Lillian @ Mom with a Reading Problem
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Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel
- De: Beth Revis
- Narrado por: Saskia Maarleveld, Marc Thompson
- Duración: 12 h y 45 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Historia
The Death Star is destroyed. Darth Vader is dead. The Empire is desolate. But on the forest moon of Endor, among the chaos of a changing galaxy, time stands still for a princess and her scoundrel. After being frozen in carbonite, then risking everything for the Rebellion, Han is eager to stop living his life for other people. He and Leia have earned their future together, a thousand times over. And when he proposes to Leia, it’s the first time in a long time he’s had a good feeling about this. For Leia, a lifetime of fighting doesn’t seem truly over.
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Excellent
- De William Caro en 08-22-22
- Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel
- De: Beth Revis
- Narrado por: Saskia Maarleveld, Marc Thompson
Thrilling Honeymoon
Revisado: 01-25-23
What a read! The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis is the first Star Wars book I’ve read as an adult, and now I’m wondering why I’ve waited so long. I am a life long fan of Star Wars, meaning that I cannot tell you the first time I ever watched it because it has just always been. Princess Leia, Luke, Han, Chewie, Threepio, and R2 are a part of my childhood and will always be what influenced my love for sci-fi. Because of this, I’ve always been hesitant to read books set in their world. Lucas got it perfect in my opinion. I am so glad that my husband finally wore me down enough that I agreed to buddy read this one with a fellow book lover (thanks Kristen!).
The Princess and the Scoundrel begins the same night the Death Star exploded. We find Princess Leia celebrating on Endor and beginning to process what this means for the new government as they can no longer call themselves rebels. In the midst of this inner turmoil, she finds peace with Han. She spent a year looking for him and then rescuing him from Jabba the Hutt. She had a full year to love this man, grow without him, and fight for him. When he proposes, the answer is immediate and feels so natural. Seeing as this couple was my original OTP, I was in my element reading about their honeymoon 😀
For Han, it’s been one week since he awoke from being frozen in carbonite. The last thing he remembers was the princess telling him she loved him and then pain. Since then, he was promoted to general and led an assault on Endor, and now the war that had barely started for him is over. It’s a lot to cope with, and to be honest he is struggling. Like Leia though, he finds peace with her. He’s ready to start a new life, whatever that may look like, as long as she is in it. What he as yet to come to realize is what that means.
I loved seeing the beginnings of their relationship here. These are two people that come from completely opposite worlds (both literally and figuratively), and they have to find a way to cope with that. Han’s frustration with Leia is true to life as he deals with her always putting everyone above her own needs. She’s a diplomat, an ambassador, but she also has a large heart. She empathizes with and feels the grief of others deeply. For Han, he has to find a way to support her and make her see she is no longer alone.
The plot of this one is character driven, but also there is a lot happening. We get a glimpse of life after the fall of the empire. Leia and Han are sent on a honeymoon on the Halcyon, a luxury star cruiser who is going on its first voyage free of the empire. Here we see both sides coming together, those that supported the empire and those happy to be free of it. Leia is in more danger than she’s ever been, and Han isn’t comfortable with that as he realizes just how much. When they find themselves on a frozen moon as part of the cruise, they must find a way to work as a team to help its citizens.
If you can’t tell already, I loved The Princess and the Scoundrel. I could ramble on for several more paragraphs about why I loved it so much, but I’ll stop here 😂 Fans of Star Wars will love seeing Han and Leia as the begin their lives as husband and wife with the remnants of the empire looming around every corner. Exciting and thrilling read!
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Warsworn: The Complete Trilogy
- Warsworn, Books 1-3
- De: Ben Hale
- Narrado por: Ralph Lister
- Duración: 33 h y 5 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Forged for combat, the rock trolls have no equal. They train from birth, endure brutal conditioning, and mark their skin with every kill. They have become the very flesh of war and inspire fear across the globe. Now a bounty has been issued, one that calls for the extermination of their race.
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Loved it - Spoiler Alert
- De Michelle en 04-19-22
- Warsworn: The Complete Trilogy
- Warsworn, Books 1-3
- De: Ben Hale
- Narrado por: Ralph Lister
Amazing world building
Revisado: 02-11-22
I love Ben Hale’s Chronicles of Lumineia series. He builds an extraordinary world that spans time and space. The Warsworn Trilogy was my first experience reading his works as he recommended them to me personally at UTOPiAcon years ago. These books still remain among my favorites that I’ve ever read.
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Influence
- Influence Series, Book 1
- De: David R. Bernstein
- Narrado por: Heather Masters
- Duración: 7 h y 13 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Seventeen-year-old Kaylin has been on the run, hiding her untapped abilities for six years, but rescuing a mysterious guy risks exposing the depths of her power. The manipulative sector groups hunt her kind. Life has never been easy, but resisting is even harder. This harsh, new world will no longer allow her to remain hidden.
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Influence
- De Neesie315 en 07-08-17
- Influence
- Influence Series, Book 1
- De: David R. Bernstein
- Narrado por: Heather Masters
Character Driven
Revisado: 04-30-20
Influence by David R. Bernstein is the first book in his YA dystopian series of the same name. I have wanted to read this book for a long time. It’s one of those that is constantly recommended to me so I went in with high expectations. However they were not met. This is more of a reflection of me as the reader than the book. I’ve read too many dystopians, and unfortunately they are all starting to run together.
Influence follows Kaylin, a young teen nomad who stays away from big factions/colonies in an effort to hide her Influencer ability. Not much is revealed about these abilities. Why do some have them and others don’t? What happened to the country that we know live isolated and in factions? What is the threat and why do the characters live in fear and revolt? I’m hoping these answers are revealed as the series progresses. As it is right now, we have a bunch of teens with supernatural abilities, ranging from influencing a person’s actions to telepathy, leading a revolution against the largest faction.
I like Kaylin. She’s a typical teen, despite her influencer ability. This ability makes her a target for all the factions. She is hunted, and as a result never stays in one place to long. When her and her best friend encounter a bounty hunter of sorts on the road, her friend is trapped in the faction walls and the hunter helps Kaylin escape. He knows that this is the girl they’ve all been looking for and exactly what their rebellion needs. Farren is one of those characters that I wanted to like. He’s there for us to (he’s the love interest!), but he fell flat for me. As a result, the relationship the author portrays between Farren and Kaylin feels forced and unnatural.
Overall, Influence was an okay read for me. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. I was somewhere in the middle which made writing this review hard! I plan to read more of the series. I love dystopians, and I’m hopeful that the world-building will be present in the books to come as this one focused more on the character development of Kaylin. While not what I expected, this YA dystopian still held enough interest for me to keep reading.
Now I listened to the audiobook version of this story. The narrator is fantastic. Her infections and tone kept my attention making Influence a quick listen. In fact, I’ll be looking for more audios narrated by her.
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Heir of Iron Hearts
- Iron Crown Faerie Tales, Book 2
- De: Bekah Harris
- Narrado por: Nikki Delgado
- Duración: 5 h y 41 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Only weeks after Ivy's return to her true home in the Winter Court, she finds herself thrown into life as a royal with a hectic schedule she hates and an Unseelie fiance she can't stand. Even worse, the one person she is forbidden to love, Barrett Forbes, is her personal guard, which makes getting to know Prince Ardan awkward and uncomfortable. Ivy's life spirals into more chaos when she discovers her human best friend, Jules, has journeyed to Faerie to find her and is now being used as a pawn against her.
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Fast paced adventure
- De purpleshadowhunter en 06-26-20
- Heir of Iron Hearts
- Iron Crown Faerie Tales, Book 2
- De: Bekah Harris
- Narrado por: Nikki Delgado
A New Way of Life
Revisado: 04-13-20
Heir of Iron Hearts by Bekah Harris is the second book in the series Iron Crown Faerie Tales and picks up where book one left off. I’ll be honest, I debated picking this one up. I didn’t really enjoy the first one. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my favorite either. I was lukewarm….y’all I’m not lukewarm anymore! This book changed that feeling.
Ivy is adjusting to her new life as the heir of the Winter Court. She’s handling it about as well as could be expected for someone that just found out magic and faery exist. Heartbroken at the thought of never seeing her grandmother again and being torn from the man she loves, Ivy has a lot to adjust to. Barret is now Ivy’s guard, making this whole adjustment harder. They can’t be seen together for fear of angering the Unseelie prince, her betrothed. My heart ached for them as they navigated their new roles.
What drives this story is the multiple points of view. It adds a lot of tension in the form of dramatic irony, where we the readers know what’s going on, but the characters do not. It’s fantastic! There are so many twists and turns in the story, deceptions from nearly every character that it is hard to keep up, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. If anything, it made me enjoy it more. It’s not easy to surprise me 😉
Again Nikki Delgado delivers a stellar performance. Not once did I lose track of who was speaking or get confused about whose point of view I was listening too. I plan to find more books narrated by her in the future.
Overall I enjoyed Heir of Iron Hearts. It is what you’d expect of a faery story. Lots of deception, intrigue, a little romance. If you enjoy fantasy, I highly recommend it.
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Beauty and Beastly
- Steampunk Beauty and the Beast (Steampunk Fairy Tales)
- De: Melanie Karsak
- Narrado por: Lesley Parkin
- Duración: 6 h y 4 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
When Isabelle Hawking and her papa set out from London on a sea voyage, Isabelle is thrilled. Visiting foreign courts, learning from master tinkerers, and studying mechanicals is her dream. But Isabelle never arrives. Swept up in a tempest, her ship is lost. Isabelle survives the storm only to be shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island. The magical place, dotted with standing stones, faerie mounds, and a crumbling castle, hints of an ancient past. Isabelle may be an unwilling guest, but her arrival marks a new beginning for the beastly residents of this forgotten land.
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Delightful Steampunk Version of Beauty and Beast
- De Midwestbonsai en 10-05-18
- Beauty and Beastly
- Steampunk Beauty and the Beast (Steampunk Fairy Tales)
- De: Melanie Karsak
- Narrado por: Lesley Parkin
A Clockwork Beast and a Tinkerer Belle..yes please
Revisado: 01-08-20
*I received a copy of this audiobook via the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.*
Beauty and Beastly by Melanie Karsak is a steampunk retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast. I love this twist on the original! It is unlike anything I’ve ever read. The clockwork, steam powered Beast is a heartbreaking, yet charming character that was easy to see why the MC would fall for him. Set during 1814 London, Melanie Karsak delivers a unique, unforgettable twist on this classic romance.
Isabella Hawking is a gifted young woman who knows her own mind and isn’t afraid to speak it. A tinkerer like her papa, Isabella makes wonderful creations, steam-powered music boxes and is excited to learn new and different techniques to hone her craft. However when plans go awry, she finds herself shipwrecked on a mysterious island, surrounded by mechanical servants, and one machine who fancies himself the lord of the crumbling castle.
The story behind the castle and Rhys is fascinating and unfolds at a nice pace. The author paints a beautiful picture, detailing the clockwork designs so that it was easy to picture them in my mind. I loved the different servants, the clockwork dog and golden bird as well. Each was detailed and had a different story to tell. Rhys stole my heart as he wanted Isabella gone, but then he also showed signs of truly caring for her. Melanie Karsak blends the original tale with her steampunk flare flawlessly.
I wound up listening to this one. This was my first book with narrator Lesley Parkin. I love her accent. It added a bit of magic to the already magical tale. The characters came to life with her different tones and little inflections. I had no trouble keeping up with who was talking. At just over 6 hours, it’s a quick listen (I listened at 1.5x).
Overall I really enjoyed Beauty and Beastly. I love the world-building and how the author blended her story with the classic. I can’t wait to read more of her Steampunk Fairy Tales. If you enjoy historical fiction, fairytale retellings, and steampunk, you are in for a treat!
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The Thorn Princess
- Iron Crown Faerie Tales, Book 1
- De: Bekah Harris
- Narrado por: Nikki Delgado
- Duración: 5 h y 43 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
Ivy Hawthorne has always felt like an outsider, but now, she is starting to wonder who - and what - she really is. She can see people’s auras. Animals watch her wherever she goes, and worst of all, sometimes, her dreams actually come true. But recently, things have gone from strange to downright bizarre. The animals have started following her. Strangers have started watching her. And when she gets angry or upset, inexplicable things are bound to happen.
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Changeling
- De Jan farnworth en 02-24-20
- The Thorn Princess
- Iron Crown Faerie Tales, Book 1
- De: Bekah Harris
- Narrado por: Nikki Delgado
A Hidden World and One Girl's Destiny
Revisado: 01-07-20
***I received a copy of this audiobook via the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.***
What is up with my obsession of Faeries this year?! Y’all I’m devouring everything I can get my hands on that mention Fae and LOVING IT! The Thorn Princess is no exception. The first book in Bekah Harris's Iron Crown Faerie Tales, The Thorn Princess follows Ivy Hawthorne as she discovers a hidden world living around her.
Ivy Hawthorne is a seventeen year old, living at a boarding school in the Carolinas. She’s an outsider, a little quirky and a little magical. You see Ivy can see auras, animals seem to follow her around, and her dreams are sometimes prophetic. Now the boy from her dreams is the new kid at school and Ivy is about to follow him down the rabbit hole. I like Ivy. I empathize with her. Her mother went crazy and is in a home, her father never had much to do with Ivy after that, and Ivy thinks he blames her. Her one constant is her Irish grandmother who is just as quirky as Ivy. She’s a little shy and keeps to herself, and I can’t fault her for that. Then Bear shows up, and Ivy’s world is turned upside down.
Barrett Forbes’s transfer to Ivy’s school is questionable and mysterious, but a welcoming surprise to all. But he isn’t all he seems to be. An Irish accent and an uncanny ability to be where Ivy is when she needs help leaves the reader questioning who and what he really is. Bear was sent to find Ivy and bring her home to the Winter Court where her true mother, the winter queen, waits.
The plot of the story is interesting. As the reader, we see all sides and know things before Ivy does which I love. It creates some suspense and fantastic irony. I love the multiple POV too. We get a glimpse from Bear’s perspective, the queen’s and Ivy’s. The world-building around the Seelie and unseelie Fae, the mysterious reasons for Ivy being in the human world, and the dying magic of winter drive the plot and kept me interested to the very end.
Nikki Delgado narrates and I found myself drawn in, unable to stop listening. Clocking in at just under 6 hours, I finished it in one sitting. Delgado’s tone and inflection was enough that I had no trouble distinguishing between characters. I plan to listen to more from this narrator.
Overall I really enjoyed The Thorn Princess. I cannot wait to read more about Ivy, the Winter Court, and of course Bear. If you enjoy YA fantasy, I highly recommend it.
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