elpisgalaxy's reviews
419 reviews

DELOS: The White Tree is a fantasy book that follows twin siblings Cynthia and Caden who go through a White Tree that only they can see to a completely different world with various Clans at war with each other and another White Tree that they become tasked with protecting.

This book had a really interesting premise and I enjoyed it for the most part. However many times especially in the first part of the book it felt like it dragged on unnecessarily. There was clearly a lot of detail put into the world, but there were a bunch of lore dumps especially at the beginning and that information was sometimes not addressed later which made it hard to remember. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of as well. That could probably be addressed by me reading the book faster and/or taking notes when I read.

I did enjoy the bond that Cynthia and Kaden shared and there were some interesting end of story mysteries that were introduced. I'm especially interested in what will be happening in the next book based off of what happened in the epilogue.

Overall 3.25 / 5 Stars.

I received a copy of this book from the author and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

A deep sea swash-buckling adventure awaits us in Sunken City. Sunken City follows orphan girl Amare who grew upon a pirate ship before discovering an underwater world beneath her feet. Heir to a kingdom she knew nothing about, Amare resolves to keep her new home safe while fighting the darkness within herself and the ocean itself.

The cover is what drew me toward this book, and I was not disappointed at all. Sunken City has its slow periods, particularly in Part 2. Despite its length, it never feels like it drags on and leaves me bored. There is a lot of lore and world building put in both above water and underwater, but it is never overwhelming or hard to keep track of. I also liked the stark contrast between how modern the Sunken City is in comparison to the world above water and how Amare learns to adjust to it. There were also many plot twists in this book, some that I saw coming but most that I did not.

The thing that annoyed me most about this book was the weird love triangle between two brothers. It sounds really bad in concept and while I'm typing this out I am internally cringing. But weirdly enough it sort of works in a strange and messed up way. Finn (the younger brother) is a very infuriating character and his actions at times did not make the most sense such as his hot and cold attitude toward Amare at seemingly random times. While Lukas (the older brother) is also infuriating but it feels like he gets a lot better and more consistent character development. It'll be interesting to see what happens and I hate that I'm slightly invested in this love triangle.

I'm looking forward to the sequel and overall 4.25/5 stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I jump at any opportunity to read books with ace representation because I don't see if often enough in media and I was not disappointed at all. 

Aces Wild follows Jack Shannon, an asexual teen and son of casino owner Aileen Shannon. When his mother gets arrested for the families ties to crime, Jack is sure that rival business owner and his mother's ex lover Peter Carlevaro has something to do with it. With his family unable or unwilling to help, Jack turns to his friends; a group of asexual teens he met online to help him out.

This book blew my expectations out of the water. The ace bits of the book were all well done but were not overly filled with explanations like I see in other books, nor was it completely the main part of the story. Jack and his friends were all smart but at the same time the writing for them felt realistic as they're all teens who are not always making the smartest of decisions. There was also a lot more to the plot than I expected than it merely being a simple heist book and I really enjoyed the plot twists at the end that I wasn't expecting. This is also not the type of love story that you would expect and I really hope that there is going to be a sequel for this someday or at least something set in the same universe.

I received this book through NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Overall I enjoyed reading this. It was a very fast read and the premise of the storyline was interesting. That being said the character development felt very rushed due to the short length of the book (novella) and it left me wanting more in terms of both that and plot.

 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have some mixed feelings about this book. The premise of the book sounded interesting which was what drew it to me right away. However, I found that it took a while before the action the premise promised actually took place. It mostly consisted of teenagers doing common activities that happen during winter break such as partying by the lake, or going ice skating.

That being said, Anna's interactions with both her friend and her crush Alex ended up being more important to the story than initially suspected. Alex was an interesting character but he constantly set off my alarm bells and I was glad to see that I wasn't overreacting by the end of the book. The latter half of the book also had a bunch of plot twists that I didn't really see coming at all which overall made up for the slower and weaker beginning part of the story. Overall I'm looking forward to reading more as there are some loose ends that haven't yet been tied. 

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Secret Santa Society was a fun read. I'm not the target audience for the book but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. The book follows siblings Audrey and Ethan who discover that a door in the wall leads to the north pole and that Santa and Elves are real. They then team up with the elves to help perform Christmas miracles around the world including a special gift for a friend of theirs being treated for cancer.

As I mentioned before, I'm not the target audience but I found it to be enjoyable. It is definitely better suited for middle grade readers but I found the plot to be interesting. I did find it to be a bit slow paced at times but Audrey and Ethan were both interesting characters who certainly had a lot more knowledge and creativity than I probably had at that age. There were a few loose ends that didn't get tied up too well in my opinion (especially involving the villain) but overall it was a positive read.

Overall 3.75/5

This is probably the best book in this series which isn't really saying much judging my feelings on the previous books, but I enjoyed reading it and I feel like some of the issues I had with previous books were actually addressed in this book.

Destined is a very fast paced book that involves all of Avalon against Klea, Yuki and some trolls. The final battle of sorts didn't really drag on unlike parts of the others books and it was also a lot darker than I was expecting. There was a fair amount of death on all sides. Some of the lose ends from previous books mostly got wrapped up and the caste system issues of Avalon finally got addressed even though they weren't entirely fixed.

The third book of this series mainly take place in the human world and not so much in the Faerie world. While I did enjoy learning more about Fae culture, it was a bit of a relief as it meant that the caste system that definitely needs some reform wasn't at the forefront as much.

The book continues much the same way with Laurel still split between the human world and the Fae world. After rejecting Tamani, Tamani then gets a new mission to attend the same school as Laurel for safety reasons. This of course leads into more drama between her and David and becomes even more of the classic love triangle trope I hate. Surprisingly though, David actually handled things a lot more maturely than I remember in the end. After fighting with Tamani over Laurel which caused her to break up with him, David ended up maturing by the end of the book and keeping his friendship with Laurel intact even though they didn't get back together. It showed that David at least had some more character than just being Laurel's biology buddy who seemed to mainly be around just to advance the plot.

I still don't like Tamani. He doesn't particularly listen to Laurel beyond his desire to get with her in the end and he seemed to just string her along. One minute Laurel is mad at him, the next they're secretly making out somewhere. All of this was happening while they were trying to figure out the identity of the mystery fairy that appeared at their school and her connection to the bounty hunter.

As much as I have mixed feelings about this book and series, I will give it to the author that she can right something easy to read. This book is very much a page turner even though I do have issues with it.