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[katara]

Title: The Hundredth Queen (The Hundredth Queen #1)
Author: Emily R. King
Format: Epub
Rating: 3/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: February 16, 2018 to February 18, 2018
Book Summary: He wanted a warrior queen. He got a revolutionary.

As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she’s an unlikely candidate for even a servant’s position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood’s mountain temple.

But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda’s life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home, set on a desert trek, and ordered to fight for her place among the rajah’s ninety-nine wives and numerous courtesans. Her only solace comes in the company of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik.

Faced with the danger of a tournament to the death—and her growing affection for Deven—Kalinda has only one hope for escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidden power buried within her.
Book Review: Kalinda has been sick most of her life with fevers and has had to take tonics to keep them away. One day while she and her best friend are practicing, they find a carvan has entered the Temple. Both girls are curious as to why a carvan of men have come and it isn't until later on that the learn that Rajah has come to do a Claiming for his Hundredth Queen. Kalinda wants no part of it and will do anything to lose. Unfortunately when another girl harms her best friend during a tournament, Kalinda steps in to lay swift justice upon the girl. This, however, has consequences and Kalinda is Claimed by the Rajah. She will journey to the Emerald Palace and face the other wives in a tournament to find her place as his Hundredth Queen.

Why are all YAs lately have insta-love? I mean this is all I have seen in recent books that I have managed to skip them for the time being but it has now become a trend within the ya world. What is so hard about building a romance? I would think with these being a series that such romance would not happen so quickly within the first book.

Okay maybe a small attraction that I had hoped would be the foundation to a romance that would slowly come about. I see I was wrong. Suddenly our heroine and hero are "OMG TRU LUV!!111" the moment they see each other.

Also there seemed to be some world-building and yet that seemed to be it? I love the idea of India's mythology weaved into the story but this new world of India had little world-building. I would have loved to have known more about this world. Maybe in book two?

People keep telling me that this story is about smashing the patriarchy and empowering young women to step up to take their own destiny into their hands. This is not always easy and there is always going to be things thrown your way in order to halt progress but if keep fighting, you will break through the patriarchy.

I love the premises of this book but not how it was entirely carried out. The mythology was great weaved in but the world-building lacked where it should have been stronger. The insta-love really turned me off. I wanted to see the romance build and I was disappointed that it didn't go that route. I am hoping book two will be better.

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[katara]

Title: Olympian Challenger
Author: Astrid Arditi
Format: Epub
Rating: 3.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: February 18, 2018
Book Summary: A hero’s tournament. A defiant contender. Does one girl have the courage to take on Mount Olympus?
Hope’s world doesn’t have room for heroes. She barely has time for schoolwork, swim team, and taking care of her ailing mother. But when she’s invited to a mysterious tournament, the all-powerful hosts won’t take no for an answer.

Transported to Mount Olympus, Hope comes face to face with her new trainers—the pantheon of Greek gods. While other contenders train hard to gain a fighting edge, Hope searches for a way out. Instead, she finds a gorgeous shadow god who may just convince her to stay…

As each round unfolds, the ultimate prize draws closer—the granting of her heart’s deepest desire. If she survives the final challenge, her mother’s cure would be within reach…but only if Hope can ignore the tournament’s dark purpose.

Olympian Challenger is the first book in a bold YA urban fantasy trilogy. If you like Greek mythology, forbidden romance, and feats of courage, then you’ll love Astrid Arditi’s heroic coming-of-age tale.
Book Review: I was given an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hope Diaz's life has been anything but happy. Her mother was diagnosed with dementia (early stages?) and it is slowly robbing her of her memories. Hope has given up her entire life to take care of her mom and she hopes to one day to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a doctor (her mother was a midwife). One day Hope receives a mysterious invitation. In fact, the entire senior class has received one. Only Hope's invitation has more and she ends up on Mt. Olympus after trying to save a young man from drowning. Here she finds herself trapped and will have to play in a tournament for the Gods. But Hope has only one thing on her mind - getting back to her mother and she will do anything she can to leave Olympus.

Unfortunately for Hope, the exits are sealed and the only way for Hope to leave Olympus is play in the tournament. As the games begin, Hope finds herself in a battle to not only keep herself alive but to win the tournament with the hopes of returning to her Mom.

Okay I admit that this book kept me glued from beginning to end. I liked the premises of Greek Mythology but then again any story with it will pretty much sucker me in.

I liked Hope. I felt she had potential. She is desperate to be apart of her Mom's life while her Mom is being robbed from her by the stages of dementia and I have to sympathize with her on that. My own Mom is in the early stages of dementia and much like Hope, I don't like leave her alone because I worry of coming home one day and her memory of me is erased. So I can see how hard it is for Hope especially when she is trapped on Olympus and forced to play in a tournament she really wants to part of. As each person is eliminated, Hope finds her goal within her sight.

The only thing I have grown tired of when it comes to ya is the fact that everything seems to incorporate the Hunger Games in their storylines. Next to insta-love (this one, I have to admit, is a bit different when it comes to romance. It is a slow burn), most of the ya storylines seem to think they need to add to some element of the Hunger Games into their storyline. While this story has set itself a bit apart from the dystopian storyline and used mythology instead, it still felt like I was reading something along the lines of a fanfiction.

There were also some sentence structures within that felt a bit awkward. Some of them caused me to have to re-read the paragraph twice to understand what the author was trying to convey.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It kept me rivted from the beginning of the book to the end. Again I am a sucker when it comes to anything written with mythology weaved into their storyline. I enjoy those types of books more than anything. If this is to be a trilogy, I cannot wait to see how the series ends. Hope has a ton of potential and I am looking forward to seeing how she does in the next book.