Waiting on Wednesday: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.   I've actually picked a standalone book this week, or at least it is not a sequel, not sure if it will be the first in a new series or anything.  I picked it by the fact that it is by an author that I just adore, Sarah Rees Brennan.  I loved her Lynburn Legacy series, and I got to meet her at the Romantic Times convention in Kansas City in 2013.  And let me tell you, she is just so much fun to watch and see how she interacts with the other authors and fans.  So I am pretty much into any book she writes these days, and I was thrilled to find this one one Goodreads.  Here is the blurb, which isn't much for now, but enough:

Tell the Wind & Fire is about a young girl called Lucie who lives in a New York very different from the New York we know: the city is torn between two very different kinds of magic, and Lucie’s own family was torn apart years ago by that conflict. Lucie wears magic rings and carries a burden of guilt she can’t share with anyone.

The light in her life is her sweetheart boyfriend Ethan, but it turns out Ethan has a secret too: a soulless doppelganger created by dark magic, who has to conceal the face identical to Ethan’s with a hood fastened by a collar nobody but a Light magician with magical rings can take off… and who introduces himself to both of them by, for reasons nobody can understand, saving Ethan’s life…


Hmm, I think it sounds interesting.  A soulless doppelganger boyfriend?  Magic, etc., New York, two different worlds.  I'm all in, especially for the wonderful characters and dialogue that I know Sarah Rees Brennan will create.  The bad thing?  It's not expected publication until 2016!!!

So, how about you, what are you eagerly anticipating this week?  

Review: Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy #3) by Sarah Rees Brennan (September Sequels Challenge #1)

I have to thank Random House Young Readers and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  Ever since I read the first book in this trilogy, Unspoken, I've been a huge fan of this author.  And when I got to meet her at the Romantic Times Convention back in 2013, she was one of the neatest people I've met as well.  I've loved this series, even the middle book, Untold, and the ending is no different.  Once again, I just fell right back in love with the characters. The way that their sarcastic remarks were just a part of them, even during the least joking of times, makes them people I want to hang out with. Here's a synopsis of this final book, and of course that would be impossible without some spoilers.  But my only spoilers are for those who haven't read the first 2 books.  I will do my best not to give anything away for those who are caught up and waiting for this one.

As we left off in the last book, Kami is now linked to Ash instead of Jared.  And as far as anyone knows, Jared is probably dead, inside the Aurimere mansion with Rob Lynburn and all the sorcerers that were now following him.  The only magic left against him was Lillian (Ash's mother), Henry (their friend from out of town), Ash, Holly, and what little magic Kami has as a source for Ash.  Rob Lynburn wants the town to give him a sacrifice.  A person to take their life, to give him the power he wants.  Only what he wants may not be just to rule the town as it used to be.  And Jared isn't gone.  Rob has kept him alive, and has tortured him trying to bring him to his side.  Kami's mom feels that there is no use in fighting and so she has gone to serve at the mansion.  This makes Kami's father very upset, and he tells her to move out.  The townspeople are all hiding in their homes.  They let Rob have the mayor as the first sacrifice.  He doesn't go willingly, but no one does anything to save him.  So before the spring equinox, they must figure a way to defeat Rob, save Jared as well as Kami's mom, and hopefully not die.  There will be many setbacks, some people losing their magic on the good side.  People they love being turned to stone.  And a fire that will destroy a home.  And Kami will lose more than one friend to the evil.  But she will not let them take her brothers, or even who she loves, and always will, Jared.  She will learn that there are others who may love her as well, and who knows if there was never a Jared if she would maybe have been able to love them back.  But all will be settled in the end, in the way that hopefully is best.

I loved the story, the twists and turns, how they had to work to get where they needed.  I loved the friendships and family bits.  I will miss my favorite characters now that the story is over.  Especially one that was lost towards the end.  I will just now be waiting for Ms. Brennan's next story, and more characters that I will love and want to hang out with.

My only complaint about the story, may not even be the story's fault.  I feel like towards the end, the very final battle, kind of went by really fast, and I feel like maybe I missed a fact or detail.  However, this may be my own fault as I raced through at the end, wanting to know how it would end, how could they save the world?  So once it comes out and I get my finished copy of the book, I'll have to go back and re-read at a slower pace to see what I might have missed in my rush to take it all in.

Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan

I actually thought this came out in August, so rushed to read it at the beginning of August, but now see that it isn't to be published till September, so I'm typing this review about 20 days before you will see it! I am so thankful to Random House Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss for allowing me to read this e-galley. At the end of the review, look for pictures of when I got to meet the author, Sarah Rees Brennan, this past May at the Romantic Times Convention. Now, when I met her, she said I could ask one question about this book, which I didn't have the e-galley of yet, and didn't know I'd even be able to get it. But my mind blanked! I couldn't think of anything specific to ask! She probably thought I was lying when I said I loved the first one, Unspoken, but I wasn't! I loved this one too. And a lot of what I love isn't just the story, it is the characters, the dialogue, all of it. There are times when I laughed out loud, literally, because the characters are written so realistically sarcastic.
So the main characters are back, Kami, Jared Lynburn and his "cousin" Ash Lynburn.  Kami's best friend Angela and her brother Rusty, and their friend Holly.  Kami and Jared's link was broken, and since then, things have been strained between them.  Ash's father has left and is gathering sorcerers to his side to try to take the town from his wife, Lillian, the true Lynburn heir.  And he wants it to go back to the way it used to be, where the people who weren't magic served the sorcerers, and magic was done by spilling blood.  Ash's mom, Lillian is very condescending, and doesn't see how someone like Kami could possibly help.  When Kami broke her bond with Jared, she lost any magical power that she had.  When Lillian gathers the sorcerers who do not want to go back to the old ways, they see they have way less than the other side.  Rob Lynburn goes and tells the townspeople that they must give him a sacrifice of one person on the fall equinox.  On the night it is to happen, they must all go to see if they can find a way to defeat his side.  Kami refuses to sit and let the magical people do all the work, so she does what she does best, investigates.  She tries to find out who all of the sorcerers are, and tries to get a personal item from each in order to maybe create a protection or blocking spell for the sorcerers on their side.  Kami uses her paper, The Nosy Parker, to get the message out to the students.  But as much as her mother has tried to keep all of this secret from her father, he finds out.  And now, Kami is not only worried about the town, she is worried about her mother and father not being able to repair this breach of trust.  And in the end, the Lynburns will do something to her family to try to win the war, and they will all have to decide what is left of their family.  And Kami must figure out if she and Jared are really over, if Ash is really going to be the nice guy he seems, or maybe it will be Angela's charming and humorous older brother Rusty who wins her over.
If you haven't read this series yet, you need to give it a try.  It's such a good read, such a smooth read, and like I said, a laugh out loud at times read!  My one complaint about the first book was the cover, but I'm much happier with this cover.  And now, how long do I have to wait for the 3rd book?  Too long!!

And as promised, some pictures of the author from when I met her.  First, a picture of me with her (I look like such a dork, but I was so excited!):

Next is a fun picture from one of the panels I saw her on.  She was timing all the authors as they read from their books, and as they got too close to the end time, she would go up and pretend she was choking them.  

Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan

First off, let me say, this book was sooooo good!  Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Books for letting me read an egalley of this.  I read this in April, and as I read it I was just going over and over in my head what I was going to say in the review, and then I was disappointed when I realized no one would get to see this information for about 4 months since it is going to be published in September.  So let the gushing begin!

I love, love, loved the characters in this book.  The banter between them, etc.  It reminds me a lot of Spellbound by Cara Lynn Schultz.  The way the characters talked to each other is just so much like how I talk with my friends and family.  I love the sense of humor, the snark, the sarcasm.  The story was good too, don't get me wrong, but it was the characters that pulled me in, made me laugh out loud, and keep coming back.  There was a cliffhanger ending, which I guess makes sense because this is going to be a series.  But I think it's okay if sometimes books don't have such huge cliffhangers.  My favorite series, Twilight, ends each book so that it could be the end.  At least I felt like it did.  And I don't know if I'm actually very happy about the way it ended, but because of other somewhat similar situations earlier in the book, I know I have to read on, because hopefully, it will get back to where I want it to be.  Where I loved the characters.

Our main character is Kami Glass who is part Asian, and a bit different from the other people in her small town in England.  Although, a lot of the way the book is, I would forget I was reading about England, that it wasn't just a small town in the USA.  And I think that's good too.  Anyway, there is a mysterious family, called the Lynburns, that have the huge mansion, and used to "run" the town in the way that rich families seem to do in small towns.  Yet they've been gone for a long time.  Kami also has a kind of unique quirk, she seems to hear someone talking in her head.  Someone she says is still her imaginary friend, that she's had forever, she's never outgrown him, Jared.  When the Lynburns come back to town, one of them a boy her age named Jared, it seems her imaginary friend may not be so imaginary.  She soon learns there is magic in this town.  And that there is a sordid history of the people in the town.  And there are people getting hurt, including Kami.  She forms a friendship both with Jared, and his cousin Ash, the other younger Lynburn back in town.  The adults in the Lynburn family aren't quite as friendly.  Kami thinks of herself as quite the Nancy Drew.  And as she starts a school paper with her friend Angela, she sets out to figure out the mysteries of her small town, Sorry in the Vale.

I loved the relationship between Kami and Jared mostly.  Although I don't understand why exactly he didn't want to touch her.  Maybe I missed how bad it was for them to feel each other's emotions that way.  I like Angela, she amused me to no end.  Such a great story, and I can't wait to read part two, but realized with the first book not even actually published yet, it will be awhile.  Maybe I can find book 2 on Netgalley as well next spring.

My only real complaint is the cover of the book.  And after reading the author's note/acknowledgement at the end of the egalley, I'm a bit afraid to say anything.  The cover just seems a bit childish for a teen book.  Off the top of my head I can't think of what more middle grades age book it reminds me of, but it just doesn't seem to fit in with the covers I see in the Teen sections these days.  It's not bad, just seems a bit immature.  Who knows, I could be crazy.  And it's not like I definitely want it to be one of those covers with the girls in the sweeping formal dresses, just doesn't work that great for me.