Frostblood Book Review

Frostblood by Ellie Blake

Rating: 3/5

Goodreads Summary:

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Before I continue writing this review, I want to apologize to HBG Canada because they sent me an ARC of this a while back and I haven't gotten around to writing a review until now, I am thankful for the copy, but very sorry I've been a terrible reviewer. I'll do better.

Thoughts and Opinions:
         Basically, this book is about a girl, Ruby who is a Fireblood, a person with the ability to control fire and produce fire. They are being hunted by the King's men who is a Frostblood, someone who controls ice. She gets captured, but then gets saved by people who she eventually gets used to and that's when things start to develop. 

         I liked the fantasy part of the book; magic and the power. But the other parts?.. It was kinda similar to most YA book plots. It was a bit predictable for me, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. I liked the both the MC's banters and comments to each other, it was pretty much the highlight of the book. I hoped there were more interactions between the characters and that they had more character into it (ha, pun intended). It took me a while to kind of get excited, but when it did, it was brief.
         I liked the arena part, it was the part in the book where things got interesting because there were a lot of things happening and action.
         Back to the topic of the fantasy part, the myths and the stories of where the Frostbloods and the Firebloods' magic came from appealed to me. Personally, I like reading tales from a backstory within books, it makes it much more interesting and the insight of how things started makes it easier to form an image and how the characters in the book got to where they were now; how things became that way and how their lives and culture changed because of that tale/myth they've been told growing up. For the most part, I genuinely did enjoy and didn't mind reading it. There were moments when it got to me, especially with this one event that happened and I may have shed a tear, but other than that, it wasn't enough to push me over the edge. It was consistent and easy to read, but it just didn't do much. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.
          Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who's into fantasy and the characters have unique powers and they save the world. 

Wintersong Book Review

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Summary:

Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell.

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.

Thoughts and Opinions:

          I didn't really know much going into this book, I just saw it and got it because I've seen a lot about it online. Then I started reading and goblins were the last thing I expected. The book kinda have this Spiderwick Chronicles feel to it with the goblin characters (it's probably just a me thing since I liked the Spiderwick Chronicles and any goblin related things just makes me think of the movie), Hades mythology (in a way) and The Book Thief (the character's name is Leisl and it's also set in Germany) vibe to it. And if you happen to like one of them, then you probably will like this book too. I was a bit surprised when I first started reading because it mentioned goblins and I had no idea what I signed up for, but I liked it. I liked the concept of it especially the music theme. Personally, I'm not good at music or know the keys and all the fun stuff, but I love listening to music so it was also cool because it felt like I learned something about it.
         I liked the romance between Liesl and Der Erlkonig (Goblin King). The chemistry between them was just too much. There were times when I just wanted them to stop thinking and start getting together, and boy, when they finally did it was soooo good. I loved it. There were also aspects in the book like the other minor characters who were interesting. I think I fell in love with the Goblin King though because he was a gentle man and Liesl didn't get annoying like some main characters usually become in some books.
         What I didn't like though, is that it kind of dragged on a bit half way through the book, and it kind of reminded me of Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. It almost had the same idea, but not. Overall though, I enjoyed it and I would probably read the next book cause I'm curious about what's going to happen between Liesl and Der Erlkonig.

Soo... I have a lot of catching up to do...

          It's been a year or so since I wrote a post. To be quite honest it's because I just didn't have the time to take photos on Instagram and well I just lost the motivation altogether. It's a crappy excuse but, what can ya do. I've been reading though, don't get me wrong, but I just haven't been writing my reviews. I'm not sure if I will be posting photos on Instagram or not, but if I am, I probably will be posting at least once or twice a week. I'm not even entirely sure if anyone ever even sees my blog post, but I've missed having people to talk to about books I've read and enjoyed, so I'm going to give this a go. I know there's a lot more people with better ideas than me, but I enjoy doing this and it's a learning process, so we'll see how this goes.

Much love,
Lyndyl