An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review at Bookcon 2018

Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.

When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

“Embrace your strange, dear daughter. Where’s the fun in being normal?”

In Victoria Schwab’s latest middle-grade novel, we follow the story of Cassidy Blake — a girl who can see ghosts. Cassidy and her best friend, Jacob (who is a ghost), go to Edinburg, after being forced to tag along with her parents as they film a tv show showcasing the world’s most haunted places. While in Edinburg, Cassidy learns that there is more to her gift than just seeing ghosts and there are people who want to steal her gift.

City of Ghosts is not Ms. Schwab’s first dabble in middle-grade storytelling, but it might as well be since no one really speaks about her other middle-grade novel, Broken Ground. Much like her other books (A Darker Shade of Magic, Vicious and This Savage Song), she has a perfect balance of dialogue and descriptive prose. And her vivid storytelling translates perfectly into MG. Her characters are lovable and relatable (even though they are little pre-teens).

Knowing that Ms. Schwab is a Slytherin to the core, seeing her write a goofy brave hardcore Gryffindor was quite mind-blowing (BTW Cassidy is a Gryffindor and proud). 

In the advance reader copy of the novel, Ms. Schwab says she wrote this story for “12-year-old me.” I also felt this story resonate with my 12-year-old self — wishing for an adventure but at the same time kinda not wanting it, but will still go with it if the opportunity was presented. Something Ms. Schwab also excels in is making every character memorable. No one was just there for the sake of being there, every character had a purpose and was an important part of the story. 

One may be wary about approaching City of Ghosts because it is marketed as a middle-grade novel. But much like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, the story can be enjoyed by someone of any age. It is witty, it is terrifying, it is full of mystery, it is spooky, and it is magical.

This was the perfect spooky Halloween read I was waiting for. Purchase your copy now!

The quote is from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication.

Personal Rating: 5/5

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 9781338111002

Rating: None Available

Did not finish on page 87 out of 488.

The Last of the Firedrakes by Farah Oomerbhoy

This novel is the lovechild of Shrek, The Princess Bride, and Monty Python and that child goes on a crazy Dungeons and Dragon adventure.

Ms. Dawson and Mr. Hearne put the reader in a magical fantasy world filled with the usual archetypes and take it to an extreme. The party is mainly composed of women  with different strengths and weaknesses. The Chosen One is not who you’d expect and hates being the chosen one. 

Throughout the novel, I found myself laughing loudly for every single character is endearing with brilliant faults and powers that you would think would be useful for any situation — like fear of chickens and powers to make “almost crackers”.

The authors give everything a rather odd and refreshing modern twist — trolls act like both the myth and the modern day internet trolls, and women call out  the misogynist tropes of a medieval  fantasy world.

While this cleverly written adventure is refreshing, the prose sometimes seem to drag on as the character monologues extend farther than they need to. While this story is driven by both plot and its characters, sometimes they hold up the progression of the story in an unassuming fashion. 

A Rogue.

A Bard.

A Warrior.

A Wizard.

A Goat.

A Steve. 

A Quest.

A story you wouldn’t expect to teach you lessons about life, death, love and adventure after you’re done laughing out loud.

In book two, Vasya sets off to become her own person — an adventurer if you will. However, her dream of exploring the wide land of Russ comes to a halt when she decides to play hero by rescuing some recently kidnapped girls — while dressed as a boy — and gets tangled up with a much darker magic brewing.

Just like in “The Bear and the Nightingale” Ms. Arden starts her prose with a story within a story, a retelling of a fairytale with a story of a Russian fairytale, probably hinting the general basis of the story. Vasya’s older siblings Olga and Sasha, who we met briefly in the previously novel, take center stage in this story and become essential to understanding Vasya’s story arc.

In this novel is a love story, but not your traditional girl meets boy and fall in love story. The love is instead between siblings and explores how far these siblings go for each other.

Ms. Arden displays beautifully the strange bond siblings have — even when several years have passed since the last face to face contact. The bond Olga, Sasha, and Vasya have is realistic and natural. When Vasya decides to pretend to be a boy in a time where women were seen as third-class citizens, Olga and Sasha take the responsibility of keeping Vasya’s secret (begrudgingly) knowing that such a thing could not only hurt Vasya, but their own reputations as a wife of a prince and a high priest. The love, the pain, the betrayal and the forgiveness were all pure and real, reminding me of my own relationship with my sibling. Their pain and happiness became my own.

Much like her previous novel, “The Girl in the Tower” has a unique prose that is like no other. The attention to detail visually and emotionally allows the words to flow elegantly like poetry. 

Ms. Arden’s newest book could be considered a work of magic and adventure, but much like her previous novel, it is a elegant work of art that will grip you and introduce you to a world you never knew you wanted to be a part of.

Personal Rating: 5/5

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018

Page Count: 362

Publisher: Del Rey

ISBN: 978-1-101-88596-3

The Adventure Zone by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy and Carey Pietsch, follows the adventures of three very different individuals who are trying to complete a simple mission, but get dragged into a much larger adventure. 

Tako —  an elvish wizard with a prideful personality, Magnus Burnsides — a human fighter that is pretty much the human version of a golden retriever, and Merle Highchurch — a dwarve cleric who seems to get the bad end of the stick. All they wanted to do, was rescue Merle’s cousin and get paid. Obviously, it became much more than that.

This beautifully illustrated comic book is an adaption to a Dungeon’s and Dragons podcast with the same name, that has a large fanbase emotionally invested in the journey of these three boys (Much like me and Critical Role — another D&D campaign available online).

As someone who went into the comic book story blind and with very little knowledge of the podcast I was immediately captivated by the characters personalities and their interactions with each other. 

Pietsch’s illustrations are beautiful and simple. Her cartoon art style truly matches the general gist of what “The Adventure Zone” is; goofy characters making poor and silly decisions while trying not to die.

You will laugh, you will gasp, you will hold your breath, but most importantly you will want to go on your own adventure.

“‘But tonight I'll go alone. You're about as stealthy as a lame elephant. See you later.’ She patted me on the shoulder and took off down the path, leaving me behind, both charmed and insulted. The side effects of hanging around Charlotte Holmes.”

“A Study in Charlotte” by Brittany Cavallaro is a modern twist on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (or at least their descendants). It is a thrilling adventure where readers will be pulled into the mystery of Charlotte Holmes.

James Watson was forced to move to a boarding school in Connecticut after earning a scholarship for rugby. There he meets Charlotte Holmes, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the famous Sherlock Holmes — a girl he used to dream up going on adventures with. When a rival student with suspicious connections to the Sherlock Holmes stories mysteriously dies , the pair decide to work together to solve the case and clear their name.

“The two of us, we're the best kind of disaster. Apples and oranges. Well, more like apples and machetes.”

Ms. Cavallaro’s fast paced story and quirky dialogue is able to replicate the atmosphere and the sensation of the well-known Holmes and Watson adventures. There is suspense, mystery, shock,  agitation, and relief.

“A Study in Charlotte” is told through the perspective of James, as he is trying to adjust moving to the middle of nowhere and near the father he is upset with. We get an insight of what it is to be young, frustrated, and scared with everything that can happen in one’s life. 

Fans of shows like Elementary and Sherlock, will be captivated by Ms. Holmes — a genius and violin player, who performs forensic experiments with a volatile temperament and a slight drug addiction, just like her famous grandfather. However, unlike Sherlock, she has a more human side to her —  filled with emotions she continuously tries to repress.

This novel is not a re-telling of the old classic, but a what-if future where the Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty all kept the essence of their famous relatives in a modern society. Ms. Cavallaro creates a beautiful what-if scenario of a younger super sleuth duo, with well-known Sherlock Holmes plots weaved into the narrative.

“We weren't Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I was ok with that, I thought. We had things they didn't, too. Like electricity, and refrigerators. And Mario Kart.” 

While “A Study in Charlotte” is a YA novel , it is not a romance novel. It is about a fateful friendship that is brought to light as these two characters complement each other.

Ms. Cavallaro’s writing is fresh, fast, and gripping. Her characters are well-drawn and developed, and secondary characters are equally as important to the narrative as the main sleuthing duo. This is a book you will pick up, get gripped, and not want to put down.

“Everyone is a puzzle, Tea, made of interlocking tiles you must piece together to form a picture of their souls. But to successfully build them, you must have an idea of their strengths as well as their weaknesses. We all have them, even me.” 

“The Bone Witch” by Rin Chupeco is a dark fantasy novel mixed with various asian cultures that gives it a different feel from popular Euro-centric novels. It felt unique and new. However, an attempt to be out of the norm made the novel lose its mystery and tensions. 

Tea Pahlavi was 12 years old when she accidentally brought her older brother, Fox, back to life and learnt that she was a bone witch. Then, a veteran bone witch finds Tea and takes her away (and Fox) to be trained in the way of the asha — women who are proficient in magic. 

Once she arrives to the Willows, Tea begins several years of training in the way of the asha — in magic, song, dance, craft and battle — as she unravels the mysterious of what it means to be an bone witch and the new world she lives in.

“The Bone Witch” promises magic and a new world, but instead it gave occasional magic and an inside to look to the geisha-like asha. The way of the asha was beautiful, and Chupeco stayed true to what many maikos (apprentice geisha) go through — their lessons, their life, their requirements — but it focused too long on it, making the pacing of the novel suffer.

“Then perhaps we should carve a world one day where the strength lies in who you are, rather than in what they expect you to be.”

The story telling of the novel was new and unsuccessful. There was a future and a present storyline. At the start of each chapter we got a glimpse into the future — an older Tea. In this future she is exiled and telling her story to a young man as she brings to life the demon-like deava she was originally trained to destroy in her younger years. 

This glimpse into the future took away from any mystery, shock, and excitement the novel could have produced. This dual storytelling is tricky and it either can ruin the reader’s adventure or enhance it. In this case it was the former. 

Th diverse cast of characters were able to keep the story afloat after each chapter was essentially ruined by the future section at the start. There were characters of various ages, backgrounds and sexuality with different goals, motivation and interests that motivated them throughout the novel. Such as, Likhn — a young boy who wants to become a dancer asha more than anything in the world but cannot due to old traditions and Fox — a devoted and protective brother who is grateful at this new chance at life, but holds secrets and mysterious intentions. 

The novel occasionally was thrilling and as a whole it was a bit underwhelming, but it still showed promise. There are still questions to be answered and we still don’t know how and why Tea was exiled from the asha life. 

I look forward to see how Chupeco will continue the dual storyline and how she plans to end to bring them together.

“The first are performing asha, known for their dancing and their singing, though their magic may be weaker than others. The second are fighting asha, known for their magic and their prowess, though they may not be the most gracious of hosts. The third are Dark asha like us, the strongest of them all.” 

My Rating 3/5
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“It wasn’t a romance; it was too perfect for that. With texts there were only the words and none of the awkwardness. They could get to know each other completely and get comfortable before they had to do anything unnecessarily overwhelming like look at each other’s eyeballs with their eyeballs.”

Personal Rating: 5/5

GoodReads Average Rating: 3.96/5

Mary H.K Choi’s Twitter

The minute the words— student, magic and school — compile into a sentence the mind immediately pictures a magnificent stone castle in the middle of nowhere in England and a boy with a lightning scar. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is considered a modern classic, and anything remotely similar may be accused of having a sameness. However, the concept of a school where magic is its main curriculum and a boy with a destiny is not new. Novels such as “A Wizard of Earths” by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968) and “The Worst Witch,” by Jill Murphy (1974) both follow a similar concept — the boy who lived is not an original idea per se, but the way the story was told was what made it memorable.

“The Crowns of Croswald” by D.E. Night follows the same suit.

When Ivy Lovely is forced to leave the house she grew up in, she finds herself enrolled in the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn to master their magical blood and power the Croswald’s gems. There, Ivy starts unpacking a mystery around the school - paintings awaken, forgotten things are remembered and a dark magic brews. Through her studies and her adventures Ivy learns secrets about her past and the world she lives in.

The world of “Croswald” is rich with magic, mystery and adventure, both new and familiar. Ivy is a 16-year-old girl who thought she was nothing more than a scaldrony maid. When Ivy is exiled from her home in Surry for saving a little scaldrony dragon she is immediately pulls herself together and tries to move on— only to be swooped up by a magical cabby that takes her to a magical school. There, she begins her studies as a Scrivenist.

Lovers of YA and fantasy will swoon over Night’s magical creation. I know I did. She builds a complex fantasy world where pixie-like creatures are used as a light source, a magician’s ultimate goal is to be knowledgeable and ghosts are the executive chefs to every meal. Following common motifs and lore that come with magic school shenanigans — Ivy’s adventure is still unique and she stays true to her beliefs (which is always nice — not being swayed by the random “love interest”). 

Honestly, you will be won over by the intricate magic system and world revealed throughout the story. Unfortunately, this brilliance in the world building may sometimes be lost when common young adults tropes force themselves through the plot (*cough* random forced romance *cough*). There is also a strange blend of middle-grade and young adult in Ivy’s personality, in moments you feel that she is 12 or 13 in other she feels 16 years old.

While this blend may be strange it does not take away from Ivy’s story arc and wonderful character development. She, like any new-to-school-in-YA girl, struggles making friends and staying out of trouble. Ivy also teaches the audience that only persistence will get you what you want — even if it means getting your roommate locked in The Forgotten Room for several hours, which is a really nice message.

Overall, “The Crowns of Croswald” was a solid start to the Croswald series and I look forward to reading the sequel.

Rating: 4/5

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Author Website

Debut author-illustrator Ethan M. Aldridge will captivate readers with this full-color fantasy graphic novel that has all the makings of a classic, about a changeling and a human child who were switched at birth and must now work together to save both their worlds. Perfect for fans of Amulet.

Edmund and the Childe were swapped at birth. Now Edmund lives in secret as a changeling in the World Above, with fae powers that make him different from everyone else—even his unwitting parents and older sister, Alexis. The Childe lives among the fae in the World Below, where being human makes him an oddity at the royal palace, and where his only friend is a wax golem named Whick.

But when the cruel sorceress Hawthorne takes the throne, the Childe and Edmund realize that the fate of both worlds may be in their hands—even if they’re not sure which world they belong to.

I feel that I might be a bit biased considering I am a big fan of Ethan's art work. I actually own a few prints by him and hope to continue to grow my collection. This being said, I have had his book on pre-order since the day it was available and I was super excited when the ARC arrived on my door step.

The ARC is in black and white, which doesn’t let me see the novel in its full and magical glory - even though I've seen it on tumblr and his Patreon. 

What's nice about this middle grade graphic novel is that it teaches the importance of families. The ones we are raised in and the ones we chose. Through the story, Edmund and the Childe bring up what it means to be part of a family, and who really belongs to the human family. The Childe, who never really had that experience or relationship, learns that it means more than being born to someone - and honestly it is beautiful. 

The most majestic and unique part of this novel is that it’s 95% done with traditional water color illustrations. In a world where everything is digitized and on photoshop this little book is odd but perfect. Aldridge's art reminds me a lot of E. H. Shepard's Winnie the Pooh art style with the thick ink strokes and beautiful colors. 

It's truly modernized nostalgia filled with magic. 

I really don't want to spoil too much of the story, because it's wonderful and I want the whole world to read it. What you really need to know is that it is a fantasy story filled with changelings, golems, witches, sibling love, trolls, evil aunts, rats, fights and a DRAGON.

I look forward to reading it again in its full color glory. I also look forward to the second book - since there are so many loose ends that need solving!

Pre-Order Now!

Book Release: August 7th, 2018

My Rating: 5/5

This book was provided to me in exchange of an honest review

In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.

A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.

When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.

But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows

In Mary Fan’s Starswept we follow the story of 15-year-old Iris Lei, a young viola player in a prestigious arts school, who is trying to make it in order to finally meet her mom. However, this is no ordinary art school. In Papilio, artist compete to become the best in their art in order to get sponsored by an Adryil, an alien race from Adryil. Late one night, while wandering the hallways of Papilio, she meets an Adryil boy named Dámiul and soon learns that not everything is what it seems.

It only took two pages for me to be completely immersed in the world of Starswept, mostly because I was excited that Iris was a viola player. As a former viola player, it caught me off guard that an instrument that is usually cast aside or ignored, is in the key entrustment of the protagonists. It brought me warmth and glee. Even though that tiny detail was what made me want to read more, Fan’s world building and fast paced story telling resulted in me reading all 400 pages in one day. I could not put it down.

As a description heavy lover, I was throughly pleased. Fan immediately immersed me in her world with all the small details of the new alien species, language, history and what it means to be an artist (especially a musician). 

She is a solid writer.

“Imagine all the stars in the galaxy in one pair of eyes, all the sureness of home in one pair of arms, all the heroics of a thousand epic tales in one noble heart.

This is my love.”

However, Starswept does follow the traditional tropes of YA: girl meets mysterious guy - her life changes - another boy also secretly loves her - and she gets with mysterious guy who hides secrets. Despite this, Fan was able to keep me so immersed, invested, and intrigued with what was going to happen next that I was not bothered with these tropes (it was once I started this review, that I realized how tropey it was).

While the relationship between Iris and Dámiul is considered the main focus of the story, it sometimes takes a back seat as the story dives into a darker and more serious tone as Iris learns more about what the Adryil are really doing with the artists of Earth. Their relationship was kinda insta-love which usually bothers me to the end of the earth but Fan wrote their developing relationship so beautifully, that I forgave it…for now. More than the love, its a story about how we perceive ourselves and our worth, while fighting for our beliefs.

I do not want to go too much into this book and any spoilers because I really think people should read it and experience it. It is diverse, has decent character development, beautiful prose, and a handsome male protagonist who is not cocky or broody (he is a sweetheart who wants to make the world a better place).

Space, aliens, music, interesting twists, love and fantastic story telling - what else can you ask for?

My Rating: 4/5

Check out my review for book one Spindle Fire

Winter Glass is the sequel to Spindle Fire, a retelling of the classic fairy tale: Sleeping Beauty. Book two picks off right where book one ended.

Aurora, Isbe and Prince William are back in Deluce preparing for the looming war with Malfuer, the evil faerie queen. Along with William and Aurora's wedding in order protect their kingdoms and gain a bigger military force. However things don't go as planned -- like it should honestly. 

While Spindle Fire was character driven, Winter Glass was plot driven. The war was the main focus of the plot and most of the characters decisions were based on the war. 

I feel that Hillyer really grew as a writer -- I felt that her structure flowed more and she was able to build her characters to be more dimensional. Characters like Aurora who felt really hallow in book one were more fleshed out. I guess I have to credit that to character development too, but Hillyer finally made me feel for her! Which was very nice. 

Just like in book one, Winter Glass is told through various point views, but Aurora and Isbe are the main narrators. Once again Hillyer was to bring a beautiful almost visual narrative to Isbe (who is blind) without using descriptions that depend on sight. I am was very impressed, especially when Isbe was at the Ice King's kingdom, I could picture everything so clearly by just the sounds, feelings and movement. 

However, the "plot twists" were predictable and I was a bit upset when I guessed them correctly. Nothing really made me go GASP, which is fine I suppose but I enjoy when authors can foreshadow and I miss it. One of my biggest complaints about book one was the forced relationship Aurora had with Heath. In book two Aurora again had a forced relationship that came out of nowhere and I couldn't really understand where it bloomed from...it was a bit annoying. 

I feel that Hillyer did a good job with Winter Glass. I definitely enjoyed it a lot more than Spindle Fire. If you enjoy classic fairy tale re-telling I think you'd enjoy this little duology! It has romance, magic, friendship, adventure, self discovery and most importantly self-love.

Pre-Order Now!
Out on April 10th, 2018

My rating: 4/5

For many years Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that treacherous world - and face the power of her own extraordinary destiny.

Before receiving this book as a Christmas I was unaware this book even existed, and I am quite upset. Why doesn't this book have a big following like some other books? It deserves it, because it is marvelous.

When follow the story of Sabriel, an 18-year-old girl who lives in a world where magic and science combine, one night while at school she learns that her father is in danger so she leaves the comfort of her to go rescue her only family. She receives her father's magical items, a saber and a set of seven bells, which aid in keeping the Dead dead. Along the way she learns more about who her father was and it means to be the special necromancer called Abhorsen.

Sabriel through out the stories learns from her foolish mistakes, and does her best to not get her pride in the way when she has to make dire decisions where lives are at stake. It is a bit refreshing find a character who makes mistakes, is aware of their mistakes, admits their mistakes, and remembers the original mistake when a similar situation rises. Most characters, like most people do not admit their mistakes and while they may learn from it admitting one is wrong is not frequently seen or read.

Garth Nix writing is fast-paced, lush and hypnotic. He describes people, places and scenery poetically and thoroughly and he does not spend two pages doing in doing. We are given a complete picture with all the five senses and it only took a few paragraphs.

Nix's world building is interesting, for he sets the foundation of his Old Kingdom world without it being a massive information dump. The details seep through the narrative passively, because Sabriel has grown up in this land and nothing to her nothing is new, but we as readers everything is mysterious and we only learn bits and pieces along the way making the world actually feel like a magical unexplored world (leaving a number of things with no real explanations at times). The magic system in the Old Kingdom is unlike anything I have read before (and I read a lot of fantasy), Nix blend and mixes magic and science, not as enemies, but as equals. Science has strengths and weaknesses in the world just as magic has its own strengths and weaknesses. There was never a time where one was superior than the other, which was so strange and new.

Elementals: Ice Wolves by Amie Kaufman

Everyone in Vallen knows that ice wolves and scorch dragons are sworn enemies who live deeply separate lives.

So when twelve-year-old orphan Anders takes one elemental form and his twin sister, Rayna, takes another, he wonders whether they are even related. Still, whether or not they’re family, Rayna is Anders’s only true friend. She’s nothing like the brutal, cruel dragons who claimed her as one of their own and stole her away.

In order to rescue her, Anders must enlist at the foreboding Ulfar Academy, a school for young wolves that values loyalty to the pack above all else. But for Anders, loyalty is more complicated than obedience, and friendship is the most powerful shapeshifting force of all.

I loved Kaufman’s sci-fi book, Illuminae, and when I was given the opportunity to pick up her book at a book festival, I was quite excited!

I had very little knowledge on what the book was about other than it being a Middle Grade novel filled with Viking like magic. I went into the book blindly, which was quite nice to do since everything was a surprise. 

We follow the story of Anders, who is an orphan surviving the streets alongside his twin sister Rayna. Due to a series of unfortunate events, Rayna and Anders get separated and Anders enrolls to an academy for people who are able to shift into wolves (actual wolves not the werewolves thing). Anders does everything he can to get his sister back and learns some mysteries along the way.

The best part of the book was the diverse cast. There were characters of all shapes, sexualities, and color. The main character is a young boy with brown skin and black curly hair. He has a non-binary friend who uses “they” pronouns and a bad ass fighting teacher who protected a section of the city all by herself with her wife. It was nice to have representation be so normalized, having no one in the story question it and just accepted it.

The story focuses on the importance of friendship and family, like most middle grade novels tend to these days (Something I feel YA should write about too). 

Even though this is considered a middle grade novel, it is a novel that any age group can enjoy. I personally found enjoyment in it, and Kaufman is still able to build a mystery in her lore that will have the older audience trying to piece things together just as the intended young readers.

I believe if you enjoyed books such as Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, Magisterium by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare or Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer you will defiantly enjoy Ice Wolves.

This book was given to me as part of the Rockstart BookTour for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

This was one of the worst reads I made myself go through in a long while. Between information dump that is unnecessary to the story, outrageous descriptions, writing inconsistency and cliche after cliche. 

At first I thought maybe Hinder was aimed for a younger YA audience, but with all the sex and wet dreams involved I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 13-year-old reading this. Hinder is a mess. Also, I tend to enjoy MG books so I don't believe I have outgrown YA or MG the whole problem was the book. 

Hinder feels like a fanfiction written by someone who is starting out a writing where the writing feels clunky and choppy, and in fanfiction it is fine, because it is fanfiction. Also, during the information dump (aka the story lore) everything was shoved into my face and I felt quite aggravated by it. These characters obviously known the lore of their world so logically they wouldn't be repeating it to themselves (the completely history of how everything works in their world ). I think it would have been better if the reader found out rather than being told…by three different characters.

We have the leading lady Alex who is perfect and slightly clumsy. She is at some point described as the most beautiful girl in the world, and she just can't help it because she is an Earth wielder (the rarest that there is). There is a point in the novel that Alex describes herself as a runway model and it is quite ridiculous. All of Alex’s “perfect” features are overall ridiculous.

“I had raven-black hair with midnight blue. My skin, which had never seen real sunlight, looked sun-kissed. I was tall and slender, more like a runway model than someone who’d been on the run for most of her life“

In order to protect Alex from her godly beauty her mother forces her to wear a magical glamour, which ends up with the nickname of Ugly Ducky. As Alex is in this disguise all she does is complain about how she is no longer beautiful, it's quite dreadful. For Alex all that matters is her beauty and frankly it is quite a damaging message to be promoting in the YA genre. Beauty is not everything, unless you're Alex, which then it is the only thing. 

Because this a the optimal cliche YA book, the leading boy, Ethan is also perfect. He even says it himself. 

"I was a senior at Sky View High, a jock to be exact. I played varsity football and tried to be a regular human, even though I was far from it. If I was honest, I wasn’t doing such a bad job at fitting in."

But of course he is a good quarterback who can do no wrong, but is still a general jerk and classifies women to animal. So dreamy. Ethan is Alex's bender and they are forbidden to be with one another, because it will lead to Ethan's death. This, of course, does not stop them, and definitely doesn't stop Ethan from cheating on his blonde, perfect body cheerleader girlfriend with Alex. ( It could be argue that it's not cheating because Alex and Ethan were only having sex in their dreams...that they were sharing...and 100% conscious and in control of their action..)

I think the only positive part of Hinder is that unlike other YA books, Alex's parents are an important part of Alex's life and actually appear in the story and try to protect their daughter (maybe not the best methods but the intentions are there).

If you want to read an enjoyable YA book filled with elemental magic, forbidden love and heart stopping twists. This book is not it. Please do yourself a favor and pick up something else like A Court of Thorns and Roses or Fallen Kingdom. Don't waste your time on this book. On top of all the cliches you can pretty much predict the whole book by chapter four.

My Rating: 2/5