Latest from

BOOK REVIEW: Evermore, by Sara Holland

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: Evermore, by Sara HollandTitle: Evermore by Sara Holland
Series: Everless #2
Published by HarperTeen
Published: December 31st 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads

The highly anticipated sequel to New York Times bestseller, Everless!

Jules Ember was raised hearing legends of the ancient magic of the wicked Alchemist and the good Sorceress. But she has just learned the truth: not only are the stories true, but she herself is the Alchemist, and Caro—a woman who single-handedly murdered the Queen and Jules’s first love, Roan, in cold blood—is the Sorceress.

The whole kingdom believes that Jules is responsible for the murders, and a hefty bounty has been placed on her head. And Caro is intent on destroying Jules, who stole her heart twelve lifetimes ago. Jules must delve into the stories that she now recognizes are accounts of her own past. For it is only by piecing together the mysteries of her lives that Jules will be able to save the person who has captured her own heart in this one.

 Evermore picks up not long after Everless ends, and while I read the first over a year ago, it wasn’t difficult to get back into Sara Holland’s world not having reread the first. I loved how the world building, magic system, and mythology were expanded upon and built to be so much more in the second, and it honestly made me wish there was at least one more book in this series just to flesh out the world that much more. The writing was just as lyrical and compelling in the sequel as it was in the first, and I absolutely enjoyed the twists and turns the sequel took after book one left off. Jules is fully fleshed out, having moments of brilliance and airheadedness throughout, and I thought that made her real to me and added a lot of dimension to the story. She is a young woman, after all, and I like it when writers choose to add that ‘young’ feeling to their characters without having them be ‘the best at everything.’

Evermore took a different turn than I was expecting, and I found myself completely enjoying the ride. In Everless, Liam is believed to be the villain throughout most of the book, and in Evermore we get to see a lot more of him. The romance in this duology is appropriate for the genre, and sometimes I found it a little too instalove, but overall, I like where Holland went with the character development with Jules and Liam, showing us as readers that there is often a lot more than meets the eye. Besides, I have a little soft spot for those fantasy antiheroes, and I always want more of them.

Overall, if you read Everless and enjoyed it, definitely finish out the duology. I thought it was a fitting ending even though I was left wanting more!

Thank you to the publisher and Glasstown Entertainment for sending me an e-galley to review! All opinions are my own.

BOOK REVIEW: Everless, by Sara Holland

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: Everless, by Sara HollandTitle: Everless by Sara Holland
Series: Everless #1
Published by HarperTeen
Published: January 2nd 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Trade Paper
Source: Book Sparks, Publisher
Goodreads

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.
everless - sarah holland, ig: fairy.bookmother
everless – sarah holland, ig: fairy.bookmother

How much time, I think, must there be among us? Centuries and centuries. Ten thousand years or more. And yet every single Gerling has as much as ten of the rest of us.

I went into Sara Holland’s Everless with a little bit of hesitation because it feels like a lot of YA fantasy in the recent years (at least stuff that gets a lot of traction) is just recycled bits of previous works, but Everless caught my attention because it involves a magical use of time. Anything to do with time, time manipulation, or time travel is right up my alley, especially if done well, and my friends, Everless surprised me! I love the concept of time as something to be traded and consumed, used as a bartering tool, and wielded as a power.

Jules once lived at the Everless estate, but she and her father had to escape the estate ten years prior to the main events of the story. She returns to the estate to find work when her father is dying in an effort to save him, and she doesn’t heed any of her father’s warnings about the place. But as she spends more time at Everless and as she reacquaints herself with the surroundings, Jules begins to remember and discover things about her past and her future that she never thought possible.

Sara Holland plays around with the common tropes found in YA fantasy and subverts them. I only guessed at one of the twists, but the others surprised me! Holland’s writing felt effortlessly engaging, and I didn’t want to put the book down while I read it. The only major issue I had with the book was the immense “info dump” at the beginning that took a while to uncoil and understand. Other than that, I felt that the tension was just right, the suspense just right, and the cliffhanger!!! just right. Everless is entirely refreshing, and if you enjoy reading YA fantasy, I think you’ll enjoy this!

Many thanks to BookSparks and HarperTeen for sending me a copy to review! All opinions are my own.