Shadow Weaver

Title: Shadow Weave
Author: MarcyKate Connolly
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Source: Hardback:  Goodreads First Read
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 paws


Emmeline is a lonely girl, she feels isolated from the world because of her gift, one that causes those around her to fear her.  She has grown content with being hidden away in the castle with only the shadows to keep her company. One day a nobleman arrives at the estate offering a cure for her talent meaning she will lose her gift. When this noble visiting her family estate mysteriously falls into a coma, Emmeline is blamed, and she runs away.  Her shadow Dar proposes a deal to protect Emmeline as long as she helps make Dar a human girl again.  Emmeline agrees and together they dash into the nearby woods where she hides within the shadows and stumbles upon a boy with light magic.  She begins her life living with them trying to figure out how to clear her name, help Dar and hope her new friends will not discover her secrets.

I was really excited when I won this novel from the Goodreads giveaways, and I admit it took me a little while before I was able to really sit down and read it.  It starts out a little slow, but then begins to pick up the pace as Emmeline runs away.  The idea is interesting with every 25 years a comet passes over and blessed a certain number of children with various gifts.  It was also interesting that Emmeline manipulates shadows as opposed to a gift we generally see in fantasy novels like earth magic or fire.  Shadow magic is something unique and adds an interesting spin on the story.


I enjoyed how Emmeline and Lucas' bond begins to grow that they practice their magic together and discover they are more powerful when they work together.  It is an interesting take on relationship between light and dark.  She doesn't know who to trust or how to really let her guard down after spending most of her life isolated from people. I think this is something young readers can related to, feeling isolated as if they don't belong, nothing in common with others around them etc.  The story does develop somewhat slow but I believe it is leading up to something more in a later novel.  It sets a good background for any additional novels.


The story is geared towards middle school aged children, so the writing is somewhat simplistic, but it makes for an exciting and easy read.  Children of this age would enjoy reading those book and I could see them devouring it.  I personally was able to read it within the day and found myself, as a 30 year old woman, engrossed in these characters.  I wanted more, I wanted to see more magic and hoped to see Doyle's wind magic playing with the light and shadows of Lucas and Emmeline, maybe we will see this later in another book. 


The enchanting tale of Shadow Weaver is story that begs for readership regardless of age.  It is a cute book that has friendship, betrayal, excitement, magic and so much more.  I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy novel.

The 11th Hour

Title: The 11th Hour
Author: Kristine Scarrow
Genre: YA, Thriller
Source: Ebook - Net galley
Rating:  3 out of 5 stars




Annika thinks she is in love.  Dylan is everything a young girl could want and she believes her future lies with him.  When she begins to neglect her friends, work and quits her activities her parents try to protect her by saying she cannot see him.  But she knows he loves her and their future will be a fairy tale.  That is until she runs away with him, and discovers he is not the person she thought he was and is in need so professional help. But with her safety at risk, she doesn't know what to do or who to turn to.

*I received an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I didn't know what I was expecting when I picked up this book. I'm still a little torn after finishing it. Everything I read about it has me torn and I am not sure where to even begin.  It opens with their plans to run away nothing leading up to it, just Annika planning her morning so she can runaway without a second thought.  We get snippets of a backstory but in my opinion it's not enough to form an real opinion or attachment to the kids.  The POVs were difficult to read.  Annika simply came off as the annoying teenage girl that gives us everything and I mean everything for a boy she just started dating (we aren't told how long they have dated before they decide to just run away), friends, activities even work.  Dylan's POV is choppy and unfinished sentences.


There is a lot that happens in this novel and it all happens in a span of 11 hours which seems a little too fast paced.  I almost wish the story was drawn out a little more.  Sometimes a longer book the builds up the suspense and story is better than a shorter one that just throws readers unexpected right into the middle of the conflict.  One good thing is that readers will not expect the outcome of the story, you might think you do but Scarrow pulls out a twist and surprises her readers. 


I understand what the message Scarrow was trying to convey and it is an important one: mental illness is a serious disease that 1) one should not be ashamed of, 2) talked openly about rather than hidden especially from those we love, and 3) needs to have more awareness.  But I don't think it was conveyed in a proper way.  Granted Dylan's depression and inability to handle stress even after a short amount of time was something important to show.  I think it could been drawn out rather than all at once.  The build up is important.


I would suggest it, I think young adults would enjoy reading it and get lost into the darker folds of the story.

Dark Citadel

Darik is a young slave boy who happens to find himself in with a pair of spies while the city is attacked by the dark wizard.  Out west lies an army of wizards, griffin riders and a band of knights all of whom the companions work to encourage to come to aid of the falling city.  They need their help in order to defeat the dark wizard.  The dark wizard is not only interested in the city, he has his sights set on the beautiful queen, Kallia.  She struggles to keep her distance from the wizards embrace.

This was one of those books that came in my email as a daily free book, and it seemed interesting enough, and I did enjoy it, but it wasn't as satisfying as some of the other novels I have read in this genre.  Although any young adult, young reader would find the story engaging and interesting.  There are references to a past history that readers don't get an insight to, so there is a feeling of missing out on something important to the story. 

One thing that made it difficult to read and makes me lean on the fence about reading the next book in the series is that each chapter jumps time periods as well as perspectives.  While some readers may be able to follow the jumping around like that, other readers will find it difficult and be completely turned off by it. Most of the characters are develop except for the antagonist.  We know nothing about this dark wizard other than the fact that he wants to take over the world.  How can readers begin to hate a character they know nothing about?  There almost seems to be too much happening within the story and details that some of the character development suffers for it.  I hope this changes in the other books in the series.

With any genre there are books that excel and some books that seem to fall short, for me this was one of those books that fell short.  Not to say that it wasn't a good book to read which it was.  It just felt like it was trying to be more than it should be at this point.  Being the first novel, it felt like too much was pushed into the story to make room for what's to happen in the next novels at the expense of some background and character development.  As a rating...I give this a 2.5 out of 5 and as I stated before, I am not sure if I will read the other books in the series.

Call of The Herald by Brian Rathbone

"If you wish to find yourself, you must first admit you are lost."

"Men are fickle creatures, capable of kindness and compassion yet fascinated by the basest of atrocities."

Call of the Hearld is a young adult epic fantasy that follows the life of a young farmgirl named Catrin who discovers she has magical powers.  Catrin must now learn to use her powers while trying to save the world.  It is the first book in Rathbone's Godsland series.

There is a prophecy of the coming of a herald, one who would save the world.  To some this is only legend while others take it to heart.  One day while coming home from school something mysterious happens to Catrin.  Soon she finds out she the prophesied herald and begins a quest to eliminate the evil and save the world.

Generally a good idea, and interesting story but unfortunately is not executed well.  There is so much potential in this novel, but it is clouded by excessive dialogue, cliché events, and generic characters.  Something refreshing about this novel is the female lead.  Too often the lead heroic character is male, not often do we see female assuming that role in many novels (I understand more often females are becoming stronger heroines.)  Having that in this novel was a great idea as she relies on her friends for support.  The other characters seemed to be lacking substance.

I liked the underlying plot of magic returning to the world and people being unsure of how to react to it, but as I stated it was not executed well.  The story was slow moving with a lot of background and descriptions that took away from the true beauty of the story.  Even after Catrin experiences slight magic in the beginning, it still takes awhile before she realizes she is the herald.  I understand some of the reasoning behind it, showing her torment from classmates and peers to struggling to work hard and learn new things, but it is excessive and not needed.

I would recommend this novel to those beginning the fantasy genre.  It gives all the elements that make a fantasy novel well fantasy.  It is a great book for young readers getting their feet wet in different genres and different novels. would I read another book by Mr. Rathbone? Probably, but maybe not a young adult novel.

I struggled with what kind of rating to give the story.  As I mentioned this is a great novel for those beginning in the genre and young readers, I read this as someone who has been reading fantasy for years, and probably has been spoiled with many different authors in the genre.  That being said I give this novel a 2.5 out of 5 because the story was slow to develop and felt too generic for the genre.  When I read a fantasy novel I want something that blows me away, I have been spoiled by the classics I have read in the past.