In a world where women have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi Tessaro face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other in prison.
Serina has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace – someone to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. But when her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, catches the heir’s eye, it’s Serina who takes the fall for the dangerous secret that Nomi has been hiding.
Now trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one way to save Serina: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to release her sister. This is easier said than done. A traitor walks the halls of the palace, and deception lurks in every corner. But Serina is running out of time, imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive and one wrong move could cost her everything.

Once in a while a book will really take you by surprise and this was the case with Grace and Fury.  A YA fantasy based on two sisters (one fawning for a prince and the other, not so much) may seem like familiar ground but I found that this book couldn’t be further from the typical.

The world building creates more of a dystopia, a world where women are so downtrodden it is an offence for them to even read.  Given no choice in their existence and very little say in any part of their lives, their future is stark. The way out? To train as a Grace and hope to find favour with the Superior. The life of a Grace however is a gilded cage and is little more than loveless, polygamous relationship with extra dresses.  Indeed, not all prisons have bars.  But for our sisters it is all that Serina has ever trained to be and Nomi to be her handmaid. What starts as a journey full of hope quickly turns to despair for both sisters as all they have ever thought to be gets turned on its head.

The world that has been created is actually quite fraught, even the palace appears to have little joy despite the lavish celebrations. A palace devoid of love and friendship, where everyone is potentially a spy and even the smallest transgression will have you banished to the prison island.  An island which perpetuates the mistreatment of women and reduces them to little more than entertainment, not in the way you would think but brutal all the same. From defiant to demure the character of the sisters change throughout the story, both incredibly naive they are often too slow to put the pieces together but the one thing they have is their love for each other and a fierce determination to change their fates.

It’s not all a tale of downtrodden women though, it is actually very much a tale of bravery, a tale of how women are able to adapt and fiercely defend that which they love. Refreshingly, the lure of boys doesn’t stop them and it was a relief to me that whenever that started to raise its head it was quickly stamped out by their need to put each other first.

The story itself is brilliantly written, the pages just flowed by, pulling you in with every chapter leaving you wanting more and more.  The twists, the misdirection and as a reader the painful realisation of what is coming just a few pages before the sisters do. I was rooting for them every step of each gut wrenching moment.  I desperately want to know what happens next and I truly hope there isn’t a long wait for book 2.

I give this 5 fantastic stars!

Let the battle begin! The vast Tzoladian army clashes with the Karsonian confederation in the valley of Mt. Sarmos. But the stakes are higher than a mere fight for power between countries. As the cruel emperor intensifies his persecution of the “subhumans,” the three chosen youths make tough choices that will decide the fate of the world.
Amanki is a soldier fighting for an empire that wants him dead. After losing her freedom and her seal, Brina faces the ruthless leader of the Sparaggi tribes. Tuka is surrounded by intrigue. Plots of assassination abound. 
Thrown into circumstances they never would have chosen or even imagined, the teens must adapt or die. Have they forgotten their true mission?

Warriors takes us into book 4 of the Mud, Rocks, and Trees series and the world is as deep and rich with mysticism and intrigue as it has always been.  In fact it’s probably my favourite of the series so far, maybe because I have become so connected now with these characters and the transformation they have undergone since starting out. It seems a long time now since that star first appeared. As you would expect from the title, war is upon land and all but Tuka find themselves on the battlefield. Brina has managed to gain freedom and she now fights with the Spraggi, Amanki with his “Duck Corps” and of course Metlan with the Cat Riders.  The battles are spectacularly written and you get the feeling of being there jump out of the page at you.  Amanki, really comes into his own as a leader, but has something more darker been unleashed in him?  Brina’s character as well seems to have a new resolve and sense of purpose, I’m loving how she has no qualms about who she speaks to and how when something is close to her heart.

Baskrod gives a handy history of Metlan and his family, which provides a background that was much needed and a new path to tread, which really then makes you wonder who the prophecy is really about.  With both Metlan and Amanki seemingly changing roles in the eye of this reader, i’m intrigued as to whether I’m being sent down a beautifully crafted distraction.  The prayer to Adon “When the son of a duck, the heir, takes the throne” now has a beautiful ambiguity.

For Tuka, he may not be on the battlefield but that doesn’t prevent him being in one of the most dangerous positions of all them.  Now working in the palace as an Artisan he is not only close to the Emperor but also close to all the guarded whispers and secrets.  The palace is beset with plans to double-cross across one another and the depth of the corruption and greed for power has left Tuka knowing far more than he should. With the lines blurred more than ever, knowing who to trust, not just for Tuka but for all of them, is becoming harder and harder.

Given the title, this is perhaps the most stark of the books for our travellers but it is also quite a hopeful one too, many questions are answered and it feels like a turning point has been reached .  As I said at the start, this is my favourite of the series and I will give this one 5*

Every family has its secrets…
One hot August morning in 1892, Lizzie Borden picked up an axe and murdered her father and stepmother. Newspapers claim she did it for the oldest of reasons: family conflicts, jealousy and greed. But what if her parents were already dead? What if Lizzie slaughtered them because they’d become… zombies?
Thrust into a horrific world where the walking dead are part of a shocking conspiracy to infect not only Fall River, Massachusetts, but also the world beyond, Lizzie battles to protect her sister, Emma, and her hometown from nightmarish ghouls and the evil forces controlling them.

I absolutely loved the twist on twist on the Lizzie Borden story, Lizzie is a level headed girl who likes to stay in control of situations and just get on with life but after strange and horrible things occur with Mrs Borden her step mother and her farther she learns life has many a horror hiding in plain sight. Life changes for Lizzie after she meets John who is to help her prepare for her trial and potential jail sentence. John introduces her to real life and what he and others have been doing in secret as to not alarm the general population and after she gets a taste she finds a new calling in life however it isn’t easy as she must train to do well, find out what her father had to do with these horrors lurking in the dark as well as find who she really is and keep her sister Emma safe. I was absolutely hooked on this read as I felt I felt I was there in their time and didn’t know what twist or surprise would happen next and seeing everything Lizzie went through emotionally as well as physical was addictive. But be warned you know the ending is coming but still when you read it you are still gutted, thankfully we have book 2 to see what happens next!!!

5*

Tanzy Hightower is not crazy. At least, that’s what she tells herself. Crazy looks more like her mother, who studies each sunrise with the same fascination other women give tabloid magazines in the grocery store checkout line. Crazy sounds like the woman on the radio claiming there’s a whole separate world existing parallel to our own. Still, Tanzy can’t deny the tingle of recognition she feels each time she sees her mother standing at the kitchen window, or hears the panic in the woman’s voice coming through the speakers of her father’s truck.
Tanzy intends to follow her father’s footsteps into the professional horse world. But the moment she watches him die on the back of a horse in an accident she feels responsible for, everything changes.
On the first anniversary of his death, a fight with her mother drives her back to her father’s farm in the middle of a stormy night. Neither Tanzy nor life as she knows it escapes unchanged when she is struck by lightning and introduced to a world… unseen, and receives proof her father’s death was no accident.
Two strangers seem too willing to help her navigate her new reality: Vanessa Andrews, a psychiatrist who believes lightning chooses who it strikes, and Lucas, a quiet, scarred stable hand with timing that borders on either perfect or suspect. But Tanzy has secrets of her own. Desperate for answers and revenge, Tanzy must put her faith in their hands as her past comes calling, and her father’s killer closes in.

I grabbed this book because I enjoy reading YA books, it includes horses and the name “Wildwood” is special to me. I really didn’t know what to expect and I’m still not sure exactly how to categorize it.

The first part of the book is very emotional, heartbreaking and poignant. Tanzy Hightower is horseback riding with her father on her 18th birthday when tragedy strikes. Tanzy blames herself and finds herself lost in her sadness. To top it off, her mother, who is a bit strange at normal times, totally draws into herself and Tanzy has to take over the running of normal life. Is her mother going crazy or is it Tanzy who is losing her mind?

In Part Two, the book totally changes tracks and Tanzy finds herself drawn into another parallel world inhabited by beings called the Unseen. She meets several people who try to tell her what is happening, but who can she trust?

When you reach Part Three, get ready for another complete shift in the story. Tanzy “travels” back in time in order to find out what is happening to her sanity and we find her in a quasi-gladiator story. Young women are forced to fight predators and each other in order to gain favor with Asher, the self appointed King of the Unseen world. Tanzy is led to believe that she is the reincarnation of Spera, the Queen and key to unlocking the door between the worlds.

Through all of this, who can Tanzy trust (or can she actually trust anyone)? Everybody she thinks she can trust eventually let her down and she is left to fend for herself in a strange new world.

The writing was very good and very descriptive. I felt like I was living in the story, not just reading it. The author definitely has a way with words and telling a story. My main complaint with the book is that it was pretty confusing at times. There was a lot of information thrown at you in a very rapid manner without much background. Also, I really didn’t care for many of the characters and had a hard time relating to them. It seemed like the author started out writing a YA coming of age story with a lot of emotion and then changed midstream to a fantasy.

I really never got invested in the story enough to want to continue the trilogy. And, although horses are a part of the story, they aren’t as big a part as I thought when I picked up the book.

If you truly love fantasy and strange new worlds, you will probably be entertained by this book. It just fell short for me.

4*