Book Review

Title: First Flight (Dragon School #1)

Author: Sarah K. L. Wilson

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Rating: ****

Review: So I have read the first 16 books in this 20 books series before but it was during the time where the books were being published so there were large gaps between books and I stopped reading after Dragon Piper but with Sarah Wilson’s new series, I decided I would re-read the series as the books are short. We are introduced to our protagonist, Amel, who has a disability but wants to become a Dragon Rider and become one of the Dominion Sky People and she is at her dragon choosing ceremony although she will be one of the last to go. The first people to choose their dragon is High Castelan Savette Leedris who ends up choosing a red dragon named Eeamdor and the next chooses a golden dragon. We learn that the colour of your dragon determines your position in society, Red dragons are war dragons while Golden ones are diplomats.

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So June was a hit and miss month for me, the first half was rubbish I didn’t read a thing and then the second half was amazing I read 14 books in as many days which was amazing but I am hoping July is better – if you haven’t seen it already I am running my own readathon too.

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins  – It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

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So June was a hit and miss month for me, the first half was rubbish I didn’t read a thing and then the second half was amazing I read 14 books in as many days which was amazing but I am hoping July is better – if you haven’t seen it already I am running my own readathon too.

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins DNF –  I am so excited for this book for many reasons, one it is the first book written in the Hunger Games in almost a decade, two is focuses on President Coriolanus Snow and finally it takes place at the 10th Hunger Games a full 64 years before the amazing novel where we met Miss Katniss Everdeen. The opening to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was amazing as we introduced to Coriolanus Snow, whose family is bordering poverty since the end of the rebellion, known as the Dark Days in the original trilogy. He is relying on his position as a mentor in the 10th Hunger Games to get enough money to go to university and provide for his family and restore their name to its former glory. One revelation that comes earlier on is that Snow and Tigris, the designer, are cousins and live with their grandmother since both their parents are dead.

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Book Review

Title: Black Fall (The Black Year Series #1)

Author: D.J. Bodden

Genre: YA/Supernatural/Thriller

Rating: ****

Review: The opening to Black Fall was interesting as we are introduced to Jonas Black at his father’s funeral. Jonas immediately realises something is wrong as his father is being treated like royalty not the salesman he was in life, and this feeling is made worse when we learn that both of his parent’s suffered from a condition making it impossible for them to go in the daylight and with the supernatural tag it makes me think they are vampires or something similar but Jonas isn’t like them. As people leave the funeral his mother collects the ashes only to freak out saying that these aren’t her husband’s ashes and smashing the urn and she does make reference to knowing what human ash smells like. We then jump forward a year, and Jonas hasn’t seen much improvement in his mother’s behaviour but he does find some comfort with his girlfriend, Amelia but he is beginning to feel like someone is watching him and he is having strange dreams and decides to confront his mother about it. That night they are attacked by some men but his father’s friends come around and save the day but Marcus mentions an agency and Jonas begins putting the pieces together in his mind and when his mother says she and his father are vampires, at first he doesn’t believe her but he can’t erase the events of the past couple of days.

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Book Review

Title: Rape: A Love Story

Author: Joyce Carol Oates

Genre: Crime/Family

Rating: *****

Review: As the title suggest, this book is all about rape, specifically gang rape, so if this is triggering to you please do not read this review as I will be going into detail. We are introduced to our protagonist, Teena Maguire, and her daughter Bethie who are attacked in the early minutes of July 5^th, 1996 where Teena was gang-raped, beaten and left for dead and yet there are still people saying that she was asking for it and that it was her own fault being dressed he way she was with her 12 year old daughter after midnight, just taking a short cut home through the park.  We learn that John Dromoor, former soldier now police officer was Teena’s friend after they met in a bar and when she offered for him to call he replied with he’d like to but his wife was having their first baby in a few weeks. Appreciating his candour they became friends but they wouldn’t see each other for two years until the night she was raped. We then learn more about Bethie who was at a party with her mother and shortly before midnight they decided to head home despite the offer of staying with a friend for the night.

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Book Review

Title: The House at 758

Author: Kathryn Berla

Genre: YA/Family

Rating: *****

Review: All I knew about The House at 759 was it follows 16 year old Krista, whose mother has died and while her father is moving on she is struggling to do the same. We are introduced to Krista as she has become obsessed with House 758 after the death of her mother and she can’t cope with the fact that her father has already moved on with another woman, Marie who is now living with them and it seems like they are trying to make the best of a bad situation but Krista isn’t ready to let go just yet. Krista’s best friend Lyla is going to Maine for the summer and Krista’s father has told her she needs to do something with her summer instead of sitting around. Even though we haven’t been told we can assume Krista’s mother has been dead over a year and the day Marie moved in, Krista moved into her tent on the garage roof, so they don’t actually live in the same house as each other.

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Book Review

Title: Chasing Odysseus (Hero Trilogy #1)

Author: S. D. Gentill

Genre: YA/Mythology/Retelling

Rating: ***

Review: I have read Chasing Odysseus before and only gave it one star but I felt that was quite harsh as I was reading it during a time where I wasn’t really enjoying retellings, so I decided to give it another go. The synopsis doesn’t give much away about what happens during the book and honestly I can’t remember much so I am basically going in blind which is the best thing. We are introduced to Pentheselia who is abandoning her daughter, Hero with Agelaus as she can’t fit in with the other Amazon’s her mother rules over, she has previously abandoned three other children with Agelaus including their son, Machaon. The other two boys also come from the Amazon tribe, Lycon and Cadmus but they do not tolerate men so Agelaus now has 4 children to care for but through this conversation we learn of the upcoming Trojan war as Odysseus has sought council with Agelaus and Pentheselia also mentions that the Greeks have united behind Agamemnon. Agelaus was the one who raised Paris until his father claimed him and comments that his stealing of Helen of Troy was due to his passionate heart, having an outsiders view on these events was quite nice. After a decade of living with Agelaus, the war is coming to an end so it is decided on the next trade run Hero will be allowed to go which she hasn’t before as it wasn’t safe for her to leave the safety of the Herdsmen. I really like the building of the bonds between the siblings and how Odysseus is mentioned as an almost mythical person not as the main character.

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Book Review

Title: Moonrise

Author: Sarah Crossan

Genre: YA/Family/Verse

Rating: *****

Review: I haven’t read much from Sarah Crossan but I have read One which made me cry, so when I got the opportunity to get my hands on Moonrise I was so excited to read it. Like One, Moonrise is written in verse and bounced back and forth between the past and present as it follows the relationship between two brother, Joe, and Ed while Ed is on Death Row. The opening introduces us to Joe who is seven years old when he finds out his brother, Ed is in prison and is being charged with murder despite his protests to his brother that he didn’t do I Ten years on, Joe is the only person still standing by Ed, even the rest of his family have turned on him and he has moved closer to the prison to spend the last weeks of his brother’s life with him as his execution date has been set. A year after the first phone call the family learn Ed was convicted and at that point their aunt moved in because their mother couldn’t cope and eventually left and never came back. Despite moving to Texas, Joe hasn’t seen Ed yet as he is too scared to go to the prison alone but their aunt won’t help them and his sister, Angela can’t get the money for another month so Joe is forced to look for work or they won’t be able to say their rent.

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Book Review

Title: Battle of Illaria (Illaria #3)

Author: Dyan Chick

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Rating: *****

Review: After the dramatic ending of Oracle of Illaria I had to jump into the finale straight away. Battle of Illaria opens once again with Max’s perspective as he takes part in the destruction of Greenville. It seems he is finding it harder and harder to keep the Darkness out and that he is becoming more of a servant to the King and his original goal of becoming the King is disappearing despite his upcoming wedding to Nora. We then jump to Etta’s perspective where she is training with Master Flanders to keep the Darkness out and to control it but she is struggling much like her brother. However, this training is interrupted with the arrival of Sir Henry brining news about the destruction of Greenville and a team is assembled to go into the town to retrieve survivors which might include Calder’s family. However, there is a debate about whether or not Etta should go but she needs to be seen by the people to show them that she isn’t afraid and that she is standing up to the King. Upon arriving the group see the devasting aftermath of the King’s attack which has left Calder’s whole family dead but his best friend Holden and his wife Anna have survived as well as some other which are rescued by the Ravens. However, there are still sorcerers in the town and  they might have a battle on their hands.

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*Update*

Hi Guys it has come to my atention that some people haven’t signed up because they found the prompts to be triggering which I completely understand having gone through rape myself. After chatting with some friends on the Pageathon Discord I have updated the prompts. Enjoy!

This readathon is bi-monthly readathon taking place every other month for the whole month.

This first round will take start on July 1st at midnight in your timezone. The way this readathon works is that all the prompts are based on my favourite books and each page read is worth 1 point so if you read 350 pages you get 350 points. There will be 3 additional prompts that will consist of my personal favourite books, if you read these books they are worth 25 points each.

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