Tag: 4 star

{Review} Snow Like Ashes – Where the Seasons are Kingdoms!

Posted November 27, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} Snow Like Ashes – Where the Seasons are Kingdoms!Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
Series: Snow Like Ashes #1
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (2014)
Paperback (416 pages)
Via: Library
Rating:
Also by this author: Ice Like Fire
Also in this series: Ice Like Fire
Reading Challenges: Read 2015

Synopsis

A heartbroken girl. A fierce warrior. A hero in the making.
Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.
Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.
So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Read More

Tagged as , , ,

{Review} The Painter’s Daughter – Married to a Stranger to Escape Scandal

Posted November 25, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} The Painter’s Daughter – Married to a Stranger to Escape ScandalThe Painter's Daughter by Julie Klassen
Publisher: Bethany House (2015)
eARC (464 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Also by this author: The Secret of Pembrooke Park, A Castaway in Cornwall
Reading Challenges: 2015 Color Coded, Read 2015

Synopsis

Sophie Dupont, daughter of a portrait painter, assists her father in his studio, keeping her own artwork out of sight. She often walks the cliffside path along the north Devon coast, popular with artists and poets. It’s where she met the handsome Wesley Overtree, the first man to tell her she’s beautiful.
Captain Stephen Overtree is accustomed to taking on his brother’s neglected duties. Home on leave, he’s sent to find Wesley. Knowing his brother rented a cottage from a fellow painter, he travels to Devonshire and meets Miss Dupont, the painter’s daughter. He’s startled to recognize her from a miniature portrait he carries with him–one of Wesley’s discarded works. But his happiness plummets when he realizes Wesley has left her with child and sailed away to Italy in search of a new muse.
Wanting to do something worthwhile with his life, Stephen proposes to Sophie. He does not offer love, or even a future together, but he can save her from scandal. If he dies in battle, as he believes he will, she’ll be a respectable widow with the protection of his family.
Desperate for a way to escape her predicament, Sophie agrees to marry a stranger and travel to his family’s estate. But at Overtree Hall, her problems are just beginning. Will she regret marrying Captain Overtree when a repentant Wesley returns? Or will she find herself torn between the father of her child and her growing affection for the husband she barely knows?

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Read More

Tagged as , , , ,

{Review} Earthquake – Earthbound Powers and a Love Triangle

Posted November 23, 2015 in Reading, Review / 1 Comment

{Review} Earthquake – Earthbound Powers and a Love TriangleEarthquake by Aprilynne Pike
Series: Earthbound #2
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's (2014)
Paperback (365 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: Earthbound
Also in this series: Earthbound
Reading Challenges: Read 2015

Synopsis

The heart-stopping sequel to Earthbound – an epic love triangle you’ve never seen before! Tavia Michaels is an Earthbound – a fallen goddess with the power to remake the Earth or destroy it. The Reduciata, a rival faction of Earthbounds, has created a virus that is wiping out swathes of the planet. But before Tavia can act on this discovery, she is captured and imprisoned. Huddled in a cell with her eternal lover, Logan, she loses track of the days until they are mysteriously rescued…For Tavia isn’t like other Earthbound. As her powers awaken, her centuries-long relationship with Logan is threatened, and when Benson – the best friend who’s always stood by her – returns Tavia must again face a terrible choice between those she loves. Can Tavia stop the destruction of Earth and uncover the ultimate truth about the Earthbound before it’s too late?

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Read More

Tagged as , ,

{Review} The White Rose – Running and Magic and Romance

Posted November 16, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} The White Rose – Running and Magic and RomanceThe White Rose by Amy Ewing
Series: The Lone City #2
Publisher: Harper Audio (2015)
Audiobook
{8 hours and 31 minutes} (320 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: The Jewel, The Black Key
Also in this series: The Jewel, The Black Key
Reading Challenges: 2015 Color Coded, Read 2015

Synopsis

Violet is on the run. After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the Palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death. So along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude.
But no one said leaving the Jewel would be easy. As they make their way through the circles of the Lone City, Regimentals track their every move, and the trio barely manages to make it out unscathed and into the safe haven they were promised—a mysterious house in the Farm.
But there’s a rebellion brewing, and Violet has found herself in the middle of it. Alongside a new ally, Violet discovers her Auguries are much more powerful than she ever imagined. But is she strong enough to rise up against the Jewel and everything she has ever known?
The White Rose is a raw, captivating sequel to The Jewel that fans won’t be able to put down until the final shocking moments.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Read More

Tagged as , , ,

{Review} A Mad, Wicked Folly – Historical Fiction on Suffragettes and Freedom in England

Posted November 12, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} A Mad, Wicked Folly – Historical Fiction on Suffragettes and Freedom in EnglandA Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller
Publisher: Viking Books (2014)
Hardcover (448 pages)
Via: Library
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2015

Synopsis

Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.
After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Read More

Tagged as , , ,