Category Archives: Action & Adventure

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

Posted on by
Reply

Spin the Dawn, by Elizabeth Lim, is an extraordinary fantasy novel about defeating gender stereotypes, the importance of your craft, and the power of love. Lim tells a beautiful story about Maia, the only daughter of a previously esteemed tailor now living in a small town, who disguises herself
as a boy to compete in a trial to become the next tailor for the emperor.

It is the opportunity of a lifetime, and she attends in disguise, knowing the lethal consequences if her secret gets out. The final challenge is the hardest one, sewing the three gowns made for the goddess Amana: one from the laughter of the sun, one from the tears of the moon, and one from the blood of the stars. Maia always thought these dresses were just a myth, but when she meets some mysterious new characters throughout the trial, her
mind changes. Can she succeed in sewing the three magical dresses and achieve her dream of becoming the best tailor in the land?

Lim crafts a truly amazing story, filled with every element needed for captivating interest throughout the whole thing. With strong themes of magic, adventure, and love, Spin the Dawn is incredibly difficult to put down. Interesting characters, impossible tasks, and blooming romances litter the magical pages. Recommended for anyone who loves sewing, magic, or an amazing story to get attached to. Lim’s sequel to Spin the Dawn will be highly awaited.

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Posted on by
Reply


“A witch and a witch hunter bound by holy matrimony. There was only one way such a story would end — a stake and a match.”
The land of Belterra is plagued by fear of magic and witches. With the citizens wanting nothing more than the witches to be eradicated and burned at the stake, they walk the streets in disguise, hiding the smell that emits from their magic – that is until they themselves can destroy the humans, especially the royal lineage.
Two years ago, Lou left her coven to save her life. Being forced to suppress her magic and live life as a normal citizen – she subjects to lying, stealing, and killing (if necessary) to survive in the city of Cesarin, where life is hard, especially for women. She manages to fare undetected, being extra careful every step of the way…until one burglary – probably her most important one – goes wrong, setting the wheels in motion.
With the chasseurs — ruthless witch hunters affiliated with the church — and enemies of her past hot on her trail, Lou ends up in a compromising position with the Captain of the Chasseurs, Reid Diggory, a very detrimental position for the both of them. To avert any unnecessary situations, the Archbishop – leader of the Chasseurs, who is just as cold-hearted – comes up with a solution: Lou can either go to jail for her thefts or marry Reid and save his virtuous reputation.
Lou, being the smart girl she is, obviously agrees for the marriage as a means to protect herself from her enemies, as does Reid to salvage his repute. But they both could not be any more different from each other.
Lou is a strong, independent badass witch, with a high dosage of spunk and sass. Loves breaking rules, hates following orders. She is a feminist through and through, fully capable of saving herself, knowing when and where to put the men in their places.
Reid is a hard-core disciplined soldier, who blindly believes in the rules and regulations set by the church and Archbishop – a man he sees as his father. He will follow orders, even if his conscience says otherwise. He has a sweet soul that’s been tainted by the blood and cruelty of the Chasseurs.
Their arguments will leave you in hysterics. Their attempt at trying to be civil to each other will have you second-guessing their emotions. But their differences and learning from and accepting one another is what progresses the plot into creating a perfect atmosphere for a slow-burning romance that will keep you on your toes.
Besides the protagonists, the side leads are a complete entertainment package. There’s: bitchy, but loyal Coco – a blood witch and probably the best girlfriend Lou can ever have; sweet and adorable Ansel – the teenage soldier who is basically the-boy-next-door; And lovely, but stubborn Beau – the Prince. It’s a dream team, I tell you. And let’s not forget Lou’s enemies from her past – who exactly are they and why are they after her life? Adding in a few other black and white characters. It’s a puzzle figuring out if anyone is a villain in this story or if everyone’s just a hero of their own story…
With her fast-paced writing and plot twists at every corner, Shelby Mahurin has done a marvelous job at creating a world that you will dive right into and characters you’d want to befriend. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.

Nocturna by Maya Motayne

Posted on by

Maya Motayne writes an amazing fantasy novel infused with magic and interesting characters. Nocturna is more than just a story about magic and its dark side, it has an element of truth to it. The characters’ emotions are so strong that you feel like you’re fighting right beside them. Motayne’s descriptions and language create magnificent images in your mind of scenes that aren’t possible in real life. Nocturna sweeps you away to an entirely different world, and changes your views forever.
Nocturna tells about a prince named Alfie, whose family experienced a tragedy that made him king, but he is not ready for the huge responsibility. He feels lost on the throne. Alfie is ruined, until he meets a thief named Finn, whose magic consists of changing her own face to match anyone. She is a faceshifter living in the ugly part of town, hiding her ugly past with foreign faces. They release something horrible and dark into Alfie’s kingdom, and it’s up to them to entrap it once again. Nocturna hunts them down and brings out the absolute worst in them. The two fighters have to face their terrible memories and pasts in order to defeat the dark magic, but can they come together and put the greater good of the people first?
I recommend this book to any fantasy lover. Whether you like high fantasy, or just a touch of magic, this book is for you. Nocturna is impossible to put down. The plot is so addicting and surprising that reading it in just a few days (or one!) is almost a guarantee. I cannot praise this book enough. Motayne has written a beautiful, magical story filled with every emotion possible. There is so much love and friendship but also pain and suffering. It’s a mix of good and bad, light and dark. It’s Nocturna.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Posted on by

When BeiTech, a powerful corporation in a futuristic, space traversing society, attacked an illegal mining colony run by one of their competitors, the lives of the colonists were irrevocably destroyed. Thousands died, and those who managed to escape are being pursued by the remainder of their attackers, who plan to destroy any who might reveal the atrocities they commited. Kady and Ezra, newly exes, were finishing high school when the attack came. They lost everything that day, and now, licking their wounds, are pursued by the very people who tried to kill them the first time, all they have left is each other.
Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman’s Illuminae is not like anything I’ve ever read. In fairness, I don’t read much in the way of space operas, so I may simply not have much to compare it to. The genre is generally too overpopulated for my tastes with leather-clad protagonists (you’d think styles would have changed in a few centuries) shooting blasters at a strangely uniformly humanoid collection of aliens (seriously, can we get, like, a highly evolved society of blue space bats that communicate using bioluminescence? Or just something instead of green humans? Thanks.)
But while Illuminae does employ many of the genre’s tropes, it does so in a unique way. Giant spaceships? Sure, but not all of them are battlecruisers or have guns (I mean… some of them are.) Ability to do jumps from one place to another within the galaxy? Of course! But only the huge, expensive ships have the technology to make them. Hot, intelligent hero on a mission, accompanied by an equally hot sharpshooter with a dark past? Check! But she isn’t particularly interested in the greater good (I mean, she is a bit, she is the hero after all…) and her love interest is less tall dark and broody than he is a loveable doofus with the texting grammar and etiquette of every teenager in your contacts.
Illuminae combines sci-fi and horror in an addicting story told not in the traditional methods of storytelling, but in a hodgepodge compilation of stolen documents. Everything from ship’s logs, to casualty reports, to text messages, are employed to tell the tale. The result is a riveting book that, despite depriving the reader of a deeper understanding of the characters’ states of mind, allows for a wider picture of the situation. The inclusion of official documents and communications gives the reader a sense that the book chronicles real events, and the text messages between the two main characters, Kady and Ezra, endears the protagonists to the reader and thus makes us care when they and others are in danger. I highly recommend this book, and urge you to get it as a hardcopy. I think any other format just couldn’t do it justice.

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson

Posted on by

The apocalypse starts at Starbucks. Because of course it does. Elena Mendoza has never been normal. She was born through a virgin birth (proved by a scientist to be the only example of an asexual form of reproduction called parthenogenesis) so depending on who you ask she’s either a miracle or an anomaly. On top of that she has heard inanimate objects speak to her since she was a child. But things really start to get strange when Frankie— the girl she’s had a crush on for literally years— is shot right in front of her, and the Starbucks Siren tells Elena to heal her.
But when Elena does the boy who shot Frankie (and dozens of others across the world) are raptured away in a beam of golden light. From there the book is a wacky rollercoaster of satirical humor, world-altering choices and just a little bit of existential crisis. From cover to cover, The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza is a hilarious read that has something for everyone.

Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan

Posted on by

“We’re all monsters, Nadya, some of us just hide it better than others.”
A brutal, dark and blood-lust gothic novel with unpredictabilities as its core theme, Wicked Saints is that feel-good novel that will destroy you but will have you adoring it and wanting more.
×————-×
“The girl, the monster, and the prince”
Nadeshda Lapteva (the girl) – A young cleric raised in a monastery high up in the mountains with the power to talk to Gods who whisper spells in her head allowing her to access powers strong enough to put an end to the century-old holy war between the two countries – Kalyazin and Tranavia. She is the only hope left for her people to not only restore the faith of the Gods but bring them back into power.
But are the Gods really the only ones giving her the power she possesses..
Malachiasz Czechowicz (the monster) – A blood mage with nothing to speak for but his name. He is the epitome of evil – an embodiment of darkness. Don’t be fooled by his pale, tortured eyes and devastatingly charming smile – this boy has a lot of lies hidden up his sleeves.
But is he actually just a man wanting peace or something more horrifying than we can imagine…
Serefin Meleski (the prince) – The youngest and most powerful mage of his time and the next in line to acquire the throne. But with a jealous father hell-bent on making sure no one can contest his power, even if it means assassinating his own son, and choosing a wife for himself – things are bound to get very interesting for this charming boy.
But what is that he truly wants…
×————-×
When their paths entwine with one another in this shadowy world, blood will be spilled. Beauty and brutality will meet. The balance between light and dark will tip the scales. They will each find answers in figuring out who they are and what they are meant for – even if it means straying away from the path they have been taught to take – and discover the greater power that lies within them.
This beautifully blood-drenched fairy tale will sink its claws into you, never letting you go until you’ve turned the last page.

You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno

Posted on by
Reply

You Must Not Miss, by Katrina Leno, is a story about a girl who goes by Magpie, and her little touch of magic. She lives in a town called Farther, with her alcoholic mother. Her sister left her, her dad cheated on her mom, and her life was ruined at a party a few months back. Now all she has is a little yellow notebook that she writes in, dreaming of a world called Near. She wants to live in this world so badly that one day, it comes into existence. A place where she can go to be happy; to be alone. A place where she is in control, unlike her life. She learns the secrets of Near, and it becomes a part of her. But instead of thinking about the consequences, she starts using Near for her own benefit.
You Must Not Miss is a thrilling new novel about revenge, secret doorways, and fancy pens. It’s about fake appearances, swimming pools, and loneliness on a pool floatie. Leno writes a cautious tale about the dangers of control and power, and how people aren’t always how they seem.

The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair

Posted on by

“I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
Vesper Montgomery has run away from her home and her family, because she is a monster, or more specifically, an oddity – a human with magic. Having caused enough damage to the people she’s loved her entire life, she knows she is better off a lone wolf. Her rules are simple – don’t trust anyone, don’t get too close to anyone, and do not attract the attention of Wardens — oddities who strive to protect baselines a.k.a humans without magic from any dangerous oddity. And since she’s a Harbinger — an oddity who can make someone’s worst fear come true — she is basically number one on their hit list, especially since she, herself has minimum control over her power.
When she comes upon the Tournament of the Unraveling, Vesper believes that this is her chance to fix the mistake she made two years ago. What starts off as a fight to redeem herself, slowly turns into figuring out the mysterious death of an Oddity, and also how monstrous one can become to save the ones they love, and if it’ll even be worth it in the end.
More than the plot, it’s really the character development that makes the book an interesting read. All characters in this book have a painful and heavy past that they are all trying to escape. And it
is this pain and grief that binds the characters to one another, allowing readers to see how far they come from the first time we see them…
Although the plot isn’t completely new, it still works wonders in captivating a reader’s attention – with its solid writing, evolving characters, and hard-core fight scenes – Katharyn Blair has you hooked. A must-read for fans of The Young Elites and Fight Club.

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

Posted on by

The town of Four Paths is cursed. Hundreds of years ago, the four founders of the town fought a monster and used the powers they bargained away from it to lock the creature in the Gray, a dead version of the town trapped in the time of the Gray’s creation. Now, the descendants of the four founding families use the powers passed down to them to defend Four Paths still.
Justin’s family, the Hawthorne’s have been the most powerful family in Four Paths for years. His mother, the town sheriff, rules Four Paths and the other Founding Families, and expects her children to follow in her footsteps. But while his sister can read people’s futures in the Deck of Omens passed down from the Founders, Justin has proved himself completely powerless. And in a town where being a Founder with power makes you all but a king, and being one without a pariah, Justin’s family has determined to fake his power until he can be shipped off to college.
Harper Carlisle is a pariah. On the day she performed the ceremony in which she was supposed to gain her powers and take her place among a family of Founders, she was trapped in the Gray. When she emerged from the Gray a few days later it was without power, and without her arm. Sheriff Hawthorne decided to cut her out, and her family allowed it, and worse, her best friend, Justin Hawthorne abandoned her. Now, Harper would do anything to get revenge on the Hawthornes and even more, to get even a scrap of the power that was stolen from her in the Gray, a scrap of the power she deserves.
Violet Saunders is still grieving from the death of her older sister when her mother uproots their lives to move to her childhood home of Four Paths to take care of her own sister, who suffers from early onset dementia. She’s expecting old friends of her mother and that small town drama from the movies, but what she finds is much, much weirder. And scarier. Definitely scarier. But also small town drama. And, you know, an ancient evil nobody knows much about but still kills people in creepy ways if they wander into its territory.
The Devouring Gray is wholly original and darkly fascinating. I spent half of it turning my audiobook off and on because parts of it are just that creepy and the other half glaring at anyone who tried to talk to me because I didn’t want to miss a second. It is that one horror story in a hundred where you actually like the characters and agree with their decisions, the one fantasy novel with a story original enough that you don’t actually know what is going to happen. It also has love interests you can get behind and, yes, a love triangle— but not the one you expect! It’s amazing, and I promise you’ll love it!

A Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Quote

Posted on by

“For these were not ordinary books the libraries kept. They were knowledge, given life. Wisdom, given voice. They sang when starlight streamed through the library’s windows. They felt pain and suffered heartbreak. Sometimes they were sinister, grotesque–but so was the world outside. And that made the world no less worth fighting for, because wherever there was darkness, there was also so much light.”
MAGICAL. BOOKS. Has there ever been a more perfect book for bookworms?
What can be better than being raised in a library – in a world full of magic and sorcerers. A world where books (or grimoires ), not only talk and sing but can also turn into demons or as they’re fondly called Maleficits. And Elizabeth – our clumsy, yet fiercely brave protagonist – lives just that life (lucky her).
Elizabeth just wants to become a warden in the library where she’s lived her whole life and stay as far away from sorcery as she can. But when the director is killed and she’s accused of being behind it, despite being guiltless, she is sent off to the city where an act of heroism (or so she thought) by her, spins her into a web of dark magic, demons, and a mission with her world and everyone she loves at stake. Add in a handsome, witty sorcerer named Nathaniel Thorn and his yellow-eyed servant/sidekick/best friend Silas – it’s a rollercoaster ride full of romance, humor, and a whole lot of trying to keep out and away from magic and trouble, but failing miserably at it.

Albeit a slow start, the book quickly has you hooked. The writing is top-notch. The plot, the wonderfully developed characters, the beautiful and magical illustrations – will have you wanting to jump into the book then and there. This book is a must read for fans of Harry Potter and Septimus Heap .