Hunted by Meagan Spooner – Book Review

July 25, 2017 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

“Fairy tales are about lessons. Those who are virtuous and true are rewarded, while those who are wicked and greedy are punished.”

This was one of the most amazing retellings of Beauty and the Beast that I’ve ever read. The premise that Beauty was the hunter, rather than the “damsel” in distress that has to deal with being a prisoner in an amazing castle. Forget what you know about the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, because this was nothing like it. In fact, I think the lack of musicals and talking furniture made the story better in my eyes.

According to the original story of Beauty and the Beast – the original French version that does not get enough credit – Beauty had two sisters that she needed to take care of. I have seen some versions where her sisters are not friendly, almost similar to Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters and how they are cruel to her because of her beauty. In this case, she was responsible for making sure that her sisters had food to eat, and served as a second hunter after her father.

In the beginning of the story, they lived in the town and her family was rich as her father made a lot of money as a merchant. However, all that changed when he lost his entire fleet in a storm, essentially bringing them from riches to rags in a matter of seconds. They had to sell their belongings, and move to the cabin where they lost their mom. In a way, Yeva was glad to go back to her roots because she was always looking for something more, something different from the confines of the Baroness’s social visits and dealing with the politics of the town. So when she had to go back to the cabin and have access to the woods she grew up in, going back to hunting which was what she loved, she was more than happy to leave. If it wasn’t for her father’s pain, it would have almost been a blessing.

But then something bad happened to her father, and she was hell-bent on revenge, leaving her sisters to fend for themselves while she was on the hunt for the creature that destroyed her rock. She had always heard stories about the Beast in the woods, the elusive creature that her father could never find no matter how many times he went out to search. He knew the area like the back of his hand, and yet there was no way that he could find it. So when Yeva’s father did not come home, there was only one thing that she could do.

She had to kill the Beast.

One of the elements that I appreciated about this book was the fact that there was no typical love story between Yeva and the Beast. It was not forced, it wasn’t something that seemed to come out of nowhere after being imprisoned in a castle for months at a time. It wasn’t pushed along by the castle’s inhabitants trying to convince her to let the Beast in, unlike Disney’s animated version. She really wanted her revenge, she really wanted to kill the Beast and there was no way that she was going to allow herself to feel anything other than hatred for him, and that’s how it went for the longest time.

Yeva was so strong, so steadfast in her resolve that she endured being alone, her family probably thinking that she was dead. And when she was forced to train based on orders from the Beast, she did everything in her power to make sure that she did well, that she trained harder and faster than she ever did before. She discovered that there was so much more to the woods than she thought, that in fact there was another world completely surrounding the one that she lived in, and it was there that she would be able to break the curse that would have her confined to being lonely. She was one of my favorite characters of any book that I’ve read and I’m so glad that despite everything that happened, she does end up getting a good ending.

Whether you like the Beast or not is up for debate, and his story is one that is not based on him being an ugly person inside, or treating people like they are trash. No, his backstory is one that goes back farther than any we’ve heard before, and is something mythical in its own right. Does it make you feel empathy for him? Does it make you wish that he was more like the Beast from the Disney animated version? It depends. But in all honesty, this was one of the stories that I will never forget, and one of the stories that will forever remain in my heart.

Rated: 5/5 ★

Caraval by Stephanie Garber – Book Review

April 4, 2017 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Remember, it’s only a game…

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away.

“Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything.”

My entire perspective on the idea of a game was completely changed after reading this book. Nothing was as it seemed, no matter how much I wanted to think it was. For some reason, when I was first looking at the cover and reading the synopsis, I was thinking that somehow there was going to be a carnival or a circus involved. So many people kept comparing it to The Night Circus and I hadn’t read that one yet.

But this was not what I was expecting.

For seven whole years, Scarlett would write to Caraval Master Legend, asking if she and her sister could attend the games. Each year she wrote to him and for six years she never received a response. But this year, everything changed when she finally got an invitation to attend this year’s Caraval games. Surprisingly, she received three tickets: one for herself, one for her sister Donatella, and one that was left blank – an open ticket for whoever they wanted to bring with them.

How strange. How interesting. How suspicious.

I will skip what happens on the Isle of Trisda – the home of Scarlett and Tella – and the treatment they get from their father because it was hurtful and a part of me wished that something terrible would happen to him. I won’t say more than that, but if you do end up reading this book, you’ll understand why.

The game of Caraval takes place on its own island, in a place that is filled with its own kind of magic. The game lasts for five nights, and everything that Scarlett thought she knew goes out the window. Not only does her sister somehow become a part of the game by getting kidnapped (no, this isn’t a spoiler if you read the synopsis that’s included in this post), but Scarlett feels like this year’s game is somehow revolved around the Dragna sisters. Is there something about Caraval that isn’t a game?

Will Scarlett get too swept away and fall into madness?

Will she survive the games?

If you think you know what’s happening in this book, you’re probably wrong. And when you think you’ve figured everything out, you haven’t.

This was one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read this year. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I was audibly reacting to the story to the point that my puppies were freaking out. This doesn’t happen always, but when it does, I love it. I highly suggest everyone read this book at least once in your life. Thank goodness there is going to be another book coming out sometime next year, because the ending had me screaming.

Literally screaming.

Rated: 5/5 ★

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers – Book Review

January 27, 2017 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 1 Comment

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

“When one consorts with assassins, one must expect to dance along the edge of a knife once or twice.”

If you were raised hearing that you were sired by Death himself, that even though your mother tried to destroy you in her womb and you didn’t die, what would you think? Would you think that it was a bad thing, a curse that would doom you until the end of your days? Or would you see it as a blessing, a way to exact revenge on those that harmed you throughout your youth? For Ismae, she initially thought that it would be a curse, having to deal with the abuse from her father and her would-be husband. But she was rescued, swept away from what would have been a terrible marriage, and found herself in a place where she would learn who she truly was:

A handmaiden of Death.

From there, her new life begins, where she learns just how powerful it could be to have the ability to not die, even when she is poisoned. She learns that not all the Daughters of Death have an immunity to poison, so that’s something special that she shares with only one other nun in the convent. But she still has much to learn, and when she’s ready to test her training out in the real world, she will see that not everything is as simple as she thought it would be.

I haven’t read a book like this before, and I’m really glad that I came across it. From the historical aspect, the historical politics, and the fact that Death had all daughters was one of my favorite parts of the book. It also made me want to research this time in history and see how much if it was actually true and how much was made just for the story. At least I’ll be able to find out eventually.

I’m really proud of Ismae though by the time the book ends. I feel like she really grows as a person, learns how to take control of her life and figures out that not everything is as it appears. She finally learns how to think for herself, and she finds out just how special she really is. In the end, I’m just glad that she was the subject of the first book in the trilogy, because I think that her story makes a great introduction into this amazing world.

Rated: 4/5 ★