kariny's book frenzy : Netgalley

Netgalley

SEA WITCH ARC REVIEW

TITLE: Sea Witch

AUTHOR: Sarah Henning

SERIES: Standalone

PUBLICATION DATE: July 31 2018

PUBLISHER: Katherine Tegen Books

SOURCE: Netgalley

RATING:

Goodreads

Everyone knows what happens in the end.A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss.But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends.One feared, one royal, and one already dead.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.
A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.
The rise of Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic villainess is a heart-wrenching story of friendship, betrayal, and a girl pushed beyond her limits—to become a monster.

MY REVIEW

ORIGIN STORY OF THIS CHILDHOOD VILLAIN?! so let's go back back baaaaaack to where it all began

The synopsis is really self explanatory so I won't get into it again. This book was really not what I was expecting. I went into it comparing it to Marissa Meyer's 'Heartless' which is a darker tale of a rise of a villainess and I expected this book to be a similar dark retelling. But instead I got a quick, pretty easy going historical tale about love and friendship. I can't say much without spoiling.

I think my main issue with this book was the protagonist, Evie. There's nothing I hated about her but I didn't get attached to her either. And if the central plot line of your story is how your character became a certain way (how Evie became Ursula) then the focus and character development should be prioritised. The events that lead to the change are important too don't get me wrong but seeing the change in the protagonist is more important. So it's not that Evie was a bad character she was just underdeveloped and not central to the plot which is what she should have been. But I did change my opinion of her in the last two chapters-that was phenomenal.

Though two things stood out with Evie, one I hated and one I loved. I hated, absolutely hated, her relationship with Iker. I hated Iker from the beginning and the romance was just slapped on at the beginning out of nowhere then pulled around in a different directions just as fast and senselessly. There was no development to their relationship. And Evie was disgustingly drooling after him like a love sick puppy.

I can say that I loved that she's a good friend to Nik and wants to help Annette. And that's one of the best things in this book-the friendship. I loved, loved it especially between Nik and Evie. It was just so easy and fun and perfect and you could tell how much they cared about each other.

As for the other characters I wasn't particularly attached to any of them except for Nik. God he was just such a cutie and I liked his vulnerability. He was so protective of Evie and it just warmed my heart!!

The background was really well written and the author did a great job at accurately writing a historical setting, especially when it came to the people's reaction to Evie's friendship with Nik because she was poor. But it was really lacking in tales and legends, that part only appears at the ending of the book but it was not enough. That part of the story, especially Evie's magic background needed much more weight. In the end I found myself a bit confused about the magic in the book because it didn't seem to link smoothly to the mermaid parts.

The book only started gripping me at about 60% through and I remember checking my kindle to see what percentage in I was and how much time it took to really get to me. There was a good twist that pumped up the whole story and made you want to keep reading. So overall I think it was a great story, but I don't think it managed to really meet expectations when it was marketed as a retelling of Ursula.

Things get a bit nonsensical in the end even though the last two chapters were amazing in terms of action but the tiny things like the romance just became an illogical whirlwind (even though I was happy about it). I LOVED the last two chapters, it was really well written and cool interpretation of the little Mermaid.

There is a pretty good buildup of tension and suspense from the 3rd person chapters. The writing was honestly excellent and was the best thing about this book. The author is clearly really talented because those chapters especially were nothing short of beautiful! They really felt like I was reading a fairytale!

Overall it was an okay book but I felt like there was a huge chunk of it missing like legends, more character for Evie and much much much MORE development on the romance towards the end of the book, because there is a twist and it's an amazing one that I wanted to happen all along but then it's just left there. It's not provoked or pursued it just IS. And for a book about a character that turns evil I think characterisation should have been central. Because it was a good solid plot, with a cool twist BUT the main part of the story which is the protagonist was flat.

There are quite a bit of mixed review so you never know, this book might end up being one of your favourites!! Especially if you liked Aquamarine!

I do have to mention, that is honestly one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen!!! It's done by Escume and you can check out more of her work on Deviant Art here.

Hope you guys had a lovely week :D!

July 20, 2018

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faeries

THE CRUEL PRINCE ARC REVIEW

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)

TITLE: The Cruel Prince

AUTHOR: Holly Black

SERIES: The Folk Of The Air #1

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers

PUBLICATION DATE: 2nd January 2018

SOURCE: Netgalley ARC

Goodreads

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

MY REVIEW

Hello and welcome to my first review of 2018!!! I was really happy about getting approved for this title on Netgalley after I missed my chance at grabbing the ARC at YALC. I read this in one sitting because it was just so addictive! Let me start off by saying that I've read three of Holly Black's fairy books and while I found them super unique they weren't totally my cup of tea (oh look at me talking about tea like a proper brit :3) but this book was amazing. My real issue with the other books were the characters even though the plot and world building were fantastic. But in this book the characters and the plot were equally awesome! It was also GREAT to see the characters from her other books making an appearance in this one :D

But anyways here's the lowdown.

Jude, her twin sister and her elder sister were only children when a man came into their house and butchered their parents before taking them to faerie. That's when they realised that Vivienne, the eldest sister was the daughter of a fae general named Madoc-the guy who killed their parents. Despite being human and being taunted by the fae, the twins benefit from a high status and are allowed into court. They want to belong to the land of faerie and Jude wants nothing more than to earn her place among the fae and become a knight. However between being constantly bullied by Prince Carden and her ambition to make a place for herself in the fae world, she gets swept up into the politics of the fae royals, the treacheries, the secrets and the plots.

Great characters! All of them unique, mostly blood thirst and devious. Holly Black really knows how to write about the beauty and the evilness of the fae in such an alluring way. And the best part of the book? the author unapologetic about her dark, devilish characters. They were what they were and that's what made them so endearing.

I really really liked Jude she was a total badass and she knew that to some extent she was cruel and as bad as the fey. And she didn't try to justify herself but rather she accepted that that was who and what she was no matter how she ended up that way. She wasn't relatable in any way, in fact I don't think any of the characters were, but that just reinforced the author's portrayal of the fae as completely different from humans. Granted, Jude and her twin are human but they've grown up with the fairies and along with their ways, Jude has picked up a little of their wickedness. She's crazy ambitious and she seems to have some kind of thirst for confrontations but she's headstrong, brave and a fighter.

I especially liked the dynamics between the relationship of Madoc and his family. The situation could have called for Madoc to use the twins as his servants but instead he loves them and treats them like his own daughters and in return, they love him. They don't forget or forgive what he did to their parents but they accept his nature and can't help but love him after all these years together. Then Vivienne, his actual daughter loathes him and does whatever she can to set him on edge. And Madoc I get where he was coming from when he murdered his ex wife and took back his heir-Vivienne-but also his two step daughters out of some sense of responsibility and honour. I just found that complex family so cool!

I ship the romance. From the very beginning I shipped it. I won't spoil anything but DAYUM. It wasn't really there at the beginning but it does kind of find its mark towards the end. Though I have no clue how everything's gonna play out in book 2 after that ending.

Carden. What a character, I called him Garden on more than one occasion. I can't say more than that or else I'll start ranting and spoil stuff. But he was GREAT.

I did kind of expect the ending though when it did happen I actually had to put my kindle down and swear at the ceiling. Because even though I suspected it, I didn't think it would actually happen and when it did I was completely shocked.

My only critique would be that the tense scenes/actions scenes were a bit flat to me. The writing in those parts are direct and to the point and in a way it depicts that cold way of the fae but at the same time it lacked that dramatic tension and suspense. That's the only thing I was slightly iffy about in this book, the rest was FLAWLESS.

Book 2 is so so so so so so far away I can't even believe it.