Books Read in April & May 2017

• Feathers by Rose Mannering (Tales Trilogy #2) — Fairytale-inspired YA fantasy. I really enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, Roses, and have been meaning to read book two for some time. Rose Mannering can *write*; her prose is beautiful. Feathers introduces new main characters and a new storyline, with allusions to characters from Roses. I’m intrigued to see how everything and everyone will come together in the last book.

• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller— Adult historical LGBT fantasy, based on the myth of Achilles. A gift from my bookseller sister. All I knew going into it was that I would likely cry at the end! Epic, romantic, violent — as a movie it would be very Game of Thrones. I enjoyed it, and feel more educated in Greek myth as a bonus.

• Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (book #1) — Fantasy (YA? Adult?).  AMAZING. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but the beauty, whimsy and creativity of Strange the Dreamer blew me away. A really imaginative story, impossible to predict. I’m excited for the second installment.

• The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner — YA contemporary about three teens in Tennessee, all with very different lives and troubles, but held together by friendship. Though it wasn’t as action-packed as the title somehow made me expect, I loved all three main characters, and the need to know what would happen to them kept me turning pages.

• Contagion by Teri Terry (Dark Matter #1)  — YA sci-fi thriller. Teri Terry’s books are an auto-buy for me. Contagion includes all the elements she writes so well — lots of running from bad guys (who should be the good guys), romance, twists and mystery. Contagion is about an epidemic, but a really unique one. You’ll have to read it to find out why!

• Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit — YA / crossover historical about a young girl and a mysterious man living in the woods and fields of Poland to survive WWII. Not a book with a dramatic plot, and it leaves many things unexplained (I did a lot of fruitless googling afterwards!), but very beautifully written.

What have you read lately?

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