Book Review: The King's Trial by M. L. Farb

Author: M. L. Farb 
Title: The King's Trial
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: ebook
Published:   June 27th 2019 
Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)



In a land where stories of the Shadow Demon keep children shivering in bed and tales of the Yorel bring hope to the commoner, Yosyph is both the reason for their fear and their hope. 

By day Yosyph appears nothing more than a mute tavern-hand. By night he plans a revolution and slips through shadow, rescuing those marked for death by the xenophobic queen.

When he learns that thousands of his people will be sent as slaves to the mines, he must choose—fight the royal army with an ill-prepared rebellion or journey to the land of his ancestors through the deadly King's Trial. If he succeeds, he'll win his kins' loyalty and their help.

His journey grows complicated when he rescues a maiden and enrages a prince, but if he doesn't return with help in time, the people he's loved and secretly served will be gone. 

I was a little iffy going into this one since I've had such meh luck with YA fantasies lately. I was worried for sure. But this gave me hope for the genre!

The story follows Yosyph who seems to be just a mute tavern-hand that people do not notice. However, he is planning the revolt against the evil, xenophobic queen. Things get a touch complicated as his journey goes on. Should he fight head on with his ill-prepared rebellion or attempt the deadly King's Trial and earn his kins' loyalty and their aid in his rebellion. 

I was hooked from page one. I finished this in two sittings! I simply could not put this down. Sooooo good. 

Yosyph was a fun character even though there were times I wanted to shake him. His POV was the best. The rest were okay and necessary to moving the plot along, but eh. I want more of him! 

The world building was okay. I wanted more of this too. I still have some questions about the world. Hopefully more will be answered in the upcoming book. This was a lot of character-building and getting the story going. A lot more story to come, so hopefully we get more world-building in the next. 

Oooooo that ending! AAAAH! I need to know what is going to happen next. I have some worries that I won't share since I don't wanna give away spoilers. But I am a touch worried especially with that twist there. We shall have to wait and see I suppose. I can't wait to get my hands on book 2. 

Overall, a good story and good characters. I liked Yosyph a lot. The world-building was lacking a touch for me. I am hopeful we'll get more in the next book. If you need a breath of fresh air of the YA fantasy genre, this is the book for you. It gave me hope for the series. A quick read for sure, but I was so invested in everyone here. I can't wait for book 2! Soon I hope! I'll give this 4 stars. 

Book Review: Tame the Wild Wind by Rosanne Bittner

Author: Rosanne Bittner 
Title: Tame the Wild Wind
Genre: Historical Romance, Western
Pages: 432
Published:   September 1st 1996
Where I Got It: My shelf (Library Book Sale)



Half-breed Gabe Beaumont had had to choose between the Sioux tribe of his mother and the white family of his father, and his choice had cost him everything. Settlers had murdered his Indian wife and child, and now revenge was all he lived for. 

Riding westward with a renegade Sioux band, he became Tall Bear, a warrior with a wounded soul, a man with an anger and grief that tore away his gentleness and dreams--until a raid on a Wyoming stagecoach station brought him face-to-face with a feisty, red-haired beauty who would change his life...

Faith Kelley had run from her strict, pious upbringing toward the freedom of the frontier and a reckless husband. All too quickly, tragedy left her alone with an infant son and shattered plans. But Faith had drawn strength from the soaring hills, and her tough-minded courage flared when Indians attacked the stage stop that had become her home. She never guessed that Gabe Beaumont, the handsome, dark-haired cowboy who later rode into the station, was the Sioux warrior who had led that raid.  He had changed worlds to claim the woman who was his destiny--and to fight for her love against the shadows and the danger that lurked in his wild heart

This was a random pick up at the library book sale in Flint. WHICH is a blast. For 5$ you got a HUGE bag and you can shove as many books as possible into it and it is yours. They do this sale twice a year. Totally worth it if you happen to be in the area. But yesss this was one of the many I grabbed.

Oh boy.

The story follows Faith and Gabe. Faith runs away with some yahoo Johnny because she wants adventure and to be free from her family. Mind you his own mother warns against the boy, but does Faith listen? Nah. Gabe is half Native and half white. His father was murdered so he and his mom move back to her people. Things happen and his whole family is killed so he goes to get revenge. Things happen and they somehow fall in love.

Where to begin with this hot mess of a book?

Okay. FIRST Faith. OOOOOOO you idiot. She only wants to run away with this yahoo man because she wants to be free. His own mother was all MARRY ANYONE BUT HIM. PLEASE. He’s an idiot. But nope. Even after he betrays her, her father comes to save her and she is all I LOVE HIM DAD! GO AWAY! Time goes on and the yahoo dies. No spoiler there. She is all alone and preggo. Great. She gets lucky and finds a widow at the fort to take her in. Great.

Now here comes Gabe. Oh Gabe. I do feel for you. Father killed. Mom killed. Preggo wife and baby son killed. Life is not nice to him and he wants to kill people. Can you blame him? Especially because the Whites killed them. Gah. Damn racists. But yes. He stumbles across preggo Faith and helps her take care of the idiot husband of hers. They then don’t see each other for a long while. Where did this kindness come from? You shoulda murdered her. But whatever. Love/lust/stupidity. Who knows?? 

Now…here is my biggest and main issue with this entire story. This is supposed to be a historical romance. There was really no romance. There was no chemistry. The two barely even spent any time together. Maybe a hand full of pages? Heck…it took 100 pages or so for the two to even meet. Maybe I would’ve felt different if this was just a generic Historical Fiction? But even with that the two had NO chemistry and it was awkward when they were lovey-dovey.

The ending drama was intense and it did hook me. I was soooo worried and had no idea how everything was going to be fixed. 

All-in-all, I am super disappointed by this. The story was dry and the romance even drier. The characters annoyed me. The only little gem of the story was the ending drama. Wasn’t sure how THAT was going to be fixed. Other than that. NO thank you sir. I would not recommend this if you are looking for a HR. I’ll give this 2 stars. The ending did earn one star for being super intense and pretty good. 

Blodeuedd's Tuesday Movie Review: Isn't It Romantic (2019)

A young woman disenchanted with love mysteriously finds herself trapped inside a romantic comedy.

Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson

Writers: Erin Cardillo (screenplay by), Dana Fox (screenplay by) 

Stars: Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam Devine 

I really enjoyed this, it was fun and different. And it gave me a few laughs, and that is all I want.

It took the whole romantic comedy and turned it on its head, but it still gave us some romance too. Hey, romance is always good, even when stuck in a beautiful fantasy romance land.

Rebel Wilson is the reason I watched it and she rocked.

Fun, and I would totes recommend it. 

The end.

B's Monday Review: The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren

Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman

Series: Vampire Knitting Club, Book 1

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 06-11-19

Language: English

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Paranormal cozy mystery

I received this book in exchange for an honest review

This was short and amusing. Plus is has vampires knitting, that was strange and good.

Lucy inherits a knitting store from her gran, and Lucy can't even knit! She also starts wondering if her gran was murdered...

Which ok the blurb does spoil it and then there is the whole title, so yes her gran was murdered and she is now a vampire. And vampires in Oxford seems to enjoy knitting.

Something strange is happening. Who kille her gran. Is there something else going on? Ok, I can't say more, but things are going on. And since it is a short book the mystery is solved quickly...but i was still wrong!

There is a cat, there is a hot vamp, an interesting cop, yes things might turn interesting in this town after all for Lucy.

Fun story.

narrator

She did a great job with all the characters. I liked her Lucy voice, it felt very, well that I would have liked Lucy in rl too 

At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she's not exactly homeless, but it's close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran's undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey's, Gran's knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she's going to do.  

Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there's a death certificate. And a will, leaving the knitting shop to Lucy. And a lot of people going in and out who never use the door - including Gran, who is just as loving as ever, and prone to knitting sweaters at warp speed, late at night. What exactly is going on?  

When Lucy discovers that Gran did not die peacefully in her sleep, but was murdered, she has to bring the killer to justice without tipping off the law that there's no body in the grave. Between a hot 500-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector, both of whom always seem to be there for her, Lucy finds her life getting more complicated than a triple cable cardigan. The only one who seems to know what's going on is her cat...or is it...her familiar?