YA Fantasy – Portable Magic

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Hermione · 1 Comment

The Queen Will Betray You-A Book Review

Eeeeeeeeee! I finished The Princess Will Save You before last month and I am awfully glad I read this book! Not considering the fact that the third book of this series is to be released next year.😭. WHY?? It is coming out in in August 2021…..I’m SEETHING!

⚠ WARNING!! This post DEFINITELY contain spoilers for the first book so please don’t read ahead!! ⚠

I’m dropping a link for my review of the first book in the series: The Princess Will Save You (Kingdoms of Sand and Sky#1)

Title: The Queen Will Betray You
Series: Kingdoms of Sand and Sky #2
Author: Sarah Henning
Genre: YA Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Retellings
Publishing Date/Publisher: July 6^th 2021 by Tor Teen

*falls in love with the cover and the way the artist portrayed those two characters*

Does anyone know who designed this cover? If you do please tell me!

⚠ WARNING!! AGAIN. IF YOU DON’T WANT THE FIRST BOOK SPOILED THEN FOR BOOKS’ SAKE DO NOT CONTINUE READING!! ⚠

Don’t say I didn’t say I didn’t warn yaaaaaaa!! *tries not to sing the lyrics out loud*

Amarande will have to separate with her true love and best-friend, Luca in order to reclaim her kingdom and for Luca to prove he is the heir to the throne in Torrent which is currently ruled by a Warlord after the whole royal family of Torrent was believed to be wiped out.

Surprises are always there of course and in the most unexpected situations. Amarande realizes that during her absence, her kingdom and castle has changed a lot and she discovered the unlikeliest surprises ever.

Meanwhile, Luca is constantly afraid of being discovered. Word has reached the Warlord’s ears and nobody wants the last of the royal family of Torrent which was supposedly eradicated, to come up, raise a rebellion, reclaim the rightful throne and the Warlord fallen forever.

Amarande and Luca’s mission to create peace in the whole of the Kingdoms of Sand and Sky and prevent any war from surfacing seems a very good idea but will they succeed?

About the Author:

Sarah Henning is a recovering journalist who has worked for The Palm Beach Post among others and who is also the author of many books, Sea Witch and Sea Witch Rising just naming a few. When not writing, she can be found hanging out with her husband and two kids.

My Ratings: 4.5/5

My Thoughts:

Well, there is me busy wondering what a beautiful name Amarande is whenever her name pops up. This is the way I pronounce it “Ah-mah-raan-day”. Isn’t the name beautiful??

It went WAY beyond my expectations and the end had me a little sad AND screaming I WANT THE THIRD BOOK NOW! I greatly recommend the whole series by the way and read it right now if you don’t mind waiting a lot. I MEAN A LOT.

It was nice getting back to all of these characters after so long and it picked up a few days after the ending of the first book I think. The book isn’t that big because I finished it in one day in one sitting (me reading for 4 hours straight). I don’t remember how much time it took me to finish the book because I could have started at eight in the morning and finished it before midday…

The book talks about so many things…there is Amarande discovering the hidden parts of her family and Luca discovering his true family and learning about them. There is the theme of loss, sadness, and betrayal above all and trust is something almost privileged. Before all of this chaos happened, the Kingdoms of Sand and Sky was a male-dominated place but now, it is almost female-dominated with Queens wanting to rule the whole of Kingdoms of Sand and Sky all for their own gain. And you imagine!! All of this started just with the death of the Warrior King, King Sendoa who is Amarande’s father! The tragic and sudden death of one powerful King sends all the of the Sand and Sky in complete mess. It is unbelievable the way Sarah Henning created such a story.

I am not sure if it was much better than the first one but there was definitely a little more action, suspense and things happening in the book. Amarande was as ruthless and badass as ever, Luca was as willing as ever to support Amarande and protect the ones he cares for and loves. This is what I love about Luca; his trust, humbleness, fierce protection of the people he cares about and bravery.

The person I found the most interesting in the book was Taillefer, Prince Renard’s brother. I didn’t like him AT ALL in the first book but he is now my favourite character. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of plants, potions and all these gruesome scary animals which he keeps in jars. I would love to meet him (he is not nice…he tortured Luca once with his Fire Swamp or whatever it is called) and we could be friends… I mean, in the book, we get to see him more often and sometimes feel a lot of sympathy for him because he is more human in this book. We get to see his fears, his sadness and hopes and dreams. He is very sarcastic (I mean VERY sarcastic) and with a weird sense of humour as well. I love his personality actually. Is he my favourite character? I guess so because I am not done talking about him😂. I think the end of the book didn’t do much justice to him and…I seriously don’t know why it his ending had to be this way. The only reason why I took half a star away is because of this😔.

I guess that is all for today! Next review will definitely be You Have A Match by Emma Lord because I finished the book yesterday so stay around for more!!😊😊

Lots of love,

~hermione

Posted on June 19, 2021June 19, 2021 by Hermione · 1 Comment

Beyond The Ruby Veil-A Book Review

Hi guys! How are you all doing? This book, was read and finished by me in a single day and in one sitting. I just wish it was longer. And the cover is just so beautiful and the roses around the yellow frame looks so romantic but with thorns haha. Aww, it is so lovely! Well, let’s not forget about the review. ;D

Title: Beyond the Ruby Veil

Series: Beyond the Ruby Veil #1

Author: Mara Fitzgerald

Genre: YA Fantasy, LGBT

Publication Date/Publisher: October, 13th 2020/ Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Beyond the Ruby Veil (Beyond the Ruby Veil, #1) — Source: Goodreads

Seventeen-year old, Emanuela Ragno is the stubbornest girl you’ll possibly find. She is about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best-friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in the city of Occhia.

Emanuela Ragno is a girl with many secrets and her biggest secret is a small red mark on her hip which she has been hiding ever since she was seven when it first appeared. Her mark is an omen which is the sign to surrender yourself to the watercrea, who creates water for the city using the blood. Marks like that are supposed to spread but Emanuela’s mark hasn’t spread for around a decade and she doesn’t care that it is her duty just like everyone to give herself up to the watercrea because she won’t.

During her wedding, the watercrea exposes Emanuela and the omen on her hip and she is brought to the tower, where people with their omens are drained of their blood which the watercrea then turns into water using her magic.

But not for Emanuela, she escapes the tower and runs to Alessandro thinking that he will help her and to her surprise, she learns that her best friend is now married to Valentina.

The watercrea won’t leave Emanuela alone and when she comes to the House of Morandi Emanuela kills her by pushing her off a balcony which was a very wise and equally stupid thing to do because now, Emanuela has to find a way no matter what it takes to get more water before the whole city perishes out of thirst.

About the Author:

Mara Fitzgerald (Author of Beyond the Ruby Veil) — Source of Picture: Goodreads.com

Mara Fitzgerald writes YA fantasy about female characters who ruin everything. She is also a biologist and likes observing insects under a microscope. She now lives near Graceland and her debut YA fantasy is obviously Beyond The Ruby Veil which was published in October 2020.

My Ratings: 3.9/5

It was a great book and I really liked it but I had a few problems as well. The plot was just incredible and everything happening in the book immediately catches your interest. I am not sure if it is me or the book but it was like I had that feeling everything was happening a little too fast? Emanuela was a bad-ass character but she was a little too self-centered sometimes. And how many TIMESSSSS does she tell Alessandro that he cannot do anything without her and that he won’t even be able to survive if she wasn’t there. Seriously! I say it again the ideas and the plot of the book are amazing and the author has a great imagination but I had those two little problems I mentioned above.

Sometimes, I just wanted to push Emanuela off a very high balcony because she is occasionally very annoying!

Actually, there is a second book (and stupid me for not checking that out and just came to know about it when I finished this book🤦‍♀️) called Into The Midnight Void which is coming out on January 2022 (and I told myself countless times to check that all the books in a duology or series are out before reading the first book….).

BTW, that’s all for today and I guess I have to march off and finally decide which book to read next…(I’m just imagining myself actually marching off to decide a book…😂)

Well, see ya’ll next time!

Love, Hermione💜

Posted on June 9, 2021August 5, 2021 by Hermione · 2 Comments

The Princess Will Save You-A Book Review

Hi people! How are all of you? Doing fine I hope🤗

I guess I should start with the review right away but.I actually have one last thing to say: Hemhem, I heard that this book is a retelling of The Princess Bride though I haven’t heard of it or read it yet…oh and well, the cover is beautiful!

Title: The Princess Will Save You

Series: Kingdoms of Sand and Sky #1

Author: Sarah Henning

Genre: YA Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Retellings

Publishing Date/Publisher: July 7, 2020/ Tor Teen

The Princess Will Save You (Kingdoms of Sand and Sky, #1) — Source: Goodreads

Princess Amarande of Ardenia was utterly devastated to hear about the death of her father, King Sendoa but her sadness soon turned to fury when she learns that she has to get married to be able to rule as Queen in Ardenia.

Princes from all nearby kingdoms come in the hope of marrying Princess Amarande but their efforts were mainly useless because Amarande has something else in mind. She refuses to marry because she is sure that those princes don’t want her heart but only her crown and power. She is also suspicious of her father’s death and is determined to prove that he didn’t just drop dead from his horse but he was poisoned.

Another thing that bothers her is why her father didn’t change the law? Why does the rightful heir to the throne needs to marry to become Queen? Why can’t a Queen rule without a King?

With a hundreds questions swirling in her mind, Princess Amarande goes to her best-friend and her love, Luca, the stableboy, one of the only few people she trusts. When she reaches there, she finds no Luca but a note among the mess of the stable and horses. The note is addressed to her but it isn’t a note in Luca’s handwriting but in an unknown handwriting. It didn’t say much but it was a blackmail letter: Marry Prince Renard of Pyrenee or her love will die.

As stubborn and as strong as she is, Princess Amarande won’t marry Prince Renard, but she WILL find Luca no matter what it takes.

About the Author:

Source of Picture: goodreads.com

My Ratings: 4.5/5

It was a good book, very engaging and Amarande (her name is just so beautiful!) is such a bad-ass and fearless sixteen year old girl a little too perfect sometimes. I did feel like finding Luca was a little too easy but otherwise everything was nice.

I do regret reading this right now not because the book didn’t please me but because I have to wait to read the next book in the series, The Queen Will Betray You and I have to wait even more for the next book and final one, The King Will Kill You which is coming out NEXT YEAR!!

Seriously! I have definitely learned my lesson the hard way; before you read a book too fast, make sure the rest of the series is OUT for smooth reading….

I would recommend this book. DEFINITELY! But if you are like ME, then wait till next year to read the series so you don’t have to wait.

See you next time!

Hermione

Posted on June 6, 2021June 6, 2021 by Hermione · 1 Comment

Namesake-A Book Review

Hi people! I hope all of you are feeling great. I believe that this is going to be a great month because I am almost 100% sure I am going to read more books than last month. I am feeling very much in the mood of reading fantasy books right now and I think I am going to read, Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning next (I have been wanting to read this book for so long now). So let’s finally start with the review.

Title: Namesake

Series: Fable #2

Author: Adrienne Young

Genre: YA Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Publication Date/Publisher: March, 16, 2021/ Wednesday Books

Amazon.com: Namesake: A Novel (Fable, 2) (9781250254399): Young, Adrienne: Books — Source: Amazon.com

When Fable wakes up, she finds herself on board on The Luna, one of Zola’s ships. Zola promises her that she can return to The Marigold but only when she has finished the job he requests of her.

Fable isn’t very sure of that knowing Zola’s dangerous nature but clings to the hope that she will return to The Marigold one day even if it means escaping The Luna.

The Luna drops anchor at Jeval, the place Fable promised to never return. Fable doesn’t see anything interesting in Jeval that a big trader might want to trade but it looks like Zola is recruiting more and more dredgers and to Fable’s horror, Koy, the very person who swore to kill Fable if she ever set foot in Jeval again.

The Luna arrives at Bastian with all the gemstones the dredgers have found in the reefs and Fable, dressed up for a gala. Fable gets to meet Holland a very powerful gem trader and who is Isolde’s mother and realises that Zola brought her here at an attempt to regain his license to trade in Bastian by bringing her to Holland, who didn’t know she has a granddaughter.

Holland, old but powerful will do everything to gain much more power and dominate the whole gem trade not only in Bastian but also in the Narrows and that includes eliminating all of the most powerful traders in the Narrows, Zola and Saint.

Fable will do anything to stop Holland from killing Saint and knows that she isn’t stupid. She strikes an almost impossible deal with Holland: If she finds the lengendary gemstone, Midnight, Holland has to leave Saint alone. Finding a stone that has been missing for decades is an impossible task for Fable because if what Holland says is true and that Isolde really did steal the stone and run away, it should have been for a reason and tricking the person who controls the whole gem trade isn’t easy either.

About the Author:

Adrienne Young is a young American author who was born and bred in Texas turned California girl. New York Times, Indie and USA Today bestselling author of the Fable duology and The Sky in the Deep duology, she started writing at the age of 24 and only decided to pursue publication at the age of 26.(and is a big foodie and addicted to coffee)

Source of Picture: adrienneyoungbooks.com

My Ratings: 5/5

After finishing this duology, it felt like I had lost something in a manner of speaking because Fable had sort of grown on me and it felt a little sad to finish the book.

If I recommended the first book, it is obvious that I am recommending the second! It is of no disappointment because nothing is left out and you understand Saint, Isolde and West much better. Everyhting goes much in-depth in the book, and it moves at a quite fast-pace and West and Fable’s relationship becomes deeper. It was a marvelous and I am saying it again, this duology has become one of my all-time favourites and I am definitely going to read it all again next year perhaps;).

Love, Hermione.

Posted on June 3, 2021June 4, 2021 by Hermione · 1 Comment

Fable-A Book Review

Hi guys! How are all of you? Well, I hope some of you decide to read this book because this book didn’t disappoint me, not a little bit. This has seriously become one of my favourite books and I cannot wait to read Namesake, the second book in the duology!!!

Title: Fable

Series: Fable #1

Author: Adrienne Young

Genre: YA Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Publishing Date/Publisher: September 1, 2020/ Wednesday Books

Fable (Fable, #1) by Adrienne Young — Source: Goodreads

Fable has been dredging for pyre and trading them for coppers to survive ever since her father had abandoned her four years ago when their ship, The Lark sank and her mother drowned. She had been left all to herself on Jeval, one of the toughest places to live in.

Since four years, Fable has been saving every single copper she earns in the hope of returning to her father, Saint, one of the most powerful traders in the Narrows.

Surviving in Jeval was hard for Fable since nothing is free and every copper she earns for herself was equally precious. She mostly lived by her father’s rules:

Keep your knife where you can reach it.
Never, ever owe anyone anything.
Nothing is free.
Always construct a lie from a truth.
Never, under any circumstances, reveal what or who matters to you.

Finally after saving enough money, she decides to leave Jeval for good and be reunited with her father at her rightful place. She travel’s as a passenger in one of Koy’s ships but soon has to run away after Koy follows her and almost tries to drown her as she dives into the ocean to find pyre. With Koy gravely wounded by her kicks and punches and extremely furious, she screams for West another helmsman to save her.

Having paid for passage to Ceros with all the coins she had left The Marigold, West’s ship embarks with the crew and very relucantly, a passenger, desperate to find her father, Fable.

The sea to Ceros is a long and hard one with fierce storms and winds and Fable, well, she doesn’t know what her father will do when he will see her and if he refuses to take her as one of his crew, Fable doesn’t know what she will do because everyone made it clear on The Marigold, they all want her out of their ship as soon as possible and there is no turning back.

About the Author:

Source of Picture: adrienneyoungbooks.com

My ratings: 5/5

I absolutely loved this book and that is why I rated it 5 out of 5. It is a book full of unexpected things that really take you by surprise so I was always like, ‘Whoa. I didn’t even see that coming! Fable is such a lovable character with such a strong and brave personality I don’t think there can be somebody who will hate her even if they didn’t like the book.

Everything gets revealed little by little (for example about Fable’s mother, Isolde who even after the first book, is still so intriguing)so it just keeps you reading and reading because you cannot wait to see what happens next.

There is a cliffhanger at the end so nobody will be able to resist reading Namesake (which I am off to do as soon as I finish this post because the cliffhanger is killing me really!)

I would definitely recommend this book to practically anyone because it isn’t a such fantasy like Game of Thrones (with tons and tons of characters which requires you to memorise all the different places and seas though I am not complaining about it of course!) but a fantasy that is easy to understand with a good amount of characters, not too much and not too little that it isn’t focused only on Fable for example and the scenes happening mainly in Jeval, on the sea and in Ceros so no complicated geography guys!

I would also like to say a big thank you to the amazing author, Adrienne Young to have written this book because it has becme one of my all time favourites!

Thanks for reading!

Hermione.

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