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Happy Monday bookish people! This is the final book review for books I read during the Becca and the Books (YouTube) 48 hour Bookopoly reading challenge. The prompt for this one was POC rep and I was very excited to finally get around to reading the Wrath and the Dawn. I’d previously read The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh and enjoyed it so I was anticipating good things.

In this book review I will give star ratings for four categories and I will write a little about each of these. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Plot:

The overall premise of this book is one that really intrigued me however it’s execution didn’t live up to my expectations. Personally I felt that most of the big events of this book were not explored to their full potential. I enjoyed the beginning half of the book the most because the pace was slower and it helped to ramp up the tension.

Characters:

I did particularly enjoy the relationship between the two main characters Khalid and Sharzhad. Their storyline was one that I felt partially invested in. Most of the other characters in the book I felt were introduced just enough in this one so that they could have a place in the second book. That is how I felt throughout, that this book was mostly just a set up for the second book The Rose and the Dagger.

Writing and Dialogue:

Again, a three star rating because the writing was okay, it wasn’t bad or difficult to read and the dialogue was a useful plot device but there did feel to be something missing, just to take the dialogue up a notch.

Overall:

Overall I gave this a three star, I might pick up the second book some time in the future but I also might not. I don’t have anything else to say about this book.

Blurb/Synopsis:

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

That’s it for this book review, I hope you enjoyed it!

Book Reviews

What A Way To Go by Julia Forster Book Review

March 29, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! This was another of the books I read for the Becca and the Books (YouTube) 48 Hour Bookopolathon challenge. The prompt was to read a book outside your comfort zone. This book has been on my shelf literally forever and I kept not picking it up because of it being so far out of my comfort zone. I usually read fantasy as my main genre and this book I’d class more as literary fiction. I will say now if you don’t like low rated book reviews this is not the book review for you. I am glad I read it but I did not actually enjoy this book.

Plot:

This book didn’t feel like it had a plot. Definitely not one that was at all clear to me while reading it. It’s set in the 80’s I believe and so a lot of the nostalgia was completely lost on me, I didn’t understand it and that might be one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy it as much. I don’t really have anything else to say here, the plot wasn’t really a plot.

Character:

This book is written from a child’s point of view, I’m not completely sure how old she is, it’s unique and a great way to use metaphors and give the whole story a sense of innocence. However, I didn’t feel anything for the character, I felt disconnected and I felt that the character herself was disconnected from the story and so the experience of reading her character was difficult. No other characters are really explored in any depth and I found them all easily forgettable.

Dialogue and Writing:

I didn’t enjoy either of these features of the novel. The dialogue felt cold and overthought and the writing style was clunky and jarring, It wasn’t an enjoyable experience reading it.

Overall:

I gave this book a generous two stars and I don’t have much else to say about that. I probably will unhaul this book eventually.

That’s it for this book review, unfortunately it wasn’t a very positive one to write but I will always be honest in my review of books.

Book Reviews

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer Book Review

March 29, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday Bookish People! Here is the book review for the second book that I read for the Becca and the Books 48 hour Bookopolathon challenge. The second prompt was a fantasy book and I chose A Curse so Dark and Lonely because, it was on my March TBR, and also I have the full trilogy on my shelf and I hadn’t yet read it. It was about time I finally read it, so many people have recommended it to me.

I will give star ratings for four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy reading my book review.

Plot:

This book is advertised as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and it is one of the best retellings that I have read. I think the plot of this book is well constructed and builds the tension brilliantly. It starts with an event that is a catalyst for the rest of the novel and it is paced well so the novel has both exciting events and tension but also leaves enough room for character development. This book has a great plot for this book and it also sets up an over arching plot for the rest of the series which has made me very excited to read the rest of this series – soon!

Characters:

I loved the characters in this book. The main protagonist is Harper and her personality is headstrong and fierce while being very caring. From the first page I had to know what would happen with her character, I was rooting for her. The two main male characters the first book follows is Prince Rhen and his loyal Guardsman Grey. Both of these are well developed interesting characters who I am very excited about seeing where their stories go. I felt that the ending of this book was slightly rushed with certain parts of it but still had a satisfying ending.

Dialogue and Writing:

The writing style in this book is a comfortable and easy read, it matches the genre of fantasy well. As for the dialogue I felt this novel had good dialogue between the characters that really cemented their relationships and helped create the mood for the novel overall.

Overall:

Overall I gave this book five stars because I really enjoyed it and instantly wished I could pick up the second one and read it immediately, unfortunately I couldn’t but that’s what I wanted to do. It was well written, well balanced between plot and character and a brilliantly clever retelling.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Fall in love, break the curse.

Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s pulled into a magical world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

That’s it for this book review. I hope you enjoyed it! If you’ve read this book, what did you think of it? Do you enjoy retellings?

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu Book review

March 29, 2021 theblindscribe

It’s Monday again bookish people! That means it’s time for another book review. Today I’m going to be uploading the book reviews for all the books I read last weekend for the Becca and the Books (YouTube) 48 hour Bookopolathon. Starting with my first read which was for the prompt of dark cover and that was Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu. As usual I will give star ratings for four categories and I will write a little about each of these. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

A friend of mine gifted me this book (and many others) and the blurb interested me a lot, especially because it’s a very short book for a fantasy so I was excited to get to read it. It didn’t quite live up to my expectations of it, I enjoyed it but I thought it could have been better.

Plot:

I felt the plot of Ever Cursed had the potential to be a great fast paced fantasy novel that would have flowed smoothly and captured my attention. In my opinion the plot did not reach it’s full potential in this way. It had wonderful elements such as the witch giving a curse (and a very unique type of curse that I hadn’t seen in a book before) and the quest for the cure. These elements ultimately made the story enjoyable for me but they felt like they were missing something. I’ll talk a bit more about this when talking about characters but I was underwhelmed by the plot of this novel.

Characters:

Again, I felt that the characters in this book had the potential to be great but I wasn’t invested in them in the way I had hoped I would be. The book is told in the switching POVs of Jane, one of the cursed princesses, and the witch that cursed them. I find this an interesting dynamic, getting to see both points of view but neither of the characters make me root for them, I didn’t feel the need to see what happened at the end to either of the characters. Also in this book there is the tiniest inkling of a romance but it’s such a small part of the plot it doesn’t seem connected to the story and personally I think the book would have been better without it.

Dialogue and Writing:

This is one section I really enjoyed in this novel. If you’ve read any of my previous book reviews you will know how much weight I put on the dialogue in a book. It can really make or break my enjoyment of a book. I enjoyed the conversations between the princesses in this book, it was the only time I felt the other princesses became proper characters rather than 2D people. The dialogue also gave most of the information, it was a telling not showing situation in this book which isn’t something I usually like. The writing style itself I thought was good, it was easy to follow and didn’t feel clunky.

Overall:

Overall I can only give this book three stars. I enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would and I didn’t think there was enough urgency or character development given to the book.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Damsel meets A Heart in a Body in the World in this incisive and lyrical feminist fairy tale about a princess determined to save her sisters from a curse, even if it means allying herself with the very witch who cast it.

The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired.

Cursed.

Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed to be Without one essential thing—the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box.

But when Eden’s curse sets in on her thirteenth birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse, preventing it from becoming a True Spell and dooming the princesses for life. To do this, they must confront the one who cast the spell—Reagan, a young witch who might not be the villain they thought—as well as the wickedness plaguing their own kingdom…and family.

Told through the eyes of Reagan and Jane—the witch and the bewitched—this insightful twist of a fairy tale explores power in a patriarchal kingdom not unlike our own.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it! If you’ve read this book what did you think of it?

Tag: Becca and the books

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh Book Review

What A Way To Go by Julia Forster Book Review

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer Book Review

Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu Book review