Genre: Historical
Published: 6th February 2018
Source: Bought
Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction
My Rating:
After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity--and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution...
Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...
Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.
Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.
I know I say this a lot when it comes to books I’ve put off reading due to the hype, but why didn’t you guys push me harder to read Next Year in Havana?
Next Year in Havana is an utterly astounding novel which transports you away to Cuba, both past and present. From the very first page, you will feel invested in both Marisol’s journey in the present and Elisa’s journey in the past. It was an emotional roller-coaster of a book which I just didn’t want to pull myself away from. Chanel Cleeton managed to capture so much within these pages and she never drops the ball on any element of the story. The characters, the romance, the story, even the history within the pages is all done well. I was so utterly invested that I didn’t want to put this book down. If hadn’t needed to get some sleep I could have easily read this book straight through until the end.
From the summary, you can already tell there is a dual storyline. You have Marisol’s journey in the present, travelling to Cuba for the first time in her life, to a country she feels is home from her families stories of their time living there and the multitudes of family history which has occurred there. She is travelling to scatter her grandmother, Elisa’s, ashes and hoping to learn more about her family history whilst she is at it, where she discovers far more than she ever expected. And there is Elisa’s story in the past, starting a few months before the Cuban revolution which led her whole family to leave a country she loved. You slowly learn there was far more to Elisa than Marisol ever realised and I couldn’t wait for each time we returned to Elisa’s story in the past and her passionate affair with a man who was against everything her family represented in Cuba, yet who she cared for. It’s a story Marisol never knew and I loved learning about it.
Too often with books with dial storylines like this one, you find yourself more invested in one story than the other, but that simply wasn’t the case here. I expected to be more invested in Elisa’s story, to be honest, it seemed more exciting, but I loved both women, Elisa and Marisol, but that’s to be expected with Elisa helped raise Marisol, you could see elements of her within Marisol at times. And it was so impressive that both storylines mirrored the other in certain ways. Both Elisa and Marisol found themselves falling for someone political and they both fell for someone who loved Cuba so dearly and who were risking themselves for their beliefs. And Elisa and Marisol themselves were discovering their passions and learning what they wanted in life. I think that is why it was so easy to be invested in both stories because they each were following a similar path and you were hoping mistakes from the past were not repeated in the present.
As this was a historical read I also thought this might be a bit too heavy on the history, as well. But I loved learning more of both Cuba’s past and it’s present within the pages. Cuba is relatively unknown to me and I am now shocked at how we don’t hear more about Cuba. I mean, I know people that want to travel there, it’s a holiday destination and I think many have forgotten it is a communist country and the struggles which people are undergoing there even now is shocking. I feel like I need to read up on all the Cuban history because how did I not know about any of this? It was heart-breaking reading the Perez’s struggles in the past and I cried as they did, and mourned when they had to leave a country which they loved and which was their home. And when Marisol returned and felt that sense of home upon arrival, only to have it ripped away through the pages as she felt a sense of other in the country she loved because she hadn’t gone through the struggles those who had stayed had gone through and didn’t understand the way in which they still struggled. It was awful.
This was such a powerful and emotional read. I loved it so completely and cannot wait to read Beatriz’s book When We Left Cuba. Next Year in Havana was filled with history, emotional and amazing characters you can behind. I was crying by the end in such a good way because I was so utterly invested in Elisa’s and Marisol’s story. It was my third book of the year and I already know it’ll be one of my favourites of 2019. I will now be committed to reading everything which Chanel Cleeton writes and trying to talk myself out of preordering a signed copy of the book from Fountain Bookstore so I can get that stunning Besame lipstick with it. I adored it just like I adored Sarra Manning’s books like After The Last Dance and The House of Secrets both of which had a dual storyline and were utterly amazing.
Please tell me you have read this already? Wasn’t it utterly stunning in every way imaginable? And if you haven't, have I convinced you to buy it?
Published: 6th October 2016
Source: Bought/Book Box
Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult
My Rating:
The action-packed, thrilling sequel to Ryan Graudin's Wolf by Wolf.
There would be blood.
Blood for blood.
Blood to pay.
An entire world of it.
For the resistance in 1950s Germany, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun.
Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: the world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly. Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost.
But dark secrets reveal dark truths, and one question hangs over them all: how far can you go for the ones you love?
This gripping, thought-provoking sequel to Wolf by Wolf will grab readers by the throat with its cinematic writing, fast-paced action, and relentless twists.
I have been intending to read this book for so long I kind of can’t remember it not being sat on my shelf gathering dust. I mean, I got two copies of this book for God’s sake! I mean, that wasn’t intentional but getting two copies always demonstrates an eagerness to read. I was a little intimidated by it as well, though. This was partially because I wanted to reread Wolf by Wolf, which I finally did at the beginning of 2018. I am glad I finally got around to finishing this series because it was such a good book.
I went in with high expectations when it came to this book, something I don’t usually like to do. Thankfully, my high expectations didn’t impact my enjoyment of the book. In a lot of ways this book was better than Wolf by Wolf, there was less build up and character building and more questions being answered and the story progressed. At this point Yael is on the run after failing to assassinate Hitler (at least the real one) and the rebellion has started to reclaim land and overthrow the Nazi regime in many places. It’s exciting seeing the hope for freedom even though Yael is aware that the true Hitler isn’t dead.
I admit I struggled with this book due to the multiple POV. In the first book it was just Yael you get to grow attached to but this time the book switched from Yael to Felix to Luka to characters we don’t even care about. It was too many and it took me out of the story a touch. I’m not often a fan of multiple POV a lot of the time anyway because I grow attached to certain people and end up hating someone else. It’s ridiculous but that’s just how I role. I liked Luka, I liked Yael, but Felix… I got his motivations but I hated his choices. He definitely ruined the book for me a little and so that was an issue.
My other issue is I didn’t like the ending. This is just a sulky thing on my part. I totally loved that it wasn’t what I expected. That it built up and that there was this smart ending that I didn’t see coming and then we got our epilogue… but it wasn’t what I wanted and it left me a little resentful of the book. It was really smartly done and well thought out but I didn’t like it… simple as.
I sound like I didn’t like this book, I know, but that’s not true. There were grumbles but the book itself was so very good. I mean, considering how high my expectations were there were bound to be some grumbles but it was also so nice to return to these characters I’d grown attached to. I had no idea how Yael was going to get out of her situation, she was fleeing Japan and whilst she can change her face that doesn’t necessarily help. The book was fast paced and although it was long it definitely didn’t feel as long as it looked. It gripped me and even though some of the character choices frustrated me it was still really good.
You guys, this book was really good. I would recommend reading the duology together because I would have totally forgotten important stuff. It was a really good book and it ended this story well. I was glad to see the end for these characters I’d grown to love.
This book may have disappointed me in certain ways, but it also completely exceeded expectations in others. Anyone else feel like that about books too? And have you read this series, what did you think?
Published: 8th March 2018 (UK)
Source: Book box/Edelweiss
Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult
My Rating:
Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty—an imaginative alchemy of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings, and One Thousand and One Nights, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass?a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for . . .
I can probably think of more than five reasons to read The City of Brass but I will attempt to be concise and give you the best reasons for reading this utterly amazing book, even if it does involve convincing you folks to read the first book in yet another series. Actually, I’ll probably just try not flail too much and actually write coherent sentences because this was me after finishing:
Complex and Interesting Characters
The characters in this book were the best. Nahri was this amazing con artist. She could sense illness in people and she also conned the rich out of their money to fuel her pursuit of moving to be able to pursue being a doctor. Despite her abilities and their unknown origin, she didn’t believe in magic until a djinn (daeva) arrives in her life and she discovers there is an entire city of djinn called Daevabad. I loved how Nahri may have discovered a world of magic, demons and djinn but she never loses who she is and wants to be. Sure, she takes moments to question what she wants but she is still her own person and tries to avoid being swept away.
Then there is Dara, the mysterious djinn Nahri summons who has a dark past he mostly can’t remember and the bits which he does don’t always shine himself in the best light. He remembers a different world to the one he arrives in and although he wasn’t always a good person I did love him and the connection he built with Nahri. He was the man who introduced her to this other world and the two built a bond from that and helped one another grow.
There was also Prince Ali, one of the sons of the current ruler of Daevabad. I didn’t always love his actions or agree with his opinions but he did add a whole other element to the story. I won’t reveal the reasons why but Dara and Ali didn’t get along or agree on all things. They were on opposite sides of things and I sided much more with Dara on this but Ali wasn’t all bad. He was blunt and interesting and he was a good friend to Nahri even if he was far too blind to the faults of those closest to him.
Amazing World Building
The world Nahri and all of the characters inhabit is such an interesting one. Seeing how the world of the djinn overlapped with the human world was so cool. And then there was the city of Daevabad, that entire city was so interesting. It genuinely felt like a real place. I could visualise that city and the people living in it. It was fully fleshed and so interesting. You can tell that research went into studying the historical period the book is set and also in learning about the cultures which influenced those of the djinn. It wasn’t just one culture but multiple ones which influenced the different types of djinn. I thought it was a highlight of the book how real the world the characters inhabited was.
Family Mystery
Nahri had no knowledge of her own family. She didn’t question her origins too much on the streets of Cairo as she had to spend far more time concentrating on surviving and passing under the radar of the authorities as not all she did was strictly legal. It meant that as time went on and she learnt more about her possible past (and Dara’s past) the more intrigued I was and I just know that this will get explored in the next book (which I totally want in my hands now… I cannot be wishing away the year though). I think the mystery of both her origins and those of Dara led me to get sucked in as you see small hints of the past but there is so much more to be explored as the series progresses.
Djinn! (Or Daeva if You’re That Kind Of Guy)
This was such an original take on djinn. I haven’t read a lot of books featuring djinn anyway, but this one was so unique. The djinn and their society were so interesting. It was so similar to human society anyway which is logical but it was also unique. Each type of djinn had their own culture and each was so individually defined by both appearance but also their beliefs. Their abilities weren’t just chalked up as being magic but instead, there were abilities which folks tended to and then the half djinn, shafits, who were treated as lesser beings. Some of the mixed blood people also possessed abilities and I would be very interested to see why some did and some didn’t. There was the daeva (who took on the original name of the djinn) who were fire-based djinn and there were a large variety of others. The different djinn tribes actually lead on to the next point.
An Interesting Take On Racism and Religion And Class Which We Can All Relate To
One of the elements I liked most about this book is that it showed the mirroring of certain elements of the human world in that of the djinn. As soon as we were introduced to the world of the djinn through the eyes of Ali and then later Nahri it was obvious to me that there was discrimination against the shafts with the view that full-blooded djinn as being superior to those of the half blood shafit. It was similar to the pureblood superiority seen in Harry Potter but in City of Brass it goes beyond that with those in the different djinn tribes having their own rivalries.
The corruption seen in the ruling class of the djinn also meant viewing full blooded djinn as superior to those of the half blood shafits. They also had the view that the Daeva tribe were backward as they had their own religion whilst the rest of the djinn had a new different religion which was adopted and these divisions split the focus of the djinn and weakened them allowing corruption to spread.
I have to say, whilst the divisions in djinn society weren’t always comfortable to read because it made me so angry but it is one thing I love about fantasy reads. Even with its historical setting it was brilliant at highlighting the ingrained biases which occur in society and fantasy is an excellent way of achieving this. It was brilliant!
Have you read this and if so what are your reasons for others to read (if you loved it as much as I did)? And what’s your favourite fantasy read of late?
Published: 16th May 2017
Source: Netgalley
Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult
My Rating:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, comes a sweeping, action-packed YA adventure set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan.Mariko has always known that being a woman means she's not in control of her own fate. But Mariko is the daughter of a prominent samurai and a cunning alchemist in her own right, and she refuses to be ignored. When she is ambushed by a group of bandits known as the Black Clan enroute to a political marriage to Minamoto Raiden - the emperor's son - Mariko realises she has two choices: she can wait to be rescued... or she can take matters into her own hands, hunt down the clan and find the person who wants her dead.Disguising herself as a peasant boy, Mariko infiltrates the Black Clan's hideout and befriends their leader, the rebel ronin Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, Okami. Ranmaru and Okami warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. But as Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets that will force her to question everything she's ever known.
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.
I really loved Ahdieh’s last book duology, The Wrath and the Dawn, so when I heard she was writing another book I obviously added it to my TBR. I then preceded to wait for reviews because I was wary all the same. The second book in The Wrath and the Dawn duology left me with some doubts. It introduced one of my favourite characters but it also left me rolling my eyes at the convenience of the ending. I then saw reviews for this book. Some were good some were bad and so when my request on Netgalley got approved (after the reviews had come in) and I was even warier and a little less excited to start it. Which is why I waited so very long to start.
Did I love this book as much as Ahdieh's last one? Probably not. Did I get sucked right in all the same? Damn straight I did.
The reason I wanted to read this, beyond recognising the name of the author, was because I was interested in the history and the actual setting of this book. Also, I knew that the MC dressed as a boy and attempted to find out why she was attacked but was led to question what she knew. I cannot attest to the accuracy of the Feudal Japan setting and the accuracy in the history and cultural elements but it appeared authentic and from what little I do know it was good. I would like to do more research into Japanese history, though, as I know the shift from feudalism to a more modern era was rapid and intriguing. I felt like there was more to the story than I could appreciate from my reading so I would be interested in learning some more about all of that because my historical learning about Japan was all post WW2 really.
I will say this book wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I didn’t love everything, but it was damn enjoyable. I liked the characters. Mariko was smart and although she did suffer from thinking she was smarter than those around her and she had the blinders on when it came to her family. Yet, she grew a lot throughout the book. She wasn’t totally unwilling to recognise her flaws and although she often looked things in the wrong way she developed and I loved her for that. And the members of the Black Clan were many layered and interesting! I do wish that there was more background to the Black Clan members but I reckon that’s something that might be explored in the next book (we’ll see). The secondary characters probably needed a touch more growth and development.
I also felt like some of the story was predictable. A couple of twists at the end I didn’t see coming but then some I did. I can’t reveal what I did and didn’t expect but I did find my attention drifting at times because it felt familiar. I think this may be a problem for many a book lately. Maybe I’ve burned myself out a little with reading, I do a lot of it so I’m bound to notice familiar elements.
It was a good book and I enjoyed it and that surprised me. It doesn’t match my love for Ahdieh’s Wrath and the Dawn but I appreciated it and I hope the second book will be stronger in this series than the last one.
Have you read this book? What did you think? And do you notice that it’s harder for books to surprise you lately or is this just me?
08 August 2017
The House of Secrets // A Beautiful Read Which Highlighted Something Rarely Discussed
The House Of Secrets – Sarra Manning
Published: 10th August 2017 (paperback)Source: Netgalley
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Historical
My Rating:
Every home has a story to tell . . .
An ordinary house on an ordinary street, built in 1936 and never lived in. Its rooms might be empty, but this house is full of secrets.
When Zoe and Win, raw and reeling from a recent tragedy, move into their new home it's meant to be a fresh start and a way to mend the holes in their relationship.
But pushed to the back of a cupboard is a suitcase that's been gathering dust for eighty years. Inside is a wedding dress, letters and a diary all belonging to a woman called Libby. And there's something else in the suitcase, something that echoes Zoe's own pain.
Zoe follows Libby's trail from Paris to Spain on the brink of Civil War to secret trysts in London, and as Libby finds the courage to live and love again, Zoe begins to let go of her own grief.
But when Libby's story takes a darker turn, Zoe becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering what really happened all those years ago. Because if Libby managed to get her happy ever after then maybe Zoe and Win can too . . .
I am a massive fan of Sarra Manning. She was actually one of the first authors who I discovered when I got into teen books. When I saw this book I knew I had to read it. Especially as it looked to be in the same kind of style as Manning's last book, After The Last Dance. I liked the fact it was set in the past and the present with two storylines in tandem with characters linked in unknown ways. I do think that I loved After the Last Dance more. I connected with the characters better in that and the book destroyed me but this one was brilliantly written and impacted in a different way.
I will say before you continue, this review will contain spoilers and it’s the only way I know how to fully talk about this book so I apologise now. I want to be able to talk about everything. Now, let’s continue.
I loved the present day story of Zoe and Win moving into a rundown project house which was a true fixer upper. Their discovery of a suitcase and a diary owned by Libby was brilliant and seeing the two go through the heartbreaks that they had was amazing. I mean, they broke me, I almost cried at some moments of their relationship. I adored Win and how he wasn't perfect but he was so utterly in love with Zoe and he was so scared of losing control of his life and losing her. He was not the perfect man but he was the one I would have wanted to.
As for Libby and her story, she was fun and enigmatic and I adored her. She loved so easily and even when she was at her lowest she had more personality than many of the men she loved. I felt for her throughout her ordeals and I wished she had had a better go of things in London because most of the men in her life were beasts, even Freddy. She deserved more than she got.
The part of both the stories which I really loved was the fact both Zoe and Libby had suffered miscarriages. Both had lost a child they had never even gotten a chance to know and the way it was written about, was utterly brilliant. I think that is why I adored this book as much as I did. Miscarriages and discussions of the difficulties of both getting pregnant and being pregnant are rarely discussed. Pregnancy is only ever allowed to be a joyous fantastic thing but sometimes things go wrong. There were statistics quoted in the books that mean there will people you know who have suffered and may never have spoken about it because it is taboo. I really loved how it was written about. People were sympathetic to their plight but didn't understand and it was the kind of thing to 'move on' from. No one recognised the connection felt to that unborn child and I loved how it was acceptable to grieve what could have been. That was what stood out me.
Seeing the struggles of Libby and Zoe and Win and how they mirrored each other was truly amazing. I never felt like I cared about one story more than another and that rarely happens for me. I connected to the characters and I wanted them to get their happy ending. I don’t feel like the book went quite where I wanted it to, but then it went the way it needed to and I loved that. I did predict a plot twist, though. It felt very obvious but I still liked it.
As a whole, I adored this book. Once it got going I was hooked and every time real life got in the way of reading it I was upset. It may not have put me through the emotional ringer like After the Last Dance but it did hit me hard and it will stay with me for a while yet.
Have you read this book or anything else by Sarra Manning? Do you enjoy stories told through two parallel stories?
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