A Thief of Nightshade by J.S. Chancellor

In this novel a woman loses her husband in what she thinks is a hunting accident gone wrong. Come to find out he merely was stolen away from her and taken back to his world where he must become the king only to rule until he withers away giving his youth to the Fae queen. Or does he? Distraught with grief, Aubrey finds herself in Avalar, the place her husband writes about in his novels. Novels she thought were all fantasy. Determined, and in a strange world with strange beings, she sets out to save her husband with the help of an Elloheim (a man turned into a bear) and other assorted creatures and beings known as Shades and Fae. Will she save her husband or will he always be lost to her with no memories of her?

The way this novel was written was very well done and very thought out. The entire time Chancellor has you hanging on edge as Aubrey and her companions' survival is constantly hanging by a thread. The suspense of whether or not they will make it through each encounter will leave you reading on, never wanting to put the story down. All of this is all well and good if you've never read the chronicles of Narnia. A lot of the overall feel of the book is very, very Narnia-esque as far as having to defeat a "witch" with the help of other creatures. All of which happens after being taken to a magical world that is very different from our own reality. 

But if you have never read Narnia, then you will really enjoy this book. Shoot even if you have read Narnia, you'd really enjoy this book especially if you are good at the suspension of disbelief!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Hope Flies on Broken Wings by L.F. Falconer

Hope Flies on Broken Wings is a very interesting story that takes place in an unknown time setting and an unknown realm. It's one of those places where you are unsure if magic can happen or not. The only hint of anything magical is the mention of mermen and the good luck charm that comes from finding one of their scales. However, this story has a wonderfully captivating set of characters that just suck you into the story. Especially with such themes as love, hope and destiny. Despite the fact that I normally don't enjoy the "trashy romance" genre of book, surprisingly I did enjoy this, not gonna lie, it actually brought tears to my eyes especially in the last two chapters. 
Unfortunately, with all the good comes some bad, and for my it was the point of view. Initially the author starts the story in the first person, I I I...however, towards the end of the story, when a lot of the action is occurring, the author kept bouncing back and fourth between this first person and having a narrator. It was already hard enough for me to get used to the first person since many stories don't do this, but then I found it even harder to follow the plot after the author kept bouncing around between perspective. Despite all of this this story was still very captivating. The author really caught the style of love that happened during less civilized times around a fishing village. The one thing that I didn't understand was the introduction to Christianity. It was never given a name, but other than the fact that it preached abstinence until marriage, I don't understand the purpose of the other roles it played. Maybe it is just my lack of knowledge of the uprooting of paganism by Christianity, but the parts where the main female character is being told she will burn in eternal damnation, which is throughout the entire book on almost every page,just make no sense to me. other than the straight-forward obvious point of "oh, you have urges that everything alive has? Too bad, if you follow what is instinct you'll go to Hell". 

All in all this novel was well written, other than the point of view bit, and had good themes, especially if you are christian and believe in the whole abstinence before marriage thing that is preached throughout this story.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

In this coming of age tale, we are met with three different story lines that are in and of themselves unique and could stand on their own as individual stories. Much of the going ons in these stories is the main characters learning who they are by taking up various tasks and having traumatic experiences happen to them through the loss of parental figures or just the hard truth of trying to remain pure and uphold their morals, even the lessons of what a coward looks like. All of these things are going on amongst one of the most harrowing things in their lifetime, the Demons. These denizens of the night have reduced all of the people of "Thesa" to cowering behind ancient symbols, many of which no longer are remembered by everyday people. Many of the people (the Krasians being the exception) hide out of fear of being Demon fodder every night afraid to fight. However, after learning waht cowardice looks like, one boy takes to questing about the land and stumbles upon a ruin where some of these ancient wards that could hurt the demons remain. He then becomes known as the Warded Man, a man who eats the flesh of Demons, and has covered himself in wards and fights the Demons at night.
Now that my book report is over...The writing style used is very rhythmic. There is a very fine and delicate balance between the upbeat rhythm of the action of this novel, as well as the lulling almost lullaby quality of the intimate and personal moments of the story. The only complaint I have about this is the nature of how the three main characters come together. It is very abrupt and instead of telling us why Arlen was where he was (near Leesha and Rojer), Brett just kind of throws them together which isn't how Rojer and Leesha met up, that introduction was a lot smoother. However, despite that one hiccup, this novel was an overall success. The only question I have of Peter Brett is why did you change the name? "The Painted Man" just seems more fitting with the setting of the story. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”