Review: Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker

Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

If you are looking for a new and creative YA fantasy check this out. This is centered around a pair of siblings who are able to shift forms. They were orphaned as children and taken in by a gracious king after surviving in the wild and magical forest on their own. A vague prophecy leads to the general populace distrusting Rora and her brother Helos despite the king giving them his protection. When a magical plague begins attacking non-magical people, specifically the king's younger son, Rora, Helos and the king's elder son Weslyn take off on a quest to barter with giants for a cure. This quest will take them back to the forest of Rora's nightmares, where her mother abandoned her, and her father and village were slaughtered. On top of their quest to save the prince and the people from the plague, they must find the cure before war breaks out. There are 3 rulers in the land and King Jol has decided to eradicate magic land completely, and he has given the other rulers an ultimatum to join him or go to war. Rora and her group must avoid Jol’s men on their quest or face their wrath.

This has everything you want from a fantasy. It has great world building as the cast of characters traverses through the forest which is as much a characters as Rora, Helos, and Wes are. You never know what the forest is going to throw at them next. The beasts of the forest were so creative and perfect for a fantasy like this. We get a lot of character development on Rora, she goes through quite a lot on this book and has to deal with not only the current situation but trauma from her past as well. I expect we will see her continue to grow as the series progresses. I also expect to see more development from Wes and Helos as well, we see a bit of development as we get to know Wes, but as Rora is the main character the focus of development is on her.

There is a mild romance forming between two of the main characters, but it isn't really relevant to the plot. I could have done without it, but I'm anxious to see if and how it progresses in the next book. I’m kind of on the fence with it right now. I went into this book thinking it was a standalone, but as I approached the last 100 pages or so I realized there was no way it could wrap up without being rushed. Turns out it is atleast a duology. I’m very much looking forward to book two as Rora, Helos, and Wes all have their own burdens to bear and battles to fight. I look forward to seeing how they tackle the political issues with Jol and the fantasy issues with magic trying to find a place to take root as Jol tries to destroy it. For a debut this was fantastic and I only expect the storyline to get stronger!

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Surprise Release: From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“Action, adventure, sexiness, and angst! From Blood and Ash has it all and double that. So many feels and so many moments it made me cheer for the character. Read. This. Book! You'll be obsessed!”

- Tijan, New York Times bestselling author

From Blood and Ash, a captivating, sexy and action-packed high fantasy novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout, is available now!

If you love forbidden romance, this book is for you. If you love snark, this book is for you. If you love action and intrigue, edge of your seat moments and being caught off guard by what you’re reading, this book is for you. And if you’ve been missing . . . vampires in your life, this book is for you.

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

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About Jennifer L. Armentrout

#1 New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. She spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Border Jack Apollo. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over a hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.

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Website: https://jenniferlarmentrout.com

Review: The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross

The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.  This book releases February 6, 2018, and I highly recommend it.

I really loved this! It isn’t as fast paced and action packed as typical YA fantasy, but I didn’t mind that one bit. It starts off slow and builds up to the action. I thought I knew how it was going to play out, but I was pleasantly surprised when the plot twist I thought I saw coming never happened. I love it when books aren’t predictable. I won’t spoil it for you either.

Queen’s Rising follows Brienna, a young girl who has been hidden away by her grandfather so her father won’t find her. We don’t know why it is important that her father doesn’t find her for much of the book, and I won’t spoil it for you now. Brienna is hidden at Magnalia, a school where talented students study one of the passions, wit, art, music, knowledge, or drama. Brienna struggles to find her place as a passion during her 7 years at Magnalia. She tries each of the passions and finds knowledge to be the best fit though she must study harder than the other students. Her teacher Master Cartier works hard to preparer her to find a patrion, which will signal the end of her studies at Magnalia. When she does not find a patron at her “graduation” she is left to continue her studies while the other students go off on their own adventures. Around the time of graduation, Brienna begins experiencing visions related to memories of one of her ancestors. These visions are tied to her ancestor and a lost artifact that once belonged to a queen. Brienna becomes entangled in a plot to restore the queen’s lineage to the throne. She must use the visions to find the artifact and place the rightful queen back on the throne of a broken country.

I absolutely loved Ross’ writing. It drew me in from the beginning. I loved the characters. The bad guys were bad, the good guys were good, and there were some ambiguous characters that you just weren’t sure about. I loved the visuals that were painted. My only real complaint, and it is very minor, was that all of the characters had aliases because they were all in hiding as the plot unfolds. I was confused at times as to who was who, but most of the time it was with side characters that didn’t really play much of a role in the story. I also loved that the story stands alone. It appears to be part of a trilogy, but I very much appreciate that it ends with a satisfying ending and I don’t have to wait until the next book to find out what happens. I want to read the next book because I want to know what lies in store for the world and the characters.


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