June Books

[mainemilyhoon.livejournal.com]

Someone Else's Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts 4/5
I don't remember how I heard about this, but it ended up on my Amazon wishlist somehow, and I liked the cover, so I bought it. And ended up reading it in one sitting. It's very cute, fluffy and wish-fulfillment-y (main character is poor and ordinary but attracts attention of famous movie star, who thinks she's amazing and caters to her every whim).

Moondragon by Noel Vreeland Carter 5/5
I did not think I was going to like this at first. The cover, the blurb, and the first few chapters are very Victoria Holt, and I am not a Victoria Holt fan. But about 1/3 of the way through, when Nicholas-the-dark-and-broody shows up, and Dierdre accidentally throws an ink pot at him, it suddenly got very good. I loved all their verbal sparring, enough to make me love the book even though I didn't care much about the mystery.

Goddess by Josephine Angelini 3/5
The first book in this series, Starcrossed, was one of my favorites when I first read it. It's Twilight-meets-Greek-myth, and even though the "we are cousins and must never be together" thing was overkill, I liked the story a lot. Book two annoyed me a bit, but I thought it was just second-book-syndrome and kept this one on my must-read list. I kind of wish I hadn't bothered. None of what I liked about Starcrossed remains in the series at this point. Everyone is just a shadow of their former selves. Helen's newfound ability comes out of nowhere - why did no one mention it until now? The part where Matt becomes Achilles and turns on all his friends made no sense. With all the talk of "we're fighting for free will", everyone falls happily into their former Trojan-War-reincarnation role without a struggle. It could have - should have - been so much better.

So Close to You by Rachel Carter 3/5
I checked this out on a whim one day at work because I like time-travel romances. It has an interesting premise - in the woods near Lydia's house there's rumored to be a military facility involved in all sorts of odd experiments. Her grandfather searches all the time for a clue to his father's disappearance in those same woods. Then Lydia finds a way into one of the WW2 bunkers lining the coast, and finds out what's really been going on. - but it was a bit...simple. Lydia refuses to listen to the guy telling her she needs to go back because "I have to solve this mystery of what my great-grandfather was involved with", even though the answer is staring her in the face. And then she gets back, and there's a big cliffhanger ending. Blech.

Parallel by Lauren Miller 4.5/5
Another one I checked out on a whim, but this one was really good. One choice in Abby's senior year led her to where she is now: on a movie set in Hollywood, poised to become the Next Big Thing, and wishing she could rewind her life and be starting college like everyone else she knew. The next morning she wakes up in a strange bed, in a strange dorm room, with a roommate who seems to think she's been there since the beginning of the semester like everyone else. It's a really satisfyingly twisty mystery involving parallel worlds and the choices we make and what we're really "supposed" to be doing with our lives. I couldn't figure out for a while how the romance was going to go, but I loved the way it all worked out. And for once I don't think this is the beginning of a series - yay, stand-alone books!

Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade 3.5/5
This one was very good until the main couple got together, and then it sort of lost momentum. Before that point they had amazing chemistry, and I really liked them both as characters. (Becky Wade writes really hunky heroes!) The mystery-that-wasn't felt out of place with the rest of the story. Why add kidnapping and revenge to a story that didn't need any more drama?

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 4/5
After Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Grave Mercy, I decided to try some more of the books I'd been avoiding for no good reason. I don't remember why I didn't want to read this one, but it was another example of me being bad at picking books, because I adored it right from the first page. The fake-pretend Russian setting, the twisty-turny plot, the characters you never know whether to trust, the magic...it was all so good. The only thing I didn't like was how little description there was in parts that badly needed it. The scene where Alina is running from the Darkling's soldiers is the least suspenseful chase scene ever. Speaking of the Darkling, I was totally Team Darkling until Mal came back in to the story. Now I don't know who to hope for.

The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne 3/5
Hester Browne is one of my favorite authors, so it drives me crazy that I don't like her first few books. I just don't get this series. The main character, Melissa, is totally naive, so I never know whether I can take her word for something or whether she's just clueless about what really happened. Jonathan, her American beau, is unappealing to me, so the parts where she's swooning over him are irritating. I do like how cozy and British everything is, with digestive biscuits and tea and BBC shows showing up in nearly every chapter, but I can't stand the characters.

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley 6/5
I can't even begin to do this justice. I loved it so much I'd give it 15 stars on Goodreads, if I could. Susanna Kearsley is another of my very favorite writers, but she's outdone herself with this one. I was going to copy my Goodreads review here, but it's longer than I thought, so go here and read it if you're curious.

Into the Wind by Jean Ferris
When I was in high school I had a friend named Rosie who loved this book because the main character is also named Rosie. So she passed it on to me one day and I fell in love, too. I wasn't sure it would hold up 15 years later, but for a penny on Amazon you can't really go wrong. Happily, I still love it - it's YA, but not YA the way it's usually done now. It's just historical romance where the character happens to be 17 and all the love scenes are fade-to-black. But that comes later in the series - in this one Rosie is introduced, loses her (useless jerk of a) father and her home in a fire, and is taken on board a privateer ship by Raider Lyons, who feels responsible for her since he's the one who shot her father (accidentally) and started the fight that set the tavern on fire. Leaving her with his friend (or is she more?) Octavia and her crew, Raider takes Rosie's kitten (accidentally) and sails away, and Rosie spends time on a ship and stops feeling sorry for herself, just in time for The Bad Guy to show up. It's a lot of fun, and from what I remember the next book gets even better!

Comments

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

I love your book lists! I have downloaded a couple of Kindle samples. :D

So Firebird is part of a series? What is the first one?

[mainemilyhoon.livejournal.com]

It's not really a series, but if you read The Winter Sea first you'd understand the historical plotline with Anna better. Rob shows up first in The Shadowy Horses, but just as a little boy, so you don't need to read it to know what's going on.

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

Oh okay. Well I just put a hold on Winter Sea. That's not my typical genre of choice, but you make it sound good. :)