Tagged: mine series
Mine to Spell by Janeal Falor
(Cover picture courtesy of Janeal Falor via email.)
Cynthia has always hidden from her father’s hexes behind her older sister. When her family gains independence unheard of for women, she’s relieved that her days of harsh punishments are over. But as her seventeenth birthday approaches—the typical age to be sold to a new master—death threats endanger her sisters. She now faces two options: run or meet society’s expectations.
For once, Cynthia isn’t going to let her older sister shield her from the problem. She’s going to prove to herself, her sisters, and society that her family isn’t a threat to their traditions. She willingly chooses to be purchased by a new master. A bold step that takes her somewhere she never thought she would go and to a man she might possibly fall in love with. With his help, she may just find a way to save her sisters while discovering how to stand up for herself. If she lives long enough.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
I very much liked Serena from the first installment of this series but now after reading Mine to Spell I’m rather favouring Cynthia.
Cynthia is a fascinating character. Now that her older sister is the head of the family with the same status as a warlock she knows she doesn’t have to be sold on her seventeenth birthday. But if she doesn’t meet society’s expectations and enter the marriage pool there are some very serious death threats against her family that could become reality. So she chooses to enter the marriage pool and reveals that she isn’t the shrinking violet that always hides behind her older sister anymore. In fact, she’s ready to show all of Chardonia what women are really capable of.
I loved seeing a bit of an expanded world in this second book. We see the aftereffects of Zade freeing Serena and giving her status equal to any man. We certainly see the effects of the attempts on Zade’s life in the previous book and how they’re not going away any time soon. All those things add tension to the plot but it’s really Cynthia and her actions that drive the story forward. She really is an incredible character that will surprise you at every turn.
The plot is much more fast-paced than it was in You Are Mine. This is in part because we have a very different narrator but also because Janeal Falor’s writing has improved. It was already good but now it’s even better and I think we can expect some great things from her in the future. There are plot twists around every corner and while the ending isn’t totally unexpected it really is satisfying.
Usually the second book in a series is weaker than the first, but that was certainly not the case with this one!
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Mine to Tarnish by Janeal Falor
(Cover picture courtesy of YA Bound Book Tours.)
Katherine’s place is the same as any woman’s—on the shelf next to the dresses and bolts of cloth. When she’s sold to a warlock, life grows even bleaker. Her new owner is as old and rancid as he is cruel, driving her to do the unthinkable: run.
Nothing prepared her for being on her own. And she’s definitely unprepared for the warlocks hunting her down. But she must stay one step ahead because if caught, the best she can hope for is death.
[Full disclosure: Janeal Falor provided me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.]
A lot of times I’m not a big novella fan, I admit it. Even when they’re prequels or just extra information about characters. Sometimes they’re repetitive, but sometimes like with Mine to Tarnish they add a whole other dimension to the rich world the author has created.
I was always fond of Katherine in You Are Mine, but seeing her story through her own eyes is so much better than having it secondhand through Serena. Serena and Katherine are very different people to start out with, but their situations are remarkably similar. It’s just how they deal with those situations that I found fascinating. For instance, when Katherine chooses to escape I was cheering for her the whole way! In a world where violence against women is the norm and women are nothing but property, I had a hard time finding hope for poor Katherine’s life even outside of marriage but it was better than the alternative.
You can technically read Mine to Tarnish before you read You Are Mine, but I’d recommend sticking to the publishing order. It’s nicer to go back and hear Katherine’s backstory because then you at least have a better grasp on the world she’s living in from the full length novel. At the same time, you can get a pretty good taste of the terrifying world of the Mine series by just reading the novella first. It really depends on your personal tastes.
The novella was fast-paced and well written. There wasn’t really any time when I was tempted to put it down because I liked the faster pacing. That, and it helped that Katherine’s story is pretty remarkable for a woman in that world. You can’t help but like the feisty Katherine who was raised by a remarkable woman who believes in true equality, even if she hides it.
Really, what more can I say? If you read and liked You Are Mine, you’re going to love Mine to Tarnish. If you’re new to the Mine series, let me say welcome and I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!
I give this novella 5/5 stars.
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You Are Mine by Janeal Falor
(Cover picture courtesy of Crash Boom Bang.)
Serena knows a few simple things. She will always be owned by a warlock. She will never have freedom. She will always do what her warlock wishes, regardless of how inane, frivolous, or cruel it is. And if she doesn’t follow the rules, she will be tarnished. Spelled to be bald, inked, and barren for the rest of her life—worth less than the shadow she casts.
Then her ownership is won by a barbarian from another country. With the uncertainty that comes from belonging to a new warlock, Serena questions if being tarnished is really worse than being owned by a barbarian, and tempts fate by breaking the rules. When he looks the other way instead of punishing her, she discovers a new world. The more she ventures into the forbidden, the more she learns of love and a freedom just out of reach. Serena longs for both. But in a society where women are only ever property, hoping for more could be deadly.
[Full disclosure: You Are Mine caught my eye on a blog a while back so I requested a review copy from Janeal Falor in exchange for an honest review.]
I thought this was going to be a wishy-washy romance with some good fantastic elements when I requested You Are Mine. I was willing to ignore the romance in exchange for a well-developed world, but Janeal Falor completely blew away my expectations. Trust me, the romantic elements don’t pan out like you expect them to.
Serena is one of those characters that you’re not sure how you feel about her in the beginning, but you learn to love her after the first few chapters or so. What I like is that she rebels against a male-dominated society in her own ways and yet doesn’t go into stereotypical girl power mode that would be completely unbelievable considering her upbringing. When you’ve been tortured by your own father for minor infractions like she has, you’re not exactly going to be ecstatic about marrying some wretched barbarian who killed your admittedly horrible intended. Understandably, she’s more than a little terrified of Zade especially when he doesn’t punish/torture her like her father does even though he technically owns her and that kind of behaviour is expected of him as a warlock.
The plot of You Are Mine is not fast-paced, but that’s really not the point of the whole story. I’d say this is more character-driven and that makes it a much better book than it would have been if it were plot-driven. We get to intimately know the world of Chardonia through Serena’s eyes and get a little outsider perspective from Zade, the ‘barbarian’ foreigner. I love how Zade really isn’t all that he appears to be and that his real character is revealed by the end of the novel. It’s plot twists like that rather than crazy pacing that made me like You Are Mine.
Where do I start with the world-building? The warlocks completely dominating women by making them less than human, the tarnished outcasts, the magic? In short, Janeal Falor has created a patriarchal society that is both believable because of the power warlocks have and is terrifying because of how women are treated like property. And of course warlocks are allowed to destroy their property any time they see fit, which leads to women being tarnished (aka hexed into being bald, tattooed and barren). It’s a horrible society and you can definitely see why Serena acts the way she does around Zade even when it’s obvious to the reader that Zade isn’t like Serena’s sadistic father.
I thought that the plot dragged a little too much in some places (even if it was primarily character-driven), but that’s my only real complaint. Other than that, Janeal Falor has written an amazing debut novel and I can’t wait to see more of her work in the future. Especially with that huge cliffhanger ending!
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.