Blog Tour Review: "Dark Shores" by Danielle L. Jensen

Hello everyone! Today I have a super exciting post completely centered around Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen. As I'm the final post of the blog tour, I hope you have enjoyed all the previous posts and are excited for more Dark Shores content! If you haven't been following along, welcome! Let's dive in! 

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SYNOPSIS

High seas adventure, blackmail, and meddling gods meet in Dark Shores, the first novel in a new YA fantasy series.

In a world divided by meddlesome gods and treacherous oceans, only the Maarin possess the knowledge to cross the Endless Seas. But they have one mandate: East must never meet West.

A PIRATE WITH A WILL OF IRON

Teriana is the second mate of the Quincense and heir to the Maarin Triumvirate. Her people are born of the seas and the keepers of its secrets, but when her closest friend is forced into an unwanted betrothal, Teriana breaks her people’s mandate so her friend might escape—a choice with devastating consequences.

A SOLDIER WITH A SECRET

Marcus is the commander of the Thirty-Seventh, the notorious legion that has led the Celendor Empire to conquer the entire East. The legion is his family, but even they don’t know the truth he’s been hiding since childhood. It’s a secret he’ll do anything to protect, no matter how much it costs him – and the world.

A DANGEROUS QUEST

When an Empire senator discovers the existence of the Dark Shores, he captures Teriana’s crew and threatens to reveal Marcus’s secret unless they sail in pursuit of conquest, forcing the two into an unlikely—and unwilling—alliance. They unite for the sake of their families, but both must decide how far they are willing to go, and how much they are willing to sacrifice.  

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PRAISE FOR DARK SHORES

“Richly-woven, evocative, and absolutely impossible to put down―I was hooked from the first lines! Dark Shores has everything I look for in a fantasy novel: fresh, unique settings, a cast of complex and diverse characters, and an unflinching boldness with the nuanced world-building. I loved every word.” ―Sarah J. Maas, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"The book grabs readers from the beginning with its stellar worldbuilding and multidimensional characters, and the mythical elements are truly believable within the constructs of the story. The perspective shifts between the viewpoints of Teriana and Marcus from chapter to chapter, offering readers greater insights into each. ...A gripping introduction to a new series." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"This is a lush, imaginative world, and as the focus shifts between Teriana and Marcus, it becomes clear that the readers are only getting a glimpse of its complicated history and mythology. ...Their secrets don’t, of course, stop Teriana and Marcus from embarking on a steamy romance, and fans of Rutkoski’s sighworthy The Winner’s Kiss and the high-stakes sea adventure of Levenseller’s Daughter of the Pirate King will want to know where Marcus and Teriana journey to next." ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

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MEET DANIELLE L. JENSEN

Danielle L. Jensen is the USA Today bestselling author of The Malediction Novels: Stolen Songbird, Hidden Huntress, Warrior Witch, and The Broken Ones, as well as The Bridge Kingdom (Audible Originals). Her latest novel, Dark Shores, will be released by Tor Teen in May of 2019. She lives with her family in Calgary, Alberta.

PHOTO CREDIT: KATHERINE CALNAN PHOTOGRAPHY  

WEBSITE: https://danielleljensen.com/
TWITTER: @dljensen_
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7091823.Danielle_L_Jensen
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/authordanielleljensen
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/danielleljensen/

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PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON      |      BARNES & NOBLE      |      BOOK DEPOSITORY

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MY REVIEW

I first would like to say a thank you to Tor Teen for giving me a copy of this book to read early. I had heard some great things and buzz about this book for a while and it peaked my interest. When I finally was able to read it, I dove in without hesitation.

I found this story to be a great one. While I didn't think it was perfect, there were a lot of things that I thought were great. The world-building was on point and I loved seeing how religion played such a big role in this book. What was really interesting to me was this idea of two halves of the world that never interact except for sea-faring people.

That brings me to another thing I really liked about this book: the nautical aspects. While I was expecting us to spend more time on the ocean, what we did get was great. For some reason, I haven't read many books that take place in large part on a boat despite loving every book like it that I've read before.

I think what I liked the most was our main character, Teriana. She's in a tough situation with not a lot of "right" answers but she's trying her hardest. You can see the stress it's putting on her, though, to be in such a spot. Even if she's not always stoic and strong, she's still such a strong character. I honestly am just super excited to see what she does in the next book.

I will say, the one thing I couldn't get behind at this point was the romance. It seemed expected but also like it happened in a way that was too quick and not well-developed. But I am interested in seeing how that aspect of the book develops in the next installment.

Overall, I found this book to be pretty-good. I definitely enjoyed it and I'm excited to see where things head in the next one!

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GIVEAWAY

Five winners will receive a copy of Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
Ends June 18, 2019

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Let's Talk: "White Stag" by Kara Barbieri

Title: White Stag

Author: Kara Barbieri

Series: "Permafrost #1"

Genre: YA Fantasy

Page Length: 368 pages

Publication Date: January 8, 2019
Date Started: October 31, 2018

Date Finished: November 3, 2018
Rating: 2/5 stars

Goodreads

*I was provided a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest, non-spoiler review*
TW for talk of rape in the book and this review.

Ok...so, I didn't love it. I didn't hate it, but I'm mostly left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed by this book. There were definitely times where I was somewhat enjoying it, but for the most part, I was just let down by this book. I didn't even go into this book with high expectations, so I'm still sad that I didn't love it like I had hoped.

I think, for me, my enjoyment of this book was colored by personal experiences as well as just my own critical reading skills. After taking numerous creative writing courses, studying literature in college, and reviewing books for years, I have a much more critical eye when it comes to books than I used to. I have no doubt that 15 year old me would have absolutely loved this book, but 19 year old me had a lot of issues with it.

I would like to say that my issues aren't really with the plot, though there are a few things I was iffy about. The story itself, if you described it to me in detail, I would probably have said sounded fascinating. And that's the truth: this book was cool and very different than what I've read before. I've never read a goblin book, or one that pulls from Norse mythology. The idea of this book was a good one, but I thought it wasn't executed in a way that showcased this story the best.

That being said, the actual writing is beautiful. I found Kara's writing to be lyrical and, at times, mesmerizing. But, the other technical parts of this story were lacking. The pacing, character development, etc all could have been worked on a lot further. To me, this felt like a first or second draft of a book. And, again, I was provided an advanced copy of the book, so maybe this will all change with the release. But, I don't think that there will be drastic enough of changes between the arc and finished draft to fix these problems I had.

Problem 1: the pacing. Most of the time, I found myself looking at what page number I was on and seeing how far away the ending was. The pacing wasn't done in a way that kept me interested all the time. Background, informational scenes, and their travels or angsty conversations were spread out for a long time, but most of the action scenes were over in a page or two. And a lot of this was split up with inner monologues from our main character that were very repetitive. Frankly, I spent a lot of my time skimming her monologues and most of this book after I hit 100 pages.

Problem 2: sub-par characterization. Don't get me wrong, the characters were the best part of this book in my opinion. But that doesn't mean that I love them. I enjoyed them, but I already can feel myself forgetting about them. I know that if they were real people and I met them in real life, I'd probably like them. But as characters, I felt detached. The bad guy is the bad guy just because...we don't get any information other than when we're told he's the bad guy and has done terrible things. The good guy is the good guy simply because he's not the bad guy. There was more of a feeling that we were being given information and being told to like them rather than forming connections.

Problem 3: too-easy solutions. So there's a lot of life-or-death situations and many problems that the characters face in this book. And, even though there's a lot of death throughout, every situation seems to be remedied pretty quickly. It makes me wonder why we're told a situation is dire if it can be resolved in a couple of pages? This is a common theme throughout the book, especially when it comes to the ending. I just wish that we'd gotten more time with these scenes instead of the inner monologues.

Problem 4: problematic areas. First things first, the way the main character's rape is handled in this book was not the best. It's used more for shock value and to create a cliche tortured main character than anything else. It didn't add anything to the book (as in, you could have taken it out and it would have changed nothing) and I felt like the use of rape was poorly handled. Also, I like Soren and I like Janneke, but I don't particularly like them in a romance together. We're told, even in the description of the book, that they're the possible romantic pair for this book. But, from the beginning, I couldn't get behind it. Janneke is a thrall--aka a human slave who was kidnapped from her home and brought into the Permafrost--while Soren is her master/owner. While she doesn't call him that, he can give her orders, binds her to him, and she's under his protection when they're around other goblins. I just see this as not the best precursor to a relationship? I don't know, I just can't get behind the idea of her essentially being his slave and then them getting together.

Problem 5: the goblins. So, the goblins in this book are supposedly beautiful and tall and badass, but for most of the first part of the book I could only imagine them as 3-foot tall green things? By the end, I kind of put it together in my mind that they were beautiful, but it still confuses me a bit. It felt more like they were fae or elves but didn't want to be in that specific trope so they were then called goblins? I don't know, maybe this was just me.

Problem 6: the tropes. Oh gosh, there were so many tropes. I just felt like we were going through this book ticking items off an imaginary checklist of most-used YA tropes. Don't get me wrong, I love tropes but only when they're done well. And in this book, I mostly found myself rolling my eyes at them or groaning when another trope popped up.

Overall, I'm not sure about this book. I liked the characters in theory and the idea of the story, but the way it was executed was sub-par in my opinion and that left a serious damper on my enjoyment of it. I probably will not continue with the next book, but I do hope that others can find this book more interesting than I did.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Let's Talk: "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo *Updated Review*

Title: Six of Crows 

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: "Six of Crows" Duology #1

Genre: YA High Fantasy

Page Length: 465 pages

Publication Date: September 29, 2015

Date Started: September 30, 2018

Date Finished: October 6, 2018

Rating: 4/5 stars

Goodreads

This was my second time reading this book, actually. Since my feelings have changed from the first review I wrote, I thought I'd go ahead and write an updated review. Also, I feel as if I should preface this review with the disclaimer that I reread this book for my writing class. While I've been wanting to reread it for a while, I had to force myself to read this one right now even though I wasn't 100% wanting to in order to do a group presentation on it. Therefore, my experience reading this book, and, in turn, my thoughts on it, were a little bit skewed from having to force myself to read it instead of taking my time and waiting for the right moment.

That being said, I didn't love this book. I enjoyed reading it and it's been so long since the first time I read it that there were plenty of parts that I had forgotten about and shocked me. I didn't love it, but I liked it. I have plans to read the sequel and I did enjoy it a lot more than the first time I read it at the beginning of 2016. I still probably would have enjoyed it more had I read it on my own terms, but we're past that now.

Overall, like I said, I enjoyed this book. There were definitely times where I thought that the plot was slow or the pace was lacking. Mostly this was when the crew was planning their heist and traveling. By the end, the pace had picked up and I actually blew through the last 150-200 pages, which was a surprise to me.

What I liked most about this was that, since it had been so long since the first time I read it, I had forgotten pretty much everything about this book except the ending and was able to read it with fresh eyes. Like, I didn't even remember the names of all the main characters. That made this reading experience so much more fun than a typical reread.

The story was interesting, the writing was pretty good, and the characters were hilarious. The first time around I didn't realize how funny these characters and their interactions are. I love Jesper and I would literally die for him. I cannot wait to see more interactions between him and Wylan.

I am excited to go into the next book, although I don't know when that will be. It's probably won't be by the end of this year since my TBR is so packed, but that's okay because I can always bring it with me next semester.

So, yes, overall I enjoyed this book more the second time around but I wish that it would have been on my own terms since I wasn't in a SoC mood when I read this book. Still, I loved the characters and the plot is intriguing enough to have me coming back for more.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Top 5 Wednseday: Favorite Magic Systems

Wow it's been a while since I've done a top 5 Wednesday! Between work, school, and studies, I've been using my free time to try and squeeze in reading and Netflix and a social life. Add in that Wednesdays are the busiest time of the week and I'm pretty much never available to do it anymore. However, I'm making a vow that this month I will do at least 3 Top 5 Wednesdays, starting with today.

This week's theme is all about your favorite magic systems. I don't know about you, but I love fantasy and magical books. This just seems so fun and definitely brings in nostalgia about all these books and movies that I've read or associate with fall. So here we go with my favorite books with awesome magic systems! 

Coming it at number 5, we have the magic system in The Bone Season. I love how unique the clairvoyant system is and I only wish that could be in that world with them all. It's quite a complex system yet I think Samantha Shannon does a good job of presenting it to us on a need to know basis. We're never in the dark but we aren't overloaded with information when we don't need it. Overall, I just can't wait to get back into this world.

For number 4, I thought I would talk about Furyborn. This book was one of my favorites of the beginning of the year and I still love it. The magic that's in it is so different from most of the things I've read recently that it really stuck with me. We have time and distance traveling, elemental-esque magic, and so much more. Everything about the magic in this world appeals to me and I can't wait for the sequel!

I had to pick the A Court of Thorns and Roses series for number 3. Not only is this series one of my top 2 series of all time, but it also had such interesting magic. Everybody has different abilities and a lot of it depends on the court they're in, which I love so much. It provides interesting contrasts when we go and see characters from different courts and it's like a new fresh moment. Personally, I'd like to be like Feyre but I would settle for Rhysand (insert winking emoji here).

At number 2, I had to go with the magic in the Throne of Glass series. Like ACOTAR, you think you have the magic system figured out but then it goes and adds something new in. I love it. There are still plenty of rules that magic follows, but it's when a character discovers a new type and you have that "oh shit" moment that I really enjoy.

And of course, at number 1, my top magic system is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. HP was my favorite series as a child and went uncontested until I read Throne of Glass. I just love love love everything about it. Maybe it's just because it was my first experience with reading about magic, but it feels so nostalgic and whimsical every time I think about it.

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Let's Talk: "The Demon Race" by Alexandria Warwick

Title: The Demon Race
Author: Alexandria Warwick

Genre: YA Fantasy

Page Length: 372 pages

Publication Date: September 18, 2018

Date Started: September 14, 2018

Date Finished: September 17, 2018

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Goodreads

Alexandria Warwick's Guest Post

*I was provided a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Okay so this book was pretty great. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this story. I thought that, especially for a debut, the writing style was incredible. Alexandria really knows how to create art out of words. Her imagery is fantastic and her writing poetic.

As for the actual story, it was interesting and fast-paced. I was never particularly bored and I thought that there were a lot of great high-action scenes. The slower scenes in between any fighting or fleeing were interesting in their own way as they provided backstory, character development, and other fantastic aspects to this novel. It was also pretty graphic at some parts in terms of the gore and the darker parts of the story. I think this added it's own level of depth to it that made it that much more interesting for me.

I will say that for me this felt like a largely character-driven story, which is a good thing because I'm constantly annoyed when books focus more on plot than on character. I really enjoyed reading about Namali and Sameen's journey--which is what I saw this book as. For as long as the race was, it didn't really feel like a race except for the beginning and the end. It felt more like a journey. But it was a great journey to see the two characters grow independently and as friends. I was more invested in their story than I though and I found myself blinking back tears numerous times throughout the book.

I would have liked to see a little more of the outside world, though. The most we get is few setting details when the characters are in a city. I'd love to have learned more about the world, culture, etc outside of the setting and whatever myths are told about The Demon King. I can only imagine how beautiful and also cruel this world would be if we'd been told more about it.

The one thing that is very well described in this entire book, though, is the oppression against women in this world. It's hard to read about but I also love how this book tackled it in the instance of Sameen and Namali. There's one scene where Sameen is insistent that he isn't an oppressor, but Namali explains to him how there are different ways of oppression and that he is, in fact, part of the systematic oppression that keeps so many women and girls silent. Instead of getting angry or lashing out, Sameen asks how he can do better. I wish more people in our world would act like that instead of getting anger and defensive.

Overall, I thought this was a good book and I'm happy to have read it. I'm so grateful to Alexandria for letting me experience this story and these characters. I'm so excited for the rest of you to experience them too!

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Thanks for reading! Links to purchase or more information can be found at the top of the page under the link to Alexandria Warwick's guest post :)
xoxo

Lauren

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Let's Talk: "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

Title: The Cruel Prince

Author: Holly Black

Series: "The Folk of the Air" #1
Genre: YA Fantasy 

Page Length: 370 pages

Publication Date: January 2, 2018

Date Started: August 6, 2018
Date Finished: August 9, 2018
Rating: 3/5 stars

Goodreads

*This review is non-spoiler until noted otherwise*

So...I wrote an entire review and then in the same day decided those thoughts I had were completely wrong and I only had because I wanted to fit in with the hype. Unpopular opinion: this book wasn't fantastic. So, without further ado, here's my revised review.

Honestly, I thought I would love this book. I really did. It seemed like it had everything I love in a book: political intrigue, a badass main character, a forbidden romance, faeries, and so much more. I was let down. I really was.

Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy reading this book. I did enjoy reading it, but the more I look back on it, the more I’m disappointed by what I read. Everyone seemed to love this book and I can see how that might be the case, but for me, it missed the mark.

Most of what I have to say in this spoiler-free section is about the main character, the writing style, and the plot/pacing. I’ll go more in depth for specific characters and events in my spoiler-section. For now, let’s just talk about Jude.

I’ll say my relationship with Jude right now is on the rocks. Half the time I was reading from her, I was more annoyed or confused by her actions or inner monologues while the other half of the time I was screaming “Go Jude, get it girl!” in my head. I really wanted to love her, but I’m not entirely sure that I do. She was hypocritical or selfish a lot of the time, while other times she was very self-sacrificing to ensure that those around her weren’t hurt or in danger. It gave me whiplash, honestly.

Cardan…oh Cardan. When everyone talked about how awesome Cardan was, I expected him to be awesome. He wasn’t. He just…wasn’t awesome? He wasn’t a bad character, I guess, but he wasn’t as fantastic as all of this hype made him out to be. I’ll speak a lot more about him in my spoiler-section below, because I do have a lot to say.

For me, the writing wasn’t the best? It wasn’t terrible by any means, but I felt that I could have been done a lot better. Personally, it took me a while to get used to the first person writing. For complex fantasies, I’ve gotten used to reading third person. For me, the use of first person felt awkward and it took me a solid fifty or so pages to get used to the writing style. The use of first person also limited our view because we had to see exclusively through Jude’s rose-tinted glasses and take everything she said or thought as the absolute truth in that moment. I feel like I would have liked Jude more as a character had we not been inside her head the entire freaking book.

It read like a middle grade. The use of first person on top of the fact that most of this book didn’t follow the rule of “show, don’t tell” made me feel like I was reading something for middle-grade readers. There’s nothing wrong with middle-grade, of course, but when I want to read a complex story with political intrigue, I want the writing to reflect that? We were shown barely any political mess. Most of the action scenes or anything interesting weren’t detailed and it seemed as if we were getting a second-hand account of what was happening. I probably would have loved this book a lot more had I gotten more details.

I also didn’t connect with any of the characters, except maybe Jude a little. Just the writing style and lack of details made it almost impossible to connect to what a lot of the characters were feeling. I think that it being told first person from Jude’s point of view left us with only her views on the other characters, which I didn’t enjoy very much. The characters also felt very immature to me most of the time, and not just the younger ones but the adults too.

The plot was enjoyable but not amazing by any means. It definitely wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t realize that a good portion of the book would be schoolyard fighting and going to lectures. I thought that the plot background that we were given at the beginning was way too long and left the ending feeling rushed. Everything was slow, or moving at a comfortable pace, and then so much happened in a short amount of time that I was left reeling and confused, and not in the good way.

Overall, I just want to say that this book really disappointed me. I think that I let the hype get to me, which I usually don’t do, and I was left underwhelmed and confused as to why everyone thought this book was so new and fresh and amazing. To me, it seemed like every other good-but-not-great fantasy book that I’ve ever read. I enjoyed reading it, still. I thought that there were a lot of amusing parts and other scenes that kept my heart rate up. I do have the second book preordered because I think that this series has potential, I just wish that the things I discussed above had been more thought out. To me, this seemed like a second or third draft that still needed a lot of filling in.

**SPOILER TALK: Cardan**

I am going to be discussing Cardan for just a moment and there will be spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, I highly suggest coming back to this part of the review after you’ve finished the book! I just really need to rant/discuss Cardan for a second.

Okay, I just don’t understand why everyone loves Cardan so much. I’m a sucker for the bad-boy who can be a bit mean but turns into a nice guy trope. I lot of my favorite books are like that. But Cardan? I don’t see it. He’s mean, but he’s not just mean. He’s a bully, he’s abusive, and he’s (pardon my language) a huge dick. We got a little bit of an explanation to why he is the way he is: his brother beats him. I can sympathize with his struggles there, but his trauma is not an excuse for him to go and hurt other people (i.e. Jude). He literally lets his friends drug and embarrass her, almost kill her in a river, and so much more. Even though he explained that he never wanted her dead and would never let it go that far, he was still hurting her. And it’s not just a little teasing or mean comments here and there like a lot of other books with this trope have. No, he was actually bullying and being abusive to her. I don’t like him. I feel like maybe I would have liked him had the excuse for his actions not been that he was abused. It just gets my blood boiling that some people think that being abused is a suitable excuse for abusing others. It’s not. Because once Cardan’s brother was mean to Cardan, then Cardan was mean to Jude, she was mean to others, and it became a cycle.

Overall, my rant on Cardan is done. I don’t like him very much. He’s much more of a likable villain in my eyes than a possible love interest. His actions have completely turned me off of liking him and I don’t understand how some people don’t see that everything about him sends a toxic message. He has a long way to go before he is redeemed in my eyes, and I don’t even know if that will ever happen. Rant over.

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Thanks so much for reading!
xoxo
Lauren

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15 Thoughts While Reading "Sky in the Deep"

Hello everyone! I am doing a new series on my blog. April is just the month of new series! This particular one is just a quick little post that will accompany all of my reviews as well as occasional other books that I read and don't review. As I read, I will write down a bunch of thoughts that I have while reading and compile them into a post! 

Now, I do need to put in a disclaimer before I do this. These posts WILL be spoiler! I repeat: they WILL HAVE SPOILERS! As these are thoughts that I have while reading the book, there will be instances where I name specific scenes or moments. I will put this disclaimer at the beginning of every post, but please note that now! Also, it is good to note that you won't really understand these unless you've read the book. I also don't have chapter/page #'s at this time for when these thoughts came, but they are in order.

Also, happy book birthday to this awesome book!! I'm beyond excited that I was able to read and review this book before publication and I'm so happy that all of you now get to read it as well! Here's is my non-spoiler review if you want to know my coherent thoughts on this book.

1. Eelyn reminds me of Aelin--such a badass.

2. I'm as frustrated as Eelyn with Iri.

3. Halvard is cute though.

4. Brb actually gonna cry.

5. Are Fiske and Eelyn going to end up together?

6. Tears.

7. More tears.

8. Fiske is going with her--yay!

9. I hope the two come together to fight the Herja.

10. "Are we still enemies? You and I?" "No" AHHHHHHH

11. "We die fighting or we die hiding. Which do you chose?" This is one of my new favorite quotes.

12. yes Yes YES! I KNEW IT YESSS!

13. I am getting scared--aw I only have 40 pages left.

14. Stay with him Eelyn stayyyyyy

15. Oh that was beautiful.

Sky in the Deep Links
Book Review (Non-Spoiler)
Goodreads
Amazon

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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