Friday Reads: ARC Review of Bellman And Black by Diane Setterfield!

Next on this week's edition of Friday Reads is an ARC review that is part of my NetGalley November challenge!


Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was extremely lucky to get an eARC of this book via NetGalley and even more since I was invited to get it via e-mail, since I had no idea Diane Setterfield had another book coming out!

Bellman & Black is a rather different book from The Thirteenth Tale but it had a very similar feel to it for me, it felt like it could have been a contemporary for gothic novels like those by Poe et al as much as The Thirteenth Tale could have been a Brontë novel. The atmosphere of the novel as a whole added to the fact that the action was placed in Victorian times makes it feel like one of the classic pieces instead of a novel written recently.

If I had to give it an alternative title it could very well be called "Of Rook and Men" because rooks have such an integral part in this book! You can argue this is the life story of William Bellman and you would be right, but are you sure? Because maybe that's what you as a human expect, but what if it wasn't? Cryptic much? Well, it's just part of the feeling that I got upon finishing the book.

William Bellman's story starts when he was a boy and one fateful day he killed a rook with his catapult. He really didn't mean to and he wasn't sure he could, but he did. He was so horrified that he went home and tried to erase it from his mind as soon as he could. We follow him growing up, working hard and getting successful, but absolutely failing at dealing with death. He seems to shut down and refuse to grief or even think of the losses, so he simply throws himself into his work. And he is a very successful man all his life, all his endeavours prosper greatly but is he happy? Does he even stop to think about it?

Every chapter about Bellman's life is punctuated with some rook lore that I found quite fascinating and although I kept wondering sometimes what the connection would be in the end. The story is not scary per se, not at first sight. But once you think about it once read and left some time to reflect on it, well is quite damned scary what we do with out lives sometimes.

You might be wondering who is Black? And I'd have to say that the answer is too complicated and too spoilery to have it here, and besides... you will want to read and draw your own conclusions about it!

A great read, disquieting and creepy on occasion, that will make you reflect on human nature and how we face the darker sides of life and ourselves, a reflection on success and happiness and a wonderful collection of rook lore. In short, a proper Gothic novel and very much deserving of 4 stars.





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Friday Reads: Sentinel by Jennifer L Armentrout!

Well, Friday Reads do return to their more usual schedule, with a few posts again, trying to catch up on reviews I have pending after my vacation time!

I'm starting with the final book in the Covenant series. The final book of a series always has mixed feeling and this was no exception.


Sentinel by Jennifer L. Armentrout

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sentinel was one of my very awaited books of the year since it is the final book in the Covenant series.

Somehow I am in two minds with this book, because I cannot say I didn't enjoy it, cause I did, but it just left me less emotionally affected than I expected. Deity and Apollyon did manage to grab me and shake much more than this one did, so I guess I felt a lil let down.

Fair word of warning, I cannot review Sentinel in a spoiler free way, be it for the series as a whole or for the book in itself. From here on, spoilers may ensue.


After the emotional and action avalanche that Deity, Elixir and Apollyon were, I had extremely high expectations for Sentinel and probably a bit unrealistic ones. The thing is, nothing really bothered me while reading the book, I loved Alex as always, Aiden was well... swoon-worthy and their relationship was great, they had to deal with tough stuff and they managed to keep the drama to a minimum and set a decent example of communication, most of the time. They found themselves outnumbered but with some unexpected allies and others not-really-so-unexpected.

But once the book was over I felt a little... "meh" I guess? I just don't know how to describe it, and a few days have passed. It's not that I'm not happy with the ending, since Jennifer L Armentrout was kind enough with her readers and gave us a pretty happy ending, even if it seemed it wasn't so for a while. I got a bit of a "is this it?" kind of a feeling once I closed the book.

Since I can't really define what made me not give this book 5 stars, or why I got that feeling of unease upon finishing it, I'm gonna tell you what I liked.

Alex, our dear Alexandria Andros. I absolutely love her crazy headstrong, resilient, snarky and sarcastic self. She is a great main character, with all her flaws and all her great qualities. I love how great her interactions with her uncle are, and how they progressed with each book and how that relationship has changed and how Alex has managed to grow from "foot-in-mouth-talk-first-act-later" to "think-first-kick-later-for-the-most-part".
Her relationship with Seth is an extremely complicated one that clearly got worse when Seth lost track of himself but in the this book we see them both trying to patch up their friendship at least.
But of course my favourite relationship has to be with Aiden, they have a fantastic chemistry, they support each other and despite some drama here and there, they understand they make each other stronger and also learn to trust and respect each other and their choices. They have to be one of my favourite YA couples for sure!
And of course Aiden is quite probably the only one I could feel like I'd really want to claim as book boyfriend! He's strong, supportive, considerate and despite his protectiveness he learns to trust and let Alex make her own choices. I think he's an Alfa without excesive macho attitude and that's just well... swoony!

Sentinel as action, has romance, has humour, has hard choices and has a quite satisfying ending. I'm sad to leave this characters and to say goodbye to Alex and Aiden, but it was a good journey and this is still a series I'd recommend. So with all my confused feelings, I'm still giving this final installment 4 stars.




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Waiting on Wednesday #16!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

This week the book I'm eagerly awaiting is Pawn by Aimee Carter! 

Goodreads summary:

"YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand."


Why am I eagerly awaiting Pawn? Well, just by looking at the cover I was very intrigued to the chess and labyrinth references and then, the synopsis was like a very intriguing and refreshing kind of dystopian, and I really love dystopians with a different twist! It released on November 26th, but I was lucky enough to be approved by Harlequin Teen on NetGalley so I can't wait till I can get to it on my TBR list!

What are you all (im)patiently waiting to read this week?

ARC Review of The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa!

The final entry for this Saturday edition of Friday Reads is for the second book of The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten series, The Iron Traitor that was released on October 29th.


The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First of all, I have to say a big thank you to Harlequin Teen for approving my request for an eARC of this via NetGalley!

The Iron Traitor is a sequel and though I'm not sure if it's just a second book or a middle book (is it a series or a trilogy?) it had to keep up to quite high standards for me and thankfully, it did that and then some!

I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but there might be some spoilers for book 1, even if I'll try to avoid those too. What I'm gonna say from the very beginning... you need to be warned about something, yes THAT cliffhanger ending! I feel like going into the book forewarned about it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of it, but does help a bit dealing with the shock and emotional misery! So thank you, Sam, for the warning about this cliffhanger, I will join your petition for banning them!

Ethan now is still getting used to the fact that he's not alone in his fight against the Fey, and he's not even sure he's so against them anymore. He has Kenzie to fight for and he has found some allies in the Nevernever, Keirran and Annwyl, Razor, even Grimalkin and Puck. When the Lost Prince was mostly about Ethan and his own path and fight, here Keirran has a growing role since Ethan and Kenzie are mostly dragged along trying to help him on his quest to save Annwyl.

The biggest strenght of this book is that it takes everything that was good from book 1 and takes it up a notch. Our quartet has to go into the Nevernever and not just for a short trip, they have to face Titania and her whims and cruelty, they have to fight old beasts and they will probably start something worse than a war, all of that in the name of love. All the characters grown and progress and Keirran in a very disquieting way, and you start not being sure what is really going on with him. There seems to be quite a deal of information we're not privy to and I'm hoping we'll get some more answers in the next book.

The ending... well, you have been warned about the massive emotional cliffhanger from the start, and trust me, it's the kinda cliffhanger that makes you want to be for the next book to come out like yesterday, but we still have a year to wait!!

All in all, a great read very much deserving of 4.5 stars!





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Review of The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten) by Julie Kawaga!

As the next Friday-Reads-but-not-really  review, here is the pleasant surprise for me of a book about the Fae that I actually loved and that made me want to read another series about the Fae!


The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Let me start this review stating that I am not a big fan of books about the Fae. If you were to ask me why, I might have a bit of trouble putting into words exactly what is that I dislike, but I am not drawn about books with them as a focus. That is the reason that I still find myself so surprised that I loved this one and even more than after reading it, now I find myself adding the previous series to my TBR list.

The Lost Prince is the first book in a spin-off series of the Iron Fey series and it was one of those welcome surprises for me. Well, a book about the Fae that I like? That's always a surprise for me!

Ethan is the main character in this book and with his dislike of the Fae I think we connected great right from the start! He is a teenager and his perspective was written so well. He's full of angst and prejudiced against the Fae due to his experiences in the past and how he feels he has lost her sister to Them. He has the Sight, but has become an expert on ignoring Them and protecting himself and his family, or so he thought. He is angry at the Fae and at the world and has built a persona that keeps everyone at arm's lenght so they can't get tangled with the Fae.

At the start of the book he is starting in a new school and things start going south very early on. With a reputation partly undeserved and his own desire to push people away, things aren't easy for him. And despite all his precautions, he finds himself in the middle of Fae affairs, and not only that but someone has decided that they want to get to know him. That someone is none other than Kenzie, a girl that won't take no for an answer and that manages to push all the right buttons for him.

Ethan and Kenzie end up in the Nevernever, the Fae world, trying to hide from a new and nasty kind of faeries and there we encounter quite a few new characters (old friends for those that have read The Iron Fey books, of course) like the encounter with Grimalkin. He is a talking cat that reminded me so much of the Chesire Cat in Alice in Wonderland! Elusive, irritating and so very cat-like! Meghan as the Iron Queen and still being very much Ethan's sister, Ash, Puck... it was a pleasure meeting them all for the first time, and I felt quite drawn to read their stories. I guess for fans of the original series it must feel different and they might want more from their fave characters, but I'm quite happy I jumped into this spin-off as I did, cause I can appreciate all the new characters more.

Keirran was quite a shock for Ethan, since despite being his same age, he's Meghan & Ash's son and so his nephew. He also became an ally even if he had his own agenda. There seems to be more to Keirran than we see at first, and despite his good guy presence, there's something disquieting about him.

There's adventure, there's romance and it's the slow burning one and so it is quite a great first book that not only introduce us to a new world but also stands well on its own with plenty of action and an incomplete resolution to the problem of the Forgotten Fey.

A great first book and very much deserving of 4 stars!





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ARC Review of A Study In Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway!

Hello everyone! This week's Friday Reads are quite delayed and my reviewing and my blogging have been a bit sparse, but I was on vacation with the boyfriend and we had some very well deserved and needed "us time" so everything else took a back seat.

Now back to routine and with the challenge of NetGalley November to complete this month I will be focusing mostly exclusively in all the review copies I have pending and hopefully I'll manage to tackle that pile and make it less daunting!

Starting back up, today's first review is for the second book of the Baskerville Affair series.


A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This series is becoming a serious favourite of mine. With the mish mash of steampunk, magic, historical fiction, adventure, romance and political intrigue that they manage to make work fantastically, it's always a treat!

A Study in Darkness is book 2 in the series and it is a strong sequel to the first book. I will try my best to make avoid spoilers for this book but be warned, there might be some spoilers for book 1 in this review.

Evelina was left heartbroken and in a difficult position by the end of book 1, and in this one she ends up getting herself into even more trouble, but being the strong woman that she is, she takes responsability from her actions and beyond and faces the consequences making a few agreements to make sure she can keep those she love out of trouble. She finds herself moving from the comforts of the higher society to the less comfortable but also less restrictive poorer and darker side of this Steampunk London. She will have to play spy, keep herself out of danger and try to learn as much about her magic as possible.

The focus of this book is more on the magic and the political elements and less in the investigating of crimes that was the being theme on book 1. Here the political conspiracy takes a bigger role and we discover a bit more about the Baskerville Affair and how they are trying to fight the Steam Barons. The Steam Barons in turn have their focus divided in two: fighting between themselves to try and get rid of the others and get control of all of London and the Empire and also trying to present an united from against the conspirators of the Baskerville Affair. Evelina finds herself in the middle of the struggle as are also her two uncles, Sherlock & Mycroft, though each of them for different reasons.

There's plenty of intrigue and action to keep you glued to the pages, with quite a few twists and turns along the way. With a pinch of romance to keep everything interesting and to give poor Evelina a respite of all the bleak perspectives that she is drowing in. The love triangle is thankfully resolved, and even I wasn't sure I had a favourite before, I think I'm pretty happy with how it all was done.

If all of this wasn't enough, the author has managed to seamlessly thread into the story the crimes of Jack the Reaper, and how it all was tied with the story was just great. Who was behind the crimes and the motivations... very well done, and soooo creepy!

The book ends with loads of action, Evelina finding herself once again in a position where she has to sacrifice her freedom for the sake of others and with a jaw dropping cliffhanger that I would have never expected!

Very well deserved 4 stars for this one!



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Waiting On Wednesday #15!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

The book I'm quite excited about this week is the new installment in the Discworld series: Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett!!

Goodreads summary:

"To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear.

Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital... but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse...

Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all going off the rails..."


Why am I eagerly awaiting Raising Steam? I am a HUGE fan of Terry Pratchett  and his Discworld series! And althought my fave books there are the ones that involve either the witches or the Night Watch, I can't wait to see what twist is he giving the coming of the train to Anhk-Morpork!

What are you all (im)patiently awaiting this week?

NetGalley November Challenge!

Completely by chance, following a link from Twitter to a giveaway, I stumbled upon this post from Bookish Treasures about a new challenge, called NetGalley November.

What's this challenge about? Well, apparently is not rare for any book blogger to have quite a huge TBR pile of eARCs on NetGalley to read and review (so glad to hear I'm not the only one!) so the ladies at K-Books, Bookish Treasures and A Daydreamer's Thoughts have created a challenge to attack that pile and improve our approved to reviewed ratio on NetGalley! In case you are wondering, yes publishers do take that ratio into account before approvals, so better get it into the recommended 80%!

There are different targets to choose from:

Easy: 1-4

Medium: 5-10

Hard: 11-15

Difficult: 16-20

Netgalley Superstar: 21+

 

To really give me a boost and aim high I'm gonna go for Hard and hope to read and schedule reviews for between 11 to 15 NetGalley ARCs! What I really need to achieve is get to the 80% ratio!

Wish me luck!