Review: A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

Title: A Shadow Bright and Burning
Author: Jessica Cluess
Source/Format: Blogging for Books; Hardcover
More Details: Young Adult; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Random House BFYR; September 20, 2016

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

I am Henrietta Howel. The first female sorcerer. The prophesied one. Or am I?

Henrietta Howel can burst into flames. When she is brought to London to train with Her Majesty's sorcerers, she meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, young men eager to test her powers and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her. As Henrietta discovers the secrets hiding behind the glamour of sorcerer life, she begins to doubt that she's the true prophesied one. With battle looming, how much will she risk to save the city--and the one she loves?

It took me around a week to finally sit down and write this review. That’s a long time in my book, but I needed the extra time to really think about what I read and what I wanted to say about it. A Shadow Bright and Burning wasn’t that bad of a book. However, it was just an average read for me.

There was nothing particularly bad about this story. It was fantasy set in a time period where women were expected to remain in certain roles. There was magic, a prophecy, and a main character who wasn’t the chosen one. The synopsis basically told me a lot about the plot. So when I actually got to that part of the book, I just kind of shrugged at Henrietta’s reaction because I was already expecting it.

Now, I did like that Henrietta wasn’t the prophesied one—as indicated in the synopsis. I feel like I haven’t seen enough of that, so it was a nice touch. Another thing I liked was the magic. For the most part, the magic was pretty cool. Henrietta was a pretty good character, but like the rest of the cast, she was just alright for me. I didn’t mind reading from her perspective, and there were parts of her personality and actions that were interesting.

The last couple of chapters of A Shadow Bright and Burning were the best, and my favorite part of the book. The story moved a lot quicker, there was action, and sufficiently surprising twists that were A+ in my opinion.

While A Shadow Bright and Burning had some great elements to it, there were some parts that weren’t as good. Still, the end left the characters in an interesting place, and I could kind of see hints of where this series could be headed. As such, I might consider picking up the next book.

This copy of the book was provided by Blogging for Books (Publisher) for this review, thank you!

About the author...

Jessica Cluess is a writer, a graduate of Northwestern University, and an unapologetic nerd. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, where she served coffee to the rich and famous while working on her first novel. When she's not writing books, she's an instructor at Writopia Lab, helping kids and teens tell their own stories...

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Music Monday (10) The Christmas Edition

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

It’s the 19th, which means that its time for the Christmas Edition of Music Monday. Yes! I have been waiting all month to do this post. So today, Adri and I are going to share some of our favorite holiday music.

Breana: My first pick this week is O Holy Night performed by Mariah Carey. I actually really like the entire Merry Christmas album, but O Holy Night is just so fantastic. Mariah Carey’s version is still one of my favorites. I grew up listening to this version of O Holy Night, so it's no wonder why I still enjoy listening to it every December.

My second pick this week is Carol of Bells sung by Pentatonix. It’s just so good! I also recommend checking out more of Pentatonix's holiday music.

Adri: Okay, so I like a lot of the Christmas songs, but for me this is the season of "I really don't want to get out of bed, its too cold!" As such, I like to listen to smoother songs. So here are two of the songs I'm listening to, but trust me, there is a lot more. I'm just not naming them.

My first selection is O Holy Night sung by Yolanda Adams. I never actually "found" this song, rather I've just been listen to it since the ipod shuffle 2nd gen (thanks mom).

For my final song, I'm going with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas performed by Kenny G. For me, this song is more of a recent find; however, I have listened to his other songs too. I find myself listening to this version when I want to get into a festive mood and relax.

What is some of the go-to music off your holiday playlist?

Musing Monday (65) Wintry Reads

I'm a little late to this since I haven't participated in this meme in a couple of weeks. Musing Mondays has undergone some changes. Jenn at Books and a Beat no longer hosts the weekly meme. Instead, Musing Mondays has moved to The Purple Booker. Other than that, Musing Mondays is still the same.

Revised rules: 

• Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker that asks you to muse about something book related each week. 

My musings for the week...

I figured that I might as do one last Musing Mondays post before 2016 is over. To start out, I'm going to get caught up on some of the random weekly questions before moving on to my other musings.

Random weekly question from December 12th: Does reading help you to release stress during stressful times? If it does do you have a favorite book that you return to for calm?

For the most part I read for entertainment, but sometimes I do read to relieve stress. Normally, if on those rare occasions that I do, I would probably pick up one of the nonfiction books I keep on my shelf, or one of the manga series that I have.

Random weekly questions from November 28th: If you were a character, which author would you trust with your life (to write your story)?

Oh man, this is kind of a hard question. I mean, a lot of the books I've read I just wouldn't want to be those characters in those situations. But if I was a character and had to pick an author to trust to write my story, it would probably be myself. I wouldn't be able to trust anyone else to tell my story.

Random weekly question from December 5th: Do you visit your local library regularly? If so, what’s your earliest memory of visiting a library?

I don't visit my local library regularly. It's kind of far from where I currently live, as such, it's only recently that I've started going more often. And, I've been going to the library with my mom since I could remember.

Other Musings...

Today, I wanted to talk about some of my favorite books that have themes, settings, or characters who are wintry in some way or another. I know I’ve probably missed a few great read, but these books are ones that immediately came to mind for this post. Hence, this list is going to be kind of short. Anyway, let’s get started…

• My first pick is Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett—This book has a lot of wintry things and even begins with a scene where the setting was submerged in snow. The title, themes, and select characters are the main reason why Wintersmith is on this list.
• Next is The Snow Queen by Hans Christain Andersen—This is an obvious one. The Snow Queen has a lot of wintery aspects about it, even the titular character, the Snow Queen.
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis—It has been so long since I read this book that I actually want to go back and reread it again. I always remember really liking this story and the movie adaptation is just one of my favorites. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is on this list for obvious reasons—Narnia, which is trapped in winter, and the White Witch.
• And last but certainly not least, The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell—This is a book I recently enjoyed. I loved all the details, the descriptive prose, and the characters. Another cool part of the book was the setting, which was cold and snowy.

Have you read any books that have wintry themes, settings, or characters? If so, tell me in the comments below.

Weekend Tidbits {#9} Whats New In TVland

Today, I’m going to talk about something a little different. For Weekend Tidbits, I normally talk about a movie trailer I recently saw, or something that I’ve cooked or baked recently, even books I’m really looking forward to. But I never actually talk about what I watch during the week. So, for today, I’m going to talk about a couple of recent TV related things that I’m really excited about.

Do you like Mythbusters? Are you as sad as I am that the show and the old cast signed off for the last time earlier this year? Well, you’re in luck. The science channel is having a Mythbusters mega marathon starting on December 23rd. I have seen the majority of the Mythbusters episodes, but I’m still excited for this marathon. Also in Mythbusters news, apparently, the show is coming back…eventually. If you watch the Science Channel you’ve probably already seen it and know what I’m about to talk about. Oh yes, apparently Mythbusters: The Search is going to be a thing. While I am—and already do—miss the old cast, I can’t help but be a little excited that the show is coming back. I will, however, remain cautiously optimist about this. You can find out more about the show and watch a first look HERE. Mythbusters: The Search premieres on January 7th.

Another show I’m looking forward to is NBCs Emerald City. I’ve been waiting for a premiere date to be announced since I first heard about the show and saw the initial images. I mean, it’s basically a retelling of The Wizard of Oz. I’m really excited to see how it turns out. I hope its good **my fingers are crossed**. Emerald City premieres on January 6th and you can check out the preview, watch a sneak peek, and learn more about the show HERE.

I could go with the easier way and pick mint tea as my choice of preferred drink. However, I'm not going to do that. Instead, today's choice of tea is simple green tea with a peppermint candy cane dissolved into it (basically, my new favorite way to have green tea). 

ARC Review: Iceling by Sasha Stephenson

Title: Iceling
Author: Sasha Stephenson 
Source/Format: First to Read; eARC
More Details: Young Adult; Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Razorbill; December 13, 2016

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Lorna’s adopted sister, Callie, is part of a mysterious group of non-lingual teens, Icelings, born on a remote Arctic island, who may not be entirely human. Now Callie wants to go home...

Seventeen-year-old Lorna loves her adoptive sister, Callie. But Callie can’t say “I love you” back. In fact, Callie can’t say anything at all. Because Callie is an Iceling—one of hundreds of teens who were discovered sixteen years ago on a remote Arctic island, all of them lacking the ability to speak or understand any known human language. Mysterious and panicked events lead to the two sisters embarking on a journey to the north, and now Lorna starts to see that there’s a lot more to Callie’s origin story than she’d been led to believe. Little does she know what’s in store, and that she’s about to uncover the terrifying secret about who—and what—Callie really is.

Two words: road trip. Buckle up dear readers, because I need to talk about this book.

Originally, Iceling by Sasha Stephenson wasn’t one of my most anticipated books of 2016. If anyone would have asked me about the book back in February, I wouldn’t have had much of an answer. Simply put, I hadn’t heard much about this book. However, I eventually saw the synopsis and I liked all the ideas that it introduced and was immediately excited about Iceling.

Just like with every book I’ve ever read, there were things that I really loved about Iceling, and others that I felt sort of mixed about. By no means was this a bad book. In fact, the twists were really surprising and kept me on my toes, and once the plot hit all those pivotal moments the story turned out to be fantastic.

I’m going to talk about what I didn’t like just to get it out of the way. What I disliked about Iceling was the parts that seemed like they were a little extraneous. There were semi-long stretches where facts that had already been stated seemed to be repeated back in several, differently worded ways. I’ve got nothing against repetition since I think it can be used as emphasis to make a point. In Iceling, it was a little much for me, but not something that made me rage-quit the book.

Now, what I did like outweighed what I didn’t like about the book. The synopsis left me with a lot of questions. However, the biggest draw for me was really the Icelings. The Icelings were interesting and probably my favorite part of the book. I really liked them and the role they played in the story. I also liked how the relationships between the Icelings and their adopted siblings were set up. The plot was, overall, really good. Once the story picked up, I could see what Stephenson was setting up during the initial chapters of the book. And man, the end result was something wholly memorable.

Iceling was a solid start to something that could turn out to be a great series. Suffice it to say, I want to see where this goes, and so I have to sit here and wait until book two comes out.

This copy of the book was provided by First to Read (Publisher) for this review, thank you!

 

About the author...