Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer {review}

Echo North
by Joanna Ruth Meyer
♦publisher: Page Street Kids
♦release date: January 15th, 2019
♦hardcover, 389 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone

Echo Alkaev’s safe and carefully structured world falls apart after her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an offer: for her to come and live with him for a year. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, Echo discovers centuries-old secrets, a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. As the year ticks by, Echo must solve the mystery of the wolf’s enchantment before her time is up—otherwise Echo, the wolf, and Hal will be lost forever.

{My Thoughts}

Beautiful.  Absolutely gorgeous writing and storytelling. From the moment I started this, I was lured in and completely enchanted until the final page. Echo North definitely exuded the feel of fairy tales of old. Grimm, Anderson,...you'll expect to find this one tucked in among these collections. The language, the atmosphere, the determination of the heroine. It all melds together to unfold this special story of redemption and love. 

In this retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Echo Alkaev finds herself fleeing her home and tricked into living with the mysterious wolf who seems to have followed her through life since he scarred her as a child. What she finds is an enchanted house containing dangerous rooms that must be bound by a magical thread. Toward the middle the story ambles a bit, but I never felt bored. Echo's bond with the wolf is in constant flux as she works to both uncover his secrets and save him from his own imprisonment in the house. each door reveals a new secret, and her world opens up even wider with the discovery of the mysterious library of mirrors. The second part takes on a wildly unexpected turn---the whole feel and direction of the story shoots off in an expected direction. It was a little jarring but surprising and exciting as well! 

Such a great story and I definitely plan on reaching for more from this author in the future, and possible checking out her debut, Beneath the Haunting Sea, as well! 

{About The Author}

Joanna Ruth Meyer hails from Mesa, Arizona, where she lives with her dear family, a rascally feline, and an enormous grand piano. When she’s not writing, she’s trying to convince her students that Bach is actually awesome, or plotting her escape from the desert. She loves good music, thick books, looseleaf tea, rainstorms, and staring out of windows. One day, she aspires to own an old Victorian house with creaky wooden floors and a tower (for writing in, of course!).

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER  •   INSTAGRAM

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

source: book provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking the Spine. A spin-off of the meme called "Can't Wait Wednesday" is now hosted at Wishful Endings. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

WINTERWOOD

by Shea Enrshaw

hitting shelves November 5th, 2019  

from Simon Pulse

Be careful of the dark, dark wood . . .

Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, even.

Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it’s this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman—the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago—and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive, and left in the woods with no memory of the time he’d been missing.

But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver’s presence. And it’s not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn’t know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own—secrets he’ll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn’t the only one to have gone missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago.

My thoughts:  I have been waiting on the edge of my seat for a cover and more details on this book---and it's finally here!! Guys, The Wicked Deep was my favorite book of last year, hands down. Glorious writing, super eerie storytelling and I can't wait to drown myself in more of Shea's beautiful words. 

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

Grim Lovelies by Megan Shephard {review}

Grim Lovelies
by Megan Shephard
♦publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
♦release date: October 2nd, 2018
♦hardcover, 376 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Grim Lovelies, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review
Seventeen-year-old Anouk envies the human world, where people known as Pretties lavish themselves in fast cars, high fashion, and have the freedom to fall in love. But Anouk can never have those things, because she is not really human. Enchanted from animal to human girl and forbidden to venture beyond her familiar Parisian prison, Anouk is a Beastie: destined for a life surrounded by dust bunnies and cinders serving Mada Vittora, the evil witch who spelled her into existence. That is, until one day she finds her mistress murdered in a pool of blood—and Anouk is accused of the crime.

Now, the world she always dreamed of is rife with danger. Pursued through Paris by the underground magical society known as the Haute, Anouk and her fellow Beasties only have three days to find the real killer before the spell keeping them human fades away. If they fail, they will lose the only lives they’ve ever known…but if they succeed, they could be more powerful than anyone ever bargained for.

From New York Times bestselling author Megan Shepherd, Grim Lovelies is an epic and glittering YA fantasy. Prepare to be spellbound by the world of Grim Lovelies, where secrets have been long buried, friends can become enemies, and everything—especially humanity—comes at a price.

{My Thoughts}

This one was a charmer, but also a little lighter than I expected? There were parts of Grim Lovelies that I really loved, and parts that I thought were just so-so. The Paris setting is enchanting; I loved Anouk's curiosity in the new world she discovers outside her life of servitude--our world but new to her eyes.  Throw in the magical and dangerous touches that regular humans don't see and you get the darkly glamorous setting for Anouk's adventure to free herself and her friends. 

Anouk starts out a bit meek. Though she is curious about what goes on outside the house she was made in, she is quite comfortable to stay where she thinks she is safe, serving a witch who is quite cruel to her with a kind of love-hungry gratitude.  Then a mysterious run-in with the prince of the Haute forces to her wonder about her place in the magical world, and when the Witch turns up dead, her entire world is upended. She'll be forced to lean on her friends and fellow beasties to find a little fierceness inside herself and keep them all from turning back into animals. 

The story unfolds at a fast pace---it helps that the plot is a literal countdown to midnight! You can feel the intensity as the dreaded hour closes in. I really enjoyed getting to know the array of characters and all their wildly different personalities. From witches to goblins to topiary bears, this one keeps the excitement high until the very end. There are also quite a few good laughs in this story, usually provided by my favorite snarky character, Cricket, and most definitely with a funny turn of events with the ever egotistical Viggo.  

Where it faltered for me was the love story. I felt the direction of the romance was at first a little misleading, and then the awkward feelings between her and Beau started up, but it was definitely missing any amount of chemistry. The story didn't really need it, and in the end it felt a little out of place and forced. 

Still a wonderful entertaining story and, with the way it ended, I am definitely looking forward to the follow-up, Midnight Beauties, and hoping for some sort of miraculous magical turnaround on the fate of a few of these characters!

{About The Author}

New York Times bestselling author Megan Shepherd grew up in her family’s independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of several young adult and middle grade novels. She now lives and writes on a 125-year-old farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, two cats, and an especially scruffy dog.

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER  •   INSTAGRAM

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa {audiobook review}

Shadow of the Fox

by Julie Kagawa

♦publisher: Inkyard Press/Harlequin Teen

♦release date: October 2nd, 2018

♦hardcover, 409 pages

♦intended audience: Young adult

♦series: Shadow of the Fox, book 1
♦source: received from publisher for honest review

One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

{My Thoughts}

Can you believe in all her years of writing YA books, and all my years of reviewing YA books---I'd never read a Julie Kagawa book before?? Where have I been on these?? Well, reading Shadow of the Fox has made me feel like I've missed out all these years! It was excellent---excellent writing, storytelling, character and world building. I'll definitely be seeking out more of her work.

As I like to do with most books that have Asian characters, setting, mythology, etc., I decided to listen to Shadow of the Fox on audiobook. The language and names are just too beautiful and I want to hear them exactly as they are meant to be. This rich story is chock full of Japanese legends, mythological creatures and customs and they are all enchantingly brought to life with Kagawa's vivid descriptions. I was familiar with the kitsune, so it was fascinating to read Yumiko's story. I loved that her character, having been raised in isolation within a temple, she was kind and innocent and a little naïve without coming across as ignorant or weak. She was kind and clever and understandably a little fearful, but also fierce when she needed to be.  Her story collides with that of Tatsumi's---a notorious samurai because of the sword he wields.  His character is plagued by demons, both actual and emotional as he struggles with his role in doing the deeds set upon him by his masters and with his role in retrieving the dragon scroll.  The two have such an interesting dynamic because of how different they are and how they see the world around them. They both clashed and worked together beautifully. 

I love how the story wove itself like a traditional fairy tale, as the two strike out on this adventure, meeting an array of challenges and characters along their chosen path, defeating some, inviting others to join their journey, some leaving them questioning their purpose and others strengthening their group as a whole. 

Such a well done adventure, I found myself riveted until the very end. I can't wait for book two! The audiobook was excellent (although, the voice characterizations are just a bit overdone at times)---anyway you'd prefer to take this story on, I highly recommend you do!

{About The Author}

Born in Sacramento, CA, Julie Kagawa moved to Hawaii at the age of nine. There she learned many things; how to bodyboard, that teachers scream when you put centipedes in their desks, and that writing stories in math class is a great way to kill time. Her teachers were glad to see her graduate. 

Julie now lives is Louisville, KY with her husband and furkids. She is the international and NYT bestselling author of The Iron Fey series. 

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER  •   FACEBOOK

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

The Mystery Continues! Truly Devious & The Vanishing Stairs

Were you, like us, completely flabbergasted by that one heck of a cliffhanger in Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious?  Well, fear not---the mystery continues soon with The Vanishing Stairs, hitting shelves January 22nd, 2019!! For now, go out and pick up the paperback of Truly Devious so you can see what we mean! It's out today! And be sure to check out Amy's full review here if you need more convincing! :D

Be sure to keep an eye on my Instragram as I'll be hosting a fabulous giveaway for a copy of Truly Devious and a pre-order of The Vanishing Stairs very soon!!

Also, Maureen Johnson will be seeking you out on her upcoming tour! 

Epic Reads announced all the stops today. Will you mysteriously appear??

Keep an eye on EpicReads.com for more details!!

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke {review + giveaway}

The Boneless Mercies
by April Genevieve Tucholke
♦publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
♦release date: October 2nd, 2018•
♦hardcover, 384 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone, retelling
♦source: from publisher for review consideration

A dark standalone YA fantasy about a band of mercenary girls in search of female glory.

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are the Boneless Mercies—girls hired to kill quickly, quietly, and mercifully. But Frey is weary of the death trade and, having been raised on the heroic sagas of her people, dreams of a bigger life. 

When she hears of an unstoppable monster ravaging a nearby town, Frey decides this is the Mercies' one chance out. The fame and fortune of bringing down such a beast would ensure a new future for all the Mercies. In fact, her actions may change the story arc of women everywhere.

{Review}

I've long been a fan of April Tucholke's signature bizarre and stylistic storytelling, and when I heard she would be putting it to a high fantasy tale, I couldn't have been more excited. Her gorgeous writing has always given such a fantastical and eerie feel to contemporary stories, I could only imagine how unique her take on the mythical tale legend of Beowolf would be. I admit, I wasn't that familiar with the source material but it didn't stop me from diving headlong into this retelling.

The Boneless Mercies themselves...wow. What a dynamic group of women. Frey, Juniper, Ovie, and Runa--a sisterhood in the best sense of the word. Each had their own strengths and complicated weaknesses.  Each had their own reasons for being in the life they led...and for maybe wanting out. I love how closely they worked together, how they knew each other so deeply and bolstered each other up. I love that it was a gender-bent, feminist take on this legend without making all men villainous and hateful. There was even Trigve, a man who traveled with them and fought by their side---his backstory and his unconventional relationship with Frey added so much to the story.  For each of the characters in turn, there were moments of anger and passion and quiet inner searching as they journeyed to try their hand at defeating a legendary beast. This story was hideously bloody at times, heartbreaking at many times, and thoughtful and completely unputdownable(*) though the entire thing.  April Tucholke does it again. 

(*On a side and very personal note, I say unputdownable, even though I did at one point, actually put it aside. In the beginning, it takes the time to really show what the Boneless Mercies do--they are, quite literally, human reapers. They are paid by the sick or suffering or their family to take someone's life as a mercy killing and it shows them doing this for people of all ages.  Because of things going on in my life, this was too painful and too emotional of an idea for me and I had to set it aside.  Still, a while later, I was called back to this book, a journey and battle that I knew April would make into a beautiful story, so I picked it up again. It lured me in and, yes, after that it was unputdownable!)

{ABOUT THE AUTHOR}

April Genevieve Tucholke is the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Between the Spark and the Burn, and Wink Poppy Midnight. She also curated the horror anthology Slasher Girls & Monster Boys. She has received five starred reviews and her novels have been chosen for the Junior Library Guild, Kids' Indie Next picks, and YALSA Teens Top Ten. When she's not writing, April likes walking in the woods with her two cheerful dogs, exploring abandoned houses, and drinking expensive coffee. She has lived in many places around the world, and currently resides in Oregon with her husband.

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER  •   INSTAGRAM

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

International Giveaway!

Winner's choice of edition: US Hardcover or UK Paperback

Both are gorgeous so I wanted to give you the choice! :D

Ends 11/15 at 11:59 PM
Must be 13 or older or have parent permission.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking the Spine. A spin-off of the meme called "Can't Wait Wednesday" is now hosted at Wishful Endings. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Storm & Fury

by Jennifer L Armentrout

hitting shelves June 11th, 2019  

from Inkyard Press

Eighteen-year-old Trinity Marrow may be going blind, but she can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. Her unique gift is part of a secret so dangerous that she’s been in hiding for years in an isolated compound fiercely guarded by Wardens—gargoyle shape-shifters who protect humankind from demons. If the demons discover the truth about Trinity, they’ll devour her, flesh and bone, to enhance their own powers.

When Wardens from another clan arrive with disturbing reports that something out there is killing both demons and Wardens, Trinity’s safe world implodes. Not the least because one of the outsiders is the most annoying and fascinating person she’s ever met. Zayne has secrets of his own that will upend her world yet again—but working together becomes imperative once demons breach the compound and Trinity’s secret comes to light. To save her family and maybe the world, she’ll have to put her trust in Zayne. But all bets are off as a supernatural war is unleashed…

My thoughts:  So---this says it's book four in the Dark Elements series (which I haven't read) but it looks likes its a new set of characters? I'm hoping this means its more of a stand-alone companion, just in the same world. This looks amazing, and I've been a long-time fan of Jennifer's books. It's a long wait for this one, but so excited!!

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?