Showing posts with label 2021 book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2021 book. Show all posts

30 Aug 2021

Audio #Review: WE FREE THE STARS by Hafsah Faizal

30 August 5 Comments

WE FREE THE STARS

Author: Hafsah Faizal
Series: Sands of Arawiya #2
Source: Purchased from Audible
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Publication Date: January 19, 2021
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:


Summary:
The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

Lush and striking, hopeful and devastating, We Free the Stars is the masterful conclusion to the Sands of Arawiya duology by New York Times–bestselling author Hafsah Faizal.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
I feel like I'm in a huge minority here where I thought WE HUNT THE FLAME was AMAZING!!! and then thought WE FREE THE STARS was so-so.

I think part of my lack of enjoyment for this was how far apart I read the two books. With the terms used in the series and the complex world building, it will be fairly difficult to read We Free the Stars if you read it a while after you read the first book.

The characters all felt like wasted potential, though. Because this book spent so much time on trying to recap the previous book while trying to move the plot forward, there wasn't a chance for a lot of real character development. The angsty became more angsty and the annoying became more annoying.

The ending also felt unsatisfactory. Very anticlimactic. A lot of subplots were not dealt with well and what was promised or heavily hinted at, was not gone through with and left unresolved. And there were worthless deaths, which is a no for me.

I think this one really needed to be a trilogy rather than a duology because too much had to happened in this short of time to change the characters. They needed more time to change from the first book and then come together at the end.

I may reread the duology in a weekend in the future and see if that changes my opinion.

TLDR: I was disappointed with this one after being so amazed with the first.
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18 Aug 2021

#Discussion: Fall 2021 Releases I'm Excited For!

18 August 0 Comments

  

Fall 2021 Releases I'm Excited For!

After dusting off the blog, I thought I'd come back and tell you about some releases I'm excited for that are coming out in the Fall! These are from a wide variety of genres, but mostly Young Adult. I am so glad to be back in the swing of things and hope I can help you find your next best read.

Clicking on the cover will take you to the Goodreads page for that book.
 

What books are you excited for release this Fall?
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16 Aug 2021

Audio #Review: BLACKOUT edited by Dhonielle Clayton

16 August 0 Comments

 

BLACKOUT

Authors: Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Audible
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Publication Date: June 22, 2021
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:


Summary:
Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark.

A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks…

A first meeting. 

Long-time friends. 

Bitter exes. 

And maybe the beginning of something new.

When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.

Beloved authors—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—celebrate the beauty of six couples and the unforgettable magic that can be found on a sweltering starry night in the city. 
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Each story in BLACKOUT is set on the same summer night when a blackout hits New York City as they are all making their way to Brooklyn for a block party. The stories take place in different areas, but everyone has the same goal: get to the party while navigating love, life, and no lights.

What I typically like about anthologies is that they are either one of two things: a collection of stories under a similar theme or a connected collection of short stories. BLACKOUT is the latter - a collected of connected stories. Or at least, it tries to be. And that is probably my main gripe with this anthology: it didn't actually pull all the stories together in a way that I enjoyed.

I liked that they all were heading to one location and that was the "thread" for the anthology but I wanted them to either actually run into each other or some sort of closing story that brought it together. Especially since based on the layout of the anthology, it seemed as though we had a "running" narrative/story between each contained story. But that wasn't really the case - THE LONG WALK (which is the story that was in between the rest) didn't really match the same energy as the rest, or be used as a way to really tie the other stories together. The brief one-off mentions of other locations were cute but not enough to solidify this as the latter type of anthology.

I enjoyed almost all of these stories, I think they would have been better in a different order to make it feel like we weren't hearing about something extremely similar over and over, but with a bit of a mix up in between. And while this is targeted as Young Adult, everyone was 18+ so this is probably more New Adult (lots of talk of college, starting a new, etc.) and I wasn't mad about it.

The audiobook was a large cast with a different crew doing each of the stories, which I really appreciated. I also thought the sound design was really good but would have liked a bit more background noise at the party than what we got - or even some of the DJ/music that we were supposed to hear throughout some of the stories.

"The Long Walk" by Tiffany D. Jackson - exes confronting their breakup and learning more about what communication really means. I felt the ending didn't fit the rest of the story and that this story overall didn't have the same energy or vibe as the others. This could be because it was "broken up" between the other stories, but I was hoping it would be more that narrative thread through and it wasn't.

"No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" by Angie Thomas - the best in the bunch, unsurprisingly. An emerging love triangle, characters that are memorable, and some sharp Karen jokes.

"Seymour and Grace" by Nicola Yoon - two strangers meeting on an Uber-type ride. This was technically the last full story of the bunch and honestly one of the better ones. I almost wish that it had been the full last one instead of the remainder of THE LONG WALK.

"Mask Off" by Nic Stone - two former friends explore their possible connection while stuck inside a dark train. This one packed the most messages - from consent to homosexuality in sports to breastfeeding in public. I really enjoyed this one and how the two of them explored their identity within themselves and the collective narrative of their lives.

"Made to Fit" by Ashley Woodfolk - two girls possibly fall in love while visiting a senior living facility. I liked a lot of this, but I felt the connection was a little too fast for it to work for me. I would have liked to see a bit more of a "history" for them rather than meeting and the love in like... what? a few hours max? But it was still really cute.

"All the Great Love Stories... and Dust" by Dhonielle Clayton - two childhood friends decide if they want to take their relationship somewhere new. Here, the writing just didn't work for me with the footnotes, which made me feel like I probably should have had a physical copy instead of an audiobook. I had a hard time staying with it and felt like the flow of the story stumbled at the end of each sentence.

I really did enjoy each of the stories and think it was a great summer read! If you haven't already checked it out, I definitely recommend doing so, especially since it's pretty inexpensive on Kindle but hearing it as an audiobook was nice as well!
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