This is the second book in the Wild and Ruin series, which is a paranormal coming-of-age romance trilogy filled with Native American folklore and magic. I really enjoyed this light, addictive and intriguing book, even more than the first one. Compared to the first book, there was much more action this time, and less of the guilt and grief for the loss of Ruby’s mother. There was also more focus on the present than the past and the introduction of two important new characters that both answered some questions and certainly raised a lot of new ones!

The story continued where the first book left us, with Ruby and Ezra now being an official couple and trying to settle for a life in La Luna. Which turned out to be easier said than done, with Ruby’s upcoming graduation and a new internship on a nearby archeological dig at the same time as a series of strange events starts to take place, including the disturbing reappearance of Angel’s father. All these events stirred up a lot of questions for many in town, including Ruby, who also had to deal with the way the professor at the archeological dig unexpectedly affected her.

This second book was a wild ride! There was much more action compared to the first one, and the plot was even more well-developed. And the twists! There were so many new revelations both about the past, the present and the future. I really enjoyed the larger focus on the Aztec myths and the mix of historical setting, folklore and magic. And Ezra! I rooted for him already from the beginning of the first book, but he grew on me even more in this one, and made up for a lot of the not-so-great things Ruby did.

I have some mixed feelings about Ruby. In this book she made some really questionable decisions, that I didn’t agree with at all. But I appreciated her inner dialogue about it and how she admitted her own feelings, even the bad ones of jealousy and selfishness when she should be happy for her close ones.

But all in all, I truly enjoyed this book! Even more than the first one in the series. There was so much going on and so many twists that kept you in suspense throughout it all. Seriously, at the end I just didn’t know what to believe any more! To be honest, I didn’t fully understand how they all ended up where they did in the end and the significance of it, or the events leading up to the ending, but I’m sure Jennifer G. Edelson will explain everything in the final installment of this magical trilogy. I sure can’t wait to find out!

Thank you BookSirens for the free review copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Jennifer G. Edelson

This was such an adorable read! I binge-read this cutie, so smitten by the wonderful characters and fun and charming story. This story had all the things I love the most; a sarcastic and witty bad-ass main character, royals, fake-dating leading to a swoon-worthy adorable romance and wonderful friends and family.

The story follows sixteen-year-old American Daisy Winters, who gets her life turned upside down when her elder sister gets engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Suddenly all of Daisy’s plans are replaced by a Summer to be spent in Scotland with her sister and her royal in-laws and, not to mention, the Royal Wreckers, the Crown Prince’s roguish younger brother’s hilarious friends, under the scrutiny of the Queen herself and the tabloids. After an incident that might cause a royal scandal, Daisy is forced to take part in a fake-dating scheme with Miles, one of the Royal Wreckers. But spending time with stiff Miles turns out not to be as awful as Daisy first anticipates…

I absolutely loved the main character Daisy! I loved her wit and humor and how she never took sh*t from anyone, not even the Queen herself. I loved how witty and badass she was, but also with flaws like a real teenager, and how she could never stop herself from making the most inappropriate jokes and comments. Her attempts to navigate all dos and don’ts in the posh palace surroundings were just hilarious! I also loved how this book was not just a feel-good story, but dealing with problems like being out-shone by your sister, dragged into a life in the spotlight against your will, having your prom photos sold to tabloids by your ex-boyfriend, and (for Miles) having to always cover for your friend since your whole future depended on his family’s support.

My only complaint really is that the story was set in Scotland, without the author clearly having any real knowledge about Scotland. At all. There were so many mistakes and false facts that it got a bit too much. Especially when it affected the story a such; for example, one major thing in the story happened because of the problems to pay medical bills, which doesn’t make sense at all in a Scottish context. Instead of annoying the readers, it would have been much better to simply invent a completely new country (hello Genova!). As an author you are allowed to do that, but you are not really allowed to just be lazy and not bother to learn the basics about the real countries you are writing about.

But that set aside, this book was the ultimate feel-good book with great characters and a charming, fast-paced and addictive story. It was full of humor, witty conversations, hilarious situations and amazing friendships. And the best dad in literature! Seriously, Daisy’s dad slash former rock star was just the sweetest, most hilarious dad I’ve ever met in any book! All in all, Prince Charming was the best kind of light-hearted, easy and utterly charming contemporary stories that put a smile on my face the entire time I read it. It was, simply put, a royally fun read (pun intended…)! Can’t wait to continue this series with the companion book Her Royal Highness about the Crown Prince’s younger queer sister Flora.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

This was such a bittersweet read, the last and final of six books in the magical The Cursed series. It was both so exciting to reach the end of the story and so sad that it was time to say goodbye to Chloe, Trent and Jax and all the other characters I’ve come to love during these six books.

This series has been such a joyful, nostalgic (hello old Twihard me!) guilty pleasure, giving me that same kind of feverish feeling I remember from the first time I read series like Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. The Cursed series actually is something of an homage to Twilight, or rather Twilight meets The Covenant movie in a cute, fast-paced and addictive story full of magic, vampires and a coven of witches on the hunt for revenge.

This final book started off right after the cliffhanger in book five, with the abrupt end to Chloe’s and Trent’s honeymoon when Trent got kidnapped by a sadistic vampire and his psychopathic queen, and Chloe returning home husband-less with Jax. After that initial chocking event though, nothing really exciting happened for a long time, since we were stuck with Chloe waiting for the search hunt to find and bring Trent back to her. I would so much have preferred the narrative to also tell the story of Trent in the captivity and of Jax, Colt and Wyatt searching for him, making it more action-filled than just focusing on the rather slow part with Chloe waiting around and redecorating the house.

When Trent finally did return though, the torture and mind games he’d endured in captivity had made him insecure, possessive and needy. And with Chloe’s pregnancy hormones taking her on an emotional rollercoaster, and the threat of a full-on war against both the Zoya Coven and an army of vampires, life as a newly-wed is not as lovey-dovey as Chloe had hoped for.

“I was Trent’s and I always would be. But between whatever mind games Yolanda had played on him to make him so insecure and my raging pregnancy hormones, it was going to be a long few months. I only hoped we all survived unscathed.”

I really sympathized with Chloe, feeling sorry that she never got to be completely happy. It seemed like every time she and Trent were having a great day, something terrible had to happen to destroy it. Like the pregnancy problems on top of everything... But even though my heart ached for Chloe, it all made the story a bit too slow when we were forced to spend the last months of pregnancy in complete stillness with her. I would have liked for a shift of focus to some of the other characters or to take a leap in time for the action to begin.

But when the action did begin… wow! The last third of the book was just nonstop action with epic endgame battles, full-on supernatural fights between good and evil, and between fathers and sons and brothers, topped with heroic sacrifices, love, grief, heartbreak, family reunions and blissful happiness. The last part of the book had it all! And the ending was so satisfactory, but also so so so heartbreakingly sad. One of the things that happened at the end truly shocked me, I never thought that the author would do that to one of her characters, it really broke my heart! I also would have loved to get more of a HEA for Jax as well, but maybe there is a possibility for a companion book with Jax as the main character? One can always hope!

Even though parts of this book were a bit too slow, it was overall a satisfying and bittersweet conclusion to a wonderful, magical, addictive and thrilling series! I really recommend The Cursed Series to all fans of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. If you loved those series, you will definitely love this one too!

Thank you to the author Kara Leigh Miller for providing me with an ebook copy! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
3.5 epic stars rounding up to 4

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Kara Leigh Miller

This amazing book and its characters have completely captured my heart! Felix Ever After is one of the most beautiful, thought-provoking, heartfelt and raw coming-of-age stories I’ve ever read. It’s so educational and deals with so many important topics, but it’s also such a light, captivating and enjoyable read.

“I’m not flaunting anything. I’m just existing. This is me. I can’t hide myself. I can’t disappear. And even if I could, I don’t fucking want to. I have the same right to be here, I have the same right to exist.”

The story follows seventeen-year-old black trans boy Felix Love, who despite his surname has never been in love and who is afraid that he might be one marginalization too many to ever get his own happily-ever-after. Felix lives with his single dad, after his mother abandoned them when he was younger, and is feeling a lot of pressure to get a scholarship to get into Brown University. To gain extra credits he’s doing a summer art program at a posh Manhattan school together with his best friend Ezra. But this summer will not only be about managing the pressure to create a college application worthy portfolio but about managing life on a wider level and navigating homophobia, his dad’s incomprehension, his own feelings towards a classmate and his best friend, as well as the constant nagging feeling in his chest making him questioning himself and his own identity and the labels attributed to him.

When Felix first could put words on what he was feeling, after reading the book “I am J” by Cris Beam, it was such an epiphany for him:

“Reading about J, it was like... I don’t know, not only did a lightbulb go off in me, but the sun itself came out from behind these eternal clouds, and everything inside me blazed with the realization: I’m a guy.”

But now, a few years in his transition, he’s still on his journey to self-discovery and to feeling at home in his gender identity. I really, really appreciated the part with Felix being happy for the transition and for being a trans boy, but still actively questioning the gender binary. The book was so educational, open and honest, and I got so many insights from the discussions Felix had with himself, his friends and the support group. I also appreciated all open-minded discussions about labels and how they can be useful for some and even offer protection and be a means to understanding and acceptance, while others might find them limiting and difficult, not wanting to use them at all. As Felix’s friend Ezra put it:

“I honestly don’t care that much about labels. I mean, I know they’re important to a lot of people, and I can see why - I’m not knocking them. It’s just... I kind of wish we could exist without having to worry about putting ourselves into categories. If there were no straight people, no violence or abuse or homophobia or anything, would we even need labels, or would we just be?”

Overall, this is one of my favorite books ever! I stayed up all night to read it in one sitting, so invested in Felix and Ezra and the others, and so captivated by the beautiful, honest and wonderful story. Felix Ever After is the perfect mix of important insights, first love, self-discovery, fear, hope and happiness and wonderful friendships. I rooted almost as much for Ezra as I did for Felix, and their friendship is one of the most supportive and wonderful ones I’ve seen in literature. This is also a story that is soaked in diversity and representation in such a refreshing way, giving so many positive examples of queer identities. Honestly, it’s such an insightful and important book that everyone should read! I know it will stay with me for a very long time.

I just have one tiny, tiny complaint and that is that I would have liked to know more about Felix’s mother. For an ending going full circle she would have at least responded to his last email, preferably with an understandable explanation, but at least with some kind of acceptance of Felix as her son. But who knows, if we are lucky, maybe we will get a sequel with Felix being accepted at Brown, following him at college and when he gets in touch with his mother again? One can always hope…

Rating:
5 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Kacen Callender

This is the second book in the gripping Oleanders series following seventeen-year-old Lauren as she’s on the run from the terrible things that have happened to her in the past. But where the first book was full of heart-break, loss and abuse, this one is more about healing and forgiveness, and about finding the power to create a new life for yourself.

After losing just about everything; her mother to dementia, her stepdad to suicide, her best friend and secret love Harry, and being the victim of an incredibly traumatic abuse, Lauren is now trying to pick up the pieces and start a new life with her new friend Snap. Snap was introduced at the end of Oleander Are Poisonous and I remember being a bit skeptical towards him then, but I’m so happy to admit that I was wrong. Snap turned out to be a wonderful friend, a sweetheart being there for Lauren no matter what, always encouraging her and having her back. And when Harry suddenly returns to Lauren’s life, Snap is the one pushing her to go after her dreams.

Even though this book deals with heavy topics such as sexual abuse, mental health, suicide, self-harm and homophobia, it’s a very positive, powerful and engaging story. I really rooted for Lauren from the very beginning and wished all the best for her. I didn’t agree with all the choices she made, but that made this story all the more authentic. Where the first book was about Lauren losing herself, this one is about Lauren slowly finding herself again.

“The morning after, I catch my reflection in the mirror. I’m surprised by the smile beaming back at me. Who is that person? That can’t be me. I don’t do happy. ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ I tell myself. But I do anyway. It feels good.”

All in all, Magnolias Don’t Die is a gripping, authentic and utterly heartbreaking story about survival and finding light and hope even in the darkest of places. It really shows the healing power of forgiveness, not for the one who harmed you, but for yourself, to let go, to claw back the anger, to allow yourself to be happy and live the life you deserve.

Thank you BookSirens for the ebook copy of this wonderful book. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Amazon

​Author info:
AJ Collins

Between Wild and Ruin is the first book in a new a paranormal coming-of-age romance trilogy filled with Native American folklore and magic. It was a light, fast-paced and engaging read with an extra layer of grief and guilt that together with the historical lore made it so much more than the ordinary YA fantasy. ​Some parts were a bit over the top though, or not to my liking, to make it as gripping as it could have been. But it was overall a beautifully written and interesting read.

The story follows seventeen-year-old Ruby Brooks as she moves to small-town La Luna, New Mexico, with her aunt after the tragic death of her mother. Even though Ruby just wants to focus on getting her life back on track, she instantly becomes the center of attention of the tiny, gossipy town, and finds herself drawn not only to two of the local boys, but to the ancient ruin in the forest as well.

​Somehow the ruin calls for Ruby and makes her zealously go hiking into the forests despite the warnings she keeps getting to avoid it. One day at the ruin, she encounters the mysterious, incredibly beautiful Leo, who no one in town seems to know about. Intrigued and fascinated by Leo, she can’t stop thinking about him, at the same time as she’s struggling with her feelings for the handsome sheriff’s deputy Angel, and the bitter and lonely Ezra, whose face has been destroyed in an accident. But soon Ruby will find out that surfaces are deceiving and that there are so many more layers to this story than what could ever have been imagined from the start.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the New Mexico landscape and the mix of historical setting, folklore, magic and multicultural characters. I also really appreciated the questions about what makes life worth living and what truly makes a person beautiful. I really rooted for Ezra from the start, and how strong he was despite having lost his former beauty and being an outcast despised by the whole town. I also really liked his humor and his and Ruby’s bantering. The way Ruby behaved towards Ezra was one of my absolute favorite parts of this story. In a way, this book was a very well executed Beauty and the Beast story, truly showing how beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

​But there were some parts that were a bit over the top. Especially the love quadrangle and how Ruby behaved towards Angel, keeping him as some kind of backup by playing the friends card. I also had problems with the way she said one thing and then did the complete opposite, and how she treated her friends. She did come across as a little too selfish and immature at times to make me fully root for her. But I liked her independence and strong will.

Some parts of the story were also a bit too unrealistic to fully buy into. And I don’t mean the premise that there are shapeshifters, old lineage curses, inter-dimensional worlds and other paranormal aspects, I’m all for that! I mean things like how Ruby immediately was the love interest for almost all boys in town at once, how she kept going to the ruin even though everyone warned her about it and how everyone could accept her stories so easily. The part that I had most problems with was Leo. I didn’t like or trust him at all and really didn’t ship his and Ruby’s attraction to each other.

But overall, this was an engaging and suspenseful story with a beautiful setting and atmosphere, and a unique mix of Beauty and the Beast and Native American lore. So, 3.5 stars rounding up to 4 for the way this book kept me entertained the whole way through.

Thank you BookSirens for the free review copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
3.5 stars rounding up to 4

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Jennifer G. Edelson

In this fifth book in The Cursed series following teenager Chloe as she tries to navigate in a world of vampires, witches, lineage curses and epic love, the pace picked up again after the somewhat slower fourth book, and it was once again nonstop action, suspense and passion! I’m so happy for that, and for how this book completely pulled me back into this magical, addictive and thrilling world!

There was so much going on in this book; a new rouge witch arriving and the Zoya witch coven meddling with things, a long lost brother returning from the dead to stir things up in the Halston family, a vampire war threatening, the revelation of who Isach’s father is and why he doesn’t have a soul and what he might have bargained with to get it back, and some life changing decisions and desperate measures like assassinations and memory erasing to be made.

On top of all that, there’s a brotherly love triangle with feelings refusing to fade away even though the eternal bond has been broken. This love triangle is such a guilty pleasure for me! It’s so well done, Chloe has made her choice and sticks to it, but feelings have a way of behaving in unwanted ways… I absolutely think she made the right choice, but still, I can’t keep being Team Jax in my heart, secretly hoping for some twist that will allow Chloe and Jax to end up together after all…

In addition to all the supernatural, epic, world-changing things there was also so much happening in the “human world”, like graduation and a wedding. And the anxiety for the future, when leaving High School and everyone will be going in different directions. Not to mention the struggle to write the perfect wedding vows… I’m so happy that Ellie was back more in the story again and were being such a wonderful friend and wedding planner. I also really, really loved the wedding; it was the perfect amount of romance and happy tears without being cheesy.

I only have one minor complaint about Chloe wanting Abby to change. In the first books Chloe made all this fuss about not changing, not even to save Trent or to stop the curse, but now she’s suddenly fine with asking Abby to do it just to keep her company? I kind of have to agree with Isach here in that it seems pretty selfish and that having Trent’s baby seems to be more important than anything and like Chloe doesn’t really care that much about Abby. I also really missed Wyatt. There was no mentioning of him at all in this story, which I’m guessing, means that he will be back for another plot twist in the next book…

All in all, this was such a fast-paced and addictive read that I read in one sitting! This series is really becoming my favorite guilty pleasure read since Twilight! If you loved Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, you will definitely love this book too! I am now desperately awaiting the next book in this magical series, especially after that evil cliffhanger!

Thank you to the author Kara Leigh Miller for providing me with an ebook copy! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Kara Leigh Miller

This fourth book in The Cursed Series was a bit slower than the previous ones, and I found myself on and off getting quite annoyed with Chloe for her irrational decisions that just made things unnecessarily complicated. But even so, it was nevertheless another cute and addictive read following Chloe in her struggles to navigate in a world of vampires, witches, lineage curses and epic love.
​
Warning! The review below contains spoilers, so please only continue reading if you have already read the book (or are okay with getting some parts of the story spoiled).

In this fourth book, Chloe finally made her choice which brother to be with, and even though I was previously leaning towards Team Jax, I agree that she made the right choice. After this big decision though, nothing really exciting happened in this book, until the twist at the end. There was mostly a lot of relationship drama, with Trent being surprisingly insecure and needy, and Chloe making a lot of irrational decisions that just made things unnecessarily complicated and caused a lot of apologizing and making up. There was also a bit too much of “I miss you/I love you” texting going on throughout the book.

I must say that the mistletoe scene was seriously cute though! One of my favorites in this series! I was also really happy about Chloe connecting with her dad and his family again. I also totally shipped the new couple Abby and Isach, who has really grown to be one of my favorite characters, which I never would have thought after reading the first book in the series… I just think that the start of the relationship between Abby and Isach could have been a bit better executed, and not having Abby forget all about Wyatt the second Abby tells her that Isach is interested in her. But I’m not complaining too much, since they were so adorable together. I did miss Ellie though, who was not included as much in the story as in the third book. She’s such a sweetheart that I would have loved to seen more of.

All in all, this book wasn’t quite as addictive as the previous three books but felt more like a typical middle book, mostly building up suspense and providing a bridge to the rest of the series. But I’m still very much invested in this magical and intriguing series and with that twist at the end I’m desperate to continue it! So, 3.5 stars rounding up to 4, for the way this book kept me invested and rooting for all characters.

Thank you to the author Kara Leigh Miller for providing me with an ebook copy in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Rating:
3.5 stars rounding up to 4

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Kara Leigh Miller

In this sequel to Ready Player One we return to Wade Watts after he’s won the contest to control Oasis, the virtual utopia created by James Halliday. Now he pretty much rules the world, virtually and literally, and has become filthy rich. But money can’t buy you happiness, something that Wade has already started to realize all too well. So even though he now has everything he could possibly want or need, he still wants to escape the real world. Maybe even more than before.

I loved Ready Player One, but since it was written as a stand alone, I was so surprised by this sequel and a bit skeptical whether I was going to enjoy Ready Player Two quite as much. The answer, sadly, was no.

​It was such a slow start for me reading this book. The biggest problem was that Wade didn’t come across as very likable. He was mostly moping around, complaining about what he’d lost without admitting his own blame. In the first book, he was the geeky underdog that it was so easy to root for. Here, he’s turned into an easily offended, touchy and selfish person who even cyber-stalks his friends and abuses the powers granted to him as owner of the OASIS.

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

After the initial very informative and slow chapters, the pace picked up after about a third of the book, and luckily had some of the fun, geeky vibes from Ready Player One. At this point it also fast forwarded timelines from just days after winning Halliday’s contest when Wade discovers a secret vault that contains a technological advancement and a new quest that relies heavily on knowing pop-culture references, to three years ahead when he still hasn’t solved the quest, but is more or less forced to due to threatening circumstances that will change both the OASIS and humanity forever.

“You guys all watched Swords Art Online and the Matrix films and yet you thought it was a good idea to hand over control of your brain to a computer?”

Unfortunately, the magic didn’t last for that long. Ready Player One had me hooked with its perfect mix of sci fi and 1980s pop culture references from fashion to music to games to computers. But this time around, the trivia facts were still there, but they came across as forced and added just for the sake of it, not by the same love and devotion as in the first book. In parts it also reminded me a bit too much of the Harry Potter series ending with the search for the shards that were very similar to the Horcruxes hunt. Ernest Cline even seemed to have thought of it himself by letting Shoto make this comment:

Shoto rolled his eyes. “We’re gonna be looking for Horcruxes next.”

Overall, Ready Player Two was entertaining, especially the middle part, but it didn’t recapture the magic of the first book. 

Rating:
3 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Ernest Cline