Hollywood

Review of Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber

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Synopsis:
What if the urban legends you’ve always heard about were real?

It starts with a class in an old movie theatre. Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor.

Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real.

Her search for the truth leads her to a dazzling new world, a deadly secret hidden at the heart of Los Angeles, and into the path of Gabriel Cabral, who says he’s been sent to save her life.

But when another magnetic stranger, Adam Bishop, makes the same claim, Holland realizes that at least one of these men is lying to her. And if she can’t figure out whom to trust, her magical reality could change from a Hollywood dream to a nightmare.


Review:
Garber’s first adult modern fantasy novel sucks the reader in and I, for one, certainly didn’t want to leave. This novel blurs the line of folklore and reality while expertly entwining hidden agendas and personas. This book was quite hard to set aside, with each new bit of knowledge, unfolded piece of the mystery leaving more questions than answers–even the end left me wanting to know more! This book is built on layers of layers of history, great character development, and an intriguing magical tie in.

Without giving anything away, I absolutely loved the Hollywood influence throughout this novel. I also thought that Holland’s reality spasms made the shift between reality and what could be, as well as what she felt she should do intuition wise versus thinking things through all the more realistic. For some reason I could only see the Professor as Hetty from NCIS Los Angeles but it seemed rather fitting for the part. There are so many loose ends that I wish we had the chance to learn more about, and I am desperately hoping that another book may be forthcoming that will tie in Chance and Holland in this same world/setting.

If you enjoy reading paranormal fantasy books with a Hollywood twist and loads of mystery/intrigue I would highly recommend this book. If you love fantasy, specifically YA, I would recommend both Garber’s Caraval series and Once Upon a Broken Heart.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram

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Cinder & Ella
Cinder & Ella book 1
By Kelly Oram

Star Rating: 
Genre: YA, NA (New Adult)
Number of Pages: 322

Date Started: April 16, 2017
Date Finished: April 17, 2017

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
It’s been almost a year since eighteen-year-old Ella Rodriguez was in a car accident that left her crippled, scarred, and without a mother. After a very difficult recovery, she’s been uprooted across the country and forced into the custody of a father that abandoned her when she was a young child. If Ella wants to escape her father’s home and her awful new stepfamily, she must convince her doctors that she’s capable, both physically and emotionally, of living on her own. The problem is, she’s not ready yet. The only way she can think of to start healing is by reconnecting with the one person left in the world who’s ever meant anything to her-her anonymous Internet best friend, Cinder. … Hollywood sensation Brian Oliver has a reputation for being trouble. There’s major buzz around his performance in his upcoming film The Druid Prince, but his management team says he won’t make the transition from teen heartthrob to serious A-list actor unless he can prove he’s left his wild days behind and become a mature adult. In order to douse the flames on Brian’s bad-boy reputation, his management stages a fake engagement for him to his co-star Kaylee. Brian isn’t thrilled with the arrangement-or his fake fiancée-but decides he’ll suffer through it if it means he’ll get an Oscar nomination. Then a surprise email from an old Internet friend changes everything.

Review:
There is absolutely too much to say about this novel. I’m sure I’ll forget something, because there is SO MUCH that makes this novel amazing.

Firstly, I’ll start off with the fairy tale aspect: the elements of Cinderella are all there, but with an amazing fresh twist. Ella has a lot to worry about, and while she does try to be polite and nice to people, she still has flaws. Ella is stuck with her family, and in this retelling, she simply can’t leave like many likely believe the original Cinderella should have. Brian is every bit a prince with the power to completely change Ella’s life, but things don’t magically fall into place where he sweeps her off her feet– that’s not how the real world works.

This novel does a great job of showcasing how attached two people can become without ever having physically met, how you can come to rely on your friends, no matter how new or old. I absolutely love that this novel shows that meeting people with like interests and not just because you’re in the same general social sphere can give you a much deeper connection.

Written from the perfect perspective, instantly you feel for the protagonists and want them to succeed in life. It’s a book that’s very hard to put down, and I found myself getting quite angry when real life got in the way of my reading.

The story within a story aspect was absolutely thrilling. It’s a great step to acknowledge that nowadays most people form connections with others with similar interests, and loving one particular book series or movie could be the one thing that draws you to someone, forming an irrevocable bond.

Knowing that you should be yourself and do what’s best for you, even if it’s scary, is an amazing lesson I think everyone can learn from.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her. She’s obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and her cat, Mr. Darcy.