Times have been busy so it’s time to just let you know what I’ve been reading with a little bit about what I thought!
Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
About In A Sentence (ish): After 10 years of a drought in Sydelle’s town, rain falls and with it brings a wizard who takes Sydelle, who has never left her small town, along with him as an assistant as they trek across their country so he can stop a war that could ravage the land and hurt her family. Along the way Syd learns there is so much more than the wizard has reveals about this journey.
Thoughts: I liked this one! It was a fun adventure with magic, curses, epic battles & duels, wizards and a world I got lost in pretty quickly. I was SO absorbed in their journey and cause and getting to know the characters as they got to know one another. It was one of those things where it was refreshing to find a standalone fantasy but I (and book club) wondered if there was meant to be another book because there were some things that never seemed to get wrapped up or at least seemed to indicate maybe another book…and then there wasn’t? I LOVED the romance (though the change from hate to feelings was whiplash quick for me) and their banter and I loved that their feelings were there but they progressed in a way where you clearly still felt the danger and the severity of their situation. It was just such a unique and refreshing fantasy read for me and I just loved as bigger pieces of the story and the mystery were revealed along the way — things I did NOT guess at all in the beginning. Totally want to know more about certain things but overall really enjoyed this fantasy! Can’t wait to read her latest series!
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Fans Of The Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa
About In A Sentence-ish: Mira and her gay best friend Sebby have been attached at the hip since they met at the hospital — her for severe depression and him for self harm — and they’ve tried to create this life so fantastic and big that their problems and the crap of the world won’t be able to penetrate them. Jeremy, an outcast after an incident at school, is mesmerized by them and joins their duo.
Thoughts: MAAAAAN. This was one I was excited about it and I just didn’t connect with it as I had hoped or really feel all that much in general towards it. I mean, I kept reading enough because I was interested where the relationships would go and how certain things would turn out and therewas this slightly addictive quality to it but I just felt like *I* was missing something within the pages or IT was missing something. I also, from the tagline, thought this was going to be about a boy who was in love with a girl and her gay best friend and that was not it. He loves them both but he is only IN LOVE with one of them. I did NOT like the way the POVs were done — one was in first, another in second and another in third — and it drove me nuts and maybe was some of my disconnect. That said, the friendship dynamics and the characters were so DIFFERENT than anything I’ve read and each character was fleshed out really well . There’s tons of diversity so that’s a plus as well! Despite the way it hooked me with some things, it just left me with an overall “eh that was just okay” feeling instead of any real emotion which was sad because people have been obsessed with it and I just don’t get what happened to meeeee despite enjoying things about it.
Rating
Underneath Everything by Marcy Beller Paul
About In A Sentence-ish: For the past year, Mattie and her friend Kris have carefully steered clear of high school parties, most of the people and especially Jolene, a girl who was once her best friend, after the events of sophomore year. But suddenly her senior year she is drawn back into the intoxicating web that is Jolene and her world….but had she really ever left it?
Thoughts: WOW this book was so messed up in the best way. I don’t want to say too much but the toxic friendship and the way we find out everything that went down and why Mattie had this split from Jolene is all so wonderful. I was SO drawn into this book and this all-consuming relationship Mattie and Jolene had and the web that is spun between this group of friends. It was just SO GOOD and reading it I was constantly a nervous wreck. I can’t say I really LOVED the characters but I’m not sure how necessary that was for me in this case. Loved the writing!!!
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Have you read any of these? What did you think?
Leah says
YAY I’m glad you liked Brightly Woven!! I’ve been wanting to start on her series for a while, but thought I would try this one first. Naturally it’s still waiting for me (of course) but I’m looking forward to finally (!) getting to it!
Angie F. says
I felt the same about Fans of the Impossible Life! In my review I also mentioned how the tagline was misleading, because like you said, he loves them but isn’t IN love with them. I felt like I would liked the book better if I hadn’t gone in with that expectation, because it’s like I was just waiting for their emotions and relationships to get all complicated and wanted to see how they dealt with that. But obviously if never came, so I was like…well? I wasn’t paying enough attention to what the story was actually about because it wasn’t about what it said it was going to be about….if that makes sense?
I’m so glad that you liked Brightly Woven! I’ve had my eye on it forever, but keep going back and forth because of mixed ratings. It definitely sounds like my kind of thing though.
Alexa S. says
I just acquired a copy of BRIGHTLY WOVEN, mostly because 1) I’m obsessed with PASSENGER and 2) I loved THE DARKEST MINDS (and am currently reading the rest of the books)! I’m glad to hear that you guys found it enjoyable, and I’m actually excited that a) it’s a fantasy and b) it’s a standalone. I’ve heard the same murmurings about potential for it being a series, so I’m going to prepare myself for that when I read it 😉
Emma @ Miss Print says
I have been hearing MANY mixed things about Fans of the Impossible Life.
More to the point though: I am so excited you read and loved Brightly Woven! I heard about that one when it first came out because of the Cybils I think. Then I totally by accident stumbled across Alex doing a signing of BW paperbacks at my first BEA. And I’ve been a fan ever since. With Egmont USA folding and their backlist titles not all being available right now I’m even happier to see this older one getting some love. I can’t wait to see what you think of her other titles 😀