Cliste Bella: Taming the TBR | Mini Review Compilation #8

Before my TBR Read list gets any longer here is another batch of books that I've been meaning to review since I read them. I have read all these book and will read many more while I am out of work. On e I get started it's back to the rat race for me. Hope you like these mini reviews.

Published March 28th 2013 by Quercus Children's Books

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

In a world where animals no longer exist, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes sometimes feels like he hardly exists either. Locked away in a home for troubled children, he's told there's something wrong with him. So when he meets a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach, Kester thinks he's finally gone crazy. But the animals have something to say. And they need him. The pigeons fly Kester to a wild place where the last creatures in the land have survived. A wise stag needs Kester's help, and together they must embark on a great journey, joined along the way by an overenthusiastic wolf cub, a military-trained cockroach, a mouse with a ritual for everything, and a stubborn girl named Polly. The animals saved Kester Jaynes. But can Kester save the animals? [n.1]

Review: I got this book last year at the Big Bad Wolf book sales and I admit that I've only picked up this book this year to read. I was waiting for some of my anticipated book to come out and I didn't have anything else (I was interested in anyway) to read. The Last Wild is MG and it started out really really slow. I could compare this book to getting lost in fairy world and not science fiction. I say that because the talking animals feels so fairy world to me. The book is very environmental and we can already see the damage that we have wrought on our planet. There are 2 mo re books in the series I have yet to read. I'm still thinking if I want to read them or not.

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Published October 4th 2012 by Scholastic Children's Books

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

In a tribe where basic survival is the only priority, Kita must make a choice: to accept arranged marriages and being treated with less value than sheep, or escape and journey to the place that even the strongest men fear with their lives — Witch Crag.

But a common threat is facing the witches and sheepmen alike. The tribes must somehow overcome their prejudices and join together if they are to win a war that threatens to destroy everything they hold as good. [n.2]

Review: Another book I got from the Big Bad Wolf book sale last year. And the reason why I bought it is simply for thge purplish art on the cover. Yup sometimes I do that. Witch Crag surprisingly is post apocalyptic. Men have reverted back to their base instincts, no knowledge of technology and science. Kita hails from the strict tribe of sheepmen but she longs for more. This is also a slow book to read. It feels like a lot of what happened in the book could have been written in the first few chapters then more details could have been added about the tribes and the people living in the ruins of the city.

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The Witch of Willow Hall

Published October 2nd 2018 by Graydon House

Two centuries after the Salem witch trials, there’s still one witch left in Massachusetts. But she doesn’t even know it.

Take this as a warning: if you are not able or willing to control yourself, it will not only be you who suffers the consequences but those around you, as well.

In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia, and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline.

All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end...[n.3]

Review: I have never liked storied with this timeline as setting. The politics and etiquette are horrible. I was expecting more witchy scenes and not "debutants" throwing fits or having to act right as per "polite" society. I almost DNFed this book. I pushed though to give it a chance but it was just flat.

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The Surface Breaks

Published May 3rd 2018 by Scholastic

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Deep beneath the sea, off the cold Irish coast, Gaia is a young mermaid who dreams of freedom from her controlling father. On her first swim to the surface, she is drawn towards a human boy. She longs to join his carefree world, but how much will she have to sacrifice? What will it take for the little mermaid to find her voice? Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminist lens, with the stunning, scalpel-sharp writing and world building that has won Louise her legions of devoted fans. A book with the darkest of undercurrents, full of rage and rallying cries: storytelling at its most spellbinding. [n.4]

Review: Never been a fan of The Little Mermaid - original or Disney (I only liked the songs). This book is based on the original story and as trigger warning, there are scenes of sexual abuse, body dismemberment, etc. Gaia is the most beautiful and the youngest of the Mer King's daughters and she longs for the mother who she thought left her. She has had enough of the abise from her bethrothed when she asked help from the sea witch who turns out to be her aunt and she finds herself and her power when she discover what actually happened to her mother when she went on land years ago. I loved the part where she chose to be one of the damned, first by accepting that beauty and power are more than skin deep.

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Four Dead Queens

by Astrid Scholte

Published February 26th 2019 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington may seem harmless, but she's, in fact, one of Quadara's most skilled thieves and a liar. Varin, on the other hand, is an honest, upstanding citizen of Quadara's most enlightened region, Eonia. He runs afoul of Keralie when she steals a package from him, putting his life in danger. When Varin attempts to retrieve the package, he and Keralie both find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that leaves all four of Quadara's queens dead.

With no other choices and on the run from Keralie's former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation's four dead queens.

An enthralling fast-paced murder mystery where competing agendas collide with deadly consequences, Four Dead Queensheralds the arrival of an exciting new YA talent. [n.5]

Review: One of my anticipated read in February, I have heard so much about this book that I was scared I wouldn't enjoy it. But dang this book gave me so much more. Keralie Corrington is the best thief in all the four quadrants of Quadara and she becomes an unwitting accomplice to the deaf of it's four queens. This is a mash up of Fantasy, Mystery, and Science Fiction - my favorite genres. I couldn't put this down even to get some munchies to eat. I wish this book wasn't stand alone though. The story could have been split into at least a trilogy (or a saga) so that a few more details could have been added to each of the 4 quadrants that make up Quadara as nation. *Spoiler!* - I was seriously she was the hidden daughter of one of the Queens but I guess I hoped too much.

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Last of Her Name

by Jessica Khoury

Published February 26th 2019 by Scholastic

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sixteen years ago, rebellion swept the galaxy known as the Belt of Jewels. Every member of the royal family was murdered--down to their youngest child, Princess Anya--and the Union government rose in its place. But Stacia doesn't think much about politics. She spends her days half-wild, rambling her father's vineyard with her closest friends, Clio and Pol.

That all changes the day a Union ship appears in town, carrying the leader of the Belt himself, the Direktor Eminent. The Direktor claims that Princess Anya is alive, and that Stacia's sleepy village is a den of empire loyalists, intent on hiding her. When Stacia is identified as the lost princess, her provincial home explodes into a nightmare.

Pol smuggles her away to a hidden escape ship in the chaos, leaving Clio in the hands of the Union. With everything she knows threading away into stars, Stacia sets her heart on a single mission. She will find and rescue Clio, even with the whole galaxy on her trail. [n.6]

Review: I knew I'd like this story when I saw that the author was Jessica Khoury. She is the same author who wrote Origin and I loved her treatment of the protagonist and twist in the end. The first few chapters of the books already gave away the fact that this is sci-fi fantasy, another mash up of my favorite genre, plus it's a retelling (kind of) of the story of he Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov. Stacia's world is turned upside down when she discovers that she is the last Leonov left after her parents and siblings, the last Emperor and Empress were killed. Becoming Anya means she had to accept that she might have inherited the craziness of the Leonovs. After her adoptive parents and their home planet were destroyed she and her motley crew went on an adventure to save her best friend Clio. Then she discovers the reasons why the Leonov's have ruled as Emperors for generations. It's a fast read and I was very much invested in all the was going on with all the characters and not just Stacia.

I hope you liked my mini reviews Bella's. I have a few more books I've started and put aside for the mean time but I'll make sure to pick them up again one of these days. If I get overwhelmed by too many books you can expect another mini review compilation from me. Hihi.

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