Showing posts with label YA books

By Tera Kinsman

Hey, everybody! It’s time for another YA book review! So far, I’ve reviewed the first three books in The Selection series by Kiera Cass. (If you want to read these reviews, click here for The Selection, here for The Elite, and here for The One.)

The Heir by Kiera Cass
Image courtesy of HarperCollins


Book Summary from Publisher:

“Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon – and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she’d put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess’s life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can’t escape her very own Selection – no matter how fervently she protests.
Eadlyn doesn’t expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn’s heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her … and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she’s always thought.”

My Summary and Thoughts:

Eadlyn Schreave is not an average eighteen-year old girl. As the daughter of King Maxon and Queen America, she has been trained her whole life to become the next ruler of Illéa. This means, among her many other duties, she is expected to marry and produce an heir. And she isn’t happy about it.

Twenty years ago, her father’s first act as king was to dissolve the caste system that had been the backbone of Illéa’s society from the beginning. At first, people rejoiced in the new era of equality. Without the old, unfair labels, people were free to be whoever they wanted to be. But now, people are rioting, and the country’s leaders don’t know why. They’d phased the castes out gradually to give people time to adjust, and it had seemed that the country had done so happily. But, prejudice can still be found, and old caste labels still limit people.

Eadlyn’s parents finally come up with a solution – one that they see as ingenious and she sees as insane – for Eadlyn to have her own Selection. They see it as an opportunity to give the people something to celebrate and give them time to think of a way to defuse the tensions, as well as a way to do something wonderful for Eadlyn, to give her the chance to fall in love. Eadlyn sees it as little better than marrying her off for an alliance (something her parents promised they would never do) and rather pointless in the end. She’s not the type of girl to fall in love, and her parents can’t force people to be fair and let prejudices fade.
So, she negotiates. She agrees to go through with the Selection on one condition: If she hasn’t found a suitable prince in three months, she doesn’t have to get married. This leaves her a perfect loophole, or so she thinks. She’ll just scare her suitors off, intimidate them into leaving, and then get on with her life. But some of the suitors begin to find their way past the walls she’s put up and into her heart. Will she fall in love after all?

I’m so glad that Kiera Cass chose to continue the Selection series, because I love this series more with every book. This time, we get to see the Selection not from the viewpoint of the Selected, but from the Selector herself. Eadlyn is a strong and sassy girl, and quite often a hilarious narrator. She can be frustrating at times, but you care for her anyway. And the romance is this book is perfect and exasperating all at once. In the first three books, I knew exactly who I wanted to end up together. But The Heir leaves no clues as to who Eadlyn will choose, and I can’t decide any more than she can. There are so many new characters to love, and the suitors are part of that. And the stakes are just as high for Eadlyn as they were for America. Eadlyn’s world is changing more everyday. Some changes are good, and she may gain the love of her life. Some changes are terrifying, and she may lose the people she’s always loved.

Happily Ever After, a collection of all four Selection novellas and bonus materials, is coming out in October of this year, so hopefully, we’ll have a review of that soon!

Comments! If you were the prince or princess of Illéa, would you want a Selection to be hosted, or would you want to try to fall in love on your own? Let me know in the comments!

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By Tera Kinsman


Hi, guys!  Today, I’m reviewing The One by Kiera Cass, the sequel to The Selection and The Elite. If you’d like to read the other reviews for the books in The Selection Series, click here for The Selection and here for The Elite. 

The One by Kiera Cass
Courtesy of Harper Collins 

Book Summary From Publisher:

35 girls entered the Selection. Only 1 can win.

The time has come for one winner to be crowned. When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown – or Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose – and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

My Summary and Thoughts:

America Singer is one of the five girls left in the Selection. The Selection is nearing its end. And to America, it should have been over ages ago. She is in love with Prince Maxon, and he has made it clear that he loved her from the beginning.

But not everyone is ready for America and Maxon to choose each other. Maxon’s father, King Clarkson, detests America. Manipulative and cruel, he does all he can to force America out of the competition. Nor are her fellow Elite ready to concede defeat. And there’s still Aspen. America has recognized that she no longer loves him, but she hasn’t found the words to tell him. While she doesn’t want to marry him, like they had planned back in Carolina, she can’t imagine a life without him in it, and she’s terrified of losing him.

America and Maxon both make unlikely alliances, and find friends in people they never would have thought they could trust. But will it be enough to protect them from the threat of the rebels and those who refuse to see them together? Can America hold on to the beautiful future she sees ahead of her? Or will she lose it all?

YOU GUYS, THIS BOOK. My mom, sister, and I all read it like our lives depended on it. Which, as our fellow fangirls or boys understand, it kinda did.

The One had the perfect balance of happiness and sadness. There were scenes with Maxon and America that were so cute, I could die.

But it had its fair share of heartbreaking scenes as well. America, as well as Maxon, Aspen, and her family lose and gain so much. Everyone in Illéa is touched by the war. (I can’t say much more, because of spoilers, of course.)

The ending was perfect, and I just want to hug Kiera Cass for making me so happy. But I want to know more! I wish the epilogue had been fifty pages longer, because the stories of these characters are clearly not done. That’s why I’m so, so, so, so excited to read The Heir, the fourth book in the series. A collection of all the novellas that are also part of the Selection series is going to be released in October 2016. (If you want, though, you can read them all separately now.) And, sometime in the winter of 2016, we get the fifth book! So, there will definitely be more Selection fangirling in our future.  Will we ever really stop?

Comments! There’s actually one more reason to freak out that I didn’t mention - there’s going to be a movie adaptation of The Selection! So, do you have any ideas for who should be cast in the upcoming movie? Let me know in the comments below!

I’d love to connect with you guys! Join me on Instagram, Tumblr, Goodreads, and Pinterest.


By Tera Kinsman 

Hi, everybody! It’s YA book review time again. This week, I’m reviewing Dark Rising, the second book in Monica McGurk’s Archangel Prophecies series. (To read my review of the first book, Dark Hope, on the blog, click here.) As a thank-you, I received compensation, and two free copies of the book (one to keep and one to give away), but all opinions are my own. Shoutout to Monica McGurk for giving me the opportunity to read and share her work!



The Archangel Prophecies series by Monica McGurk



Book summary from publisher:

Can one person upend a prophecy as old as time?

Hope Carmichael is on the run. The only question is, from whom? The mark on her neck has branded her as part of an ancient prophecy, the Bearer of the Key. But the Fallen Angels have misunderstood and think Hope is their long-awaited way to regain Heaven by force. Now Hope is chasing down the artifact that could open Heaven’s Gates, while seeking to destroy it before the Fallen catch up with her. Will the Triad crime ring track Hope and exact their punishment before she gets the chance? Is the ragtag band of angels surrounding her now there to protect her, or imprison her? And will Michael, the Archangel sworn to defend Heaven at all costs, be forced to deny his love for Hope and take her life, instead, so the artifact won’t fall into enemy hands?

The epic narrative introduced in Dark Hope continues in Dark Rising as Hope crisscrosses some of the most ancient sites in Europe and plumbs the depths of history in search of the truth about the Key, herself, and love. Exploring themes of identity, fate, jealousy, trust, and forgiveness, Dark Rising’s mythological scope and moral urgency deepen as we come to understand the choices and consequences faced by a young woman determined to follow her heart and chart her own destiny.

My Summary and Thoughts:

Sometimes, the second book in a trilogy is sort of…boring? Certain Second Books That Will Remain Nameless have fallen desperately short of the first and sometimes even the third books in their series, leaving me flipping through pages, skimming the words and waiting for an exciting part. 

But Dark Rising didn’t do that. Instead, it built on the plot in Dark Hope, and added more tension and interesting plot twists that I genuinely didn’t see coming. The stakes were dramatically raised for Michael and Hope, as they stumble through Europe, searching for the Key, often with only the slightest clues to help them.  Their circumstances grow darker, but they grow closer. As they learn new, unexpected, and tragic truths about the Prophecy and themselves, Hope decides perhaps she was wrong to distance herself from Michael. But she realizes too late that she may have taken her faith from the one person she could trust, and put it in those she never could.

Mona and Don, her parents, also grow more desperate. New leads about Hope’s disappearance are not appearing often. Though Mona and Don are driven together by their shared love and grief, they are just as often pushed apart by their differing opinions on Hope’s disappearance. Mona still holds on to the logical explanation that Hope was taken by the human traffickers that lurk in high numbers in Atlanta, while Don insists that Hope is part of a higher plan, set apart to fulfill an amazing destiny given to her by God. 

By the end of the book, Hope feels even more alone than she did at the end of Dark Hope. Both her and Mona have experienced terrible loss and sadness. Their world, and the outside world around them, has dissolved into sadness and chaos. But neither have lost hope that the happiness – and perhaps the people – they have lost will return to them.

The book ends on kind of a sad note and cliffhanger, but the sneak peek of the third book, Dark Before Dawn (coming out in 2016), gave me hope (I feel like that’s a pun every time I write it…) for Michael, Hope, and her family.

As with Dark Hope, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of these books will be donated to organizations that help fight human trafficking, especially sexual trafficking of minors. 

Giveaway time! Because free stuff is the best stuff.  Below, you can enter to win a copy of Dark Rising.



Dark Rising by Monica McGurk


Terms: No purchase is necessary to enter using the Rafflecopter form below.  Open to U.S. residents sixteen (16) years old or older. My WAHM Plan is responsible for prize fulfillment. The prize will be one (1) paperback copy of Dark Rising by Monica McGurk. Winners will be notified by email used on entry form and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  This giveaway is not associated with nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments! In the Archangel Prophecies books, Hope Carmichael is in love with an Archangel. So, what non-human would you be willing to date? Alien, angel, vampire, werewolf? Maybe those trolls, amirite, ladies? Or are you a humans-only sort of person? Let me know in the comments below! 

The Elite by Kiera Cass Book Review

in , , , , , , , by Tera Kinsman, Tuesday, July 28, 2015
By Tera Kinsman

Last Tuesday, I reviewed the first book in The Selection series, The Selection, by Kiera Cass. (You can read my review on the blog here.) Now I'm reviewing the sequel, The Elite. Summer might be almost over (*sob*), but the series isn't!



My WAHM Plan: The Elite book #review
Courtesy of Harper Collins 

Book summary from publisher:

"The Selection began with thirty-five girls.

Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon's heart is fiercer than ever---and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen?
America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want---and America's chance to choose is about to slip away.

35 girls. 1 crown. The competition of a lifetime. "


My Summary and Thoughts:

This book, I think, might be a bit better than The Selection.  The first novel had a feeling of hope and possibility.  America is living like a princess in a gorgeous palace, able to help support her family, from the compensation they are given for her participation, and she has the choice of two wonderful guys. 

The Elite has more tension and darkness, which of course meant I tore through it in a day. Life at the palace is no longer fun and games. Rebels attack the palace more and more often, for reasons they don't know, she must take on more responsibility as an Elite, and she begins to see the dark side of being one of the Selected, being a royal, even some darkness in Maxon himself. Maxon, Aspen, and the king of Illéa himself are losing patience with her.  America is running out of time to decide between Maxon and Aspen, to decide if she wants to be a princess or an officer's wife, to decide if she wants either option at all.

I can't wait to read books #3 and #4, The One and The Heir, and of course the highly anticipated fifth book. We don't have a title yet, but a review will (eventually) come when it releases in 2016! 

¡Los comentarios! (That's Spanish for "Comments!" There ya go.) So, the all-important question for Selection fans or soon-to-be fans everywhere: Are you Team Maxon or Team Aspen? (I know, it's like Twilight all over again, but the "team" thing happened, and we just have to roll with it.) 



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