bibliophile – Page 5 – Sincerely Karen Jo

Starswept

5 ★ – Beautiful and Unforgettable

Published by Snowy Wings Publishing August 29, 2017

Genre(s): Young Adult, Romance, Sci-Fi

Pages: Hardcover 376

Some melodies reach across the stars.

In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.

A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.

When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.

But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.

Starswept is absolutely beautiful through and through. I mean the book itself is ridiculously gorgeous! The cover, the design, and the interior chapter spreads… I seriously don’t think I’ve ever seen such a pretty book. And you know the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” well you can just throw that out the window right now because Starswept is stunning and undeniably mesmerizing.

Look at that chapter spread!!! Gorgeous right?!?!

I’m a bit of a sci-fi nerd and have always been fascinated with the concept of aliens. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I read the synopsis for this book, but I was very much intrigued. The first few chapters were a little slow for me, but definitely not boring. To be honest, I actually didn’t mind it all that much because Mary Fan’s writing is astounding and once the story picked up pace, I was a goner.

The world building is just fabulous – a bit complex, terrifying at times, colorful in every way, and definitely creative. I enjoyed the plot and loved how dark it got towards the end. There’s plenty of drama, conflict, action, mystery, and some really awesome twists that gave me the chills. There was something unearthly and somewhat disturbing about the story, but I was so enthralled with everything that I didn’t want to stop reading.

I love Iris so much. She’s curious, sincere, genuine, and passionate. She truly loves playing her viola and I admired her determination. No matter how fierce and competitive it was at Papilio, she never took the easy way out. Dámiul is so mysterious and I was as fascinated with him as Iris was. I enjoyed figuring him out and by the end, he more than won me over. Not only is he dreamy and charming, but he has such a big heart.

I absolutely adored Iris and Dámiul together. Their romance was slow and steady, but incredibly swoony. I definitely got that star-crossed lovers vibe so that made their love story more interesting. It was so endearing to watch their relationship progress to something more.

While I may have fallen in love with this book before I even started reading it, Mary Fan’s elegant, captivating and fantastic writing completely swept me off my feet and stole such a big piece of my heart. Starswept is ethereal, enigmatic, thrilling and such a wonderful story. If you love YA, and romance, and sci-fi, and beautiful writing, then I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy.

Huge thanks to the author for sending me signed hardcover copy. I’m so grateful to have my own copy to hold and keep forever.

Sincerely Karen Jo

Hickville Redemption

(Hickville High #3)

Mary Karlik

4.5 – Fantastic Teen Mystery

Published by GPK Publication July 16, 2017

Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance

Pages: Kindle 256

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A 30 year old mystery…
A 15 year old sleuth.

Freshman Mackenzie Quinn wants nothing to do with the mysterious death of Cassidy Jones. But when her crush, Braden McGuire, declares he’s determined to uncover the truth, she is drawn into the cold case. The problem is her dad is the number one suspect. Things look pretty hopeless until her best friend, Travis Barns, loans her the secret diary of Cassidy Jones. His only stipulation is that she not share it with anybody else. But when her jealous boyfriend finds and exposes the diary, secrets come to life that could ruin MacKenzie’s whole family.

Can she find a way to clear her father’s name and atone for her own mistakes before it’s too late?

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I do. Hickville Redemption by Mary Karlik is a fun and exciting read. I haven’t read the others in the series and I don’t think you have to in order to read this one. Actually, I think this book is absolutely fantastic as a standalone. I swooned, I laughed, I cried… Those pretty much seals the deal for me.

The story started out a bit slow, but once I got into it, I honestly could not stop reading. There’s plenty of intrigue, drama, mystery and excitement. I love Karlick’s writing style. It’s simple and easy to read, but definitely not lackluster. I could easily picture myself as a character in the story piecing together clues to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death of Cassidy Jones. And I loved it. I thought the mystery part was really interesting – not mind bending holy cow that was super awesome, but pretty darn good. I enjoyed the drama too. It felt realistic and reminded me so much of my high school days.

I immediately fell in love Kenzie. Teenage me and probably a little of the adult me can relate to her in so many ways. She’s an introvert and takes a while to warm up to people. She feels uncomfortable in group settings so she doesn’t talk much – yup totally teenage me and at times adult me too. She prefers to observe and listen rather than participate – yup that is so me. I definitely felt for her and could sympathize with her whenever she was thrown into situations she didn’t want to be in. BUT, even though she’s shy, she doesn’t let that stop her from doing the things she loves. She also doesn’t think that her quiet personality is something that needs to be fixed or that she’s a puzzle that needs to be solved – I loved that about her.

Travis is kind and sweet and absolutely adorable. He’s caring and considerate. I love how protective he is of Kenzie, but still gives her space… he’s just an overall good guy. But I have to mention that while I was reading, he frustrated me a little. Not in the bad way though. In Tagalog there’s a word “gigil” and that’s exactly how I felt. I guess it’s like – oh he’s so cute and I totally understand his reasons for doing or not doing something… heck that’s also the reason why he’s so lovable and really I respect him I do, but at the same time I want to pinch him and push him to act differently then maybe this would happen and that won’t happen and…

And that got me really thinking… I love drama in books. When it makes sense and flows well with the story, then by all means give me! Travis and Kenzie together equals awesome friendship, amazing chemistry, swoony kisses, and crazy drama! I also really LOVED the parts when Kenzie would read Cassidy’s diary. It was heartbreaking, but that definitely made the story more intriguing. The only part that really irks me is the ending… it felt rushed. There was all this build-up so I was expecting something drastic at the end, but it just finished in a not so exciting way.

Overall, I really enjoyed Hickville Redemption and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun YA mystery with an intriguing storyline, relatable characters, realistic drama, and sweet romance.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the author and Xpresso Book Tours via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Follow / Connect with Mary Karlik: Website/ Instagram / Twitter / Facebook

Thanks for reading lovelies!

Sincerely Karen Jo