Book Review: The Jewel

Has anyone else read The Selection? I thought I would hate it, just because I was kind of iffy on the concept. But I actually thought it was okay. Not so bad. Reviews for that series to come. This book was kind of the opposite. Not that I thought I would like the concept but it kept being compared to The Selection and the cover was so pretty… Here goes.

Summary: The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.

Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence… and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.  

My Rating: ONE STAR

Book Review: Curtsies and Conspiracies

By Cheshire

It’s been a while since I read the first book so I was a little confused by some of the professor’s names when trying to match name with character, especially since this book deals in the overcomplicated steampunk names I love. Keep in mind that this is the sequel to Etiquette and Espionage and may have some unintended spoilers, but if you’re looking for a quick, fun steampunk read, you might want to check out this series.

Summary: Sophronia’s first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy–won’t Mumsy be surprised? Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers’ quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship’s boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a field trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot–one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

My Rating: THREE STARS

Book Review: Unhinged

Since I’m currently reading an ARC for Ensnared, it seems only fitting that I review the book that preceded it. So here goes.

Summary: Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she’s always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she’ll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

My Review: FOUR STARS

Book Review: A Cold Legacy

Isn’t it a lovely cover? I got this ARC for review from a special program I participate in for an indie bookstore, and I would just like to say GO TO INDIE BOOKSTORES, THEY ARE WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL PLACES. Thanks, Red Balloon. 🙂 Here goes.

Summary: After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.

My Review: THREE AND A HALF STARS

Book Review: Suspicion

By Cheshire

I got this as an ARC on Netgalley from Delacorte Press (Random House). Thank you, Delacorte Press! Here goes.

Summary: Mysterious. Magnificent. Creepy. Welcome to Rockford Manor.

“There’s something hidden in the Maze.” Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family’s English country manor.

Haunted by her parents’ deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin’s untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess.

All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion’s aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself–and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. Just what has Imogen walked into?

My Rating: TWO STARS!

Book Review: Her Dark Curiosity

By Cheshire

I actually have nothing to say except WE HAVE FIFTY FOLLOWERS NOW, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I am actually so touched. We love you all! 🙂 Here goes.

Summary: Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father’s island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau’s horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father’s creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer before Scotland Yard does, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again.

As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger. Her heart torn in two, past bubbling to the surface, life threatened by an obsessive killer—Juliet will be lucky to escape alive.

My Rating: FIVE STARS!

Book Review: The Elementalists

By Cheshire

I have waited far too long to write a review on this Netgalley advanced reader copy. But I should add: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO DIVERSION BOOKS FOR GIVING ME AN ADVANCED READER COPY OF THIS LOVELY READ ON NETGALLEY! Okay, now that I’ve gotten that over with, here goes.

Summary: Rising sea levels, droughts, earthquakes, tornadoes. Far below the earth’s crust, imprisoned in ancient slumber, the elemental powers of the land grow restless…

Meanwhile, in small town Virginia, Chloe McClellan’s first day of sophomore year was an epic fail. After she becomes the target of the fiery queen of the It-Girls in gym, she gains instant notoriety when she’s struck by lightning. That’s when things start to get weird.

There are disconcerting gaps in her memory, and freaky weather seems to follow her everywhere. She comes to believe that either she’s going insane, or her accident has awoken a terrifying creature from mythology, triggering the final countdown to the extinction of humankind.

Chloe finds unlikely help from a trio of male classmates: the grounded captain of the football team, the flighty stoner with a secret, and the enigmatic transfer student who longs for the sea. All the while, she struggles with the growing realization that dragons exist, and she, and her friends, may be the only ones who can stop them.

My Rating: THREE STARS

Book Review: Deathless

By Cheshire

I’ve been really getting into the whole Russian thing lately. I don’t know what it is. Their folklore is just so dark and rich and *shivers* I love it. And this book… Well, you’ll see. Here goes.

Summary: Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.

My Rating: FIVE STARS

Book Review: The Madman’s Daughter

By Cheshire

Watching season 3 of Once Upon a Time on Netflix as I write this review. Team Hook all the way. 🙂 And I must say, I’m pretty fond of Peter Pan as a villain. I’d make yet another comment about how off-topic I am, but I have a feeling that’s the way this whole review is gonna go. Also, if you have seen Once Upon a Time, please feel free to leave a note down in the comments- on either your opinion (Team Hook or Team Neal) or to tell me if Season 4 is supposed to be any better because I’m kind of feeling like Season 3 is getting sappy and Hook and Pan are the only people making it worth it. So… yeah. Here goes.

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London- working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward- both of whom she is deeply drawn to- Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experiment on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius- and madness- in her own blood.

My Rating: THREE STARS

Book Review: The Immortal Rules

By Cheshire

Nice job, Blue! I can’t believe you finally wrote that review! We’d been waiting for so long. Thanks again to J. Giambrone for the ARC. 🙂 I feel so touched every time we get an advanced copy for review.

Summary: Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for… again.

My Rating: FOUR STARS