Solar, Defeated by Diantha Jones

Solar, Defeated by Diantha Jones(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

From the moment Strafford Law saw Chloe Clever, he knew he was destined to love her forever. But a dishonorable past and a bleak future threaten to destroy him before he gets the chance.

Looking back, he recalls his life before it came crashing down around him…a time when the one he now loathes most of all was the one he adored more than anything.

SPOILER ALERT: Read as Oracle of Delphi #2.5! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from Diantha Jones as part of her blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

Ooh, we finally get to learn more about our tortured, broody Sun Prince!  I won’t call myself a fangirl, but the fact that Strafford has changed so much by being in love with Chloe makes him one of my favourite love interests ever.  I mean, in pretty much every YA book out there the dark, tortured love interest is still a jerk by the end of the book/series.  That’s definitely not the case and Solar, Defeated provides a lot more insight into how Strafford fell into disgrace amongst other demigods and became said tortured, broody Sun Prince.

A lot of novellas that connect to series are boring and don’t really provide much of an addition to the story, but Diantha Jones has stayed away from that trap.  We learn things we otherwise probably wouldn’t in the series and seeing things strictly from Strafford’s point of view is great.  His decisions make sense from his point of view and his emotions feel more…real.  It’s much easier to connect with him after reading Solar, Defeated because we get to see more of his flaws.  (His main one being hubris, something we all suffer from occasionally.)

If you’re enjoying the Oracle of Delphi series and just can’t get enough of the moody, protective and incredibly attractive Strafford Law, I’d highly recommend this tie-in.  It’s definitely worth your time.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Poll: Links at the Bottom of Reviews

At the bottom of every review I always add links to both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, those being the major online retailers when it comes to books.  But what I want to know is if you guys would like links to other sites as well.  After all, I’m here to help both authors and readers and I want to do that as much as I can.  However, I don’t want my links to be crowded so if you let me know which links you really want I can add them to all future reviews and possibly go back and add them to 350+ past reviews.

Spinning Gold by Vivi Andrews

Spinning Gold by Vivi Andrews(Cover picture courtesy of NetGalley.)

No princes need apply.

Juliana Ravel will do anything to save her innocent brother from the executioner, but what the supposedly charming prince demands is impossible. Spinning straw into gold? He might as well ask her to fly. Her only hope is a family heirloom – a gold medallion rumored to be the magic prison of one of the fabled golden fae.

Trapped inside the medallion for hundreds of years, Rue isn’t fool enough to trust Juliana, but he can’t help but be tempted by the feisty beauty. Even though she is the spitting image of the witch who betrayed and imprisoned him, Rue agrees to help her. For a price.

Entranced by the exotic, golden-skinned man, Juliana agrees to his terms, believing her worries are at an end. But when the tyrannical prince finds her surrounded by riches, he isn’t about to let her walk away – instead holding her prisoner within the corrupt court. Juliana’s only freedom is her nights with Rue, where their negotiations turn to seduction, and together they construct a desperate plot to escape a life where they must keep spinning gold… or die.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I’m generally suspicious of fairytale retellings, especially Rumpelstiltskin ones, but the blurb for Spinning Gold was irresistible.  It sounded like a wonderfully unique retelling that was well-written with great world-building.  For once my impressions from the blurb were right!  Spinning Gold is a great Rumpelstiltskin retelling and it even explains how we got our ugly little man idea from the ‘real story’.

Unlike so many female main characters in fairytale retellings, Juliana is an amazingly strong narrator that carries the whole book on her shoulders.  She’s not passive when her brother is accused of being a traitor and instead bargains with what is essentially her own life with the evil prince to save him.  When she promises that she can spin straw into gold, she knows she may be only buying herself and her brother a trip to the executioner, but that night in her cell she discovers something amazing: her family amulet.  When she cries on it, Rue springs forth and almost kills her, believing her to be her great-grandmother, the woman who trapped him inside it in the first place.  Not exactly a great start to a relationship but they eventually work things out and Rue spins gold for Juliana, which brings her more trouble than she bargained for as now the evil prince wants to marry her.

Still, despite the threat to her life from being at court, she is drawn to Rue in her dreams and finds herself slowly falling in love with the mysterious man.  At the same time, she tries to continue what her brother started with the rebellion to overthrow the prince.  But being the prince’s fiance doesn’t make that easy in the slightest.  So you can see why Juliana is one of my favourite narrators: she doesn’t just sit by.  Rue is also one of my favourite love interests because he’s tortured and untrusting of Juliana but it’s actually for a good reason.  As he slowly warms up to her, the romance between them explodes but remains believable.

The world-building in this is fantastic!  I don’t want to spoil too much by saying that Rue’s bargain with Juliana is nothing like the Rumpelstiltskin story we know, but does actually resemble it in some aspects.  So where did the Rumpelstiltskin legend we know today come about?  Well, let’s just say that the un-charming prince and his adviser Torlemain were excellent spin doctors and leave it at that.  As for how Rue is able to spin straw into gold, that’s also part of Vivi Andrews’ amazing world-building in her fantasy world.

The plot isn’t frantically paced, but rather slowly speeds up as the book goes along.  For a short book that’s awesome and none of the character development or world-building is sacrificed in the process.  At the same time, you won’t be able to put Spinning Gold down.  The romance between Rue and Juliana is sizzling and there are so many plot twists your head will be left spinning by the end.  Yet the plot twists still make sense  and I love how Vivi Andrews hinted at them a little but not enough to spoil the fun at the end.

So to recap: Spinning Gold is a great fairytale retelling with believable characters, awesome world-building and a fast-paced plot that will keep you reading into the early morning hours.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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How to Write a Review Request

Sometimes I think things are so obvious that I couldn’t possibly need to write a tutorial on them.  Review requests seem like basic common sense to me, but judging from the number of requests I’m still getting despite having closed submissions over a month ago shows that some authors have no idea what the heck they’re doing.  So in my usual list format I’m going to go through the steps of writing a book review request email that won’t make reviewers want to punch you.

Review Policy

Credit: Eating Y.A. Books

Step #1: READ THE REVIEW POLICY!

Due to the generally family-friendly nature of this blog I am resisting the urge to swear to emphasize my point.  Regardless, the first thing you should ever do when visiting a book review blog looking for a blogger to review your book is read their review policy.  How do you find a review policy?  Well, it’s either under its own tab at the top or side of the web page or is generally under FAQs.  If it’s not under any of those, use the search bar.  Once you find a reviewer’s policy, ask yourself these questions while reading it:

a)  Is this reviewer open to submissions?

b)  Is my book in the acceptable genre list?

c)  Does my book meet any other requirements?

d)  What other information do I need to collect in order to make a request? Continue reading →

Slumber by Tamara Blake

Slumber by Tamara Blake(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Once upon a time, Ruby believed in magic…

When Ruby volunteers to take her mother’s housecleaning shift at the gothic Cottingley Heights mansion, she thinks it’s going to be business as usual. Clean out the fridge, scrub toilets, nothing too unusual. But nothing could prepare her for the decadent squalor she finds within. Rich people with more money than sense trashing their beautiful clothes and home just because they can. After the handsome Tam discovers her cleaning up after him and his rich friends, Ruby has never felt more like a character from her sister’s book of fairy tales.

Tam sees beyond Ruby’s job and ratty clothes, and sweeps her off her feet, treating her like a real princess, but Ruby is sure this beautiful boy is too good to be true. And as one tragedy after another befalls Ruby and her family, Ruby painfully learns that magic is all too real, and it always comes with a price.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ARC ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I decided to request Slumber through NetGalley despite my misgivings about it being a typical Cinderella fairytale romance where fairies are only said to be vicious but are actually pretty tame.  Boy, was I wrong.

Tamara Blake’s fairies go back to the roots of their legends and are really, truly vicious bordering on sadistic.  Well, maybe passing into sadistic quite frequently rather than just bordering on it.  They live a spoiled party life and have exactly zero morals or qualms about treating humans like dirt for their own amusement.  It doesn’t take Ruby long to figure this out and although she slips down to their level a couple of times she actually comes out of the story with her human values intact.  Trust me, considering she lived with the fae in Cottingley for a while, that is an enormous accomplishment.

Ruby was an awesome narrator.  She falls in love with Tam slowly but never, ever puts her love for him ahead of her family.  When her family gets in trouble and she learns that living with him at Cottingley is her only choice, she does.  And although she loses sight of her goal through something not entirely her own fault, she remains loyal to her family in the end.  As I said, she still retains her values by the end and I was incredibly impressed with that.  So many narrators in YA books lose sight of their old lives when they’re swept up into a magical world of parties and riches, but not Ruby!  She was truly amazing and carried the story on her shoulders.

At the same time the plot was actually quite fast-paced without leaving out character development.  There is no sort of middle bloat as the middle is actually where Ruby discovers that she’s the cause of her mother’s illness and that there’s only one way to save her life.  And just when you think things have settled down at the end, Tamara Blake threw a huge twist into the happy ending that leaves me with no doubt there’s a sequel coming.  Tam and Ruby’s story isn’t finished and I can’t wait for the sequel, even though Slumber was technically just published three days ago.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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*Only available as an ebook.