First Frost
Waverly Family #2
by Sarah Addison Allen
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (January 5, 2016)
Kindle Edition
File Size: 1152 KB
Print Length: 305 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; Reprint edition (January 20, 2015)
Publication Date: January 20, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
My thoughts:
First Frost is a follow-up book to the Garden Spells.
Bay is now 15 years old and is going through a Waverly transition which she seems to be loving and hating at the same time. Like everyone in the family, she inherited a distinct magical talent, knowing things/person where they belong. Knowing Josh is her HEA, it created a huge problem as Josh is the son of her mom's first love and first real heartbreak.
Like the first book, First Frost is beautifully written. The book is so enchanting that I find myself reading it like how Georgina Kincaid reads Seth's books (reading a few pages each day). I didn't want this to be over! My favorite character in the series is Evanelle. My heart bled upon knowing her life story. As for the mysterious stranger, it was a disappointment. I found that part dull and felt cheated. I was kind of hoping something nice to come out of it but it just felt flat. Still, if you are looking for a nice, heartwarming and encouraging story, you might want to pick-up this book.
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About the book:
It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree...and the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store.
Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley's Candies. Though her handcrafted confections -- rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds -- are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts.
Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby -- a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.
Sydney's daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to...if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?
When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells, lose yourself in Sarah Addison Allen's enchanting world and fall for her charmed characters in this captivating story that proves that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. It's where the real story begins.
Aisuru
by Anma Natsu
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Zenbi Press (March 27, 2015)
Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: Zenbi Press; 1st edition (March 22, 2015)
Kindle Edition
File Size: 1662 KB
Print Length: 365 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Zenbi Press (March 27, 2015)
Publication Date: March 27, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Anma Natsu. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.
My thoughts:
This is my first Japanese-themed novel and I loved it soooo muchooo! While I tremendously enjoyed reading this (the romance part), it also gave me extreme sadness, hopelessness, and depression. I hate to include my illness in the review but I have to. I started reading this in May 2015, but couldn't get to finish as I was too busy with lots of doctor visits. When I was diagnosed having lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes) in June, it became hard for me to go back reading this. The main character, Sakura, is dying and I have cancer. So just imagine me reading the story. Suddenly, Sarura became me.
I managed to finish the story, with or without cancer, I found the book sooo good. What I loved most is that how the author provided info about the Japanese culture and tradition. The setting of the story was likewise written well.
I highly recommend this to readers who are into Japan-themed novels.
About the book:
"It was madness to be more than her companion and caretaker..."
For the last eight years, Sakura Takeshi has been counting down the time till her life ended. Though she survived the attack that left her an orphan, it's always been borrowed time as her damaged body continued to break down.
She told herself she was ready, that she had come to terms with dying before she reached 19. Then she found Kazuki lying wounded in her garden. His arrival opens the door for her whole world to change, but is it too late for her to learn to live, or to love, when there are only months left in her life?
Set in Hakodate, Japan, Aisuru is a young adult fantasy romance that will appeal to readers who enjoy shōjo manga and Japanese light novels, have a fondness for magical realism, and who are looking for something just a little bit different from the usual young adult romance.
If you're looking for stories featuring abusive relationships, stalkery bad boys, or shallow, mean natured girls, this isn't the story for you. What you will find are realistic characters, relationships built on mutual respect, and two hearts brought together just when they needed each other most.
About the author:
Anma Natsu is a long-time writer who waited until the big 40 was rapidly approaching to get off her duff and get her first novel out there. A control-freak and proud of it, she took the indie route so she could write the stories she wanted to write and deliver them her way.
With a style that unabashedly reflects the influence her favorite reads, manga and light novels, have had, Anma uses her stories to explore the intricacies of life and love in all its various forms.
Anma also hosts the mostly weekly podcast "The Lackadaisical Writer", available on iTunes, iHeartRadio, and other podcast directories, where she shares her experiences and lessons she's learning as an indie author.
Away from her novel writing and podcasting, she spends her days writing code as a web developer, snuggling with her sweetie for anime time, indulging in the hilarity of natural horror & disaster B-movies, and playing far more video games than a woman her age should admit to.
