wings and fables

Review: A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

March 18, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables5 Comments

“choices are never easy. there are good and bad options, but the most dangerous is to not make any choice at all.”
brigid kemmerer

Series: Cursebreakers #2

Release Date: January 7th, 2020

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance

Page Count: 450

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Find the heir, win the crown. The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers. Win the crown, save the kingdom. Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen–until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall The heart-pounding, compulsively readable saga continues as loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.

Rating:

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books That Got Me Into Reading

March 16, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables7 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Books That Got You Into Reading.

Since I fell in love with reading as soon as I learned how to read, I’m afraid my list would just be filled with children’s books such as Madeleine, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, etc.–probably not very exciting or engaging to read in my case. So instead I’m going to put a little bit of a spin on this week’s topic and choose the top 5 books that helped get me out of a reading slump at different times in my life.

1. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I went through several reading slumps as a teen, mostly because of time constraints due to harsh coursework in school. I’ve always been the type to fall into routine pretty easily (probably thanks to my Virgo moon) so once I’d subconsciously decided I wasn’t allowed to read for pleasure and instead should only read my coursework, it was difficult for me to let go a little. Discovering this series filled with Greek mythology and demigods through my sibling helped revive my love for reading circa 2008.

Continue reading →

Reviews

Review: A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

March 11, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables7 Comments

“not all scars can be seen, my lady.”
brigid kemmerer

Series: Cursebreakers #1

Release Date: January 29th, 2019

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance | Fairy-Tale Retelling

Page Count: 484

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Fall in love, break the curse. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope. Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s pulled into a magical world. Break the curse, save the kingdom. Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

Rating:

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books I Wish I Had Read When I Was Younger

March 9, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables1 Comment

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Books You Wish You Had Read When You Were Younger.

All of my books are ones I read a few years after their release (a few decades in the case of another) and are ones I wished I’d pushed myself to read earlier so I could’ve enjoyed them at the height of their fame. It’s still fun to read books that were once popular but have since fallen, but nothing compares to being able to read a book that everyone is talking about and loving it too. Here are a few of mine:

1. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I didn’t read this book until 3 years after its release. Scarlet, its sequel, had already been published in fact. At the time, I had recently gotten my first e-reader ever and the publisher had released the first five chapters of this book for free to entice readers to purchase the full book. Well, it definitely worked on me and I flew through its pages. I was fascinated by its blend of dystopian and sci-fi. I was shocked that retellings could actually do the original story justice and make me love them too. I’m glad I was able to be there for the hype of Cress‘s release but I still wish I’d picked this book up sooner.

Continue reading →

TBRs

March TBR 2021

March 6, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables2 Comments

A few days (or a week) late but better late than never, right? I completely forgot to make both a wrap-up post and a TBR post because I was too busy reading, no joke. I plan to merge my February and March wrap-ups but I decided to make a TBR post for this month still. Here are the books I’m hoping to get through this month:

1. A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

At the tail of last month and beginning of this month, I picked up and finished A Curse So Dark and Lonely, the first book in the Cursebreakers series. I fell in complete and utter love and will soon have a full review posted on here. It’s been such a long time since I’ve fallen so hard for a book and its characters. Grey was perhaps my favorite character from the series so far so I’m excited to dig in and see where the second book takes him.

Continue reading →

Reviews

Review: The Shadows Between Us By Tricia Levenseller

March 5, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables3 Comments

they’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. and they never will.
tricia levenseller

Series: Standalone

Release Date: February 25th 2020

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance

Page Count: 326

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:

1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it. But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?

Rating:

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books from Childhood

March 2, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables6 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Books from Your Childhood.

I am fortunate in that I found my love for books very early in life. In fact, I fell in love with them as soon as I learned how to read. I’ve also always been the type to reread favorites over and over again, never getting bored or falling out of love. There are SO MANY books I could list on here but I picked the following because they are the ones I reread the most as a child which means they wormed their way solidly into a special place in my heart. This was such a fun topic to write about and I have fallen into full nostalgia on a Monday morning as I’m writing this. Let’s jump in.

1. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

I’ve always loved animals. So much so that I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was growing up. However, after a summer job at an animal hospital when I turned 16, I found out that it was not the career path for me. But my love for animals still remains. Any book that had an animal as a focus was a book I was sure to read. (Does anyone remember the Animal Ark series? They were my life for a while!) My grade school teacher had suggested this book for me and I instantly fell in love. Going on Opal’s and Winn-Dixie’s adventures together was so much fun for me and I loved getting to know all of her new neighbors in her new town. I remember being fascinated about the story she was told regarding the candy that had the taste of sadness and how badly I wished I could taste some too. I’ve never seen the film–I was afraid it would ruin my love for the book–but maybe one day soon I’ll pull my worn copy of this book down from my shelves and read it again with fresh eyes as an adult.

Continue reading →