Short Take Reviews: The Queen of Nothing, We Own Tonight, Malice


I'm covering all bases today with a contemporary romance, a YA fantasy, and a YA contemporary with a sci-fi twist. While one missed the mark, the other two were big hits. 

    

Corinne Michaels was one of those authors that I’d been meaning to read for years. And after I finished We Own Tonight all I could think was, What took me so long?” Because I fell hard for this sexy/swoony story. Heather had a mind-blowing encounter with Eli, her teenage crush, after his concert. Her life was complicated and she had no room for a relationship but apparently Eli didn’t get the memo. I loved the way Eli pursued Heather – not in an overbearing, creepy way but with persistent charm and humor. What started as attraction and infatuation turned into something deeper and I loved watching these two get to know each other, trust each other, and make room for each other in their lives. I appreciated Heather’s selflessness and her devotion to her sister and Eli was an absolute sweetheart who understood Heather’s situation and did everything he could to make her life easier. Both of them were dealing with serious matters in their personal lives and those led to some truly emotional moments that had me tearing up more than once. There’s no doubt I’ll be reading more from Corinne Michaels after this gem.

The Queen of Nothing gave me more of what I loved about The Folk of the Air trilogy – the scheming, the plotting, the machinations – and then amped it up a notch by delivering more of what I wanted: more Jude + Cardan. The changes in them both over the course of the series were so subtle and so well done. These two had danced around each other for so long and the payoff here of finally – finally! – seeing them open up to one another and come together was epic. They truly came into their own here. But it’s not like Holly Black dropped the action in order to focus on the characters. There was still all the danger, the trickery, the twists, the situations I thought for sure there was no way out of. The pacing was nonstop and I enjoyed every minute of the ride. (Side note: Kudos to Black for creating some of the best morally gray (and downright villainous) characters ever and not feel the need to redeem them. *fist bump to Holly*) 

MALICE by Pintip Dunn | 2.75-3 STARS
I’ll start by saying that Malice wasn’t a good fit for me from the start. But Entangled sent me a shiny, new hardcover in a pretty PR box so I felt obligated to read it. So there’s that. While the premise is interesting – girl hears voice of her older self, telling her that a classmate will wipe out two-thirds of a population with a virus and enlists her help to stop him – the execution left me wanting. Main character Alice was way too willing to believe the voice in her head and was prepared to go to extreme lengths without ever really exploring other options. Plus, there were just too many events that were so unrealistic (even outside the time travel aspect) and outlandish that it lost any shred of believability. The reveal of the virus maker was a dud since it was glaringly obvious from early on. Side character Bandit was the bright spot. 


Have you read any of these books?


20 comments

  1. I have not read any of these, but you are definitely convincing me to read some of those Corrine Michaels' books I have sitting on my kindle. Hmmmm, romance with a celebrity crush is always fun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Corinne Michaels really impressed me and I've already read another by her since this one. She writes the kind of emotional romance that I love, without being overly dramatic/angsty.

      Delete
  2. You liked QoN more than I did but I did enjoy the series overall.

    Haven't read anything by the other two authors.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
  3. Queen of Nothing was such a crazy ride, I felt like I never had a chance to take a breath, haha!

    Great reviews, I don't think Malice would be for me either.

    Amber Elise @ Du Livre

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same, Amber! Seeing reviews that complained about "nothing happening" in book had me scratching my head. I mean, seriously?

      Delete
  4. I sped read Queen of Nothing after the cliffhanger of book two because I NEEDED to know what happened. I now need to read it properly in slower time. :)

    Corinne Michaels books are too angsty and fraught for me. It could be the ones I've read but I've read four of them so gave up, lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too funny that you flew thru The Queen of Nothing so fast that you need a reread. I read a couple reviews recently of people saying nothing happened in TQON and I was thinking, did we even read the same book?

      Delete
  5. I haven't read any of these. But I'm reading my first Corinne Michaels at the moment and heard some good stuff about 'We Own Tonight' too. I'm glad you enjoyed two of these so much Tanya. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you're enjoying the one by Corinne Michaels, Maureen! She's definitely a new favorite of mine.

      Delete
  6. I'm really hoping to read Black's series soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you get a chance to pick it up soon, Alison. The whole trilogy was so good.

      Delete
  7. I am so happy that you enjoyed Queen of Nothing!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ooh nice! Your review of The Queen of Nothing has me bumping that one up on my stack of books to read ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've read that Corinne Michaels series and really enjoyed it. I'm glad you did, too! I also loved her series with Say I'm Yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad I finally started reading Corinne Michaels. She's definitely a new favorite.

      Delete
  10. Aw nnoooo I am so sad that Malice didn't work for you! I know it is outside of your genre for sure, so that makes sense. I did kind of think I knew who the person was (or at least, knew out of a few people) but I still liked it. Glad that the other two were such wins for you though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, just wasn't for me, sadly. I should have known better... there were too many strikes against it (for me) before I even started it but I felt obligated to give it a go.

      Delete