Friday Reads: Chantress Alchemy by Amy Butler Greenfield!!

Hey again guys!

I have another review ready for this week's Friday Reads and this one also counts towards my 105 Challenge as part of the books from the TBR pile category!

Chantress Alchemy by Amy Butler Greenfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read Chantress last year as one of my Alyssa Recommends and enjoyed it well enough, then it took me a lil while to get this book and it's been sitting in the TBR pile for quite some time, but finally I started it a few days ago, and although it didn't grab me instantly and I had to put it aside to finish some other books, once I got back to it, I read it in one sitting!

I had some issues with Lucy at first because she was such a mix of unsure and reckless at the same time, that she was a bit frustrating! I began to grow more fond of Lucy when she started to be cautious about who to trust but still tried to play it wisely enough to get information to keep herself safe.

As the title clearly illustrates, there is alchemy involved in this book, and Lucy has to deal with feeling like she has enemies coming from all sides and very lil ways to defend herself if any other than her wits.

We meet some new characters, like Gabriel and Sybil that keep us guessing about them being friends or foes and their motivations, and Sybil in particular made me wish time and again that she would really be an ally and not another antagonistic female character. We also meet old characters, both foes and allies and there comes a point where even the friends aren't exactly as friendly, and the foes... the foes get even more frightening that ever before! I so hated Wexham with a passion!

I loved how Amy managed to be historically faithful with the position of women in the society in her books but also how she managed to give some power back to them and ways to navigate a would where they're at a disadvantage. And I loved that she made Lucy stubborn enough to not bow to the oppresion but deal with it very cleverly.

Nat and Lucy's relationship went through a lot of hardship on this book, even if they still worked great together and shared fantastic chemistry, but things do end in a very painful way for both of them! But it was done so very well and very true to character that I just felt it made sense, even if it was a very painful ending to read!

This book was both a fantastic sequel and a book that can stand on its own with its own plot that gets resolved and finished, although there are plenty of threads left unresolved (like Lucy +Nat!!) to make us want to grab the final book sooner than later! Very well deserved 3.5 to 4 stars for this one!



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Mark This Book Monday: Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield!!

Hello everyone!! Happy Monday! Today I'm returning from my long weekend, but by the time this post goes up I will still be at the cottage playing with the puppies before lunch and then getting back on the road.

Today's book for Mark This Book Monday is July's pick from my Alyssa Recommends list! I have been very much in a fantasy mood, and thought it was the perfect moment to read this one!



Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Chantress is one of those books I had wanted to read for a while, but never seemed in the right mood for it. That changed when Alyssa from The Eater of Books gave me her list of Alyssa Recommends books and I was in a fantasy-reading kick!

It took me a while to get into the book, not as much as to think of giving up on it, but enough to hope that it'll change a bit and make me love it more and round the 60% mark, it did! And then I couldn't continue reading fast enough!

Lucy's first mistake and rebellion that started all the action was to be expected, I guess. When all you do is hide secrets and not give information at all to a young person that demands answers, you can find yourself with rash choices made. I'm not a fan of the "hiding things from you to keep you safe" cause ignorance usually does more harm than good.

The beginning of the book was more full of questions than answers, given that Lucy starts discovering all the secrets that had been kept from her, but given how Chantresses had been hunted there's barely any information out there to be had. We also have the set up of the political situation and the need for change and rebellion and the dangers of it.

I found the disbelief and mistrust between Lucy and her newfound allies understandable but to a point, Nat's attitude at first was very irksome, as much as I tried to empathise with him. Sometimes there was too much trust and sometimes the mistrust was thrown in some ridiculous occasion.

Then the pace and the plot and all the information picks up and I was flying through the final 40% of the book, even if it wasn't 100% action, even in the scenes that could be a bit boring there were hints and things that kept me intrigued and wanting to turn the page.

I really liked Lucy by the final part of the book, she showed more strenght of character than recklessness and showed that she could be trusted in the choices she made.

There isn't much romance in this book, and what is in there is the slow build up kind of romance. I was hoping it wouldn't add unnecessary drama, and it didn't! It might not have been a slow burn that made me want to go at them "kiss now!" but I appreciated that it didn't get in the way of the story!

Despite this being the first book in the trilogy, there is not massive cliffhanger at the end of the book and I'm so very grateful for that! There is enough resolution to leave us satisfied but there are also enough hints to be looking forward to what might come next in the sequel!

Despite the not so gripping beginning, the final part of the book made me really enjoy it overall, so I give it 3.5 stars!



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