Review: How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Posted March 3, 2018 by Lily B in Reviews / 5 Comments

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake
Series: standalone
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on May 2nd 2017
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Glbt
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3 Stars

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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.
Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.

The story follows two girls, Grace Glasser and Eva. Grace just wants to have her own life, but she is emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie. Maggie, who does not know how to be a mother and jumps from boyfriend to boyfriend, with a constant change in their living environment.

Eva has just lost her mother and now lives with Grace’s best friend Luca and his mother Emmy. She used to be a dancer before she lost her mother, now she is just looking to pick up the pieces.

Key Points

This book took me a couple of months to finish, mostly thanks to Grace’s mother Maggie. I get that this was part of the plot and to add some sort of drama, but I am honestly so fed up with crappy parents in YA books that this completely turned the book upside down for me. I get that Maggie is not the only parent in this book and that Emmy is just wonderful, warm and understanding. The difference between the two single mother women is stark, but Maggie’s actions had been literally just gross till the very end.

The plot was slow moving. Outside of Grace constantly being angry over Maggies actions and Maggie acts unhinged, there wasn’t much going on. Not for a while anyway, but at that point I didn’t really care.

I loved that this book had LGBTQ relationship and it was interracial as well. I always adore the diversity in my books. Problem is, Grace and Eva never worked for me. Grace just had too much problems and Eva was this sweet broken girl who just could not seem to understand Grace’s problem. Like really, she didn’t. Grace warns Eva countless of times to stay away from Maggie and even after Grace tells Eva why she wants her to stay away from Maggie and everything her mother is capable of, what does Eva do? Not listen to her and something bad unfolds.

I loved Eva, but the relationship felt forced and I wished Eva would have listened to Grace - I felt like she should have.

Overall, I can see how people would love this book for what it is but the main element of unhinged mother did me in. There is something that happens in the end of the book that honestly drove the rating down even lower for me.

The saving grace (no pun intended) here for me was Eva, Luca and Emmy - I thought they were great characters. I loved Emmy’s kind heart and her dynamic with Luca. I loved that she cared so much for Eva and even Grace despite everything that happened.

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Review: Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Posted January 13, 2017 by Lily B in Reviews / 21 Comments

Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor
Series: Into the Dim, #1
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on March 1st 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Time-Travel, Science Fiction
Pages: 428
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3 Stars

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.

Phew, took me a lot longer than I thought to finish this book - almost a year. Into the Dim follows a girl named Hope who believes her mother to be dead, until her estranged aunt comes to find her and tells her otherwise. Now, Hope with a couple of friends, must travel back in time to her mothers last known location and rescue her.

I really wanted a good time traveling book, so I was really excited for this one, but it fell a bit flat for me. I loved the concept of the dim and how it worked in the way that you can only travel to a certain location only once to prevent yourself from running into yourself and causing some major disturbances. I thought that was kind of neat and different.

I had the hardest time connecting with Hope and all of the characters read and acted younger than they were suppose to be. Hope was homeschooled, she doesn’t know how to approach other people, boys are an alien to her, but she has a great photographic memory. Her actions at times were a bit annoying, especially when it came to the books two leading boys, Collum and Bran. Right away when you hear two leading boys, you go, uh oh right? Yup, there is a big potential for a love triangle on the horizon. Hope is desperately pinning over Bran and how handsome he is, and how a boy like him would never look at a girl like her - despite the fact that he was coming on to her clear as day. Bran and Hope are also connected in more way than one, but his biggest secret doesn’t seem to deter her from being all goo-goo eyed over the boy.

Collum was brave, kept to himself and his interaction with Hope leads me to believe he is developing feelings for the girl - even if she has wool over her eyes and can’t seem to get it through his actions because she is too focused on Bran.

Phoebe is Collum sister and honestly from her actions and her character, I thought she was like 8? But no, this girl is not only a teenager, she spends a lot of time clinging to her boyfriend before they are sent into the dim to help rescue Hope’s mother.

One of my main issues was the fact that somehow these adults in the book end up sending 3 teenagers into a very dangerous era, knowing well that there is a woman who is out to get them, purposely putting them in danger without the chaperone. Not only must they recover Hope’s mother, they must also seek out a stone that will allow them to travel wherever they choose to. So the result? These kids get almost killed, over and over again if it wasn’t for the Queen of the era they were traveling to overseeing their safety.

Also, the repetitiveness was strong in this one. I couldn’t begin to count the number of times I found myself frustrated. No matter where these kids went, or did, they always got caught over and over again and had to find a way to escape over and over again. Honestly, I wanted to scream for them to just give up trying, it was only going to end the same anyway.

In the end, I guess a part of me enjoyed it, because the concept was interesting and now that I know that there seem to be only two books - I might eventually read the second just to see how it ends.

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Review: Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill

Posted January 12, 2017 by Lily B in Reviews / 9 Comments

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill
Series: Clash of Kingdoms, #1
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on December 27th 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 392
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3 Stars

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Seventeen year-old Britta Flannery is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. She spends her days tracking criminals alongside her father, the legendary bounty hunter for the King of Malam—that is, until her father is murdered. Now outcast and alone and having no rights to her father’s land or inheritance, she seeks refuge where she feels most safe: the Ever Woods. When Britta is caught poaching by the royal guard, instead of facing the noose she is offered a deal: her freedom in exchange for her father’s killer.
However, it’s not so simple.
The alleged killer is none other than Cohen McKay, her father’s former apprentice. The only friend she’s ever known. The boy she once loved who broke her heart. She must go on a dangerous quest in a world of warring kingdoms, mad kings, and dark magic to find the real killer. But Britta wields more power than she knows. And soon she will learn what has always made her different will make her a daunting and dangerous force.

When I first picked up Ever the Hunted, I was extra excited for the book. I was very much in the mood for a fantasy, and lately there have been some very interesting YA fantasy books that I thoroughly enjoyed. My expectations coming into this book were high, but not much of them have been met.

We meet Britta, a girl whose father has died and now she is in mourning. She is forced by the rules? Religion? Of the land to be secluded only in her house until an appropriate amount of time has passed. Well, apparently during the mourning period, Britta ran out of food and was forced to hunt for it. Hunting is also illegal on kings land and Britta is found and thrown in jail where she must await her sentence. I was a little confused why hunting is illegal and punishable by death if caught, which is what happens. I did not feel like this was ever explained. But very little was explained about the world, and world building in general is very limited in this book. Given that this is a fantasy novel, world building is especially important.

Britta is then given a choice, be executed or help them track the man who killed her father - which happens to be the boy she has been fawning over for what feels like most of her life. Britta has this ability, she can tell when people are lying - so she believes what the man is telling her is the truth because apparently he believes it as well. Shocked, she takes the bargain and decided she will risk Cohen (the boy killer) life over herself and track him down for the king’s man. She is sent on this journey with three very questionable guardsmen who make her life hell on the road. If she is someone who they must protect, they did sort of a poor job of it and their treatment of her was unsettling at times especially with Tomas.

The entire book had my head spinning. Britta was suppose to be this awesome tracker, but she either missed some clues or had stuff fall onto her lap. For someone that is suppose to be able to tell when people are lying, she is also a bit thick, whiny, and overall a useless character. I wanted to like her, I wanted Britta to be strong, independent, and maybe not dense? I didn’t get that out of her. She relied on other people to do the job for her, and she had a horrible time of following simple rules that kept putting her and Cohen in danger. Like don’t touch the fire cause it burns, okay Britta?

She also has magic - which she apparently did not realize even thought her mother is a Channeller and people hate her, and she can tell who is lying or not? And she also is pretty special and defies all the rules of magic because she is just so damn special - cue eye roll here - Like the moment I found out she has magic I had a moment of oh no, here we go again here!

The biggest problem I had, despite the weak and dense female lead was the world building. I didn’t understand what was going on and it felt like it was important? There are two kingdoms, and they are at war with each other. One kingdom has these women who are Channeller’s and the other doesn’t. Somewhere along the way they decided that all of these people are evil because they have magic, but the bases on WHY they think these people are evil is vague and not well explained. So the king decides he is going to go to war with this kingdom. Right… Got it.

Also, because of Britta’s looks and where her mother was from everyone automatically hated her except her best friend Cohan who is from the same time and everything.

I did like Cohen, despite him being painted the way he was.

I also had a problem with some of the gruesome violence in this. I felt like it was a bit off in a YA fantasy, or maybe I just didn’t care for it, but there has been a scene or two a bit too detailed and cringe worthy for my taste. I wasn’t actually expecting it, nor did I really have a care for such detail. It probably could have gone away with it, as much as other details in this book that didn’t exist.

The ending was too predictable and left potential for a very cringe worthy trope in the next book.

Can I just say that all the lies that were in place by her father for her ‘safety’ where just downright cruel? I mean…. if you read the book, the thing with Britta’s mother? Like, why would you do that to a kid? You know? I can’t talk much about it because of spoilers, but I knew something was wrong and when the truth was revealed I was a bit angry on that part.

Also, at the end there? If Britta was able to tell the truth, how the hell did the one major lie get by her? Readers of this book, you know what I mean? Especially if he didn’t know that she has this ability to begin with.

I actually did not come on here to write almost a fully negative review. I felt like the world had a lot of potential here, but it lacked in building. The romance was sub-par as best, but I liked Cohan anyway. I wanted Britta to grow as the story went on, but I didn’t feel there was any progression there. But seriously, can we tone down the level of special here? and maybe avoid the ugly love triangle?

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Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Key Points