"Dark Shores" by Danielle L. Jensen

This book was an unexpected gem. After the fiasco with the Otherworld audio book (see my earlier review), I checked out Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen. The story immediately pulled me in. It is a YA fantasy with a very interesting world based on the Greco-Roman civilization. The main male character Marcus is a legionnaire whose service to the Empire involves exploring and conquering new lands. The main female lead Teriana comes from the seafaring nation called Maarin. Her people are the only ones who possess the secret knowledge of how to cross the sea to Dark Shores – an area of the world where the Empire would like to extend its reach.

The book is filled with political intrigue, betrayals and manipulations. The world is expansive and complex. The characters are interesting and the story is action packed and fast moving. I really enjoyed the adventure Marcus and Teriana embark on. The book is the setup for a much larger story. There is definitely going to be a sequel and I for one cannot wait to see where the story goes.

One note on the audio book. The book alternates Teriana’s and Marcus’ points of view, and the audio book is read by two actors. The male voice was fine, but the female voice actor, especially in the beginning, sounded almost like a computer reading the text: very emotionless and with a machine like inflection. I am not sure when the next book comes out, but I will likely opt for reading it rather than listening. Overall, 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend this book.

"Twice in a Blue Moon" by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is a master of writing fluffy romance stories that you can immerse yourself in for an evening or two. It is actually a writing duo so technically I should have said "they are," but I am not going to dwell on it since the pen name is that of a single person.

Twice in a Blue Moon features a second chance romance. Tate and Sam first meet on a trip to London when she is 18 and he is 21. Things go horribly wrong and now 14 years later they meet again. Second chance romances are hard to pull off. The reader needs to be able to understand that whatever happened in the past could be overcome in order for the relationship to work. For me, in this particularly plot, it worked ok, but not perfectly. I think their first go at it in London was already not very realistic, and the second chance was even less so.

The implausibility aside, what I really liked about the story is the setting and the atmosphere: the movie set, the filming and the behind the scenes look into how fake and PR-driven the life of celebrities can be. Tate's dad was particularly hard for me to understand. He just epitomizes everything that is bad about Hollywood and the celebrity culture. Think, an egomaniac obsessed with staying famous despite the pain he causes other people. I also think the authors did a good job keeping the reader in suspense as to which way to story will go, which made it an even quicker read. This was overall an enjoyable book. 3 out 5 stars.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com.

"Fireborne" by Rosaria Munda

This year, I have been reading a lot of excellent YA fantasy novels. Fireborne is another one that I really enjoyed and highly recommend. The story, according to the author, is inspired by Virgil’s Aeneid and Plato’s Republic. Thus, the world in terms of social class divisions, clothing and customs appears to be very Greco-Roman, although there is also a mention of Highlands/Lowlands that felt more Scottish-inspired. The country – Calleopolis – is located on an island, and has historically been ruled by dragon riders called the dragonborn. However, 10 years prior to the events of the book, some of the patricians from the ruling family’s inner circle led a revolt and brought down the monarchy.

The book is written from the point of view of two orphans. Lee is the youngest  and the only surviving son of the last dragonborn ruler, whose identity remains a secret; and Annie is a former serf whose family was killed by a dragon rider. Lee and Annie, the two misfits at the orphanage, become close friends They are later selected to be part of the elite group of dragon riding guardians meant to protect the country and form the new regime's ruling body.

I really liked this book. I was particularly impressed by Rosaria Munda’s descriptions of the first dragon riding tournament. This book is not all action. There is a lot about politics and structure of the society. At the center of the story, there is an epic moral struggle that Lee faces as he continues to hide his true identity. His character in particular is reminiscent of classical heroes both in terms of his moral courage and strength and the truly impossible situation he finds himself in. Annie’s character undergoes a lot of growth throughout the novel as well. She learns to be confident in her own skin and really shines towards the end as the leader she never thought she was cut out to be. 5 out of 5 stars. I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com

"Otherworld" by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

I honestly cannot recall a time when I did not finish a particular book because I found the mind of the narrator too unbearable to dwell in for a few hours.  Well, there is truly a first for everything. I downloaded Otherworld by Jason Segel as an audiobook to listen to during a recent weekend drive to another city. I like his middle grade series called Nightmares! and wanted to check out his other work.

Otherworld is supposed to be the YA version of a story in the vein of Ready Player One, which I loved. A few minutes into the book, it became very clear that the main character from whose point of view the book is written, cannot get his mind out of the gutter for even a second. I kept cringing at his descriptions and both my husband and I kept glancing at each other in disbelief. Thankfully, our teenage daughter was not particularly interested in listening to the book and had her earphones on.  We finally decided to quit midway through chapter two when the main character was about to pull a particularly cringe worthy prank on his neighbors.

Perhaps the book gets better later on. There are certainly very positive reviews on Goodreads, and it clearly merited two sequels. I did not stick around to find out, and based on the first two chapters cannot imagine the main character’s thinking would elevate above his waistline. 1 star out of 5.

"The Grace Year" by Kim Liggett

The Grace Year is a dystopian YA novel in the vein of The Handmaid's Tale and The Lord of Flies. Our main character Tierney James lives in a closed community that vaguely reminds me of puritan villages of colonial America. Men are in charge of all aspects of life. Women are either obedient wives, or if not chosen for marriage, lead lives of hard labor in the fields or one of the mills. Those who are punished for any transgression are banished to the outskirts and live as prostitutes.

Tierney assumes that no one will select her as their future wife and looks forward to being a laborer in the field. She is much more comfortable with nature than with people. Thus, she is shocked when her father presents her with a veil, which means that someone has chosen her as his future wife.

The people in the village believe that women are full of magic and possess supernatural powers. Girls who turn 16 are sent away from the village for the entire year - called the grace year - to live in a camp in the wild and expel their magic. This year it is Tierney's turn to join with other sixteen year old girls and depart the village for a year. Talking about the grace year is forbidden so none of them really know what to expect. They only know that not all of them will come back, and those who do return, will come back scarred both physically and emotionally.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. I do believe it is better to go into it knowing as little about the plot as possible. Liggett's writing is very suspenseful and discovering what happens next is part of what made this novel appealing to me. The only reason I did not rate this book 5 stars is because some of Tierney's views seemed too unrealistic to me. For an uneducated young girl who grew up in a closed, superstitious society, she tends to think in a way that would suggests she's had exposure to more radical ideas and ways of thinking, and those are simply not present in the novel. So whenever that happened, it tended to grate a bit on my enjoyment of the novel. 4 out 5 stars. I definitely recommend this book.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com