#CBR12 Book 104: "A Touch of Stone and Snow" by Milla Vane

Page count: 398 pages

Rating: TBA

Official book description (cause I haven't finished the book yet):

Danger lurks in the western realms. The Destroyer’s imminent return has sent the realms into turmoil as desperate citizens seek refuge—but there’s no safety to be found when demons and wraiths crawl out from the shadows. Even Koth, a northern island kingdom left untouched by the Destroyer a generation past, is besieged by terrors spawned from corrupt magics.

When Lizzan leads the Kothan army against these terrors, only to see her soldiers massacred and to emerge as the only survivor, she is called a coward and a deserter. Shunned from her home, Lizzan now wanders in solitude as a mercenary for hire, until she encounters a group of warriors seeking new alliances with the northern kingdoms—a group that includes Aerax, the bastard prince of Koth, and the man who sent her into exile.

Though they were childhood friends, Aerax cannot allow himself to be close to the only woman who might thwart his treacherous plan to save their island realm. But when a goddess's demand binds them together, Lizzan and Aerax must find a way to overcome their painful pasts. Or there will be no future for the western realms...

According to the reviewer over on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, this works fine as a standalone, because it was the first in the series she read. Be warned before you check any of the books out, however, that this is NOT for everyone. These books have a lot of violence and darkness and the order of the day is pretty much survival of the fittest and strongest. The world is still reeling from the terrible destruction wreaked by Anumith the Destroyer a few decades ago, and now there has been confirmation that Anumith is on the rise, returning to the Continent once more. The various peoples, countries, and tribes that live there need to form an alliance and fast, or they will all be swept away in the wake of the Destroyer's second invasion.

The protagonists of this book are Lizzan and Aerax and their romance keeps seeming impossible. They've known each other since they were children, and come from vastly different positions. As a royal bastard, Aerax wasn't officially acknowledged until a terrible epidemic came and killed most of the royal house. Lizzan's father was a high ranking army commander and her mother is a magistrate, before he got recognised as an actual prince, she would be seriously throwing away her future to be with him. Then came the incident that led to Lizzan's exile, where her father and much of the Kothan army led an attack to pacify nearby bandits but were surprised by a supernatural threat, leaving Lizzan as the only survivor. 

Lizzan was deemed a coward and a traitor, and her name was struck from the official records. No one from Koth is allowed to speak her name or even recognise that she is still alive. She had to leave Koth in disgrace and exile and hates Aerax for not speaking up in her defence at the trial. Aerax, having at that point been trained and come to know many of the island's official secrets, couldn't defend her, as it could lead to her death. He's adored Lizzan for as long as he can remember and will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means she despises him.

Lizzan has made her way, lonely and heart-broken, both physically and emotionally, using her warrior skills to protect refugee caravans and other travellers. She hears news of a Kothan delegation, including a white-haired prince (all of the Kothan royal family have tell-tale white hair) and does her best to get away. The book starts with Lizzan trying to flee, and Aerax wanting to catch her.

The Kothans need help from their neighbours to the South, and want to join the big alliance that's forming. But Aerax knows that they're going to need Lizzan's presence and her truth about the supernatural threat to convince others to risk themselves for an island and a people who withdrew when danger previously threatened. He also has motives of his own, that he's keeping from everyone, determined to see his course through, even if he ends up branded a villain by everyone, especially his true love.

Lizzan has by this point gotten sick enough of dishonour and scorn, and drunkenly demands a quest from the goddess Vela. The only way to fully be forgiven is to die gloriously in battle, and she asks Vela to help her accomplish this. Vela tasks her to protect the first person she casts her eyes on when she leaves the temple (one guess who she runs into seconds after leaving) and promises her death in a battle on the day of the first snow. So now both she and Aerax have purposes they must keep secret, and it seems unlikely that they'll ever have a future, as Lizzan is fated to die in a short while. 

I'm only about 50% through the book, yet I love what I've read so far. If it wasn't for having to finish a lot of reviews, help co-parent my demanding child and planning and prepping a three-course New Year's meal, I would be on the sofa with noise-cancelling headphones, blocking out the world and reading right now. I know so many reviewers have loved this book, including our own Emmalita, so I'm convinced it's going to be a satisfying final book for me to end 2020 with. 

Normally, I'd feel bad about reviewing a book I haven't finished yet, but the clock is ticking and the deadline for CBR12 is just around the corner. Time and the double Cannonball waits for no person. The continued adventures and just how Aerax and Lizzan get past their challenges to find true happiness together at last shall have to wait a few hours, until I've tidied, cooked, we've eaten and are settled down to wait for the fireworks. That's one good thing about this wretched year, we have no guests who will disapprove if I read for a while until the clock strikes midnight. 

And with this rambling review, I declare my reading goal for 2020 reached (double Cannonball achieved and a total of 25 out of 26 reading challenges completed), and wish you all a Happy New Year!

Judging a book by its cover: Yeah, I just can't take this cover seriously. Why is he wearing armour on his arms, and a big chainmail/armour hood thing, yet leaving his very ripped abs entirely exposed? It's like the whole discussion about superheroine costumes. This is just dumb. Cool sword, though, dude.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR12 Book 103: All the books I DNF'd this year

Dear readers, I'm not going to lie, I'm racing against the clock to get all of my reviews finished in time for the CBR12 deadline (12 noon EST - or 6 pm Oslo time). I also need to finish 25% of the final novel I'm reviewing, co-parent my autocratic, demanding, and rather clingy almost-three-year-old, plan and prep a three-course New Year's meal, and possibly do some last-minute shopping. No pressure, right? So when fellow Cannonballer Pixifer posted a review with all of her DNF's for the year, I realised that that's the only way I'm going to reach my goal in time. I probably read enough of each of these books for the total of one whole one - possibly even quite a big one.

DNF nr 1: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.

But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French.

All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear.

I first read this book back in 2010, but don't appear to have ever reviewed it (must have been before I reviewed pretty much everything I read). I remember being absolutely enchanted by it (which is nice, since it's all about magic), but I was also childless and had a lot more energy back in 2010. I know that several of my friends have tried to start it repeatedly and never managed to get very far into it, which makes sense, as it's written in the style of a rather dense Victorian novel, complete with footnotes, and it's an intimidatingly huge book (my paperback copy has over a thousand pages). This was my fantasy/sci-fi book club's selection for February, so I started listening to the audiobook, and about 20% of the way through realised that I neither had the time nor the patience to get through it in time for the meeting, so I gave it up. Luckily, several of the other members had gotten through the whole thing, and we also had an interesting comparative discussion about the book and the TV series (which I really do need to watch at some point.

DNF nr 2: Trelegemeproblemet (The Three-Body Problem) - Liu Cixin

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

This was my book club's selection for August, and I really did valiantly try my very best to read it. I got the Norwegian translation at my local library (if the book is originally in Chinese, it feels like I should read it in my actual mother tongue, rather than translated into English). Science fiction is never going to be my favourite genre, although I keep finding exceptions that entertain and engage me. The type of sci-fi I like tends to be adventure-based, frequently things that could just as easily be some other kind of genre fiction (fantasy and/or romance) set in the future/space. This is very much not that sort of book. 

Obviously, it's set in China, so there's a lot of unfamiliar names to keep track of (this may sound racist, but I feel the same way when reading classical Russian novels - there are just so many names and pet names and sometimes the characters are referred to by their first names, sometimes by their surnames) and I got confused. Then there's the fact that a lot of the science fiction here is heavily science-based and it would probably help to have a much firmer grasp of physics than I do to really enjoy and appreciate it. The book also felt very male-dominated. 

I stuck with it for a full third of the book, with the date for the book club discussion looming nearer and nearer. In the end, I gave in and checked out a detailed plot synopsis online. I'd found the book really boring, and I found the book summary to be the same - it was quite clear that the book wasn't suddenly going to turn into something a lot more to my taste. I know this book is very critically acclaimed, that it's won a Hugo and a bunch of other awards. But I found it way too boring, and will never finish it, or its sequels.

DNF nr 3: Of Curses and Kisses - Sandhya Menon

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

I really liked When Dimple Met Rishi and Menon's other YA romances have also been very favourably reviewed. So when I heard she was making something more fantasy inspired, and a Beauty and the Beast retelling set at a boarding school, it seemed like something I had to read. Sadly, a month and a half after starting it, I was only about 21% through it, because it just wasn't engaging me, and I had yet to care about a single character. Every time I picked it up and read one or two chapters, I kept being distracted by something else, and then it would be days or even weeks before I read anymore. In mid-October, I finally gave it up entirely.

I can see from Goodreads that I was by no means the only person who found the beginning slow and rather boring and the characters unremarkable. I just didn't care about any of them, or how the plot was going to develop and resolve. I may revisit the book at some point in the future, but it feels unlikely.

DNF nr 4: American Demon - Kim Harrison

What happens after you've saved the world? Well, if you're Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch-born demon, you quickly discover that something might have gone just a little bit wrong. That the very same acts you and your friends took to forge new powers may have released something bound by the old. With a rash of zombies, some strange new murders, and an exceedingly mysterious new demon in town, it will take everything Rachel has to counter this new threat to the world--and it may demand the sacrifice of what she holds most dear. 

Back in 2014, Kim Harrison seemingly ended her 13-book paranormal fantasy series The Hollows with The Witch With No Name. That was also back in the day when I'd be able to complete a double Cannonball by late September, rather than scrambling like a loon to get enough reviews in before the deadline on New Year's Eve. But back to the review, such as it is. Back in 2017, Harrison revisited her fantasy world with a prequel, The Turn, focusing on the disastrous event where all the supernatural beings in society actually came forward and revealed their existence to humanity. There were questions about whether she was planning other prequels, but going back and continuing the story about Rachel Morgan is what she seems to have decided to do instead.

I was happy enough with the ending of the original series and especially liked the "20 years after" epilogue, which showed how the characters ended up. In this new book, she seems to brush that off as being a strange dream, which immediately put my figurative hackles up, because I don't want that future to change. In theory, I'm very happy to have more books about Rachel, Jenks, Ivy, and the rest of this world, but only if Rachel stays with Trent. I don't need anyone else to come in and interfere with their hard-earned HEA. Hence, I was probably not in the right mindset to give this book the chance it deserved, and after weeks of listening to the audiobook and only progressing about 22% (it's never a good sign when I start more than one audiobook, splitting my attention). With this one, I will give it another try, sometime in 2021 - but Harrison had better not be messing with my headcanon.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.  

#CBR12 Book 102: "The Prince and the Dressmaker" by Jen Wang

Page count: 288 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Official book description:

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family.

Sebastian has just turned sixteen. He wants to be a dutiful son and does his best to please his parents, but he really doesn't feel comfortable with all the match-making they're suddenly doing. He doesn't dare tell anyone that in the evenings, alone in his chambers, he likes dressing up in women's clothing. At his birthday ball, he sees a young, confident noblewoman wearing a very avant-garde dress. He knows what he needs to do.

Frances is a young seamstress, and about to lose her job. Instead of listening to the wishes of the noble lady PAYING for the dress she was making, she asked the young lady who would be wearing the outfit what she would like and designed a frock accordingly. It was unusual and shocking and her employer is furious. Luckily, as she's about to be shown the door, a tall gentleman arrives at the dress shop to enquire who made the dress in question, and discovers it was Frances. He offers her a huge sum of money to leave her job at the dressmaker's (not really a problem, as she was seconds away from being fired) and come work for an anonymous employer. While Frances is nervous, she doesn't really have any choice. 

During their first meeting, Frances' employer wants her to be blind-folded. Frances explains that she can't really fully do her job if she can't see who she's designing for, so her employer appears wearing a thick veil instead. However, some clumsiness and unfortunate timing means the veil is ripped off during the meeting, and her mystery employer is revealed to be none other than Prince Sebastian. He expects her to run off, disgusted, but instead, she is intrigued. She doesn't really care why he wants to wear or why, she just wants a chance to design some stunning and original outfits.

Sebastian starts going out at night, donning a wig and wearing Frances' amazing creations. He takes the name lady Crystallia and very rapidly becomes a fashion icon. Soon, Frances is seeing her creations recreated everywhere, but no one knows that she is the designer of the beautiful outfits and she has no chance of ever becoming famous and making a grand career as long as no one must connect the prince's personal dressmaker with lady Crystallia's creative modiste, lest they figure out lady Crystallia's true identity. 

One benefit of being strapped for time and needing to read things that I could get through quickly at the end of the year is that I've been able to read more of the comics/graphic novels on my TBR list, including this one. I saw some reviewers on Goodreads criticise the fact that it's never addressed as part of the story how Sebastian identifies. Are they trans, non-binary, or in some other way gender-fluid? Does Sebastian not want to get married because of his/their sexual orientation, or is it just that sixteen really is quite young to have a parade of young, accomplished ladies presented to you and be asked to make a choice that will impact the rest of your life. Sebastian's parents may not have started out as a love match (this is never addressed), but they clearly have an affectionate and strong partnership now and seem to be good role models to aspire towards in a relationship sense. As teenagers, many are still questioning and determining their true identities. Asking someone to decide who they're going to spend the rest of their life with at that age is unfair, whether the individual is straight or queer.

The story is lovely, sad in places, but ultimately very heart-warming. The art is absolutely stunning, and I'm glad the illustrations were in colour, so I could fully appreciate Frances' design genius in Crystallia's gorgeous outfits throughout. This is set in a sort of alternate turn of the century (the 19th to the 20th, that is, not 20th to the 21st), where royalty and noble titles are becoming a bit more obsolete, and modern inventions and department stores are beginning to emerge. It also seems to be a world in which royal parents are surprisingly accepting and progressive, given a bit of time to think and reflect.

My main complaint is that I wanted more romance - which is barely present at all! Whine, whine, whine. Still, it's a lovely story with amazing art. I'm glad this was one of the last things I read in this dreaded year.

Judging a book by its cover: The cover gives you a really nice impression of Jen Wang's art style in the book, with the silhouette of Lady Crystallia sort of looming over prince Sebastian and Frances. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

 

#CBR12 Books 99-101: "Heartstopper, vol 1-3" by Alice Oseman

Total page count: 992 pages

Heartstopper, vol 1: 4.5 stars

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more...?

Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie - the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months - but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him.

They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner...

For my birthday this year, my BFF Lydia (I miss you, babe!) sent me the first three volumes of Heartstopper, which I hadn't even heard of before, but have come to realise has become quite the big deal. Beginning as a web comic, where the author managed to kickstart enough funds to self-publish the first volume, she now has a publishing deal with Hachette UK. The comics are also available to read online in a number of places before they're collected in paperback. 

Charlie and Nick, the protagonists of Heartstopper, first appeared in one of Alice Oseman's YA novels, about Charlie's older sister. I'd not read anything by Oseman before now, but based on these sweet and heart-warming comics, I need to check out her YA fiction as well. 

Volume 1 of Heartstopper shows us Charlie and Nick at school and show us their growing friendship, which develops into mutual infatuation (although it takes a long time for the two to admit it to one another). Charlie seems to be the only openly gay pupil at his school and faced quite a lot of bullying when he was accidentally outed the previous school year. Now, he's not really being directly targeted but doesn't exactly feel confident. He keeps hooking up with Ben in secret but is starting to realise that Ben is just toying with him, and has no intention of leaving his girlfriend or coming out as bi. 

Charlie has a few close friends but isn't exactly popular. So he's rather wary when handsome Nick Nelson from the rugby team asks him to try out for the team. Apart from being a very fast runner, Charlie isn't exactly an athletic star, but he discovers that he's quite good at rugby, and the other boys on the team seem to accept him. Of course, Charlie's crush on Nick is pretty immediate, but Nick is straight and nothing can come of it, so he just pines in silence, occasionally venting to his friends. 

To begin with, Nick just really likes spending time with Charlie, but comes to realise that he's spending more and more time with the younger boy. He feels like he can be entirely himself in Charlie's company, something that isn't always the case in high school. They keep hanging out, mostly alone, and Nick needs to start re-assessing what he believed about himself and who he's attracted to.

This volume contains chapter 1 and 2 of Nick and Charlie's story, and ends in quite the cliffhanger.

Heartstopper, vol 2: 5 stars

Nick and Charlie are best friends. Nick knows Charlie's gay, and Charlie is sure that Nick isn't.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is discovering all kinds of things about his friends, his family ... and himself.

Heartstopper is about friendship, loyalty and mental illness. It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie's lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

Thankfully, Lydia sent me all three volumes, so I could dive straight into the second one - no waiting. Charlie and Nick get over the confusion and awkwardness at the end of the first volume, and decide to see where things are going. Nick isn't really ready to openly admit to his same-sex attractions yet though, and Charlie is terrified that Nick might face anything like the bullying he himself did last year, so the boys agree to keep their relationship secret. 

Charlie's friends have noticed how much time he's spending with Nick, but since they don't know how far the relationship has actually developed, they're worried that Charlie is just torturing himself by spending lots of time with a straight boy he can never have. 

Heartstopper, vol 2 deals with Nick's realisation that he's probably not entirely straight, since all he wants to do is spend time with Charlie and kiss him constantly, to making peace with the idea of being bisexual and coming out to someone. Chapters 3 and 4 are even sweeter and this is an even more heart-warming volume than the first. 

Heartstopper, vol 3: 5 stars

In this volume we’ll see the Heartstopper gang go on a school trip to Paris! Not only are Nick and Charlie navigating a new city, but also telling more people about their relationship AND learning more about the challenges each other are facing in private…

Meanwhile Tao and Elle will face their feelings for each other, Tara and Darcy share more about their relationship origin story, and the teachers supervising the trip seem… rather close…?

Coming out is a gradual process. Just because Nick has told one family member that he's bisexual and Charlie's his boyfriend, doesn't mean that he's ready to be out to the whole world yet. Nevertheless, he and Charlie start gradually telling some of Charlie's friends. In this volume, which is one long chapter 5, the boys' school is going on a trip to Paris along with the neighbouring girls' school, where several of their friends go. Being limited to all-girls' or all-boys' rooms is a lot less of a problem if you're dating someone of the same gender as yourself. 

Charlie has held off telling his friend Tao about his relationship with Nick, mainly because he suspects the reason he was accidentally outed all over school a year ago is that Tao spoke a bit too loudly about him on one occasion, and the news spread from there. However, Tao is the last of the friend group to know Charlie and Nick's real relationship status, Charlie can't really keep the secret any longer. There is briefly some hurt feelings, but Tao is preoccupied with his own crush and fairly quickly forgives Charlie for keeping secrets. 

Charlie and Nick keep discovering new sides to the other, and Charlie confesses some of how difficult the time during his bullying was. He confesses to having self-harmed on occasion. Spending whole days in one another's company, Nick also starts noticing how little and how infrequently Charlie actually eats and begins to be concerned about his boyfriend. 

These comics are really well-told and drawn and the cast keeps being gradually expanded to include more of Nick and Charlie's friends and family members. The books are effortlessly diverse, both in terms of race, gender identity and sexual orientations. I don't know if Alice Oseman herself is queer or if she just does a lot of research, but she seems to write a very realistic and respectful depiction of what coming out gradually actually entails, as well as the trauma that can be caused by bullying and harassment. The teenagers depicted here feel very real, and behave in believable ways. I can see why this comic has become such a success.

Now that I'm all caught up, I'll have to wait for the release of volume 4, which isn't out until May. I guess I can check out some of Oseman's other books while I wait.

Judging the books by their cover: It took me quite some time to find an image featuring all three covers. I like that the boys are facing away in all three images and that you see how their relationship changes and develops over the course of the series, from platonic school friends with mutual crushes in the first one to a tentative couple in the second and more confident, open boyfriends in the third. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 98: "Wrapped Up in You" by Talia Hibbert

Page count: 127 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Official book description:

William Reid is nothing special, except for his billion-dollar acting career and his, you know, face. (Apparently, it’s a good one.) Winning ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ was nice, but this Christmas, he has more important goals in mind... like finally winning over his best friend’s little sister, the super-smart and kinda-scary Abbie Farrell.

When a blizzard leaves Will and Abbie alone at Grandma Farrell’s house (if bunking with 27 pets counts as ‘alone’), it’s the perfect opportunity to pull off a Christmas miracle. Convincing clever, frosty Abbie to give Will a chance will take more than mistletoe, but hiding his lifelong crush on her is no longer an option.

Will and Abbie have known each other since they were children. Will and Abbie's twin brother are best friends. It turns out that both Will and Abbie have been in love with each other since they were teens, but neither had the guts to tell the other. Will went off to become a big-time movie star in Hollywood, Abbie met and married someone else (and later went through a painful divorce with said someone).

It's been two years since they saw each other, as Abbie isolated herself after her divorce and didn't even come to family Christmas (yes, Will is basically honourary family by now). Will has quit acting and decided to move back to the UK. He has a plan for how he's going to woo and win Abbie. Abbie's brother thinks the plan is absolute rubbish (mainly because Will's plan has a timeline of a YEAR) and says he should just tell Abbie how he feels. It doesn't quite work out like that, but when the rest of the family are prevented from arriving as planned because of a snowstorm, at least they get more time alone together (especially because Abbie's grandmother keeps pushing them together every chance she gets).

Discovering Talia Hibbert is one of the things I'm grateful in 2020. I really liked Get a Life, Chloe Brown and I absolutely adored Take a Hint, Dani Brown. So when this Christmas novella was free on Kobo, it felt like a gift from the universe. Unsurprisingly, it was fun and well-written. There's not too much angst and the characters are grown-ups who really just need to talk to one another. Now I just need to start counting the days until the final Brown sisters novel comes out. 

Judging a book by its cover: There's certainly no doubt that this is a Christmas story, what with the tartan wrapping paper and the cheerful green background with snowflakes (I would totally wrap presents with either pattern, by the way). The body language of the two people also gives you an impression of the tension between Will and Abbie at the start of the story. 

Crossposted by Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 97: "Fangirl, the Manga: Vol 1" by Sam Maggs and Rainbow Rowell

Page count: 216 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Cath Avery thought she'd be sharing a room with her twin sister Wren when they went to college (isn't that the benefit of having a twin?), but her sister has cut her hair into a cute pixie cut and is looking forward to reinventing herself at college. She's already friends with her roommate and can't wait to move away from home and their anxious father.

Cath, on the other hand, is deeply outside of her comfort zone. Online, she's an undisputed queen, an incredibly prolific and popular fanfic writer. Her Simon Snow fanfics are read by thousands of people all over the world. Now she needs to get used to all sorts of new things, like how to talk to her intimidating, beautiful roommate or said roommate's charming and gregarious boyfriend. She's taking an advanced writer's class, even though she's just a freshman, and her professor is asking a lot of her. She needs to find the courage to actually go have a meal in the cafeteria. She should probably also find out why Wren is so determined to distance herself from her.

It can come as no secret to anyone who has read my reviews over the years that I'm an unashamed Rainbow Rowell fan. She's one of my favourite authors currently writing, and of all the books she's written, Fangirl is probably the one that speaks the most directly to me and mirrors much of my own early time at university. I have read the book four times and own it in audio, e-book and paperback. That book gave me Cath and Levi and Reagan, not to mention the first appearances of Simon and Baz (although I love Rowell's own versions, I'm not quite as fond of Gemma T. Leslie OR Cath's versions). 

So there really was no question that I needed to own and read the manga version, as well, cleverly adapted by Sam Maggs and illustrated throughout by the talented Gabi Nam. There was little doubt that I was going to like this a lot - unless massive amounts were altered, which of course is not the case. It's strange reading a story I know so well in a graphic format, but I think Nam has captured the characters really well. The similarities and huge differences between Cath and her twin Wren are especially well done. You can see that they are identical, yet they have such very individual looks. Reagan, Levi, and the various versions of Simon and Baz are also a lot of fun to see on the page.

My biggest gripe with this is that it was too short! The second part doesn't even have a release date yet and I'm not sure whether it's been confirmed how many volumes there will be (I suspect four because it's a pretty big book, but hoping for three - manga is expensive!). So now I'm going to have to be impatiently waiting for the next volumes of this, while I'm also pining away for the final Simon Snow book (out in July!)

Judging a book by its cover: I really love Gabi Nam's art throughout the manga, and this image of Cath just captures her so well. I also really like the warm, yellow colour of the background, not to mention the autumn leaves swirling around Cath. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 96: "The Beast of Blackmore" by Milla Vane

Page count: 162 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Mala, sent on a quest by the goddess Vela, comes to Blackmoor to locate and tam the legendary Beast. She initially believes the beast to be a demonically possessed mammoth that plagues the area and is surprised when she instead discovers that it is the warrior Tavik, who she first met protecting a caravan of refugees from blood-thirsty revenants. 

Tavik is pretty much a broken man, who once foolishly defiled a temple of Vela and now believes that everything that happened since then is divine punishment. The goddess told him when the woman in red shows up, the end will be near. He has already had vivid dreams about Mala for several years and isn't entirely sure he isn't hallucinating when he first sees her. When he hears that Vela has ordered her to tame him, he is despondent, but he hadn't counted on what Mala considers taming to be. 

Maddek, the hero of A Heart of Blood and Wishes is cold, angry, and bull-headed, taking far too long to see what a precious gift he has in Yvenne. Tavik knows what a remarkable woman Mala is before they ever meet in person, as he's seen her in his dreams for years. He wanted to return to his home in Blackmoor with an army to kill the sorcerous warlord who ruled there and was instead captured, humiliated, and repeatedly raped and assaulted. When Mala approaches him after visiting the warlord, claiming she has been tasked with taming him, he cannot bear the thought. Instead, he discovers that Mala has no problem showing him both vulnerability and submission, in order to earn his trust. 

As a result, I liked this novella (which is technically a prequel to the whole series, first published in the Night Shift anthology and only published separately by Ms. Vane this summer) a lot more. In the first novel, I loved the world-building and pretty much everyone BUT Maddek (although even when I wanted him to snap out of it, I also understood the reasons for his rage and alpha idiocy). Here Mala and Tavik are equally compelling protagonists.

We get to see a different part of the large pre-historic world that Vane has created here. It's a harsh and brutal world, still reeling from the damages when the Big Bad, Anumith the Destroyer, swept the continent with his armies and left ruined cities and deeply scarred people in his wake. The warlord who rules in Blackmoor uses the same weapons as Anumith to subjugate the people he rules, and he clearly needs to be stopped. We also get a clearer impression of the goddess Vela and what might happen if those devoted to her quests fail to complete them (don't worry, all ends well, this is a romance, after all). 

I can see why the author chose a different pseudonym when writing these, they're very different from her previous novels as Meljean Brook, yet just as compelling. I'm excited to end the year reading the next full novel in the series. 

Judging a book by its cover: I genuinely don't know whether to roll my eyes or applaud these book covers. The barbarians are clearly dressed in random pieces of costuming in a modern photo studio. Still, they give the reader an idea of what the book is about, and isn't that the main purpose of a book cover?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.