Tag: na

Magical and atmospheric: Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (Book Review) #Fantasy #Wintersong #Goblins

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones book cover

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about a book I should have read long time ago. I finally gave it a try and I really liked it, so now I feel bad for not picking it sooner.
Wintersong is young adult fantasy that was published by St. Martin’s Press on February 7th 2017. It has 436 pages.
I received an eARC via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

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About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / The last night of the year. Now the days of winter begin and the Goblin King rides abroad, searching for his bride….

All her life, Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, dangerous Goblin King. They’ve enraptured her mind and spirit and inspired her musical compositions. Now eighteen and helping to run her family’s inn, Liesel can’t help but feel that her musical dreams and childhood fantasies are slipping away.

But when her own sister is taken by the Goblin King, Liesl has no choice but to journey to the Underground to save her. Drawn to the strange, captivating world she finds–and the mysterious man who rules it–she soon faces an impossible decision. With time and the old laws working against her, Liesl must discover who she truly is before her fate is sealed.

Dark, romantic, and powerful, Wintersong will sweep you away into a world you won’t soon forget.

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Review:

Wintersong was on my tbr for the longest time, and I honestly don’t even have any good excuse why I didn’t read it sooner.
Now when I finally picked it up, I know how much I was missing out.

This is fantasy novel that can be categorized as young adult as well as new adult, since the main character is 18 years old, and there are some steamy scenes between pages.

I kind of knew this novel would be of my interest, because it features goblins, and one of my favorite series, The Malediction Trilogy, is set in goblin’s underground. So I thought to myself, if this was half as good as Stolen Songbird it would be amazing.

I was right! Wintersong was magical and beautiful, just as I wanted it to be.

The book is written in first person, following Liesl’s POV.
I loved the writing style. The story reads as a fairy tale, which really brings the atmosphere.
However, I have to admit that because of it’s peculiar voice, it took me some time to get into the story.
Also, it took 25% for the plot to finally start to go somewhere.
One would assume that the first quarter of the story had the purpose to build the world, but in reality, this magical world is presented to us through the whole story, and I would even dare to say we get to know the world more the closer to the end.

I would call this an urban fantasy, even though the story is set in past time.

I think that the book was wrapped up really good and we got the closure, but also enough material for the next book in the series, Shadowsong, which I plan to read in December.

I really enjoyed reading Wintersong and I think readers who like to read about faeries and magical creatures would find themselves flying through it.
I recommend it to fantasy lovers who like love and steamy scenes in their stories.

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Book Review: Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker

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Title: Five Ways to Fall
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths #2
Author: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: July 3rd, 2014
Pages: 384
Format: paperback
Source: Purchased

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she’s made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it’s time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well…aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave that mistake behind her.

Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris’s plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career? So not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brains to go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Penny’s Palace, he’s ready to lead a more mature life—until his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasn’t stopped thinking about.

If Ben truly were a smart guy, he’d stay clear of Reese. She’s the boss’s stepdaughter and it’s been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it she’s trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when it’s so good-looking…

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Review:

This book was a pleasent surprise for me.
I expected for it to be good. I just didn’t expect for it to be that good.

I have already read Ten Tiny Breaths and tought it was a really good book.
By the time the second book in the series came out, I had some bad experiences when it comes to NA and decided to take a long break from that genre.
This book, and this author, reminded me not all the books in the same genre are the same. There will always be the bad ones, but there will always be the good ones too.

This book didn’t have any of those NA clichès I was sure that almost every book in this genre has (at least one of them).

Main characters had some baggage from the past, but they weren’t shattered people because of that.
The plot wasn’t surrounded with drama all the time. Actually, there weren’t any drama. At least not in term that I use it for.
There was zero slut shaming.
There was no “damsel in distress” scene.

The love between main characters took it’s time to develop. Although there was an instant attraction, the characters were smart enough to know the difference between attraction and love.

I gladly welcomed the tone of this story. I expected dark feelings, but instead I got light feeling melted with joy.
I even laughed out loud at some scenes (view spoiler) .

Anyway, I am glad I read this book and I am looking forward to check K. A. Tucker’s other work.

4,5