Category Archives: Book Review and Content

Review: For Love and Honor by Jody Hedlund

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Historical, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

For Love and Honor by Jody HedlundFor Love and Honor (An Uncertain Choice #3)
Jody Hedlund
Zondervan
Published on March 7, 2017

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About For Love and Honor
Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed?

Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have?

As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise?

My Review
Confession: this is totally not my preferred genre, but I’ve ended up reading this series because it’s the type of book my daughter enjoys.

As with An Uncertain Choice, the story follows characters who must marry but dread it. I liked Sabine’s character and the way her interest in art drives her and Sir Bennet together. The scenes from Sir Bennet’s perspective weren’t my favorite. He spent a lot of time agonizing over Sabine’s feelings and his own, which felt a little overly girly to me (not that men can’t be sensitive) and seemed similar to the voice in scenes from Sabine’s point-of-view.

While the characters are young—I think Sabine is seventeen—I would describe the story more as an adult romance with young adult crossover appeal. (As I mentioned, my daughter loves this kind of story right now.) It does make a great romance for younger readers who want that happily-ever-after story without the sexual tension or graphic descriptions.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading the story of Sabine and Sir Bennet in For Love and Honor (though I’m still team Derrick!) and think it will appeal to early young adult or late middle grade readers looking for a light, clean medieval romance.

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Cultural Elements
All characters appear to be white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a man and woman. Some descriptions of wanting to kiss.

Spiritual Content
References to prayer. Bennet values Christian artifacts and artwork as holy things because of his faith and what they represent.

Violent Content
A couple battle scenes in which soldiers become injured. Men attempt to burn a woman at the stake after accusing her of being a witch. A man throws a woman into a lake to prove she’s a witch.

Drug Content
Bennett and Sabine occasionally drink ale or wine, usually with a meal.

Review: The Unicorn Quest by Kamilla Benko

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The Unicorn Quest
Kamilla Benko
Bloomsbury
Published on February 6, 2018

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About The Unicorn Quest
Claire Martinson still worries about her older sister Sophie, who battled a mysterious illness last year. But things are back to normal as they move into Windermere Manor… until the sisters climb a strange ladder in a fireplace and enter the magical land of Arden.

There, they find a world in turmoil. The four guilds of magic no longer trust each other. The beloved unicorns have gone, and terrible wraiths roam freely. Scared, the girls return home. But when Sophie vanishes, it will take all of Claire’s courage to climb back up the ladder, find her sister, and uncover the unicorns’ greatest secret.

My Review

This was such a fun book! At first I expected the story would involve both sisters and possibly be told in alternating viewpoints. I’m not sure why I thought that, but it’s told in only the younger sister, Claire’s point-of-view, and though her sister is a major part of the story, she’s not actually on scene much.

I loved the story world, especially the land of Arden and its system of magic and cultures. Several groups have isolated from each other in the aftermath of a war. Each group has a specialized type of magic. There are the Gemmers, who can manipulate stone, the Spinners, who can control thread and weave stories, the Forgers, who have power over metals, and the Tillers, whose magic relates to plants. I thought those were a kind of unique spin on magic. The story uses them cleverly, too.

Claire and her friends from Arden form an unlikely team, and at first, they set out to find Sophie together. As the story progresses, Claire, who at first seems like a timid girl, the kind who follows in her sister’s shadow, begins to assert her own ideas and act on them. She becomes a lot more confident, even as she faces challenges far beyond her expectations. All in all, I think this is a great book for middle or late elementary readers.

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Cultural Elements
Claire’s family is white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
In the land of Arden, characters use various types of magic. (Briefly described in my review.)

Violent Content
Claire learns about a terrible war that took place in Arden years before her visit in which all the unicorns were massacred because people thought they’d gain immortality with a unicorn heart. She hears sounds of battle around her in a haunted field. No gory descriptions.

Drug Content
None.

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

 

Review: Everless by Sara Holland

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

Everless
Sara Holland
HarperTeen
Published on January 2, 2018

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About Everless
In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

My Review
I love the concept of the story—the idea that time and blood are connected and you have the choice (or are pressed to) spend from your allotted lifespan to purchase things. This premise set up some interesting stakes straight from the opening of the story. And Jules is immediately a likeable character since what she wants most is to save the person dearest to her, at any cost to herself.

I wasn’t impressed with her infatuation with Rowan Gerling. Yeah, okay, they were childhood playmates, but what’s admirable about him besides his good looks? I kind of kept waiting for the shoe to drop and for Jules to discover some deep fault in him. I liked the other characters, though, from the stable hand Jules recognizes from her past to her best friend in the village even to Ina Gold.

In terms of the plot, I felt like there were a couple threads that got dropped, or else where I missed their connection to the larger story. Jules carries a drawing that belonged to her father which she believes must be her mother. At one point she seems to realize the drawing’s significance, but never shares what that significance is. And it never comes up again as the story resolves.

Everless does have some interesting twists, though, and those kept me reading for sure. I needed to know what was going on with Rowan’s big, scowling brother Liam, and to understand Jules’s connection with the sorceress. All those questions had me charging through the tale all the way to the end.

Medieval-style dystopian fans (think The Selection by Kiera Cass) do not want to miss this one. If you’re a fan of Nadine Brandes’s A Time to Die, or The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, you will love the strong heroine, time-centered story, and forbidden magic elements of Everless.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
No real racial descriptions. All characters appear straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Brief, mild profanity used very rarely.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
A sorceress created a system in which time and iron and blood are bound. So that one’s time (lifespan) can be traded as currency for goods and services, like rent or food.

Violent Content
To extract time, a specially trained person cuts one’s palm and captures the blood in a vial. Time-letting is used as a punishment for a woman who’s accused of a grave crime.

Drug Content
Jules, the princess and another handmaiden go to a tavern and drink alcohol as a last night out before the princess marries.

Review: The Returning by Rachelle Dekker

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

The Returning (Seers #3)
Rachelle Dekker
Tyndale House
Published on January 7, 2017

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About The Returning
Twenty years have passed since Carrington and Remko Brant’s baby, Elise, was kidnapped and they were forced to leave her captive in the Authority City. Though they fled with the Seers far from Authority reach, they’ve never given up hope of rescuing their daughter from the man who betrayed them. Now Authority President, he’s ushered the city into a new era of “peace” — one where the Scientist Roth Reynard’s Genesis Serum has eradicated all memory of emotion or rebellion.

But the mysterious Aaron and his Seers are once again on the move, threatening the illusion the Authority has worked so hard to build. As the Seers send seven chosen warriors to rescue Elise and bring restoration to the Authority City, the lines are drawn for a final battle between light and darkness. The key to ultimate victory may rest within the strangely powerful girl who has felt forgotten but was never abandoned — a truth she’ll need to wage war against the powerful forces of evil.

My Review
If you’ve been reading my reviews awhile, you’ll know that I have a couple of particular pet peeves in books that get classified as YA. One is having a lot of scenes from adult characters, especially in cases where I think the scenes could have been told from a younger character’s perspective. I felt that way with this book and the scenes from adult points of view. That said, I’m not sure this is really classified as YA. Right now in the Christian fiction world there seem to be more adult novels with crossover appeal to YA readers, and this is probably best categorized as one of them.

The Returning hits a great balance between telling a fast-paced story and yet keeping its readers in the know—even if you forgot what happened in earlier books, you can still enjoy this one without feeling lost or like you’ve missed anything. I love that!

At first I wasn’t sure I’d like Elise. Her early scenes mostly leave her a passive vessel. But as she begins to find her feet and embrace her destiny, I felt like I began to like and admire her more. Despite the number of characters, I felt like it was easy to keep track of who everyone was because they had really specific personalities and roles and were introduced gradually, so I had time to place everyone in the story.

The light versus dark theme emerges as a strong plot in The Returning. It’s simple, sure, and at times maybe a teeny bit contrived, but overall I think it worked. The dystopian setting made a great backdrop for that kind of conflict.

I liked this book better than the first in the series—it’s not quite as dark as The Choosing. The biggest struggle I had with the story really had to do with its theology, which you can read about more in the Spiritual Content section below.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Really limited cultural or race details. I think the major characters are white, but there really aren’t a lot of descriptive details.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between man and woman.

Spiritual Content
The Returning has a very strong good versus evil/light versus dark theme. In some places the theology runs perfectly parallel to Christian teaching. Elise must reject the lies she’s been told about herself and others and embrace truths from her heavenly Father.

In other scenes, I struggled with the theology. It seemed to equate suffering with evil, which I just don’t find to be Gospel at all. At times I felt like it was saying humans are basically good and need to simply throw off the corrupt influences of evil around them. The Returning, like the first book in the series, again and again repeats this idea that you are perfect, you are blameless. For me that ran too close to contradicting the salvation message of the Bible. Maybe I simply didn’t interpret the author’s meaning correctly, but I felt like the theology got really muddled and confusing.

Violent Content
Battle scenes which turn fatal between soldiers and civilians. In a couple scenes, a character faces torture with some description. Some graphic threats of violence—in one scene, a man threatens to skin a woman alive.

Drug Content
Authority City leaders use a powerful serum to control citizens. The serum erases memories and makes recipients compliant. One character possessed by darkness takes vials of his blood and injects them into others to give them some of his dark power.

Review: Reign the Earth by A. C. Gaughen

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

Reign the Earth
A. C. Gaughen
Bloomsbury
Published on January 30, 2018

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About Reign the Earth
Shalia is a proud daughter of the desert, but after years of devastating war with the adjoining kingdom, her people are desperate for peace. Willing to trade her freedom to ensure the safety of her family, Shalia becomes Queen of the Bonelands.

But she soon learns that her husband, Calix, is motivated only by his desire to exterminate the Elementae—mystical people who can control earth, wind, air, and fire. Even more unsettling are Shalia’s feelings for her husband’s brother, which unleash a power over the earth she never knew she possessed—a power that could get her killed. As rumors of a rebellion against Calix spread, Shalia must choose between the last chance for peace and her own future as an Elementae.

My Review
It might sound silly, but the first thing that struck me about this book is the fact that Shalia approached her arranged marriage with the attitude that she would try to fall in love with her husband and have a good life with him even though the match wasn’t driven by love. I liked that the story didn’t set up with the more typical approach where she’d be chafing under the arranged marriage and looking to escape it from the beginning.

Shalia and her family drew me into the story with their customs and love and loyalty to each other. One of my favorite characters was Shalia’s brother Kai with his hawk. I loved the way he both protected her and respected her.

I read Reign the Earth a few weeks past the birth of my daughter, so I haven’t been getting very much sleep—and when I do sleep, it’s usually just an hour or two at most. So when I say I found it hard to put this book down, and a couple of times even stayed up to keep on reading, that’s pretty serious! Already, I’m anxious for the sequel, even though I’m sure it won’t be out for a while.

If you liked The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, you will probably like Reign the Earth with its clash of kingdoms, rich relationships and magical elements.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Shalia describes herself and her people as having brown skin, and her husband’s people as having pale skin. One character briefly mentions she’s a lesbian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a man and woman. Sex is implied but not specifically described. One character tells Shalia she kissed a girl.

Spiritual Content
Calix and his brother and sister are said to literally be the three faces of their god. Shalia shares some of the customs of her family which have some spiritual origin. Her childhood friend, a priestess’s daughter, has traveled the world opening sacred sites so that powers can manifest in people across the world.

Violent Content
References and brief descriptions of torture. Battle scenes with some gore and fatality. An abusive relationship between a man and woman escalates from words to threats to physical violence.

Drug Content
None.

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

 

Review: Blue Moon Rising by Simon R. Green

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Blue Moon Rising (Forest Kingdom #1)
Simon R. Green
Ace
Published September 6, 2005 (originally published 1989)

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About Blue Moon Rising
Rupert didn’t especially want to be a prince. And he certainly never asked to be the second son of a royal line that really didn’t need a spare. So he was sent out to slay a dragon and prove himself-a quest straight out of legend. But he also discovered the kinds of things legends tend to leave out, as well as the usual demons, goblins, the dreaded Night Witch-and even worse terrors hidden in the shadows of Darkwood.

Rupert did find a fiery dragon-and a beautiful princess to rescue. But the dragon turned out to be a better friend than anyone back at the castle, and with the evil of Darkwood spreading, Rupert was going to need all the friends he could get.

My Review
Blue Moon Rising is another childhood favorite of mine, though I might have been in high school the first time I read it. Maybe ninth grade. Doesn’t matter.

Rupert’s character never fails to draw me into the story. What is it about a guy with all the odds stacked against him just trying to do the right thing? I’m so in. Plus, his wry sense of humor and the acidic humor of his steed the unicorn kept me laughing.

Some of the writing bothers me the more I read the book. There are some repetitive phrases and lots of hopping from one point-of-view to another without warning. So be warned about that if it’s going to bother you. But if you can manage to overlook those things, it’s a really fun fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I really like that about it.

While the story contains demons, there isn’t any spiritual component to battling them. They are essentially malformed monsters and not spiritual beings themselves.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
It’s a pretty straight-white cast. Some racial tensions exist between humans and a tribe of goblins Rupert befriends.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a man and woman. Some references to sex, but no explicit details, nothing that happens on-scene.

Spiritual Content
The dragon talks about the difference between wild magic (which is the magic he senses and makes the demons strong) and human magic. Those forces seem to oppose one another.

The major villain in the story is the Demon Prince, whose appearance has caused demons to suddenly coordinate attacks. Rupert and his allies hope to find some magic strong enough to defeat the Demon Prince before he overtakes the Forest Kingdom.

Violent Content
Lots of battle scenes with some brief but gory descriptions of wounds.

Rupert encounters a witch who once kept herself beautiful using the blood of young girls. He also meets a warlock with quite a collection of animals in captivity. It’s clear the animals are miserable, but we don’t witness any harm come to them.

Drug Content
The High Warlock uses magical potions to cure wounds and transform into a younger-looking version of himself.