Mini Review Roundup: 2017 Reads

As I discovered while filling out the Year-End Statistics Survey last weekend, 2017 was a not a good review year on the blog. I only posted two reviews the entire year—two! Ouch! Granted, I was trying to get back into the swing of blogging regularly, so I didn't post a lot in general, but still. Must do better in 2018! Anyway, I was doing a little cleaning up behind the scenes—updating the layout, deleting drafts of posts I'm not likely to finish—when I noticed that I actually did have a few reviews I started to write but never got around to finishing. So, rather than toss them in trash bin, I decided to tweak them a little bit and make a compilation of mini reviews as a final send-off to 2017. 

The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon

Read February 2017 | 

I discovered this book through the art of PhantomRin, who, as you might know, has created some amazing fan art for the Throne of Glass series as well as other YA novels. I came across this gorgeous picture she made of the two main characters from The Bird and the Sword, Tiras and Lark, and I was immediately intrigued because this imagining of Tiras totally gave me Heir of Fire-era Rowan vibes, with the long, silver-white hair.
The writing in The Bird and the Sword is so enchanting, and it was easy to get swept up in Lark's story. One of the most powerful elements of the book, for me, was how acutely I felt everything Lark was feeling––her loneliness and isolation that she felt because she is literally unable to speak, the despair over the seemingly impossible circumstances she and Tiras face, but also her love for Tiras and her stubborn determination to do whatever she can to save him.
While I definitely felt there were elements of the plot and the worldbuilding that could have been fleshed out a bit more––for instance, I'm still not entirely sure why Tiras had such a hard time shifting between his eagle and human forms––The Bird and the Sword makes up for these shortcomings with beautiful writing and a sweet romance.

Once and for All by Sarah Dessen

Read in June 2017 | 

I've been meaning to read more Sarah Dessen books ever since I finished Along for the Ride (which I loved) a few summers back. With its intriguing premise of summer romance amidst the flurry of wedding planning chaos, Once and for All seemed like the perfect book to try next. While it was a quick, enjoyable read, this one unfortunately didn't fully capture my interest. Ambrose's constant cheeriness and knack for landing himself in trouble was a bit annoying, and I never really felt 100 percent on board with the budding romance between him and Louna. I was far more interested in the chapters about Louna's previous relationship with Ethan than I ever was for the chapters about Louna and Ambrose, whose relationship felt somewhat forced. The Ethan chapters tugged at my heartstrings, and I sort of wish the book had just focused on that story instead.

Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor

Read October 2017 |  

To read my review of the original e-book version, click here.
I absolutely love the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor and cannot praise it highly enough. Seriously, why is there not a bigger fandom for these books, or the fantastic Strange the Dreamer, for that matter? Laini never disappoints. There are so many laugh-out-loud moments in this novella, and the romance between Zuzanna and Mik is too adorable for words. I really loved the illustrations and how they brought the story to life (even though these interpretations Zuzana and Mik didn't quite fit my own imagined versions of them). Some of the artwork even creeped me out a bit, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since the series does have a touch of creepiness––I don't think I really appreciated before just how macabre Zuzana and Karou's habitual hangout, Poison Kitchen, is. The bonus comic at the end for the opening pages of Daughter of Smoke and Bone has me seriously wanting the whole series in graphic novel form. It would be so amazing!