Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones 4 ✭

Title:	Wintersong
Author:	S. Jae-Jones
Publisher:	Thomas Dunne Books
Series:	Wintersong
Genre:	Young Adult, Dark Fantasy, Historical, Romance
Publish Date:	February 7, 2017
Sold by:	St. Martin's Press
Pages:	448
Ages:	Teen

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Wintersong leaves you feeling open. Your base emotions felt. You have a bewitching enchantment. S. Jae-Jones wrote some really cool scenes that feel spooky but completely captivating. This is for a person who appreciates someone having an actual style to their writing. 

This haunting romantic tale reminds me of older horror novels. The ones that lead you on a trail into their enigmatic world. I guess it starts with the world building right. There are key scenes in the book that are unforgettable. For example when Liesl can’t find her sister in the market, or when she finds her sister eating a forbidden fruit in the goblin grove. You could almost feel the juices from the fruit yourself just reading about it. There are so many little pieces that make it the story such a good read. The confusion Liesl feels, and the reader’s anxiety knowing what she has forgotten. Their grandmother’s constant reminder of the tales of the Goblin King.

The characters are set in a different time than us. It is distant but not so distant that it isn’t relatable in Germany. Which that caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting that, but I found it appealing. They have a drunk for a father and a nagging mother. There are three siblings in total. The older daughter is the prized beauty to be sold off into an arranged marriage. The younger, Liesl, is to watch after her old sister and sort of end up the old maid. There is a brother who relies heavily on Liesl’s support to maintain his confidence.

Overall I couldn’t be happier with reading this novel. It was thrilling for me. I always love a bit of romance to my stories. I really liked that this wasn’t as cookie cutter as I was expecting when I initially read the blurb. I am very thankful to have received an ARC copy to enjoy.

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Manroot by Anne Steinberg 4 ✭

I bought this book on Amazon for the great price of $0.99. I just want to start off by saying that this book is very dark. There may even be things that might offend some people. It really depends on your personal preference. However, I did keep reading no matter what I came up to. Goodreads.com has it listed as 320 pages which usually seems short but this book is very descriptive and it can seem longer. I don't usually mind descriptive books because then you can visualize the world it is in better. You're able to feel the eerie mysteriousness of the whole book.

Katherine is born with mystic healing and an affinity for herbalism which she gets from her mothers' heritage. Her father is a drunk Irishman, and her mother was a Navajo Indian. Her father is sick. He actually rapes his own daughter, eww. Who knows, this takes place in the time of the great depression I guess, who knows what kind of sickos there were. Take it as you want. Anyways, they end up in this town in Missouri, which is where her father abandons her at the Inn she is working at.

This book was spooky and interesting too. I like the spiritual side or the traditions that come across when you are reading. The book follows Katherine during her lifetime and her twins, which is personally weird for me because my mother was a twin until recently. I liked Katherine as a character. Then there were other times where I was so frustrated or emotional. It probably has nothing to do with the character herself, but more so about the things that happen to her or the circumstances of the situation.

If you enjoy reading a book about a different time, and a different world, then this could be the book for you. It's listed at a good price for $0.99 so I just bought it. However it is also a Kindle Unlimited read, so you can pick it up for free here. 

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