Tag Archives: Tarnish

Tarnish by J.D. Brink

27 Feb

Tarnish

 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

So I was lucky enough to actually a signed copy of this from the author. CHEA! So thank you thank you Mr. Brink for the fantastical read.

dance

Different than my normal read purely because it has a male pro-tag but VERY good. I would say this is more of a crossover YA-Adult book based on the storyline, characters, and tempo.

The longer I am away from this book, the more I like it. What’s amazing about this book is that it is its own story. It’s well written, although it got a little choppy (more on that in a minute) and the characters are their own beings. It’s not some spin off, take off, bullshit twisting of the same young adult themes. And honestly, I think that’s mostly because for ONCE we get a very real male pro-tag.

Billy/Will, our main homeboy, is adorable. This is my Will:

will

 

Smexy, and buff and clean faced. He’s exactly what I would think a medieval teen-aged adventure junkie would be. And I think it’s completely cute how smitten he is with the illusion of Will vs Billy. And love how he has to wrestle with the age old “who am I?” question and how Brink makes it very entertaining. He has all these ups and down and highs and lows and by the end, he’s really gotten booted off this pedestal he put himself on. But I couldn’t help but giggle at the last name he comes up for himself, Thunderstrike. Call me dirty minded but heyyyy…

wink

 

Personally, I am A HUGE fan of switching narrators. I love being able to feel and see the story through different eyes and voices. It adds depth and dynamics to a book. And while a did enjoy all our narrators, I only wish we got to spend a little more time with each of them. I felt like sometimes we would meet someone and he’d be gone before we got a chance to know him.

who are you

 

And OMG, I love love love that you get all these stories within stories because there’s all these storytellers in the story. It’s like, bookception.

you're awesome

Tarnish by Katherin Longshore

19 Sep

tarnish

Book Two in the (sorta) Tudor Series

Rating: Two out of Five Stars

I adore the Tudor era and the opulence of books that are written based off of it. But this book, blech. Might as well be discussing the grass growing.

I guess I shouldn’t have set the bar so high for Tarnish considering Gilt was such a let down for me. But I just WANTED so much from this story, it has so much potential and was an utter failure. The richness, the drama, the romance, lies and hate and passion and everything that exemplifies the Tudor court was gone. Not only that, but Anne was meek and annoying and trivial. The Anne Boleyn that brought down kings is absent in this story. True, this book is based on her before-Queen time, but that fiery personality isn’t even relevant to this plot. Its rather ridiculous that someone could make Anne Boleyn, the woman who changed the English culture, the girl who changed the face of politics throughout the ENTIRE world, who spawned a BRAND NEW RELIGION, make her BORING! Completely inconsequential.

I do give mad props to Longshore for attempting to show a different side of the Boleyn story, but to end the book right before the juiciest part even begins?!? AGH! I want to tear my hair out. I could have suffered through this book if there was a second one coming that would validate this bland, boring, book as set up. I could survive if this was a first installment of decadent, passionate, sexy series that brought Henry, Anne, George, Jane, Thomas to a singeing peak of a climax that saw Catholicism in England diminish. Where we could experience the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn. I mean, at least Gilt lead us through Kat’s execution and finished the whole damn story. This book leaves you on the precipice of a cliff so tall you want to jump, no matter the landing, because you had to struggle through hundreds of pages of nonsense to reach nothing.

And the cover redesigns? Awful. Boring as hell. Why would someone think that the new cover for Gilt and Tarnish are better?

Needless to say, I wanted more. It was a disappointment. And now I am sad. And for some reason, I know I will read Brazen because I like to torture myself.