Tag: 2 star

Kidnapping and Fortune – The Orphan’s Wish {Review}

Posted September 8, 2020 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Kidnapping and Fortune – The Orphan’s Wish {Review}The Orphan's Wish by Melanie Dickerson
Series: Hagenheim #8
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2018)
eBook (345 pages)
Via: Library
Rating:
Also by this author: The Silent Songbird
Also in this series: The Silent Songbird
Reading Challenges: Read 2020

Synopsis

Orphaned and alone, Aladdin travels from the streets of his Arab homeland to a strange, faraway place. Growing up in an orphanage, he meets young Lady Kirstyn, whose father who is the powerful Duke of Hagenheim. Despite the difference in their stations, Aladdin quickly becomes Kirstyn’s favorite companion, and their childhood friendship grows into a bond that time and opposition cannot break.

Even as a child, Aladdin works hard, learning all he can from his teachers. Through his integrity, intelligence, and sheer tenacity, he earns a position serving as the duke’s steward. But that isn't enough to erase the shame of being forced to steal as a small child—or the fact that he's an orphan with no status. If he ever wants to feel equal to his beautiful and generous friend Kirstyn, he must leave Hagenheim and seek his fortune.

Yet once Aladdin departs, Lady Kirstyn becomes a pawn in a terrible plot. Now, Aladdin and Kirstyn must rely on their bond to save her from unexpected danger. But will saving Kirstyn cost Aladdin his newfound status and everything he’s worked so hard to obtain?

An enchanting new version of the well-known tale, The Orphan's Wish tells a story of courage and loyalty, friendship and love, and reminds us what "family" really means.

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An 80s Epistolary Contemporary – We Are Still Tornadoes {Review}

Posted January 27, 2017 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

An 80s Epistolary Contemporary – We Are Still Tornadoes {Review}We Are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun, Susan Mullen
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin (2016)
eARC (304 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

It’s the summer of 1982, and for Scott and Cath, everything is about to change.
Growing up across the street from each other, Scott and Cath have been best friends for most of their lives. Now they’ve graduated high school, and Cath is off to college while Scott stays at home trying to get his band off the ground. Neither of them realized that their first year after high school would be so hard.
Fortunately, Scott and Cath still have each other, and it’s through their letters that they survive heartache, annoying roommates, family dramas, and the pressure of figuring out what to do with the rest of their lives. And through it all, they realize that the only person they’ve ever wanted to turn to is each other. But does that mean they should think about being more than friends? One thing is clear: Change is an inescapable part of growing up, and we share unbreakable bonds with the friends who help us navigate it.

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Not My Cup of Tea – Fangirl {Review}

Posted October 6, 2016 in Reading, Review / 4 Comments

Not My Cup of Tea – Fangirl {Review}Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin (2013)
Hardcover (433 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2016 Backlist Books, Read 2016

Synopsis

CATH IS A SIMON SNOW FAN. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan... But for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fanfiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath that she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words...and she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

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And I Got Bored – Burning Glass {DNF Review}

Posted May 28, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

And I Got Bored – Burning Glass {DNF Review}Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie
Series: Burning Glass #1
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books (2016)
Hardcover (512 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

Sonya was born with the rare gift to feel what those around her feel—both physically and emotionally—a gift she’s kept hidden from the empire for seventeen long years. After a reckless mistake wipes out all the other girls with similar abilities, Sonya is hauled off to the palace and forced to serve the emperor as his sovereign Auraseer.
Tasked with sensing the intentions of would-be assassins, Sonya is under constant pressure to protect the emperor. But Sonya’s power is untamed and reckless, and she can’t always decipher when other people’s impulses end and her own begin. In a palace full of warring emotions and looming darkness, Sonya fears that the biggest danger to the empire may be herself.
As she struggles to wrangle her abilities, Sonya seeks refuge in her tenuous alliances with the charming-yet-volatile Emperor Valko and his idealistic younger brother, Anton, the crown prince. But when threats of revolution pit the two brothers against each other, Sonya must choose which brother to trust—and which to betray.

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{Review} Winterspell – What Did I Just Read? Really?

Posted January 25, 2016 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments

{Review} Winterspell – What Did I Just Read? Really?Winterspell by Claire Legrand
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (2014)
Hardcover (454 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2016 Backlist Books, 2016 Retelling Challenge, 2016 Royal Challenge, Read 2016

Synopsis

The clock chimes midnight, a curse breaks, and a girl meets a prince…but what follows is not all sweetness and sugarplums.
New York City, 1899. Clara Stole, the mayor’s ever-proper daughter, leads a double life. Since her mother’s murder, she has secretly trained in self-defense with the mysterious Drosselmeyer.
Then, on Christmas Eve, disaster strikes.
Her home is destroyed, her father abducted—by beings distinctly
not human. To find him, Clara journeys to the war-ravaged land of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince Nicholas, bound by a wicked curse. If they’re to survive, Clara has no choice but to trust him, but his haunted eyes burn with secrets—and a need she can’t define. With the dangerous, seductive faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara soon realizes she won’t leave Cane unscathed—if she leaves at all.
Inspired by
The Nutcracker, Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale about love and war, longing and loneliness, and a girl who must learn to live without fear.

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