Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.
Cinder and Ella
Title: Cinder and Ella
Author: Melissa Lemon
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Rating: 3,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
After her father’s disappearance, Cinder leaves home for a servant job at the castle. But it isn’t long before her sister Ella is brought to the castle herself. What Ella finds there starts a quest that will change her life and the entire kingdom. Cinder and Ella is a Cinderella story like no other, and one you’ll never forget.
Review: The premise about turning the Cinderella story into a tale about two sisters, was definitely intriguing. However, the writing wasn’t that captivating at all, and rather simplistic at times. The story was confusing too, sometimes, although admittingly it had a lot more layers than the usual Cinderella story, diving into the territory of betrayal and deception. A solid book.
Frost Moon
Title: Frost Moon
Author: Anthony Francis
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: 3 stars
Purchase: Amazon
In an alternate Atlanta where vampires and werewolves prowl the night, magic is real, and tattoo magic is the strongest magic of them all, a serial killer is targeting the magically tattooed on the full moon.
Dakota Frost, best magical tattooist in the Southeast, learns from the police she may be a target … just when she receives a lucrative commission to ink a magic tattoo for a werewolf before the next full moon.
Caught between the rough and tumble world of the werewolves, the law and order rules of the vampires, and a sexy man-in-black whose motives are in doubt, Dakota must tread carefully to survive – because she doesn’t know whether her werewolf client is the tattoo killer … or the next victim.
Review: I loved the idea of magic tattoos, and a tattooist getting caught in a murder investigation sounded interesting too. However, the plot jumped from plot point to plot point without much explanation. The romance wasn’t all that intriguing either, and it was more of a subplot than anything else. Dakota was an intriguing heroine though.
The Art of Forgetting
Title: The Art of Forgetting
Author: Camille Noe Pagan
Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
A moving and insightful debut novel of great friendship interrupted. Can the relationship survive when the memories are gone?
Marissa Rogers never wanted to be an alpha; beta suited her just fine. Taking charge without taking credit had always paid off: vaulting her to senior editor at a glossy magazine; keeping the peace with her critical, weight-obsessed mother; and enjoying the benefits of being best friends with gorgeous, charismatic, absolutely alpha Julia Ferrar.
And then Julia gets hit by a cab. She survives with minor obvious injuries, but brain damage steals her memory and alters her personality, possibly forever. Suddenly, Marissa is thrown into the role of alpha friend. As Julia struggles to regain her memory- dredging up issues Marissa would rather forget, including the fact that Julia asked her to abandon the love of her life ten years ago- Marissa’s own equilibrium is shaken.
With the help of a dozen girls, she reluctantly agrees to coach in an after-school running program. There, Marissa uncovers her inner confidence and finds the courage to reexamine her past and take control of her future.
The Art of Forgetting is a story about the power of friendship, the memories and myths that hold us back, and the delicate balance between forgiving and forgetting.
Review: Marissa is used to being a beta girl, while her best friend Julia has always been the alpha. But when Julia gets hit by a car, Marissa learns to discover her own confidence. The story may not be that original, but the writing was okay, and the characters popped out of the pages. An interesting read, and had more depth than I thought it would.
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