Tag: All Time Favorites

Russia Folklore Retelling – The Bear and the Nightingale {Review}

Posted March 8, 2017 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Russia Folklore Retelling – The Bear and the Nightingale {Review}The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Series: Winternight #1
Publisher: Del Rey (2017)
eARC (322 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Also by this author: The Girl in the Tower, The Winter of the Witch
Also in this series: The Girl in the Tower, The Winter of the Witch
Reading Challenges: 2016 Retelling Challenge, 2016 Royal Challenge, Read 2016

Synopsis

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.
After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.
And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.
As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

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A Russian Historical Fantasy – The Crown’s Game {Review}

Posted October 1, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

A Russian Historical Fantasy – The Crown’s Game {Review}The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye
Series: The Crown's Game #1
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (2016)
Hardcover (399 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2016 Royal Challenge, Read 2016

Synopsis

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.
And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.
Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?
For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip-smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.
And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love…or be killed himself.
As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear—the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

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Why Does The Raven Cycle Have to Be Over?? – The Raven King {Review}

Posted May 9, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Why Does The Raven Cycle Have to Be Over?? – The Raven King {Review}The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #4
Publisher: Scholastic (2016)
Audiobook
{11 hours and 51 minutes} (438 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: Shiver, The Scorpio Races, The Raven Boys
Also in this series: The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

Nothing living is safe. Nothing dead is to be trusted.
For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey…and is certain she is destined to kill him.
Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.

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The Star-Touched Queen {Excerpt}

Posted May 2, 2016 in Reading / 0 Comments

The Star-Touched Queen {Excerpt}The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin (2016)
Paperback ARC (339 pages)
Via: Publisher
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2016 Retelling Challenge, 2016 Royal Challenge, Read 2016

Synopsis

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire...
But Akaran has its own secrets -- thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most. . .including herself.
A lush and vivid story that is steeped in Indian folklore and mythology.
The Star-Touched Queen is a novel that no reader will soon forget.

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My New Favorite Book! and 3 Favorite Characters from The Star-Touched Queen {Review}

Posted April 21, 2016 in Reading, Review / 4 Comments

My New Favorite Book! and 3 Favorite Characters from The Star-Touched Queen {Review}The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin (2016)
Paperback ARC (339 pages)
Via: Publisher
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2016 Retelling Challenge, 2016 Royal Challenge, Read 2016

Synopsis

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire...
But Akaran has its own secrets -- thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most. . .including herself.
A lush and vivid story that is steeped in Indian folklore and mythology.
The Star-Touched Queen is a novel that no reader will soon forget.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Find the author: Website, Blog, Twitter, Goodreads

Read More

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