Review: Precious Stone Trilogy by Kerstin Gier

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up because I needed a book that involved time travel. This was a quick read and it was alot of fun. I really liked the historical aspects that were thrown in and the time travel concept in this book. I didn't want an overly complex sci-fi book at the time, and the time travel in this is very simple, so if you want something more complex and scientific, this may not be the book for you.

I thought the characters were completely believable as well. Gwenyth behaves exactly like a teenager who is interested in pop culture, boys, modern music, and just wants to spend time with her friends and family. She wants nothing to do with her stuffy relatives and the things they are interested in, even if it makes her look dull and uneducated in their eyes. She just wants to be herself and doesn't care what they think. When she finds out that she can travel back in time instead of her cousin, Charlotte, Gwenyth is completely unprepared and overwhelmed. All of those around her are bewildered because she isn't Charlotte, who has been preparing for time travel her entire life. I didn't appreciate everyone calling Gwen stupid and putting her down all the time, because she isn't perfect or training. She is also an immature teenager, which is to be expected. Her cousin is mature and groomed for the situation that Gwen has been trust into unwillingly and the insults were just unnecessary.

Overall, I found this very fast paced and entertaining. This is YA so the content is clean. The writing was good, but there is still so much unknown. I do feel like some of the plot could have been flushed out a bit more and more content could have been included. There are hints at a romance or a potential love triangle. It ends with a bit of a cliffhanger and a lot of unanswered questions. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier
Narrated by Marisa Calin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. I expected more growth from the characters and more plot development in this book. Both of those fell a little flat for me. I want to know more about the prophecies and why Paul and Lucy stole the chronograph and ran away. Both of those plot points are kind of just hanging out there with no real explanation in sight. I'm hoping those come to some sort of conclusion in book 3.

I do love Xemerius, he is Gwen's dead demon gargoyle pet. If you don't know already, Gwen can see and talk to spirits of the undead. Xemerius meets up with Gwen and Gideon after a time travel event and once he realizes Gwen can see and hear him he won't leave her be. Xemerius adds and element of comic relief to the story, he is also able to get information for Gwen that she can't get because the people who are supposed to be training her and helping her get the hang of the whole time travel thing are keeping her in the dark and treating her like she is inferior.

Much like in the first book, I could have done without the constant barrage of calling Gwen stupid and telling her she's pretty much useless. She pretty much finds out she can time travel and they start sending her on missions the next day without any information and training, yet everytime she walks in a room she's called a name and told she's not worthy, called stupid, and made to feel inadequate. Gwen never speaks up for herself, I thought maybe she'd get fed up eventually and tell them enough is enough. She had a bit of a spine in the first book, which I liked. She's too focused on being boy crazy about Gideon in this book to really care. There is too much about how handsome Gideon is in this and too much jealousy for Charlotte, neither of which adds to the plot.
Gwen and Gideon's romance was a given, you know its coming from the first book. They just don't really have any chemistry. I appreciate that there isn't really a love triangle, but their romance is missing something. It might be that Gideon is kind of a jerk to her most of the time and you aren't yearning for them to get together.

This review makes it sound like I didn't like this book. I did enjoy it. It is entertaining, but I feel like this book and the first book could have been condensed. This book doesn't really move the plot along and the first book felt a bit too short.

Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
Narrated by Marisa Calin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Much like my review of the second book, this one is more of the same. Gwen is constantly jealous of anyone talking to Gideon. She is unsure of herself at every step, some of that is warranted, while most of it is not. You aren't sure if you like Gideon or not because he's pretty much been a jerk to Gwen since day 1, and you aren't sure if he likes her or not.

I thought we were getting somewhere when Gwen's friend Leslie tells her at the beginning of the book to stop being sappy and get over her boy troubles, but the book is riddled with teenage angst and romance. I'm sure younger readers will eat this up, but I wanted something with a bit more substance. The ending was much to convenient. I kind of figured out who dun it earlier on, but I wasn't 100% sure, so I wasn't surprised at the reveal. There were still some plot holes that were left unresolved in the end that I would have liked wrapped up

I did love Xemerius, he is ever present and provides comedy at every turn. He is by far my favorite character in the series.

Overall, the conclusion of the series wasn't as strong as I would have liked. I was hoping for a strong ending. I'm glad to have read the series. It was entertaining, it just wasn't as plot driven as I would have liked and definitely had more focus on the romance than I prefer.

November Wrap Up

I had a pretty good reading month.  I read 9 books and 4 audiobooks.  I am finally caught up on all of my ARCs that I needed to review.  And I knocked out 5 reading challenge prompts.  

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
• Review
• This came out October 2nd.  I got super backlogged in October.  This was fairly long, and it took me a while to read.  This wasn't scary at all, and it was a bit slow paced.  Overall I liked it.  It had decent diverse representation and good character dialogue.
• Lies by TM Logan
• Review
• This came out on September 11th.  The plot was pretty good, and there was a great plot twist at the end.  Overall, I thought the main character kept doing really idiotic things to get himself in trouble, which played into the twist eventually.  It was certainly not the scariest or best reads of the year as promised.  It was an OK mystery/thriller and a quick read.
• Evermore by Sara Holland
• Review
• This is the sequel to Everless.  I really like the premise of how time is currency in this story.  This moved a bit slow for me.  There was a long time where not alot happened as the main character tries to remember her past lives.  It is a good conclusion to the duology, but what I was expecting.
• Cranberry Bluff by Deborah Garner
• It fits the prompt for a fruit or vegetable in the title.  It was a quick, cozy mystery type book.  I got it for free and it was pretty cute.
• Blue Water by J.A. Armitage
• Review
• This is a reverse fairy tale/retelling of The Little Mermaid.  It is a fun YA story line with some interesting mythology that I'm enjoying.  Overall I'm liking the series and am looking forward to the third book.  
• Pittsburgh Irish by Gerard F. O'neil
• I read this for the reading challenge.  I really enjoyed learning about the city I grew up in and walk around in everyday.  I learned so much from this and about the surrounding areas of Pittsburgh.  It was really nice reading about places that I know and learning about their namesakes and more about the events that took place there and the people who formed the city I call home.
• Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
• I used this for my time travel prompt book.  I'm so glad I read this.  It was a quick enjoyable read.  I really enjoyed the historical and secret society aspects to the story.  I also like that the main character is not having he male chauvinism and she is speaking up for herself more and more as the story progresses.
• The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Loved this Lux spin-off series.  I always thought Luc was a great character and I'm happy we get to finally know him.  We meet some new characters, and see the return of some old favorites.  I would have liked to see Katy and Dee, but we got Daemon and Archer so...
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• This fulfilled another reading challenge prompt for a book I meant to read last year, though it could have filled several others.  It was a short, but powerful book.  I really loved it and the illustrations were as beautiful as the words.  So glad I finally read it!

Audiobooks

 I did pretty well in the audio department this month.

• Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
• I really enjoyed this.  It was a little heavy on the romance, but it was still great!  I loved the mythological and paranormal element to the story.  I can't wait to read more of Taylor's writing.  This didn't really go where I expected, but I liked where it ended up.
• A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
• I loved this installment of the series.  We finally get to know what happened to Sofos who kind of just disappeared from the story a while back.  It also kind of brings all of the political plotting of the 3 kingdoms together once and for all.  There is still plotting but it seems that finally all of the kings and queens will be united.  This series keeps getting better.
• The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
• Review
• I got an ARC of this from Edelweiss after it was published, so in an attempt to get to clear my review list up I grabbed the audio book.  This was a great mystery with alternating times.  I really enjoy the way Sager tells stories.  If you liked Final Girls check this out.
• Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner
• This surprised me by following a completely new character in the series.  It took me a bit longer than normal to get into the story, but it was just as good as the rest of the books.  The writing is amazing, and now I have to wait patiently for book 6 which doesn't come out until March.

Top 5 Wednesday: Books You Want to Read Before 2019

Our Goodreads goals are quickly closing in. What are you prioritizing for the end of the year?

I'm mainly focusing on reading books for the remaining challenge prompts for my reading challenge for the rest of the year.  I have 8 prompts left as of the time I am writing this post, and books picked out for all of them.

• Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier - This is for a book involving time travel.  I've heard things about this series, some good some bad.  We'll see how it goes.  
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• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - This will cover a book with an animal in the title.  I've been wanting to read this for some time now and I've heard nothing but good things.
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• Vicious by V.E. Schwab - This is for the anti-hero prompt.  I know this involves some mad science and perhaps some mutants.  I like her writing and I can't wait to read this.
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• The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout - OK this isn't for a prompt, but I just got it from the library today so I'm going to read it ASAP.  I loved the Lux series and this follows one of the side characters from that world.  I can't wait to read it, so all other books will just have to wait until I'm done.
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• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by by John Tiffany (Adaptation), Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling - This is for the challenge prompt for a book that has been turned into a play.  I think it fits perfectly.
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