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Nic rated a book really liked it The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1) by Roshani Chokshi (Goodreads Author) read in January, 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A 3.5 rounded up for the beautiful writing. Early on, I would have given it four stars or even more, but I felt like I lost some of the emotional connection to Maya after she started having doubts in Naraka. It bothers me when I feel like I'm not sur ...more
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Nic rated a book liked it The Amateurs (The Amateurs, #1) by Sara Shepard (Goodreads Author) read in January, 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A 3.5 rounded down because my 4-star books are generally ones I'm more passionate about. Still, you can bet I'll be picking up the sequel. Sara Shepard can write an entertaining thriller.
Jan 11, 2017 04:14AM · like · see review
Nic rated a book really liked it The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen, #1) by Sarah Fine (Goodreads Author) read in January, 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I like protagonist Elli. I especially appreciate that, despite being brought up in isolation with all her needs cared for, she's not a spoiled brat. It works, because she was raised to believe that her life would be all about service. When it turns o ...more
Jan 10, 2017 05:22AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Nic wants to read One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nic wants to read Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney's Inspirational SketchArtists by John Canemaker	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nic rated a book liked it The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett read in December, 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I could have kept going with this one. I like fairy-tale retellings, and this is an interesting angle. Ultimately, though, I'm unimpressed with the writing and the character development so far. I suspect there's a time jump, since protagonist Jane is ...more
Dec 30, 2016 10:04PM · like · see review
Nic wants to read Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nic wants to read Caraval (Caraval, #1) by Stephanie Garber (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nic wants to read Maresi (The Red Abbey Chronicles, #1) by Maria Turtschaninoff	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nic entered a giveaway Maresi (The Red Abbey Chronicles, #1) by Maria Turtschaninoff	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 30, 2016 07:29PM · like · see giveaway

Nic rated a book really liked it

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)
by Roshani Chokshi (Goodreads Author)

read in January, 2017

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A 3.5 rounded up for the beautiful writing. Early on, I would have given it four stars or even more, but I felt like I lost some of the emotional connection to Maya after she started having doubts in Naraka. It bothers me when I feel like I'm not sur A 3.5 rounded up for the beautiful writing. Early on, I would have given it four stars or even more, but I felt like I lost some of the emotional connection to Maya after she started having doubts in Naraka. It bothers me when I feel like I'm not sure what the protagonist - especially a first-person protagonist - is feeling.

I also kept running into small, perhaps petty confusions over what we might call choreography. Say, Maya's little sister Gauri is visiting Maya in her bedroom to ask for a story. She comes into the bedroom . . . and then suddenly she's peeking out from under the covers. This always causes me to grind to a halt, puzzled, and go back to search for the point where Gauri got into the bed and under the covers. Then I'm slightly annoyed if it's not there. This is a small thing, but it happened to me a number of times.

Otherwise, though, I love the writing. I love glimpsing so many interesting mythical creatures. There are some fun characters, too. I especially like Gupta and Kamala.

I wouldn't have minded a bit more worldbuilding detail, both in Bharata and in Naraka.

This book reminds me of The Ghost Bride. (Slight spoilers) In each one, a young woman with few prospects in life ends up in an unexpected marriage that leads her to enter the world of the dead. Each book features lovely writing and mythical creatures. But this book is much more tangled up in romance, and I'm not sure how well that romance works for me. (Big big spoilers) Basically, Maya marries Amar to save her own life, and then starts to fall in love with him, but still isn't sure she can trust him. (In fairness, he does sometimes withhold information "for her own good" and do other such shifty stuff.) The malicious interference of another person causes Maya to betray Amar. Then she gets back some of her memories from past lives and realizes that she and Amar have been in love across lifetimes and are Meant To Be. Then she spends the rest of the book getting back to him, saving him, and reclaiming her place at his side.

(Continued spoilers) So at this point, my issue is that the love between Maya and Amar is one of the driving elements of the story, but a good bit of the real falling-in-love takes place in brief flashbacks to past lives. We don't really see them win each other over. Amar already loves Maya because he knows who she is from past lives. Once Maya gets her memories back, she basically feels the same way. Which is maybe an interesting variation from the "falling in love" story, I guess? Still, kind of feels like we were cheated of the real romance arc.

But this is a really neat fantasy, so yay for that! ...more

Nic rated a book liked it

The Amateurs (The Amateurs, #1)
by Sara Shepard (Goodreads Author)

read in January, 2017

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A 3.5 rounded down because my 4-star books are generally ones I'm more passionate about. Still, you can bet I'll be picking up the sequel. Sara Shepard can write an entertaining thriller.

Nic rated a book really liked it

The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen, #1)
by Sarah Fine (Goodreads Author)

read in January, 2017

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I like protagonist Elli. I especially appreciate that, despite being brought up in isolation with all her needs cared for, she's not a spoiled brat. It works, because she was raised to believe that her life would be all about service. When it turns o I like protagonist Elli. I especially appreciate that, despite being brought up in isolation with all her needs cared for, she's not a spoiled brat. It works, because she was raised to believe that her life would be all about service. When it turns out she can't serve her people as queen, and she's cast out, she wants to be of service in whatever way she can, and she doesn't take it for granted that other people will help her. Elli's determined to be useful. And while her rich upbringing and inexperience mean that she's clueless about how to do that, she has enough common sense to keep her mouth shut, to watch and learn.

[Big spoilers] I don't like that Mim is killed. Both because I like Mim as a character, and because it seems like an overly-convenient way out of the Mim-Elli-Oskar love triangle. If Mim and Elli had embarked on a real romantic relationship, they might have had issues anyway, mostly with power dynamics: Mim works for and is awe of Elli, and Mim is also four years older than Elli, which is kind of a big deal when you're twenty and sixteen. So it might not have worked out anyway, but we'll never know now, will we?

I like Oskar pretty well. Kind of hate Sig, though. As Elli points out, Sig hates the idea of being used, yet he's willing to use Elli against her will to accomplish his ends. Plus, he never really apologizes for his role in killing Mim. In fact, he keeps reminding Elli that it was partly her fault, too. Which, technically, kind of, maybe, by accident, it partly was? But it was mostly Sig, and either way, Elli is grieving Mim, so if Sig had an ounce of kindness in him, he'd just shoulder that responsibility and not cruelly push part of it onto Elli.

I like the fire/ice magic system, though a few things about it kind of confuse me. I like the prevalence of copper, too. It gives the fantasy world a distinctive feel.

I also appreciate that, when the Big Bad is revealed, he seems to genuinely think he's somehow in the right. His views have twisted so that he really does seem to see sacrificing others to build his own power as being for the greater good. That makes him a scarier and more interesting baddie than someone who goes "Bwahaha sure I do what I want, who's going to stop me?"

The ending intrigues me. I prefer that the first book in a trilogy or series have a slightly more conclusive ending. This one's not exactly a cliffhanger, but it's kind of like the ending of lots of other Book Ones: things are stable for the moment, but a storm's coming. I do want to know what happens, so I might give it a shot at some point.

My prediction: I think the new Valtia might be that Soturi girl who was there at the coronation of the false Valtia. I don't know how, if she hasn't grown up around copper like the Kupari, but I think it's possible. At any rate, she's going to be important. ...more

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One of Us Is Lying
by Karen M. McManus (Goodreads Author)

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Nic wants to read

Before the Animation Begins by John Canemaker

Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney's Inspirational SketchArtists
by John Canemaker

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Nic rated a book liked it

The Stepsister's Tale
by Tracy Barrett

read in December, 2016

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I could have kept going with this one. I like fairy-tale retellings, and this is an interesting angle. Ultimately, though, I'm unimpressed with the writing and the character development so far. I suspect there's a time jump, since protagonist Jane is ...more

Nic wants to read