[Review] Victoria Schwab : The Archived

[YA]

You can buy it here:
The Archived (Amazon)

Rating:
5/5

FTC: eGalley received from publisher through Netgalley

Summary: (from Publisher)
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous-it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard won redemption.

My thoughts:
What a ride! Every reader has those few books that grip him and won’t let go right after finishing. These are the best books, and to find them is a search that will never end. For me, the sneak peek of The Archived (Please note, I only read part of the book, I received a sneak peek!) is a book that fits the bill 100%.

In this alternate reality, the dead are stored in an archive, they are histories kept by librarians and sometimes, one of them escapes. This is where our heroine, Mac, comes into play. She is a Keeper, and her job is to return escaped Histories to the Archive and to prevent them from getting out into the real world.

The world Schwab imagined is just wonderful, fantastic and full of the most conflicting feelings. You dive in and there’s no time to catch your breath, you don’t even want to! It’s an amazingly thrilling, sweetly dangerous adventure in a world so very similar to ours.

Now, The Archived is one book I will have to barter with. I was put on a book buying ban, but I absolutely need to read this! It is a craving that is as bad as a craving for chocolate – and if you know me, you know I live and breathe for chocolate!

[Review] Susan Mallery : Summer Days

[romance]

You can buy it here:
Summer Days (Amazon)
Summer Days (Amazon eBook)
These are affiliate links!

Rating:
2.5/5

FTC: eGalley received from Publisher through Netgalley - no money was exchanged and the review is my opinion only

Summary: (from the publisher, as provided on Netgalley
Rafe is trapped in the one place he vowed never to return to—the Castle Ranch in Fool’s Gold, California. He made millions facing ruthless adversaries in the boardroom, but nothing could’ve prepared him to go head-to-head against stubborn, beautiful Heidi Simpson. No one is more surprised than Rafe to discover that he’s finding Heidi—and life as a cowboy—much more compelling than he wants to admit.

For Heidi, the Castle Ranch is the home she’s always wanted. After a life on the road, the vivacious blonde has finally put down roots. She won’t give that up without a fight, not even for a man whose late-night kisses make her yearn to be a little less…wholesome.

As the two turn from passionate adversaries to passionate, period, they’ll discover that summer love can last a lifetime.

My thoughts:
Returning to this quirky small town called Fool’s Gold is always enjoyable. The characters usually are a pleasure and for a bigger family, whether they are related or not and even the reader feels included in the events in town. Mallery’s writing style never disappoints me. It may not be comparable to Shakespeare or Chaucer, but readers shouldn’t expect that.
Returning to see how all the old friends are handling their life and the changes they go through – marriage and children being only two examples – is a joy I can never resist.
With this 7th novel set in Fool’s Gold, however, I had one major issue: Rafe, the hero!
He is a pain in my booty and I disliked him for most of the book. His overbearing personality, his knowitall attitude and his unbendable, unchangeable opinions just drove me crazy. I would almost say I hated him for most of the book, not only for how he treated our heroine and her grandfather, but also his own family and everyone around him.

Attention, major spoilers ahead! (Please highlight to read.)

Thanks to Rafe, the ending just felt wrong and almost rushed. It was so anticlimactic I wanted to cry and throw the book across the room – and I might have done it, had it not been on my precious Kindle! Basically, our heroine, Heidi, decides she must tell Rafe that she loves him and follows him to LA, where she finds him in his office with a woman she doesn’t know. She immediately thinks the worst of him, which is no surprise considering his previous behavior, and… Takes it out on the woman! Not on Rafe, but the woman – who later turns out to be the decorator. The happy ending is already there right after they tell each other “I love you”. I feel cheated out of at least two more pages of story. There must have been something missing in my book, because clearly, this is not an ending Susan Mallery would normally write.