Meme Monday

Meme Monday

Saturday Shorts: Tiger's Promise

Before the curse, there was a promise. A prequel to the bestselling Tiger’s Curse series, this much anticipated novella recalls the beginning of Ren and Kishan’s story. Before Kelsey there was a girl, raised by a villain, whose love for a hero changed the course of history.
Trapped under the thumb of her abusive and powerful father Lokesh, Yesubai struggles to keep her own magical abilities secret while evading his dark powers. When Lokesh promises Yesubai to the prince of a neighboring kingdom, she becomes the central pawn in his plot to destroy the ruling family and take power for himself. Yesubai is trapped by her father’s threats and desperate to protect the man she comes to love, but she knows that any decision she makes will have dire consequences. As dark forces gather around her, Yesubai must decide if she’s willing to reveal that somewhere deep within her she has the power to change everything.  Quoted from Goodreads

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This was actually a bit of a surprise for me how much I liked it. Warning, I will be referencing a few things from the Tiger's Curse series, though I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum. If you've read the Tiger's Curse series, you know how this ends, so it was a bit like going into Titanic.  The ship sinks.  However, I found I really enjoyed learning more about Yesubai's character; plus, we get a few twists I didn't expect that helped keep the story fresh.

To be honest,  Yesubai isn't really a character I was all that interested in. She's sort of this tragic figure who betrays the two brothers, and while you know she's a victim of Lokesh, she still betrays the brothers.  You never know how much she really loves Kishan and how much she was playing him. This book does a lot for her character.  Sure, it doesn't excuse her faults, but it does explain why she did what she did and how she felt.  It also gives you a chance to fall in love with Kishan again, while not secretly cheering on team Ren.  It doesn't excuse what they do or what happens, but it's nice seeing it from a different POV.

It's also interesting to see early Lokesh before everything with the curse happens. He's the same evil person, but at this point he's still on his rise to power.  His evil is also more personal since it's his only daughter.  Plus there are a few extras at the end of the novella, and if you think he's bad to Yesubai, wait till you read her mom's story.

So, yeah, the extras.  Possibly my favorite part of the book. They were a wonderful little surprise. I loved seeing Ren's first thoughts upon meeting Yesubai and the extend of their relationship.  Like I said before, we also get a very sad story from her mom's POV.  Finally, my favorite, we get a teaser chapter from Kishan's POV thats a sneak peek into Tiger's Dream!  I'd kind of given up on that book, so it's fun to see concrete evidence that Coleen Houck still working on it.

This is an excellent novella for fans of the series, and if you haven't read any of the Tiger's Curse books yet, this serves as a decent introduction (though I would probably read at least the first book before reading this).  I'm going to give it a strong 3.5 stars.  It probably would be more, but since I already sort of knew the plot (though, again, a few twists I didn't see coming) and I'm opposed to sad endings and my favorite parts were actually the extras in the end, I'm not going to give it the stronger 4 stars.  Still, it's an excellent addition to the series, and I'm delighted we have it.  

Theater Thursday: The Giver II

I'll be honest, I sort of hated the first Giver preview.  It didn't look anything like how I imagined the world or and seemed VERY loosely based on the book.  This new one looks so much better.  I'm still a little iffy about it, but things are looking up.  Check out this second trailer below and let me know what you think.  Right now it's scheduled to come out 13 August.

Book Review: Rebel

After coming back from death as Reboots and being trained by HARC as soldiers, Wren and Callum have finally escaped north, where they hope to find a life of freedom. But when they arrive at the Reboot Reservation, it isn't what they expected. Under the rule of a bloodthirsty leader, Micah, the Reboots are about to wage an all-out war on the humans. Although Wren's instincts are telling her to set off into the wilderness on their own and leave the battle far behind, Callum is unwilling to let his human family be murdered. When Micah commits the ultimate betrayal, the choice is made for them. But Micah has also made a fatal mistake . . . he's underestimated Wren and Callum.  Quoted from Goodreads

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I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but the second one was even better!  Plus, it's only a duology, which means the story is over for any of you who don't want to start an unfinished series. 

Biggest change between books one and two, single to dual POV, and it was perfect. Reboot was told completely from Wren's POV, but in Rebel we get both her and Callum.  I had mixed feelings about this. I didn't care for it at all in Allegiant because of what I felt it did for Four's character.  That's not the case here.  It actually made Callum a much stronger character in this case.  We get to see him grow into a real leader and someone who can make tough decisions instead of just being the guy who reminded Wren of her humanity.  It's also fun to see Wren from his POV because it shows how close they've grown and how well they know each other.

If you read the first book you know there's going to be action and romance, and Rebel continued that perfectly.  The romance is sweet but it never overtakes the plot.  It simply helps move things on a bit, not that the action really needs any help.  It's tense right from the beginning, with multiple villains and shades of gray. If it isn't one problem, it's something else.  I've said it before, but I love when no group is perfect.  I won't give too much away, but I really like the way the different groups Wren and Callum are portrayed.  A lot of them have great people, but there are always the corrupt or fanatical that keep our main characters on their toes and no place is safe. 

What's best about Amy Tintera's series is (maybe) that there are only two books.  Part of me really wanted more, and I'm excited to see what she does next, but there's a part of me that is relieved.  A lot of dystopia books have sort of meh endings (I'm looking at you Mockingjay and Allegiant). This one goes out with a bang, and while I love how it ends, full of realistic hope and change, I'm sort of glad there was no bad middle book or frustrating ending to taint the series for me.

So should you read this series?  Absolutely.  It's a fun, unique dystopia/zombie (sort of) idea, where everything begins horribly but ends with a sort of hope, which is just the way I like my dystopias.  I'm giving it a very strong 4 stars and would recommend it to anyone who wants an action-packed read with just the right amount of romance thrown in.

Meme Monday

Anticipating June

I'll be honest, June is a pretty pathetic month for book releases. Sure there are some great ones here, but the quantity is way down from other months.  I shouldn't complain.  I mean, it's summer, so people should be spending time outside, swimming, and going on vacation.  Plus, I still have tons of books from previous months to catch up on.  Still, I think this is probably the worst month of the year after December, and after the amazingness that is May, it's kind of a small sad list.  Still, there are a few books I'm really looking forward to here, so check them out.

             1^st: Tiger’s Promise (novella) – Coleen Houck

            10^th: Born of Deception – Teri Brown

                     Hexed – Michelle Krys

            12^th: Wings – Elizabeth Richards

            17^th: Ruin and Rising – Leah Bardugo
                     #Scandal – Sarah Ockler

            24^th: Rain – Amanda Sun

                    The Stepsister’s Tale – Tracy Barrett

Isn't that sad?  Oh well.  July is looking better, and like I said, there are so many other books out there.