Sunday Street Team: TimeKeeper by Tara Sim!!!

Sunday Street Team is organized by Nori @ ReadWriteLove28. SST is a cross between a blog tour and street team for a couple different titles each month. As the title suggests, the posts go up on Sundays!

Go here to learn more about SST.

2016 is full of amazing debuts and today I'm helping promote & shine a spotlight to a very intriguing beginning of a new series that mixes historical fiction and fantasy: TimeKeeper by Tara Sim!

I'm gonna give you some information about the book and author and will also be sharing my review!

 TimeKeeper by Tara Sim

 In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.

It’s a truth that seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork, but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors.

And so they assign him to Enfield, a town where the tower seems to be forever plagued with problems. Danny’s new apprentice both annoys and intrigues him, and though the boy is eager to work, he maintains a secretive distance. Danny soon discovers why: he is the tower’s clock spirit, a mythical being that oversees Enfield’s time. Though the boys are drawn together by their loneliness, Danny knows falling in love with a clock spirit is forbidden, and means risking everything he’s fought to achieve.

But when a series of bombings at nearby towers threaten to Stop more cities, Danny must race to prevent Enfield from becoming the next target or he’ll not only lose his father, but the boy he loves, forever.

The stunning first novel in a new trilogy by debut author Tara Sim, Timekeeper is perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Victoria Schwab.

 About the Author:

Tara Sim can typically be found wandering the wilds of the Bay Area, California. When she’s not chasing cats or lurking in bookstores, she writes books about magic, clocks, and explosives. TIMEKEEPER is her debut novel. Follow her on Twitter at @EachStarAWorld, or check out her website tarasim.com for fun extras.

 REVIEW

 From the first time I heard about this book and read the first line "Two o'clock was missing" I was so very intrigued by its premise! A book that deals with time but not with time travelling!?

And I was not disappointed, no time travelling whatsoever, but instead we get a wonderful mix of historical fiction and fantasy, with alternate Victorian times where time is controlled by clocks towers built so long ago that the art of doing so is lost.

Though the first 30-40% of the book felt a lil slow paced, I was so very intrigued about the mythology and the world building of this story, that I was never at risk of giving up on the book. It was so well done and so captivating! We follow Danny's story and we also get a few flashes of the past before it became the mythology we learn about during Danny's times.

Danny is a prodigy Timekeeper that is recovering from an accident and still trying to live with the absence of his father, that has been trapped in a town that Stopped in a mysterious accident. His relationship with his mother is strained because neither of them has really open to the other and feel not only their grief and guilt but also the imagined or not weight of the blame of the other.

I felt like although the character development was good, it suffered a bit comparing it with the fantastic world building and mythology, but I still felt very invested in Danny and Colton's relationship and really enjoyed reading about Danny and Cassi's friendship! A book can have romance and not sacrifice friendship and other relationships, and here we have a good example!

I feel like I should have guessed the main mystery earlier than I did, but somehow like Danny himself, I never really connected the dots because it was just the most unexpected even if with enough hints it should also have been the most obvious? I don't know!

With its combination of mystery with high stakes, fantastic world building and strong character relationships, the author really delivers in giving us a story that lives up to its very unique premise! Add to that the fact that it doesn't end with a cliffhanger and I'm a very happy camper, really looking forward to what's to come next in the TimeKeeper trilogy!

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Mark These Books Monday: I'll Give You The Sun & Carry On!!!

Hey there guys!

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two books that count both towards my Diverse Reads Book Challenge as well as the Rock My TBR Challenge!

Carry On was my buddy read with Melanie from One Less Lonely Blog for #RockMyTBR and the other one, I'll Give You The Sun, I finally decided to read because of Mel too! It is one of her fave books, and I decided to read it while I waited for her to catch up with me on our buddy read!

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I cannot decide if I should give this one 4 or 5 stars. My gut feeling after finishing was 5 stars but this morning I was thinking of a few issues I might have with it...

I really enjoyed this one, it grabbed me and wouldn't let me go! I kept reading and reading and I really needed to know what would happen, what was going on, what happened in the past, simply everything!

The book is told in dual POV from Jude and Noah, the twins, but one is present time (Jude) and the other one is 3 years in the past (Noah). I loved both their voices, even if Noah's was the more bright and emotional, at least at first. He's the artist and he's falling in love with a guy and also has all his hopes up to join the arts school that's his dream. We meet a different Jude there that the one we spend time with as a 16 year old on her pages and Noah is also different in her pages, not just because we see him from his sister's eyes, but because of events that happened 3 years ago.

Changing from one POV to the other was quite a bit jarring because how different things and characters were in each of the narratives, but I really liked the character development and the complex family dynamics and relationships. I really loved also how important art was for both Noah and Jude, but how differently they both felt and lived it and expressed it.

After a bit of thought, I'm giving this one 4.5 stars but will leave the rating as a 4 stars here. The changing POVs sometimes interrupted the flow for me, even if sometimes they complimented each other very well, I was left a bit unsure about how I felt about the family complex dynamic and how it was resolved in the end. Also a bit unsure about the age differences in the relationships and how it was presented. I'm still not sure if I feel like they can be problematic or not, so those small bits are nagging me from giving it a full 5 stars.

View all my reviews



Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I absolutely loved this one! It has not dethroned Fangirl as my Rainbow Rowell favourite book, but it was close! I loved her take on the Chosen One story and the magical school, and I simply loved Baz and Simon and Penny and Agatha! I'm also extremely glad to have buddy read it with Melanie from One Less Lonely Blog because we've had a lot of fun chatting about the book as we progressed!

I know not everyone loved the Baz & Simon snippets on Fangirl, but I loved them as much as the story itself, so I was super excited to read their full book story when I was announced, but for some reason once it published... I was wary of starting it, I guess? I dunno, but since October last year it had been sitting in my Kindle. And boy, why did I doubt Rainbow Rowell? I was hooked probably since page 1!

The vaguely Hogwarts-y feeling was there but in such a way that it was different enough to be its own story but some winks that simply made me want to re-read the Harry Potter books! This magical world is different, and so is our Chosen One. But I must say, that my favourite part and what I think the strongest of the book is not exactly the magical world of Chosen One plot, although it is very well done and wrapped up in a single book. No, the strongest part of this book is the characters, their dynamics, relationships and their development.

The book is told on multiple POVs, the main ones being Simon, Penny, Baz and Agatha, althought we also get Lucy's which at first we aren't sure who she is, and the Mague. I really enjoyed all the main 4 POVs but I must confess my favourite has to be Baz! I really liked his voice, his self-deprecanting voice and how he accepted who he was, and how he made himself the villain if need be. I couldn't stop shipping him and Simon like mad since his POV chapters started! Simon seemed well obsessed enough with him too, even if he seemed to be think it was just concern for whatever Baz could be plotting against him (yeah right... denial is not just a river in Egypt, indeed).

As I say, I adored all the main characters, Penny was a delight, outspoken, loyal and not letting Simon be self sacrificing in stupid ways and Agatha? Agatha was trying to find her place in a world where magick is everything and she couldn't care enough about it, and I loved how she ended up being true to herself and her true feelings, not to family pressure. And I loved how Baz & Simon's relationship progressed in the midst of a murder investigation and the onset of a massive war.

The conflict was explained and solved in a rather more satisfactory way than I expected and I was happy to see what happened after, even if it was just the immediate aftermath. A bit unusual for a fantasy but pretty much in line with how unusual a fantasy story this one. After all, it was all about the characters and who they are/were.

Very well deserved 5 stars for this one!

View all my reviews

Mark These Books Monday: ARC Review of Night Study & The Abyss Surrounds Us!!

Hello there guys!

Monday for me this week also means back to work since I had the weekend off (as most people tend to, but a once a month occasion for a nurse like me). I spent it reading & catching up on shows and sorting the library room!

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two books that I read in 2016 and that also count towards my challenges of the year (YAY me!). One of them even counts for three challenges: 2016 Debut Author, Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge (since both are eARCs, both count for this one) and the Diverse Books 2016 Reading Challenge!

Night Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Action filled, with many twists and surprises, very many unexpected surprises that are changing the game as we knew it and that are keeping the series fresh and me turning pages like there's no tomorrow!

Shadow Study left us with quite a bomb and thankfully Night Study picks up right there where we were left, with Yelena and Valek as a team, trying to figure out things together. I so love that as the series progresses these two continue to make a fantastic team, facing threats together and without pointless drama.

Things are more dire than ever, Yelena without her magic and no idea how to get it back, Valek with his torn loyalties and his fierce need to protect Yelena but trying not to be a traitor to the Commander... and twisting and complex net where their enemies are getting the upper hand and refuse to stay dead.

The pacing in this one was neck-breaking and I could barely turn the pages fast enough to see how they'd get themselves out of the very dire situations and dangers they kept finding themselves. Working together or apart Yelena and Valek and their allies/friends/family are always a great team, even if this team all their efforts are barely enough to keep their heads above the water!

There were even more surprises and shocks and twists in this one, that I wasn't expecting, that made a lot of sense but that were real game changers once again! The death toll is also starting to raise and I'm beginning to get worried for my fave secondary characters, because the prospects are are dire and things are looking more and more grim by the moment!

Another fantastic installment in the newly extended series, and frankly with the way the author is keeping things spinning, I'm looking forward to many more books, although I don't know if this was planned as an extra trilogy?? Either way, I'll be bitting my nails here waiting for the next book! Very much deserved 4 stars for this one!

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Tough as nails lady pirates, monsters from the deep, and a slow burn romance with a cruel twist at the end, this was a wild ride that had me glued to my Kindle! Proper review to come, but I need a sequel like NOW!!

We meet Cassandra on her regular life, and we learn as the pages pass about the world we are in, with a few conversations here and there to add to the knowledge of the set up and the way it's changed from ours. Not a full info dump, and we don't know all the details of how or why, but enough to figure out the differences and get a clear idea of where we stand.

But soon enough the real action starts and Cassandra has her world turned upside down. Her first solo mission as a Reckoner trainer ends in failure and death and she finds herself among the same pirates she's always fought against, and what's more, finds herself with torn loyalties and scrambling around for a way to survive and keep doing what she thinks is right.

Once the pirates enter the book, we have this cast of grey and extremely interesting characters that shake Cas' world in ways that she really didn't expect. Cas always grows as a character tremendously, doing her best to survive and trying to hold onto the sense of right and wrong that was her moral compass before, but also discovering that not everything is so black and white and that people aren't always so black & white either.

I loved how gender stereotypes are subverted in many small ways and how in the narrative and the world, they are what they are, not challeged and not taken as exceptions. Santa Elena is a ruthless, tough as nails pirate that can chop off fingers and care for her son and conquer a boat with him strapped to her back or celebrate a victory wearing a ball gown. A father can be the one to stay home to care for the kids while the mothers come and go to the sea and might never come back. No one doubts what a girl can or cannot do because of their gender.

The relationship between Cas & Bao, her new Reckoner charge is quite complex, because she doesn't want to train him as Santa Elena wants him trained, she resents him for his own nature and how it traps her because of her knowlegde, but still, it's always a close bond between trainer & Reckoner.

And there's a fantastic romance, with a great slow burn and a girl that recognizes her feelings but also see how messed up the situation is and doesn't exactly throw herself into the mess anyways. It's still used against her, it's still full of chemistry and heartache and fantastic, and it's a lesbian romance (YAY diversity!). I was rooting for them both all through the book and was quite shocked and shaken at the end because holy spoilers Batman!

I'm so very glad we do have a sequel coming next year (it's written and all!!) because although this ends in a open but bearable way plot wise... emotionally... nope, unresolved as hell! Very much deserved 4 stars for this fantastic debut!

View all my reviews

2016 Challenges: Diverse Reads Book Challenge hosted by Read Sleep Repeat!!

Hello there guys!

Here I am with yet another reading challenge for 2016 and this is my fifth one!! I feel like I'm getting myself into trouble with so many challenges to keep track of, but I'm hoping I can do decently well at this!

The moment I saw Shelly from Read Sleep Repeat talking about this challenge I knew I'd be joining it! The 2016 Diverse Reads Book Challenge is hosted by Read Sleep Repeat and Chasing Faerytales and it's a way to help us read more diverse books!

I'm gonna be copy-pasting all the relevant info for the challenge so I can keep it handy on my blog, but HERE is Shelly's original post, where you can also sign up for the challenge!!


The Rules:

• Read books that are diverse.
• The MC must be part of a diverse group*

Defined by We Need Diverse Books: We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.
*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.

• The book can be set in a diverse setting, but not necessarily
• #Ownvoices stories (stories about marginalized groups written by a member of that marginalized group) are widely encouraged as well! Promoting diverse books by diverse authors is important.
• If the book is a fantasy it can be based on/inspired by a diverse mythology or folklore ( E.g. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh)
• If the book is a sci fi or dystopia, it has to be based on a dystopian country that’s not USA. ( E.g. Cinder by Marissa Meyer)
• Intersectionality is encouraged.
• The novels don’t have to be YA, but as we are YA bloggers, those are probably the novels we are more likely to read

The Logistics:

• This challenge will run from the 1st of January 2016 to the 31st of December 2016.
• You can join in anytime you want.
• This challenge is meant to be a personal goal challenge to help find more diverse novels and to read more diversely.
• There are no levels/points! You can read as much or as little as you’d like, this is a personal goal and is mainly individualized
• To join the challenge, add your sign up post to the link up at the bottom of the post. You can include your TBR for the challenge if you want, but it’s not a requirement. Your sign up post can be a separate post or a part of a giant list of all your 2016 reading challenges. Anything is fine.

My personal goal is going to be to read at least 24 diverse books, 2 per month! Since I can combine this with my other challenges for the year, I'm thinking it'll be rather manageable, but at the very least I plan to read 12, one per month!!

How to choose what books to read when is usually a bit complicated for me, so I'm gonna be following the guidelines & themes that they have as a sort of guide for each couple of months!:

• January-March: Ethnic diversity
• April-June: LGBTQIA+ diversity
• July-September: Religious diversity
• October-December: Mental and physical health and disabilities.               

I already have one book ready to be read in my TBR pile for this month that fits the Ethnic diversity suggestion, so I just need to check my list for another and I'll be set!

Are you joining this challenge? What books would you recommend that have ethnic diversity?