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ajtorres_author 's review for:
Empress Unveiled
by Jenna Morland
Empress Unveiled is an Young Adult Portal Fantasy/Romance novel, book 1 in the series.
Book Cover: 4* - I'm not gonna lie, this was a cover buy. I mean, look at these colors! It's so pretty, it doesn't tell me anything about this book, but it is a very pretty cover.
Summary/Tagline: 3* - Ok, as I was reading the book's synopsis, I was actually all in. A main character who was dying due to a mysterious illness, but some guy is somehow able to cure her of it? All right I'm curious, there was only one problem, Tyler's name shows up at the very end, telling me that this was going to feature a love triangle. I don't care for love triangles as writers have used an exact same premise over and over and over again with no change, BUT I wanted to give this book a chance anyway... there was also a chance that this book wasn't going to be for me too.
Characters: 1* - Unfortunately, this area gave me the biggest issue in this book, but it looks like I've calmed down enough to finally write this review. So, here we go. We follow one character, a 17 year old girl named Swayzi(her mom loves Dirty Dancing and Patrick Swayzi, hence the name), who right at the beginning of this book, we learn she has maybe 6 months to live. That was rough to learn I'm sure, and each character around Swayzi reacts... variously. Swayzi's actions and that of her friends made it reaaaaally hard for me to WANT to read this book. By the way, the teenagers will be teenagers excuse can only go so far, so don't even give me that. Swayzi lives with a single mother, who she doesn't call mom because mom feels old being called mom as she had Swayzi when she was 18 years old, and has 2 friends and a Regina George bully that has tormented her since like, I think Swayzi was a child and was in and out of hospitals since then. However, out of her 2 friends, we learn that Penelope isn't who she says she is and Tyler apparently has been in love with Swayzi for a very long time, but never acted upon his feelings because she's been dying and didn't think the 2 had a chance until she started to look better suddenly. Oh right, Swayzi starts to feel better for some reason, and that some reason is Daylan, a mysterious man who appeared out of nowhere on an abandoned pier about to be executed. There's a reason for a lot of this, but I'll talk about those in both World Building and Story. As you can tell, Tyler and Daylan become Swayzi's love interests. Which, wouldn't be a problem, IF BOTH TYLER AND DAYLAN DIDN'T ACT LIKE 5 YEAR OLDS PLAYING TUG A WAR WITH A FREAKING TOY DUMP TRUCK WITH SWAYZI! The 2 were always so unbearable when they were around and Swayzi could barely control them as is, and what's worse, NEITHER boys have a reason for me to like them, Daylan almost did, until he felt absolutely remorseless and WILLING to MURDER the Regina George bully, who by the way is human and Daylan is a faerie with super human strength!(I'll explain this later don't worry), and you know what, I would've forgiven all of that, if Swayzi actually stood firm about being horrified that Daylan was willing to do that, but as soon as he's all sweet and loving to her, she stops caring and moves on. Tyler on the other hand, decides to act out about Swayzi dying by making AND sleeping with the Regina George(by the way, no this isn't her name, I just forgot her name) bully. Yes, I'm not kidding. The dude who claims to be in love with Swayzi decides that the bully who's been tormenting Swayzi for years, will be his f*** buddy while Swayzi is/was dying. Oh! And after Swayzi finds out, she's obviously pissed, but to "show" that what he did means nothing, he forces a kiss. On Swayzi. TWICE! IN THE SAME F****** SCENE!(technically 3 times, but the 3rd was more... I'll say consensual? But I stopped caring by this point) Like with Daylan, Swayzi never bothered to scold Tyler about his actions and he doesn't feel bad for forcing those kisses, but because the 2nd forced kiss felt "right", it's FINE!? This! This right here is what I'm NOT here for. A main character who falls head over heels for 2 guys, both who provide something obviously different for Swayzi. Daylan only brings something physical while Tyler is SUPPOSED to bring something more emotional and familiar, but the more we keep NOT learning much about Daylan and the more s***** Tyler gets, I didn't care nor bought ANYTHING these characters "felt" about each other. Anyway, this got WAY to long, so I'm just gonna stop here and move on.
World Building: 3* - Ok, so I had a feeling this was gonna be a portal fantasy, BUT I was not expecting biblical terms and certain creatures from mythology to just be named dropped as if yeah this is normal. Alright, so centuries ago there were 2 realms, Heaven, home to Angels, and Earth, home to humans. By the way, no there isn't a god, there's just... Angels and Heaven. Suddenly, not much reason was explained except that there was a disagreement, and the angels began to war with each other, the thing is, Angels are so freaking immortal that no matter what, they can't die, unless they come to Earth and all magic is sapped from them and eventually die. Now, after realizing how fruitless the war was, the Angels decided to split. One group made a realm they call Hell and label themselves Demons, while another group decided to take neither the Angels and Demons side and became a neutral group. They made a middle realm they name Empress and then are labeled... Fairies... No, I'm not kidding. Also, Angels and Demons can take portals to Earth, either willy nilly with a crystal magic orb, or need to take very specific portals to Earth. By the way, no none of these are conventional Angels, Demons, and Fairies as they can look human but sometimes with extra features. Some can have wings, some can have horns, etc, but all come with special powers unique somewhat to them. So, this is all fine, but then a tengu, a creature from japanese mythology, gets dropped, and the characters end up fighting it. I would MUCH prefer that ANY creature from specific mythologies, if they are SHARING realms, have their own name, but also a name that us HUMANS would recognize as, but whatever I guess. There's also immortal witches in these worlds, but unlike Angels, Demons, and Fairies, Earth has no effect on their immortality, so they can just survive in any realm it seems. Anyway, I maybe would've enjoyed this, if the characters weren't grating me and the third group wasn't called fairies. I don't know what they would be called, but not fairies, this just felt like fantasy catering as fairies/faes are currently popular at the moment. Anyway, another accidental long piece so I'm moving on.
Story: 3* - Alright, I'll try and not take too long here too. The story is as followed, Swayzi is dying, which sucks, but after coming home from the hospital, her mom and her friend Penelope convince Swayzi to attend a after summer party at some high schooler's place, is tormented by her bully, and Tyler takes Swayzi to an old hang out the 2 had. There, Tyler sort of confesses dumbly to Swayzi, only for a blinding light washes out the area with a moon eclipse I think, and 6 people mysteriously appear on a pier, 3 of which are about to be executed, but for some reason, Swayzi is the only one to see it, Tyler can't. Although Swayzi wants to help the 3 random strangers from being executed, her outburst gives Daylan and his companions enough time to flee their executioners. Eventually, Swayzi and Daylan meet, and there we find out that there's more to Swayzi than we thought. Her death situation not only improves, but her life situation doesn't. The story wasn't bad, it really wasn't, the characters is what made it really hard for me to care and WANT to know what happens next, but to be honest, by the end, I just couldn't take the characters anymore.
Over All: 3* - All in all, I enjoyed the story when I could, but only when Tyler and Daylan weren't in a scene together, and I WOULD root for Swayzi, if the author put in the effort to scold both Tyler and Daylan for their separate actions, but I guess being a mushy teenager in love, it didn't matter because they love Swayzi and testosterones are FLYING! The characters are what made this book hard for me to read, to be honest, I would've much preferred if one or BOTH love interests didn't exist. I'm tired of boys fighting over the main character, and I mean verbal and almost physically fight MANY times, and I'm tired of writers making the teen girl lead completely mushy and dismissive when one guy forces himself on her while another was waaaaay to willing to murder a HUMAN girl, even if she does suck! And yes! Swayzi and I LITERALLY had the same mentality shortly after Daylan's almost murder of the bully girl. I want to read the next book, I really do, but not with these characters. If you're a fan of love triangles, regardless of characters and actions, then give this a chance. If you like portal fantasy/romance stories with faeries, give this a chance, otherwise, just brace yourself I guess.
Book Cover: 4* - I'm not gonna lie, this was a cover buy. I mean, look at these colors! It's so pretty, it doesn't tell me anything about this book, but it is a very pretty cover.
Summary/Tagline: 3* - Ok, as I was reading the book's synopsis, I was actually all in. A main character who was dying due to a mysterious illness, but some guy is somehow able to cure her of it? All right I'm curious, there was only one problem, Tyler's name shows up at the very end, telling me that this was going to feature a love triangle. I don't care for love triangles as writers have used an exact same premise over and over and over again with no change, BUT I wanted to give this book a chance anyway... there was also a chance that this book wasn't going to be for me too.
Characters: 1* - Unfortunately, this area gave me the biggest issue in this book, but it looks like I've calmed down enough to finally write this review. So, here we go. We follow one character, a 17 year old girl named Swayzi(her mom loves Dirty Dancing and Patrick Swayzi, hence the name), who right at the beginning of this book, we learn she has maybe 6 months to live. That was rough to learn I'm sure, and each character around Swayzi reacts... variously. Swayzi's actions and that of her friends made it reaaaaally hard for me to WANT to read this book. By the way, the teenagers will be teenagers excuse can only go so far, so don't even give me that. Swayzi lives with a single mother, who she doesn't call mom because mom feels old being called mom as she had Swayzi when she was 18 years old, and has 2 friends and a Regina George bully that has tormented her since like, I think Swayzi was a child and was in and out of hospitals since then. However, out of her 2 friends, we learn that Penelope isn't who she says she is and Tyler apparently has been in love with Swayzi for a very long time, but never acted upon his feelings because she's been dying and didn't think the 2 had a chance until she started to look better suddenly. Oh right, Swayzi starts to feel better for some reason, and that some reason is Daylan, a mysterious man who appeared out of nowhere on an abandoned pier about to be executed. There's a reason for a lot of this, but I'll talk about those in both World Building and Story. As you can tell, Tyler and Daylan become Swayzi's love interests. Which, wouldn't be a problem, IF BOTH TYLER AND DAYLAN DIDN'T ACT LIKE 5 YEAR OLDS PLAYING TUG A WAR WITH A FREAKING TOY DUMP TRUCK WITH SWAYZI! The 2 were always so unbearable when they were around and Swayzi could barely control them as is, and what's worse, NEITHER boys have a reason for me to like them, Daylan almost did, until he felt absolutely remorseless and WILLING to MURDER the Regina George bully, who by the way is human and Daylan is a faerie with super human strength!(I'll explain this later don't worry), and you know what, I would've forgiven all of that, if Swayzi actually stood firm about being horrified that Daylan was willing to do that, but as soon as he's all sweet and loving to her, she stops caring and moves on. Tyler on the other hand, decides to act out about Swayzi dying by making AND sleeping with the Regina George(by the way, no this isn't her name, I just forgot her name) bully. Yes, I'm not kidding. The dude who claims to be in love with Swayzi decides that the bully who's been tormenting Swayzi for years, will be his f*** buddy while Swayzi is/was dying. Oh! And after Swayzi finds out, she's obviously pissed, but to "show" that what he did means nothing, he forces a kiss. On Swayzi. TWICE! IN THE SAME F****** SCENE!(technically 3 times, but the 3rd was more... I'll say consensual? But I stopped caring by this point) Like with Daylan, Swayzi never bothered to scold Tyler about his actions and he doesn't feel bad for forcing those kisses, but because the 2nd forced kiss felt "right", it's FINE!? This! This right here is what I'm NOT here for. A main character who falls head over heels for 2 guys, both who provide something obviously different for Swayzi. Daylan only brings something physical while Tyler is SUPPOSED to bring something more emotional and familiar, but the more we keep NOT learning much about Daylan and the more s***** Tyler gets, I didn't care nor bought ANYTHING these characters "felt" about each other. Anyway, this got WAY to long, so I'm just gonna stop here and move on.
World Building: 3* - Ok, so I had a feeling this was gonna be a portal fantasy, BUT I was not expecting biblical terms and certain creatures from mythology to just be named dropped as if yeah this is normal. Alright, so centuries ago there were 2 realms, Heaven, home to Angels, and Earth, home to humans. By the way, no there isn't a god, there's just... Angels and Heaven. Suddenly, not much reason was explained except that there was a disagreement, and the angels began to war with each other, the thing is, Angels are so freaking immortal that no matter what, they can't die, unless they come to Earth and all magic is sapped from them and eventually die. Now, after realizing how fruitless the war was, the Angels decided to split. One group made a realm they call Hell and label themselves Demons, while another group decided to take neither the Angels and Demons side and became a neutral group. They made a middle realm they name Empress and then are labeled... Fairies... No, I'm not kidding. Also, Angels and Demons can take portals to Earth, either willy nilly with a crystal magic orb, or need to take very specific portals to Earth. By the way, no none of these are conventional Angels, Demons, and Fairies as they can look human but sometimes with extra features. Some can have wings, some can have horns, etc, but all come with special powers unique somewhat to them. So, this is all fine, but then a tengu, a creature from japanese mythology, gets dropped, and the characters end up fighting it. I would MUCH prefer that ANY creature from specific mythologies, if they are SHARING realms, have their own name, but also a name that us HUMANS would recognize as, but whatever I guess. There's also immortal witches in these worlds, but unlike Angels, Demons, and Fairies, Earth has no effect on their immortality, so they can just survive in any realm it seems. Anyway, I maybe would've enjoyed this, if the characters weren't grating me and the third group wasn't called fairies. I don't know what they would be called, but not fairies, this just felt like fantasy catering as fairies/faes are currently popular at the moment. Anyway, another accidental long piece so I'm moving on.
Story: 3* - Alright, I'll try and not take too long here too. The story is as followed, Swayzi is dying, which sucks, but after coming home from the hospital, her mom and her friend Penelope convince Swayzi to attend a after summer party at some high schooler's place, is tormented by her bully, and Tyler takes Swayzi to an old hang out the 2 had. There, Tyler sort of confesses dumbly to Swayzi, only for a blinding light washes out the area with a moon eclipse I think, and 6 people mysteriously appear on a pier, 3 of which are about to be executed, but for some reason, Swayzi is the only one to see it, Tyler can't. Although Swayzi wants to help the 3 random strangers from being executed, her outburst gives Daylan and his companions enough time to flee their executioners. Eventually, Swayzi and Daylan meet, and there we find out that there's more to Swayzi than we thought. Her death situation not only improves, but her life situation doesn't. The story wasn't bad, it really wasn't, the characters is what made it really hard for me to care and WANT to know what happens next, but to be honest, by the end, I just couldn't take the characters anymore.
Over All: 3* - All in all, I enjoyed the story when I could, but only when Tyler and Daylan weren't in a scene together, and I WOULD root for Swayzi, if the author put in the effort to scold both Tyler and Daylan for their separate actions, but I guess being a mushy teenager in love, it didn't matter because they love Swayzi and testosterones are FLYING! The characters are what made this book hard for me to read, to be honest, I would've much preferred if one or BOTH love interests didn't exist. I'm tired of boys fighting over the main character, and I mean verbal and almost physically fight MANY times, and I'm tired of writers making the teen girl lead completely mushy and dismissive when one guy forces himself on her while another was waaaaay to willing to murder a HUMAN girl, even if she does suck! And yes! Swayzi and I LITERALLY had the same mentality shortly after Daylan's almost murder of the bully girl. I want to read the next book, I really do, but not with these characters. If you're a fan of love triangles, regardless of characters and actions, then give this a chance. If you like portal fantasy/romance stories with faeries, give this a chance, otherwise, just brace yourself I guess.