Review: Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

Book info:

Title:  Royal Bastards
Author:  Andrew Shvarts
Genre:  YA fantasy
Release Date:  May 30th, 2016
Source:  Requested ARC from publisher, Disney Hyperion Teens
My rating:  4 stars

Synopsis:

Being a bastard blows. Tilla would know. Her father, Lord Kent of the Western Province, loved her as a child, but cast her aside as soon as he had trueborn children.

At sixteen, Tilla spends her days exploring long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle with her stablehand half brother, Jax, and her nights drinking with the servants, passing out on Jax’s floor while her castle bedroom collects dust. Tilla secretly longs to sit by her father’s side, resplendent in a sparkling gown, enjoying feasts with the rest of the family. Instead, she sits with the other bastards, like Miles of House Hampstedt, an awkward scholar who’s been in love with Tilla since they were children.

Then, at a feast honoring the visiting princess Lyriana, the royal shocks everyone by choosing to sit at the Bastards’ Table. Before she knows it, Tilla is leading the sheltered princess on a late-night escapade. Along with Jax, Miles, and fellow bastard Zell, a Zitochi warrior from the north, they stumble upon a crime they were never meant to witness.

Rebellion is brewing in the west, and a brutal coup leaves Lyriana’s uncle, the Royal Archmagus, dead—with Lyriana next on the list. The group flees for their lives, relentlessly pursued by murderous mercenaries; their own parents have put a price on their heads to prevent the king and his powerful Royal Mages from discovering their treachery.

The bastards band together, realizing they alone have the power to prevent a civil war that will tear their kingdom apart—if they can warn the king in time. And if they can survive the journey . . .

My Review:
My rating:  4 stars

I had been seeing this book around many blogs earlier this year on the Waiting on Wednesday posts, and I'd been intrigued by the idea behind it, especially with the tiny hint of  Game of Thrones aspect to it.  So I emailed the publisher and requested it.  I am so glad that I did, because I really enjoyed it!  The characters were very interesting and ones that you wanted to know more about.  I loved the sibling relationship between Jax and Tilla.  I empathized with Miles and his obvious unrequited love for Tilla, but also was intrigued to find out more about Zell, the boy who did catch her attention.  The princess, Lyriana, was not the princess that might have shown up in this type of a story, she wasn't the type that would be annoying and make those around her roll their eyes in the frustration of dealing with her.  Not that she was in any way prepared for what happened when their little group had to run.  She had always been pretty much pampered and taken care of, as she was a true heir, not a bastard like Zell, Tilla, Miles, and Jax in his own way.  There were real losses in this story, people you really did grow to love and want to see them go on and escape the mess they had found themselves in.  I don't know if this is going to be a series or not for sure.  But it ended in a way that makes me want more story.  Not all the loose ends were tied up, not all the issues were solved  But it did end in a way that I guess will work in case the author doesn't get a sequel.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it isn't going to end this way though.  
One funny thing I want to mention, when they talked about their ancestors, the Titans.  Something about the description, as well as their "origin" myth in this world, made me think that maybe there might be more to the story than just a fantasy world.  Of course, it could just be my crazy imagination with it, and I don't want to say exactly what I was thinking, because I'm probably just being crazy.  If you read it, and get any weird thoughts based on those two things though, come back and tell me!  We can discuss it.  :-)
I definitely recommend this one.  The title may be a bit shocking, and I wonder how well it will go over in my school library, but it is one that I really do want my students to have a chance to read if they get the chance. 

Two Audiobook Reviews - The Hudson Valley Series: Nuts (#1) and Cream of the Crop (#2) by Alice Clayton

So, because I am falling behind on reviews, I thought I would combine my reviews of these two books in this same series into one post.  Let me just say that I have a new author I'm a huge fan of.  Another reason I'm very excited to go to Apollycon 2017 in March!  Of course what first drew me to these books was the total suggestiveness of the covers, but in such a funny way, even if it was pretty much in your face.  Not to mention the titles, they totally crack me up.  I listened to the audiobooks of these, and now I just can't wait to hear what the third book will be, and I know there has to be a 3rd book, because there is one more friend! 

Book 1 Info:
Title:  Nuts  
Author:  Alice Clayton
Series:  Hudson Valley #1  
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  October 20th, 2015
Source:  Digital audiobook download from public library

The main character in the story is Roxie.  When we first meet Roxie, she is a personal chef to many rich people out in California, including a famous Hollywood married couple, that I believe are the characters in the author's Redhead series.  When she has a mishap with one of her snotty clients, and then said client puts in a bad word with all her other clients, except for the Hollywood couple, Roxie's whole personal chef business seems to be over.  Roxie's mother has asked her to come back home to a small town in upstate New York and run the family diner while her mother gets to go be a contestant on The Amazing Race.  Roxie does not want to do it, she is tired of bailing out her irresponsible hippie mother, but doesn't seem to have anything else she can do at this point.  So, she does go home to help her mother out.  Once in town she meets the new guy who runs a local farm, Leo Maxwell.  And from the first moment she meets him, her clumsiness causes the two to end up in very embarrassing positions as she knocks the two of them over.  But the sexual attraction is there, and while Roxie knows she doesn't want anything more than sex, as that is all she really wants since growing up dealing with her mother's many heartbreaks.  Plus, Roxie fully intends to go back to California when her time taking care of the diner for her mother is over.  Leo seems to agree, and be on board with it.  And let me tell you, once they get together, the sex is hot!  

Things I loved:  the author mentioning that Kansas City has the best BBQ, the innuendos, Roxie's fear of bees - bees are assholes, and that Roxie was in love with Almanzo from Little House on the Prairie (me too).  The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the narrator occasionally read in a way that seemed very slow, in parts that I was eager to move along through to get to more exciting parts.  

Book 2 info (only differences from above):
Title:  Cream of the Crop 
Series:  Hudson Valley #2  
Published:  July 12th, 2016
Source: Digital audiobook download from public library

This book has the main character Natalie, who is one of Roxie's best friends from book one.  Natalie's love interest is the dairy farmer from Roxie's hometown, Oscar.  She sees him every Saturday at the Farmer's Market in Union Square in NYC where she lives.   Now, Natalie is pretty confident in herself, and definitely can get a date whenever she wants.  But for some reason, whenever she gets around Oscar, she gets all tongue-tied and blushing.  What I love about Natalie is that she is a big girl, but owns it.  And actually that is part of what makes Oscar attracted to her as well.  In fact, the first time she is really able to talk to him, he tells her what he loved most about seeing her at the Farmer's Market every Saturday, was watching her "great, big ass" as she walked away.  When he first says this to her, you can imagine how it sounds, and how pissed she gets.  Natalie makes sure that she gets Roxie's hometown as an advertising client when it comes up, partly to be with her friend, and partly because of her attraction to Oscar, who is described in the first book as reminding Roxie of a Dothraki like in Game of Thrones.  Since I had just started watching GOT at the same time I was listening to these books, I pictured him like the main Dothraki guy.  While Natalie is a very independent city girl, Oscar is very much a quiet, small town guy.  He not only runs the Dairy Farm that Leo in Nuts is right next door to, he also coaches Little League football in town.  

Of course there will be problems.  While Natalie figures it will just be a "fun" relationship, as she's always been like Roxie in the anti-relationship group, feelings start to get involved.  And when Oscar wants her to move to his small town, and leave her life in NYC behind, or so it seems, Natalie's past rears its head and comes between them.  It's not just Natalie's past, but also Oscar's ex-wife.  And how he deals with her is really irritating in some parts.  But in others totally understandable.  

Things I loved:  Natalie loves cheese just like me,  the fact that Oscar calls her "Pin-up", hot sex scenes, and more hilarious scenes and lines.  The part where she gets out of the car when she first runs into Oscar on his farm, and she just runs away.  OMG, I was dying laughing.  Her line about the first time she saw him:  "From the first moment I laid eyes on him, I was dying to lay thighs on him."  This author knows how to write funny dialogue, storylines, and the innuendos are hilarious as well.  However, the one thing I didn't like was some of the way Oscar dealt with things.  Honestly in book 1, I feel like Leo handled everything perfectly, even when the big conflict/surprise came up, the way he was with Roxie was perfect.  But the way that Oscar dealt with Natalie's issues in this one, well, it pissed me off.  And made him not as perfect for me as Leo had been.  But I still loved the story, and loved the two of them together.

As I mentioned before, I NEED to know when the third book is coming out. And I can't wait to hear what innuendo the title of it will be, something to do with hotels?  Not to mention I can't wait to see what they come up with for the cover of it.

If you haven't tried Alice Clayton yet, I'd totally recommend these hilarious, sexy, fun books! 

A to Z April - F: Fantasy

For the letter F I'm going to choose a genre of fiction that is not actually one that I read a ton of.  There are some of my very favorite series that fit into it though, so it is worth mentioning.  The more I'm around authors and bloggers, I've learned that the type of fantasy I really don't get into is called "high fantasy".  Like Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings for example.  While I can enjoy a movie or tv series with it, I just have trouble actually sitting down and reading it.


1.  My all time favorite fantasy series is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe series by C.S. Lewis.  I used to read those books over and over when I was a kid.  My copies of them are dog-eared and tattered, and to me look well-loved.  The pictures below match the covers of the books that I own, and I've posted them in the story's chronological order, as opposed to order of publication.


-->


2.  My 2nd all time favorite fantasy series is by Madeleine L'Engle, the A Wrinkle in Time series.  What is funny to me today is that I keep hearing about the "tesseract" in the Marvel Comic movies, and this book is where I first remember seeing that word.  So now whenever they mention it in those movies, the book is what I think of first.  This is another dog-eared series of books that I read over and over.  But I didn't own all of them, used to check them out from the library.

-->
-->
3.  My 3rd and final favorite fantasy series is a newer one.  It didn't come out till I was a grown-up.  I was teaching at my 3rd teaching job, and working part time at a B. Dalton bookstore.  I resisted at first, but when I picked up a copy of the first one at the suggestion of a fellow bookseller, I was hooked.  That series is the Harry Potter series.

So, are you a big fantasy reader?  Have you read all of these?  What are your favorite fantasy series?