ARC REVIEW: IVORY & BONE by Julie Eshbaugh

IVORY & BONE

Author: Julie Eshbaugh
Series: Ivory & Bone #1
Source: ARC via the Publisher
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 14, 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:
A prehistoric fantasy—with allusions to Pride and Prejudice.

Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe—that’s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to like and trust him, but any hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless—and nearly grave—mistake. However, there’s something more to Mya’s cool disdain…a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya’s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives.

As Kol gets to know Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he’s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo—Kol doesn’t know which—had been planning all along.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one. It took a bit to get used to the writing since it's basically a novel of someone telling you a story about yourself that you should know from their perspective but it was really good once you did get used to it. I found myself quite enjoying it and unable to put it down. I was reading in the bath and ended up refilling my water a couple times instead of getting out so I could continue reading.

I liked the writing but it also left me a bit disconnected from the story. I'm sure you've read self-insert fanfic (reader x Character) because that is kind of what this was like. Eshbaugh put us into the story but also distanced us from the story at the same time. It was a weird mix and it is ultimately the reason this is a 4* rating and not 5*. I feel like had it just been first person and not first person but also second person, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I found it hard to connect to Mya because I was supposed to be Mya in a sense. And I didn't have enough knowledge of Mya and her experiences to really connect to what Kol was telling us.

I liked the plot. I thought it was really well thought out and I enjoyed seeing it come to pass through Kol's perspective and from what we learned about Mya and Lo. I liked seeing how things played out and seeing if my suspicions were confirmed as true or not. I have no qualms about the plot, the characters, or anything else to be honest. It was all really good. I thought the pacing was well done, the storyline fit and made sense, and I enjoyed reading the book. 

I do recommend this one. I would just caution that it is a bit different of writing and because of that, I would read a preview of it to see if you like it before diving it.