REVIEW: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

 OUR REVIEW:

The way this series has a choke hold on us and we are its willing victims? Yes ma'am. 

Thank you baby Jesus for my library acquiring extra copies in their Libby app and so my wait time was significantly decreased. And while we're thanking people, thank you Rebecca Yarros for making it easy to pick up Onyx Storm and read it a whole year after reading book 2....I didn't do a re-read of the series and I'm happy to report that it was easy to get right back into the Empyrean world and remember plot and characters.

In this third book, there were definitely answers to some questions, definitely more questions raised, and a continued cliffhanger ending. I felt like I began to understand more and more about their world and the hazards of living in it. Secondary characters were given more development, the dragons were hilarious and wonderful and awesome...how do I get to bond with my very own dragon?!...there was a section that reminded me of The Odyssey (which I know felt long to some, but I appreciated the journey aspect of it), and of course Violet and Xaden gave us plenty to work with. 

My one complaint is that I'll have to wait for what will seem like a lifetime for the last two books and if Rebecca Yarros had any mercy at all she'd release them back to back. I know she won't but it's worth an ask. Ultimately, though, I've found each book to be worth the wait and I love that my students are DYING over these books and rushing into my classroom to tell me all the things about where they are and how they feel and that just makes my life, right now. 

Happy Reading. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3QIkRHP

SYNOPSIS:

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

REVIEW: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

COURT: Around here, we've been fans of Rebecca Yarros for a really long time...and her books are always deep in plot and heavy on emotion, and give me a great hangover but I was very curious to see how this epic fantasy would go since it was pretty different from her usual novels. SHEL: Yes! Court told me I absolutely had to read this book and knowing it was Rebecca Yarros, I put aside any hesitancy about it being something outside of my norm and jumped in. I'm so glad I did. 

COURT: And I am so glad that it lived up...and dare I say exceeded... every expectation that I had! I made Shelley stop what she was doing and read it immediately! SHEL: She did. Very insistent. So glad she bossed me around.

COURT: So the general premise is that Violet is ready to be a student at Basgiath War College, and her mother is the general. She has lived her entire life to be a scribe like her father, but last minute her mother decides that she will volunteer to be a Dragon Rider, and in this book you either become a rider or you die! So I was so on the edge of my seat to see how that would go since she's described as being weaker than her peers and small, and fragile. 

COURT: This brings happiness in my nurse heart with several friends who have Ehlers Danlos syndrome will absolutely love this book! It take something that is sometimes an invisible struggle for people, until it very much isn't (hello, random dislocation of joints) and gives a voice to something that might not be something most people know about or understand and I love it so much. Violet's journey is incredible because we see her character development grow her into who she is meant to be, and every little bump along the way is realistic for the rest of us in this epic fantasy. SHEL: 'Seeing' her transformation was so invigorating--you were pulling for her the whole time, especially because she was perceived as so weak. To see her excel and succeed was so gratifying.

COURT: THEN...dun, dun, dun, the dragons. I came for the dragons, let's be real, and I stayed for everything else. I LOVED the dragons. SHEL: ME TOO! Who'd a thunk it?! I really did! COURT: I loved the tone of the book being more modern language, and their internal dialogue was hilarious and I also really loved an aspect of the novel that they really had to train and learn their abilities and it wasn't just instant fierceness. They worked for it with every blood, sweat and tear, and it added so much depth to the book. SHEL: Their tenacity and desire to overcome was inspiring, but seeing how they handled their failures was too. And let's not forget the romance--that was a nice addition too!

COURT: I cannot stress enough that this is a must read, and you will miss out if you do not give it a shot! SHEL: I agree. It wasn't my norm and I'm so glad I got it and am so very eager for the rest of the series to come out!

Buy the Book:  

Amazon

528 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2023

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

REVIEW: Reason to Believe by Rebecca Yarros

    

 

 

  REASON TO BELIEVE by Rebecca Yarros 

  Release Date: April 26th   

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OUR REVIEW:

Reason to Believe was the perfect weekend read. Perfect. I was immediately interested in the story of Knox and Harper and their "forbidden" love story. I appreciated that Yarros gave us a little of their history so that we understood why Knox was so insistent on avoiding his feelings for her but then she immediately put us in present day and plunged us right into the conundrum they found themselves in--she's in his space with two small children--and their inability to resist each other for long. While I tried really hard to appreciate Knox's loyalty to Harper's brother, I was so glad that he decided to sort himself out because there was absolutely no denying that they loved and needed each other--things they freely admitted, even when they hadn't yet made the leap to trying to have a real relationship. Once he figured things out, the transition from friends to lovers was only slightly angsty and so very rewarding. Also rewarding was the very realistic storyline of the boys Harper and Knox agreed to foster. Having a close friend who is living through this process, I really appreciated the attention to detail and the emotion of it all; it all felt very real and hit close to home. Added to all of this, the story of the hot shots and their ongoing journey to get certified and following them as they train and also fight fires, kept the pages flying. All three of these plot points-the romance, fostering, and the hot shots--blended well and held my attention so much so that I don't think I put my kindle down as I was reading. 

This is the first full length novel in this series--there are two novella length reads that have come before and I'll most definitely be circling back to those in anticipation of more of the Legacy Series to come. Reason to Believe is a quick, romantic, five star read. 

  Blurb: “I’ll take them!” That’s what I tell the social worker when my pre-k student and his baby brother need an emergency foster placement. I’ll do anything to keep the brothers from being split up. But my apartment’s flooded and there’s only one house I can take them to on such short notice…his. Knox Daniels, my older brother’s best friend, offers his new place without hesitation. He’s not moving back to our tiny town until next month—that’s when all our hotshot firefighters are returning for their one and only chance to rebuild our fathers’ fallen, iconic crew. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been silently in love with Knox since we were kids. It can’t matter that we pretend that reckless prom night kiss never happened. It won’t matter that my feelings for him could destroy his lifelong friendship with my brother and threaten the certification of their hotshot crew. Because I’ll be out of his house long before he gets back. Except Knox just walked in…a month early. And the icing on this awkward cake? He’s gorgeous as always and I’m covered in baby puke. He takes one look at the boys and tells me we can make this work— We can temporarily fake a relationship to keep them from being separated by the system. Suddenly, everything matters.       

  About the Author: Rebecca Yarros is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of over fifteen novels, including Great and Precious Things and The Last Letter. “A gifted storyteller” (Kirkus), she is also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward from her Flight and Glory series. Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for almost twenty years. She’s the mother of six children, ranging from kindergarten to law school, and is currently surviving the teenage years with three of her four hockey-playing sons. When she’s not writing, you can find her at the hockey rink or sneaking in some guitar time while guzzling coffee. She and her family live in Colorado with their stubborn English bulldogs, two feisty chinchillas, and a Maine Coon kitten named Artemis, who rules them all. Having fostered then adopted their youngest daughter who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, Rebecca is passionate about helping children in the foster system through her nonprofit, One October, which she co-founded with her husband in 2019. To learn more about their mission to better the lives of kids in foster care, visit www.oneoctober.org. To catch up on Rebecca’s latest releases and upcoming novels, including The Things We Leave Unfinished, which just received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, visit www.RebeccaYarros.com.   

  Connect w/Rebecca: 

Website: http://www.rebeccayarros.com 

  Facebook: http://facebook.com/rebeccaelizabethyarros 

  Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RebeccaYarrosFlygirls 

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaYarros 

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccayarros 

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7539785.Rebecca_Yarros 

  Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rebecca-yarros 

  Amazon: https://amzn.to/39ZKtZ6  

REVIEW: The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros

  

  THE THINGS WE LEAVE UNFINISHED by Rebecca Yarros 

Release Date: February 23rd   

  Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53137938-the-things-we-leave-unfinished   

      

OUR REVIEW:

The Things We Leave Unfinished is a definite must read. It's part historical romance, part contemporary romance, and 100 percent hard to put down and immersive. 

As I was reading, I kept thinking that I was getting two books in one--the story of Jameson and Scarlett and the story of Noah and Georgia--and it almost feel too good to be true. While their storylines were completely interconnected, it also felt like they were mini-novels on their own. Yarros did a really good job of totally sinking me into one couple's story and then the other without making it feel confusing or like I was having whiplash trying to keep up. If anything, she did such a good job that I always found myself loving the couple's story I was in, impatient to get back to it, only to love the progression of the other couple's story and equally impatient to get back to that one. I have no idea how she managed to keep her sanity balancing it all but I'm so glad she wrote it the way she did. It made for a truly unique reading experience. 

Not only was it a reading experience I wasn't expecting, it was also much more emotional than I anticipated. I was verklempt almost the entire time Scarlett and Jameson were together--just waiting for the other shoe to drop--and dang it, the tears! the tears just leaked right out when that shoe did drop. I loved Jameson and Scarlett so much--their entire love story was just so romantic--even if it was what you might expect from a WWII romance in some ways, it never felt cliché or overdone. Equally, fun to read was Noah and Georgia's story. Their snark and snappishness, their stubborn natures, and the chemistry, really all of their story, was so modern and just fun to see how ultimately, resistance was futile. 

The Things We Leave Unfinished was one of those reads that I wanted to continue reading long after the last page. I enjoyed reading about these characters and their lives and while their endings were completely satisfactory, I just wasn't ready to say goodbye; just one of many reasons I enjoy Rebecca Yarros's novels and am eager to see what she writes next.

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  Blurb: Told in alternating timelines, THE THINGS WE LEAVE UNFINISHED examines the risks we take for love, the scars too deep to heal, and the endings we can’t bring ourselves to see coming. Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia Stanton has to start over after she gave up almost everything in a brutal divorce—the New York house, the friends, and her pride. Now back home at her late great-grandmother’s estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He’s just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she’ll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he’s the one to finish her grandmother’s final novel…even if the publisher swears he’s the perfect fit. Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn’t much the “golden boy” of modern fiction hasn’t accomplished. But he can’t walk away from what might be the best book of the century—the one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another. But as they read Scarlett’s words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book—it’s based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn’t a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she’s as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother’s mistakes—even if it means destroying Noah’s career. 

     

  About the Author: Rebecca Yarros is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of over fifteen novels, including Great and Precious Things and The Last Letter. “A gifted storyteller” (Kirkus), she is also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward from her Flight and Glory series. Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for almost twenty years. She’s the mother of six children, ranging from kindergarten to law school, and is currently surviving the teenage years with three of her four hockey-playing sons. When she’s not writing, you can find her at the hockey rink or sneaking in some guitar time while guzzling coffee. She and her family live in Colorado with their stubborn English bulldogs, two feisty chinchillas, and a Maine Coon kitten named Artemis, who rules them all. Having fostered then adopted their youngest daughter who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, Rebecca is passionate about helping children in the foster system through her nonprofit, One October, which she co-founded with her husband in 2019. To learn more about their mission to better the lives of kids in foster care, visit www.oneoctober.org. To catch up on Rebecca’s latest releases and upcoming novels, including The Things We Leave Unfinished, which just received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, visit www.RebeccaYarros.com.  

    

  

Connect w/Rebecca: 

Website: http://www.rebeccayarros.com 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/rebeccaelizabethyarros 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RebeccaYarrosFlygirls 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaYarros 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccayarros 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7539785.Rebecca_Yarros 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rebecca-yarros 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/39ZKtZ6

REVIEW: The Reality of Everything by Rebecca Yarros

  THE REALITY OF EVERYTHING (Flight & Glory #5) by Rebecca Yarros 

Release Date: August 24th   

  Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41556924  

    

  

AVAILABLE NOW!! 

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OUR REVIEW:

It's been a few years since I've been in the world of The Flight and Glory series but I've never forgotten how much I loved being in that world. The characters Rebecca Yarros created all those years ago are memorable and so when they showed up again in The Reality of Everything all of their stories immediately came flooding back.

As with all the other novels in this series, there is some serious heartbreak and angst but it's the strength of Morgan and the sweetness of Jackson that really are the heart and soul of this novel. Their love story is one of patience and laughter, sexy smirks and funny quips, and of course chemistry that just sizzles on and off the page. 

I really appreciated how Rebecca Yarros takes the time and space to really delve in to Morgan's evolution of grief. While it was a huge part of Morgan's narrative, it didn't take over the story or drag it down, and it just felt honest with the ups and downs of grieving. I also appreciated how she balanced Morgan's story with Jackson's--while his was also filled with baby mama drama, his lightness and kindness and all around goodness was the perfect pairing to Morgan's story. 

Additionally, their friends and all of the fun (and sometimes baggage) that came with them made this a novel where I laughed more than I frowned. I really enjoyed Jackson's friends and hope that Yarros can build some stories around them. I love a guy in uniform and Yarros really writes them with the swagger, knowledge, and care that must come from her years of being married to a man in uniform. I don't know that there's another writer who does it better. She has be wanting a man in uniform and I'm a happily married woman, so what the hell?! LOL. 

As I said when I started this review, it's been a hot minute or two since I've read these characters but now that I'm back there all I want to do is revisit them all again. The ease in which I just fell right back into their stories and the desire to consume The Reality of Everything as fast as I could while simultaneously putting it down to extend the reading should tell you everything you need to know. Go buy this book--you'll be so glad you did.

  Blurb: Two years after the man she loved was killed in Afghanistan, Morgan Bartley is trying to put the pieces of her life back together. The reno on her dilapidated beach house in the Outer Banks might be just the distraction she needs to keep her debilitating anxiety attacks at bay and begin to heal her heart...if she can ignore the ridiculously handsome guy next door. At twenty-eight, single-dad Jackson Montgomery’s life revolves around his five-year-old daughter and his job as a search-and-rescue pilot for the coast guard. He’s no stranger to saving a damsel in distress, and though his gorgeous new neighbor is clearly in distress, she’s no damsel. She’s stubborn as hell with walls a mile thick, and the dog tags hanging from her rearview mirror give him a pretty good clue as to why. It doesn’t matter that their attraction is undeniable—she swore she’d never fall for another pilot, let alone a military man. There are some wounds time can’t heal, and some fears too consuming to conquer. She’s a barely breathing heartbreak on the edge of recovery. He’s a crash waiting to happen. Together they could have it all...if they can endure the coming storm.  

    

  About the Author: Rebecca is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of over fifteen novels, and is always ready to bring on the emotions. She's also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward from her Flight and Glory series. She loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for eighteen years. She’s the mother of six children, ranging from kindergarten to law school, and is currently surviving the teenage years with two of her four hockey-playing sons. When she’s not writing, you can find her at the hockey rink or sneaking in some guitar time. She lives in Colorado with her family, their stubborn English bulldog, and a feisty chinchilla. Having fostered then adopted their youngest daughter, Rebecca is passionate about helping children in the foster system through her nonprofit, One October.

   

  Connect w/Rebecca: 

Website: http://www.rebeccayarros.com 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/rebeccaelizabethyarros 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RebeccaYarrosFlygirls 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaYarros 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccayarros 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7539785.Rebecca_Yarros 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rebecca-yarros 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/39ZKtZ6