My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Genre:  YA Historical Comedy

Cynthia Hand's website

Brodi Ashton's website

Jodi Meadows' website

Expected publication date:  June 7, 2016

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Description (taken from Cynthia Hand's website):

For fans of The Princess Bride comes the comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey, written by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows.

Lady Jane Grey, sixteen, is about to be married to a total stranger—and caught up in an insidious plot to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But that’s the least of Jane’s problems. She’s about to become Queen of England. Like that could go wrong.

A lot of historical English buffs are fascinated with the era of King Henry VIII.  But does anyone know what happened after his death?  This story is a re-imagining of what happens after King  Henry and King Edward's death.  But I'll give you a little spoiler.  It absolutely does not follow our history books at all.  This story's a little more comedic and fun-loving than the real history.

In Edward, Jane, and Gifford's world, there's a struggle between plain old humans and those who can shape-shift into an animal.  When King Henry accidentally outed himself as a shape-shifter in a very public setting, he began to support shape-shifting rights.  But after his death and with Edward's reign, things become a little wishy-washy.  Who does the royal family support?  And as the mysterious Jane steps up to the throne, what else could go wrong?  In this world?  A lot.

This story is very much a romantic comedy.  It makes light of a pretty depressing past that England has.  And the retelling is definitely funner to follow.  And while I really enjoyed the story, I have mixed feelings because I have read the history books.  I do know what happened.  And every time this book made me giggle and laugh, I wondered if I should be feeling guilty since that definitely wasn't what happened in the history books.  Eventually, you just can't compare the two and have to accept this is a work of fiction.

I picked this one up because of the trio of authors.  And I think anyone who enjoys these authors is not going to be disappointed...

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Genre:  YA Fantasy

The Orphan Queen Series, Book 1

Jodi Meadows' website

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Description (taken from Jodi Meadows' website):

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

Wil is just an average street rat in the Indigo Kingdom.  She helps lead a band of kids who steal food and supplies in order to survive.  But they also have a plan that will free them from the streets and give them back their titles.  Only problem is it involves infiltrating the Indigo Palace in order to gather information about their homeland: Aecor.  Wil will have to pretend to be a duchess from Liadia seeking sanctuary in the Indigo Kingdom.

Wil and her best friend, Melanie are in the palace searching for information.  They plan to return home and reclaim the throne.  But as suspicious behaviors occurs, Wil finds herself on the streets meeting a vigilante who's trying to clean the kingdom of magic.  And as Wil looks into the origins of the Wraith, she determines her magic is more dangerous than she thought.  With everything going on, will Wil be able to stick to her plan and reclaim her throne?

This review has been sitting for a couple of days with me trying to absorb my thoughts.  But all I've really got to say is "I was bored."  Wil was a little too whiny in the beginning to keep my interest.  And once I was halfway through the book, I realized the story wasn't picking up for me.  So many things happen in this book to keep a reader satisfied, but I felt like the right questions weren't answered for me.  What is the mysterious wraith and how does magic create it?  I felt like I was running from a nameless enemy.  Maybe this story had too much cliché in it, and that's why it sort of fell flat for me.

There are others out there who enjoyed this book.  I suggest reading those reviews before making an educated decision on whether or not to pick up this book.  And I have to say the writing flows well; I was just too bored to care.

Infinite by Jodi Meadows

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Newsoul Series, Book 3

Jodi Meadows' website

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Note:  Reading information below might spoil earlier books in the series.  Personally, I think it just makes this series sweeter.

Description (taken from Jodi Meadows' website):

DESTRUCTION
The Year of Souls begins with an earthquake—an alarming rumble from deep within the earth—and it’s only the first of greater dangers to come. The Range caldera is preparing to erupt. Ana knows that as Soul Night approaches, everything near Heart will be at risk.

FLIGHT
Ana’s exile is frightening, but it may also be fortuitous, especially if she can convince her friends to flee Heart and Range with her. They’ll go north, seeking answers and allies to stop Janan’s ascension. And with any luck, the newsouls will be safe from harm’s reach.

CHOICE
The oldsouls might have forgotten the choice they made to give themselves limitless lifetimes, but Ana knows the true cost of reincarnation. What she doesn’t know is whether she’ll have the chance to finish this one sweet life with Sam, especially if she returns to Heart to stop Janan once and for all.

After figuring out the mystery behind reincarnation, Ana has been exiled from Heart.  As supporters of Janan fight to help restore him, Ana must work to make the truth known to everyone.  She only has a few she can trust.  But with Sam having full confidence in her, maybe she'll be able to figure out what to do next.  And of course, she's still got her flute to make music magic with.

Ana has a plan to prevent Janan from ascending on Soul Night, well sort of a plan.  She's still working through translating the temple books because there has to be answers on how to stop Janan in there.  But while traveling away from Heart, Ana gets to experience legendary creatures like centaurs, rocs, dragons, etc.  And with her naive curiosity, she sees creatures in a new light: not something to be completely frightened of, instead something to be respected.  As the sylph promise to defend her, Ana works on getting others to help fight Janan.  But she doesn't realize that the biggest thing she will fight is people's ignorance of the truth.

This whole series has been really cute.  I love the devotion Sam has for Ana: how he will always choose her over anything.  And their music!  Recognizing how much music is integrated into this story is like seeing a beautiful symphony interlaced between chapters.  The music never stops. Then we also get to see the people of Heart struggle with the decisions made in the past that allowed them to reincarnate.  It truly brought up real-life questions that we have to face everyday.  then add the fantasy factor and throw in some dragons and other mythical characters.  And when I realized the ending was coming too fast, I was worried that things wouldn't end properly.  But it does.  And it's so beautiful.

This series is definitely one of those happy-go-lucky series that makes you think and feel love.  While I personally found the covers creepy, I thought the series as a whole was absolutely gorgeous.  I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good fantasy.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.

Asunder by Jodi Meadows

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Newsoul Series, Book 2

Jodi Meadows' website

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Description (taken from Jodi Meadows' website):

DARKSOULS
Ana has always been the only one. Asunder. Apart. But after Templedark, when many residents of Heart were lost forever, some hold Ana responsible for the darksouls–and the newsouls who may be born in their place.

SHADOWS
Many are afraid of Ana’s presence, a constant reminder of unstoppable changes and the unknown. When sylph begin behaving differently toward her and people turn violent, Ana must learn to stand up not only for herself but for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

LOVE
Ana was told that nosouls can’t love. But newsouls? More than anything, she wants to live and love as an equal among the citizens of Heart, but even when Sam professes his deepest feelings, it seems impossible to overcome a lifetime of rejection.

In this second book in the Incarnate trilogy, Ana discovers the truth about reincarnation and will have to find a way to embrace love and make her young life meaningful. Once again, Jodi Meadows explores the extraordinary beauty and shadowed depths of the soul in a story equal parts epic romance and captivating fantasy.

We get a lot of romance in this book.  For Ana, everything's new and exciting.  But to everyone else, it's pretty old and just the same-old-same-old.  Which is why they don't understand the relationship between Sam and Ana.  He's taking advantage of her according to them.  But really, I think he's seeing things in a new way thanks to her and her new insight.

So what does asunder mean?  I finished the book, and I don't even know what it means.  According to Google, it means "apart, divided" or "into pieces".  Makes sense now.  That describes Ana because she is separate from all of the oldsouls, she's a newsoul.

This book focuses on explaining the sylph and how reincarnation came to be.  Only problem is we'll only got an itty-little-bitty of the story here.  Everything else was just romance and drama.  I mean don't get me wrong, it was good.  But at the end of the book, I'm left wondering what was really accomplished.  My couple of questions just turned into a million.  And the reincarnation story just got super-complicated.

This series is a fun read, but I'm beginning to think I should have waited until all three were out before reading them.  The background, the story, it's all really good.  I just wish the storyline would continue more before finishing the last page in this book.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Newsoul Series, Book 1

Jodi Meadows' website

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Description (taken from Jodi Meadows' website):

NEWSOUL Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Honestly, I think all the hype and build-up that I received from various bloggers ruined this book a little for me.  I had very high expectations for this book when I started it.  Granted, it's a great book and an awesome read, I just feel it didn't live up to the enormous expectations I had in the beginning.

Reincarnation.  How it's described in this book definitely makes you think.  It brings a lot of questions.  But as the story goes on, it's pretty cool to learn about.  And the romance between Sam and Ana?  Beautiful!

While I thought the emotions Ana experienced were well received, I feel like there weren't enough answers to all of the questions.  This is definitely not a standalone novel.  And will I read the next one?  If for the sole purpose of getting lost in Sam's and Ana's romance?  Yes, I can't wait...

A special shout out goes to Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy for letting me participate in this ARC tour

Challenges:  Debut Author Challenge and Young Adult Reading Challenge