportive of her and while they don’t know everything about what she has gone through, they don’t care. I loved Angie’s father – he wasn’t just in the background the whole time. Reece’s family was interesting and then you have the bad guy – Rafette. All helped to move the story along and played some key roles within the story.

As the story moves forward and Angie learns more about who the harbingers are and why they are in her town, things begin to pick up. There is action, danger, and some swoony bits. I don’t want to give anything away so I can’t say much more here but consider picking this one up when you can. It was a quick read and kept me engaged throughout. I will be watching for more from Kassel in the future based on this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Godsgrave, book two in the Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff, is a book I have been waiting to get my hands on pretty much since I finished Nevernight. If you’re looking for a dark and gritty fantasy definitely get started on this series. I will say that while this is coded as YA, I would definitely not consider it in that category.

I love how Kristoff has created this world where danger lurks around every corner and you never know what will happen next. There is no guarantee that any character you like will make it out of this story intact (or alive) so brace yourself.

Mia is Mia…that is really all I can say. She is still looking for her revenge and she has a plan no matter what the Red Church says and when she finds out what their motives are, I’m sure you can imagine what happens. As for other characters, we get to see some return from book one but there are also some new ones too. Not only do they help move the story forward but they all keep Mia on track.

One thing that was in book one and carries over to this book is the use of footnotes. The structure is not my favorite and I found it distracting so I chose not to read them but went back to read after I finished. I know some people like them but they weren’t really for me.

I do think Mia shows some growth in this book. Yes, she is still angry and still looking for revenge. She also pretty much does what she wants but when she is sold to the gladiatii, she finds herself in a place where she has to follow direction and in some cases, get along with those around her. There were some twists and turns I didn’t see coming during Mia’s time under the Domina’s rule but her abilities help her get around some of the rules.

There isn’t a lot I can say about what actually happens because I don’t want to ruin a second of Mia’s story for anyone. Instead what I will tell you is that if you enjoyed book one, I don’t think you will be disappointed by Godsgrave. So much happens that I can’t even talk about it all. And of course, in the way that he does, Kristoff has ended this book by ripping out my very soul. Ok, ok…that might be a bit dramatic but HOLY CRAP that was completely unexpected and now I need to figure out who I need to talk to (read: BRIBE) to get a copy of book three.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.