Wish for Me by A. Star

Wish for Me by A. Star(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Three wishes. Two lovers. One destiny.

When the snarky Glory St. Pierre discovers the gold mechanical vase in her deceased grandmother’s basement, she has no idea that she has uncovered a priceless treasure: a genie lamp. With a real genie inside. A very sexy genie with a not-so-sexy grudge against the entire human race.

Irving Amir hates being called a genie. He’s a Djinn, and he is none too happy to be in the service of Glory, who is as intolerable, and beautiful, as humans come. Now he owes her his gratitude for freeing him and three wishes. Damn his luck.

But an arrow through the shoulder alerts Irving to the fact that he is being hunted, and after a truce dinner with Glory ends with them both almost being killed, hating each other goes right out the window. As feelings change and love starts to develop, they must dig through the secrets and lies to find the truth…a truth neither of them will ever see coming.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

Wish for Me is a really hard book to describe.  On one hand, you’ve got a fantasy element: a djinn.  On the other hand, the djinn in question, Irving, leaves in a steampunk world where he tinkers with gadgets like a steam-powered motorcycle and an adorable mechanical bat with artificial intelligence.  So I guess the best way to describe this book is genie steampunk.  How you describe it doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things, but it does explain why I was so thrown for a little bit when the different elements were introduced.

Glory is not your typical heroine, believe me.  She’s covered in tattoos, is independent, knows her mind and isn’t really afraid to speak up unless it comes to feelings.  And she’s got curves!  That’s a really far cry from a lot of heroines and it was a really, really refreshing change to read about someone who was reasonably self-assured.  Glory certainly has her vulnerabilities and flaws but it’s not like she’s one of those annoying shrinking violets.  Irving on the other hand, is very mysterious and sometimes mischievous but once he cares for someone, he’s not afraid to show it.  Even though humankind has done so many horrible things to djinns like him, he still learns to see Glory as one person rather than hold her responsible for what’s happened in the past with other humans.  They’re both very different people and personalities so when they realize they’re becoming attracted to each other, things get complicated pretty quickly.  I could go on and on about their attraction but I don’t want to spoil too much here.

The plot was actually quite fast paced, which I was not really expecting at the beginning.  In the beginning there’s a lot of set up and interpersonal tension but not really much in the way of physical action.  But that changes pretty quickly as Glory learns that Irving is hiding things from her and may be endangering her because of that.  When she makes a wish accidentally at dinner and they’re both hunted by a completely new enemy that isn’t the usual djinn hunters, things get exciting pretty quickly.  While the book is not all action there are lots of action scenes like that and they’re so well written.  They give you an excellent balance of dialogue, description and action and so the scenes are all the more intense.

The world-building was amazing.  I haven’t actually read many genie/djinn stories but the ones I have generally have been quite similar.  That’s not true with Wish for Me.  You have a hierarchy within djinns, a royal family, different nations of djinns, etc.  It’s all very complicated but A. Star introduces the different elements slowly so you can catch up pretty easily.  It’s clear from the start that she put a lot of thought into building her world and it shows through in the quality of the writing.  The strong world-building makes an excellent backdrop for all of the action and the amazing characters.  It also allows for quite a few plot twists when things get going.

So overall, I absolutely loved Wish for Me.  It has great characters, lots of action and romance and is set in a wonderfully well thought out fantasy world.  Not only that, it solves a lot of questions raised at the beginning of the book while still managing to end on one powerful cliffhanger.  I’m very excited to see what happens in the next book.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking

Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Bryn Aven has always longed to be a part of the Kanin world.

Though she has no social status because she’s a half-breed, she refuses to give up on her dream of serving the kingdom she loves. It’s a dream that brings her to a whole new realm . . . the glittering palace of the Skojare.

The Skojare people need protection from the same brutal rival who’s been threatening the Kanin, and, being half Skojare herself, it’s a chance for Bryn to learn more about her heritage. Her boss Ridley Dresden is overseeing her mission and wants to help. He’s always been her most trusted friend—but as their undeniable attraction heats up, he becomes a distraction she can’t afford.

Brynn is about to discover that the Skojare world is full of secrets, and as she’s drawn in deeper and deeper, she doesn’t know who to trust. As she gets closer to Ridley, she realizes she may not even be able to trust her own heart.

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

Bryn is a complex character who has really been through so much, what with her father nearly dying at the hands of a man she looked up to, being an outcast because she’s half-Skojare and being one of the only female trackers.  She’s under a lot of pressure and has been for a long time but things really don’t let up in this book.  If anything, the pressure gets worse when she learns of a royal disappearance and is sent to live among her mother’s people as a bodyguard for a little while until she gets to the heart of the mystery.  Unfortunately, there are some complications when she and Ridley realize and admit their feelings for each other because they are boss and underling.  So not only do you have the immense political pressure, you have a forbidden attraction on top of things that could get both of them fired if they’re found out.  With a forbidden attraction in YA you’d expect them to keep carrying on regardless of the consequences but shockingly Ridley and Bryn do the mature, reasonable thing: they agree to stop seeing each other when Bryn leaves on her Skojare mission.  They agree that being in a relationship is too risky for both of them and that realistically they can’t.  It was really a refreshing change.

Not only that, with everything Bryn goes through she matures even more.  For a tracker she can be rather naive and that’s part of what gets her into trouble when she’s among the Skojare, particularly with a certain prince.  At the same time, she actually learns that naivete can be dangerous in some cases and uses her naturally curious mind to think things through critically instead of accepting things at face value.  She becomes rightly suspicious of a lot of people around her, particularly the Skojare king and his younger brother.  Maybe the queen isn’t all that innocent as she seems to be but the royal brothers are definitely at the heart of a conspiracy that runs very, very deeply through troll society.  In the end, some of the conspiracy is revealed but we’re still left waiting to learn the full explanation for the conspiracy that started with Konstantin Black almost killing Bryn’s father.

The plot isn’t always fast-paced but it is always interesting.  So much happens in this book when you compare it to Frostfire, the first book.  There’s a lot of travel between the tribes and it was fascinating to learn more about the Skojare and about Bryn’s heritage.  You can kind of see why Bryn’s mother wanted to get out of the palace and give up her title for love rather than staying in the rather repressive Skojare society.  Part of the plot is about the rigid hierarchies present in both tribes and the tension coming from the lower classes that seem to be gently agitating for reform.  The Kanin are better than the Skojare in a lot of ways but the inequalities are always evident and Bryn as a tracker (a half-breed no less!) really feels the brunt of this.  It’s also another source of tension during Bryn’s investigation into the queen’s disappearance because at every turn she’s reminded of her low status and her utter lack of power.

All in all, Ice Kissed was an excellent second book.  I’m sure some people found the inter-personal tension a little boring in the beginning but if you’re at all invested in the characters or even just interested in them you’ll love it.  Then things really heat up in the last third of the novel as some of the conspiracy Bryn’s mixed up in comes to light and Bryn has to make one really tough decision.  By the end of the novel, you’ll be like me: almost begging for the next book.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Lazy Sundays: Sons of the Harpy (Game of Thrones Episode 5.04)

So here are my thoughts on the episode:

1.  Since Baelish believes Sansa will be liberated by Stannis’ army (if they ever get there) he obviously trusts her to navigate the snakepit of Winterfell under the Boltons.  So he clearly doesn’t know about Ramsey’s…well, everything.  Most unlike him.  I really do wonder if they’re setting up more of Sansa’s ruthlessness as she’s left alone to take revenge on the Boltons.  Will she kill Ramsey?  Will Theon/Reek kill Ramsey?

2.  Cersei is playing with fire now with the Faith Militant and I think the show’s writers are setting up her downfall just beautifully.  Imprisoning Ser Loras for immorality, sending Lord Tyrell away so he can’t interfere, proabably accusing Margarey of adultery…just wait until Fortune’s wheel spins again, Cersei!  One minute you’re on top, the next you’re being crushed on the bottom.

3.  Poor Ser Loras.

4.  Poor people of King’s Landing for that matter.  No booze, no brothels…whatever are they going to do?

5.  Yay, we finally get to see the Sand Snakes!  They’re just as wonderfully ruthless as I pictured them and I can’t wait to see them in action.  So far I’m really liking Nymeria.

6.  How the heck did Melisandre know about “You know nothing, Jon Snow”?  I think she suspects that R + L = J and that Jon may very well not be Ned Stark’s son at all.  There’s power in king’s blood, after all…

7.  That was a really touching moment between Shireen and Stannis when he explained how she got greyscale.  Unfortunately, I think that and Melisandre’s “the Lord needs her” comments are setting up her death, but it was still sweet.

8.  No, Ser Barristan!  You poor, honourable fool.  I wish they hadn’t cut him out of the show yet because I like his character, but I guess it was not to be.  I wonder how Daenerys is going to take his death after their quite touching scene together.

9.  Well, poor Grey Worm.  I think he’s wounded at this point, not dead because of the scene where Missandei kisses him in the season’s trailer.

10.  Jaime and Bronn are awesome road trip buddies.  I suspect they’re going to run into a lot of trouble down the road.

11.  Poor Ser Jorah, poor Tyrion.  They’re really not getting along at all at the moment.

Well, what did you guys think?  Are you as disappointed as I am at Ser Barristan’s death?  What did you think of the hints at Jon Snow’s real parentage dropped throughout the episode?

I Joined the Amazon Affiliate Program

After getting the offer to monetize some of my reviews from Penny Sansevieri and asking for your feedback, it was mentioned yet again that I should probably join the Amazon Affiliate program.  It has been mentioned several times before but I just didn’t make time to do it.  So today I made the time and joined up.

In addition to joining, all of my reviews from 2014 and 2015 now feature the new affiliate links.  So if you’re buying something off Amazon and would like to throw a little bit of support my way, just click on one of the links and go shopping.  Even if you don’t buy what I directly link to, anything you buy on the site within 24 hours of using that link gets me a little percentage.

Thank you guys so much!  As an example, here’s a link to one of my all-time favourite books: Aranya by Marc Secchia.

Road Trip

I’m not going to be around all of today because at 10:30pm last night a friend of my phoned from the airport, saying he was now in Canada.  This was quite unexpected because earlier he said the flight was cancelled so he and his brother couldn’t make it.  Then the phone call came.

So now today I’m getting up way too early and going to collect their tired butts from the airport, which is about four and a half hours away.  It’s about a nine hour road trip if you don’t stop anywhere (which I most certainly need to) so it’ll be a ten or eleven hour trip in total.  That means I’m going to be away for the majority of the day and won’t be awake enough to write anything until at least tomorrow afternoon.

So have a great Saturday and I’ll see you guys on Sunday!