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pub 9/18/18 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
Books for Young Readers
YA - Sci-fi
Borrowed ARC from Alexa |
Given the ending and the revelations from
Warcross, it’s a given that I was very excited to see how
Wildcard would play out. It picks up right where it left off with Emika Chen barely surviving the Warcross championships and reeling from what she’s discovered about Hideo and Zero. With the Phoenix Riders on her side, she has to figure out how to stop Hideo’s algorithm, if she can trust Zero and his Blackcoats crew and you know, not die since there’s a bounty on her head. As you can imagine, it’s pretty much
go go go from the first page and Marie Lu impressed me (as always!) with her writing, imagination, and fast-paced nature of her storytelling. Every scene just propelled me forward because I couldn't help wanting to know more and I enjoyed seeing all the threads from
Warcross come together in
Wildcard through Emika’s eyes. I felt like we got to know her a lot better as she came into her own. Previously, she was kind of flying by the seat of her pants even though she was also using her resourcefulness and intelligence too. But it felt different this time. Instead of being this girl flown to Tokyo and becoming employed by someone she admired, she was now someone who was taking her life and extenuating matters into her own hands to do what's right.
Do I recommend? I do! Choosing to do this series as a duology was totally right call and as a fan, I was definitely very happy with it! (Side note though, Legend is still my fave!)
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pub 9/18/18 by Forever Romance
Adult - Historical Fiction
Received ARC from pub |
The Paris Seamstress took me completely by surprise! To be honest, I will basically give any book set in Paris a chance and that was my primary reason for being interested in reading this. But turns out, this wonderful book has a dozen other things I love such as: determined heroines who face challenges head-on, romance, emphasis on family, a special grandmother-granddaughter relationship, fashion, friendship and New York City. And the author brought together all these elements beautifully to create a compelling story. Well, stories! The book alternates between past and present. The past is set in the 1940s as a Parisian seamstress, Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the war quickly approaches and goes to Manhattan with one goal in mind – to have her own atelier. In the present, Australian curator Fabienne Bissette begins to learn more about her grandmother, and ultimately her family’s, past as she personally struggles with the truths she uncovers and what she wants for her own future. I always think that dual POVs, especially when you throw in different timelines, is hard to pull-off because you inevitably feel more drawn to one person over the other. But in this case, I really was invested in both women and both time periods. The author just set the stages for each perfectly. I could see both Paris and New York City through her words, see the characters and the people they met as well as the challenges they faced. It’s truly about two women blazing their own paths, which I'm 100% for.
Do I recommend? Absolutely! I loved everything about this book. There’s also an historical element to it that had me going down a rabbit hole on Google because I was like, omg is this true?! (Answer was yes.)
First of all, to get this out of the way, I obviously LOVED Wildcard <3 But, more importantly, I can't believe that I haven't yet read The Paris Seamstress! It's clear that you adored this book, and since we generally have the same taste, I expect I'll enjoy it as well.
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