Blood and Sand (Blood and Sand #1) by C.V. Wyk

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

FORGED IN BATTLE...
FROM THE DUST OF THE ARENA...
A LEGEND WILL RISE

The action-packed tale of a 17-year-old warrior princess and a handsome gladiator who dared take on the Roman Republic―and gave rise to the legend of Spartacus...

For teens who love strong female protagonists in their fantasy and historical fiction, Blood and Sand is a stirring, yet poignant tale of two slaves who dared take on an empire by talented debut author C. V. Wyk.

Roma Victrix. The Republic of Rome is on a relentless march to create an empire―an empire built on the backs of the conquered, brought back to Rome as slaves.

Attia was once destined to rule as the queen and swordmaiden of Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world had seen since Sparta. Now she is a slave, given to Xanthus, the Champion of Rome, as a sign of his master’s favor. Enslaved as a child, Xanthus is the preeminent gladiator of his generation.

Against all odds, Attia and Xanthus form a tentative bond. A bond that will spark a rebellion. A rebellion that threatens to bring the Roman Republic to its end―and gives rise to the legend of Spartacus...

This review is for everyone that may or may not have been disappointed by Valiant by Lesley Livingston. If you loved it than this book is similar and you may want to read it. If you hated it than this book is better! I've always loved Roman history. I find the concept of gladiators to be barbaric and fascinating. The wars during this time period also intrigue me so I knew I needed to read Blood and Sand. 
I thought that the concept of having an origin story of sorts for Spartacus was interesting but switching him to a teenage girl was inspired. She was underestimated time and again even though she kicked major butt in this book. She had such a thirst for revenge! 
I liked the bond that she formed with Xanthus even though I would have liked to have had a book without romance in it. I don't feel like it was needed and took focus away from more important aspects of the book. 
I know that there will be a sequel but the ending seemed a bit rushed to me. It seemed like things were coming to a head when I feel like the author cuts that off abruptly. I'm hoping that things will be discussed more rather than glossing over that in the next book.

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

🌟🌟🌟🌓 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield — her brother, fighting with the enemy — the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

I haven't read a YA book about vikings and had heard everyone raving about this book. I decided to give it a try because who doesn't like a book with war and bloodshed in it?! I thought...yeah, that's something that I need to read. 
I wouldn't say that it was outstanding like other readers have but I liked it a lot. I actually keep bouncing back and forth between a 3 and a 4 when I go to rate it. I eventually just went with 3.5.  The story wasn't as involved as I thought that it would be. It was really simple. An age old war between two different peoples and star crossed lovers. There wasn't much to the story that hasn't been told before other than the viking element. 
I enjoyed the main character being a strong person and a warrior to boot! She didn't need a man's help with anything! I loved watching her grow as a character because she was extremely stubborn at first but then began to question everything that she was raised to believe. 

Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles #1) by Jodi Meadows

🌟🌟🌟🌓 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Before

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

After

Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.

I had reservations about reading this book because the ratings/reviews made it seem just okay and I had had enough of reading books with dragons that didn't measure up to my expectations. I put off reading it and then one day I saw it at the library and thought why not. It is a fairly lengthy book which I didn't love because it seemed drawn out but I found the main character and story interesting. Mira appears to have pretty severe anxiety which she copes with by counting the things around her. I found this intriguing because I love a flawed character. I enjoyed seeing her progress throughout the book. 
I loved the portion of the book where she is in the pit! I thought that the rest of the book was weaker but seeing the suffering in the prison was great! I loved seeing the interactions between prisoners and finding out how far each of them were willing to go for their freedom and beliefs. It is while Mira is in the pit that readers learn the most about each of the characters and what is happening with the dragons. 
Personally, I would have liked to have seen more dragons. For a book that is about dragons I would have thought that it would have focused more on them than on information that Mira discovered.  I am excited to see what will happen in the sequel with everything that is revealed about the dragons and the main characters. 

Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1) by Rachel Caine, Ann Aguirre

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Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead of moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell.

Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.

Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.

I went into this book knowing that Ann Aguirre co-authored this. I didn't need to know anything else. She hasn't written a book that I didn’t like yet. 
It was filled with tension. I was asking myself questions the entire way through. I found, like Zara, that I didn't trust anyone or anything that I was told. I wanted answers just like her. What's the real purpose of the program? Why was Zara picked over other candidates? Will everyone survive? It's hard to know who is telling the truth and what information is being kept from the honors as well as the public. The authors leave a trail if breadcrumbs for the reader to follow and try to piece together what is going on. 
I loved the concept of a sentient alien spaceship! Nadim was a character all on his own. There were times when I forgot that he was a ship because he feels and knows so much. He and Zara are alike in a lot of ways but also different from each other. He is very open with his feelings and thoughts whereas she is guarded and protects herself using sarcasm and anger as a shield. It made for an interesting dynamic between the two of them. The authors did a great job with the rest of the characters as well even though they were only side characters. I think that readers may think that they are not fleshed out enough but I thought that a certain amount of mystery surrounding their backgrounds was an appropriate decision. 
That cliffhanger is going to haunt me until the next book comes out next year. Overall, I have to say that this was a fantastic beginning to the series and I look forward to reading more.

Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe #1) by Rosamund Hodge

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Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Cruel Beauty has got to be one of the best interpretations of Beauty and the Beast that I have ever read! It was reminiscent of the original but the author was able to make it a story of its own. I loved the changes and twists that Rosamund Hodge added into the story. It made the book a unique experience to enjoy. It was interesting to see the beast as a demon prince and to have Beauty be raised as a lamb to the slaughter. I loved how she was perfect. The author gave her flaws which made the relationship that she had with the Beast all the more compelling. Like I mentioned before, I enjoyed the twists that were thrown into the book because it helped to separate it more from the original and the author had amazing follow through with the plot and all of the details. My only complaint was that the ending seemed to be a bit rushed which caused some confusion on my part.  

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 1-3

For years, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have burned with one question—what happened to Fire Lord Zuko's mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar—and the most unlikely ally of all—to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.

I have been waiting a long time to read this series. I have wanted to know about Zuko's mother since I first started watching the show and I hated how it ended on such a cliffhanger in that regard. 
First off, the drawing is beautiful as well as the writing. I could hear the characters voices so clearly in my head...especially Sokka. 
I love how the book begins in the past by showing the reader where his mother came from and what her life was like before. It continues to alternate between past and present with Zuko and the gang following the clues to find his mother. It ends with a crazy twist of a cliffhanger though so I suggest buying all three books like I did so you don't have to wait. 

Enter the Forgetful Valley
As Fire Lord Zuko continues his quest to uncover his mother's fate, a shocking revelation causes him to question everything he knows. It's an opportunity that his sister, the deadly and insane Azula, will not fail to take advantage of as she joins Zuko and his friends, Aang, Katara, and Sokka on their journey into a mysterious forest from which some people never reemerge...

In this second novel, we learn more about the purpose of the wolf spirit and continue to uncover more about Zuko's mother and her journey. If you think that you hate the Fire Lord from the show just wait until you read The Search Part 2. You might love to hate him even more as the story shows more of his cruelty behind the scenes. 

The Fate of the Fire Lord!
Avatar Aang travels to the spirit world to parlay with an ancient power, bringing Fire Lord Zuko ever closer to discovering the truth about his mother's fate—and his own past. Yet Zuko's sister Azula is becoming increasingly dangerous, threatening to ruin everything that Zuko, Aang, Katara, and Sokka have struggled to achieve on their search!

In the final installment of The Search, readers are finally told what became of Zuko's mother. With so many twists and turns I was surprised when it was revealed. The book held revelation after revelation. If you think you know what is going to happen you might be surprised. I loved part 3 the most because of the closure. I actually breathed a sigh of relief when I was done because I finally had all of the answers that I was looking for. My husband read them with me and said that he thought that the ending was rushed which is slightly true but it didn't bother me. I think that all of the fans of the show will be happy with how these books carry on the story. I kind of wish that Zuko's mother could just have her own book. 

Stormdancer (The Lotus Wars #1) by Jay Kristoff

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌓 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Arashitoras are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shõgun, they fear that their lives are over – everyone knows what happens to those who fail the Lord of the Shima Isles. But the mission proves less impossible and more deadly than anyone expects. Soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled arashitora for company. Although she can hear his thoughts, and saved his life, all she knows for certain is he'd rather see her dead than help her. Yet trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and the beast soon discover a bond that neither of them expected.

Meanwhile, the country around them verges on collapse. A toxic fuel is choking the land, the machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure, and the Shõgun cares for nothing but his own dominion. Authority has always made Yukiko, but her world changes when she meets Kin, a young man with secrets, and the rebel Kagé cabal. She learns the horrifying extent of the Shõgun's crimes, both against her country and her family.

Returning to the city, Yukiko is determined to make the Shõgun pay – but what can one girl and a flightless arashitora do against the might of an empire?

It took me the first 100 pages to get into this book. The world is incredibly detailed and I got buried under the immense amount of detail at first. Once I became acclimated to the world and all of the terms for everything, the book was much better. I've never read a steampunk type of book before so I wasn't used to everything that comes with that. I did think that it was very interesting but with it being combined with fantasy elements like creatures and myths...it was just a lot for me to take in. 

Yukiko has got to be one of my favorite heroines that I have read lately. She has a strong moral compass and doesn't really have a filter when it comes to believing that someone or something isn't right in the world that she lives in. She didn't always see things clearly within the story but was humble enough to see what she was missing when she made errors that others pointed out.

I loved the edition of the Arashitora and other creatures to the story. It added a fantastical element as well depth to the story. It displayed a different side of the war that Yukiko was not aware of. I loved the relationship between them. They had such a deep and meaningful connection between them that I think that they both needed in their lives. 

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series because I loved this one and Jay Kristoff hasn't let me down with his books yet!