‘A Treason of Thorns’ Book Review

England has six great and magical houses. Burleigh, being one of those houses. The house belongs to the Sterling family. Violet’s father was arrested for treason as he tried to free the house from the king’s rule. Leaving Violet as the last in the Sterling line. She has the chance to complete her father’s mission or do as the king says and let it be.

Violet was like any other seventeen, they’re always seventeen, year old young adult, fantasy heroine. She was immature and selfish at times but again, we have to remember that she is a teenager and that comes with the territory. I just felt like she did not change or grow throughout the novel, she was rather stagnant and that can be said for the side characters as well.

I always enjoy an English setting. This book never states when it explicitly takes place but I would say sometime in the 1800s by the art that is inside of the dust jacket. I could be wrong though. Again, that could have played a lot into the plot by giving us a time period and letting the readers imagination of that time add more to the story.

The writing was fast paced and this was an easy read. It is obvious this book does not take place in modern times so I wish that the dialogue did not have a modern twist to it but that did not really take anything away from the story; just a personal thought.

The plot that is given to the reader is a fascinating one. It is unique the only thing that it could truly remind me of is ‘Time Keeper’ by Tara Sim. I had so many questions thought and that results on not enough world building and not enough knowledge on the magic system that is at play here. It would be more understandable if this was the first book in a series but it is not, this is a standalone novel. There just needed to be more information for the reader to get a better understanding of this universe.

The characters were not anything new to the genre, if you have read any other recent young adult fantasy than you are more than aware of these traits. The setting of an English manor is always one that peaks my interest and if you like gothic or classic British literature then you will probably enjoy this setting. The writing was fast paced and easy to read. The plot was something new but just was not none properly, there was not enough building or foundation. An average read.

2 out 5 stars.

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‘Shatter the Sky’ Book Review

Maren’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the Aurati, prophets for the emperor. Maren has to do everything in her power to get Kaia back… that includes stealing a dragon. She becomes an apprentice in a faraway kingdom to one of the women that took her love. Maren uncovers all kinds of secrets about princes and empires all while trying to save Kaia from a terrible end.

The characters in this were like the characters in every other young adult fantasy novel on the shelf. Seventeen, outcast, and on a mission, that describes Maren and most fantasy heroines. In an honesty she a was a bit of a Mary Sue. This book was nothing new and I will continue to say that throughout this review.

World building was one of the pluses for this novel. The start a book really shows you how this world is and how the emperor rules with an iron fist. I just wish that there would have been a map somewhere in this book. There might be in other editions but not in the Litjoy Crate version!

The writing was not anything special. It seemed like the characters teleported a lot. Again, there was no map so I am not sure the distances of each kingdom but the characters made it seem like it would be a long way and then they would get to said location in five pages. I don’t know.

The plot has all the common tropes of the fantasy genre. Saving someone taken by evil forces, a tyrant ruler, a lost prince, the chosen one, love triangles, all of that! Everything that readers have seen and read before. It brought nothing new to the table.

I feel as though this was not intriguing for me. The moments that were supposed to be big plot twists, they didn’t wow me, I was just like ‘okay, cool.” Nothing too exciting. This has just all been done before. Lots of common tropes.

This was an average read for me. It was not bad it was just like I had already read this story before. I think if you are a fan of young adult fantasy novels, like Girls of Paper and Fire, then you might enjoy this one. I will not be picking up the second book, I think it will be very similar to this one just with some of the roles reversed.

3 out of 5 stars.

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‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ Book Review

Lara Jean wrote a letter to each boy that she has fallen in love with, she never had the guts to actually confess her feelings to any of these guys. One day. the letters all get sent out, Lara Jean has no idea who sent them. All the guys from her past start to confront her about her feelings and the letters they received.

This book might have the most relatable characters that I have ever read. I could see a piece of me, especially in my teens, in each of these characters. Lara Jean just reminded me so much of myself, being a sentimental person and being too afraid to actually get into a relationship (cue the sweating emoji). She definitely has to be an INFP personality type, a little dreamer. Out of the guys, Peter was my favorite. I just like he had more depth to him and was built better as a character. He was not perfect, he had his flaws. Josh, I felt like was a Gary Sue. He was just too perfect that it annoyed me. I felt like he had zero flaws and was just every girl’s dream guy.

The atmosphere was like any other contemporary romance. I liked that it was set in Virginia as that is a state that I am quite familiar with.

The writing was once again like any romance novel. Some of the things that the character’s said, I think were too childish and not what sixteen year olds would say but that isn’t too big of a deal. Just a small thing to either laugh or roll your eyes at.

Short chapters and relatable characters. That is basically all I need for a book to intrigue me to pick it up and read the next handful of chapters in one sitting.

Logic wise, I think this was all fine. Nothing really stood out as being too totally unrealistic. I think this book is very believable and could happen at any high school. I’m just glad that I never had the idea to write letters to my crushes.

Oops. I just realized that I forgot to leave in what I thought about the plot. This is such a cool plot with the letters and then the guys finding out about the feelings. I think that is very creative and I cannot think of any other novel with that kind of premise. I will admit though, I did predict who sent the letters out and the reasoning behind why they did it.

This book was a surprise for me. It falls under almost all the categories of tropes and genres that I do not like. However, I LOVED it. Going in with low expectations really did me well this time and I am so glad about that. This book and its movie counterpart were really popular, my senior year of high school, so I was nervous that the hype would kill it for me but it didn’t. I will be continuing this series but I don’t think that I will watch the movie but who knows!

4 out of 5 stars.

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‘When the Sky Fell on Splendor’ Book Review

“Just Kids. Kids, pretending to be okay in a world that wasn’t.”
Chapter Thirty-five.

Six teenagers in small town Ohio are all linked together because of a town tragedy and how it impacted each of their families. This group of kids call themselves ‘The Ordinary”. They have a rule that they won’t talk about the event that brought them all together and only do things that make them happy so they can forget all about the grief that took over the town of Splendor. The Ordinary have a Youtube channel where they post fake paranormal videos and what not but one night when they are going out to film one of their episodes, the unexpected happens. They catch video of something falling from the sky and it changes everything that they have ever known.

I was not a huge fan of these characters, even though I wanted to be. I was getting all the boys confused from the get go. They are all supposed to have quirky personality traits but I feel like you could have morphed them all into one and it would have been fine. I didn’t really like Franny, I just found her kind of annoying. There was not one exact thing that I can think of off the top of my head, I just didn’t think she was likeable. Characters get a two out of five.

“Nothing in this universe could ever be deleted, only hidden.”
Chapter Thirty-six.

The atmosphere was alright. Splendor is just like any other small and ordinary town in the United States. I feel like this had to happen in a small town though, it would not be as fun in a big city. Three out of five.

I expected more from this author to be honest with you. I have heard so many people rave about ‘Beach Read’, so I thought the writing must be great. It was an average writing style, it got the job done, nothing impressive. Some paragraphs were very nice and emotional but some paragraphs are not going to make up for a 350 page novel. Once again, a three out of five.

“How many billions of things had to happen just right to give me this ordinary life.”
Chapter Thirty-six.

This is a very interesting plot and one that is right up my alley. It is a coming of age story, check mark. Aliens, another check. Compared to Stranger Things, basically a bingo. Again, this book is just ordinary like the group of friends. I am not that all impressed by it and I feel like the plot we had going for 90% of the books just got all thrown away with the ending. I don’t think that this book was leading towards that at all. There’s so many things I could say but it would be spoilers. We will just leave a three star here.

The intrigue fell flat as well. The first half of the book was so slow. I did not know when the story would actually start happening. Then we got to that fifty percent mark and it all started happening and the pacing was great. I was making theories/predictions throughout my time reading.. I got all of them right. Yes, that is fun getting to know that I was right but also makes it boring when I knew what would would happen. 3 out of five.

My logic complaint, I do not know if this falls in the right category but we will just put it here. It’s the ending thing again, I guess it works with the grief aspect of the story but I feel like it just made the rest of the story seem pointless. I think there were some loose ends with some of the plots as well. They just were not wrapped up. 2 or 3? Let’s do a 2.5

This was an average read for me, I mean, I kind of feel like I wasted my time but it is too late to complain about that now. I feel like this book would have been good with just Franny and Remy but instead we got a whole pack of underdeveloped characters. The atmosphere was just a small town, nothing marvelous about it. The writing was like any ole book. The plot was really cool I just wish we would have got a better ending. This was an average read, nothing more to it.

The final rating for this book is a 2.75 out of 5 stars.

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‘Game Seven’ Review

Game Seven tells us the story of Julio Ramírez Jr., a teenage shortstop from Cuba. His father has already defected the country by playing in an exhibition game in Baltimore and leaving the team to get signed by the Miami Marlins. Julio is given the choice to leave Cuba like his father, to find freedom in the United States or stay in Cuba with his mother and sister. It is the hardest choice that he will ever have to make.

Let’s start out with the characters. At first, Julio really annoyed me and I felt like all he did was complain. I had to remind myself that he is sixteen years old and going through crazy life changes. That really put it into perspective for me. I think the characters in this book are greatly realistic and relatable even though they are not all likeable. I really liked Luis, Julio’s cousin, though! Characters get a four out of five.

The atmosphere was like nothing I had ever read before. It was very fascinating and different. I would give it once again a four out of five.

The writing in this novel was not anything great. First off, I am not a huge fan of first person perspective, please keep it in third person. The next thing, I felt like it was very much, “I did this and then I did that.” Just telling and not showing. The writing gets a three out of five.

A story of baseball in Cuba and how difficult it is to go from there to play in the MLB in America? The perfect plot. So many of the players we love and watch have gone through quite similar situations. I just cannot imagine being in a refugee situation. I think more people need to see how hard it is to come into this country, especially from one like Cuba. The plot makes this very much worth the read. That being said the plot gets a five out of five.

There is a downfall in this book though and that is the logic. I find it unrealistic a player around the age of forty would get a contract in MLB and be one of the great pitchers. There were a few other things but I won’t go into all of them here. The logic gets a two out of five.

Intrigue, definitely important. ‘Game Seven’, had me like most baseball series, wanting to know what was going to happen next. Maybe there was a little too much intrigue though. I was not really satisfied with the ending of the book. I think there should have been maybe another thirty to forty pages. Intrigue gets a four out of five.

I did enjoy Game Seven and I think that most fans of the game will too. However, I think you should at least be a casual fan of the sport so that you have a better understanding of what you are reading and know all the calls and positions on the diamond. What is your favorite sports book?

3.5 out of 5 stars.