The BookBee Blog

The Gilded Ones- review

Today I’m excited to participate in the Book Tour for The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna hosted by Hear Our Voices Book Tours

**Title:** The Gilded Ones
**Author:** Namina Forna
**Publisher:** Usborne Publishing Ltd

**Publising Date:** 9 February 2021
**Genre:** YA Fantasy

**Rating:4.5/5,⭐**

Dekka is a 16 year old, who must pass the Ritual of Purity, in order to become a member of her village. The ritual ceremony will determine whether her blood is pure or not. If it runs red, she will become full fledged woman, but if it runs gold, she would deemed impure and will have a choice either to be executed or join the emperor’s army.
The Gilded Ones was one of my anticipated reads of this year and it didn’t fail to impress me. I loved totally Dekka, she was so fierce and admirable. The author was also successful to make the side characters interesting. I also totally loved the female friendships in this book and the way the author developed them.
The world building in this book was incredible and was at it’s finest. The author described everything in a great detail, which made it easy to understand and enjoyable. The book also explores themes like colourism, racism, patriachial society.
I usually find YA books predictable, but this one was full of twists and turns. I liked the magic system, it was well developed and original. The romance was the major drawback in this book, I wasn’t invested in it, it could have been executed in a better way.
Overall I totally enjoyed reading it and I would definitely read the sequel. If you like books with fierce female characters, then I totally recommend this book.

**Author Info:**

Namina Forna is a young adult novelist based in Los Angeles, and the author of the
upcoming epic fantasy YA novel The Gilded Ones. Originally from Sierra Leone, West
Africa, she moved to the US when she was nine and has been traveling back and forth
ever since. Namina has an MFA in film and TV production from USC School of
Cinematic Arts and a BA from Spelman College. She works as a screenwriter in LA and
loves telling stories with fierce female leads.

Serena Singh Flips the Script- book review

Rating:3/5,⭐

This book is about Serena Singh, who is an independent woman and is not interested in marriage and having babies. She finally has her dream job but she notices that all of her old friendships have faded way. Unfortunately,making friends as an adult is hard, specially when you are closed off and don’t let anyone in. Serena tries to navigate a new job, a new boyfriend, familial drama, disastrous attempts at finding friends, and figuring out who she really is.

I loved Serena, she was so complex and sassy, I totally loved how the author develops her character throughout the book. I also liked that the romance, wasn’t a huge part of the story. Instead it focuses more on female friendships and Serena reconnecting with her parents and discovering herself and what she wants. The way the author portrays Serena’s relationship with her mother, Sandeep was so accurate and relate able. Among the side characters, Sandeep was my favourite. I liked that she always tried to understand Serena and supported her decisions.

The second half of the book fell flat for me and it felt very disconnected and slow paced. The author did include some humorous scenes, but they were very cringe and were not needed at all.

Overall it was an entertaining read and I do recommend it if you like reading light and heartwarming books.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Berkley publishing for providing me an e-arc to review.

The Lives of Saints- audiobook review

QOTD: Who are some of your auto-buy authors?

AOTD: Some of my auto-authors are Leigh Bardugo, Elizabeth Lim, Tomi Adeyemi and Angie Thomas.

Also,I finished listening to the audiobook of The Lives of Saints a few days ago and I am here with a review of it.

Rating:4/5,⭐

This is a short story collection, the stories are mainly about the origins of the saints and it gives you a little more insight to the grishaverse. First of all I would like to say that the narrators- Ben Barnes and Lauren Fortgang were amazing. I found their narration engrossing and there was not a single dull moment.

As expected the writing style was magical and perfect. I totally enjoyed the short stories, but one major drawback I found was that the stories were forgettable and lacked in depth. The first few stories were disappointing but the collection does get better as we progress. All the stories are based on similar themes which made it repetitive and somewhat boring.

Overall the stories were good but not something extraordinary. It was nice to be back in the grishaverse after such a long time. If you are fan of grishaverse than I would totally recommend it but I would suggest to keep your expectations low.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audiobook to review.

Cinderella is Dead

Qotd: A book that didn’t live up to your expectations?

TRIGGER WARNING: HOMOPHOBIA

Blurb {from Goodreads}:

It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over.

Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball . are forfeit.

But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world

My favourite quote from the book: “I’d like to be the one in armor, I’d like to be the one doing the saving.”

Rating:1.5/5

My thoughts:

Cinderella is Dead was one of my anticipated reads of this year but it fell flat for me and it was very underwhelming. Well to start with the good things, I really did enjoy reading the first few pages. The aspects that I liked most about the book was that there was no info dump and the author built the world gradually as the story progresses. I also liked how the author used Cinderella’s story as a foundation to built the plot and also incorporated various traditions in the story. Another aspect about the book that I loved was that the author tried to show that queer relationships can be toxic too and this something that I have never read in YA genre and I appreciate the author for this.

The book lacks a lot in character development. I found the main character, Sophia really irritating and self obsessed. At times she evens judges other girls based upon the choices they made and thinks of herself better than them.

Now coming to the plot, I really liked the concept but the execution was very poor. The story is full of plot holes and the author even did not even try to cover it up or give some explanation. The magic system was very poorly built and required more foundation and explanation.

Well these are just my views, if this book interests you than I definitely recommend you try this one out for yourself.

The God and the Religion – book review

Rating:3/5

I finished reading this a few days ago. Well i quite enjoyed reading it.It was an informative read. There are ten chapters and each focus on a particular topic. I liked the thoughts the author has shared in this book- I found them to be thought provoking. Also, being a spiritual book you don’t have to agree with all the ideas of the author.

I found most of the the information and topics discussed in the book to be pretty basic, I did like some parts of the book. Also, I didn’t like the format of the book, it could have been presented in a more intetesting way.
Also I liked the message behind the author has tried to convey through this book. I agree with him that as humanity is changing and evolving; religions also need upgradations and updates.

Overall; this was an average read- nothing unique and similar to the other spiritual self help books. I would definitely recommend this- if you are new to self help books and want to read about religion, god and universe.

Thanks to the author for the review copy.

We Beat the Gods – book review

Rating:3/5

QOTD: What are you currently reading? Are you liking it so far?

This book is narrated from two perspectives: His and Her. The book starts with a man sitting on bench and waiting for someone to come.
While he is waiting, he is haunted by the ghosts of his past. Memories of happiness intertwined with those of sadness, despair, remorse and regret.
Far away, the woman in question is a bundle of anxiety. Thinking about the possibilities to come and the impossibilities that come with them. She is unsure of the path to follow. Will they meet?

It does take time to get adapted to it understand the book.
I liked the characters; they were interesting and complex. I was able to feel the emotions of the characters.
The plot was somewhat predictable but there were some twists and turns which were totally unexpected. I liked how the events unfolded and there were some p twists and turns which were totally unexpected.
The climax was well written and it took me by surprise.
Athough I enjoyed reading it, but I felt some parts had over-detailing. The author has also overused metaphors, at first I liked it but later on it became repetitive and boring . I think with more editing and improvisation, the book could have been better brought out to the narrative.
Overall I became delighted reading it and I would only recommend it, if you like books with philosophical elements.

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A Thousand Perfect Notes- review

Rating:3/5🌟

TW: physical and emotional abuse
This book follows Beck, who is forced to play piano by his mother, The Maestro. He hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music – because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.

When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it.

I read this book a few days and it was such a wholesome read. What I liked the most was the character development. This is a character driven story. I totally loved Beck, he is such a cinnamon roll and he deserves everything.
My favourite character was August, her character was well written. She was so funny and interesting.
I also totally adored how the author developed the relationship between August and Beck. I totally loved the slow burn romance between them. Their love for each other was so raw and innocent. I also loved that Beck was such an amazing brother in this book. He walked his little sister to and from school. I wish I had sibling like him.
The blurb made it seem like it was going to be totally a sad read. The book surely does have some graphic and abusive scenes, but it also did have some scenes that were so hilarious.
The author was able to portray the feelings of the characters accurately. I was able to feel Beck’s despair and pain
The book also teaches many us many values like understanding the difference between passion and obsession
Even though I enjoyed it for most of the part, I did have some issues with it. This book features an abusive mother; I do understand there are bad parents out there but her character felt very unrealistic and exaggerated, The ending disappointed me a lot, it was very predictable and convenient. Also some storylines did not got a proper closure.
For a debut book, I found it really good. Overall it is an one time read, which you can binge read on a weekend.

You Should See Me in a Crown

Rating:4/5

This book is a about a queer Black girl, Liz who has to run for prom queen, so that she can get a scholarship in order to go to her dream college.

It’s definitely going to ond be my favorite reads of this year.
It was a totally cute and wholesome read.

I found Liz really relate able, and I loved her character development from being a wallflower to being what she wanted to be and getting what she deserved
I totally Amanada and Liz and they were so cute together. I loved how the author developed and explored their relationship and the slow burn romance was so good. The relationship felt realistic and not something forced down.

The pacing was perfect,I enjoyed from starting to the end and there was not a single dull moment.
When I first read the blurb, I thought romance was going to be a major part of this book but it also explores many other important themes like: love, family, friendship,identity and getting what you deserve.
The only flaw I found was that the side characters were underdeveloped and theyu could have been made more interesting

Other than this it was a highly entertaining read and I highly recommend it.

The Priory of the Orange Tree

QOTD: Which is your favorite LQBTQ+ book?
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Rating:5/5,
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My thoughts:
This book has gained so much hype on bookstagram and it’s totally worth it.
The size of the book is really intimidating, I thought there would be a lot useless info- dumping by the author. But no there was no such thing, all the information that was provided, was necessary. It helped to connect the dots in the last few chapters.
I totally adored the world building in this book ,I almost could imagine the world the way the author described.
This book had a dark and magical atmosphere.
The pacing was a little off in the beginning,but i think that’s due to as the author is trying to present the readers a huge magical world. But when everything settles down,the pacing becomes fast that I had to keep the book and take in everything that just happened. The writing style was at it’s finest, it took some time to adapt to it but it’s really unique. I usually struggle to understand the war scenes in fantasy books but I think the wars scenes were vividly described and I was able to understand them.
Also it has a large cast of characters,the glossary at the back totally helped me a to keep a track of them. The characters are diverse and it has a good LQBTQ+ representation too. This book even have talking Dragons,now this should be enough to read this book.Fantasy books generally lack in romance but this book had the best slow burn romance that I have ever read till now.
The book is really well plotted and it is very unpredictable and had so many plot twists. Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger; which will make you keep turning the pages. I highly recommend this if you love dragons and epic fantasies. I hope we get more books from this world soon.

Unravel the Dusk- review

Rating:4/5

1)Spin the Dawn was one of my favorite YA fantasy of last year. I was really excited to read it’s sequel this year. This book was everything I hoped for. It was definitely more darker and full of action packed scenes.
2) As expected the writing style was lyrical and full of vivid descriptions.
3) The side characters are given more space in this book. I also loved how the friendship between Maia and Ammi developed in this book. It was totally raw and natural.
4)I did have some issues with this book. The pacing was inconsistent. The story starts almost where Spin the Dawn ended. The starting was fast paced and full of action. But as we move towards the climax, the pacing becomes slow and I almost got bored. 
5) The magic system is not well developed. All magical things happened really easily. I think things become exciting when magic has some restrictions to it.
Overall, I do feel it was a good conclusion. I do recommend it if you look fantasy books with subtle romance. I am really excited for Six Crimson Cranes duology. 朗