"The Other Bennet Sister" by Janice Hadlow

As an avid reader of Jane Austen's novels, I am always looking for good-quality fan-fiction or fiction based on Austen's novels. The Other Bennet Sister focuses on the middle sister from Pride and Prejudice - the plain and bookish Mary. In the original novel as well as in film adaptions, Mary is annoyingly prudish, sanctimonious, overly serious, and strikingly unpretty - a caricature of a grouchy spinster in making.

About a third of the novel is dedicated to the events that transpired in Pride and Prejudice. However, rather than recounting the story, Hadlow gives us a glimpse into Mary's thoughts and feelings. She does a great job explaining why Mary is the way she is and provides justifications for her behavior, including her disastrous performance at the Netherfield ball and her marked admiration of the unlikable Mr. Collins.

We then jump two years into the future. All Bennet sisters but Mary are married, their father is dead, Mr. Collins and Charlotte take possession of Longborne, and Mrs. Bennet moves in with Mr. Bingley and Jane. Mary, however, cannot tolerate living under the same roof with her mother and Mr. Bingley's sister Caroline. Between her mother's sharp criticisms and Caroline's scornful bullying, Mary's existence is entirely unbearable. Only when she distances herself from her mother and sisters and their expectations, is she able to finally be herself and seek out her one path to happiness.

I thought this book was an excellent take on Austen's well-beloved novel. Mary is not a likable character in the original book. But why is she so? Hadlow masterfully examines the fate of a girl who is not as beautiful or as lively as her four sisters and their mother. She is bookish, intelligent, and shy. She wears glasses, does not know how to dress, and is socially awkward. Being constantly badgered by her mother, and laughed at by younger sisters, makes her even more awkward and shy. She is painfully unhappy and scared that her life will never be more than existing at the mercy of her relatives.

I also loved how Hadlow zeros in on social conventions of the time, especially as they pertained to women. A well-behaved girl could never write to an unmarried gentleman even though she knows they had a misunderstanding and yearns to provide an explanation. All she can do is wait and hope that the young man will one day pay her a visit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and highly recommend it to all Austen fans. 4 out of 5 stars. My only complaint about the writing is that it was too long and slow in the beginning.

"The Honey-Don't List" by Christina Lauren

This is the fourth book that I've read by the co-author duo who go by a combined pen name of Christina Lauren. I must say their novels have been getting progressively better, and this one is their best one yet. I am honestly scared to read any of their earlier work! The reason I think it is their best work is because it is so much more than a romance. I think hints of their branching into more than romance were in their previous novel Twice in a Blue Moon, even though I did think the plot of that book was not believable.

The Honey-Don't List tackles the issues so many will relate to: being stuck in a stressful job, having an extremely demanding and abusive boss, being unappreciated and overworked, feeling lonely and desperate. The book also takes a look at the underbelly of reality TV and the hypocrisy and lies some celebrities end up living. In this book the two main characters Carey and James work for an HGTV celebrity couple Mellissa and Russel Tripp, whose marriage and professional life has become a hot mess. Carey and James end up babysitting them and trying to keep them from making fools of themselves in the public, as the duo launches a new Netflix show and starts a promotion tour of their new book on relationships (out of all things).

I loved this book. The story was interesting. The characters were relatable and real. It had the right amount of romance in it, and I appreciated all the other more substantive issues the authors tackled in the book. My one complaint is that it was hard for me to distinguish between Carey and James. But for the headings of the chapters, I would not be able to tell which on of them was "speaking". Nevertheless, 5 out of 5 stars. This was a pleasant surprise.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com

"Wicked Saints" by Emily Duncan

Last year, this book was highly anticipated by many in the YA book community. It is a dark fantasy with hints of being steeped in Slavic mythology. Many fans of Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone trilogy were hoping to finally get a love story between a girl who is just discovering her magical powers and a dark powerful mage. It took me a long time to get to this novel. The reviews were not overly favorable. But with a sequel coming out in April, I wanted to finally judge for myself what this book was all about.

With the world focused on a global COVID-19 pandemic these last few weeks, I had a hard time concentrating and reading has been a challenge. I had trouble staying focused on the book and ended up listening to most of it on audio. One note on the audio narration: the readers use "Slavic" accents when they read the words of the characters. It is a distraction. I think I would much rather not hear the accents. Otherwise, the audio book was fine. Now to the story.

There are two main nations at war in this book: Kolyazin and Tranavia. Kolyazin worships a pantheon of gods, who once in a while pick a cleric from among the people and endow him or her with magical powers. Nadya is such a cleric who was brought up in a distant monastery in the Kolyazi mountains. She hears gods when she prays and is able to work magic when the gods answer her prayers. Tranavians, on the other hand, have forsaken the gods. They rely on blood magic, harnessing the power of their own blood.

Despite the fact that many names in the book sound Slavic, there is nothing truly Slavic about this world or mythology. The world is also extremely dark. In the beginning, Nadya believes that Tranavians are an abomination, using blood magic and denying the gods. But as the plot moves along, we slowly learn that the gods are not what they seem, and perhaps not as infallible and divine.

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. It definitely had its moments. The plot did have some interesting twists. However, I am not a fan of Emily Duncan's writing. Some of her sentences were confusing, and overall, I had a hard time immersing myself in the world. The accents, the garbled up Russian/Slavic names and the writing style kept pulling me out of the story. I do, however, already have an e-ARC of the second book and will be reviewing it soon.

"Aurora Rising" by Anne Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I started listening to this book on audio, but found myself so absorbed by the story that ended up checking out a hard copy from the library. I absolutely loved this book. It was funny, engaging, with lots of action and interesting characters; there is also a promise of a romance.

This book kept giving me the Guardians of the Galaxy vibes. There is a crew of misfits that is sent on a seemingly innocuous mission, just to find themselves at the center of an ancient intergalactic war. My favorite character by far is Kal, a stoic Syldrathi warrior who feels an inexplicable Pull towards Auri, a human girl who drifted in what we would call a worm hole (the Fold in the book) for 200 years. 5 out of 5 stars. I will definitely read the sequel when it comes out in May.

"The Raven and the Dove" by Kaitlyn Davis

This book was a pleasant surprise. I honestly did not expect to like it as much as I did. The Raven and the Dove is the first book in a new YA romance fantasy series by Kaitlyn Davis. The world we read about is inhabited by winged humans (avians) who live on several floating islands. No one knows what exists on the ground below. No one ever ventures beyond the mist that they see from their floating world for fear of dragons who once in a while attack lower floating islands. We follow four main perspectives in this novel: Lyana, a dove princess, Cassi, an owl orphan and Lyana's friend, and two ravens: Xander, the raven prince and Rafi, his bastard half-brother.

The novel begins with the mating contest: all major houses with princes and princesses of mating age get together for a show of skills and forging of new alliances. The Ravens have not been successful of securing a mate for the last several years. They are therefore determined to turn their luck around.

One thing I'd like to note about this book is that it is filled with deceptions and lies. Pretty much every main character is deceiving someone who trusts them completely at some point in this book. Because there are so many manipulations going on and everyone is pursuing their own agenda, the author is able to keep the reader interested in what is coming next. At the same time, I think so much deceit can be a turn-off for some readers.

Overall, I did enjoy this book (but not all the lying), and will definitely read the sequel which is coming out very soon in September. 4 out of 5 stars.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com

“Every Reason We Shouldn’t” by Sarah Fujimura

I really enjoyed this quick-paced and heartwarming YA romance about two skaters. Olivia is a 15-year old figure skater whose attempts to venture into adult competitions has not gone well. She is now attempting to be a normal teenager by attending the local high school for the first time and working part-time at an ice-rink that her parents own. Her life gets more interesting (and complicated) when Jonah comes to train at the rink. He is a competitive speed skater and is all about winning. He also starts attending the same high school and naturally gravitates to the lunch table where all the Asian/bi-racial kids sit at.

I zoomed through this book. I liked all the little cultural tidbits that the author included about Japanese and Korean families, in particular comforting foods and desserts. I also liked that this book is so much more than a romance. It is about finding your purpose, your goal in life, but it is also about family, friendships and all of those seemingly insignificant moments that make our life worth living.

I do hope the author will return to Olivia and Jonah’s story. I could definitely read more about them!

5 out of 5 stars.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com