Hope's Highest Mountain {Book Review}

On her way to deliver vaccines to a mining town in the Montana Territory, Ingrid Chastain never anticipated a terrible accident would leave her alone and badly injured in the wilderness. When rescue comes in the form of a mysterious mountain man, she's hesitant to trust him, but the journey ahead will change their lives more than they could have known.

Liked: I really enjoyed these characters! All of them were very well fleshed out, even those who were only there for a little bit. Their backstories and flaws, as well as their attributes, were all very believable and they were a very enjoyable cast of people. Something funny that I enjoyed was that Micah called his daughter "Ducky" which is what I call my baby sister. And Handsome was a nice addition and I love that name for a dog. I liked how Beller didn't make Samuel too annoying. I find that some authors tend to make their younger characters a bit too childish, too annoying, or too grown-up. Samuel was a nice balance of what a young child actually is like.

Liked: Something that really bothers me in some stories is when one character goes through extreme heartbreak and pain and the other doesn't, making that other character rather unsympathetic to the first character's pain and thus making it very dislikeable to read. The fact that both main characters had suffered and could sympathize with each other made this story ten times better.

Liked: For some reason, I really enjoy those types of stories where the characters have to survive against all odds in the wilderness. Maybe it's just because I probably spend too much time inside (bugs and me no thanks), but when they are well done it is just a real page-turner and this was very well done.

Liked: I actually like insta-love (when done well) but this romance was a mix of slow and yet fast love? If that makes sense? Anyways, it was very well done and very believable.

Liked: I really liked how Ingrid wasn't very pushy of her faith on Micah, she let him re-discover God on his own time. She was still an amazing witness to the faith, and her faith was visible through her actions and words. Micah's coming to accept Christ again was also very well done.

Disliked: They ONLY thing that bothered me was the overuse of the phrases, "Oh Micah" and "Oh Ingrid". It's kinda annoying how much it was used. 

- people are severely injured
-past mentions of death

I'm giving this one a solid 4 stars and I would recommend it for people 13+

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion.

How are y'all? Ready for Nano?? Have you read this? Do you want to? What have you been reading lately? 

Dark Ambitions {Book Review}

Former Army Night Stalker Rick Jordan usually has his camp for foster children to himself during the winter months. But someone has visited recently--leaving a trail of blood. One of the two clues left behind tips Rick off to the identity of his visitor, who soon turns up dead. The police deem it an accident, but Rick isn't convinced. With the help of private investigator Heather Shields, he sets out to decipher the remaining clue. Except someone doesn't want them to succeed--and will stop at nothing to keep them from finding the truth.

With her trademark psychological suspense ratcheting up the tension on every page, bestselling and award-winning author Irene Hannon takes you on a search for a cold-blooded killer with an ambitious goal and deadly intent.

Liked: One of my favorite genres of all time is mystery. Give me some Sherlock Holmes or Fr. Brown and I'll be really happy. I had the privilege to read the book before this one, and I remember liking it, it was a great introduction into this sub-genre of modern-day mysteries, if you will. The last book was solid on the mystery and this one was too. It took me a little to get into, but once I finally got into it, man it was hard to put this book down. Hannon had me turning pages like my life depended on it.

Liked: I really enjoyed this cast of characters. Rick was very honorable, and I really liked Heather. The rest of the characters were very complex, and no secondary characters acted like secondary characters! I especially liked how some of the more shady characters had shades of gray instead of being purely evil or purely good. And then, of course, I love the Treehouse Gang. I was very happy to see the main characters of the last book!

Disliked: I remember one of my main gripes with Hidden Peril was some of the content, and this kinda is true for this one too. While I'm not totally opposed to insta-love, this one was a little much for me. I'll get into more of the content issues in a different section.

Liked/Disliked: Okay, so, the villain was a LITTLE predictable after a while, but what really surprised me is when one person turned out to be a villain and the other didn't. So while I disliked the predictability, I was really happy when I wasn't totally right. And like I mentioned before, none of the bad-guys were totally bad, which really causes you to sympathize with them.

I really liked how the theme of "your past actions can have an effect on your present life" was stressed. How we should always behave righteously in our actions even when we think no one is looking. Like my mom says, integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. And while these things may not be explicitly stated, I gleaned that from this and I enjoyed that lesson.

Another thing that I think people can get from the actions of the antagonists is that the ends don't justify the means. Their actions may have had a good cause at the end, but they used bad means. Does the end ever justify the means? No, it doesn't. Because by using dubious means, you've tainted the ends.

-pretty heavy on the physical attraction, to the point of being uncomfortable
-mention of past marriage affairs
-murders
-mentions of people getting shot
-past memories of child abuse
-references to sex (not very detailed or explicit, but you get their meanings)

I liked this one, but not especially and it wasn't a new favorite. So I'm giving this 3 stars

I would recommend this book for people 16+, maybe even older.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion from Revell Reads. 

How are y'all doing? Sorry I haven't been posting a lot, school and Nano prep have been keeping me busy. Hopefully there will be another post this week. There will be another book review next week, and I'm doing the Shared WIP Tag again this year, which I'm super stoked about!! What did y'all think? Want to read this? 

Know the Novel | Part One {Introduction}

Ahhh.

Nano is almost upon usss

*dies*

I did this link-up last year and was SO excited when Christine decided to do this again! I really helped me flesh out some things with last year's Nano attempt.

A little background on this novel before we get into the questions: I was originally not going to work on this one. I was going to finally take some steps forward in a new-and-way-improved version of this novel I wrote a LONG time ago. But then I got this plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone and I was like, "Hecc it all, let's do it."

So there are a lot of rough edges but hey, that's why we're doing this xD

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?

Honestly, it was reading An Enchantment of Ravens (one of my new favorite books lol). I really loved that book and just the idea of a fairy court really intrigued me. From there my imagination went wild and the world and story of Faerie Queen was born.

2. Share a blurb!

Adelina would do anything to save her House lands, even marry the Faerie prince. But she is not the only one who would marry the immortal prince to keep their House in power and many are more ruthless than she is. Adelina realizes that the costs of saving her House may come at a bigger price than she originally thought.

Leofwin knows that he cannot fall in love with his First Wife, he will long outlive her. But Adelina’s quiet resolve and strong will draw him in and he wonders if an eternity without her is worth it.

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects about the setting?

This story takes place in the land of Aelumae. It is a place where faeries and mortals live together, but the faeries can only be found in the King's Court. Some of my favorite aspects of this setting are not only the conflict between the twelve Houses but the splendor of the King's Court.

4. Tell us about your protagonist(s).

I have two protagonists. The "main" one is Adelina, a human girl. Her House is the weakest of the twelve and she wants to bring it back into power. The only way that she can do that is by marrying the Crown Prince and having his heir.

My other protagonist is the Crown Prince Leofwin, a faerie. He constantly reminds himself to not get too attached to mortals, since they will die and leave him alone, but he can't help loving these people.

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

My antagonist is really one of the Houses. They are in power and want to stay in power. They aren't about to let a lady from House Monfort come and take that power out of their hands.

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

I think that the world and plot really excite me. The characters too. So I guess, everything is exciting to me?? Lol.

7. Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

This is going to be a standalone. The plot should end at the end of this book and there should be no need for more books.

8. Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

Plotting. Kudos to those of you who can do Nano while pantsing, I do not know how you do it. I find that the more detailed my outline is, the less I get stuck and the more time I can actually spend writing words for my wordcount instead of figuring out what the mchecc to write.

9. Name a few things that makes this story unique.

I'm not going to pretend that the idea of a fairy court has never been done before, it has. I mean, I got my inspiration from a book....THAT WAS ABOUT A FAIRY COURT.

But something that I think that is going to make this story unique is the relationships between the faeries (more specifically the faerie royalty) and the humans. And the way that the different Houses stay in power.

10. Share a fun “extra” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

Here is my Pinterest board for Faerie Queen. (if you click on the image it'll take you to the actual Pinterest board)

I know that it looks kinda dark?? But I don't think it's going to be a dark book, but that thought might change once I start writing this come November.

Are y'all doing Nano? How's your prepping going? What are you most excited for in your novel? 

The Spice King {Book Review}

Gray Delacroix has dedicated his life to building a successful global spice empire, but it has come at a cost. Tasked with gaining access to the private Delacroix plant collection, Smithsonian botanist Annabelle Larkin unwittingly steps into a web of dangerous political intrigue and will be forced to choose between her heart and her loyalty to her country.

Liked: I really thought that the idea behind this book was really cool. You had a little bit of everything. Political intrigue. Check. Trying to expose the food industry. Check. Romance. Check. (I'll talk about this a little later). I really enjoyed how there were little all these miny sub-plots going on at the same time and they all flowed seamlessly into each other which was very nice.

Liked: I thought that all those informational tidbits we were given about the food industry a couple years after the Civil War was really interesting! Like, at that time, they were already substituting real ingredients for artificial. And while it wasn't like today, that was really cool to find out about.

Disliked: So, *hem* y'all know that I am a HUGE romance lover. You say romance, I'm there. Unfortunately, this romance has to get a pass from me. Annabelle and Gray meet ONCE (they do exchange a couple letters first but STILL), and then Gray is like, "Hm, I should get married. That one chick that I met that one team really seems cool. TIME TO INVITE HER TO MY PRIVATE ISLAND AND SHOW HER STUFF I DON'T NORMALLY SHOW STRANGERS CAUSE SHE WORKS FOR SOMETHING I DONT LIKE BUT OH WELL SHE WAS PWETTY". That really just was like, eh, no thanks. The beginning of their romance feels really forced? Like, sure, at their initial meeting there are those sparks but they should be developed further before you decide TO COURT HER. I didn't root for the romance till the end and usually they make eye contact and I'm like, "Y'all are gonna have beautiful children someday".

Disliked: The characters in this book were a little iffy for me. For example, I felt like Gray had two emotions: Softy and vulnerable, or judgy and angry. I kinda liked Annabelle, but sometimes I was like, "Sweetie no". I think Camden was trying to make Maude that character that is really down to earth and relatable, and she was at some points, but the whole thing with Elaine's wedding didn't really strike me as something a mother would do? And then I had a bunch of problems with other characters. I kinda liked Luke though.

Liked: I liked the ending haha. That might have been because I get really invested in books whether I liked them or not but THAT ENDING WAS GOOOD. I was gonna give this book two stars but that ending saved it.

So I had a really hard time getting into this one. If you follow me on Goodreads (which you should :P), you might have seen some of my updates where I said how I was enjoying the writing, but having a hard time getting into it. I was on page 292 of a 344-page book before I was really like, "Now I'm into it". I might have DNFed it if I didn't have to give a review and the fact that I like to finish all books I start unless I really HATE them or they have content that I really disagree with.

But to be honest, the fact that I struggled to get really invested in this book isn't really surprising? I've read two other books by Camden and one I was really meh on and the other one I hateddddd. So Camden's books are kinda a hit or miss for me. This one was a meh.

I can't remember the exact wording, but there is a mention of a guy playing around with girls skirts in the sense that he well....yeah.

A character goes to prison.

This is going to have to be a 3 stars from me. Like I said earlier, it was going to be 2 because I just could not get into it, but that ending saved it.

I would recommend this to people maybe 12+

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest opinion.

Have you read anything by Camden? Are you interested in this book? What was the last book that was a 'meh' for you?