Category: Book Review
The Secret Eleanor by Cecelia Holland
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband’s title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.
Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably…
He is Henry D’Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.
How do you turn a woman who left an incredible mark on history by daring to choose her husband, who set a new standard for women in power into a shallow, conniving, backstabbing, whiny little girl? After reading The Secret Eleanor I’m still not too sure, but Cecelia Holland somehow managed it.
As you’ve probably guessed, this book was a complete letdown. I expected to admire Eleanor because in history she really was a strong, intelligent and cunning woman. I didn’t expect the whiny, self-centred creature that Cecelia Holland portrayed her as. How could this woman have done half of the things she did in real life if she was as Holland imagines her? Answer: she couldn’t and that’s why her portrayal falls flat.
There has to be a strong suspension of disbelief to finish this book because we learn that Eleanor while Eleanor was pregnant with Henry’s child her sister Petronilla impersonated her. This I highly doubt. Sisters can look alike, it’s true, but very rarely can someone truly copy another person’s mannerisms and vocal patterns. Even when they’re close sisters. Honestly, if this scenario had been true, someone would have noticed and outed the whole conspiracy. As it was, everyone within Eleanor’s inner circle knew so it’s pretty safe to say that in real life, someone would have squealed.
I could look past the implausible scenario if the rest of the book was well written, but it was not. The plot seems to jump all over the place as we follow the different characters through their journeys. Claire, the young maidservant, randomly seems to get quite a bit of page time in the last third of the book. Eleanor all but disappears from the narrative as Petronilla takes over her role. Sometimes there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to why Cecelia Holland changed points of view other than in a desperate attempt to move the plot along. It didn’t work.
Basically, if you’re even vaguely interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine this book is not for you. I honestly wish I hadn’t wasted my money on it.
I give this book 1/5 stars.
Blades of Magic by Terah Edun
(Cover picture courtesy of Terah Edun via email.)
It is not a peaceful time in the Algardis Empire. War is raging between the mages and seventeen-year-old Sara Fairchild will be right in the middle of it.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
Sara is the daughter of a disgraced imperial commander, executed for desertion. Sara is also the best duelist and hand-to-hand combatant in Sandrin. She lives quietly with her family’s shame but when challenged about her family’s honor, her opponent inevitably loses.
On the night she finds out her father’s true last actions, she takes the Mercenary Guilds’ vows to serve in the emperor’s army. Using her quick wits and fierce fighting skills, she earns a spot in the first division.
There she discovers secrets the mages on both sides would prefer stay hidden. Dark enemies hunt her and soon it’s not just Sara questioning the motivation behind this war.
While fighting mages, blackmailing merchants and discovering new friends, Sara comes across something she’s never had before – passion. The question is – can she fight for her empress against a mage who might unwittingly claim her heart?
This is year one of the Initiate Wars. Sara is hoping it doesn’t become the year she dies.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from Terah Edun in exchange for an honest review.]
I was very excited to get started on Terah Edun’s Courtlight spin-off trilogy and I admit that I had very high expectations because of an excerpt I read from chapter one. Fortunately, the rest of the book turned out being just as good, sometimes even better.
Sara Fairchild kicks butt quite literally. She’s a battle mage, meaning that her fighting skills are unparalleled and she also has a certain magical advantage. That doesn’t mean she’s invincible because we learn soon enough that her powers can come at a very high price. I like how she balances revelling in her skills with being fearful of what they could lead to if not kept in check. It makes her more relatable than if she were just constantly kicking butt without any fear of consequences. Add in her emotional isolation and her need to clear her father’s name and you’ve got yourself a sympathetic, interesting and three dimensional main character.
The plot is very fast-paced; there’s almost no time when the reader can truly catch their breath. Which is, of course, how I ended up reading this book in one sitting despite my intentions only to read about 25% of it before going to bed. It was so good I couldn’t put it down because I just had to see what was going to happen next. There were plot twists all over the place and I love how even with Sara, our main character, things aren’t always what they seem. Even the bumbling Ezekiel Crane is more than he appears to be.
As usual, Terah Edun’s world-building was amazing. Even if you haven’t read the Courtlight series, you can enjoy this one because the two series aren’t dependent on one another. In this one we learn a lot more about the powerful mages that made the Initiate Wars so devastating. There’s a lot of political intrigue but it’s never so ridiculously complicated that the reader will get bogged down in the details. As I said earlier, not everything is as it seems in this book, even when it comes to the supposed rules of the world. With magic flying left, right and centre things in the Algardis Empire are constantly changing. It makes for a very unpredictable story.
Basically, Blades of Magic is a great kick-off to Terah Edun’s new trilogy. I can’t wait for the next book, Blades of Illusion!
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Recruit by Fiona Palmer
(Cover picture courtesy of NetGalley.)
From one of Australia’s Queens of Romance comes the debut in a brand new YA series about secrets, strengths, and what lies beneath the surface.
Jasmine Thomas may not be completely normal, but she’s a pretty typical seventeen-year-old girl. She hates the rich mean kids, loves her best friends, and can’t wait to get out of school each day. Her spare time is spent at The Ring — a boxing gym where she practically grew up — learning karate, boxing and street fighting. So, yeah, Jaz can kick some major butt.
Life seems pretty normal until the day Ryan Fletcher enters her gym…mysterious and hot with heaps of bad boy charm. Sure, she checks him out. Who wouldn’t? But what doesn’t show on his gorgeous abs are secrets and lies that dominate his very grown-up world. Now Jaz has to figure out just how far she is willing to go to know more. Could Ryan really be offering the life-fulfilling life path she’s always dreamed of?
[Full disclosure: I was approached by the publisher and accepted a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I have to be honest here when I say that contemporary YA romance is generally not my thing. It never really has been and likely never will, but with books like The Recruit I’m always willing to try. So that’s why I accepted the invitation to read and review Fiona Palmer’s newest release.
I was both pleasantly surprised and slightly disappointed by The Recruit. On one hand, I was surprised that the romance element was actually somewhat realistic and that the heroine was well fleshed-out. On the other hand, it was disappointing that I could predict almost every supposed plot twist throughout the whole novel. First I’ll talk about the characters.
Jaz isn’t your typical teenage girl. She likes to kick butt and is actually very good at it. Normally this would be a Mary Sue alert, but who wouldn’t be good when they’ve spent their whole childhood learning how to fight? It’s a realistic progression in that way and it makes Jaz a very interesting character. She grows throughout the book, both in her love of Ryan and in her personal life. Jaz isn’t sure about life after school but I like how she takes her time to come to her own decision and doesn’t feel pressured to do one thing or the other. Ryan, the secret agent, is an okay character. He’s pretty much your typical tortured secret agent but he does have some other qualities that make him a three dimensional character.
The main disappointment for me was the lack of surprises in the plot. Pretty much everything was hinted at so obviously that you could see the next plot twist coming a mile away. Another thing I didn’t like was that the plot follows such a typical character arc for this type of novel. There was nothing new or innovative about the whole thing; most tropes were simply played straight. The characters are typical of such a novel as well but they were three dimensional so I didn’t mind that aspect. No, what disappointed me was the predictability of the plot.
Basically, this was an okay book for me. I would recommend it to some of my friends, but I certainly can’t offer a blanket recommendation for everyone. Basically, if you like contemporary YA that’s heavy on the romance you’ll probably like The Recruit. It just wasn’t the best book for me.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Angeline by Karleen Bradford
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Stunned by the blistering heat, the noise, the sea of faces crowding in upon her in the teeming Egyptian market, Angeline cannot believe that she is being sold as a slave to one of the great princes in Cairo. Only a short time ago she left her small village in France to follow Stephen, a shepherd boy whose vision led him to mount a children’s Crusade to the Holy Land. But they were decieved by those who offered to help. Now it seems they are doomed to a life of slavery in a foreign land and even Stephen has lost all hope.
Somehow, Angeline must find the strength to survive, as well as to help Stephen overcome his despair. But first she must learn to understand and respect the ways of a culture so very different from her own.
This is another one of my re-reads from my childhood. When I first read it, I was (oddly enough) actually in the target age group for Angeline and enjoyed it immensely. But now that I’m long out of the target age group of tweens and young teens, how did I find the book?
Not bad, actually. For a book aimed at tweens Angeline explores some pretty heavy issues like religion, discrimination and slavery. Does Karleen Bradford go into as much depth as I would have liked? No, but considering her target age group she never goes so far as to speak down to her readers. Things like sex are alluded to and you’d have to know some history to truly appreciate references to the Coptic church and such but it doesn’t feel like the author is writing down to her readers. She doesn’t go and blurt out the message of the book, instead allowing her readers to come to their own conclusions. That’s very rare in middle grade fiction.
One thing I appreciated far more this time around was Karleen Bradford’s representation of Islam. I grew up in a very whitewashed community of Roman Catholics so it was in Angeline that I had my first real exposure to Islam. She doesn’t hold it or any other religion as superior but instead represents both Christianity and Islam well. Now that I’m actually more conscious of other cultures and religions, that was definitely something I could appreciate.
This time around I found myself getting a little bit frustrated with Angeline and her woe-is-me attitude but then again if I found myself sold into slavery in a strange culture and land I’d probably do a heck of a lot more whining. She does eventually grow as a character and makes the best of her circumstances but I can see where readers would get frustrated with her for the first half of the book. As she grows to accept her situation, so too does Stephen, the visionary child crusader. It’s interesting to see how he slowly regains his faith after such a devastating outcome to his supposed grand vision. All of the characters involved are well fleshed-out and have believable character arcs.
I wouldn’t say the plot is fast-paced, but it’s not boring either. It’s the kind of book that you read as a child, re-read and remember fondly. Of course it doesn’t seem as good as when I first read it but it’s still a very good book. If you or someone you know has a daughter from age 10-12ish this book would be an excellent gift.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
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Words Once Spoken by Carly Drake
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
YA meets high fantasy in this lush series debut about a girl who never quite fit in — and the reason why…
Evelyn might not love the confines of her village life, but she takes her small freedoms where she can get them. But everything changes when her parents decide it’s time for her to wed. Suddenly she loses her tunic and breeches, her bow, her horse, and gains rigid gowns, restrictive manners, and carriage rides.
The best way to escape is through her dreams, but as they become more and more real, Evelyn begins to worry that she is losing her grasp on reality. It is only when she makes two new friends that the truth is revealed: she is destined for far, far more than even she could imagine.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
For a debut novel this isn’t a terrible book, but it is by no means a great book. There are some good elements and some bad elements but I think the main problem that kept me from truly enjoying this book was the pacing.
The pacing was bad, if I’m honest. It was nice to start with a gentle beginning but the beginning dragged on and on and on while the plot went nowhere in the beginning. Then, when things finally started getting interesting Carly Drake just rushed through them without much explanation. I really wanted to know more about Evelyn’s fairy powers and the world she is suddenly thrust into but it’s just so confusing. There simply was not enough backstory to make me emotionally invested in Evelyn’s struggle to stabilize her new realm.
Evelyn is an okay character I suppose. She’s brave but eventually learns to admit when she needs help. She can be incredibly self-sufficient and even though she’s a stereotypical sort of girl empowerment character there’s a legitimate reason for it. The only problem I really had with her was her lack of emotions. She didn’t really seem fazed when her parents abandoned her, when she learned the life she was living was a lie, etc. Even during that rather disturbing scene at the very end of the novel I couldn’t feel her panic. As for the love triangle, well there was nothing unique about it. It’s pretty much the same old love triangle you’ve seen in every other YA book today.
The writing itself was not bad, however. Carly Drake has some potential here with her style of writing; she just needs to work a little bit more on the plot elements. If the plot had not been so poorly paced and the world had been fleshed out a little more this could have made it into the ‘good’ category but as it stands, this one was a solid ‘meh’. I don’t feel particularly strongly about it one way or the other so I can’t in all honesty either recommend it or warn people away from it.
I give this book 2/5 stars.