popthebutterfly's reviews
2491 reviews

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher on netgalley. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Raven and the Dove

Author: Kaitlyn Davis

Book Series: The Raven and the Dove Book 1

Rating: 1/5

Publication Date: March 9, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, DNF-ed

Publisher: Amazon Services

Pages: 506

Amazon Link

Synopsis: A princess longing to be free...

On the dawn of her courtship trials, Princess Lyana Aethionus knows she should be focused on winning her perfect mate, yet her thoughts wander to the open sky waiting at the edge of her floating kingdom. One final adventure calls. Upon fleeing the palace, the last thing she expects to find is a raven prince locked in a death match with a dragon.

A bastard aching to belong...

Reviled son of a dead king, Rafe would do anything for his beloved half-brother, Prince Lysander Taetanus, including posing as him in the upcoming courtship trials. When a dragon interrupts their secret exchange, he orders his studious sibling to run. After suffering a fatal blow, Rafe is saved by a beautiful dove who possesses forbidden magic, just like him.

Fate brought them together, now destiny will tear them apart...

Unknown to the world above, on the foggy sea ten thousand feet below, a young king fights a forgotten war. He believes Lyana is the queen prophesied to save the world, and with the help of his favored spy, hidden deep in the highest ranks of the dove royal house, he will stop at nothing to have her.

Three shocking betrayals. Two star-crossed lovers. One unforgettable journey. If you like fierce heroines, brooding heroes, forbidden romance, and action-packed magical adventures with twists you'll never see coming, don't miss The Raven and the Dove!

Review: I had to DNF this book. I felt like I had read this same story before. I am NOT saying that this book is plagiarizing another work but I feel like this book is just a rehashing of the same plot points in a different manner. I’m aware it’s a Tristian and Isolde retelling, but for some reason this book just feels so old to me. The characters aren’t appealing to me and the world building is everywhere. Stuff just feels like it’s thrown into your face without warning. It’s a bit of a chaotic read and it was really slow. I made it about 38% through before I had to quit reading.

Verdict: Not for me, but might be for you!

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Mountains Sing

Author: Nguyen Phan Que Mai (I can’t do the accent marks to properly spell their name, so sorry!)

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: Vietnamese Main Family!

Publication Date: March 17, 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 16+ (war, violence, slight gore, family conflict)

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Pages: 352

Amazon Link

Synopsis: With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore not just her beloved country, but her family apart.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Việt Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope.

The Mountains Sing is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s first novel in English.

Review: I thought this book was very well written and almost lyrical in how it was written. The book is a multi-generational book (kind of like Roots) where this family weaves their story together. It’s a wonderful tale that describes the absolute horrors, but absolute strength of people in war time.

However, I did feel like the characters didn’t connect with me. I’m not sure if it was because we were just forced into each character or if it was just the slow pacing that didn’t make me connect with the book, but I kind of want to reread it to try and connect with them again.

Verdict: Definitely recommend!

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Witches of Ash and Ruin

Author: E. Latimer

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5

Diversity: LGBT friendly! Bi main character!

Publication Date: March 3, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 15+ (murder, being outed, family issues, violence, some gore)

Publisher: Freeform

Pages: 384

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch-plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader.

And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester-an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer's motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don't stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.

With razor-sharp prose and achingly real characters, E. Latimer crafts a sweeping, mesmerizing story of dark magic and brutal mythology set against a backdrop of contemporary Ireland that's impossible to put down.

Review: I really liked this book for the most part. The book did well to have excellent LGBT representation, and it was based on Celtic folklore. The setting was well detailed and the family dynamics were amazing!

However, there are 5 POVs and it was a lot to take in. The book was hard to get into and it was hard to connect with the characters. The book almost felt forced to tell a story.

Verdict: It was a good book, but not for me.

Disclaimer: I bought my own copy and received one from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Ember Queen

Author: Laura Sebastian

Book Series: Ash Princess

Diversity: m/m relationship, f/f relationship, asexual main character

Rating: 5/5

Publication Date: February 4, 2020

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 512

Recommended Age: 16+ (Rape mention, Gore, Violence, and One Sex scene)

Synopsis: The thrilling conclusion to the series that began with the instant New York Times bestseller “made for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sabaa Tahir” (Bustle), Ember Queen is an epic fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

Princess Theodosia was a prisoner in her own country for a decade. Renamed the Ash Princess, she endured relentless abuse and ridicule from the Kaiser and his court. But though she wore a crown of ashes, there is fire in Theo’s blood. As the rightful heir to the Astrean crown, it runs in her veins. And if she learned nothing else from her mother, she learned that a Queen never cowers.

Now free, with a misfit army of rebels to back her, Theo must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy: the new Kaiserin. Imbued with a magic no one understands, the Kaiserin is determined to burn down anyone and everything in her way.

The Kaiserin’s strange power is growing stronger, and with Prinz Søren as her hostage, there is more at stake than ever. Theo must learn to embrace her own power if she has any hope of standing against the girl she once called her heart’s sister.

Review: I really enjoyed the ending to this trilogy! It was well developed, well built, and the book kept me on edge the entire time. I'm happy with Theo's development and I'm satisfied with the ending.

The only issue I had was that the very end scene was a bit chaotic. I had to reread it twice to understand it.

Verdict: I love this series!

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Whispers From the Depths

Author: C.W. Briar

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Publication Date: February 19, 2019

Genre: Fantasy

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, dnf-ed

Publisher: Uncommon Universes Press

Pages: 292

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Joyful and blessed are Voice-bearers, for the Heavens have set them apart.

As Whisperers gifted with the Voice, Betka and her people are enslaved. Only they can control the dangerous spirits that haunt the waters, but they are forced to serve under cruel taskmasters. Betka has little hope of freedom from her service or her own bitterness.

They toil for the goodness of others.

A powerful water spirit terrorizes the castle where Betka's sister is serving. Betka is assigned to the crew sailing to face the foe, and she fears for the only family she has left. There is no mercy for the Whisperer who fails in their task.

Rage is found nowhere in them.

In the beleaguered, flooded castle, a new threat awaits—a magic more powerful and horrifying than anything they have ever seen. Loyalties will be tested, and enemies will become desperate allies.

Betka is their only hope of escape—if she can subdue the wrath that endangers them all.

Review: I had to DNF this book as well. While I felt like this book started strong with a compelling plot, the books characters went in a direction and I couldn’t connect with them any further. The book is well written, with compelling characters and the world building was pretty good, but I couldn’t connect with it unfortunately.

Verdict: Not for me, but it might be for you!

Disclaimer: I bought this book but I regret it. @bookofthemonth and @sohopress, do better next time to select books that don’t present awful messages to young impressionable minds.

Book: All of Us With Wings

Author: Michelle Ruiz Keil

Book Series: Standalone (thank god)

Rating: 1/5

Diversity: Mexican-American main character

Publication Date: June 18, 2019

Genre: YA Magical Realism

Recommended Age: 18+ (drug use (heroin, cocaine, etc), sexual grooming, statutory rape and rape TW, underage relationship presented in a positive light (ew))

Publisher: Soho Press

Pages: 360

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Michelle Ruiz Keil’s YA fantasy debut about love, found family, and healing is an ode to post-punk San Francisco through the eyes of a Mexican-American girl.

Seventeen-year-old Xochi is alone in San Francisco, running from her painful past: the mother who abandoned her, the man who betrayed her. Then one day, she meets Pallas, a precocious twelve-year-old who lives with her rock-star family in one of the city’s storybook Victorians. Xochi accepts a position as Pallas’s live-in governess and quickly finds her place in their household, which is relaxed and happy despite the band's larger-than-life fame.

But on the night of the Vernal Equinox, as a concert afterparty rages in the house below, Xochi and Pallas accidentally summon a pair of ancient creatures devoted to avenging the wrongs of Xochi’s adolescence. She would do anything to preserve her new life, but with the creatures determined to exact vengeance on those who’ve hurt her, no one is safe—not the family she’s chosen, nor the one she left behind.

Review: I read the whole of this book and I’m still rating it a 1/5. This book has been getting a lot of hate for “pedophilia” and while that is not the right term, there is still some very wrong things in this book. It’s romantizing statutory rape and it presents this “relationship” as normal when it’s controlling and sets kids to be victims of rape. The love interest is basically grooming the character throughout the novel and it’s fetishizing a relationship between a nanny (17) and a “lonely father” (29). I can’t imagine how this got past all of the revisions and stuff it takes to get a novel published. Did no one look at this book and think how wrong it was, how wrong the message it was sending to young children was? When you publish YA you have a responsibility to make sure stuff like this doesn’t get out there. It’s another thing when it presents a positive message about it versus a negative message, and this presents this type of relationship in a positive light. And as much as the book is beautiful (the prose is awesome and the plot besides the sexual grooming is good), the message it presents makes the whole book basic trash. As someone who has trained in a rape crisis center and has studied the psychology behind criminals who do this and has many friends and family members who have went through varying degrees of this, I can’t tell you enough how you need to keep this away from anyone under the age of 18.

Verdict: Do not buy this book.

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors! All opinions are my own.

Book: Raging Sea

Author: Michael Buckley

Book Series: Undertow Book 2

Rating: 4.5/5

Publication Date: February 2, 2016

Genre: YA Dystopian

Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, gore, some sexual content,

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Pages: 384

Amazon Link

Synopsis: In the first book of Michael Buckley’s Undertow trilogy, the Alpha arrived and the world was never the same. At the start of the second book, most of south Brooklyn is in ruins and the nation is terrified. Nearly everyone that Lyric Walker loves is either missing or presumed dead, including the mesmerizing prince Fathom. It’s up to Lyric to unite the Alpha before the second wave of a cataclysmic invasion wipes out mankind for good.

Review: I thought this was a pretty good sequel! It kept me on my toes and it kept up the terror from the end of the first book. The introduction of the previous characters were well done and it was well summed up and helped me remember what the first book was about. The writing was also well done and the world building was amazing as well.

However, I do think that the pacing waned here and there and that the book had maybe too many plot twists, as sometimes I got whiplash and had to think about what I was reading. Also, I do have to complain about some parts of this book. At one point of the book it uses colors to talk about race (it was a small part, where the author through the main character talks about people of all races and creeds being in a room and in danger) and I felt uncomfortable when that happened. The other part is the pinching of the nose and tilting up the head to cure a nosebleed. That’s not accurate and the nurse should have known better, but the nurse was an awful person so maybe that’s why she did that wrong lol.

Verdict: It was good! Definitely recommend this series.

Disclaimer: I received the e-arc from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Gilded Ruins

Author: Chantal Gadoury

Book Series: Blinding Night Book 2

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: May 12, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (romance, slight sexual content, slight violence)

Publisher: The Parliament House

Pages: 295

Amazon Link

Synopsis: The Story Continues. . .

Summer and Darce are summoned by the order of Zeus himself to travel to the home of the Gods: Mount Olympus, where they're to face even more ancient Gods and Goddesses.

Summer braces to confront her mother again, illuminating secrets about the truth of her tragic pasts, while also persuading Zeus to allow her to stay with the God of the Underworld, her true love - Darce.

Aboard Poseidon's luxury yacht, Summer meets her mythological family, while also uncovering what exactly happened to her past lives - and the true roles her mother and Darce played.

When Darce and Summer suddenly find themselves separated, Summer must find her inner power and unite them together, before her mortal time runs out.

Review: I loved the first book and the love for the second book did not waiver. I loved the characters and felt they were fairly well developed. The book was full of pop culture references which made for a fun read and the book did well with the world building.

However, I felt the book was too short in my opinion, which makes the pacing a bit too fast for me. I think the author could have expanded on the book another 200 pages and it would have worked great!

Verdict:

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Last Memoria

Author: Rachel Emma Snow

Book Series: Memoria Duology

Rating: 3.5/5

Publication Date: May 10, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 15+ (memory loss, stealing memories, slight violence, some romance,… did I say memory loss?)

Publisher: Indie Published

Pages: 253

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies.

There's nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to take them to keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when she runs into Falon.

Falon has a six month void in his memories that he's desperate to restore. He doesn't know why they were taken or what they contained, nor why the man he loves is acting so cagily about what happened during that time. He hopes to use Sarilla to get back his stolen memories and doesn't care what she wants or why she's desperate to escape. She will help him get them back, whether she wants to or not.

Review: Overall, this was a good book. The plot is interesting and the book forces you to think constantly throughout the book. The book had okay character development, I felt it was too rushed though and didn’t give the character enough to realistically make the change. Overall, I really thought the book was intriguing.

However, I did have some issues with this book. I feel like it didn’t have any worldbuilding. There was a lot of room to expand on this world and I felt like it wasn’t taken advantage of. The pace was also incredibly fast and it felt like it was running a race.

Verdict: It’s a good story, but needs to be polished a bit more.

Disclaimer: I received this book from an owlcrate box! Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Author: Lewis Carroll

Book Series: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Book 1

Rating: 2/5

Publication Date: November 26, 1885

Genre: Children’s Classics

Recommended Age: 10+ (violence, slight gore, scary moments)

Publisher: Public Domain Books

Pages: 96

Amazon Link

Synopsis: After a tumble down the rabbit hole, Alice finds herself far away from home in the absurd world of Wonderland. As mind-bending as it is delightful, Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel is pure magic for young and old alike.

Review: For the most part this was a cute tale. The world building was fantastic and whimsical. The characters complex and well developed. The book is full of great writing and I can see why a lot of people love this story and how it’s maintained its popularity year after year.

However, I can’t read this book without thinking of Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for the book and it creeps me out to no end. Sometimes people are able to put that behind them when they read books by controversial authors, but I couldn’t for this read and it made reading this book hard.

Verdict: Ehhh not my fave.