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Book review: Birth of the Fae, by D. Orsino

| Gifted | fantasy |

Birth of the fae is such a mesmerizing and fairytale-like read. The writing is descriptive and eloquent. In the beginning of the novel I could really feel the angels anguish and betrayal as they are cast out of heaven. It is such an emotional read, I could clearly picture every scene in my mind and I suffered alongside Xi and Jarvok as they wept.

The story has some religious backbone to it, even connecting events to Moses and the red sea. I love how we come to learn how Dryads, Merfolk, Pixies and all these fairytale creatures came to be and we follow Xi, who becomes queen Aurora, and how she creates the Court of Light.

“No one knew the nature of this star streaking in the sky, but they felt the anguish. The ache and determination were obvious. The yearning to return home was the same for all of them.”

I love the entire concept of the two factions of angels, the Virtues and Power Angels, and both were beautiful in their own way. Not only do we have a fairy-tale like written story, but the book itself is also absolutely stunning, I love the elegant look of the hardcover and all the extra little perks it has like the map, and the chapter titles which are all gorgeous! The book is short and left me longing for more, I am already excited for the upcoming novels in the series!

Book review: Unraveled, by C. F. Gonzi

| Gifted | Suspense |

Unraveled is an action packed read that follows the romance between Jace and Delilah. It is not a conventional love story, considering these two characters are FBI agents, it is a suspenseful and thrilling novel! Jace is a young but expert agent, and a Delilah a clever rookie with a lot of energy. From the first moment they met, they were drawn to one another. As the job brings them closer together, their relationship blossoms.

The pursuit of a powerful drug lord puts their life at risk, as they play cat and mouse with the villain around the city. When an accident jeopardies everything, their lives, their love and even their career, they must fight against their enemies throughout this dangerous path they chose.

It’s a fast paced and engaging book, as I found myself rooting for these love birds. The book also has some dark psychological twists, related to drug use and its effects, this powerful drug is much more then it seems. The ending was a wild cliffhanger, I was not expecting these plot twists! I am super excited for the sequel and can’t wait to read more of this series! !

Book review: Terra Nova, by M. T. G.

| Gifted | NA fantasy |

If you enjoy dark vampire books that take place in medieval settings with lots of plot twists this book is for you. During the beginning of the novel it was a bit hard to grasp the entire variety of characters and the world building, but after that I couldn’t put the book down and everything became much clearer. The story follows two parallel worlds, one overtaken by vampires, and the other Earth as we know it. I love the entire concept of the portal between these worlds and once Evangeline and Cynthia get across I couldn’t stop reading.

The novel is dark and intense, which I absolutely love! I would recommend it for a New Adult genre.

“I think you are pretty. Mother says not all regular humans are pretty like you. I am happy you came. I hope I don’t eat you.”

The characters were all amazingly done, I loved Evangeline, Raffael, Eros, Ehvan… The fact that the story is told in multiple point of views allowed us to connect to each of them. The plot is masterfully put together, throwing plot twists after plot twist towards us in a way that the novel became very action packed and it reads super fast paced. One of my favorite elements was the angst and hatred between Evangeline and Eros in the beginning and how this transforms throughout the novel. Terra Nova was heartbreaking and emotional, there are many unexpected turn of events. I will definitely keep an eye out for more upcoming novels from this author!

Book review: Ash, by Joel Thomas Feldman

| Gifted | MG fantasy |

Ash is a magical adventure in the Ponderosa forests, where we follow the story of a young girl, Sam, who was unwillingly made to tag along with her father, Jack, on an expedition trip in search of Bigfoot. I didn’t know of this field of research known as Cryptozoology, which her father works on and I found myself completely intrigued by it. Sam has already experienced grief, with her mothers passing not too long ago. Despite her parents’ passion for cryptozoology, Sam did not believe in any mystical creatures and is very skeptical. Sam was unaware that Charlie and his sons would join them for this expedition, an old friend of Jack and also a cryptozoologist.

As they venture together into the woods, what they come across in the forest soon turns Sam into a believer after all.

What I loved about this book was the magical creature, they end up discovering something they were not looking for. Unexpected turn of events make the this team of adventurers take sides, who will protect this magical creature? The story is easy to grasp and the world building is full of magic, the mystical events that take place are fun to imagine and could easily become a movie. I especially liked how fierce Sam was and her perseverance to keep going at all costs. We discover that Sam is more than what she seems, and I am eager to find out more about her abilities and how this links to her mother in the upcoming novels.

Book review: Beyond Dreams, by Carlotta Amerio

| Gifted | psychological thriller |

The story is set in Italy, following a history student named Giulia and her struggles into her twenties. We see her trying to juggle many things at once: school, work as waitress, friends and also suffering from terrible nightmares. The nightmares began with the stress of her exams, and we feel helpless alongside Giulia as she tries to overcome them by taking sleeping pills, however as it progresses the pills become ineffective and her nightmares start to gravely interfere with her life. Giulia becomes restless and nervous, in a way that even her boyfriend Davide can’t help her. What before was a careless and happy life as a young student alongside her friends and loving boyfriend turned into anguish due to the horrifying nightmares

The story is very dark and intense. We witness Giulia throw herself downhill into a life of drugs. She becomes an addict, loses the good things in her life keeping her together and ends up doubting her sanity. The author describes her pain and her chaos so masterfully that I found myself feeling her troubles and doubts. As the title perfectly suggests, the root of her issues is beyond dreams, beyond her nightmares.

Instead of looking for help, Giulia finds herself losing everything in order to hide from the incomprehensible nightmares, later trying to understand and fight as it all appeared so vivid. This young woman fights for her mental health, and it got me thinking about all those people out there that have no support for these type of issues. I felt a certain unease with the ending, however as I re-read it I see the purpose of it. Overall I recommend this novel for those who enjoy a dark psychological thriller with strong elements of mental health.

Book review: Missing Colors, by Lana Orndorff

| Gifted | General fiction |

I normally don’t read general fiction often, and I found myself delighted by how eager I was to unfold what would happen next in the story. This novel pulls you in with force, as we want to quickly find out all the mysteries behind it. The story is told in different points of view of two childhood friends: Hunter, a sexist and alcoholic young man with clear depression and loneliness issues.

I really disliked Hunter, and felt repulsed by his actions and thoughts. At the same time, his character shocked me to a point that I had to keep reading. I found his chapters more intriguing than Logan’s. While Logan is a respectable and successful young man, the extreme opposite of Hunter.

“Resisting fresh, delicious pizza when making deliveries while really stoned is another challenge. I’ve figured out how to strategically peel off pepperonis so that none look missing and how to hollow out the crust of one piece from underneath so I can get to the soft, doughy insides while the pizza looks untouched.”

Mysterious attacks on women are happening on campus, which will further complicate the life’s of these two men. Hunter becomes obsessed with a woman he never met, he feels a strong connection to her notes found on old literary works. I found that the story was written in a very eloquent and addictive manner, the writing style was one of my favorite parts. The ending is unexpected and by the end I found that I was starting to grow found of Hunter after all!

Book review: The Genesis of Seven, by S. M. Schaller

| Gifted | YA fantasy |

The genesis of seven is an action-packed novel! You are sucked in right away as the main character, Jordan, has to run away from the one home he’s always known. Soon he finds himself in the presence of an archangel, Gabriel. Yup, the one and only. I am a huge fan of stories with angels, so this got me all excited. They have to find the other archangels to help achieve their divine duty.

The story is told in multiple timelines, flashing back from the present to previous events in the story, as well as multiple points of view. I find this very intriguing and allows us to connect to each of the characters well. This book kept me up reading at night, and I didn’t want to go to sleep! I just wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next. I loved as they travel the world to find the other archangels, it was so fun to see lots of countries described! More specifically Brazil, my home-country. It is not often when I encounter Brazil in settings of fantasy novels so this touched my heart with happiness!

“Thirteen bound in blood by two
From ancient lines born anew
Both must live until blood is spilt
Afterward fighting hilt to hilt”

The worldbuilding was very well planned out and the ending had me reeling! I am so excited for the next book in the series, I just need to know what happens next!

Book review: Millie’s Encounter with the parallel world, by K. Taylor

| Gifted | YA fantasy |

Millie’s encounter with the parallel world was such a magical adventure! Millie is a sweet 13-year-old girl that becomes a target for bullying after her best friend switches schools. She has loving parents and an older sister Carla. They used to be really close however as Carla entered adolescence, she has no care whatsoever for family anymore. Millie is going through a really difficult time in the beginning of the novel, feeling alone at school and lacking the strong support of sisterhood.

I love how the story shows us the concept of true friendships, which we see with the side characters Oliver and Jenna. Oliver seems really mature for his age and I was hoping for a future love interest, which we see mentions of at the end of the novel. My favorite part was Carla’s redemption arc, I really enjoyed how her character was developed and the ending redemption was great.

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The world building was intriguing, it has a lot of potential to be further explored in future novels. The parallel world seemed in the beginning as a form of escape for Millie, however it is where we watch her grow and find her strength. The magical creatures of Morendale are very unique, my favorite was the fawn. The story has some plot twists which make the tale even more captivating.

Overall, for young adults and middle grade this is a perfect tale of friendship and family, full of magic and royals, as well as bringing important mentions related to the subject of bullying.

Book review: The Glass boxes in which we live, by B. Sylvie

| Gifted | romance |

A beautiful and emotional romance, very relevant and updated with recent world issues and which really brings out important elements of family, race and cultural diversity. The story is told in alternating timelines between the present and the past, which gives us a deeper insight to the backstory of the two main characters.

I like Alienor’s point of views the most, I was able to relate to her even though there is a big age difference between us, I went through similar experiences in my life (not only the fact I am also divorced) while moving around between America and Europe throughout my life. I found it hilarious her comments of the cultural differences and difficulties she encountered. Alienor has these two kids, Alex & Ben, that were funny and adorable. I really admire Alienor’s character, being a single (recently divorced) mom of two moving to a different country alone with her children takes a lot of courage, and you can see that she puts her family first always.

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I love the romance between her and Wesley, and how these two are so different yet their dialogues were so captivating. Wesley is able to make his way into my heart, just by the way he loves her family. I was rooting the entire time for these two to end up together.

My favorite quote: ” YOU have all the colors of love. You have the colors of our love”

Book review: Masked, by S. Cross

| Gifted | YA fantasy |

One of the things I love most about reading is getting completely emotionally attached to the characters. Masked delivers an amazing cast of characters, I was hooked. This book kept me reading into the late hours, crying and screaming and feeling everything as if it was all happening to me. Young Addalynne saves this mysterious boy who appears from the forbidden kingdom of Incarnadine.

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With his memory forgotten after the incident, Addy guards the secret of his origin, with fear of what could happen to him. We witness their love grow throughout the years, these two are inseparable. Their love is so fiece, so passionate, I found myself longing for this intense love.

So many obstacles are thrown at these two, the hardships they must endure to try to be together is heartbreaking. The story feels like a darker fantasy, with mentions of physical abuse, rape and death. At the same time their romance is refreshing and makes the reader hope and root for these two throughout the story. The side characters are also amazing, I love Addys sister and her brother. I am enchanted and thrilled by the mystery behind the kingdom of Incarnadine and await eagerly for the sequel