Sunday Post 8th July 2018

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, it's a chance to post a recap on the past week, show the books we have received and share what we plan for the coming week. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality and the aim is to show our newest books and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops or downloaded on to their e-reader.

Last Week on the Blog:

• Independence Realm by Kevin J. Bernadt
• The Beach Read We All Deserve - Alex Approximately by Jenn Bennet

Books We Got This Week:

  

The Favourite Sister by Jessica Knoll: I know basically nothing about this but sisters combined with reality television makes for a book I HAD to buy. It also looks like a very Halloween read so I might save it! 

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows: I've already read this and was a bit disappointed to be honest. This was probably one of my biggest excitements of the year and I just got nothing much from it. 

The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield: Oh boy am I excited for this. This was a total surprise when I got it in the post from Titan Books and I am so pumped. It's spies and Europe and gorgeousness and I will for sure be reading this very soon. 

 

Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh: I had a super stressful meeting this week so obviously I went to Waterstones beforehand to relax and found these two beauties. I haven't actually read Flame in the Mist yet but I am excited about this duology so already owned it and was just waiting for this to be released and now I can binge them!!!

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: SIGNED!! One of my favourite authors, in a beautiful hardcover of one of my most anticipated for the year and it's signed. Obviously I bought it immediately. And my Mum who was with me did her best to join in with my excitement even though she was probably thinking more "oh god not more books". Sorry Mum - I love you! 

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria: Received via Netgalley. I only just went on Netgalley because I only just became able to read kindle books again and I am so excited to have been approved for this one. It looks so dark and intriguing! 

Reading Update:

 

The Young Elites/The Rose Society/The Midnight Star by Marie Lu: I still haven't fully decided on my ratings for any of these so I'm not going to risk it. Basically, I loved the first two but felt very disappointed by the third. I will have a series review of these going up next week, which I am excited for (maybe by then I will actually have decided how I feel??).

   

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett: 4 stars, I've read and reviewed this (review linked above posted on The Regal Critiques). It was fun and sweet with a lovely romance and a very, very summery plot. 

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows: 2.5 stars, I already mentioned how disappointed I was with this. I buddy read it with my wonderful co-blogger Vera who posted a review for it yesterday here which you should check out! 

Queen by Josephine Boyce: 3.5 stars, This was a super dark, super intriguing novella. I really wish it had been a full length novel because I feel like there was more there to explore but I was so happy with the direction the story went in. 

 

Rebellion by Josephine Boyce: 3 stars, I liked this less than Queen. At first I loved it, the concept and the world creation were brilliant. But it was spoiled slightly by a badly handled sexual assault sub-plot which I found enormously triggering both the event and the way some of the characters reacted afterwards. 

Independence Realm by Kevin J. Bernadt: 3.5 stars, This was a good start to a series. My review is linked above. It lacked polish but the characters and story were entertaining and I definitely want more.

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley- Doyle: 4 stars, This was so beautifully written and I did enjoy the story a lot. I wish I'd felt more connection at the beginning of the novel but by the end I was fully invested. 

Independence Realm by Kevin J. Bernadt

Title: Independence Realm

Author: Kevin J. Bernadt

Format: Paperback

Source: Received from the author for an honest review

Pages: 278

Rating: 3.5/5

Blurb: Allets and Ryan, best friends and polar opposites since kindergarten, plan to enjoy one last afternoon together before departing for college, going separate ways for the first time in their lives. The appearance of their vivacious high school classmate, Maria, takes them by surprise, but not as much as a magnificent late-summer storm that changes all of their plans.
Transitioned to an entirely new world, Independence Realm, they become embroiled in a society engulfed with the ageless struggle between liberty and tyranny. Now Allets, Ryan, and Maria find themselves risking their lives to free three heroic Revolutionaries and defeat the tyrannical king and queen.
After receiving guidance from the enigmatic Dr. Richards, Shepherd of the realm and Key Portal Controller, the trio must navigate the dangers of Independence Realm as they courageously face the bloody battles of life and death in the Chamber Wars arena, decipher the perilous puzzles of the Riddling Run, and match wits with the tantalizing Princess of Prose.
Desperate to return home and even more desperate to stay alive, their entire future—and the fate of Independence Realm—hangs in the balance.

I was drawn to Independence Realm because I love these stories where our characters live everyday (slightly boring lives) and then they're suddenly dumped into a whole different world and the weight of that entire world is put on their shoulders. It also went full Wizard of Oz with the whole "you cant get home till you've fixed this world". Plus I love the cover. 

Our main characters, Maria, Ryan and Allets, are introduced rather suddenly. Allets and Ryan were already friends whilst Maria is more of an unknown. I initially disliked Maria, perhaps because I was seeing her through the (ever so slightly jealous) eyes of Allets. But she grew on me. She has an infectious joy and exuberant personality that makes her a delight to read - even if I couldn't super identify with her. A was more easily relatable, at least to me. A bookworm (seriously so many book references here) with a love of learning who kept getting pre-occupied with how this all happened whilst Ryan and Maria were just enjoying it. Which is so very me. Ryan was my least favourite character, probably just because I never felt like I got a handle on him. Allets was relatable and Maria was likable but Ryan, kind of forgettable. But that's fine because you're never going to love every character and being attached to 2 out of the main 3 is a pretty good start point. 

The world itself was super intriguing to me, Independence Realm was a sort of parallel universe where they learned from different periods of Earths development. So you had taverns with old-timey clothing and social mores but also more modern technology, gladiator style rings but then Harry Potter novels. And as a bit of a history lover it was fun to see past and present collide to make a completely unique world. I did wish the world was more fully developed upon, it's a short book and a lot is happening so I understand but I do love world building and I just wanted to know more. 

Plot wise this felt a lot like a video game. And I mean that in a good way. It felt very linear and quest-y which is something I actually love sometimes. Sort of "first go here, do this, then on to the next task". Which made for a nice reading experience that felt a little bit like a series of short stories in an overarching narrative. I also loved the section with riddles because oh boy do I love riddles (plus I felt like a genius when I solved them first).

I definitely think some good editing would be really beneficial. There is definite overuse of metaphors and sometimes two words are used that mean the same thing - but none of this ruined my enjoyment of the story or of the characters. Independence Realm had its faults, but the core world and characters were so much fun and since that's what matters most to me in any story - this was a good read for me and I definitely would love to read more. 

Sunday Post 24th June 2018

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, it's a chance to post a recap on the past week, show the books we have received and share what we plan for the coming week. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality and the aim is to show our newest books and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops or downloaded on to their e-reader.

Last Week:

• Unboxing Book Box Club
• Top 5 Favourite LGBTQ Novels
• Unboxing Owlcrate
• Discussion Review: A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews

Books We Got This Week:

Most of these came from Unboxings! Seeing Red was sent to me by the publisher and I'm excited enough for it that I might mess up my entire review schedule just to read it now! Wicked and the Wallflower was an auto-buy for me because Sarah MacLean is my second favourite Romance writer (Lisa Kleypas being first of course) and I love her books so much. Of the other four (you can watch the unboxings linked above) I think I am most excited for The Boneless Mercies because it's an ARC from one of my favourite writers (she does creepy so very well) and also Grump just because I'd never heard of it before and I love fairy tale retellings! 

Reading Update:

Kiss the Girl by Melissa Brayden: 5 stars, I've been looking for LGBTQ contemporary romance like this for so, so long. This was just like a Sarah Morgan novel. Light and fluffy, with an amazing friendship group, a gorgeous sexy romance, and some personal drama that really makes you fall for the characters. I am currently reading book 2 in the series and badly want to do a series review when I am done!! 

Sunday Post 17th June 2018

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, it's a chance to post a recap on the past week, show the books we have received and share what we plan for the coming week. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality and the aim is to show our newest books and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops or downloaded on to their e-reader.

Books We Got This Week:

All of these are books that I'm excited about but have heard mixed things of! Except for Girl Made of Stars as I've tried to avoid reading reviews of it. It might be a difficult read for me so I'll need to be in the right frame of mind but I'm really intrigued to see how it's carried out. If you've read any of these, let me know what you thought because I'm getting such conflicting views on them! 

Reading Update:

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews: 4 stars, This was such a strong read. The abuse was handled incredibly well and the story was compelling. I will be posting a discussion review of this soon over at The Regal Critiques! 

Fiona by Meredith Moore: 4 stars, Surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It sounded like a fairly typical Jane Eyre retelling but it was anything but. It was super dark and twisted in places and the main character wasn't always likable. I don't think I enjoyed this as much as I Am Her Revenge (Moore's first book) but it was still tense and exciting. 

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan: 3 stars, I feel bad on this one because teenage me would have loved it. But it was so hard for me to relate to the characters who seemed (appropriately) immature and that affected my enjoyment overall. This is more of a me-problem though as I feel like teenagers should love this! 

Sundark by Elizabeth Watasin: 3 stars, It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out whether this was alternate history or actual history - I loved the central couple but didn't see as much of their relationship as I would have liked. The psychic element was interesting but ultimately I didn't find this as compelling as I wanted to. I would still read more though.