Category Archives: New Adult 18up

Review: Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

The Vanishing Throne (The Falconer #2)
Elizabeth May
Chronicle Books
Published on June 21, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Vanishing Throne
Everything she loved is gone.

Trapped. Aileana Kameron, the Falconer, disappeared through the fae portal she was trying to close forever. Now she wakes in an alien world of mirrors, magic, and deception—a prisoner of the evil fae Lonnrach, who has a desperate and deadly plan for his new captive.

Tortured. Time after agonizing time Lonnrach steals Aileana’s memories, searching for knowledge to save his world. Just when she’s about to lose all hope, Aileana is rescued by an unexpected ally and returns home, only to confront a terrifying truth. The city of Edinburgh is now an unrecognizable wasteland. And Aileana knows the devastation is all her fault.

Transformed. The few human survivors are living in an underground colony, in an uneasy truce with a remnant of the fae. It is a fragile alliance, but an even greater danger awaits: the human and fae worlds may disappear forever. Only Aileana can save both worlds, but in order to do so she must awaken her latent Falconer powers. And the price of doing so might be her life…

My Review
After I read the first book in The Falconer series, I couldn’t wait to read this one. Somehow it still took me like two years to do it, though. Oops.

What I loved: witty banter between characters, and one new character in particular. I loved Kiaran’s sister. She’s not at all like the stereotypical fae with the moodiness or aloofness. She has this open curiosity and goofy sense of humor but still feels like a member of the fae somehow. I liked her a lot. I also really enjoyed Aileana’s friend, a pixie named Derek. I’d forgotten all about him between books, but once he came back on the scene, I was hooked all over again.

The romance element remains strong and some very interesting plot twists place a lot of obstacles between Aileana and her happily-ever-after. Some of those twists took me completely by surprise, but they made so much sense looking back. I love when a story has a turning point like that, where it makes you go back and see all the earlier parts differently.

One thing that I kind of missed from The Falconer is that Aileana used to be much more concerned with propriety. She makes sure to have boundaries in her relationships with men. In this book, she has no thought for boundaries or her future. Some of that makes perfect sense, since the story has a much more post-apocalyptic feel, so it would be weird if her feelings about her future didn’t change. I guess there wasn’t really a point where she evaluated her beliefs and changed. She kind of just gets swept up in her relationship with Kiaran and never appears to think about any consequences to her actions. It wasn’t a huge deal in the story, but for anyone who read the first book thinking the series wouldn’t have any sex in it because of the time period it’s set in and Aileana’s personal beliefs, just know that isn’t true.

Reading Vanishing Throne made me super interested in reading the series finale, Fallen Kingdom. I love the strong heroine and the memorable characters, so I’m definitely eager for more. The series is a great pick for fans of Julie Kagawa.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
The story is set in Scotland, so most characters are white and upper class.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very frequently. A few instances of stronger curses.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between man and woman. One scene shows them undressing and going to bed together. It’s obvious they have sex but not graphically described.

Spiritual Content
The story contains faeries and monsters who possess magic. Some humans have specialized abilities which allow them to sense faeries or resist their magic. Some fae have an alliance with humans and use magic to protect them.

If a human dies and comes back to life, they may return with the ability to see the Fae. It can also unlock other gifts.

Violent Content
Battle scenes with some descriptions of injuries. Aileana is captured by fae at one point and tortured. Mostly her torture is mental. For instance, eventually, the isolation becomes a huge burden and she becomes eager for her captor’s visits. He bites her repeatedly, and his venom causes some additional pain.

Drug Content
Fae bites inject a venom that humans find addicting. At one point, a small group sit together drinking whiskey.


Blog Tour and Q&A with Lucia DiStefano

Author Interview, New Adult 18up, News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Once in a while a book comes along that really piques my curiosity, and BORROWED by Lucia DiStefano is definitely one of those! Today, I’ve got the pleasure of sharing an interview with the author where she answers some of my questions about her super intriguing book! First, though, let’s talk about the book.

Borrowed
by Lucia DiStefano
Elephant Rock Books
Published November 1, 2018
264 pages

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Borrowed
Love, mystery, and danger collide in this new literary thriller with the dark heart of a Gillian Flynn novel and the lyrical prose of Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun.

A triumph of authenticity, grace, and nail-biting suspense, Lucia DiStefano’s ingenious debut is an unflinching, genre-bending page-turner.

As seventeen-year-old Linnea celebrates the first anniversary of her heart transplant, she can’t escape the feeling that the wires have been crossed. After a series of unsettling dreams, inked messages mysteriously appear on her body, and she starts to wonder if this new heart belongs to her at all.

In another Austin neighborhood, Maxine braces for a heartbreaking anniversary: her sister Harper’s death. Between raising her brothers and parenting her grief-stricken mother, Max is unable to ignore her guilty crush on Harper’s old flame or shake her lingering suspicion that her sister’s drowning wasn’t really an accident. With Harper as the sole connection, Linnea and Maxine are soon brought together in fantastic and terrifying ways as the shocking truth behind Harper’s death comes to light.

Q&A with Lucia DiStefano

I find that a story was often inspired by a question. Was there a question that inspired you to write BORROWED?

Absolutely! Many years ago, after standing in a post-office queue and watching a woman scribble a note on the palm of her hand, I asked myself, “What would it be like to find a message on your hand and have no memory of putting it there?”

Were there things about your favorite character which couldn’t be included in BORROWED?

I think my favorite character may be Leo, the wildly talented chef whose personal life is a hot mess (and that’s an understatement). I find him so brash and unpredictable and entertaining, and maybe he’s my favorite because he’s so unlike me in many ways. Regarding things about Leo that couldn’t be included: the full details of his many arrests, what his apartment looks like, who he hangs out with, and what he’s doing when he’s not in the restaurant kitchen. Some of those things may be hinted at in the book, but they couldn’t be included because Leo is a minor character, after all, and all that backstory wouldn’t serve the story at large. (But can you tell I think about them?)

Can you tell us a little bit about something you know about the story that the reader may not know? Kind of a behind-the-scenes look at a character’s backstory or something interesting about the setting that didn’t make it to the final version of BORROWED?

Linnea’s mother wanted a child but not a partner (she’d had several disastrous relationships in the past, including one with a man who hated kids), which is why she availed herself of IVF when she wanted to conceive. Although that fact of Linnea’s parentage is mentioned once in the final draft, I’d had much more about it in earlier drafts, including an unsuccessful attempt by Linnea to find the person who she believes passed on a faulty heart to her. Because those details felt interesting to me but did not move the story forward, I had to cut them.

Is there a scene or moment in BORROWED that really sticks with you? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

I’m thinking about the scene that I hadn’t wanted to write because I knew it would be so excruciating to write. In the draft I sent in to Elephant Rock Books’s Helen Sheehan YA Contest, I had only implied that this major event occurred; I hadn’t written any of it. But my brilliant, thoughtful editor Jotham Burrello asked me to consider writing it, and gave very compelling reasons for doing so. Once he laid out his logic, I knew the story would be stronger with that very difficult scene in there, and I knew I had to muster up my courage to write it. I was right: it was excruciating to write, but I am glad Jotham saw the need for it, and I am glad I worked myself up to writing it.

Where did your ideas for your antagonist come from?

Sometimes writing feels mysterious to me. Often I can track the origin of my ideas (as in the question that triggered one major idea behind the novel), but when it comes to the antagonist this time around, the line is blurry at best. I think the reason for this is that I wanted the girls to drive the story first and foremost, and so writing them felt like conscious work on my part. But what the antagonist said/did felt like “gifts” from the antagonist himself, clues and motivations he lobbed my way when I was trying to focus on the two main characters. I can’t describe the process where he’s involved more accurately than saying those ideas all came from him; I just accepted them gratefully.

What do you most hope that readers take away from BORROWED?

The thing I most hope readers take away from BORROWED is hope itself. Both of the protagonists have been through hell and back, and in each of those scenarios, many people might not get up again afterwards. And yet, both of these strong young women go on to engage with life, and to me, that’s the epitome of hope: accepting the reality of the darkest of situations, and yet believing the sun will shine again and therefore turning one’s face toward the sun.

What is one question about BORROWED you are often asked by readers?

Questions along the line of: “Are you a baker? The desserts you described sound delicious. Did you make them before you put them in the book?” And my answer: I’m an amateur baker at best (and I consistently fail at making my desserts pretty, so I doubt I’d make a good pastry chef). I may not have made everything Linnea makes in the novel, but I can (proudly) say that I’ve eaten it all. (Which is why I hear the treadmill calling…)

About Lucia DiStefano

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

A former high school English teacher, Lucia DiStefano currently works as an editor, ghostwriter, and writing coach. First-generation Sicilian-American and daughter of an olive farmer, she admits to having recurring pasta dreams. Hailing from central Connecticut, Lucia lives near Austin, Texas with her husband and an old bloodhound named Waffle.

Follow the Blog Tour for More

August 1: Cover reveal at YA Interrobang

September 4: Review at Alice Reeds

September 10: Author interview at Alice Reeds

September 24: Cover reveal at BubblersRead

October 8: Review at Liz Loves Books  

October 9-15: Giveaway at Miss Print

October 15: Review at BubblersRead

October 17: Guest post at Liz Loves Books

October 22: Excerpt at YA Interrobang

October 25: Author interview at YA Outside the Lines  

October 31: Author interview at Katya de Becerra: The Last Day of Normal

November 1: Giveaway and guest post at Carina’s Books

November 5: Author interview at BubblersRead

November 12: Author guest post at BubblersRead

November 14: Author interview at Cynsations

November 19: First impressions video with YouTuber BookRatMisty

November 20: First impressions on The Book Rat

November 20: Author interview at The Story Sanctuary – You are here!

December 5: Podcast Interview at The Writing Barn

Like Elephant Rock on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @ElephantRockBks for book and blog tour news and updates!

Review: Last Summer at Eden by Christina Hergenrader

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Last Summer At Eden
Christina Hergenrader
Concordia House
Published on March 1, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Last Summer at Eden
Poppi Savot needs a new direction. After her mother’s death to cancer, the smalltown Minnesota girl can’t seem to find her true north anymore. So when she gets a call from a small Christian camp in Southern California, Poppi races into the unknown, hoping a new job will solve everything.
When she arrives at Camp Eden, things already start falling apart. With camp enrollment at a record low and camp about to close for good, her new boss tells Poppi she may as well pack up and head straight back home. But Poppi isn’t giving up. Walking into Camp Eden, she felt the first stirring of peace since she lost her mom, and she’s not going to let go of that without a fight. Poppi rallies together the camp’s ragtag team of counselors and launches a plan to save Eden.

My Review
Last Summer at Eden might get the award for most fun book I’ve read this year. It absolutely felt like being away at summer camp! I loved the references to camp songs and all the emotional highs and lows of the campers plus all the drama that comes from being in close quarters with strangers for ten weeks.

The romance part of the story is sweet and doesn’t dominate. I liked that Poppi figures things out for herself, and that it’s not a “hey, a man has the answers,” kind of story. I also liked the balance between Poppi’s goal of saving the camp and the evolution of her relationship with God.

Last Summer at Eden has some unforgettable characters, too. I loved Wolfgang, the German foreign exchange counselor and the cook obsessed with recycling. And Nat! The enthusiastic, cheerleader who tells the truth straight-up, best friend everyone needs. Everyone seriously needs a Nat in their lives.

The only thing I kind of wished were different about this book is that it were told from the perspective of a younger character (like one of the counselors). That would have placed it more solidly within the young adult arena. At nineteen, Poppi’s a little older than the average young adult heroine.

I liked the book anyway, and I think readers who enjoy books by Laura L. Smith (everyone needs a little Laura L. Smith in their lives, just like Nat!) will absolutely love Last Summer at Eden.

Readers looking for a clean and also hilariously fun camp story really need this one on their reading lists. This is the perfect read for summer or the next best thing when summer feels like a distant memory.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.
Camp counselors talk to a couple of the kids (individually) about saving sex for marriage after they’re caught sneaking out to meet up at night. The talk is pretty vague, referring to sex as “the good stuff” and talking about how other kids might brag that they’re “doing stuff”, etc.

Spiritual Content
Poppi wrestles with feeling abandoned by God. She realizes through trying to save Camp Eden that she stopped believing God will take care of her and is trustworthy. Through her experiences at camp and her efforts to save Eden, she faces the root of those feelings—losing her mom—and begins to rebuild her trust in God.
Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Poppi’s dad is an alcoholic. She talks about this as a struggle for her personally in that she wants to invite him into her life but knows she has to have boundaries. For instance, she wants to invite him to camp but feels like he won’t be able to enjoy a visit without drinking, and that will present a lot of problems for everyone, so she doesn’t invite him.

Review: Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, , , , , , , ,

Song of Blood and Stone
L. Penelope
St. Martin’s Press
Published on May 1, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Song of Blood and Stone
Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive–an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart.

Jack’s mission behind enemy lines to prove that the Mantle between Elsira and Lagamiri is about to fall nearly cost him his life, but he is saved by the healing Song of a mysterious young woman. Now he must do whatever it takes to save Elsira and it’s people from the True Father and he needs Jasminda’s Earthsong to do it. They escape their ruthless captors and together they embark on a perilous journey to save Elsira and to uncover the secrets of The Queen Who Sleeps.

Thrust into a hostile society, Jasminda and Jack must rely on one another even as secrets jeopardize their bond. As an ancient evil gains power, Jasminda races to unlock a mystery that promises salvation.

The fates of two nations hang in the balance as Jasminda and Jack must choose between love and duty to fulfill their destinies and end the war.

My Review
Song of Blood and Stone has a lot of interesting elements woven together as far as its story world. I liked that it had a sort of turn-of-the-century feel to it—with cars and telephones—but also felt very much like a world different than ours with its harsh landscape, magic elements and legends.

The storytelling reminded me a little bit of The Blue Sword, in the way military and magic play interesting roles in the story. It also reminded me a little bit of Children of Blood and Bone in the way race and racial tension are featured.

I liked both Jasminda and Jack’s characters. You know me—totally a sucker for a good guy who has to make hard choices and is willing to give up everything to do the right thing. Jasminda is a strong woman who is desperately trying to balance independence with pragmatism, and she appealed to me very much as well.

I didn’t expect the amount of sexual content in Song of Blood and Stone. It’s very explicit and takes up several pages of the story. More on that in the content section of my review.

The racial tension in the story feels extremely well-developed and relevant to some of the things we face in the world today. Those themes were well-balanced with the plot of the story, and because the characters are so easy to empathize with, they had some real power to them. If you liked The Waking Land by Callie Bates, you would probably enjoy Song of Blood and Stone. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but the amount of sexual content is really more than I enjoy reading.

Recommended for Ages 18 up.

Cultural Elements
Two races dominate this story. One has darker skin and magic. The other is pale-skinned and has no magic. A female minor character is in a secret relationship with a woman– something her family would cast her off for if they knew.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Explicit scenes showing sex between a man and woman. One scene lasts several pages. Another is shorter but still very explicit. Some sexual comments in other scenes about arousal or lust. At one point a guard threatens to rape a woman, and when that doesn’t seem possible, he plans to sexually assault a man.

Spiritual Content
Characters worship/pray to a legendary woman called the Queen Who Sleeps. She remains in an enchanted sleep, but legend says she’ll awaken at need and can speak to her people through their dreams. Worship of another god is mentioned.

Some characters also possess magic referred to as a Song.

Violent Content
A few violent comments in which a man threatens to and tries to rape a woman. Some descriptions of battle scenes. Some racist epithets directed at the darker-skinned and refugee characters.

Drug Content
Alcohol served at the palace.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

To Kill a Kingdom
Alexandra Christo
Feiwel & Friends
Published on March 6th, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About To Kill a Kingdom

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

My Review

This was a very different look at The Little Mermaid tale. And by different, I mean on the complete opposite end of the spectrum compared to the Disney version we are familiar with. This tale pays more homage to the Brothers Grimm than it does to Andersen.

Setting: The world-building was neat, and I’d like to learn more about the various countries represented in the story. I especially liked how the royalty of each country had their own unique myth or legend that made them stand out compared to the rest of the citizens.

Characters: The characters were entertaining, on the whole, even if they did fall a little flat. Lira’s character arc stuttered a bit, and I struggled to understand and empathize with what she was going through. I felt like she changed a lot without enough description of what was going through her head to make it believable. Elian, on the other hand, was more enjoyable to read about; however, I felt like he was two different characters, depending on if I was reading from his perspective, or Lira’s perspective. I get the author was doing that on purpose, but it just made it harder to connect with him.

Plot: Nothing special here. It’s a typical band of YA characters going on a mission to save the world from an oppressive ruler. Read it for the retelling, not for the plot.

Overall: I didn’t like this one. It had waaay too much violence (it really should have been a DNF), and the characters weren’t especially endearing. If you like brutal, bloodthirsty fairytales, then this book is for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something with a little less content, and a little more a unique plot, then I suggest checking out The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble.

Recommended for Ages 16 and up

Cultural Elements
Some characters are described as having brown skin. Some characters are described as being pure white, with blue lips. One lesbian couple. Sirens seduce both men and women. 

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Frequent profanity, and some innuendo. 

Romance/Sexual Content
One heavy, detailed kiss. A monster forces a kiss. Sirens kiss seduced sailors. Some innuendo, and veiled mentions of castrating people. One royal family has the power to seduce anyone they touch.

Spiritual Content
A goddess, Keto, is frequently mentioned and referred to. Magic is attributed to her.

Violent Content
There is a lot of graphic violence in this one. Torture, beatings, attacks, blood, wounds, burns by acid, etc. Very gory.

Drug Content
A brief mention of using poison/sedative to get what a character wants.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Tess of the Road
Rachel Hartman
Random House Books for Young Readers
Published on February 27, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Tess of the Road
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can’t make a scene at your sister’s wedding and break a relative’s nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.

Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl–a subspecies of dragon–who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.

My Review
Since I enjoyed the books about Seraphina, Tess’s half-sister, I looked forward to revisiting the story world in Tess of the Road. I still enjoyed the complex and intricate setting with its cultural and spiritual elements. It took me a while to get into Tess’s character. At the beginning of the story, she’s bitter at the world and desperately trying to drown her sorrows and her self-pity in wine or spirits. At first I felt like she was self-focused and self-pitying. As the scenes revealed her backstory, I felt more sympathy for her.

Tess’s journey gave the story a bit more structure. I didn’t find her goal super compelling because it was really about helping her friend Pathka reach a goal he had set, and she still seemed to be floundering as far as her own goals and needs. The most dominant force in the story remained the politics of equality (or really, lack of it) in Tess’s world. Sometimes the narrative felt preachy and forced.

Once Tess began her interior journey of healing from past trauma, I began to like her a lot more. I liked her journey companion, Pathka, too. Overall, it might be cathartic for someone who has endured some past sexual trauma to make this journey with Tess toward healing and recovery. See below for content information, though. Tess of the Road contains some strong sexual content.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
I don’t remember race descriptions of the characters. Tess’s cousin is gay. She meets another gay man on a job she works. She also meets a traveling prostitute who tells Tess she services both men and women.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently. More often there are made up curses related to the saints in the story. My favorite is, “St. Daan in a pan!”

Romance/Sexual Content
Tess has been curious about sex from a young age. At one point she made her sister and her cousin play wedding, and tried to get them to play wedding night by sending them to bed together, but they were little kids and none of them were sure what was supposed to happen. She remains ignorant, other than teachings from St. Vitt, whom her mom believes in. The teachings place a lot of shame and blame on women for any sexual acts, even if they didn’t wish to engage in them. The culture allows men freedom to sleep with whomever they choose, but a woman who becomes pregnant or is found to have had sexual partners is treated poorly.

Tess has had a sexual experience with a young man whom she admires. For most of the story, we don’t really know what happened other than that she got pregnant and he’s gone. It was an unhealthy relationship, clearly, but not until almost the end of the book do we learn what actually happened between them. See spoiler section below for more information and trigger warning.

Disguised as a man (she believes it would be too dangerous to travel as a woman unaccompanied), Tess meets a prostitute who will service both men and women. She does not sleep with the prostitute, but marvels that this woman seems content even happy about her choice of vocation. It flies in the face of everything she was taught to believe about women like this. The woman also challenges Tess by suggesting that women can enjoy sex as well, which Tess wasn’t raised to believe. Much later, Tess masturbates (it’s implied rather than described) and marvels again at how different the experience was from her previous sexual experience.

Eventually, Tess meets a man and develops feelings for him. He teaches her about herbs which prevent a woman getting pregnant and again suggests to Tess that she should enjoy sexual acts. She eventually becomes his lover and they sleep together. It’s not graphically described, but some details are mentioned.

Several people make comments about Seraphina’s relationship with the queen and her consort, implying that she has a sexual relationship with one or both of them.

Quigutls like Tess’s companion change gender several times in their lives. When Tess knew Pathka initially, she was female. Now he is male, though another character still refers to him as mother, since Pathka did lay the egg that hatched her.

Spiritual Content
People worship various saints with various creeds on how to live life. The saints are actually people who are part dragon, like Tess’s half-sister Seraphina. When Seraphina gets pregnant without being married, Tess marvels that since her sister is a saint, no one can judge her the way they judged Tess.

Violent Content
Tess punches a seminary student in the face for insulting her. Later, she smashes the back of her head into a man’s face when she feels threatened by him. Tess’s companion, Pathka, is a quigutl, a small reptilian creature, and in Pathka’s culture, problems are resolved by the offended party biting the other party. Pathka has several bite encounters with others in the story, some causing pretty severe injury.

Early in her journey, Tess steals food and supplies. She feels guilty, but doesn’t stop for a long time.

Drug Content
At the beginning of the story, Tess has a drinking problem. She gets drunk to avoid remembering the man with whom she got pregnant and to block out her mother’s harsh words. She gets drunk and spills a secret that hurts someone she loves. She also punches someone while drunk. She eventually wrestles with the problem and tries to give up drinking and learn other coping strategies.

SPOILER AND TRIGGER WARNING
Late in the story, Tess reveals what happened between her and her first lover. She tries to tell it as a funny story, but the truth is that he took advantage of her and raped her. There are some graphic details. Her attitude is more reflective rather than being caught in the trauma of the event, but still might trigger readers with past experiences.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.