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Review: Last Sunrise in Eterna by Amparo Ortiz

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,
Last Sunrise in Eterna by Amparo Ortiz

Last Sunrise in Eterna
Amparo Ortiz
Page Street Press
Published March 28, 2023

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About Last Sunrise in Eterna

Three teenagers are invited to spend seven days on the secluded island floating off the coast of Puerto Rico to learn the magic of the elves.

All they have to do is give up their dreams.

Seventeen-year-old goth Sevim Burgos hates elves. Everyone else on earth loves the elves (especially their handsome princes) and would give anything to participate in Eterna’s annual Exchange, where three teens can trade their dreams for a week of elven magic.

But Sevim knows things most people don’t. She can see through the illusions the elves use to conceal their crimes. Ever since elves killed her father, Sevim has longed for revenge. So to help support her single mother, she has been selling abandoned elf corpses on the black market.

But it turns out that the elf prince Aro has noticed Sevim bodysnatching, so he kidnaps her mother in retaliation. To get her mother back, Sevim must participate in the Exchange.

In the home of the elves, Sevim will have to surrender her dreams and put her trust in the charming prince who took the last family member she has in order to master the art of elf magic. And in working with him, she will discover how the royal elves might be more tied to her own history than she ever suspected.

My Review

I liked several things about LAST SUNRISE IN ETERNA. First, I loved the setting. The story takes place in Puerto Rico, and all the characters have brown skin. I loved that we got to see elves reimagined as Puerto Rican and anchored to the island and language. I’ve never read anything like this, so it felt very fresh and pulled me in.

Second, I liked the characters, especially Sevim, Aro, and his brother, Feyn. Sevim goes full speed ahead, even when she knows she’s outmatched. Her determination and her loyalty to her mom along with her refusal to believe things just because someone told her they were so made me a big fan from the early chapters of the book.

The plot also goes some interesting places, some that I really didn’t expect. That plus the Puerto Rican elves element gave the whole book a totally unique vibe for me. I really enjoyed reading something so different and with such high stakes.

I struggled a bit with the writing at times. It seemed to jump around a bit, so that sometimes I had to reread things before I could figure out what was going on. I read an ARC, a pre-release version, of the book, so it’s possible that the final version reads more smoothly. Or it could just be me– I was reading pretty fast because I wanted to know what happened next.

All in all, I think fans of this author’s earlier books will not be disappointed in this one. I think fans of TOGETHER WE BURN by Isabel Ibañez will love the magic and high-stakes adventure of LAST SUNRISE IN ETERNA.

Content Notes for Last Sunrise in Eterna

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters have brown skin. Sevim is Puerto Rican.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Brief mentions of attraction between two boys.

Spiritual Content
Elves have magic and the ability to create illusions that affect how humans see them. Other characters have the opportunity to gain magic through challenges and other rituals.

In a dream, Sevim encounters a character who talks about feeding on the magic of others.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some descriptions of battle violence. In a couple scenes, Sevim encounters the bodies of elf children who’ve been mutilated. The person responsible for the mutilation talks about enjoying harming them.

Drug Content
Sevim takes an elixir that is meant to allow her to see through the elves’ illusions.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of LAST SUNRISE IN ETERNA in exchange for my honest review.

Review: I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu

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I Will Find You Again
Sarah Lyu
Simon & Schuster
Published March 14, 2023

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About I Will Find You Again

All the Bright Places meets Ace of Spades in this twisty teen thriller about finding a way to live after losing the one person who feels like home.

Welcome to Meadowlark, Long Island—expensive homes and good schools, ambition and loneliness. Meet Chase Ohara and Lia Vestiano: the driven overachiever and the impulsive wanderer, the future CEO and the free spirit. Best friends for years—weekend trips to Montauk, sleepovers on a yacht—and then, first love. True love.

But when Lia disappears, Chase’s life turns into a series of grim snapshots. Anger. Grief. Running. Pink pills in an Altoids tin. A cheating ring at school. Heartbreak and lies. A catastrophic secret.

And the shocking truth that will change everything about the way Chase sees Lia—and herself.

My Review

For some reason, I find I’m always drawn to books about complicated grief. This one is no exception. It’s an intense story, both in its exploration of grief, but also in the way that it’s written like a thriller. I feel like all the stories I want to compare it to give things away about the plot, though.

After Lia’s death, Chase finds herself trying to sift through her memories and those of her friends to piece together what happened and understand why. She feels someone must be responsible, or that there must be an explanation that will make Lia’s death make sense, and she’ll do whatever it takes to find the truth.

I liked those things about her. Her desperation was palpable. Her grief exploded off the page. I couldn’t help rooting for her, even though sometimes she did self-destructive things.

The story explores the pressure that Chase and her friends feel at school. All of them have ambitious AP course loads plus extracurriculars. They decide that drugs and a cheating ring, in which one person completes an assignment or test and distributes the work to the others, is the only reasonable way to survive.

While obviously cheating is wrong, I couldn’t help pausing to think about why they chose that course and whether certain high-achieving academic programs do push kids too hard. I don’t know. It’s still something I’m thinking about.

All in all, I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN has perfect pacing in a deep, emotional landscape. Fans of E. Lockhart or Matthew Quick totally want to check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Chase is Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Taiwanese. Lia is Korean and adopted by white parents.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Mentions of suicidal thoughts. Brief mention of a suicide attempt.

Drug Content
Chase takes an upper called Focentra (a fictional drug) which she buys from a classmate.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Castelon by Alyssa Roat

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

Castelon (Wraithwood #3)
Alyssa Roat
Mountain Brook Ink
Published March 15, 2023

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About Castelon

Fifteen hundred years of Arthurian legend come to a head in the final installment of The Wraithwood Trilogy.

The sword of legend, ancient magic, and a dead man’s secrets—together they could save Brinnie’s world or end it forever.

Brinnie barely escaped Mordizan with her life. Battered and broken in body and soul, she knows she’s running out of time. And though she has discovered the identity of Mordred’s bane, no one knows where to find the legendary weapon.

To discover the truth, she and Marcus must journey to Castelon and seek the aid of the Council. However, their actions at Mordizan brand them as enemies and war criminals. Between Mordred’s armies engaged in full-scale war and the political machinations of the Council, Brinnie struggles to balance the battlefield and the courtroom while estates fall before Mordred’s wrath.

As magic ravages her own body, threatening her survival, the allure of ancient, forbidden power grows brighter. And only one man holds the knowledge of the weapon that could destroy Mordred once and for all—a man they buried in the gardens of Wraithwood.

My Review

CASTELON is the last book in a series I’ve closely followed. I love the way the author reimagined or was inspired by Arthurian legend. I also loved Brinnie and some of the other characters, too.

In CASTELON, we get to know Brinnie’s mom a bit more, and see the return of a character we thought was lost. We also say tough goodbyes to a few beloved characters. I liked the way the relationships between each character unfolded and especially the ones that I didn’t expect. In the second book in the series, MORDIZAN, Brinnie befriends a girl named Lana. I really liked the friendship between them, so I was excited to see her in this book, too.

The first two books in the series have built up to a battle against Mordred and his forces, which are bent on ruling the wizard world and destroying the human one. Brinnie and her allies struggle to find the weapon a prophecy calls Mordred’s Bane, believing only it holds the power to kill their enemy. The search takes them behind enemy lines, and gives Brinnie lots of opportunities to make brave but reckless moves.

Her bond with Marcus grows stronger chapter by chapter. Though he disagrees with her choices sometimes, he always respects her as her own person. They are partners in war and love. I adored him.

The conclusion of the book was both really exciting and also different than I expected, in a good way. I loved the wedding scene and all that represented, and the sort of open-ended way that the last pages concluded.

All in all, I thought this was a fantasy series both fierce and sweet. I think it’s perfect for readers just dipping their feet into young adult fantasy, especially those who enjoy reimagined fairy tales or Arthurian legends.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters reference their Christian faith. Brinnie draws battle inspiration from Bible stories like the story of Gideon.

Some characters have the ability to perform magic.

Violent Content
Battle scenes and some references to torture.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of CASTELON in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway by Ashley Schumacher

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The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway
Ashley Schumacher
Wednesday Books
Published March 14, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway

Since her mother’s death, Madeline “Gwen” Hathaway has been determined that nothing in her life will change ever again. That’s why she keeps extensive lists in journals, has had only one friend since childhood, and looks forward to the monotony of working the ren faire circuit with her father. Until she arrives at her mother’s favourite end-of-tour stop to find the faire is under new management and completely changed.

Meeting Arthur, the son of the new owners and an actual lute-playing bard, messes up Maddie’s plans even more. For some reason, he wants to be her friend – and ropes her into becoming Princess of the Faire. Now Maddie is overseeing a faire dramatically changed from what her mother loved and going on road trips vastly different from the routine she used to rely on. Worst of all, she’s kind of having fun.

Ashley Schumacher’s THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY is filled with a wise old magician who sells potion bottles, gallant knights who are afraid of horses and ride camels instead, kings with a fondness for theatrics, a lazy river castle moat with inflatable crocodile floaties, and a plus-sized heroine with a wide-open heart… if only she just admits it.

My Review

Is there anyone who writes complicated grief like Ashley Schumacher? I’ve read all three of her books, and loved all of them. THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY introduces Madeline, a girl who’s approaching the first anniversary of her mom’s death– and her mom’s favorite Renaissance Fair, which has been redesigned by new owners. So, her grief over losing her mom and how it’s changed her life irreversibly gets kind of mirrored by this other big event. I thought it was really clever to pair those two things so closely together.

I really liked Maddie’s character, too. She’s a loner, but not in a sad, get-that-girl-some-friends kind of way. She’s an introvert who treasures close relationships with a few people.

The only thing that worried me at first was Arthur’s approach to Madeline. He gives her a nickname she doesn’t like, and plays the “I know what you need better than you do” card, which tends to rub me the wrong way. It’s a little too close to refusing to respect someone’s “no.”

However, in several scenes, Arthur listens to Madeline’s preferences and quickly adjusts his behavior in response to her boundaries, so I liked that. And I liked that it became clear that wasn’t his whole approach to relationships with girls.

One of the subplots of the story is the evolution of how Madeline feels about her body and how she behaves in response to those feelings. She’s a curvy girl who still carries some hurts from unkind things people have said to her. When Arthur first asks her to be the Fair princess, she has a hard time believing he’s serious, or that accepting the role won’t open her up to ridicule. But as she begins to explore what makes her comfortable in her own skin, she realizes that some of the things she’s been thinking about herself aren’t reality-based. And she finds ways to shop and dress that make her feel good. I liked that journey, and I especially liked that while it didn’t happen in a vaccuum– there were people who influenced her here and there– it was still her journey.

Conclusion

All in all, I loved this book. It had lots of goofy moments and starry-eyed love. I think fans of Jenn Bennett should definitely check out THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Arthur has two dads.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Madeline carries a coin that, according to family lore, predicts the future. She flips the coin before making big decisions. She feels bound by the coin’s predictions, especially since it predicted her mom’s death from cancer.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Stateless by Elizabeth Wein

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Stateless
Elizabeth Wein
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published March 14, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Stateless

When Stella North is chosen to represent Britain in Europe’s first air race for young people, she knows all too well how high the stakes are. As the only participating female pilot, it’ll be a constant challenge to prove she’s a worthy competitor. But promoting peace in Europe feels empty to Stella when civil war is raging in Spain and the Nazis are gaining power—and when, right from the start, someone resorts to cutthroat sabotage to get ahead of the competition.

The world is looking for inspiration in what’s meant to be a friendly sporting event. But each of the racers is hiding a turbulent and violent past, and any one of them might be capable of murder…including Stella herself.

My Review

I’ve been a fan of Elizabeth Wein’s books since first reading CODE NAME VERITY. I missed a few of her books since then, but when I saw that STATELESS was coming out this spring, and that it was about a lady pilot, I had to read it!

This book delivers a rich historical setting in a 1937 Europe still reeling from the first World War. Already, the tension is building toward World War II. The whole story is from Stella’s point-of-view, which I loved.

Stella has both a sharpness and a softness that I really liked. She’s a woman, a rarity in the world of aeroplanes and pilots of her day. She’s aware that everyone from her colleagues to the press to her own family members will treat her differently because of her gender. Sometimes she second-guesses herself. Sometimes she worries about being too emotional. But she also recognizes her strengths and finds ways to create space for herself.

When Stella witnesses one of her fellow race participants attacked by an unidentified plane, she realizes reporting everything she saw may place her own life at risk. Instead, she begins to quietly investigate the other racers and support staff, trying to identify the murderer before he or she has a chance to strike again. That part of the story had me turning pages as quickly as I could. The tension ratchets up so quickly in some scenes. I held my breath as all the pilots gathered, ready to take off from one of their stops. I felt like I couldn’t breathe until I knew they would all escape.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a little bit less violent than CODE NAME VERITY, but still delivered that same rich historical setting and unforgettable characters. I think Elizabeth Wein’s fans and fans of historical fiction will be absolutely delighted with this one.

Content Notes for Stateless

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Characters are from different countries in Europe. One of the pilots is Jewish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently. A couple instances of British swear words.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
The pilots attend a vigil for a missing comrade. One, a young Jewish man, does not attend the church service as entering a Christian church isn’t permitted per his family/faith.

Violent Content
Pilots discuss battles and a murder case that were recently in the news. Stella sees what appears to be one pilot sabotaging another, causing a fatal crash. Other pilots experience evidence of sabotage in their aircraft. A man shoots multiple people. Multiple planes crash.

At one point, Stella listens to a soldier recount being shot down and gravely injured in an attack.

Drug Content
Characters smoke cigarettes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of STATELESS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Missing Clarissa by Ripley Scott

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Missing Clarissa
Ripley Jones
Wednesday Books
Published March 7, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Missing Clarissa

In a gripping novel perfect for fans of Sadie and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, two best friends start a true crime podcast—only to realize they may have helped a killer in the process.

In August of 1999, dazzlingly popular cheerleader Clarissa Campbell disappears from a party in the woods outside the rural town of Oreville, Washington and is never seen again. The police question her friends, teachers, and the adults who knew her—who all have something to hide. And thanks to Clarissa’s beauty, the mystery captures the attention of the nation. But with no leads and no body, the case soon grows cold. Despite the efforts of internet sleuths and true-crime aficionados, Clarissa is never found—dead or alive.

Over twenty years later, Oreville high-school juniors and best friends Blair and Cameron start a true crime podcast, determined to unravel the story of what—or who—happened to this rural urban legend. In the process they uncover a nest of dirty small-town secrets, the sordid truth of Clarissa’s relationship with her charismatic boyfriend, and a high school art teacher turned small-town figurehead who had a very good reason for wanting Clarissa dead. Such a good reason, in fact, that they might have to make him the highlight of their next episode…

But does an ugly history with a missing girl make him guilty of murder? Or are two teenage girls about to destroy the life of an innocent man—and help the true killer walk free?

My Review

One of the things I’m really curious about with this book is why the cover design doesn’t feature the face of Clarissa Campbell, the missing girl. Since the story became largely focused on understanding her and her life, I guess I wondered why her face wasn’t on the cover.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book going in. The cover didn’t give me a lot to go on, but the writing immediately pulled me into the story.

So, the book has an interesting style. It’s primarily from Blair and Cam’s points of view, but in a head-hoppy way. Like, one sentence might be from inside one girl’s head and the next might be inside the other’s. There are a couple brief scenes or paragraphs from other characters’ points of view, too.

It took me a little bit to get used to that style, but I actually enjoyed it once I got a feel for it. I liked both girls. They’re both really different and the kinds of different that makes them a great team.

In terms of the mystery elements, I felt like the story was very well organized. The mystery surrounding Clarissa’s disappearance felt to me like a long thread that Cam and Blair kept pulling and chasing down as it unraveled. It was easy to see their thought processes and how one clue led them to another, but I didn’t find the revelations to be obvious, either, if that makes sense?

All in all, I liked this book a lot. I found the characters compelling, and the mystery captivating. I can totally see fans of SADIE by Courtney Summers or THE AGATHAS by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson loving this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Cam is a lesbian and biracial– white and Latine.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls. References to sex. Rumors about a teacher having sex with students.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Cam and Blair learn to shoot at a range. A car runs Cam and Blair’s vehicle off the road at night. A man ties a girl up with a clothesline and tosses her in the basement. A man shoots another man. Someone shoots a man in the knee.

Drug Content
Cam and Blair attend a party in the woods and drink beer there. References to a party in the woods the night Clarissa was last seen where teens drink alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of MISSING CLARISSA in exchange for my honest review.