Review - "The Gilded Wolves"

The Gilded Wolves, The Gilded Wolves #1
by Roshani Chokshi
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 15th January 2019
spoilers? none

Goodreads

Wolves were everywhere. In politics, on thrones, in beds. They cut their teeth on history and grew fat on war.

Galley provided by publisher

If you enjoyed Six of Crows, in particular the unlikely found family trope, its heist shenanigans, and general chaos, then you had better be prepared to read (and fall in love with) this book. The Gilded Wolves is a gorgeously written, historical/dystopia/futuristic heist novel (no, that's not an oxymoron), with six wonderful main characters who you can't help but love.

The novel is set in Paris, 1889, and introduces the shadowy Order of Babel, who control Forgery, a form of magic. The Order "collects" Forged items from countries across the globe. Séverin, our main character (insofar as you can identify the main), is the last surviving member of the disgraced House Vanth, consumed with the desire to exact revenge on the Order for cheating him out of his inheritance. When a routine heist reveals something unexpected, Séverin and his team (Laila, Tristan, Enrique and Zofia) are enlisted by the Patriarch of House Nyx, Hypnos, to find a hidden artefact.

What I especially loved about this book was the characters. Firstly, the main cast is really diverse - four of the main six are characters of colour and two are mlm (one is explicitly bi, and allowed to crush on both male and female characters in the book). Though, yes, I do live in hope that one of the girls is going to be wlw as well, but who knows. Secondly, for most of the book, I genuinely couldn't decide which of them was my favourite. Of course, if you know anything about my type of character, you can probably pick out which of them ended up being my favourite, but that didn't stop me loving each of them individually.

Throughout the book, I think I was in awe of how well Roshani Chokshi can develop a plot and her characters simultaneously. Every one of them is fully rounded, and even when you're not in their POV, you can just feel them coming off the page with life. I think that was most obvious for Hypnos because for most of the book he was only viewed through other characters' eyes, but you still get such a clear idea of his character it's almost as if you did get that time in his POV.

I also want to gush over the plot itself for a bit. It's so intricately woven and thought out, and so engaging you don't even think to put the book down for a moment. And then just as you think everything's sorted out now, everything's happy, suddenly Roshani Chokshi pulls the rug from under your feet, breaks your heart, and turns everything upside down, so all you're left with is a cliffhanger, a lot of soggy tissues and at least a year-long wait to find out how it all gets resolved.

If there was anything at all that I didn't like as much about this book, it was the love triangle. I wouldn't have minded so much, but I disliked one of the sides of it. In my opinion, they'd have worked better as becoming really good friends instead of having relationship potential (and then I could escape that particular romantic angst), but I guess I'll have to wait to see where it gets taken in book 2. Also, I know I was expecting more of a historical atmosphere to this book, but it's not really historical so much as a kind of futuristic past (because of Forging), if that makes sense. That it's set in Paris in 1889 is relegated to the background almost, so if you're going in expecting it to be very historical or historically accurate, then you might be disappointed.

So, if I hadn't made it clear before now, this is definitely a book you're going to want to read. Maybe multiple times over just to fully absorb every little detail about it. Just make sure you're prepared for a broken heart.

Review - "Don't You Forget About Me"

Don't You Forget About Me
by Mhairi McFarlane
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 1st January 2019
spoilers? vague ones

Goodreads

I don't know what he's thinking. I look forward to finding out.

Galley provided by publisher

TWs harassment (sexual and otherwise), past sexual assault (described)

As ever, here I am, having rated a book 5 stars, asking myself the biggest question: just how do you review a book that has just ripped your heart right out and then stitched it back into place? This, of course, may seem like an overexaggeration, but it's not. I'm sat in the kitchen of my flat having just gone through a rollercoaster of emotions and I don't even know where to start with it.

Don't You Forget About Me is a second-chance romance, with all the angst that comes with that. The romance in question happened 12 years previously, when Georgina was 18 and leaving sixth-form. Since then, she's not seen hide nor hair of Lucas, and has ultimately, compared to whatever expectations people had of her, failed in life. She perhaps hits rock bottom when she's sacked from her waitressing job and, in the same night, finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her. Then, her brother-in-law suggests her for a job in a new pub that's just opening.

Georgina is an engaging and funny, if unreliable, narrator - the book is in first person but I never felt like I had trouble getting into it because of that. Mhairi McFarlane has an easy to read and lovely style, and I got into this book from page one, around the time that I fell completely in love with Georgina. Because this book is less about romance per se, so much as about Georgina realising her own value and being kind to herself and coming to terms with what happened in her past. There is a romance going on (second-chance!), but it's more of a background thing, and one thing I loved was how, when everything comes out into the open and Georgina and Lucas finally talk about it all, they don't immediately get together afterwards. Yes, it gave me a little moment of please don't leave it like this, but it felt more right than him finding out about things and then falling into bed with her (I'm trying to be vague with this, sorry!).

I really loved how much of a slowburn this book was, both in the romance, and in Georgina's realisations. Everything felt so natural and it was done so well that it never even risked being boring for a moment. I genuinely couldn't put this book down (I spent 4 hours reading it while simultaneously telling myself this is going to be the final chapter I read, I'll go back to doing my last coursework of the term afterwards. Did I ever go back? Nope). It was absolutely wonderful and I wish I could go back and read it over again for the first time (maybe I'll just satisfy myself with a reread). I really think this might end up being one of my favourite books of 2018.

So, there's not much more to say besides: please please read this book.

Five for Friday: Romance

It's been a while (uni work is a bitch), but finally I'm back with a new Five for Friday! This week, I'm reccing romance books. Any romance - historical, contemporary, gay, straight, you name it. My top five (less well known ones of course). Just to warn you, I prefer my romances slowburn and with a little bit (I mean, quite a bit) of angst.

Unveiled by Courtney Milan

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Ash Turner has waited a lifetime to seek revenge on the man who ruined his family - and now the time for justice has arrived. At Parford Manor, he intends to take his place as the rightful heir to the dukedom and settle an old score with the current duke once and for all. But instead he finds himself drawn to a tempting beauty who has the power to undo all his dreams of vengeance….

Lady Margaret knows she should despise the man who's stolen her fortune and her father's legacy - the man she's been ordered to spy on in the guise of a nurse. Yet the more she learns about the new duke, the less she can resist his smoldering appeal. Soon Margaret and Ash find themselves torn between old loyalties - and the tantalizing promise of passion….

Comments: Courtney Milan is easily one of the best romance authors at the moment, and I think Unveiled has to be pretty much my favourite of hers I've read so far. It has the perfect amount of tension and angst, and I especially loved that she doesn't use miscommunication or the identity reveal as sources of angst in this one.

Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper is about due for her next sweeping romance. It's inevitable—each of her relationships starts with the perfect guy and ends with him falling in love . . . with someone else. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, Megan focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream college's acting requirement in the smallest role possible.

So when she’s cast as Juliet (yes, that Juliet) in her high school’s production, it’s a complete nightmare. Megan’s not an actress, and she’s used to being upstaged—both in and out of the theater. In fact, with her mom off in Texas and her dad remarried and on to baby #2 with his new wife, Megan worries that, just like her exes, her family is moving on without her.

Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright inspired by Rosaline from Shakespeare's R+J. A character who, like Megan, knows a thing or two about short-lived relationships. Megan agrees to help Owen with his play in exchange for help catching the eye of a sexy stagehand/potential new boyfriend. Yet Megan finds herself growing closer to Owen, and wonders if he could be the Romeo she never expected.

Comments: Sometimes the slowburn in YA romances can be the most rewarding, and this is one of those times. I loved all the characters, especially Megan, and it's just a very cute book, really.

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: New York City socialite and perpetual hot mess Portia Hobbs is tired of disappointing her family, friends, and—most importantly—herself. An apprenticeship with a struggling swordmaker in Scotland is a chance to use her expertise and discover what she’s capable of. Turns out she excels at aggravating her gruff silver fox boss… when she’s not having inappropriate fantasies about his sexy Scottish burr.

Tavish McKenzie doesn’t need a rich, spoiled American telling him how to run his armory…even if she is infuriatingly good at it. Tav tries to rebuff his apprentice, and his attraction to her, but when Portia accidentally discovers that he’s the secret son of a duke, rough-around-the-edges Tav becomes her newest makeover project.

Forging metal into weapons and armor is one thing, but when desire burns out of control and the media spotlight gets too hot to bear, can a commoner turned duke and his posh apprentice find lasting love?

Comments: Is Alyssa Cole in my top 10, nay top 5, romance authors? Very definitely yes. And this one is probably my favourite of hers so far.

Far From Home by Lorelie Brown

Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: eating disorder

Synopsis: My name is Rachel. I’m straight... I think. I also have a mountain of student loans and a smart mouth. I wasn’t serious when I told Pari Sadashiv I’d marry her. It was only party banter! Except Pari needs a green card, and she’s willing to give me a breather from drowning in debt.

My off-the-cuff idea might not be so terrible. We get along as friends. She’s really romantically cautious, which I find heartbreaking. She deserves someone to laugh with. She’s kind. And calm. And gorgeous. A couple of years with her actually sounds pretty good. If some of Pari’s kindness and calmness rubs off on me, that’d be a bonus, because I’m a mess - anorexia is not a pretty word - and my little ways of keeping control of myself, of the world, aren’t working anymore.

And, if I slip up, Pari will see my cracks. Then I’ll crack. Which means I gotta get out, quick, before I fall in love with my wife.

Comments: The likelihood of finding half-decent f/f NA romances is low. The likelihood of finding actually good ones is even lower. So this book is basically a miracle. And it's a miracle that doesn't use miscommunication to create angst.

Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: A high school jock and nerd fall in love senior year, only to part after an amazing summer of discovery to attend their respective colleges. They keep in touch at first, but then slowly drift apart.

Flash forward twenty years.

Travis and Craig both have great lives, careers, and loves. But something is missing .... Travis is the first to figure it out. He's still in love with Craig, and come what may, he's going after the boy who captured his heart, even if it means forsaking his job, making a fool of himself, and entering the great unknown.

Comments: Yeah, I've recced this before and yes, I'll rec it again. Sometimes it's just most healing to see older gay characters get their happy ending.

Review - "Do You Dream of Terra-Two?"

Do You Dream Of Terra-Two?
by Temi Oh
rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 7th March 2019
spoilers? not really

Goodreads

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is an alternate history where a planet with life-sustaining capabilities has been discovered and, in 2012, the first expedition is sent out to try and colonise it. It's the story of the six young astronauts who go on that 23-year-long mission, and their journey into space.

This isn't an action-packed book, far from it. It's a character-driven novel, where you might start out thinking you don't really like all of the characters, but most of them grow on you slowly and sneakily. It's a long book (over 500 pages), and you get POVs from every character (though some more than others), so you really get to understand each of them, their worries and their motivations. Which is good, don't get me wrong. I did like that aspect of it. However, for three quarters of the book, there was hardly any conflict (or, what conflict there was happened quickly and ended quickly too) or action. And I was mostly fine with that (for once. You know me and action), but around two thirds through I did start getting a little bored. The last quarter of the book was amazing, because things were happening, but between two thirds through and three quarters, I felt like it drifted a little.

Linked to that, the number of POVs was a little overwhelming at times. On the one hand, it was good to see all the characters, but on the other, I wasn't all that interested in one or two of them, so I kind of skimmed their parts. The switches between the POVs sometimes felt really abrupt, almost as if there should have been more to come, which got cut out. That also contributed to the plot occasionally feeling kind of bitty, like getting snapshots of their life instead of a continuous arc. (Which, I get because it covers a whole year in a 23-year mission, but I did feel like maybe it could have been woven together a bit more seamlessly at points.)

Because it was so bitty, the conflict that did happen before 75% felt almost like neither it nor the aftermath of it were given time to develop. For the buildup that was less of a problem, because there was always some undercurrent of it running through previous parts, but I definitely thought sometimes the aftermath could have done with being dwelt on a bit longer (or even the conflict itself at points). I had a similar issue with the declaration of love, because that distinctly felt like it came out of nowhere. Although it wasn't underdeveloped, it could have done with even more development.

This may all sound somewhat negative, but I did enjoy this book, for sure. Like I said, for most of it I didn't mind the character-driven aspect, and I really loved the last quarter. And the kind of forced found family trope was done pretty well too (so much that I was really sad about the ending). It's just that one twelfth of the story where it started to drag and I got bored that's made me rate this 3.5 stars instead of 4.

Review - "Pulp"

Pulp
by Robin Talley
rating: ☆☆
published: 13th December 2018
spoilers? yeah

Goodreads

I was really looking forward to Pulp. Historical books with LGBT characters, when they don't end in tragedy, are one of my favourite genres. And I had hopes that this one would fall into that category. Unfortunately, it turned out just not for me.

The story alternates between Janet in the 1950s, finding her first lesbian pulp fiction, and Abby in 2017, who embarks on a project for school about pulp fiction. Janet is in the throes of first love, while Abby is coping with breaking up with her first girlfriend and the falling apart of her parents' marriage.

One of the things I loved about this book was that it used the word "lesbian" a lot, and that's actually fairly uncommon in YA lit. Within the first chapter alone, it was used around ten times. Unfortunately, that kind of dropped off in favour of using qu--r (a word I'm not particularly fond of, but we'll get to that). However, it was really refreshing to see a character explicitly label themselves as a lesbian.

My favourite part of this book was the parts which discussed the LGBT community in the 1950s. LGBT history is not something I know a lot about, and it's something that's pretty much never taught, so that was really interesting. I almost wished the entire book was set in the historical context.

But, while I liked those aspects of the book, a lot of it really just bored me. It was a long book, and I wasn't actually that interested in Abby's part of the story - she seemed kind of like an overdramatic brat to me and I couldn't tell if that was there being too much of an age difference between me and her, or if she was genuinely an overdramatic brat. Possibly part of why I didn't like Abby's part was because of her insistence of using the word qu--r to describe characters in the 1950s. When qu--r was a slur even more so than it is now. I don't like applying that as a blanket term to anyone, let alone people who are (a) now dead, and (b) lived in a time when it came with such horrors. So the constant use of it in this book really put me off.

One last thing: I liked the twist at the end, because I was all prepared to be set up for Yet Another Tragic Ending (about halfway through it looked like that was going to happen). The problem was, I had been so bored by the book dragging up to that point, that I just wanted it to end.

Review - "The Other Miss Bridgerton"

The Other Miss Bridgerton, Rokesbys #3
by Julia Quinn
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 20th November 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

"It won't be just a kiss, Poppy. It could never be just a kiss between us."

(Almost) no one writes slowburn historical romances like Julia Quinn does. Not to mention she does it with some of my favourite characters ever, and The Other Miss Bridgerton is no different in this respect.

The Other Miss Bridgerton is Andrew Rokesby's book. Andrew is a privateer, running messages for the Foreign Office between Spain/Portugal and England, when his crew are forced to bring aboard Poppy Bridgerton, after she stumbles across their hideaway on the coast. Thus, Poppy has no choice but to travel with the ship to Lisbon.

One of the things I really loved about this book was that, despite the short length of time that their knowing each other spans (6 days), their relationship seems to develop naturally and isn't at all instalove-y. It's a great slowburn (they only kiss once until about 80% through!), and there's the perfect amount of growing tension between Andrew and Poppy. They also conform to pretty much one of my favourite ever tropes - hate (or rather, kind of snarky dislike) to love. In this series, I think their relationship comes second only to Billie and George's in the first book. (Billie and George also showed up briefly at the end of the book, which I loved, but now I'm really feeling the urge to reread their book.)

In some historical romances, I've found that, although I like the romance, I'm not too keen on the individual characters. That is definitely not the case for this book. Despite Andrew playing a bit too much into the rake tropes for my liking, I did love him, and I also loved Poppy a lot. She reminded me a bit of Billie, who is by far my favourite character of the series, but she was also comfortably her own character. Quite honestly, I would read a hundred more books about the Bridgertons, starting with Poppy.

Besides all this, I don't really know what else to say about the book. It's one of those ones that you like so much you actually can't find the words to say how you liked it. But, in an attempt to do just that, let me tell you this: I now really just want to go on a historical romance bingeread and it's all this book's fault.

Review - "Skyward"

Skyward
by Brandon Sanderson
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 6th November 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

But remember, Spensa. You get to choose who you are.

Galley provided by publisher

I have always found it incredibly hard to review books I loved, and Skyward by Brandon Sanderson is hardly going to break that streak. Because it's been about six hours since I finished it and I'm no closer to working out what I want to say about the book.

Let me start with the plot. The human race has been driven almost to extinction, and the survivors are trapped on a planet, surrounded by space debris and periodically attacked by an alien race called the Krell. Spensa, the main character, is desperate to become a pilot and a hero, after her father is branded a coward and her family shunned. While investigating the caves and tunnels around the city, Spensa stumbles across a ancient ship, which seems to be the key to her dream.

One of the things I loved about this book was how, despite being a book centered around the idea of a flight school essentially, there is a lot of action still going on. Because the human forces are continually being depleted by the alien incursions, the cadets are also employed in the defense of their base and the city underneath it. Sometimes I'll get bored reading about books set in schools because they spend a lot of time on lessons and rivalries, and the action won't come until the last third of the book, but that's definitely not the case here. The plot is action-packed, but still takes the time to make you fall in love with every single character, even when you only have a few chapters with them.

As well as making you fall in love with the characters, Brandon Sanderson has this way of developing relationships so realistically, and heartbreakingly at times, and I love it so much. I mentioned briefly that, unlike a lot of books based in schools, there aren't any rivalries in this. Spensa doesn't come into class to find a rich kid who detests her on site and wants to make her life hell. There's none of that, and I really really loved it. Not only is there none of it, this book gives you such a nice found family trope, and I'm really weak for those. I loved each and every one of Skyward Flight, really really loved them, and I know I've used the words "really" and "love" way too much but I genuinely don't know how to put into words my feelings about these characters. (Also, there is an excellent slowburning enemies to friends to maybe (hopefully) lovers going on between Jorgen and Spensa, so I'm desperate to hear whether there'll be a sequel.)

In true Brandon Sanderson fashion, though, this book also broke my heart. It's a war, we're told it's a war, and that there are high casualty rates among pilots, but still I wasn't prepared for any of what happened. That's an unfortunate byproduct of loving every single character Brandon Sanderson writes when I just know that's he's five minutes away from tragedy at any given time.

If this rambling review hasn't convinced you to read this (and I wouldn't blame you), then just know this: Brandon Sanderson's sci-fi is just as good as his fantasy. A.K.A. you should read both.

(Also, found family.)