Banned Bibliophile

Reviewer: The Curious Quill Received: Library Release Date: June 2018 Quills: 4/5 Goodreads Summary: Three sisters. One spell. Countless dead. Lula Mortiz feels like an outsider. Her sister's newfound Encantrix powers have wounded her in ways that Lula's bruja healing powers can't fix, and she longs for the comfort her family once brought her. Thank the Deos for Maks, her sweet, steady boyfriend who sees the beauty within her and brings light to her life. Then a bus crash turns Lula's world upside down. Her classmates are all dead, including Maks. But Lula was born to heal, to fix. She can bring Maks back, even if it means seeking help from her sisters and defying Death herself. But magic that defies the laws of the deos is dangerous. Unpredictable. And when the dust settles, Maks isn't the only one who's been brought back... My Thoughts: Zoraida Córdova has truly been an author whose work I have fallen in love with and cherish. I first stu

Reviewer: The Banned Bibliophile Received: Author Release Date: August 2018 Moons: 4.5/5 Goodreads Summary: Bound by an ancient prophecy, freed by love. Mages have lived by a prophecy that states that once there are two mage houses left, one must kill the other to maintain a magical balance.  But the prophecy is disrupted when a new mage is revealed and begins killing everyone in his path.  Simon Moonspell and Tobias Bloodworth, the last two mages of the ancient houses, must put their animosity aside in order to stop this new mage and fulfill the prophecy.  However, when their hatred slowly turns to love, can they remain impartial or will they be forced to battle to the death? My Thoughts: "...if he knew anything, it’s that peace was an illusion and happiness was a fleeting bird you had to catch with your bare hands. It would cut and scratch and claw, not wanting to be captured, but well worth it when it had been grasped." ~Bloodspell This is exact

Reviewer: The Banned Bibliophile Received: Publisher Release Date: April 2018 Moons: 4/5 Goodreads Summary: You have to find yourself before you can leave. Codi lives in the exceptionally drab town of Oath; a settlement without colour, children or personality. When a child manifests in the library and introduces Codi to parallel towns that contain aggressive, manic versions of herself, she must decide between saving Oath...and saving herself. After all, how much can you truly trust yourself? My Thoughts: There aren't that many books where I don't want to spew everything that happened in it in a mini summary before I head into more intensive thoughts.  (I'm a compulsive spoiler who cannot be tamed!)  But there is something about this book that I want to keep from everyone out of a fear of genuinely ruining the whole story.  (What's happening to me?!)  The wonderful thing of Puxty's novel is the execution and reveals, which, much like thrillers,

Reviewer: The Banned Bibliophile and the Curious Quill Received: Author Release Date: June 2018 Moons: 4.5/5 Goodreads Summary: The animal inside wants to come out and play. Skin changers are able to look like anyone of any race and gender, which makes them the most dangerous criminals in the paranormal community.  Only one person in modern history has ever successfully captured and executed one. When a skin changer starts attacking government workers in Chicago, they have no choice but to call in their last resort.  However, their solution might create even more danger for the city and its people.  What does the skin changer want, and how does it fit into a possible Undead uprising? Our Thoughts: There are no words that even begin to encapsulate how excited we are to jump back into the  Paranormal Detective Series  with each and every installment or how much we've come to love them even as the years continue on.  It's a series that is difficult to tire fr

Reviewer: The Curious Quill Received: Ebook from Author Quills: 4/5 Goodreads Summary: High school sucks. It doesn’t matter who you ask; jock, cheerleader, computer nerd, or band geek, they will all say the same thing: It’s a nightmare. But Casey is still wondering how she got the short end of the stick. Just a Sophomore at the prestigious Luthos Academy for Magical Beings, Casey already knows more about heartache and fear than any almost-sixteen-year-old should. Orphaned and left to be raised by the Academy, she spends her days training to become a Guardian, but that dream is looking dimmer with every day that passes.Unlike the wand-waving heroines in all her favorite books, Witches in her world don’t cast spells, they are born wielding the power of nature: water, fire, earth, or air; powers Casey never developed. She’ll be lucky if they even allow her to take her final exams. She is top of her training class, but that doesn’t keep her from being looked down upon by ev

Reviewer: The Curious Quill Received: Publisher (Algonquin Young Readers) Quills: 4/5 Goodreads Summary: The fate of the world is in the hands of detective of the supernatural R. F. Jackaby and his intrepid assistant, Abigail Rook. An evil king is turning ancient tensions into modern strife, using a blend of magic and technology to push Earth and the Otherworld into a mortal competition. Jackaby and Abigail are caught in the middle as they continue to solve the daily mysteries of New Fiddleham, New England - like who's created the rend between the worlds, how to close it, and why zombies are appearing around. At the same time, the romance between Abigail and the shape-shifting police detective Charlie Cane deepens, and Jackaby's resistance to his feelings for 926 Augur Lane's ghostly lady, Jenny, begins to give way. Before the four can think about their own futures, they will have to defeat an evil that wants to destroy the future altogether. My Thoughts: All go

Reviewer: The Banned Bibliophile Received: Library Moons: 4.25/5 Goodreads Summary: There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies.  The agents are called Love Interests because getting close with people destined for great power means obtaining valuable secrets. Caden is a Nice: the boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection.  Dylan is a Bad: the brooding, dark-souled guy who is dangerously handsome.  The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her.  Will she choose the Nice or the Bad? Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time.  They are well-trained and at the top of their game.  They have to be -- whoever the girl doesn't choose will die. What the boys don't expect are feelings that are outside their training.  Feelings that could kill them both. My Thoughts: (The reason this review sounds like I wrote it right after the book's release date in 2017 inste

While we're already chugging through 2018, I still haven't been able to share my favorite books of 2016 yet.  I'm always fashionably late to the point of a public stoning, and I'm very sorry for that. . . it's rather embarrassing. I really have no excuse.  But anyway, I'm still excited as ever to share with you some fabtastic reads!  (The following books are placed in the chronological order in which I read them because I couldn't rank their awesomeness against one another!) Official Summary: Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn't want th

Reviewer: The Banned Bibliophile Received: Author Moons: 4.5/5 Official Summary: Shanntal is like any other teenager, except for the mysterious nightmares that seem to foretell a shadowy future.  One night while playing with a Ouija board during a sleepover, Shanntal and her friend unwittingly summon Daray, a vampire who says they will soon be together.  Visibly shaken, Shanntal has no idea that the cryptic message seemingly intended for her is just the beginning.  When Shanntal returns home the next day, she discovers her family has been killed by mysterious bites.  After moving in with her aunt and uncle, Shanntal eventually meets Jayce, an immortal who unveils a new realm and Shanntal's destiny.  As she falls in love and befriends fairies, shape shifters, and others, she is hunted by an evil being as her past rises up and triggers her memory, reminding her that she is the one who can walk in both worlds.  While Shanntal becomes torn between her love for Jayce and he