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erinarkin20
3.5 stars
Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor was a quick and interesting read. These days books are all about people figuring out how to navigate in a world very different from what we have today but this story focuses on two individuals who grew up on an island and are suddenly thrown into our existing world. I found myself pulled right in and couldn’t wait to see how things went.
Sky and River grew up with Sky’s mother (Petal) and River’s father (Helmut) on a remote island. They were always told that they were the sole survivors of a boat crash and they managed to survive for a number of years. The story opens on Sky’s sixteenth birthday and we find that now, it is only Sky and River left and they are doing their best to survive but it isn’t always easy. River had always challenged Helmut and his rules and now that he is no longer around, he makes the decision to try to draw attention to their island. He believes that if a boat would find them, he could go back to his mother, who he believes was left behind.
A boat does come for them and both River and Sky are thrown into a situation that they don’t know how to adapt to and the only thing familiar to each of them (each other) is ripped away and they are forced apart. Sky it turns out is actually Megan and her grandmother comes to take her home with her…and away from River who happens to really be Lucas.
As the story progresses, we find out there is really more to this story and Cantor does a wonderful job of peeling away the real story layer by layer. Sky’s mother was really a part of a cult, which happened to be run by Helmut. Before they left on the boat, Helmut enlisted the help of Lucas to feed the cult members apples that happened to be poisoned. Because of this and the fact that the press has had access to the images showing Lucas in the pictures, there is an immediate bias toward him, not only by the public but specifically by Sky’s grandmother. It is because of this bias that she basically pays him to stay away from Sky which ultimately creates larger issues.
It was really hard once River was back in Sky’s life to see how different their integration to the real world was. Where Sky had someone who tried to care for her, River had no one. He didn’t know how to do anything but survive in the wild (for lack of a better way of explaining) and because of that, he ends up living in a somewhat similar situation to before…just a different location.
I really did feel bad for these two. We see the story through Sky’s eyes and to see her ripped away from River and then everyone trying to force her to be someone she wasn’t made me want to shake everyone and make them see how much they were hurting her. Ben was the one person to pull through for them in the end and I appreciated how he admitted what his role was supposed to be and to make up for it, he did what he had to in order to gain back Sky’s trust.
Overall this was a solid 3.5 stars for me. I thought the pacing was good and the way Cantor brought me into these characters lives was great. It was a quick read and I found myself turning the pages to see how it would all end up for these characters. I would have liked to know more about the decision Helmut made (with the mushrooms - - why then...did something happen??) but it in no way took away from the story of Sky and River.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the review copy.
Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor was a quick and interesting read. These days books are all about people figuring out how to navigate in a world very different from what we have today but this story focuses on two individuals who grew up on an island and are suddenly thrown into our existing world. I found myself pulled right in and couldn’t wait to see how things went.
Sky and River grew up with Sky’s mother (Petal) and River’s father (Helmut) on a remote island. They were always told that they were the sole survivors of a boat crash and they managed to survive for a number of years. The story opens on Sky’s sixteenth birthday and we find that now, it is only Sky and River left and they are doing their best to survive but it isn’t always easy. River had always challenged Helmut and his rules and now that he is no longer around, he makes the decision to try to draw attention to their island. He believes that if a boat would find them, he could go back to his mother, who he believes was left behind.
A boat does come for them and both River and Sky are thrown into a situation that they don’t know how to adapt to and the only thing familiar to each of them (each other) is ripped away and they are forced apart. Sky it turns out is actually Megan and her grandmother comes to take her home with her…and away from River who happens to really be Lucas.
As the story progresses, we find out there is really more to this story and Cantor does a wonderful job of peeling away the real story layer by layer. Sky’s mother was really a part of a cult, which happened to be run by Helmut. Before they left on the boat, Helmut enlisted the help of Lucas to feed the cult members apples that happened to be poisoned. Because of this and the fact that the press has had access to the images showing Lucas in the pictures, there is an immediate bias toward him, not only by the public but specifically by Sky’s grandmother. It is because of this bias that she basically pays him to stay away from Sky which ultimately creates larger issues.
It was really hard once River was back in Sky’s life to see how different their integration to the real world was. Where Sky had someone who tried to care for her, River had no one. He didn’t know how to do anything but survive in the wild (for lack of a better way of explaining) and because of that, he ends up living in a somewhat similar situation to before…just a different location.
I really did feel bad for these two. We see the story through Sky’s eyes and to see her ripped away from River and then everyone trying to force her to be someone she wasn’t made me want to shake everyone and make them see how much they were hurting her. Ben was the one person to pull through for them in the end and I appreciated how he admitted what his role was supposed to be and to make up for it, he did what he had to in order to gain back Sky’s trust.
Overall this was a solid 3.5 stars for me. I thought the pacing was good and the way Cantor brought me into these characters lives was great. It was a quick read and I found myself turning the pages to see how it would all end up for these characters. I would have liked to know more about the decision Helmut made (with the mushrooms - - why then...did something happen??) but it in no way took away from the story of Sky and River.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the review copy.
I was intrigued when I read the summary of Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton and that seems to be the trend with her books. I find that her stories have an interesting twist that grabs my attention and so far, I haven’t been disappointed.
The story begins with an unknown character falling and finding herself in a place where she has no recollection of who she is, why she is dead (yes…dead), and what the key around her neck means. Everyone who has fallen to Under has one identifier and as the main character has a key, that is what she is called by everyone. I loved how Sutton built this world and slowly revealed the story and characters. Its focus is on Key and how she is linked to all the characters in Under but there is also a bit of a mystery because once Key does show up, others in Under are showing up dead and no one can figure out who is doing the killing.
Key was an interesting character. She knew something weird was going on and as she kept having flashbacks of the characters in Under, she started to uncover what was really going on. I loved that even though it meant she was in danger, she wasn’t willing to stop digging into what was going on. She needed to figure things out to determine who she could trust, and, in the end, she was resigned to face whatever danger she needed to in order to figure out who was killing the others.
Smoke is someone Key meets when she finds herself in Under. He saves her from another character and she’s immediately drawn to him even though she doesn’t really know if she can trust him. Smoke has an air of mystery to him and it was hard, at first, to know what his story was but as Key’s flashbacks move the story forward and his background unfolds, it was hard not to like him.
The secondary characters are interesting as well and help to move the story along. As I alluded to, a number of them link to Key from her life when she was alive and although I won’t say anything specific here, it is important to note that through each of them, Key starts to tie everything together. I really appreciate that as the reader, I was learning everything right along with Key and it made it so that I didn’t want to put the book down.
If you are looking for a book that will introduce you to a unique story and interesting characters, consider checking this one out when you can. I have enjoyed the books I’ve read by Sutton so far and will definitely be looking forward to her next one.
Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The story begins with an unknown character falling and finding herself in a place where she has no recollection of who she is, why she is dead (yes…dead), and what the key around her neck means. Everyone who has fallen to Under has one identifier and as the main character has a key, that is what she is called by everyone. I loved how Sutton built this world and slowly revealed the story and characters. Its focus is on Key and how she is linked to all the characters in Under but there is also a bit of a mystery because once Key does show up, others in Under are showing up dead and no one can figure out who is doing the killing.
Key was an interesting character. She knew something weird was going on and as she kept having flashbacks of the characters in Under, she started to uncover what was really going on. I loved that even though it meant she was in danger, she wasn’t willing to stop digging into what was going on. She needed to figure things out to determine who she could trust, and, in the end, she was resigned to face whatever danger she needed to in order to figure out who was killing the others.
Smoke is someone Key meets when she finds herself in Under. He saves her from another character and she’s immediately drawn to him even though she doesn’t really know if she can trust him. Smoke has an air of mystery to him and it was hard, at first, to know what his story was but as Key’s flashbacks move the story forward and his background unfolds, it was hard not to like him.
The secondary characters are interesting as well and help to move the story along. As I alluded to, a number of them link to Key from her life when she was alive and although I won’t say anything specific here, it is important to note that through each of them, Key starts to tie everything together. I really appreciate that as the reader, I was learning everything right along with Key and it made it so that I didn’t want to put the book down.
If you are looking for a book that will introduce you to a unique story and interesting characters, consider checking this one out when you can. I have enjoyed the books I’ve read by Sutton so far and will definitely be looking forward to her next one.
Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan was one of the books on my most anticipated list for this year and I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed it! I do see where people are able to compare the story to the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo but only slightly.
At the center of this story is a war that’s been going on for a while between Kalyazi and Tranavia. The division between these two countries has made it so that neither is willing to give up their cause and they have very different beliefs around what is and is not acceptable magic. The challenge for the Kalyazi is that their practice of magic has been wiped out by the Tranavians and they are losing the war.
Hidden away in a monastery is Nadya. One of our main characters and she just happens to be the only cleric in Kalyazi. Being a cleric means she is connected to the gods and the gods grant her the magic she uses which is rare. When the Tranavian prince hunts her down and attempts to take her, she is forced to run but Nadya knows she won’t be able to outrun him for long so when she runs into some questionable strangers, she takes a chance and decides to join them because as they’ve stated, they are looking for a way to end the war and the only way they can think to do that is to kill the Tranavian King.
I’ll come back to the characters here in a moment, but I have to say, I found the world that Duncan built in this book to be an interesting one. Countries in turmoil or fighting against each other’s beliefs is not new but the magic and the way it is done was definitely interesting. There is a lot of blood used by the Tranavians to access their magic and it must be tied to a spell book to complete the spell but to Nadya this is heretical and to use blood to cast a spell goes against everything they believe. I found this belief added a layer to the story for Nadya in that she had to figure out what she was really going to stand for and just how in the grey she was willing to go if she was going to work with those who used the blood magic.
Another key character in this story is the Tranavian Prince, Serefin. He has been at the front of the war for a while now and having found Nadya, wants to chase her down but he has other things to worry about. When he is directed by his father to return to Tranavia to participate in the ceremony to find him a wife, Serefin begins to think there is something more going on. He has never had a great relationship with his father but to force him to come back now, Serefin knows that the King is up to something and he is motivated to find out. Unfortunately for Serefin, he doesn’t really know who he can trust and that puts him in a very precarious situation.
As I mentioned earlier, when Nadya escapes the prince, she runs into some people in the woods. Two of them happen to be from Akolan (Parijahan and Rashid) but the third, a Kalyazi, has Nadya nervous because his magic feels even stronger than the prince and she doesn’t really know if she can trust him. He isn’t really forthcoming, and he keeps asking Nadya about her magic which puts her on edge but eventually he tells her some of his story…at least what he remembers and that includes his name, Malachiasz. When the Vultures, a cult that has formed within Tranavia that has a lot of power and autonomy from the King, is sent to retrieve Nadya, the group quickly works together to escape the attack and come to an agreement on how they are going to accomplish their goal of getting rid of the king.
As Nadya finds herself right in the middle of the people she needs to avoid, she begins to learn more about herself, her magic, the Vultures, and the magic of Tranavia. By getting both Nadya’s and Serefin’s points of view within this book, I was able to see both sides of what was going on and I was glad for that. I do love that as the story proceeds, there is a clear point at which the character’s stories come together and I loved it.
I can’t say much more about this book without ruining the story so that’s all you get from me on this one. Trust me when I say, if you enjoy fantasy stories with lots of magic, a lot of danger for the main characters, blood, and (of course) some kissing, definitely check this book out. I will absolutely be waiting anxiously to get my hands on the next book as the ending left me wanting more!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
At the center of this story is a war that’s been going on for a while between Kalyazi and Tranavia. The division between these two countries has made it so that neither is willing to give up their cause and they have very different beliefs around what is and is not acceptable magic. The challenge for the Kalyazi is that their practice of magic has been wiped out by the Tranavians and they are losing the war.
Hidden away in a monastery is Nadya. One of our main characters and she just happens to be the only cleric in Kalyazi. Being a cleric means she is connected to the gods and the gods grant her the magic she uses which is rare. When the Tranavian prince hunts her down and attempts to take her, she is forced to run but Nadya knows she won’t be able to outrun him for long so when she runs into some questionable strangers, she takes a chance and decides to join them because as they’ve stated, they are looking for a way to end the war and the only way they can think to do that is to kill the Tranavian King.
I’ll come back to the characters here in a moment, but I have to say, I found the world that Duncan built in this book to be an interesting one. Countries in turmoil or fighting against each other’s beliefs is not new but the magic and the way it is done was definitely interesting. There is a lot of blood used by the Tranavians to access their magic and it must be tied to a spell book to complete the spell but to Nadya this is heretical and to use blood to cast a spell goes against everything they believe. I found this belief added a layer to the story for Nadya in that she had to figure out what she was really going to stand for and just how in the grey she was willing to go if she was going to work with those who used the blood magic.
Another key character in this story is the Tranavian Prince, Serefin. He has been at the front of the war for a while now and having found Nadya, wants to chase her down but he has other things to worry about. When he is directed by his father to return to Tranavia to participate in the ceremony to find him a wife, Serefin begins to think there is something more going on. He has never had a great relationship with his father but to force him to come back now, Serefin knows that the King is up to something and he is motivated to find out. Unfortunately for Serefin, he doesn’t really know who he can trust and that puts him in a very precarious situation.
As I mentioned earlier, when Nadya escapes the prince, she runs into some people in the woods. Two of them happen to be from Akolan (Parijahan and Rashid) but the third, a Kalyazi, has Nadya nervous because his magic feels even stronger than the prince and she doesn’t really know if she can trust him. He isn’t really forthcoming, and he keeps asking Nadya about her magic which puts her on edge but eventually he tells her some of his story…at least what he remembers and that includes his name, Malachiasz. When the Vultures, a cult that has formed within Tranavia that has a lot of power and autonomy from the King, is sent to retrieve Nadya, the group quickly works together to escape the attack and come to an agreement on how they are going to accomplish their goal of getting rid of the king.
As Nadya finds herself right in the middle of the people she needs to avoid, she begins to learn more about herself, her magic, the Vultures, and the magic of Tranavia. By getting both Nadya’s and Serefin’s points of view within this book, I was able to see both sides of what was going on and I was glad for that. I do love that as the story proceeds, there is a clear point at which the character’s stories come together and I loved it.
I can’t say much more about this book without ruining the story so that’s all you get from me on this one. Trust me when I say, if you enjoy fantasy stories with lots of magic, a lot of danger for the main characters, blood, and (of course) some kissing, definitely check this book out. I will absolutely be waiting anxiously to get my hands on the next book as the ending left me wanting more!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was intrigued when I read the summary of A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein. I do enjoy the paranormal genre but just haven’t come across a lot lately that I have been interested in so when the summary caught my eye, I wanted to check it out.
When the book kicks off, we are introduced to Ness, our main character. She is living in LA and has been there ever since she and her mother left Boulder to get away from the pack. As the reader, we know something happened, but we don’t learn about it until much later. After her mother dies, Ness’ aunt, uncle, and cousin unexpectedly show up to bring her back to Boulder and that is really where the story begins.
I have mixed feelings about Ness. I loved that she was willing to push the pack to accept her and initially I loved her whole “crush the patriarchy” attitude but her reasoning behind attempting to become Alpha was an issue for me. She wasn’t doing it to make things better or challenge the status quo, she was doing it so that she could try to take something away from Liam. I appreciate that her feelings changed eventually but I had an issue with her reasoning. Ultimately, I did feel bad for Ness. She didn’t really have a place with the pack and there were so many people who were just using her along the way, I was actually rooting for her.
Liam is the son of the prior Alpha and it was always believed that he would take over when needed so he is definitely unhappy when Ness comes along and ruins his plans. I have mixed feelings about Liam too. His actions toward Ness were so mixed that he would do something nice and then turn around and be a jerk, but he would justify it by saying it was because he was jealous…or something else. All in all, he was just ok for me as a love interest.
I did find some of the other side characters interesting. You have Everest, Ness’ cousin, and August, a close friend. Both accept her and try to help her find her place, but I wish we would have had more of them and a better understanding of where their heads were at.
As for the story, the fight for the role of Alpha is core to this book but there is also a mystery around what happened to Liam’s father, Heath (former Alpha) as he was not a well-liked guy and since he turned up dead, people have been wondering what happened. It just so happens, that Ness might know something about Heath, and it ends up putting her in an interesting position.
Overall, I found this book to be interesting and I will most likely pick up the next book in the series to find out what happens next. There is a bit of a twist at the end and I would like to know more. If you are interested in a new paranormal, check this one out.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
When the book kicks off, we are introduced to Ness, our main character. She is living in LA and has been there ever since she and her mother left Boulder to get away from the pack. As the reader, we know something happened, but we don’t learn about it until much later. After her mother dies, Ness’ aunt, uncle, and cousin unexpectedly show up to bring her back to Boulder and that is really where the story begins.
I have mixed feelings about Ness. I loved that she was willing to push the pack to accept her and initially I loved her whole “crush the patriarchy” attitude but her reasoning behind attempting to become Alpha was an issue for me. She wasn’t doing it to make things better or challenge the status quo, she was doing it so that she could try to take something away from Liam. I appreciate that her feelings changed eventually but I had an issue with her reasoning. Ultimately, I did feel bad for Ness. She didn’t really have a place with the pack and there were so many people who were just using her along the way, I was actually rooting for her.
Liam is the son of the prior Alpha and it was always believed that he would take over when needed so he is definitely unhappy when Ness comes along and ruins his plans. I have mixed feelings about Liam too. His actions toward Ness were so mixed that he would do something nice and then turn around and be a jerk, but he would justify it by saying it was because he was jealous…or something else. All in all, he was just ok for me as a love interest.
I did find some of the other side characters interesting. You have Everest, Ness’ cousin, and August, a close friend. Both accept her and try to help her find her place, but I wish we would have had more of them and a better understanding of where their heads were at.
As for the story, the fight for the role of Alpha is core to this book but there is also a mystery around what happened to Liam’s father, Heath (former Alpha) as he was not a well-liked guy and since he turned up dead, people have been wondering what happened. It just so happens, that Ness might know something about Heath, and it ends up putting her in an interesting position.
Overall, I found this book to be interesting and I will most likely pick up the next book in the series to find out what happens next. There is a bit of a twist at the end and I would like to know more. If you are interested in a new paranormal, check this one out.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Love the book, love the audio! The narrator does a fantastic job and I'm jumping into Rebel next!
