ARC Review: “Under the Whispering Door” by T.J. Klune

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Title: Under the Whispering Door

Author: T.J. Klune

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 401

My rating: ★★★★★

Read from: 14.nov – 19.nov

The E-Arc Under the Whispering Door was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.

Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.

But Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.

When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, this absorbing tale of grief and hope is told with TJ Klune’s signature warmth, humor, and extraordinary empathy.

My review:

Tears. I cried so hard and so much throughout this book. It felt refreshing to cry like that, but I also felt as if I was being wrecked by this story. Not because it is a terribly sad tale, but more because of my personal connections to death, moving on and grief over lost chances.

This book is wonderfully written by Klune. The story is alive and rich with a fun cast of characters, including a ghost dog who is the best of boys! The storytelling in itself feels warm and encompassing and it makes the book un-put-down-able without being a thrilling page-turner. Quite the opposite actually. The ending is pretty obvious, but it was still everything I wanted and I wasn’t mad at it.

Following Wallace Price felt similar to following Ebenzer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol in the sense that you can’t believe they were that shitty, and yet you can’t help but cheer them on as they try to better themselves.

I already cannot wait to reread this at some point. I know I will get that fuzzy feeling of returning to a good story and a set of wonderful characters. I highly recommend this, especially if you’ve read and liked The House in the Cerulean Sea! But even if you’ve never heard of T.J. Klune, then give this book a go! I promise, you won’t want to put it down.

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “Chef’s Kiss” by Jarrett Melendez, Danica Brine, Hank Jones & Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

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Title: Chef’s Kiss

Author: Jarrett Melendez, Danica Brine, Hank Jones & Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Genre: Graphic Novel, LGBTQ+, Romance

Pages: 160

My rating: ★★★★✭

Read from: 09.nov – 09.nov

The E-Arc Chef’s Kiss was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Watch things start to really heat up in the kitchen in this sweet, queer, new adult graphic novel! 

Now that college is over, English graduate Ben Cook is on the job hunt looking for something…anything…related to his passion for reading and writing. But interview after interview, hiring committee after hiring committee, Ben soon learns getting the dream job won’t be as easy as he thought. Proofreading? Journalism? Copywriting? Not enough experience. It turns out he doesn’t even have enough experience to be a garbage collector! But when Ben stumbles upon a “Now Hiring—No Experience Necessary” sign outside a restaurant, he jumps at the chance to land his first job. Plus, he can keep looking for a writing job in the meantime. He’s actually not so bad in the kitchen, but he will have to pass a series of cooking tests to prove he’s got the culinary skills to stay on full-time. But it’s only temporary…right? 

When Ben begins developing a crush on Liam, one of the other super dreamy chefs at the restaurant, and when he starts ditching his old college friends and his old writing job plans, his career path starts to become much less clear.

My review:

Okay this was really stinking cute!! Ben is such a sweet little bean, he deserves nothing but happiness!

I was really drawn in from the first page. We are introduced to the cast of characters on the first page – 4 friends who are moving in together after entering a new chapter of their lives. Ben Cook is job-hunting as is struggling to find something as an aspiring author, when he stumbles upon a restaurant that is hiring. The rest is history! The art style is also wonderful, it’s really pretty! And all the food, yummm. This was all in all a really cute graphic novel about drifting after getting your degree, feeling torn between parental expectations and a job that turned out to bring more joy than you even thought possible. The romance was also so cute and wholesome. But my favourite thing might have been the friendships between Ben and his friends.

I highly recommend this! Especially if you enjoy graphic novels and stories about finding yourself after finishing school.

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “Good Girls Don’t Make History” by Elizabeth Kiehner

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Title: Good Girls Don’t Make History

Author: Elizabeth Kiehner

Genre: Graphic novels, nonfiction

Pages: 160

My rating: ★★★★★

Read from: 06.09.21 – 06.09.21

The E-Arc Good Girls Don’t Make History was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Good Girls Don’t Make History  is an important graphic novel that amplifies the voices of female legends from 1840 to the present day. 
 
Reliving moments from the lives of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, and Susan B. Anthony, these inspiring stories are boldly told from one of the most formative eras in women’s history—the fight for the vote in the United States.

The tale begins at a modern-day polling station in California with a mother and daughter voting together, then flashes back 180 years to the World Anti-Slavery Convention where the women’s movement got its legendary start.
 
The twists and turns take readers across the country and through time, illuminating parallels between epic battles for liberty in the past and similar struggles for justice today. 
 
A powerful and important examination of some key figures in the ongoing fight for equality, Good Girls Don’t Make History’s accounts of bravery, perseverance and courage are truly inspiring for readers of any age.

My review:

This was fantastic! What a wonderful way to tell such an important, and still fresh, part of our history. The graphic novel format lifts this story up and makes it easier to read, which means it is more easily accessible for different age groups and levels of language proficiency.

Good Girls Don’t Make History is a perfect starting place for those who might want to learn more about the Women’s Suffrage and the history of how women fought diligently for the right to vote. It is inspiring, educating and, in my opinion, necessary. Some of these names, like Alice Paul, I had never heard of before. I think it’s important to read up on how ordinary people became extraordinary in the way they helped change the course of history, and this graphic novel offers a perfect chance to do just that.

The art-work and the art style of the graphic novel are also both magnificent. I loved how the story jumped from “today” back to the 1800s/1900s to showcase important events of the women’s movement, from inside of meetings, to rallies, marches, demonstrations and even some newspaper articles. It kept the story fun and easy to read.

If you are in any way interested in the suffrage movement, the ongoing fight for equality, feminism, or just reading more nonfiction, then I highly recommend getting this graphic novel!

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “The Memory of Babel” by Christelle Dabos (#3 in a series)

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Title: The Memory of Babel

Author: Christelle Dabos

Genre: Fantasy (YA)

Pages: 508

My rating: ★★★★☆

Read from: 17.08.21 – 05.09.21

The E-Arc The Memory of Babel was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

SPOILER WARNING: this is the third book in a series, there may be spoilers for the first two books in the series, both in the synopsis and in my review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the gripping third volume of Christelle Dabos’s best-selling saga, Ophelia, the mirror-travelling heroine, finds herself in the magical city of Babel, guarding a secret that may provide a key both to the past and the future.

After two years and seven months biding her time on Anima, her home ark, it is finally time to act, to put what she has discovered in the Book of Faruk to good use. Under an assumed identity she travels to Babel, a cosmopolitan and thoroughly modern ark that is the jewel of the universe, and where automata have taken over the most humble jobs from humans. But under the surface of this pacific and orderly ark social unrest stirs, fed by the memories of a fateful purge long ago, and the inhabitants’ growing fear of being replaced altogether. Will Ophelia’s talent as a reader suffice to avoid her being lured into a deadly trap by her ever more fearful adversaries? Will she ever see Thorn, her betrothed, again?

My review:

The Mirror Visitor series in incredibly original and a delightful breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre. I was absolutely blown away by the first two volumes. The world-building is on level with the best fantasy I have ever read, the story is compelling and best of all: it hits none of the over-used tropes we often find in fantasy nowadays! I implore all my friends, and all of you, to look the first book (A Winter’s Promise) up, and add it to your TBR.

For this volume specifically, I was a little disappointed with the plot progression. It didn’t hold the excitement of the first two volumes, nor the political intrigue and the nerve-wracking that I got used to from the second volume. It was a little disappointing to feel like we took a step back into high school feudes and petty drama, as well as a very slow search for answers with a cast of characters who were not as interesting as the casts of books 1 and 2.

But, that being said, I still enjoyed it a lot! It was a page-turner for me, mostly because of my need to find out what happens between Ophelia and Thorn, if she ever finds him. The worldbuilding is still incredible, and I loved learning about Babel and its society. The 500-something pages really flew by, it felt more like a 300-page read, if that makes sense. I also have a strong feeling that whenever I get around to rereading this series, at some point in the future, this book will be lifted up to a 5-star read.

I absolutely adore this series and I can’t wait to jump straight into the fourth one! I highly recommend The Mirror Visitor series, especially to all you fellow fantasy lovers!

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “Story Magic” by Laurel Gale

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Title: Story Magic

Author: Laurel Gale

Genre: Fantasy, middle grade

Pages: 224

My rating: ★★✭☆☆

Read from: 28.07.21 – 16.08.21

The E-Arc Story Magic was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A feminist-tinged middle grade fantasy about finding your voice and the magical power that exist in storytelling.

Girls are forbidden to practice story magic. Only bad things happen when they do. Everyone knows this, but that doesn’t stop twelve-year-old Kaya A’Dor from learning the basics from her older brother Hob. The trick is to sense a listener, one of the magical beings that inhabit the world, and tell it a story. If the listener is pleased and likes the story, it will allow the storyteller to work magic.

Although Kaya knows the risks, she attempts a little story magic to impress Hob. When Hob is taken prisoner in Prima, the faraway capital city, Kaya is convinced it’s her fault, either because someone discovered what she was doing or because the bad luck has found her.

Desperate to save her brother, Kaya will do anything to make it to Prima, including story magic. With each story she tells her ability to wield story magic grows and she soon begins to wonder if her brother’s imprisonment was really her fault or something else entirely. Each story brings her one step closer to finding Hob and leaving everything she’s ever known behind.

My review:

“Listeners,” she began, “I have a story that may interest you.”

Story Magic

My first thought was that I adored this magic system. There are invisible creatures who love being told stories, and through shaping your story and knowing what to ask for, they can perform magic to help you with what you need. Being a huge fan of the storytelling tradition, I thought I would enjoy a book where it became magical in such a way. But sadly, I found some issues with the writing that kept me from completely loving the story.

This book is sold as a “middle grade” book, which means I am outside of its intended audience, so I might be the one in the wrong here, but I felt like Kaya (the main character) was written to be much older than her actual 12 years. Since we are reading through her eyes, a lot of the trains of thoughts in the book are supposed to belong to her, but they make no sense coming from a child her age. She seemed a lot more intelligent and cunning than a 12 year old should be. A quote from one such train of thought is: “The guild had no legal authority to execute people – but who was going to stop them? The king? He never interfered in their affairs, which was probably wise.” This, to me, threw me off the story because it did not match the image I had of a young girl, it instead felt like I was inside the head of a teenager, going on adult. This repeated itself several times in the book, and while the intended audience of middle graders might not notice, it bothered me to the extent where it ruined my reading experience a bit.

Apart from my issues with Kaya acting like a young adult more than a child from time to time, I did enjoy the story! It was magical and wonderful, and I really liked learning more about the listeners and about their magic. Sadly, I was also a little underwhelmed at the ending, mostly again due to Kaya doing things that a child should not be doing. I found myself wishing this concept had been translated into a YA book, or changed to better fit the middle grade genre. But nonetheless, it was a fun read!

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “The Daughters of Ys” by M. T. Anderson & Jo Rioux

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Title: The Daughters of Ys

Author: M. T. Anderson & Jo Rioux

Genre: Graphic novel / Fantasy

Pages: 208

My rating: ★★★★✭

Read from: 15/03/20 – 15/03/20

The E-Arc The Daughters of Ys was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

An Atlantis-like city from Celtic legend is the setting of this mythical graphic novel fantasy from National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson and artist Jo Rioux.

Ys, city of wealth and wonder, has a history of dark secrets. Queen Malgven used magic to raise the great walls that keep Ys safe from the tumultuous sea. But after the queen’s inexplicable death, her daughters drift apart. Rozenn, the heir to the throne, spends her time on the moors communing with wild animals, while Dahut, the youngest, enjoys the splendors of royal life and is eager to take part in palace intrigue.

When Rozenn and Dahut’s bond is irrevocably changed, the fate of Ys is sealed, exposing the monsters that lurk in plain view. M. T. Anderson and Jo Rioux reimagine this classic Breton folktale of love, loss, and rebirth, revealing the secrets that lie beneath the surface.

Review:

This was an amazing graphic novel! It is packed to the brim with folklore and magic (both of which I absolutely love!). I am not familiar with the original Celtic legend, but I imagine it will be even more wonderful for those who are. The artwork is amazing, the story is intriguing and reads like an old fairytale. The ~200 pages fly by as you become immersed in the world and lives of Rozenn and Dahut, and how they both struggle with their roles as princesses. This book honestly left me wishing there was a sequel, or at least something more!

For fans of old legends born anew, this is a must-read!

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “The Raven and the Dove” by Kaitlyn Davis

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Title: The Raven and the Dove

Author: Kaitlyn Davis

Genre: YA Fantasy, retelling

Pages: 502

My rating: ★★★★☆

Read from: 11/02/20 – 13/03/20

The E-Arc The Raven and the Dove was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A princess longing to be free…
On the dawn of her courtship trials, Princess Lyana Aethionus knows she should be focused on winning her perfect mate, yet her thoughts wander to the open sky waiting at the edge of her floating kingdom. One final adventure calls. Upon fleeing the palace, the last thing she expects to find is a raven prince locked in a death match with a dragon.
A bastard aching to belong…
Reviled son of a dead king, Rafe would do anything for his beloved half-brother, Prince Lysander Taetanus, including posing as him in the upcoming courtship trials. When a dragon interrupts their secret exchange, he orders his studious sibling to run. After suffering a fatal blow, Rafe is saved by a beautiful dove who possesses forbidden magic, just like him.
Fate brought them together, now destiny will tear them apart…
Unknown to the world above, on the foggy sea ten thousand feet below, a young king fights a forgotten war. He believes Lyana is the queen prophesied to save the world, and with the help of his favored spy, hidden deep in the highest ranks of the dove royal house, he will stop at nothing to have her.

Review:

I have to say, this was surprisingly good! The world-building was really cool, some of the characters were amazing (cough, Cassi, cough), the plot was intriguing and I had a lot of fun reading this. It had some plot twists and reveals that actually had me a bit shook, which made it even more enjoyable! All in all a solid 4-star book.

I had more or less no expectations going into this book, but after hitting the 20% mark I was more or less hooked. A story about a girl with wings, longing for adventure under the open sky with a best friend who has been living a double life all along, made for a really fun story. Cassi (the best friend) is without a doubt my favorite character, because of how complex and grey she is. The others are a little less enjoyable to me, but still well-written!

I will warn you however, the cliffhanger at the end is MASSIVE. Like I seriously disliked how much happened right at the end, because it made the story speed up right when there is no more of it. A little cliffhanger is usually fine, but this was brutal. I want the next book already!!

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “Break Your Glass Slippers” by Amanda Lovelace

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Title: Break Your Glass Slippers

Author: Amanda Lovelace

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 160

My rating: ★★★☆☆

Read from: 24/01/20 – 24/01/20

The E-Arc Break Your Glass Slippers was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

“more forgetting time.
more midnight dances with yourself.”

amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents a new companion series, “you are your own fairy tale” the first installment, break your glass slippers, is about overcoming those who don’t see your worth, even if that person is sometimes yourself. in the epic tale of your life, you are the most important character while everyone is but a forgotten footnote. even the prince.

Review:

This was a lovely poetry book, about falling in love with yourself and about both healing and growing after getting away from the man you though was your Prince Charming. I loved the way the popular story of Cinderella was integrated into this personal collection of poems! It was a breath of fresh air, compared to some other modern poetry books.

This book had some poems that I loved, but it also had some that I hated. For the most part though, I was just indifferent to them. There is something about this particular style of poetry that simply does not resonate with me. I’m the kind of reader that loves poems with deep, hidden meanings and lyrical language that has the tiniest spark of magic to it. This style feels more like a very calm “telling-you-exactly-what’s-happening” kinda thing. Maybe I just have to come to terms with the fact that this type of modern “pop” poetry just isn’t my cup of tea.

I highly recommend this book to fans of Rupi Kaur or previous books by Amanda Lovelace! It’s a nice collection of poems that speak of important themes and has important messages.

Below, I’ve included one of my favorites from the collection:

☾☼when they tell me that i’ve changed, like it’s some personal act of betrayal on my part, i tell them, “i know. i’ve never been more proud of myself. i went from a single wildflower to a whole fucking meadow.”☼☽

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “City of Stone and Silence” by Django Wexler

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Title: City of Stone and Silence

Author: Django Wexler

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Pages: 368

My rating: ★★★☆☆

Read from: 14/01/20 – 22/01/20

The E-Arc City of Stone and Silence was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Spoiler warning: This is book 2 in a series, the synopsis and review will/might have spoilers for book 1.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Django Wexler’s City of Stone and Silence is the second book in the cinematic fantasy Wells of Sorcery Trilogy featuring a fierce young woman skilled in the art of combat magic on an epic mission to steal a ghost ship.

Review:

The magic system in this series is A+! Let me start there. I LOVE the wells of sorcery and how people have different abilities based in which well they draw from / belong to. The world-building also stepped up in this sequel, letting us both see and understand more of what the world actually looks like. This was much appreciated!

But, and there is always a but, it draaaaagged out some parts. I kept being thrown out of the story by endless goddamn descriptions. It was like the author decided we needed to know what every house looks like. And I was there for the action and the fast pace… So that made it a bad match for me. In saying that I also want to add that I think this might have been taken as a positive feature, if I had been in a different headspace whilst reading this book. Sadly, I was not.

There were some things I really loved and some things I strongly disliked with this book. Which made it soo hard to rate. But I feel like this is a 3 star read for me. Which is sad, because I loved the first book so much. My high expectations might also have ruined the experience a bit for me, I kept noticing things that I found lacking instead of enjoying all the awesome parts that are actually there.

﹁

List of things I loved:
– Magic system
– World building
– The new mc (there are two main characters in this book, contrary to one in the first)
– The action is stellar

List of things I didn’t love:
– The new mc is 14 but behaves like an adult would (this kept throwing me off because hello this is not a 20-year old??) and has a romance (I found this yucky)
– Descriptions. So. Many. Descriptions.
– Many foreign words (the nine wells, their magic systems, the names of people, it all mushed together several times)
– The new mc also seemed to make choices and act based on absolutely NOTHING. She simply seemed to lack motivation and reasoning for her choices. (I’m hoping this gets resolved or addressed in book 3)

﹂

All in all, what made me struggle with this book was that I kept being thrown out of the world by confusion or annoyance on my side, due to the reasons above. I still highly recommend you give this series a go! I thoroughly loved the first book, and this was good too. I’m excited to see how it all ends. I have a feeling I will love the third book even more than this!!

❀ Mathilde

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ARC Review: “The Electric Heir” by Victoria Lee

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Title: The Electric Heir

Author: Victoria Lee

Genre: Fantasy, YA, LGBTQ

Pages: (Not yet set)

My rating: ★★★★☆

Read from: 01/01/20 – 13/01/20

The E-Arc The Electric Heir was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book.

Spoiler warning: This is book 2 in a series, the synopsis and the review will/might have spoilers for book 1.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Six months after Noam Álvaro helped overthrow the despotic government of Carolinia, the Atlantians have gained citizenship, and Lehrer is chancellor. But despite Lehrer’s image as a progressive humanitarian leader, Noam has finally remembered the truth that Lehrer forced him to forget—that Lehrer is responsible for the deadly magic infection that ravaged Carolinia.

Now that Noam remembers the full extent of Lehrer’s crimes, he’s determined to use his influence with Lehrer to bring him down for good. If Lehrer realizes Noam has evaded his control—and that Noam is plotting against him—Noam’s dead. So he must keep playing the role of Lehrer’s protégé until he can steal enough vaccine to stop the virus.

Meanwhile Dara Shirazi returns to Carolinia, his magic stripped by the same vaccine that saved his life. But Dara’s attempts to ally himself with Noam prove that their methods for defeating Lehrer are violently misaligned. Dara fears Noam has only gotten himself more deeply entangled in Lehrer’s web. Sooner or later, playing double agent might cost Noam his life.

Review:

This was a really nice conclusion to the story! I just have to start with saying that. The ending was really nice and it even caught me by surprise. There was this exciting element of “how will this be solved” throughout the entire book and I really enjoyed it. I also love how this story focuses on life as a survivor and how similar things can be seen and experienced differently by different people. I felt for Noam through the entire book. I found him to be a good main character. His struggle in trying to do what’s good but also trying to stay true to himself got a tiny bit repetitive, for for the most part it was really good!

The characters are so diverse and awesome and broken but healing. They have all seen so much more than young people should see, of war and abuse and death. Pair these complex characters with a very intriguing plot and you have yourself a book that passes by like a breeze! It was sooo hard to put it down. Especially because you are as clueless as the main characters as to what the antagonist is planning and how much he actually knows.

I would definitely recommend this series to fans of magic abilities, political intrigue and complex characters. Plus, it’s only a duology!

❀ Mathilde

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