Title: Illusions of Fate
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Standalone
Genre: YA Historical, Magic
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Release Date: September 9th 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: ARC received by publisher in exchange for an honest review

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“I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.”

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

Kiersten White captured readers’ hearts with her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy and its effortless mix of magic and real-world teenage humor. She returns to that winning combination of wit, charm, and enchantment in Illusions of Fate, a sparkling and romantic new novel perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, The Madman’s Daughter, and Libba Bray.


I will always read books written by Kiersten White because I am always a fan of her characters, especially her female characters. I always find that they are strong and usually sarcastic which is a win win scenario for me. And so when I picked up Illusions of Fate and started reading I was not disappointed in Jessamine, our main character. She was fierce, strong and independent which was something I loved reading because we are used to seeing female character who are in need of saving, so this change of pace of great to see. I also loved her personality because she was so snarky and witty, something I love reading and so if I have to name the one thing I loved the most from this book it would be Jessamine. She was a great female heroine.

The writing style for me was a bit of distraction and i think it is because I am not used to reading such formal writing in the YA genre. It fit perfectly with the setting and the storyline, but for me it was just distracting. It took me out of the story on more than one occasion which was not optimal for me to enjoy the book as much as I wanted to. I give so much credit to Kiersten for writing in that style because I can only imagine how hard it would be to stay so formal throughout a 200 and something page book. I honestly think I was just taken aback by that style because it was not something I had expected going in.

The secondary characters were great, especially the villain. I am a sucker for a great bad guy and Illusions of a Fate had a great one in the beginning. He was mysterious, extremely creepy and had no mercy for anyone when it came to punishment. I loved all of that because it made the story that much more interesting. But i was sad near the end because I felt like that villain turned a bit soft and he wasn't that menacing as the story went on. Finn, Jessamine's love interest was just Meh for me because I wasn't really that interested in him and honestly I was just not attracted to him in the story. I think that hindered my liking of book as well because Finn was a very large part of the book and because I wasn't that interested in him, I felt disconnected with the overall story.

In the end I did really enjoy certain aspect of this story, Jessamine was a great character to get behind and the setting was absolutely amazing and sucked you in right from the beginning. But lack of interest in certain character and the writing style took me out of the story and hindered my reading experience more than I wanted.

Title: The Ring and the Crown
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Series: The Ring and the Crown #1
Genre: YA, Fantasy, History, Magic
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: April 1st 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: ARC received by Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Purchase
Amazon | Indigo | TBD | Goodreads





Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the Lily Throne, and Aelwyn Myrddn, bastard daughter of the Mage of England, grew up together. But who will rule, and who will serve?

Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second, Supreme Ruler of the Franco-British Empire. With the help of her Head Merlin, Emrys, Eleanor has maintained her stranglehold on the world's only source of magic. She rules the most powerful empire the world has ever seen.

But even with the aid of Emrys' magic, Eleanor's extended lifespan is nearing its end. The princess must marry and produce an heir or the Empire will be vulnerable to its greatest enemy, Prussia. The two kingdoms must unite to end the war, and the only solution is a match between Marie and Prince Leopold VII, heir to the Prussian throne. But Marie has always loved Gill, her childhood friend and soldier of the Queen's Guard.

Together, Marie and Aelwyn, a powerful magician in her own right, come up with a plan. Aelwyn will take on Marie's face, allowing the princess to escape with Gill and live the quiet life she's always wanted. And Aelwyn will get what she's always dreamed of--the chance to rule. But the court intrigue and hunger for power in Lenoran England run deeper than anyone could imagine. In the end, there is only rule that matters in Eleanor's court: trust no one.


When I read a historical fantasy there are always certain things that I want to see, and those are great world building and great characters that not only you can relate to, but also ones that make you believe in what you are reading.

The Ring and the Crown had amazing world building, I loved that it was set in a historical time period but had elements of magic. I do really wish that there was more magic evolved in the story because while reading, those were my favorite parts. I loved that Merlin was a part of this story, although I really wish he had played a larger role overall. Sometimes I felt like he was only in the background and had no real stake in the overall story.

I have always loved stories that involve perspectives from more than one character because I love seeing the same story from the eyes of others because you get different perspectives on the same situation and usually that makes the story better. Unfortunately there were way too many characters in this book, at times I wish there was a character tree or something for reference so that I could keep track of who was related to who and who was marrying who. That would have been extremely helpful at times because I was confused for most of the book.

I also found that because there were so many characters that had their own narrative, I wasn't able to get to know each character to the degree that I am used to. I felt like I was just going with the flow and I did not have a stake in what happened to them. If one of them dies I wasn't sad, I really had no motion because I wasn't attached the character like i should have been. There were many love stories in this book, and my favorite part of reading a great love story is the lead up, because it is there that you get the tension and romance. But in this book there was no lead up at all, much of the romance and lead up were done off page and I really did not like that because I had no stake in who was with who and what happened to who. There was one particular part of the book that had me really upset, one of the female characters was having an affair with one of the boys, as a reader I could tell that he wasn't as into her as she was with him, and that was not only frustrating but seemed unnecessary. But the issue I had was there was a scene where the girl was with this boy and they were in the bedroom, he then gave her a tea of some sort and after a bit she could no longer move, and it was at this point that he decided to take advantage of her. And the part that really bothered me was that she was okay with it because she was in love with him. He pretty much raped her and it was as if it didn't happen at all. That was what really bother me.

Overall this book had many problems for me, I was expecting a lot more than what I received. I wanted to feel more for the characters and I wanted more magic overall.