REVIEW: Enchantée by Gita Trelease

Hi! I won this book in a contest and I was so excited because just a couple of days prior to entering I had added it to my TBR.
Needless to say I started reading it as soon as I got it and flew right through it.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians...
When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with the enchantments of Versailles. And when she returns to Paris, Camille meets a handsome young balloonist—who dares her to hope that love and liberty may both be possible.
But la magie has its costs. And when Camille loses control of her secrets, the game she's playing turns deadly. Then revolution erupts, and she must choose—love or loyalty, democracy or aristocracy, freedom or magic—before Paris burns…

Review: 

If the cover drew you in then the inside cover would blow your mind! It's a beautiful sprawling map of Paris that transports you right into the story with Camille and the rest of the characters.

Camille can do magic but it comes at a cost. When she starts performing it in order to get her and her sister out of a bad situation, she quickly becomes addicted to it and slowly gets caught up in a wretched plot.

I adore the magic system because it's not like others I've read about and a massive part of this story is Camille's enchanted dress. I loved it even though it was an object met with a ton of apprehension for good reasons.

The romance was wonderful. I'm usually not a fan of romance but Trelease knows how to balance it perfectly in time with all the other aspects of her novel so it's not so blatant and up in your face.

The pacing is quite slow but I loved the way I was eased into the setting slowly and completely. In this way, I felt like I was walking the street of Paris with Camille and attending card games at court, getting into mischief. The pacing was perfect for me!

Diary of a Murderer: And Other Stories by Young-ha Kim

Hello, everyone! I don't remember requesting this one but it showed up on my doorstep so I decided to pick it up. It's a collection of short stories so I knew I would finish it quickly even if I didn't like it.

The first story follows a murderer who ends up getting dementia years after he quits murdering.
I really enjoyed this one as it was a slow, horrifying buildup. The thought of losing your memories is terrifying. Alzheimer's creeps up on you before you know it, and its shown as such in this novella.

As for the other three short stories...I feel like I wasn't intelligent enough to understand the point of them. They were beautifully written, don't get me wrong! I just feel as if some things got lost in translation or maybe I really am just not smart enough to grasp the concept of why I was reading what I was reading.

The plot of them were decent and the characters interesting, I just...didn't get it. I don't know what else to say about it. I need a discussion group to open up so I can join and get different perspectives on this.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee

I finally picked this one up on a trip to Barnes and Noble with my boyfriend a couple weeks ago! I went in for some books that have been on my TBR list for quite some time now and this one made the cut!

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue follows a group of three friends on a Grand Tour during the 18th century.
Henry Montague, along with his biracial friend and true love Percy, plus his sassy sister get into all kinds of trouble on their tour. It's like their last hoo-rah before they have to be adults.

Percy is to go off to law school, Monty is to take after his father running the estate, and Felicity is set to go to finishing school. None of them want what their lives are set to turn out to be.

After a petty theft happens, the trio are thrust into a world of highwaymen, pirates, sinking and dangerous islands, and a cure-all for ailments. For sheltered children, they sure do endure a lot and overcome the many obstacles thrown their way. Many a time during this book I would have thrown in the towel at some of the situations they were put in!

I loved all of the characters and the plot was wonderfully unique. I had no idea what the Grand Tour was before reading this so I actually learned something! I really like that it's an LBGTQ+ story. And the adventuring is amazing! It also covers quite a few other topics such as suicide, epilepsy, and racism and slavery to name a few. They were touched on in a nice manner in my honest opinion.

I'm not really a romance kinda gal, but this was right up my alley. Flamboyant and not ashamed of it, Monty stole the show. I loved him the most. This novel comes highly recommended from me. Click here to buy it!

Book Review: Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer

Good morning, everyone! I finished this one in the wee hours earlier today and hopped on to write this. It was definitely a book that throws you for a lot of loops but overall I actually liked it.

Synopsis:
Thomas moves to a new town with his mother but before long he's suspected of her murder. The town turns against him but he's sure he didn't do it. He loves his mother.
The only person who thinks he's innocent is Charlotte, who also happens to be in a family full of cops who suspect him of his mother's murder.
20 year prior to this, Charlotte's ballet friend had been murdered but the murder remained unsolved.
They both have questions begging to be answered but the truth is worse than they could imagine.

Review:
For the better part of this book it read like a mystery. Then a surprise is thrown in and suddenly it becomes a paranormal mystery. It honestly threw me off for some reason and I put the book down for a total of two days to recover from that whiplash.
Kemmerer helped me recover easily though because as soon as I picked it up I finished it within the hour.
I really liked the dynamic between Charlotte and Thomas. There's always something about a bad boy and an innocent girl that draws people in. Forbidden relationships are my forte apparently. Oh, the teenage angst!

The only downside to this novel is the fact that it ended abruptly with no plans for a sequel. I had more than a few questions that needed to be answered that weren't and I'm quite upset about it! I need more. 

Book Review: The Antidote by Shelley Sackier

Synopsis: 

Fee is harboring a horrible secret. She has certain abilities that have been outlawed for years.

After an illness swept through Fee's homeland, Fireli, was quarantined for 10 years. They finally get to meet with their neighboring kingdom but things don't go as planned.

Fee, her best friend Xavi, and her betrothed Rye are thrown into a battle that started years ago with Fee's parents. In order to save Xavi, Fee must come to terms with who she really is and unleash what she's been hiding all these years.

Thoughts:
This was a quick read for me. The chapters are the perfect length the font is the perfect size to me. I love books like this because I feel like I get through them quicker. The plot of the story definitely helped with that as well.

Quickly we see Fee and Xavi are best friends. I loved their dynamic and the fact that it wasn't a romantic one added to it. Although some may agree Xavi is more suited for Fee than Rye is, I think you'll come around as you finish up the book. I did want to throttle him a few times but you can't blame the poor soul. He was horribly mislead and went on what information he was given at the time. The romance isn't all up in your face nor does it feel like it's forced which is always a plus for me.

I do feel as if this book could have been more fleshed out. I would have liked to see more of some of the characters because they were important to the development of the story but I didn't see as much of them as I wasn't to. I also believe the world-building could have been written better as it had a lot of potential but what we were given is sufficient enough.

Friendship and love and bravery are core concepts in this novel. I loved it!

Book Review: The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott

Synopsis:
An eerie, old Scottish manor in the middle of nowhere that’s now hers.

Ailsa Calder has inherited half of a house. The other half belongs to a man who disappeared without a trace twenty-seven years ago—her father.
Leaving London behind to settle the inheritance from her mother’s estate, Ailsa returns to her childhood home, nestled amongst the craggy peaks of the Scottish Highlands, joined by the half-sister who’s almost a stranger to her.
Ailsa can’t escape the claustrophobic feeling that the house itself is watching her—as if her past hungers to consume her. She also can’t ignore how the neighbourhood animals refuse to set one foot within the gates of the garden.
When the first nighttime intruder shows up, Ailsa fears that the manor’s careless rugged beauty could cost her everything.

Thoughts: 

If you're anything like me, you've been getting tired of the same old suspense books that authors seem to be doling out like no other. I requested a review copy of this book solely based on the fact that it centers around a massive house in the Scottish countryside. I didn't expect much from it, but I was pleasantly surprised. This novel has its way of delivering a slow and steady creeping feeling. It makes you question whether the bump you heard in the night really was just a bump. 

In addition to the creepy house, Ailsa has to deal with the fact that when she was a young girl her father disappeared. It left her with questions that she has no idea will ever be answered. On top of that, she feels like the house is against her as well as having the feeling that everyone has something to hide in her old hometown. 

The scenery is beautifully Gothic. The characters are a somber cast which aids the novel along wonderfully and sets the mood well. Add in the Scottish dialogue and you've got a book that transplants you right in the middle of Scotland.

Everything ties up well in the end but during your read Elliott only gives away half of what you need. Guaranteed to make you ask questions, guaranteed to make you turn the pages the find the answers to those questions. 

I was thoroughly surprised at the end and I didn't guess anything at all. I'm usually good at figuring out what's going on in these types of books but I honestly had no clue whatsoever. Anything you think you know is called into question as soon as you think it. 
Are you and Ailsa both going crazy, or are things really as they seem?

Definitely a book I'm recommending. Read it! 

You can pre-order it on Amazon here.

Book Review: Before I Disappear by Danielle Stinson

I'm not crying...you're crying!

Before I Disappear is marketed as Arrival meets A Wrinkle in Time. I've never Arrival nor have I ever read A Wrinkle in Time, so I went into this novel pretty blind.

Rose Montgomery has had a hard life. After their latest setback, her, her brother Charlie, and her mother find themselves in Fort Glory, Oregon.
Rose's goal is to make a better life for her younger brother and her mother. Before she knows it, everything is flip-turned upside down and Fort Glory seems to be gone. Poof, into thin air. Taking Charlie and her mother along with it.

Rose finds herself trapped in The Fold with four others who have to rely on each other to figure out how to survive. The Fold is a 30 mild wooded area hell-bent on killing them if they're not careful.

The whole time they're separated Charlie is sending Rose signals that help pave the way to save the group and their whole town.

I love the characters. Rose is amazingly grown up for her age due to the circumstance that led Rose and her family to Fort Glory. She's strong and resilient and hard-working. There's no one she cares about more than Charlie. Charlie is a wonder and he's selfless and it's not hard to see why Rose goes through everything she does to get him back.

There's a small relationship that blossoms between Rose and another character and I like the way Stinson wrote it in. It isn't the main plot of the story but it helps the story along. It's subtle and I'm all about subtle. Romance that's too in your face isn't for me so I really appreciated this aspect of the novel!

If sci-fi isn't your thing, take a leap of faith because it's not mine either and I still enjoyed this one quite a bit. Stinson focuses more on the driving forces of life like love and longing instead of making it all about sci-fi.