Romance - The Keysmash Blog

Review: Phoebe Unfired By Amalie Jahn

April 16, 2021 tanazmasaba

Blog Banner Phoebe Unfired By Amalie Jahn

Phoebe Unfired by Amalie Jahn has to be one of the most wholesome, heartwarming stories about friendship, family, love and overcoming trauma. It is one of those books you know is going to be an instant hit the moment you start reading, and I have no doubt it is going to be one of my favorite books of 2021 already.

Set in a post-COVID world, the story follows Phoebe as she struggles to make friends while battling her germaphobia. Our poor girl developed the phobia after infecting her younger brother with Covid-19 and nearly losing him as a result. The book revolves around her, and her 64-year-old best friend Walter who also suffers from general anxiety disorder, and how the two of them help each other overcome their demons and have some semblance of a normal life.

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Home, Young Adult

Review: Alma Underwood Is Not A Kleptomaniac

May 7, 2020 tanazmasaba

Alma Underwood Is Not A Kleptomaniac by Lacey Dailey is a surprisingly sweet, heartwarming love story between a kleptomaniac (yes you are a klepto Alma, stop lying to yourself) and a runaway teenager. Though I am not typically one for romances, I finished this one sitting and actually really enjoyed this.

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Home, Young Adult

The Folk Of The Air Series By Holly Black: A Brutal And Brilliant Fantasy

April 15, 2020 tanazmasaba

Note: This is a series review, meaning that I will be reviewing all three books of the series (The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King and Queen of Nothing) as a whole and will also be rating the series as a whole.

I rarely enjoy stories about the fae–despite their popularity, especially in the YA fantasy genre, very few writers have managed to properly encapsulate their terrifyingly violent and yet comically whimsical nature. The only good fae story, really good fae story that comes to mind is Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series. If you haven’t read it, you are absolutely missing out–it is one of the best fantasy novels that I have read and will forever cherish in my heart.

(And yes I have read Sara J Mass’s Court of Thorns series. No, I did not like it one bit)

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Book Corner, Home, Reviews, Young Adult

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor: A Whimsical, Impossibly Imaginative, Lushly Narrated Fantasy

April 5, 2019 tanazmasaba

It was impossible, of course.
But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor: A Whimsical, Impossibly Imaginative, Lushly Narrated Fantasy

Probably one of the most whimsical, magical, wonderful story I have ever read, Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor is the kind of young adult fantasy novel that challenges what constitutes as “impossible”. It is the kind of story where magic and science co-exist in such perfect harmony that the lines between reality and fantasy are duly blurred, and this vibrant, stunningly improbable world is full of people from all walks of life, each with heartbreaking and yet inspiring stories of their own.

The story begins with Lazlo Strange, an orphaned child who escapes the misery of his terrible, abusive childhood through daydreams of a fabled magical city that allegedly existed up until 300 years ago. He (and the reader) get their first taste of magic when one day, while Lazlo is still a child, everyone across the world forgets the name of this magical city–every time they try to speak it, they can only say Weep.

Things begin to get even stranger after that. But that’s not important at all. What’s important is that after a series of absurd, unfortunate incidents, Lazlo gets the chance to actually visit this mystical fabled city of Weep.

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Book Corner, Home, Young Adult

Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

November 21, 2018 tanazmasaba

What power can bruise the sky?
Two worlds are poised on the brink of a vicious war. By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera’s rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her.
When the brutal angel emperor brings his army to the human world, Karou and Akiva are finally reunited–not in love, but in tentative alliance against their common enemy. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people. And, perhaps, for themselves.
But with even bigger threats on the horizon, are Karou and Akiva strong enough to stand among the gods and monsters?

Trigger Warning: This book contains graphic scenes of violence

Dreams of Gods and Monsters is without a doubt, an excellent ending to an excellent series, but before I start ~~fangirling~~ reviewing this book, please note that this review might contain minor spoilers for those who have not yet read Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight. I highly recommend you read my review of those books first before you read this review.

Here’s what I enjoyed about this book:

World building (again): this time we get to explore the other side of Eretz, the home of the mysterious Stelians. The imagery is so vivid, and it truly shows how fantastical Taylor’s imagination is.

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Book Corner, Home, Young Adult

Review: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

November 2, 2018 tanazmasaba

If you haven’t read the first book please do not read further as there are spoilers in this review.Feel free to read my review of Daughter of Smoke and Bone here if you are interested in starting this series!

Trigger Warning: Graphic scenes of violence and sexual assault

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Book Corner, Dystopia, Home, Thriller, Young Adult

Review: Champion by Marie Lu

September 14, 2018 tanazmasaba

He is a Legend. She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

The third and final book of the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu surpassed all of my expectations—and let me tell you, my expectations were pretty high. I know I have said this before in my review of Prodigy, but Marie Lu’s writing improves dramatically after the first book in this series, and Champion was no exception. Here is a quick rundown of all the things that I loved about the book (and none of the things I didn’t like because guess what…I loved EVERYTHING!)

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Book Corner, Dystopia, Home, Young Adult

Review: Prodigy (Legends #2) by Marie Lu

August 18, 2018 tanazmasaba

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

Though this is a spoiler-free review, it is strongly recommended that you read the first book in this series, Legend (see review here) before reading this review.

Two weeks ago I reviewed Legend by Marie Lu, and while I was not particularly impressed with that book due to its lack of uniqueness in and sufficient world-building, Prodigy, the second book in the sequel, blew my mind. Intense and fast-paced, Prodigy was everything that a sequel in a series should be.

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Adult, Book Corner, Calendar Girls, Other Bookish Stuff, Retellings, Uncategorized

Review: The Secret Diary Of Lizzie Bennet

August 6, 2018 tanazmasaba

Twenty‑four‑year‑old grad student Lizzie Bennet is saddled with student loan debt and still living at home along with her two sisters—beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. When she records her reflections on life for her thesis project and posts them on YouTube, she has no idea The Lizzie Bennet Diaries will soon take on a life of their own, turning the Bennet sisters into internet celebrities seemingly overnight.

When rich and handsome Bing Lee comes to town, along with his stuck‑up friend William Darcy, things really start to get interesting for the Bennets—and for Lizzie’s viewers. But not everything happens on‑screen. Lucky for us, Lizzie has a secret diary.

This review is part of The Calendar Girls monthly blog event, hosted by the lovelies at Darque Dreamer Reads and Never Not Reading. To know more about The Calendar Girls, click here

I have always been a lover of classics, but Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice holds a very, very special place in my heart. With a main character who is as witty, charming, and yet flawed as Elizabeth Bennet, the complicated yet strangely relatable family relationships (relatable only if you are a young adult female from a Southeast Asian country such as myself), and Austen’s viciously funny narration style, it’s hard not to love Pride and Prejudice.

And it’s equally hard not to love it’s very clever, very funny and extremely endearing modern-day retelling: The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Noble.

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Home, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

June 15, 2018 tanazmasaba

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Ratings:

As someone who makes a point of avoiding the romance genre and has a particular distaste for any story that even remotely has the true-love-conquers–all trope, Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone caught me by surprise. This is a fantasy novel where the whole premise is based on the fates of star-crossed lovers–and yet, this story has so much more to offer: this is a story that explores colonization, racism and the pointlessness of war in a way that very few Young Adult (and even Adult) books have been able to do.

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