Book Review: Storm Echo

Book 67 of 2022

Storm Echo. Written by Nalini Singh.

This is a continuation of the Psy Changeling Trinity series. THis was released on the 28th of July, and can sau that I read pretty much all night, and then finished this morning. WOW! I love this series, I love seeing the fall of the psy silence and seeing them discover a real life rather than just the shell of a person they were. I love it even more when they get “owned” by a changeling who by all means are the total opposite of the psy and see life so differently.

In this book I loved even more that it was about family – and that family looks different for different people. For some it is a found family and for some it is a birth family, and for others it is the family you choose through a partner and friends. I liked that we returned to the Mercant family, who we have seen quite a bit of in these last books, and also returned to the the dark river pack as well. Although there was still always less of their alpha than I would like.

There was so much to like about this book and it was so easy to read, I literally could not put it down! I thought that the pace was good, although there was a lot of relied knowledge, and if you had not been reading the whole series then it may not have made as much sense or have been as easy to settle into.

This is the 21st book of this series, but I love the way that Nalini Singh creates the worlds, that she slowly explodes out from a central point, building on what we already know, and bringing in new characters who in some ways have links to those characters that we already know. Each book focusing on a different and often new character is such a good way to expand the world for the reader.

Overall, such a great series about the need for family, and the need to rely on others. A timely reminder post pandemic that we require all types of people to work together to achieve the absolutel best that we can. Without that we end up quite isolated, alone and only able to work to a small capacity of what we are capable of.

Mrs K

Genre: Speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, family, Nalini Singh, Psy Changeling Trinity, Storm Echo, shapeshifters, paranormal, urban fantasy, 2022 reads, Mrs K Reads, book review, Adult, Romance, Abuse, Drug use, Fantasy Romance,

Book Review: Everyone dies famous in a small town.

Book 66 of 2022

Everyone dies famous in a Small Town. Written by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock.

So this was another of the Yoto Carnegie Shortlist that I am still chipping away at. I know the winner has been announced, but am still waiting on quite a lot of holds at the public library!

I had very low expectations of this book, not really sure why, but I did. However I was very pleasently surprised. This book was fabulous. Perhaps even more so because I have worked and lived in a small town. All teenagers in the small town talk about how boring it is and how much it sucks, they also talk about how they can’t wait to leave – which always made me laugh as I felt for sure that they would be back with time. This book somehow beautifully captured all of those feelings and then some.

It was a bit like “The things we carried” in that it was a collection of short stories, however there was also links and overlaps of all the stories as well, and you could certainly see how the stories related to each other. I think it was this aspect that was one of my favourite. I love the notion that the small town stories are so relateable, and often dark and upsetting, but show something of human nature and the need to be a part of something – whatever that might be.

So many of the stories touched on the darkest parts of humanity which were hard to read, but were dealt with so delicately and so poetically you could also not help but read. Overall so far – this is my favourite book of the shortlist. I just loved the writing and the weaving of everything together.

Mrs K

Genre: Young Adult, short stories, contemporary, fiction, realistic fiction, romance, LGBT, anthologies, Yoto Carnegie Shortlist 2022, literature, book review, Mrs K Reads, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock,

Book Review: Honey and Ice Trilogy

Books 63 – 65

Honey and Ice Trilogy. Written by Shannon Mayer and Kelly St. Clare .

This trilogy contained three (duh) books. Titled A court of Honey and Ash. A throne of Feathers and bone. A Crown of Petals and Ice. I read all three books during the school holidays, hence the review on them as a trilogy rather than individuals.

Ok – so the reason that I went for this book was because I thought I had read and liked Shannon Mayer – however a quick search today tells me I have in fact not read anything by either of these authors. Although am excited to note that Kelly St. Clare was born in Wellington, so there is some definite pros there! I am normally very hesitant to read anything that is A court of…. as I feel that there is an aspect there of people trying to copy Maas, and I do not like it. As well as that there is lots that normally don’t live up to the potential hype. I also really struggle with books that claim on the cover “The next….” because this I feel almost always leads to failure as it heightens (or lowers) people’s expectations and books should be able to stand on their own. Anyway I digress…

So good reads tells me that people either LOVE this book and give it five stars, or hate this book and give it one star. There seems to be noone really that falls into the middle column. I however fall into the middle – I did not hate this book, it was entertaining, and good enough that I reached and finished all three. However there was a lot that I did not like – it was very tropey – which is fine, but there needs to be something more. There was a lot of rewriting of fae law – which I did not like. The romance, was a hint, that led to something but lacked any of that slow build and masses of sexual tension. Rather there was a whole lot of not really understanding each other and then suddenly a “I must have you right now” relationship, which just felt a little out of place.

Overall, an interesting series, which was entertaining enough! Lots of good points, and the pace was quite consistent. There was lots of things I did like – such as the spirits and underhill being an entitiy and the creation of human myths such as vampires etc. However definitely a few problems, and probably won’t be seeking out either author!

In some ways a perfect holiday read – as it was better the less you thought about it!!

Mrs K

Genre: Honey and Ice, Trilogy, Book review, Mrs K Reads, Fantasy, Fairies, Fae, romance, fantasy romance, speculative fiction, magic, fiction, paranormal, adult, urban fantasy, Shannon Meyer, Kelly St.Clair,

Book Review: Snow Witching White

Book 62 of 2022

Snow Witching White. A Glass Slipper Adventure #6. Written by Allie Burton.

Ok, so I have absolutely loved this series, and loved multiple things about it. However this book just kind of ended up grating on my nerves. This was the third book in the Snow White Arc and the bit that I really had a problem with was it was just the same kind of situation again and again and again. Destiny learns not to trust people, and not believe everyone is who they say she is, then she goes to a new group of people and unlearns everything she knew. It is just totally frustrating.

My favourite person in this book was someone that we had a conversation with at the end of the book for two or three pages. I needed so much more of them, and they were so much more important to the development of Destiny’s journey.

Overall while I have no regrets of reading the next installment I feel quite disappointed by this book, the pacing felt wrong, the plot largely non existant and there was also no real character development. It says that the adventure is not over and further arcs will tell us other stories. Not sure I am hooked enough to keep going with those but we shall see.

Mrs K

Genre: Mrs K reads, Allie Burton, Snow White, Retellings, Fantasy, Young Adult, fairy tales, magic, witches, banshees, romance, friendship, cinderella, glass slipper adventure,