Brenda DrakeRezensionen

I loved it! The book was action packed and the perfect ending to the Library Jumpers series. What I loved the most about this book in particular is that there was a lot of adventure and traveling between the Haven’s You got to really see the different Havens and covens and the different creatures of the Mystik World. I can honestly imagine this series making a good set of movies, there is enough adventure, battles and mystery to make a very good book to film adaption. The characters are going to war and I like that remains the main focus. There are no side plots or irrelevant additions to distract from the focus. Drake is able to perfectly include Gia’s budding romance without distracting from the action. I am sad to have to say goodbye to these characters and this series. This book almost made me cry a few times.

Author's guest post at my blog:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2020/12/foodfic-please-welcome-brenda-drake.html

DNF at 16%

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

Despite being told I could read this as a stand-alone, I just wasn't feeling it. I never felt invested in the story or the characters, and they felt awkward. I'm not sure if awkward is even the right word... but something didn't click for me. I tried reading it over a few days, but then gave up.

I wish some of the scenes had been explained with more details. One minute they're sitting down to dinner, and the next Daisy is wanting to undo the top button of her pants. What happened at dinner? How was the conversation? These were people she'd been communicating with online for years, but we don't get to see how they act face-to-face. Andrei was also praising his grandmother's Romanian cooking, but not a single dish was described.

Then there was the foreshadowing of conflict... it just appeared out of thin air. I was getting used to the characters flitting from one thought to the next, like they said what they were thinking at all times, but Andrei's sleuthing skills were unexpected and unfounded. It takes him a glance and a quick conversation via text to learn about a secret society some members of his family are a part of, and of course they want to kill Daisy. It was suuuuper random. In the end, it just wasn't a good fit for me.


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Guardian of Secrets by Brenda Drake.

YA fantasy. 2nd of the Library Jumpers series. Continuing saga cliff hanger. Should be read after the first to best understand the complex world building, the powers and relationships.

I love the concept of being able to jump through a book in the library to the corresponding library on the page. Usually it’s used for a quest or some noble purpose but the heroine even used it once to go to the theater in New York.

Includes violence and deaths of some secondary characters as well as angst of choosing between two love interests.

Gia spends her time with her two best friends, her nana, and her Pop. She focuses on school, her hobby is fencing, and she's more than awkward around boys. Until she sees Arik in the library, in all leather he stands out among the books, and when he disappears, leaving only a book behind open to a Paris library, she can't stop thinking about him. Upon finding paper with Italian scrawled across it Gia finds herself, and her two best human friends, in the middle of that Parisian library, with a giant hound causing destruction. While trying to save Gia and her friends Arik realizes she's more than just a human with a knack for Italian, she too is a Sentinal like he is. There's an evil wizard plotting to take over the mystikal and human world and it turns out Gia is just the thing everyone's been waiting for. She holds the key to the destruction of the mystikal world in one hand and in the other she holds the key to saving it. Mix in betrothals, magic, and a family she never knew about and Gia is overwhelmed with her role in a world she never knew about.

Library Jumpers, just take a minute and let the title of the series just grow in your imagination. I would be all over this if I could jump libraries in real life, even if it means learning to wield a sword. This first novel, Thief of Lies, will either grab you or will miss the mark for you, but it's a standout novel nonetheless. With amazing writing, details, and a unique plot I can only see good things in the future for this series. Gia, the main heroine, is a bit too awkward for her own good, she's judgemental and overly smart, but she's also the 16 year old child of two sentinels. She's actually part of a world she could never have dreamed of, the magical stuff your mother weaves into stories at night time. Sentinels are the magical knights that protect the human world from the mysikal world and Gia isn't just one of them, she the most important. There's also hot Sentinal, Arik, she man she both needs to avoid and wants to know more, Bastian the handsome wizard, some seriously badass Sentinals with unique gifts, and a family that makes you want to know more. I was completely enamored with the story line of human girl turned magical knight, I certainly didn't predict her being a knight, but I really enjoyed her training, her growing strength, and reading from her POV as she discovers the world she could never have imagined. Plus, her smarts are what bring this book to life, I couldn't picture anyone else from this book just knowing the right Italian words that could lead to destruction or savior for the mystikal and human world.

Hello world building! Brenda Drake probably does the best job at creating a new world slowly, but beautifully in any book I've read in a long time. The reader isn't just dumped into this magical world, it's given to you in bits and pieces and grows to include not only library jumping and demonic hounds, but faeries, sprytes, laniars, sentinals, wizards, and more. There are beautiful havens, libraries aplenty, and some wonderful secondary characters. The fantasy elements are just amazing and it really made me love reading fantasy novels again, I've been in a big slump.

There are some differences when you look at the synopsis versus the actual book. Gia isn't quite as badass as she's made out to be, she doesn't know how to handle boys, let alone fight them, but she definitely learns. There's also no fling, though I really wanted one! Can I just have Bastien to myself? It's actually a clean young adult crush turned pseudo love triangle. Unfortunately, the romantic side of this first novel really takes away from the overall story line, it felt like an addition to an already successful book. I'm not against romance for the characters, but it needed true development and I think could easily weave into future novels in the series. There was a lot introduced in this first novel, which is a given in a new fantasy series, but it's hard to take on all the new and cope with the ever-changing mind of 16 year-old Gia. There is also so much going on that some characters fall flat; I almost couldn't picture Gia at first, because she's underwhelming. However, I found myself loving all the characters, really enjoying the action, and completely enthralled by the library jumper's world.

I am definitely excited to see what comes next in the sequel, I can only hope for more action and meeting more unique characters. The story is unique, the magic is interesting, and there's beautiful libraries! Here's hoping the sort of love triangle plays out with more depth and feels like an actual part of the characters and their growth. This is a fast-paced book that I think readers of all ages could enjoy, the romance is clean, the action is intense, and if you're into fantasy this has everything you could hope for and more.

Okay, I really didn’t want to rate this one bacause it’s me not it. No line, I promise. This book was well written and pretty unique plot wise, and I mean come in it took place in libraries!!!! It should be a slam dunk... I just didn’t feel it. I don’t know if I’ll pick it back up and the book 2 or not. :/

Not sure how I feel about this one. There was so much action in the book, but the last few chapters were extremely rushed and I felt completely let down.
*I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

All that being said, I did enjoy 95% of the book, and couldn't put it down. I did get a little annoyed at Analies with how much she thought to herself about leaving the "hunt" and just going home. Marek was amazing and I just wish that my daughters could find someone half as caring as he was. I just can't get past how rushed the ending was. Everything was great, we got a lot of info and some crazy adventures, then bam... Slight fight scene...Death of a side character...Marek leaves... Marek returns...Book over... And all of that was like literally the last 2-4 chapters. I was just like HUH?? WHY?? I need more details!!!

If you don't mind the endings rushed and wrapped up quickly then pick this one up!

I was given an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really liked this book. It was fun trying to figure out who should or shouldn't be trusted. I was thrown a bit off on more than one occasion. The characters are likable. There was a bit more romance than I tend to enjoy in my books, but nothing was "heaving" or "throbbing", lol, and it wasn't the main focus of the book. I really hope there will be another one. I'd like to get to know Sid and Dalton a bit more, and of course we have to find out more about Analiese and who I suspect she really is.

This honestly ended up being a bit of a disappointment for me. i was super excited because I love all things mythology related, and I've only ever read one other Norse mythology books before, so I was looking forward to more. But I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters, ans I was left feeling unsatisfied with a forgettable book.

Things I Liked
I did end up enjoying all of the mythology elements in the story! Like I said above, I was excited to see Norse mythology represented in the story, and it ended up being my favorite part! I loved that there was so many different characters, creatures, and myths included. And everything was still very clear and easy to follow!

Things I Didn't Like
I thought the pacing was really fast. We never really got to live in the moment or take a breath - a lot of crazy stuff was happening. I would have liked to see more reactions from the characters, really be able to see their mindset.

The writing also felt a little repetitive at times, especially regarding the love triangle. There's lots of emotional drama in the love triangle, but it was rehashed repeatedly and made the writing seem a little more juvenile targeted.

This was an unfortuante miss, because I love all things mythology related, and that part didn't let me down. I like the myths and worldbuilding we got from it. But the characters and the relationships didn't connect with me.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I thought it started slowly, once the supernatural aspects kicked in, I was quite intrigued. The flashbacks to the original ancestor responsible for Iris' losing chunks of her life and doing/saying things completely out of character, help flesh out the plot nicely.

Thief of Lies is the first in Brenda Drake’s Library Jumpers series. While at the library with her friends, Gia Kearns meets a mysterious guy who disappears. While looking at the book he had been using, she finds a scrap of paper with a single phrase in Italian. When she reads it, she and her friends get a most unexpected surprise. In the blink of an eye, they find themselves halfway across the world, in a Parisian library, with a beastie defying imagination running loose. Gia’s mystery man, along with several others, arrives to save the trio.

Gia Kearns she is a child if the world of Mystik, a Sentinel to be exact. A guardian of the library gateways like Arik and his team. But Gia was never meant to know the world. She was meant to remain hidden and live her life never knowing. Now that she's stumbled onto the Mystik world, events have been escalated. The wizard Conemar desires the Chiavi that will unlock the Tetrad, a terrible creature that can control the elements. Now Gua, and companions new and old, must race to find the Chiavi first.

Drake has woven a mesmerising world, rich in detail. Here, the human and Mystik worlds are separated, accessible only through gateways found in libraries. These gateways are guarded by Sentinels, a group descended from knights granted magic abilities. There are many different Mystik races, from Laniars to Writhes. I was quite pleased that they were unique beings, rather than being the default werewolves and vampires. No, son. Done with that nonsense. There are also fey beings, but they are pretty cool. No cutsie faeries a lá Disney here.

Gia was a likeable protagonist. While capable of fighting, she doesn't usually prefer it and she is reluctant to kill or maim. She was also a very phobic person, yet handled most phobias well when necessary. That shows a well of stubbornness and grit. Despite the phobias, she does seem a highly adaptable person, which is good in her position.

Magic manifests in the form of energy globes that have differing effects. All can summon a light globe. Most Sentinels can call only one type of battle globe, though. These can be any of the elements- fire, wind, water, earth- or a number of other things like healing or stunning. Gia has two, both incredibly rare.

I really like Gia’s friends, Afton and Nick. They get pulled into the conflict too, and end up guests of the Mystik world. That Afton love architecture is awesome. There turns out to be more to Nick than meets the eye. I really hope it doesn't change him too much. Arik and the rest of the Sentinels are pretty cool too. They kinda remind me of magitek knights, or other Final Fantasy characters. Arik was my favourite. Haha, I immediately pictured him as a younger James Purefoy. I think it was the description of his crooked smile. It brought to mind Coleville from A Knight's Tale specifically.

Overall, a great read. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in the series! Perfect for fans of the Shadowhunters series, urban fantasy in general, or the film Jumper.

***Many thanks to Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours and the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. In no way has the author or the publisher influenced my review or my opinions. This review contains spoilers and shouldn’t be read if you haven’t read the book.

This was definitely the best book of the series. It had much better pacing than the other two, it kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what was going to happen next. While there were some parts that to me didn’t seem necessary to the plot, it all came together in the end to create a satisfying ending to the series.

I loved the fact that Gia did end up with Bastien and didn’t get back with Arik. I was wondering if it was going to happen when they escaped without Bastien but I am glad that it didn’t happen. Gia stuck to her guns and was smart enough, had enough common sense to realize their romantic relationship was damaged beyond repair and even if she wanted to go back that she couldn’t. I’m also very happy that she realized what a good man and relationship she had with Bastien. I love so much that he only has eyes for her and never looks at another woman.

Arik really bothered me the entire time in this book. He has such a high and mighty demeanour and I was really angry when even though he knew it was wrong, he still arrested Gia and put her in the Gallows to be tortured. He refused to disobey orders even when it could save lives. In the exact opposite way Bastien only grew on me more and more. He wasn’t afraid to do what was right, even if it meant becoming an enemy of the Wizard court and possibly giving up his title. I also loved that he was willing to go into the Somnium with Gia because his love for her was so strong that he wouldn’t leave her to face it herself. While being arrogant and conceited, he is also noble with good intentions. He really cares about the people and I can understand why they wanted to make him head of the new government at the end of the book.

One storyline I really would’ve liked to have seen expanded was the one with Nick. I thought we were going to this epic fight of him and his father and him fighting against the darkness rising within him brought on by his father but it never happened. He just ended up being controlled by another wizard, and eventually Bastien. I would’ve loved to have seen his inner musings and fighter against the wizard who controlled him in a POV chapter once in awhile. We get to see a glimpse of it when he is in his fight to the death with Gia, but I wish we had gotten to see more of it.

I also felt like Carrig was another character who could’ve been utilized more often and I expected him to be a big part, especially of the last battle. But he ended up being in a coma for most of this book and when he finally woke up was bedridden for the final battle. It was kind of disappointing to be honest. I was happy to see that The Red got more of a central role in this book though. He is such a unique and interesting character, and to find that he was trying to help and not Evil was great.

I was really sad to see Sinead die in this book, she was like a mother to Gia and a female role model when she had none. Also, could the way she died be any sadder? Gia had to sacrifice Sinead to save Carrig. Royston had such a sad ending too, sacrificing himself to take down the Tetrad. His character really got the short end of the stick; he got married, had a child (by the age of around 20), got stuck in a Somnium for hundreds of years, escaped, only to have to drink a poisonous potion to destroy the Tetrad and save the human and Mystik worlds. I felt like he has such a meaningful life but he didn’t really get to live one much. Also, he and Deidre just got ripped apart by his death. And poor Deidre lost her love and her mother in this book.

I’m glad that Uncle Phillip didn’t turn out to be evil but I am so angry that he got killed off! He was my favourite character next to Bastien in this series and although he died for a good cause, saving Gia it was still really sad and I was upset. I felt like it was the exact same thing that Gian had done for her in the previous book, and I didn’t want to see the same thing happen again.

One other thing that bothered me in this book was the ending. I understand that Gia has been through a lot but I can’t believe she isn’t helping out in the Mystik world at all and is basically hiding out in the human world. Heroes and heroines aren’t just magnificent during the battle, but also in the aftermath, helping to rebuild the world that was almost destroyed, I just kind of felt like Gia was hiding and wanting her life to go back to what it was before she became a Sentinel. It kind of disappointed me because I expected her to be with Bastien, helping to rebuild the Mystik world.

The final battle was interesting and didn’t really go the way I thought it would at all. After the false start in Esterill and having to rush back to home base, I wasn’t really expecting the death match between Nick and Gia. At that moment Conemar definitely had the upper hand and when reinforcements arrived, then it started to look like what I expected the battle to be. We lost many characters in this battle and while I knew that was probably coming, it didn’t make it any less sad.

Overall this was a great ending to the series I think although I would love to see an epilogue with all of our favourite characters maybe 5-10 years down the line just to see where they all are. It would be a dream come true to see Gia and Bastien married, maybe with a kid, and being the rulers of the Mystik world with her Sentinel friends by her side. Maybe this is just a pipe dream but a girl can hope, right? I loved the sound of this series right from the beginning and although I didn’t love the first book I’m really glad that I read through them all to the end.

I was drawn to the beautiful cover of this book (it really is a thing of beauty) and the intriguing description. Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I read the first 200 pages but just couldn't get into the story. The author's writing style was too disjointed and she jumped around too much. It was just very hard for me to read, which is disappointing because I liked a lot of the ideas and concepts presented in this story.

The book is about a young woman, Gia, who ends up getting sucked into a book (literally) and teleported to a far off library. There she finds out about crazy demons and the Sentinels that guard humanity from these demons. The fact that Gia can teleport means that she is something other than human and she quickly learns about her mysterious past and the expectations of her.

I had a couple big issues with this book. The first is that the writing style just doesn’t flow well and “sounds” very choppy; I really struggled with this. The second is that a lot of big ideas and things are thrown at the reader really quickly. For example you think Gia’s past is going to be this big mystery and then, bam!, her father shows up. Then while you are still reeling from the whole teleporting to libraries thing and the demon thing...all the sudden Gia is in another dimension and undergoing all this training. It was just a lot very rapidly and it wasn’t put together very well.

The last issue I had was the conflict between Gia’s voice and how she was described. She’s described as being this super hardcore chick who likes fighting but then she comes across as really girly and bookish in the way she acts and the things she says. My mind was constantly struggling to reconcile the way Gia was described with the way she acted and spoke throughout the book.

Overall this is an okay book. I really liked some of the concepts but the writing and way the story was put together was very jerky and hard to read. I struggled with this pretty much from the beginning and decided it just wasn’t for me. This book does have one of the most beautiful covers I have seen though; I really love the artwork and the matte texture to the cover.

Check out even more book review on my blog: https://www.lifeofafemalebibliophile.com/

Thief of Lies is a fantasy YA novel about a teenage girl name Gia with a passion for book and all things literary. One day Gia and her friends Afton and Nick get sucked into a library book prompting them on a adventure-filled, but dangerous journey. Gia and her friends learn about Sentinels, fighters who protect humans from the creatures that lie within the book gateways, and find themselves caught between the two worlds: mystic and human.

Throughout the book Gia, our main character, deals with the truth of her magical background and it shatters her world . She is an anxious girl who feels she is not girly enough and struggles with her insecurities. She’s fierce, but vulnerable and that’s what makes her character not only realistic, but likable too. I enjoyed her friends Nick, who is sarcastic and Afton who is a brain both are loyal friends of Gia’s, but they constantly butt heads giving the story some comic relief.

Gia feels very vulnerable but does her best to put up a brave front when training with her new powers even though she feels left-behind because the other Sentinels are more advanced than her. Luckily, she finds new friends that become a shoulder to lean on and trustworthy allies. But she still has to be on her toes as enemies constantly lurk in the shadows.

The story itself moves fast, but the world building was a bit jumbled at some parts, some of the fantasy aspects got a rushed, explanation at the beginning and as a result I was confused while reading the book. The book felt like one big roller coaster to because there where moments where the story was really exciting and other parts that fell flat. I felt that the plot definitely improved in the latter half and the story was a lot smoother.

Overall, I thought this book was entertaining from Gia’s magic training scenes to the library battle scenes, but it just doesn’t have that special spark that I was looking for. I felt like there was too much insta-love in this book. I wanted less love triangles and more focus on building relationships rather than just jumping into them. I also was more interested in the secondary characters than Gia’s narrative. But I did like that the author adds some new fantasy elements that are unique when compared to other books in the same genre.

There’s a 50/50 chance I’ll continue with this series.

When I first read the book description of Thief Lies, I thought that they were really jumping into books in the libraries to get them into a world in the books or into other libraries. Well, now that I did read it, they were travelling in a way into the books, not into the worlds within the books. The books and libraries acted like gateways. It was still cool.

Thief of Lies, I noticed, bears some similarities to City of Bones (written by Cassandra Clare).: (1) a seemingly normal girl was branded so as to be protected (2) from something her mother's running from. (3) Her mother was a Sentinel (a Shadowhunter in Clare's world), one of the talented while her daughter, with a unique heritage, is in a prophecy (4) of a world separate from humans, a world filled with the paranormal which was separated from the mundane.

That's it. Just a few similarities, really, that didn't subtract from the book.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Moderately dark story about a girl who can change people’s fate with the touch of a Tarot card. There were a few minor issues with the plot but overall I enjoyed the uniqueness of the story.

Opening Sentence: It looked like the house had swallowed an entire art store and thrown up the supplies all over the lower level.

The Review:

When I read the synopsis for Touching Fate I was intrigued by a story about a girl who could change someone’s fate with Tarot cards. I was wondering how a story like this could play out. I had a few minor issues with certain parts of the book but otherwise it was an amusing and different kind of story.

Aster Layne loves all things science. She has a nack for the physical and what she can see, often using her knowledge when she is doing boring chores. Aster’s family life isn’t typical. She lives with her mother, grandmother, aunt and sisters on the beach in Maryland. Aster’s best friend is quite strange too with her missing eye. Aster is a senior in high school and she had pretty much given up on her love life since she keeps falling for the bad boys. One day Aster is at the boardwalk with her best friend and sister when she literally runs into Reese Van Buren.

Reese isn’t your typical teenager. He is descended from a Dutch royal family and he is cursed. He is ready to live out the last six months of his life with parties and sex. He has come to the United States with his friends to “party” but only Reese’s cousin knows the real reason why Reese is acting the way he is, because when Reese turns eighteen he will die. Reese’s only hope is to find a fate changer to help him and he knows that isn’t possible until he sees the remarkable sight of Aster at a Psychics when she unwittingly changes her friends impending fate.

Reese decides to completely change his life plan around and stay in Maryland. He needs to convince Aster to change his fate. He does this the only way he can think of, by making her fall for him. Aster doesn’t realize Reese’s ulterior motive but at the months play out she does realize that Reese is the guy for her. Reese sees the changes that have happened to Aster as she has been developing her “gift” and he isn’t willing to ruin her life or her families’ life in order to live.

Aster is quite brilliant but she doesn’t always listen to herself. Once she realizes what her gift is doing she doesn’t stop, she tries but bad things keep happening. There are a few times that I think she should have pieced some information together before she did. Aster’s science knowledge is overwhelming at the beginning of the novel then completely disappears during the bulk of the story until she needs it again in the end.

Reese is superficial and selfish at the beginning of the novel but as the story goes on he does realize that he can’t be that way. He doesn’t want to die that guy. He learns that he can’t be selfish even if that means dying, which he is incredibly frightened of. I really did love the lesson that Reese learned from meeting Aster.

Touching Fate is a moderately dark story. The story spans a few months’ time with a few time jumps that skim over the developing relationship with Reese and Aster. I did feel that I was missing something that really made me feel for both of them. I was kind of indifferent to their relationship. I definitely recommend Touching Fate for the older teenager because it does deal with sex.

Overall, Touching Fate was a fun and different story than what I’m used to reading. I enjoyed the ending and I am curious as to where this series will go from here. Will Aster continue to be the lead or will the story move to another fate changer?

Notable Scene:

Strangling the steering wheel, Aster couldn’t bring herself to go into the house. She feared what she’d find. Who would be her next victim? Had every changed fate been accounted for? She couldn’t remember.

Her mood was so dark… She wanted to be numb and not care about anything. Reese’s face kept popping in and out of her mind. Tormenting her. She had memorized every one of his smiles—his crooked one, his amused one, and his sexy smirk. And when that hadn’t tortured her enough, a 3-D tour of his toned body would play in her thoughts.

I’m such a masochist. Stop thinking about him. Jeesh. He’s just a guy. There’s a million of them in this world. She got out of the car and went in through the kitchen door. Love is dumb, she thought, taking off her sweat jacket and hanging it on a hook. It really messes a person up.

FTC Advisory: Entangled Teen Crave provided me with a copy of Touching Fate. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

The moment I saw this book, I was intrigued. Putting together a girl who can change fates and a guy who is cursed sounded like a perfect recipe to me, and it certainly met my expectations. I liked that the book had a very realistic feel to it, I almost kept forgetting the fact that there was magic involved because it was so believable.

In the beginning I felt that the relationship between Aster and Reese was a little forced. I'm not sure why I felt this way and I can't really put my finger on it because I don't mind when characters are attracted to each other right away. Anyway, as the story progressed, I stopped noticing it and was fully engrossed with the plot. There was a lot of tension building up to Reese's 18th birthday and I think the author did an excellent job with the way everything fell into place -like a carefully planned puzzle. I think readers will not be disappointed with this creative and original story.

On a totally unrelated note, when Aster starts changing fates, she gets an infinity symbol on her skin. I love this!!!! I almost want to get a tattoo of it... who knows, maybe I will.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*