Review: A Breath of Magic by Teresa Medeiros

Breath of Magic (Lennox Family Magic #1)

by Teresa Medeiros

Published February 1st 1996 by Bantam

Precocious Puritan and aspiring witch Arian Whitewood spends her lonely nights dreaming of magic and excitement. She gets more excitement than she bargains for when she crash lands straight out of a witch hunt into the 20th century and the arms of Tristan Lennox, a reclusive billionaire. Arian blows through Tristan's climate-controlled existence like a breath of magic, only to discover that the spell he weaves around her heart is more compelling than any enchantment.

Genre: Adult, Romance

Publication Date: Feb 1st 1996

Publisher: Bantam

Format: Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages 

Series: sort of, but not really

Source: My own copy

___________________________________________________

My Review

It's been forever since the last Teresa Medeiros book I've read. I forgot how much I enjoyed her storytelling and her characters. :)

A Breath of Magic felt more like a breath of FRESH AIR after so many 'bad' or simply 'ok' adult books I tried this week... I laughed SO hard with it! Really, I can't stress how much fun I had reading it. :) It really came at the best possible moment for me.

Arian is the French daughter of an unmarried woman in the 17th century and never met her father. She's sent to live with a stepfather in the middle of a bunch of Puritans.... which would be okay, if not for the small fact that, uhm, she's a witch. A WHITE witch, sure, but a witch nonetheless. And all is evil in the eyes of the Puritans. Arian finds herself in the middle of an Inquisition, just about to drown when she utters a last-minute spell to try and make time stop, but that actually sends her 300 years in the future, in her flying broom.

Tristan doesn't believe in magic, but, ironically still has some inner hope to find it in the world. Which is part of the reason why he promises a million dollars to whoever proves to him that there is such a thing as real magic out there. Tristan is getting fed up with all the charlatans when, out of freaking nowhere, a girl dressed as a nun appears flying/crashing a broom up in the sky. When she falls/lands right into the middle of the contest. He saves her, and sends her broom for examination, certain that it must had some gadget that made it fly. But while his team of researchers find themselves busy trying to prove it was NOT just a broom, Tristan is about to find himself believing in magic again... and also in love.

Tristan could be very bossy and demanding and rude sometimes, but he constantly made up for it, so all was well. He wore his past wounds as an armor around his heart, but it was very satisfying to see Arian slowly melt it away.

Speaking of Arian, she had everything that could have made me dislike her as heroine, but, surprisingly, did not. I actually LIKED her. And you guys must know by now how bitchy I can be. :P She was smart, but kind and pure in a way that was BELIEVABLE and fitting, not coming out as stupid or over-the-head as they usually do in romance books these days. She was genuinely good and naive. But still strong-willed and determined. Authors, take note of this. Your characters don't need to be total losers/pushovers in order to be good/kind-hearted. 

Their romance was also pure and so, so adorable. There were very few sex scenes, only a couple, as a matter of fact, but they were so... gentle and nonexplicit and just, well, romantic. (I'm very eloquent today). They were heart-warming in their simplicity and candor, and very much perfect in their context. This was a real love story. I liked it immensely. And I'm most certainly NOT a romantic. Yes, I am slightly astonished myself. O.o

I was also charmed by the lovely secondary characters! Copperfield, Tristan's (only) best friend and Indian lawyer. Sven, the poor bodyguard, former manicurist/hairdresser, turned goat. Hilarious! I wish they had books of their own. XD

Miss Medeiros, you managed to write a real gem! One that still remains modern, even after sixteen years!!! I congratulate and thank you for such a feat/treat. :) It will come out a bit cheesy, but it was simply... magical. Really, just enchanting.

Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Thorn
by Intisar Khanani

Published May 25th 2012 by Intisar Khanani

Princess Alyrra’s strength lies in silence. Scorned by her family, she avoids the court, spending her time with servants. When her marriage is unexpectedly arranged with the prince of a powerful neighboring kingdom, Alyrra feels trapped. As the court celebrates her match, dark rumors spread about the unexplained deaths of the women of her new family. Alyrra begins her journey with mounting trepidation; betrayed while traveling, she seizes an opportunity to start a life away from court.

Walking away from a prince whom she doesn’t know should have been easy. But from the moment she sets eyes on him, Alyrra realizes that her freedom could cost him his life. Without any magical defense of her own, she is plunged into a lethal game of sorcery and deceit. Now Alyrra must decide whom she can trust and what she’s willing to fight for—before her silence proves fatal.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: May 25th 2012

Publisher: Intisar Khanani

Format: e-book, 264 pages 

Series: no

Source: Review copy from author
________________

My Review

Princess Alyrra is not sure why the King from a much bigger Kingdom has arrived to her family's castle. She's much too busy most of the time, what with trying to escape from her brother's violence and avoiding her mother's coldness and pretty much any other member of the court, all of which seem to hate her. So she simply assumed the King was there for some political reason. And, as she quickly finds out, he technically is... but it involves her. She is to marry his son, a man she has never seen before, and is said to be cold and mean. But Alyrra has little choice in the matter. And, really, how worse can her life be from the one she already has?

Alyrra is sad to part with her beloved horse, Fleet Wind, and the servants of the palace, the only ones who treated her like a friend. She will also miss her invisible friend, the one who has always been there to listen and comfort her, ever since she was but a child. Her friend, The Wind. 

Shortly before leaving, Alyrra receives a strange visit in her room. A man appears out of the shadows, wanting to speak to her and warn her of the incoming trip. Before he can say much more, a scary woman, a witch, breaks into her room, too. She calls herself The Lady, and seems to have evil plans concerning both Alyrra and the strange man. The intruders disappear as quickly as they have come, and Alyrra is left alone, confused by it all. When she tell her mother about it, she crafts a blood spell, binding Alyrra's strength to it, suposedly to protect her from The Lady. Her mother also tells her that a companion will travel with her, a noblewoman, Valka, who hates Alyrra. Her brother gifts her with a beautiful white horse, seemly unbreakable and untamable, most likely in the hope that she tries to ride it and hurts herself while doing it, she muses.

On the trip to the new Kingdom, Alyrra tries to free the white horse, speaking softly to it while doing so. Valka tricks Alyrra into drinking from a lake, and The Lady surges out of the water and overpowers the princess. She uses the spell Alyrra's mother made (and warned her to carry around with her) to make an even bigger spell. The Lady transfers Alyrra's soul into Valka's body and vice versa. The witch also puts a magic choker around the princess/Valka's throat, to keep her form speaking about the exchange to anyone.

Now the princess is imprisoned inside Valka's body, and at the mercy of the power the woman inside her old body now holds. Alyrra, who could not stand being called Valka, names herself Thorn and starts to accept the situation as an oportunity to start a new life, away from court. She becomes a goose girl. WIth the help of the magic white horse, Falada, who returns after being freed, Thorn will make powerful friends and just as powerful enemies, all who will be very important characters in this fantastic tale, filled with pain, betrayal, trust and magic.

This book is a retelling of the fairytale "Goose Girl", one I wasn't familiar with, but that Wikipedia quickly explained. I found Thorn to be incredibly faithful to the original story.

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. It was very engrossing, and I read it very quickly. Alyrra was an interesting character, and so were the -many- other secondary ones. Intisar Khanani has a very good way with words and a very fertile imagination, LOL. So fertile that this book was almost too much. It had a lot to the plot. A lot. The book mentions too much and explains too little. It made the story quite unpredictable, because I was never sure what would be introduced next... and there was so much to cover, that the ending was very... dull. We don't see how Alyrra makes her family regret mistreating her. We don't see how she changes the laws to stop those terrible crimes from going unpunished. We don't even see her grow very much. She continues to be as she was when the book started: easily swayed and almost incapable of making decisions by herself. She makes some good choices, sure, but only after being driven into making those decisions. That was a bit of a let down. 

Also, I don't see how or when exactly she fell for the prince. I mean, I see how he fell for her, but nothing pointed towards the existence of her feelings for him. I was expecting her to fall for pretty much anyone. The lead Thief. One of the stable boys. The chief of the Prince's Guard. But not for the prince... but then again, the focus of this book is adventure and fantasy, not really romance. I also wasn't expecting so many deaths in a YA book...but they did fit in very well.

Anyway, even with the small things that did bother me, it was still a very enjoyable read! One that I recommend. ;) It was an excellent first book, and I'll be sure to look out for the next ones by this new author.

* I received an e-copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.*

Early Review: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Monstrous Beauty
by Elizabeth Fama

Expected publication: September 4th 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences. Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: September 4th 2012

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Format: eARC, 295 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

________________________________

My Review

The mermaid Syrenka has loved before and only managed to find pain. But in the year 1872 she can't help but fall in love again, very hard, this time for Ezra, a very hadsome young marine biology student, who's fascinated by every sea creature. Needless to say, he's completely enchanted by her. They are quite happy for a while... but they could never imagine that their 'forbidden' romance would bring a lot of pain and suffering -to themselves and others- for years and years to come.

It's 2002 and seventeen-year-old Hester has just met a very strange, yet very charming man inside a cave by the beach. She is stragenly drawn to him, and can't help but come back and just be close to him. She's falling in love... and it's the worst thing she could ever do. Hester has promised herself to never fall in love. Ever since she was just a kid she's been hearing stories about the women in her family, who always seemed to die just after giving birth to their daughters. Including her mother. So, just to be safe, she decides to not love at all. But no doctor could ever find out what really happened to those women. Not even the modern medicine can tell. Is it some kind of genetic condition? Or could it be something more dangerous, like a curse?

When she mentions the mysterious deaths to the guy from the cave, he suggests she looks deeper into it. And when Hester starts to investigate, she discovers much more than she could ever expect to find. Is teh crypt where her ancestors are buried really haunted? Who is the little girl who used to play with her at the cemetery that no else can see but her? And why is it that everything always leads her back to the ocean? Are the myths of sea creatures really myths?

Gods. So much love, so much tragedy, so much sadness, violence and wasted lives. This book will break your heart and make you cry a freaking river. But you'll love it anyway. Elizabeth Fama is a complete genious. Her writing is perfectly fluid, clearly well planned and well thought of, her characters are very alive and almost spill out of the pages. It is, I daresay, an almost perfect tale. It has it all. Drama, tragedy, romance, true love, action, violence, magic, mystery and paranormal beings. And it all fits superbly.

I can't say I was terribly excited about starting this book. I didn't care much about the other mermaid books I've read recently (found them to be very childish, weak or even downright mediocre...), but, oh, boy. Was I surprised by Monstrous Beauty!!! It blew my mind. I just couldn't stop reading it. I could barely blink! (even bloodshot eyes are totally worth it, I promise!). It's not everyday I give a book 5 stars, so that alone should tell you how much I loved it.

Hester was so strong, so smart and likeable! I usually find main heroines annoying, but this one was just absolutely incredible. Ezra was definitely charming, if quite pitiable. He deserved so much more of life... Syrenka was one of the most fascinating characters I've ever read about. I really wanted her to find the happiness she had been looking for her very long life. Even if she did some very gruesome things while trying to achieve it. And the secondary characters were all captivating in their own ways. Peter, Sam, the priest, Nellie... they were all very complex, even if they had short appearances. Oh, and the double POVs were awesome.

There was nothing I didn't like in this book, except that it was too short. LOL. I wanted to keep on reading it forever. ;) Even if it did make me cry quite a bit.

If you like tales of true love with tons of mystery, drama and quite a bit of action and adventure thrown in the mix, you'll love Mostrous Beauty just like I did, especially if you're not a fan of mermaid books, like I was. And you'll follow my example and pre-order it right away, because it's so freaking good you have to have it. (My beautiful precioussssssss must be on its way. *-*).

* I'm so happy I received an eARC for this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

P.P. (Post posting): I sort of liked the eARC cover better, buuuut.... what's a girl to do, right?

So, do you think you'd like to read this book? If you've read it, what did you think? :3

Early Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas / Reading Romances July Challenge

Reading Romances July Challenge


3) Read a book that is part of a series (Don’t forget to name the series and what Book number it is)
7)Read a book that has a princess or prince as a character; or a book inspired by a fairytale.

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
by Sarah J. Maas


Expected publication: August 7th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: August 7th 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Format: eARC, 384 pages 

Series: yes

Source: Netgalley

_____________________________________________________

My Review:

The Throne of Glass has been available on Fictionpress a few years before, in a serial then known as Queen of Glass. Now, the famous tale is finally being published.

Celeana Sardothien has been sent to the prison of Endovier, to work as a slave. She has been able to survive in the salt mines for over a year, much longer than most people. Why? Because she is Adarlan's most notorious assassin. 

One day, a the Chief of the Kingdom's Guard is waiting for her. He came to fetch her and bring her to the Prince of Adarlan. Celeana is certain she was brought there to die, and so is completely stunned to discover that he had a bargain for her. Became the King's Assassin for a few years with the promise of freedom... or return to prison to die. Having no real choice in the matter, she agrees.

But to effectively become the King's Assassin, she must first defeat other 23 criminals in a tournament made to amuse the King and his court. Now she must train... and with so many threats around her, try and stay alive.

The Chief of Guard, Chaol Westfall, is in charge of her. Even though he doesn't trust her, he helps her regain her strength with serious training. However, Chaol can't help but start noticing more than her physical abilities and stealth. The thing is, neither can the Prince. 

Prince Dorian finds himself to be absolutely enthralled by the Assassin. She is nothing like other court ladies. And she couldn't be more wrong for him.

In a world of secrets and danger, Celeana struggles to figure out who is friend and who is foe in the frightening and cold Castle of Glass.

There were so many comparisons of this book to Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, that I was super excited to start reading it.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed to find a very arrogant and very bland heroine. I know it may not make much sense. I mean, a female assassin, feared by so many... a very strong young woman, fending for herself, always on her own... I should have loved her!!! I'm not sure if it was all those comparisons and raving reviews that did it, but I just wasn't very impressed with the beginning of the book.

Nonetheless, the plot kept me going. Celeana became more human, more bearable, more likeable. And, eventually, I found myself cheering for her. And Chaol. And Dorian. LOL. No, I can never pick just one Team. 

The book was full of surprises, with a lot od fantasy and Faerie magic thrown in the mix, to make things more interesting.

I didn't like that the time period wasn't made very clear. I suppose it was set sometime in the past, (maybe 16th or 17th century?) if the clothing, the duels, kingdoms, and all that machismo crap were to be taken into consideration. But if I had only the dialogues to try and situate the story, then I'd be completely lost. They all talked like contemporary citizens. Slang included. Maybe that's a silly complain, but it bothered me. It is my opinion that the whole book would have had a more compelling feel to it if only it had been written more formally.

Oh, and it certainly took forever for people to realize that what had been killing those contenders wasn't human or even natural. I'm sorry, but if there are bite marks, claw marks, open chests and missing brains, then I'm pretty sure a human didn't do it. I just couldn't swallow their original disdain ("Oh, it was nothing. Maybe he just fell." Sure he did. And ripped his own heart and brain in the process!), and following doubts and suspicions over who did it ("Oh, I wonder if Celeana did it.  Even if she was inside her room the whole time and all the guards can attest to it."). It took them forever to even start considering that, maybe, it was a what, not a who. That little bit of info made me seriously doubt the characters' intelligence. Sorry, but that, too, ruined the story quite a bit to me.

The name Celeana bothered me, too. Couldn't they have gone with the simpler form of Selena? Well... but that's a bit irrelevant now. LOL.

Also, the book felt long, but even with all the faults, I ended up enjoying many parts of it. How Celeana would help and even care about her 'nicer' contenders. How she would befriend an outcast and, even though she became her only friend, it still didn't stop Celeana from being careful and doubting her motives later on. But I especially enjoyed the ending. Celeana surprised me by thinking first of herself and her future, not letting a troublesome and clearly fleeting romance get in the way of her freedom. 

I'm curious as to what will happen in the next books and will look for them. :)

If you like strong young heroines, fantasy and magic along with your adventure and romance, then you'll enjoy Throne of Glass.

* I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Early Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone 
(The Grisha Trilogy #1)
by Leigh Bardugo

Expected publication: June 5th 2012 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: June 5th 2012

Publisher: BYR

Format: eARC, 368 pages 

Series: yes

Source: Netgalley

_________________________________

My Review:

After blogging for a while you start to learn not to expect much from books that create a lot of fuss and receive tons of 5 star ratings (In my case, much like The Immortal Rules and Everneath did before publication). 

So, when I saw over 150 5 star ratings for Shadow and Bone on Goodreads I was a bit afraid of what I'd think of it... 

What I came up with was:

Oh. Dear. Lawd. 

That was the best book I've read in loooong while! Definitely the best I've read this year, for sure! (This is the 99th book I have read in 2012).

I know I haven't been especially eloquent so far, but that's what usually happens when you enjoy a book this much. You love it so, SO much you can't even put it into words. 

But let's try expressing it with images:

and:

These can be translated as:

"This is so freaking awesome!" *-*, 

and: 

"NO, I can't be that close to the ending already! I only just started it! Where did the time go???" :((

Okay, enough nonsense. For now.

First line: "The servants called them malenchki, little ghosts, because they were the smallest and the youngest, and because they haunted the Duke's house like giggling phantoms, darting in and out of rooms, hiding in cupboards to eavesdrop, sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last of the summer peaches."

Last line: (too spoilery).

Favorite quote: "I'd catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me."

Alina Starkov and Malyen Oretsev were both orphans that grew up together at a nice Duke's orphanage. When they were old enough, they left to train for their military service. Alina as a cartographer and Mal as a tracker. But their regiment had to first cross the Shadow Fold before they could get to the Sea.

Alina is completely in love with her childhood friend, but Mal hardly even seems to notice her anymore. He has become very handsome and popular with girls, and Alina... well, she's become taller, but still looks like she did as a child. Skinny, pale and ghost-like.

Along for the ride to the Shadow Fold are the Grisha, practitioners of the 'Small Science'. They are people who have special powers and are treated like royalty. They are also very attractive.

As soon as they get to the Fold and darkness engulfs them, the volcra attack. They are horrendous beasts with a thirst for human flesh. The Grisha and the soldiers try to attack them as best they can, but there are still many casualties.

When a volcra gets too close to Alina, Mal rushes over to protect her, receiving a very serious injury to the chest. Alina throws herself over him to try and shield him from the volcra hovering close by, but when the volcra reaches for her, Alina feels something inside her shift and then suddenly there is light. Brilliant, magnificent light all around them. And the volcra can't fly away fast enough. Alina passes out.

The minute she comes to she knows something is wrong. First of all, there are rifles pointed to her head. People are looking at her strangely. And the Darkling, the most powerful and oldest Grisha around wants to see her. He claims that she is a Sun Summoner. And the only hope to end the wars and destroy the Fold. No pressure, right?

Alina can't wrap her head around being Grisha. She is nothing like them! They're beautiful, she's not. They have been studying the 'Grisha ways' ever since they were 5-years-old, and she hasn't. But most importantly... she is one of a kind. Just like the Darkling.

Now Alina has to learn how to control how powers and pay very close attention to the people around her. Are they friend or foe? Should she trust them? Shouls she believe everything they say? Should she allow herself to fall for one of them? And, is Mal still alive? Does he hate her now? Does she care?

Oh, man. Now that was a good read. 

Don't you just love it when nothing is as you first expected? Leigh Bardugo is a complete genius! Her writing is enrapturing, her characters captivating, and the plot is absolutely mind-boggling! There is NEVER a boring moment. NEVER, I say!!! (Okay, I'll go easy with the iltalics and bolds from now on, I promise).  When you finally start to get things (especially the russian vocab) and like certain characters... BAM! They slap you in the face with betrayal! (Alina's face, I mean.). :P

And as you get closer to the end, you have to control yourself not to blow up from all the tension. Or pluck all your hair off. Or scream with frustration. Oh, and no matter how intense things get, you have to remember to blink. (I had to apply teardrops more times than I can count, simply because I just wanted to take everything in as fast as I could, and all the blinking was totally slowing me down. LOL.).

Really, the only thing I still have to say to you is: Go ahead and pre-order this baby right now! You will not regret it. :)

If you enjoy great books with tons of adventure, fantasy magic AND sweet romance, then the odds are: you'll go bananas over Shadow and Bone, just like I did.

* I was lucky enough to receive an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*