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erinarkin20
The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy is a book I was excited to get my hands on as it has an interesting premise that I hadn’t really read before.
Etta Lark lives in a world where memories can be stolen and sold to the highest bidder. Due to an accident that has left her mother bedridden in the city’s asylum, Etta has very few choices available to her and when her situation takes a turn and her mother is put up for auction, she will do whatever it will take to save her. That means she needs to turn to the Shadows, the rebel group she used to work for.
I thought Etta was a solid character. She grows a lot through this story and learns so much about herself along the way. When she is tasked to steal the memory of a map of a prison created by a neighboring realm, Etta is partnered with a boy, Reid, who has his own motives for going with her. As Etta shares more about her past with Reid, his motivation for going with her becomes clear to Etta and she has to tell him something she doesn’t want to admit.
I thought the first half of this book was well done but as the story kept going, it lost me. The romance wasn’t my favorite as it felt like insta-love and everything felt rushed. Everything that happens as they enter the neighboring realm seems to just fall into place and a lot of it seemed too convenient.
Overall, this book was just okay for me. There were parts that I enjoyed and others that I didn’t. I thought Etta was well-developed but didn’t love a lot of the other characters in the story. In the end, I thought this was well written but the story itself lacked a little something. I’ll be watching for what Mansy writes next as the premise of this book was promising.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Etta Lark lives in a world where memories can be stolen and sold to the highest bidder. Due to an accident that has left her mother bedridden in the city’s asylum, Etta has very few choices available to her and when her situation takes a turn and her mother is put up for auction, she will do whatever it will take to save her. That means she needs to turn to the Shadows, the rebel group she used to work for.
I thought Etta was a solid character. She grows a lot through this story and learns so much about herself along the way. When she is tasked to steal the memory of a map of a prison created by a neighboring realm, Etta is partnered with a boy, Reid, who has his own motives for going with her. As Etta shares more about her past with Reid, his motivation for going with her becomes clear to Etta and she has to tell him something she doesn’t want to admit.
I thought the first half of this book was well done but as the story kept going, it lost me. The romance wasn’t my favorite as it felt like insta-love and everything felt rushed. Everything that happens as they enter the neighboring realm seems to just fall into place and a lot of it seemed too convenient.
Overall, this book was just okay for me. There were parts that I enjoyed and others that I didn’t. I thought Etta was well-developed but didn’t love a lot of the other characters in the story. In the end, I thought this was well written but the story itself lacked a little something. I’ll be watching for what Mansy writes next as the premise of this book was promising.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
I'm so glad I picked this audio up. Not only did the narrator do a great job, but now I can read book 2 which I've been wanting to do for a while now. Check this one out if you haven't!
I’ve been looking forward to The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett since the moment I learned about it. I love all of her contemporary romance and adult historical romance so there was no question in my mind that this was going to be right up my alley.
This book starts out with a bang of an introduction to Theo, the daughter of an American treasure hunter. I loved Theo – she’s smart, adventurous, resourceful, and willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect those she loves…no matter how angry she is with them. As I got to know her character, it was clear that despite her father’s love for her, he never really trusted her to travel the world in the same way he did and that was a huge frustration for her. When she finds herself stranded in Turkey with no word from her father and no money, she has to figure out what she’s going to do next. Enter Huck.
Huck added another layer to Theo’s story, and I loved it. He grew up with Theo and just happens to be the last person she knows who saw her father. He also happens to be the boy she grew to love and suddenly disappeared from her life with no warning so to say there are some pent-up feelings might be an understatement. I thought Huck was a great balance to Theo’s personality and where she may have just jumped headlong into a situation, he was the one to force a pause to figure out if that is the right course of action. I adored the nickname Huck had for Theo too. The tension between Huck and Theo made for some great banter and while it took a while for them to face it, I loved that they finally discussed what happened.
Outside of the relationship piece, there is a mystery for Theo and Huck to get to the bottom of. When Theo hasn’t heard from her father as planned and Huck unexpectedly shows up with his journal, she decides she needs to follow his tracks to find him and figure out what is really going on. Hot on his trail to find the magical ring of Vlad the Impaler, Theo and Huck find themselves surrounded by magic and murder and end up relying on each other to get out of the scrapes they find themselves in. There is a lot of action in this book and I loved how Bennett allowed these characters to trek across Turkey and Romania to build out the story.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I don’t want to give too much away so there’s not too much more to share. Just know that there’s magic, danger, swoony bits, and of course a mystery to solve in this book and if you don’t have this book on your TBR list, you’ll want to add it now. I loved every minute of this story and can’t wait to see what Bennett writes us next!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book starts out with a bang of an introduction to Theo, the daughter of an American treasure hunter. I loved Theo – she’s smart, adventurous, resourceful, and willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect those she loves…no matter how angry she is with them. As I got to know her character, it was clear that despite her father’s love for her, he never really trusted her to travel the world in the same way he did and that was a huge frustration for her. When she finds herself stranded in Turkey with no word from her father and no money, she has to figure out what she’s going to do next. Enter Huck.
Huck added another layer to Theo’s story, and I loved it. He grew up with Theo and just happens to be the last person she knows who saw her father. He also happens to be the boy she grew to love and suddenly disappeared from her life with no warning so to say there are some pent-up feelings might be an understatement. I thought Huck was a great balance to Theo’s personality and where she may have just jumped headlong into a situation, he was the one to force a pause to figure out if that is the right course of action. I adored the nickname Huck had for Theo too. The tension between Huck and Theo made for some great banter and while it took a while for them to face it, I loved that they finally discussed what happened.
Outside of the relationship piece, there is a mystery for Theo and Huck to get to the bottom of. When Theo hasn’t heard from her father as planned and Huck unexpectedly shows up with his journal, she decides she needs to follow his tracks to find him and figure out what is really going on. Hot on his trail to find the magical ring of Vlad the Impaler, Theo and Huck find themselves surrounded by magic and murder and end up relying on each other to get out of the scrapes they find themselves in. There is a lot of action in this book and I loved how Bennett allowed these characters to trek across Turkey and Romania to build out the story.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I don’t want to give too much away so there’s not too much more to share. Just know that there’s magic, danger, swoony bits, and of course a mystery to solve in this book and if you don’t have this book on your TBR list, you’ll want to add it now. I loved every minute of this story and can’t wait to see what Bennett writes us next!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
