Take the Key and Lock Her Up

The last book in the Embassy Row series by Ally Carter. This is one that I needed to pick up quickly to figure out what happened. Though the ending of the last one (See How They Run) ended rather abruptly but it just kept coming to mind and it was in at the library so I quickly snatched it up and put it on a higher que than the other books on my nightstand.

Grace, Jamie, Alexie, and Dominic are all running. Someone tried to kill Jamie. They don't know who and they aren't for sure why. They are constantly on the run until another secret about her mother is unfolded and Grace runs away from the boys to keep them safe, have the bad guys chase her instead of Jamie who is still injured and Alexie who is still wanted for a murder he didn't commit. She goes to the Society but finds no friends there, same with the palace. With the help of her Embassy Row friend and a little bit of espionage she breaks an insane woman out of a penitentiary and yet still finds herself in her mother's country trapped in a corner and no way out. Also, she supposedly the Lost Princess which she doesn't want to be. She just wants to be left alone to live her own life. How is she going to get that?

I do like how Grace has developed of these three books. She still has the mentality of "get out of my way or don't and get run over" while also still trying to deal with her PTSD. Any fire, any smoke triggers her and she's starting to learn to cope. She's starting to learn whom she can really lean on while finding out the hard way whom she can't. Some people might not like her, but I'm glad Ally Condie took this step in giving us a main character who really needs help and might not have been likable (on the verge of annoying) at the start. What Grace does is true growth, not just getting over a boy/crush. She gave us an unreliable narrator who knows she's unreliable and more than a bit crazy.

I really enjoyed the ending of this. It was complete. It also came full circle where Grace is able to face fears and is able to take steps forward. She wouldn't have been able to accomplish the things she did at the beginning of the story without turning into a pile of ash or rocking back and forth in a corner or running away from everything. She's willing to go down dark tunnels and tell secret societies to stuff it, which is pretty awesome.

While Alexie is pretty cool and Jamie has been an awesome brother since he clocked his friends, but I really like Thomas. I get that Grace is not princess material. She is not one to do benefits or worry matching handbags or knowing how far to bow to a countess and that's cool I so wouldn't be able to do that. But Thomas... he took things in stride. He was willing to follow her down those tunnels and willing to let her run after another boy. He was such a real person that it makes me want to have more of him. I'm glad him and Rosy are friends, but more screen time would have been cool. I don't know how Ally Carter would have done it, but it's what I want.

The title was also rather ingenious. Very fitting. :)

I don't know how Ally Carter would be able to extend this to another story (one that included my happy Prince, of course), but I would happily read another Embassy Row series. It was very good with intriguing characters and a very interesting world that I want to dive more into.

Fruits Basket Another

FRUITS BASKET!!! My all time favorite manga has made a very short sequel series.

And it's not finished yet, but man I wish it was. When I say short, I mean short. Three volumes, or so, short--which comparatively to the original series at 23 volumes is not a lot. Natstuki Takaya is still releasing chapters every week in honors of the new edition of Fruits Basket. I love them so much. But sadly none of the original cast shows up.

This story follows a very "shy and self-conscious" girl named Sawa Mitoma. She constantly feels like an inconvenience and a burden to all who are around here and believes if she looks only at the ground, she won't be a hindrance to anyone. But bumping into a Sohma (what every other girl in the world wants to do) has started to turn her would upside down. She has suddenly, somehow, made it into the student body presidency alongside Hajame and Mustuki Sohma. All kinds of Sohma's come out of the woodworks in order to help Mitoma find a bit of self confidence.

It is sweet, well drawn, and fun to see the next generation of Sohma's and the people associating with them. From and expanded YUKI-club, to stepping on someones face because they are laying on the floor like a cat *cough cough*, to many other little things. *sigh* It is really cute and I can't wait for the rest of it to come.

I may update this once all the chapters are out.

See How They Run

The second book in the Embassy Row series by Ally Carter starts up exactly where the first one left off.

Grace, who has just learned something even more tragic about her dead mother, still suffers from PTSD from the incident. But now more is on her and she's gotten to the point that she wishes she didn't know the truth. At times she tries to run away from it all, force it behind her and in the past but the past keeps catching up with her. Now her brother Jamie is back on Embassy Row and brought an army buddy along with him. Not even a few nights on Embassy Row and Jamie's friend is found dead on the beach. Who would want to kill Spence? And now Alexie is somehow to blame merely because he is "the Russian." Politics and conspiracy and secret societies are everywhere. Grace cannot catch a break.

There will be some who are still very upset that Grace sticks to this PTSD thing and the death of her mother weighs very heavily on her character. If you are upset by that, I hope you don't meet a vet or go through anything traumatic because you won't cope well. Her PTSD, which it's never actually called that in the story, is part of who she is. So much of it, because it is so fresh, still claws at her mind and it's nails haven't been dulled yet. In the book, because her brother also has to deal with some things, she's able to start to cope and begins to mend. I think that seeing her brother going through the same thing lets her drop her walls more than anything else has it seems. Knowing the truth has also helped as well, I think. It appears she begins to mend and isn't as angry and willing to jump off a cliff as she was before. Steps forward. Good job Grace. It hasn't stopped completely, obviously, and there are still flashes especially around fire, but she seems less dark and hidden than in the first book. Grace is true to her character. She doesn't flip flop on being the pretty princess then suddenly go tom-boy. She's freaked out and while there are moments of pause, she's still broken and it's not an easy fix. Ally Carter gives us that; she lets us see that this is hard. None of us want to be in her shoes and we feel sorry for her and reading on in hopes that she gets better and finds her own peace. Well done, Ally. Well done.

I really like Embassy Row and the idea of so many countries sharing fences. Being able to hide in a dilapidated Iran Embassy while walking past Israel, Russia, Brazil, and other countries on your way back to the U.S. of A. is a fun little concept. Ally Carter worked this one well and had fun with it.

This one is more focused on Grace's relationships with her brother and Alexie. There is a skuffle when the new Alpha-Boy comes into town, which is kind of fun to have your brother defend you, willing to knock the guys out. I do wish there was more of Rosie and Noah and the rest, but there just wasn't. While the first book had a taste of the Heist Society where the kids were the masterminds behind gathering information and being all sneaky and spy-like, that wasn't here, which was good because then it didn't feel like a copy of the first book.

I think that this series could have worked will as a combination of them all. Obviously I haven't read the last book yet, but it feels like they could have been presented in the same novel. Grace didn't make a whole lot of internal progress in the first book and made major steps forward in this one and I predict that there will be even more leaps in the next book. The first book had a good climax and this one felt lacking that intense feel. I felt the build up to it but then it didn't quiet come or more like the climax hasn't had the opportunity to resolve itself. They get away and are getting help, but not much more than that. The resolve will probably be in the beginning of the third book, but I want it at the end here. It's missing.

Thornhill

Thornhill is a well written, well drawn book that was a bit strange.

The written words are part of the diary of a girl named Mary from 1982 who is being bullied by the girls in orphan home. She has been bullied so bad that she stopped talking and her journal become her a solace, next to her handmade dolls, and the garden on the orphanage grounds. The artwork is the story of Ella, a girl who just moved in with her dad into a house that bordered the old Thornhill building in 2017. She goes exploring one day and follows a mysterious figure into a garden and finding dolls around the dilapidated building.

It was an interesting book, but a strange one. We feel really sorry for Mary and her trials. No one helps her and she feels like she can't confide in any of the adults around her. Then there is Ella where we don't get much from her. It's summertime and she doesn't do much but fix the dolls she finds around Thornhall. She doesn't do much else besides explore the grounds. We don't see her with friends or even with her father (who always is off at work and has no time for her).

I do find it interesting though that Mary only talks once in the whole book where there are quotations around what she says and Ella never says anything either (mainly because her side of things are all in pictures). The only time we see Ella "say" anything is when she writes a note. The similarities between the two girls are prominent but not screaming from the pages, obviously they are quiet.

It's a very sad book. Not one to read when you are sad. Especially the ending when it was supposed to be a happily ever after for the girls, but it wasn't in my opinion. A tragic ending to me, though it was supposed to be something happy-ish for the girls. I think it could have ended differently.

It was okay. Not a favorite but okay.

Edgedancer

As a side story (novella) to Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series, as expected, it was a joy to read.

We were first introduced to Lift (one of Brandon's favorite characters) in the second book in the Stormlight Archive series, Words of Radiance, in the interludes between the normal chapters. As soon as I read about how "awesome" she was, I fell in love with her.

This is Lift's story starting with some interlude chapters from WoR, but then continues after she leaves the Azir palace. She heads to Yeddaw a very peculiar city dug into the ground. Why she is there, we don't really know until the end and she really figures it out herself. Not only is Lift there with her Voidbringer Wyndle, but Darkness is in the city for some reason and Lift sets herself on a mission to find out.

This is a very small book also found in the Arcanum Unbound compilation of stories. It was a quick, short read only really taking two in-story days. But when it comes to Brandon a short story always ends up turning into a small 200 page book *smiles* and we are happy to have so much.

Lift is one of Brandon's favorite characters (he says so at the end of this story) and she is one of mine too. I find her funny and childlike, deeming her radiant powers as "awesomeness" because she doesn't know anything else to call it. Some people, I know, get rubbed the wrong way by this, so it is up to you if you like her but I think she's a doll.

This world is a small part of Roshar and Brandon gave a chance to explore more of this world that we won't get while reading through the Stormlight Archive because of lack of screen time. Roshar is thought out and very well developed. Each culture is vastly different with their own pros and cons and quirks which makes it real.

I think the part that I enjoyed, almost, the most is that we get to see changes in the characters as they are working through their own internal struggles. Not just Lift as she's coping with growing older, but other important character to all of the series. This book covers a jump that happened to particular characters that were brushed over in Oathbringer, so this book gave more of an explanation.

It can be read on it's own, but there will be references to other important things that might fly over the readers head if unacquainted with the Stormlight Archive. It's possible, but you end up missing out on a lot. For those who don't want to read all 1100 pages each of the Stormlight Archive, if you wanted to read this and get a taste of Roshar, read it. Enjoy it. Then pick up The Way of Kings because you'll like that one too.

In the end, there was more screen time for Lift and Wyndle, whom I love and enjoy reading about.

Edenbrooke

Edenbrooke is a proper romance by Junianne Donaldson.

Marianne is the forgotten twin. Whatever her sister did and her sister won so Marianne decides to run her own races. Thus has been left to her own un-elegant-lady-like endeavors. But then she is invited to go to Edenbrooke, a glorious estate in the country where her grandmother has given her instruction to learn how to be an elegant lady.

All goes array when her carriage is attacked by highwaymen. After a crazy night making a slight fool of herself, she makes it to Edenbrooke and finds a familiar face.

It was a cute book. A really quick read. A book that made you go "ahh." It's a romance novel, though a clean one which makes me happy. It fills that hopeless romantic side of me and makes me feel content.

I felt like there were a lot of stereotypes played in here and cliches galore in dialog and internal thoughts--and there were a lot of Marianne's internal thoughts. Many blushes and a few faints, dances and twirling, flirtations and quiet moments, then the ever needed control of ones reputation. It was cute, don't get me wrong. I finished and enjoyed the book. But it is not a hard book to read.

The characters were lighthearted and fun, though some seemed like cliches and it wasn't hard to tell where it was going to go.

It was a good book for me to take a break with for other "heavier" books. This is a lighthearted read that was well told even if it was predictable with a few twists and turns. It was a cute romance.

Tempest and Slaughter

Tempest and Slaughter is Tamora Pierce's newest book (as of so far). This is the story of Numair before he became Numair, when he was a simple student in Carthak City studying to become a great wizard, back when he was known as Arram Draper.

Tempest and Slaughter follows him as he is growing and studying at the Mage's school and shows more promise than many of the other students. He is the youngest student training to become a Master and flies through the ranks of his fellow students. He is often board and that gets him in trouble. One of these incidents leads him to become friends with Ozorne ("the forgotten prince") and Varice (a beautiful girl from the north). Between plagues, school, and the gladiator arenas there is a lot for the future Numair to do especially when death comes to call and conspiracy looms in the shadows.

Numair is one of my favorite characters. In the The Immortals series and Protector of the Small, I light up every time he's in a scene. I think I enjoyed this more because I knew where many of the characters were going to be later and what they would become, more than I enjoyed the actual book. I loved the little unexpected blip toward the end when I figured out who a particular character was. It was awesome!

Getting to know the environment and setting of Carthak was interesting and intriguing. It explained a lot of where Orzone came from and why he acts the way he does in future novels.

I feel like this is really only half of the story. There is a book two that will be coming out in 2019, but without it seems like we only have half a plot. The "climax" at the end was lacking even though it kind of rounded out the story, but it just wasn't enough for me. I think Tamora Pierce could have done more than just a timeline plotline. He grew older and advanced through the ranks... There is an underlying plot with the Princes and hints of conspiracy, but we only get a nibble. It was almost as if Tamora had too much she wanted to put in the story that the plot almost vanishes. There isn't enough of it to be considered a great book, in my opinions. I still enjoyed the book, just not as much as I was hoping for.

If I would suggest this book, I'd suggest it to someone who's already read Daine and Numair's story, at least until The Exile's Gift comes out. Before then though, make sure you read at least the four books in the Immortal's series. You'd enjoy it so much more then reading this alone.

Snow Like Ashes

Snow Like Ashes was a great book. I was able to bing the audio book on a road trip and because and the intrigue I was didn't stop to rest as much as I should have. It was so engaging I couldn't stop.

Sixteen years ago, Spring destroyed Winter and many Winterians were enslaved. Now, Meira, and orphan and one of seven refuges after Winter's Fall, never seems to be able to help. With Mather's help she is finally able to go and hopefully do something to help her people. They are forced to flee Summer, again, to the capital of another country where she is suddenly pawned off in hopes that she can "help her country" that way. This isn't what she wants to do. She wants to fight and defend her people. Free them from the enslavement camps that Spring has them in, not prance around in dresses. Things obviously go more and more wrong and it is delicious.

I really enjoyed this book bing and am sad I hadn't read it earlier. I cannot wait for the next book.

Meira is a headstrong girl who just wants to help. She grows in this coming of age novel. Her internal adventure is to find her place in this world where she seems to constantly be on the run. Her tone made this book. She had so many internal jabs at the people around her that I laughed hard enough at to wake my son while we were on our trip. I loved it. I love her.

The world that Sara Raasch created here is great too. She's given attitude and personality to all of the seasons and other countries. Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and the other four countries are all vastly different places with an interweaving history. This obviously makes prejudices and hate as well as friendly-ish allies. Her background and world building was very well done. The setting was well enough done to leave me satisfied.

The magic system was fun too, though I do want more. There wasn't a whole lot of magic, but I can see it being far more prominent in the coming books of the series. What I liked most about the magic is that Sara Raasch gave us a reason and history behind the magic. How it was discovered and whatnot. Not many people do that.

I also have to say that Kate Rudd, the reader for Snow Like Ashes did a phenomenal job and made the book sooooo entertaining. Great job, I'll be looking for other books that you've done.

I don't think I have anything really negative to say about the book. This will be one that I suggest alongside Cinder, Six of Crows, Brandon Sanderson, the Manga I've read, and the other 5 Star books I've enjoyed.

Enjoy it. It was a great read.