Tag: Review

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you’re only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…

But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.

Book Overview:

Author: Roshani Chokshi | Series: The Star-Touched Queen | Format: Hardcover | Length: 342 pages | Publish Date: April 26, 2016 | Genre: YA Fantasy & Mythology | Literary Awards:  Andre Norton Award Nominee for Yount Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (2016), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Debut Goodreads Author (2016)| Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Yes

Your subjects will not remember you. They will not remember the shade of your eyes, the colors you favored or the beauty of your wives. They will only remember your impression upon their hearts and whether you filled them with glee or grief. That is your immortality.


Cheers to my first review of the new year!

I started my journey with a book that was full of fantasy and mythology. Even better, it was filled with Indian mythology, a topic that isn’t always in the spotlight. I don’t understand why not, when there are so many deities and stories so rich with morals and wonder in the Indian culture, that it should be shared with as many people as possible. I have always felt like the Indian culture was amazing, and I wish that I could have learned more about it when I was growing up. It also was a good thing that this book was written by an Indian author, so the authenticity is better.

This book was about a young woman named Mayavati, a princess of the Bharata Kingdom, but was shunned by everyone and anyone that knew about her. Her only fault was that when she was born, the horoscope of her future deemed her cursed, with a marriage that promised death and destruction. Was it her fault that her horoscope was so intense? Not at all. But that didn’t stop her own family members – with the exception of one of her sisters Gauri and her father, the Raja – from ostracizing her in public and even going as far as trying to kill her. Everyone else in the kingdom was afraid to approach her, or even talk to her, and she started to use that to her advantage. She learned the art of war by eavesdropping on her father’s war meetings and learned as much as she could about the history of Bharata. Her father even told her that if she had been born a male, she would have made a great leader. Unfortunately, that all changed when her father tells her that she needs to get married, and even worse: she needs to kill herself before that can even happen.

I couldn’t believe, and I don’t think Maya could either.

Luckily, right before she takes the poison nectar that her father slips to her privately, one of her many suitors – a man named Amar – takes her away from the fighting that broke out and whisks her away from her entire world. Literally.

Is everything going to be perfect, now that she is the ruler of the Akaran Kingdom? Will she be a good Queen and ruler of this new realm? Is everything what it seems in a kingdom that is utterly silent? You know, besides this creepy voice giving her nightmares:

“I’ve never tasted dreams so sweetSuch pearly flesh and tender meatOh queen, if you only knewYou’d gladly rip your heart in two”


Because that’s totally normal, right?

I am so glad that this was the first book I finished this year. I absolutely fell in love with this world, and it really made me want to visit India and learn more about their myths and legends. I appreciated Maya and her determination to live and fight for the right to live, rather than accept her horoscope and be submissive to this culture. Of course, there were times where I was yelling at her not to trust certain people, or do certain things, but not every protagonist will be perfect. I personally like it better when they aren’t perfect, or it becomes way too unrealistic. I just really liked this book, and I can’t wait to read the second one!

Author Spotlight
Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: The United States
Genre: Fantasy
Influences: Catherynne Valente, Laini Taylor, Holly Black, Neil Gaiman, Vladimir Nabokov, Angela Carter, Donna Tartt, Diana Wynne Jones
Goodreads Member Since: December 2013

Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen and A CROWN OF WISHES. Her middle grade debut, ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME, will release April 3, 2018 with Disney/Rick Riordan Presents. Her next young adult novel, THE GILDED WOLVES, is slated for Winter 2019. Chokshi’s work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. She was a finalist in the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the Locus Top Ten for Best First Novel. Her short story, “The Star Maiden,” was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.
Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan

Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan

by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 1 Comment

If God won’t save the Queen…they will.

Orphan Meg Fellowes makes her living picking pockets—until she steals from the wrong nobleman. Instead of rotting in prison like she expected, she’s whisked away to the court of Queen Elizabeth I and pressed into royal service. With a faked noble identity, Meg joins four other skilled girls in the Maids of Honor, the Queen’s secret society of protectors. 

Meg’s natural abilities as a spy prove useful in this time of unrest. The Spanish Court is visiting, and with them come devious plots and hidden political motives. As threats to the kingdom begin to mount, Meg can’t deny her growing attraction to one of the dashing Spanish courtiers. But it’s hard to trust her heart in a place where royal formalities and masked balls hide the truth: not everyone is who they appear to be. Meg’s mission tests every talent she possesses, even her loyalty to her fellow Maids. With danger lurking around every corner, can she stay alive—and protect the crown?




“Great excitement marked her steps.She was moving fast,The kind of pace that starts with easeBut can never last.The darkness came down far too quick,A light put out, she turned.Her face, it spoke of sly delight,The power of what she’d learned.But then he bore down swift and still,His hands around her neck.His blade it flashed into the night,No pity or regret.His task was only that she died.His cuts, howe’er, were those of pride.And as he stole away, he smiled,His light eyes dead, his dark hair wild.”


This was one of the few historical fiction books that I read this year, but I think this one was one of my absolute favorites. It actually makes me wonder whether Queen Elizabeth did have a group of maiden spies in her employ, making sure that she was well protected and that any threats made to the crown and England were snuffed out. If anything, it sounds really exciting, whether it really happened or not. It also makes me wonder just how dangerous it would have been to be a spy during this time, without the kind of technology that we have access to today.

This book did a great job at opening this world to my eyes, and I was sad to leave it, although I probably won’t be leaving it for long.

We start the novel with our main character, Meg, who just so happens to be one of the best pickpockets in the Golden Rose Theatre Troupe. She has never gotten caught by any of her marks and has been successful in all of the tasks that she’s had to accomplish. Well, there’s always a first for everything, and she does end up being caught. This changes her life forever, and she finds herself under the protection of Queen Elizabeth of England. She becomes one of the Queen’s Maids of Honor, a group of female spies whose sole duty is to protect the Queen by using espionage and any other means necessary.

This is a time where having a Queen on the throne, without a King at their side, was pretty much unheard of. Queen Elizabeth refused to marry, and that alone has caused a lot of drama and tension in Europe. So many people around Europe during this time don’t think that a Queen should be in control without a King being in command. There are also those who don’t believe that England should be under the control of a Protestant since England used to be mostly Catholic. That’s two big reasons why there are those that would want to see Elizabeth fail, or worse. The Maids of Honor are there to make sure that doesn’t happen.

While Meg is considered the “Rat” of the group, known for having to tell secrets to the Queen and her spymasters, she ends up learning who she is as a person, and she is definitely not who she thought she was.

I was really impressed with this book, and I’m so glad that I finally got to read it. All of the Maids have their own assets that they bring to this group of spies, and I love that each of them are entirely different from each other. I can’t wait to find out what else happens during Meg’s time at Windsor, under the protection of the Queen.

Rated: 5/5 ★
The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Dear Reader,

 I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumber mill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking behind every log.

 The pages of this book, I’m sorry to inform you, contain such unpleasantries as a giant pincher machine, a bad casserole, a man with a cloud of smoke where his head should be, a hypnotist, a terrible accident resulting in injury, and coupons.

 I have promised to write down the entire history of these three poor children, but you haven’t, so if you prefer stories that are more heartwarming, please feel free to make another selection.

 With all due respect,

 Lemony Snicket

“Optimist” is a word which here refers to a person, such as Phil, who thinks hopeful and pleasant thoughts about nearly everything. For instance, if an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, “Well, this isn’t too bad. I don’t have my left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed,” but most of us would say something more along the lines of “Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!”


 My favorite thing about these books is the author commentary throughout it. It makes it so hilarious and punny and really makes me like Lemony Snicket as an author. Although it does make it almost that much worse that the Baudelaires have to go through so much crap because they live in a world where these adults they have to deal with are completely useless. It’s ridiculous, but I bet that’s what we would feel like if we were in these shoes.

 It also makes me realize that Violet needs to learn way more words, and read way more like her brother Klaus. Since Klaus is mostly incapacitated during this book, she has to do the job for both of them, and there’s a chapter where she is reading a book and for all the words that she doesn’t understand, she would “hmm” in its place. I guess book nerds learn a lot more than non-book nerds! Is that me being biased? Not at all! Just look at Violet, who has to “hmm” her way through a book trying to figure out how to get someone to be unhypnotized, among other things.

 Hmm.

 Rated: 4/5 ★