Well now, I have to say this is very different than the first book. Like many others I was disappointed in them getting away from the alien archeology that made the first book so great. The first third of this book just kind of felt off because of the shift in direction. By the 2nd third I was hooked in for the ride though. Mia and Jules are still great protagonists even in the early goings of this sequel, and I love reading their interactions and conversations.

In the end the book wrapped up nicely, even if a little too cleanly. I'm rounding up to 4 stars, but it's closer to 3.5 to be honest

I recieved a digital copy free from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to jump in to the next book in this series. I absolutely adored Sky In The Deep. So I was delighted to get a chance to read and review this one.

This book starts off with a super interesting premise. A young girl, Tova, has passed on and put out to sea for her funeral, onky to turn up on the shore of anothet clan. She is an object of distrust, but does what she can to stay alive.

The other perspective we get is from Halvard, a young man who is next to succeed his people. He is trying to assist in bringing about peace from the clan Tova is with. But has to step up sooner than he expects with little experience with actual war.

I have to say I really enjoyed both characters here, and loved how the author portrayed them. It was easy to connect to them, and truly feel the emotions they were going through.

Unlike Sky in the Deep, the settings and world around Tova and Halvard aren't really filled with as much description. It almost feels like as a reader, I kind of should expect to know how villages and the forests should look like in this second book. I was hoping for a bit more.

The other issue is I felt a lot was missed in building the connection betwern Tova and Halvard. It started off great, but felt like stuff was skipped or cut. Feels like the book could have elaborated or built on this connection so much further.

Overall the book was a fun read, albeit a bit shorter than I expected. I am a bit let down after being such a huge fan of Sky In The Deep, but there is enough here to be entertained by. This is one of those times wherr I'm rating it a 4, but its much closer to a 3.5.

There was a lot of hype behind this book, and I pre-ordered it when it was announced, and also got a 2nd copy in Owlcrate. This story just sounded like it was up my alley, and while I was excited for it, it just happened to fall in to my ever growing TBR pile until now.

Sadly, all that hype turned in to disappointment. The whole courtesan/concubine setting forced upon these girls just didn't do it for me, and it rarely does. I just expected more from the "Fire" part of the title, and the emphasis behind Lei's eyes being golden. What could be the meaning? Well who knows. There just isn't any true development outside of one moment with a teacher and then a "revelation" at the final pages with her pendant. It just felt like a let down, and cheap cliffhanger to get someone excited for the sequel.

I also kept wondering why there were nine paper girls for concubines, as some of them just felt worthless to the story. The author could have had 4 or 5 and done a much better job in fleshing them out. Outside of Lei, Wren, and Blue, I just felt like the rest just were. There were moments to Aoki, but it kept falling back to her being that girl who is delusional is how she sees the demon king.

Speaking of the demon king, what a waste of a character. He was there, he was cruel, evil, a rapist... but outside of learning how he got the throne, how he takes what he wants ,and the cruelty he delves out to hold on to it, there was nothing to him. Felt like a generic terrible antagonist that the author forgot to go back to and fill out the rest of him. Some of the generals and people around him were way more interesting and even with less page time, somehow stood out more.

I really did like Lei and Wren, but even their love for each other just couldn't save this read considering how lackluster everything and everyone around them felt. Sad, because this book had a lot of potential but squanders way too much of it.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Every once in awhile I like to change things up with a good non-fiction book, and when I got the chance to request A Team of Their Own, it sounded like the perfect story to shake up the fiction and light novel binge I had been on.

Honestly I don't really follow hockey, but I do follow a lot going on in South Korea, as my love for their entertainment that blossomed in the early 2000s helped feed my interest to learn more about the country as a whole. I've even delved into a handful of books about the horrors of North Korea. So when the news hit before the Olympics started that North and South Korea would be fielding a unified team, I was intrigued yet skeptical. I figured this book would shed some light on if my skepticism was warranted.

Seth Berkman does a great job of really showcasing the personal stories of the ladies from South Korea and North America, as well as the way the bond together and become like sisters to one another. There were plenty of times where I definitely felt myself getting emotional at various moments, or even quotes of how the girls felt. I quickly became engrossed in seeing how all this played out leading up to the games. Sadly due to obvious reasons, we never really got to know much about the North Korean players like we did the others.

None of the stories in this book ever feel like filler, and even minor moments help to show how the girls interacted with each other. I loved seeing how many decided to look for personal growth outside of hockey, like learning English, or helping with a cause deal with fellow adopted children from South Korea, as a couple examples. It was really touching to see.

Not everything is touching, as there are plenty moments when you see just how neglected the team is, or how they are used for gain by the KIHA, men in charge, and politicians. I said I was skeptical about the North and South Korea unified team, and I was shocked reading how it was way worse when it came down to the politics of the matter than I could have thought. It actually made me get angry at the situation that the girls were put in.

I tried not to delve in to too much in terms of specifics, because I believe this is a very important read for people. It deals with a lot issues in terms of gender discrimination and inequality, but also in bonding and pushing back against those very constructs. It shows women bonding over a passion, women from North America learning to love a country they hadn't tried to fully get to know growing up, and women from S. Korea realizing their own thoughts on the "imports" were ill-conceived. Berkman does such a great job from start to finish in telling this story, and really digging in deep.

In what could have been an easy fluff peace about how miraculous it was all these women came together, he provided so much more depth. This is an introspective look in to these women's lives, passions, friendships, and the politics that surrounded them. You definitely will look at everything surrounding them in a different light.