Roses by G.R. Mannering (Review)

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Fantasy
Publication Date:	November 6, 2013
Pages:	311
Published By:	Sky Pony Press
Series	The Tales Trilogy #1
Review copy:	e-ARC from publisher

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A dark rendition of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast!

She bears no name. Her silvery appearance is freakish to the numerous inhabitants of Sago, the cosmopolitan capital of Pevorocco in a fantasy realm. With her mother vanishing at the instance of her birth, she is sent to live with the cruel, rich Ma Dane, where she is punished daily for something, though she knows not what. Tauntingly named Beauty, she flees Sago in a violent uprising that sets out to massacre all Magics and journeys to the furthest point of the country.

But Beauty cannot hide in the grassy Hillands forever. Before long, the State officials find her and threaten to take her back to war-torn Sago where death surely awaits. In a midnight blizzard she escapes them, running into a deep, enchanted forest to a great and terrible beast who will bargain for her life.

But can Beauty accept Beast? Eternity is a long time.

The name stuck.  The child became Beauty, though for a long time she did not realize that it was said in cruel jest.

"Well, maybe I teaches yur to ride and yur can be a stable hand like me?"

She blinked at him.  She had never considered her future.

"I do not know what will become of me," she whispered.

Owaine said nothing for he did not know what would become of her, either.

They galloped on and on for half an hour before stopping again.  Beauty looked over her shoulder and groaned to see the castle just as near as before.  It was all an illusion   they were running and going nowhere.  She reached down and patted Champ's neck. 

"At least we shall never be lost," she muttered, but she did not feel particularly grateful.

   OMG how did I not know about this book before now?!  Seriously, I love retellings and this book has existed in the world for over two years without me knowing!  G.R. Manning created a beautiful and magical story, that weaves many elements together seamlessly.  I was intrigued right from the start and tore through the book with ease.  This felt to me like Cinderella meets Beauty and the Beast, with some unique magical elements mixed in.  It was the type of book that I devoured in one sitting with zero regret.

  Roses is everything you want in a book.  It has strong and complex characters, an intriguing plot and twists that keep you guessing.  I think the twists are mostly because there is so much uncertainty when it comes to Beauty.  There is so much that you really don't know about her.  This isn't because Mannering doesn't take the time to develop her, but because she is uniquely a mystery among everyone.  With the book circling around all of the unknown, and in a world where being magical or different is dangerous, there is much to consider.  The beauty of this read was that there was such vivid and remarkable details when it came to the settings.  I loved how easy it was to envision and slip into this curious world and it's changing landscapes.  Beyond that with everything changing, there was never really a time where I felt the pacing dipped out.  I would have to say Mannering had no problems keeping my attention.

  Beauty was something else.  You don't really get a handle on who she is for the first while.  It is made clear by those around her that she is "different," and you learn quickly she is curious but she is also quite young.  This book passes times in seasons (which might have tripped me up to start), so you kind of get a small feel of who Beauty is as she grows.  Defiant as a child due to the cruelty she was shown, I was pleased by how her spirit never seemed to break.  She may not have spoke much and taken more than she should have, but she never let anyone break her.  There was so much more to her and so much more to figure out with the coming books, I can't help but wonder how many more challenges this girl can face.

  The Beauty and the Beast part was wonderfully unique, and I loved the story behind Beast.  I think the different takes on both Beauty and Beasts characters are really what gave this read so much originality.  The tale itself is twisted into something that could become an original tale if one did not know about the originals.  Every bit of the Beast and how he came to be was revealed at different times, and I found it that it made it easier to mould him into what he was to be to me.  Even the rose itself was not how it was in the more well know Disney version.  Though this was a smaller portion of the book, there were so many important things packed into it.  Little details that I am sure hold much importance for the books to come.

  I loved, the depth in which the author took to twist the tale more than I could have imagined I would.  Mannering and her beautiful writing crafted this book into nothing short of amazing, making it a classic in its own way.  Though I had not heard of this book or author prior to picking the read up on Edelweiss, I must say that this is an author that I will watch for and ensure that her books make it to my shelves.  I would highly recommend this read if you are a fan of twisted tales, and if you normally aren't but enjoy some seriously amazing fantasy...  Well, lets just say that this book is definitely for you as well.

Dorthy Must Die by Danielle Paige (Review)

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Twisted Tale
Publication Date:	April 1, 2014
Pages:	452
Published By:	Harper Collins
Series	Dorthy Must Die #1
Review copy:	Bought

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I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado - taking you with it - you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a yellow brick road - but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm - and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

  I had been dropped here by a tornado, and now I was standing on something that looked remarkably like a road of yellow bricks.
  This had to be some big mix-up.  Maybe Kansas had finally cashed in on the whole Dorthy thing with a theme park and the tornado had just happened to drop me here.

  This Tin Woodman was not the Tin Woodman I remembered.  By now I shouldn't have expected anything different   nothing was the way it was supposed to be in Dorthy's remade Oz.

  Or was I someone more extreme, someone  I never imagined   a killer.  A warrior.  A girl who could stab someone in the face and know that she was doing the right thing?  A girl who had strength she never even knew about?

 What a fun and unique take on what happened after the classic finished.  So often we are tied up in the before it happened or what we would have preferred to happen, to stop and think about the after.  The aftermath is quite often more interesting than we would expect.  Dorthy Must Die nailed the post Dorthy leaving Oz, and created a masterful story with the power of 'what if'.  

  There is so much to be said about the way this was written, and the way that everything pieced itself together.  There was no one moment where as a reader I paused and couldn't accept the turns that this story took.  No, this was written in such a way that as things changed and people were introduced that it was easy to accept that this was the way things had become.  Basically despite the horror that the beautiful land had become, it was easy to visualise.  This is not saying that there were some questions left hanging in the air because for me there was.  However, there is no good book in which all of the secrets are dished out in the start and it's these little things that keep us turning the pages wanting more... Right?

  Amy herself to start came off as nothing special, and not horribly notable as a character but as this book proves, things change.  Though Oz is not the one she thought she knew, or the Oz that she had hoped she landed in, it proves to be a character builder for her.  Though things were not always what they seemed with her either.  For me Amy's wanting something more became something she wanted less of, and a path to see that things can be what you want if you are willing to go for it.  This being said, she was very much a pawn in multiple games, and all in which no one really knows who the 'good guys' are.  Though I never really connected with Amy I did enjoy her.  She was smart enough to ask questions, quick enough to pick up up on things not to do but impulsive enough to be enjoyable to read.

  There was definitely a lot going on in this book, and many characters that were mentioned.  What is good about this is that Paige does not kill the book with over detailing each one, but does give enough detail to each to allow you to see them the way you need to.  With this comes some new and some old.  I loved the way that the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion were twisted into something spectacularly horrible.  Maybe it is Dorthy's presence that causes this, but either way they are not the friendly characters we came to love in the original.  This is accented by some small surprises from other characters that kind of have always in some way been a wild card and a few new ones that add their own kick to the mix.  Nox was one of the characters that kind of stirred up the mix, but he also caused some mixed feelings that may need to be discussed in future reviews.

  Dorthy Must Die was a fast paced, well thought through twist on the post Dorthy Oz.  Can it be called post Dorthy if she found her way back?  Either way there was almost never a dull moment, and I can't wait to start The Wicked Will Rise (the only benefit of not having picked up this book before now).  Fans of Oz, twisted tales and new takes in general will surely enjoy this read!!

Firstlife by Gena Showalter (Review)

Genre:	YA, Fantasy
Publication Date:	February 23, 2016
Pages:	467
Published By:	Harlequin Teen
Series	Everlife #1
Review copy:	Purchased

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ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.

There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.

In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…

  The stress is the biggest obstacle.  My limbs shake.  My stomach twists.  sweat drips down my spine.  At least I'm not cowering.

  I'll never cower again.

  Pick one.  Pick all.  Gimme.  But too bad for her.  Myriad makes the same promises.

  You don't know his heart.  He's capable of change   we all are.  Give him a second chance, Archer would probably say.

  Remove his junk and stuff it in his mouth, Killian would definitely say.  He can eat his own candy bar.

  The explosion echoes from the sky, and again, it sounds as if fireworks have been unleashed.  a battle is happening up there at the same time one is happening down here.  Maybe... Archer's friends are throwing down with Killian's?  Is that how it works?

  I'm a fan of Gena Showalter's writing and her consistently stunning covers, but this book created its own brand of cover love within me.  It was also hard not to go into this one interested due to the synopsis and its seemingly original plot.  I am super conflicted now that it is time for me to review this one.  I struggle between telling everyone it was extremely addictive, or that it was slow to the punch.  Somewhere between the start and finish I became invested but I could not tell you exactly when/where it happened. Regardless it happened and I shall attempt to properly express everything to you guys.

  I think when it comes to good and bad there are always such blurred lines.  With Firstlife, there are two very different choices offering up what they consider 'Utopia'.  Thing is they are both flawed, or at least Ten thinks so.  Isn't perfection a matter of perception?  You then go to questioning what place is 'evil' and what one is 'good'.  Once again, hard to tell when you are basically missing that area that greys between the two.  Then I began to think maybe it wasn't about good and bad, it was about the choice.  However, the choice is barely a choice because if you don't go with your families choice, you end up their enemy and that means forever.  There were even cases (including Ten) that families took the matters into their own hands trying to force the choice.  You could remain undeclared... but that meant going to a place that no one really had any idea about.  This may have been the point (no full disclosure in order to avoid spoilers), where I found myself stuck in the story.  The part in which things started coming to light and all around the plot and pacing picked up.

  Ten as I mentioned was undecided.  Undecided and desired by both sides.  Why?  Well, she's special of course but she doesn't know that.  At times her indecisive ways and attraction to the guy from 'the dark side', was a little too much and predictable.  Though I must say that part of her journey was not making the easy choice or the quick choice, it was quite simply learning to ask questions before you leap.  Ten was good at it and I did admire her ability to stick to her guns no matter what.  She was stubborn and smart about things that I think normally characters would be accused of being aloof or quick to the go about.  Her thoughts were fun to follow and I found myself spending much of the book trying to decide where she actually fit.  Then I began to think maybe she didn't fit anywhere... But we all fit somewhere don't we... Ten was just original enough and unique in her thinking and behaviors that she will stand out for me.

  For so long I dreaded a love triangle with the guys from warring sides.  Please don't get me wrong, I don't hate them I just fear them upon showing themselves.  They are one of those things that either work or end up flailing around in your face while you wish it would just die.  Okay, harsh I know but honestly some of them need to stop before they start.  Anyway.... moving on...  The thing about Archer and Killian was that they were alike without actually being alike.  They each had their own motives to start but wound up caring far more than they had ever expected when it came to Ten.  Same as each boy meant something different to Ten but neither one really meant less than the other.  Killian was the bad boy that she fell for and yet there was something good about him, and Archer was the friend that she couldn't overlook to make that jump to where Killian wanted. 

  Overall guys I do have conflicted feelings but I really did enjoy it when it all ended.  I think there is a lot of potential when it comes to the up coming books.  I do however recognize that this will not be for everyone but feel that some maybe end up like me, enjoying it but taking a twisted route to get there.  When recommending this to people I'm really not sure where to go with it.  I would like to say fans of Showalter's writing should because her writing is still wonderful but this is so different from the other two series I've read by her.  Basically the safest bet would be to say if you are looking for something fantasy/dystopia I would give it a go.  I will continue on with the books because basically there was a big twist at the end and I want to see where it goes.