Hi hello and welcome to the Neverworld Wake blog tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours! I am so excited to share my review on one of my favorite books of 2018. Let's get started!

From Goodreads: "Lucy’s twin sister, Margot, may be safely back with her—but all is not well in Plague-ravaged Dominion City. The Watchers have come out of hiding, spreading chaos and death throughout the city, and suddenly Lucy finds herself under pressure to choose her future: does it lie with her handsome new friend, Alastair; her guardian, the enigmatic True Born leader Nolan Storm; or the man who makes her heart trip, her savage True Born bodyguard Jared Price? But while Lucy ponders her path, fate has other plans. Betrayal is a cruel lesson, and the Fox sisters can hardly believe who is behind the plot against them. To survive this deadly game of politics, Lucy is forced to agree to a marriage of convenience. But is the DNA of her will stronger than the forces opposing her? Can she turn the tide against the oncoming storm? As they say in Dominion, rogue genes can never have a happy ending."

From Goodreads: "Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader. But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past. Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two. Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted."

Thank you to Harlequin Teen for providing me with a copy of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

Oh boy. Where do I even begin with this review? First off, I did not finish this book. It hurts to say that because this was a highly anticipated release for me, but I just couldn't do it. I really did try and got halfway through but after that, I just lost all desire to continue, unfortunately. The story didn't feel like it was going anywhere, I couldn't find it in me to care about any of the characters that were introduced, there were way too many points of view for me to even keep up, and I really did not enjoy the writing style. All in all, Zenith was an unfortunate fail for me and despite the fact that I did not finish it, I am going to review it because I'd like to share my thoughts on my reading experience. So, let's get to it!

Plot:
I know this book has a plot, but I have to admit that it didn't really feel like it had one. I've read tons of reviews that state that Zenith has a very similar plot to Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. Now, I haven't read that book (or any other book by SJM, for that matter) but after reading the description of it, I can see the similarities. I have to admit that even the description of the main character made me picture the cover of Throne of Glass while I was reading. I also got some serious Six of Crows vibes from this while reading and...this is not Six of Crows or Throne of Glass in the slightest. But basically, the plot is as follows: Andi is hired to find the lost son of a general from her home planet and is given an ultimatum to basically either find him or die. Or maybe just go to prison forever? There's also a sub-plot involving the queen of another planet that is plotting her revenge to destroy the galaxy. Honestly, I had trouble following what was happening because there were so many different stories happening alongside the main plot. I wish it had just been about Andi and her crew taking on this mission, kicking butt and taking names all across the galaxy. I would have absolutely devoured this book if that had been the storyline! I went into Zenith thinking that was the plot and then was overwhelmed with all of the sub-plots and points of view which led to me ultimately putting the book down because I was just so confused. Maybe if there were less POV changes and more focus on just Andi and her crew (with Andi being the only point of view we read from) or the queen of Xen Ptera and the Marauder crew, then it would have been a better read for me. But it felt very disorganized and like there were far too many ideas trying to take center stage at the same time.

Characters:
I mentioned this above but there were way too many points of view in this book. There was Andi, Valen, Lira, Dex, Nor Solis, and Klaren. Yes, that's right, there are six points of view in this book. If you've been around my blog for a while, you know that I am not a fan of multiple points of view in books. I get confused and just genuinely do not enjoy having to split my attention between multiple characters while I'm reading. I did have high hopes while reading thinking that maybe, possibly, I wouldn't get confused and would really enjoy the story and getting to read from different characters perspectives. Quite the opposite happened, unfortunately. For me, I feel that Zenith suffered from too many characters trying to tell too many stories all at once and it led to me getting frustrated because I just couldn't keep up with what was happening. It might have gone over better if I had connected to at least one of the characters while I was reading, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't find anything about any of the characters that I liked and I found myself just reading to get through it rather than reading to find out what happened to the characters that we were introduced to. I didn't care about any of the characters and felt like the inclusion of so many different viewpoints hurt rather than helped the story.

I think my biggest complaint about the characters involves who I think is considered the main character- Andi. We are told ad nauseam that Andi is known throughout the galaxy as the Bloody Baroness. Are you picturing a bloodthirsty fighter with zero remorse for all of the murders and crimes that she's committed? Because that's what I pictured, that's what I was hoping for. Instead, we got someone who marks all of the kills on her blade (blades? I literally cannot remember if she has one or two) and constantly thinks about the people that she's killed and how she's ruined the lives of their families. She's remorseful over everything she does and is not at all the ruthless killer you're made to believe that she is. If I'm reading about a character called the Bloody Baroness, I want a vicious character who kills with no remorse. I want her to kill and laugh while doing it. I want something from this supposedly terrifying character that you're trying to make me believe is actually terrifying. Andi as a character was a huge let down for me in a long list of letdowns that Zenith presented.

Also, I can't be the only one who thought of Liara from Mass Effect every single time Lira was on the page, right? That's...oddly coincidental.

Writing:
One thing I will say that is a potential positive about this book is that I couldn't tell the difference between parts that Sasha wrote and parts that Lindsay wrote. That's not saying that I enjoyed the writing by any means because I, unfortunately, did not but the two did a pretty decent job blending their writing together. I did notice that there were times when the writing would shift from flowery and pretty to...well, not flowery and pretty. So maybe that was the difference in the two author's writing showing? Whatever it was, I just was not a fan of the writing overall in this book. I never found myself enjoying what I was reading but rather just reading to get through to the end- which I couldn't accomplish after all. Sometimes, even if I'm not enjoying the characters or a plot, the writing will be enough to help me push on and finish a book. That was not the case with Zenith no matter how hard I tried.

What I found most difficult to ignore was how the authors did a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, and the use of italics. If you think I have overused the italic button in this review, don't pick up Zenith. There are so many words throughout the book that are italicised for some reason as if the authors didn't trust their readers enough to put their own emphasis on certain words. That made me feel dumb and also slightly irritated me. Seriously, there are so many italicised words in this book. It drove me nuts and definitely contributed to me not finishing this book. As for the telling versus showing, there were so many scenes throughout that felt very unnecessary and filled with nothing but unimportant information that did nothing to move the plot along. There wasn't a lot of description but rather the authors telling the readers about things. We're not able to create the scene in our heads because we're told what's happening or are told the surroundings instead of given descriptions of things. So, long story short, the writing was a no-go for me, just like the rest of this book.

Now, I will say that I did actually enjoy the original 62-page story that was released in 2016 and I was incredibly excited to hear that it was being turned into a full book. But I think this just goes to show that reading tastes can change over time and that's not a bad thing! Maybe I'm just not in the right mindset to read Zenith at this time and I won't say that I'll never pick this up again and give it a second shot. I'd like to think that later in the year I'll revisit this book with a fresh mind and see what I think about it then. But, for now, this is a DNF for me.

About True Storm:

If you can't beat them, change them...

Want to read more? Pre-order your copy of True Storm (True Born Trilogy, #3) by L.E. Sterling today!

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Entangled Publishing

Earlier Books in the True Born Trilogy:

On an island junkyard beneath a sky that glows with radiation, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.

Seventeen-year-old Eve isn't looking for trouble--she's too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she spent months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, she's on the local gangster's wanted list, and the only thing keeping her grandpa alive is the money she just lost to the bookies. Worst of all, she's discovered she can somehow destroy machines with the power of her mind, and a bunch of puritanical fanatics are building a coffin her size because of it. If she's ever had a worse day, Eve can't remember it. The problem is, Eve has had a worse day--one that lingers in her nightmares and the cybernetic implant where her memories used to be. Her discovery of a handsome android named Ezekiel--called a "Lifelike" because they resemble humans--will bring her world crashing down and make her question whether her entire life is a lie. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic sidekick Cricket in tow, Eve will trek across deserts of glass, battle unkillable bots, and infiltrate towering megacities to save the ones she loves... and learn the truth about the bloody secrets of her past.

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive. What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…and secrets hide in every shadow.

Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted. Frightened and alone, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn't have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne's offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems. Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi's enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…And she’ll need to play.

Seventeen-year-old Eelyn’s world is war. Raised to fight alongside her Aska clansmen in a generations-old blood feud against the Riki, her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago. Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki if she wants to make it back to the fjord after the thaw. But when she begins to see herself in the people she's been taught to hate, the world Eelyn once knew begins to crumble. And after the village is raided by a ruthless clan many believe to be a myth, Eelyn is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend who has tried more than once to kill her. Together, they must end the blood feud between their clans or watch their people be slaughtered.

Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There's not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley's favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.
So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone's explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life. Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders, but they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer...before the killer strikes again.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.

Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell. Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers. Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight. 

Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader. But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past. Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two. Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their shipor just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful. But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite—the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie—that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision. With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide—save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles—or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.

About J.D. Wright

Get Masked Here!

Giveaway!

From Goodreads: "Arabella’s wedding plans to marry Captain Singh of the Honorable Mars Trading Company are interrupted when her fiancé is captured by the French and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp on swampy Venus. Now, Arabella must find passage to an enemy-controlled planet in the middle of a war, bribe or fight her way past vicious guards, and rescue her Captain. To do this she must enlist the help of the dashing privateer, Daniel Fox of the Touchstone and build her own clockwork navigational automaton in order to get to Venus before the dread French general, Joseph Fouché, the Executioner of Lyon. Once on Venus, Arabella, Singh, and Fox soon discover that Napoleon has designed a secret weapon, one that could subjugate the entire galaxy if they can’t discover a way to stop Fouché, and the entire French army, from completing their emperor’s mandate."

Thank you to Desirae from Tor Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

I recently read Arabella of Mars, the first book in this series, and absolutely loved it! Arabella is a fantastic, strong, and witty character that definitely stayed with me after I'd finished the book. The sequel is just as fantastic, if not more so, and I was so happy to be back in this world with Arabella.

Plot:
Arabella Ashby's plans to marry Captain Singh of the Honorable Mars Trading Company are put on hold when he's called away on urgent Company business to Venus. Now, the Captain has been captured by the French and is a prisoner of war. Of course, this won't do, and Arabella sets off to find passage to the enemy-controlled planet of Venus to rescue her fiance. To do so, Arabella must enlist the help of privateer Daniel Fox of the Touchstone and build her own clockwork navigational automaton in order to reach Venus before Joseph Fouché, the Executioner of Lyon. But once they reach Venus, they discover that Napoleon has created a secret weapon that could dominate the entire galaxy unless they can discover a way to stop Fouché, and the entire French army, from completing their emperor's orders.

I was so excited at the chance to read more about Arabella and her adventures! She's such a great character that really defies the norm of her time and I love that about her. This book certainly felt a bit darker than the first but I really enjoyed that feeling while I was reading. I thought that including Napoleon as an enemy was clever as the author is taking our world history and bringing it into Arabella's world and that made it feel a bit more real for me as a reader. This world is a unique one, for sure, and the idea that wooden ships flying in space was one that took me a bit to accept, but was overall a fun story to follow! The aerial battles were actually really exciting to read about and were probably my favorite part of the book. Again, while it was a little hard to picture, they were very well written and it made for an exceptionally entertaining read. I also thoroughly enjoyed the inclusion of more alien life and how easily Arabella adapts to the Venusians. She's such an open and accepting character and I loved how she was an advocate for equality between the races, both human and alien. This plot moved at a relatively smooth pace, neither too fast or too slow, and it was easy to just sit down and dive back into Arabella's world. I honestly could not get enough of this character and will definitely follow her wherever she may go next. It was so much fun to follow her on her adventures to Venus and I am so excited to see where she goes in the future with her wonderful Captain Singh!

Characters:
Arabella Ashby is such a strong and fun character to follow. She lives in a time where women are treated as delicate little flowers that can't do anything but sit around and do needlework and learn foreign languages. But that's not who she is, and she's not ashamed of that. She's strong and loud and forward and does things that cause people to stop and stare. She disguised herself as a boy to get to Mars and save her brother and now she's taking another adventure to Venus to save her fiance. She likes working with automaton like her father and feels more comfortable in pants than a dress, especially when on an airship. Arabella is the strong female character that I've been dying to read about and there's no doubt that there are other readers out there who will fall in love with her as I have.

I also really enjoy the side characters such as Daniel Fox and Captain Singh. Although we don't get to see much of Captain Singh until about the later half of the book, I still really enjoyed his presence and how he and Arabella interact with each other. Fox was also interesting and definitely lives up to his last name, being very dashing and trying to charm our lovely Arabella. While Arabella is the main character, the other characters such as Fox, Singh, and even the crew are very well-written and enjoyable to read about. David D. Levine does a fantastic job at bringing these different characters to life and giving them each distinct personalities that all combine to make a fun reading experience.

Writing:
I never would have thought that I would enjoy a book that was described as steampunk, but here I am, absolutely loving it. I did have a hard time imagining that a wooden ship could travel to other planets, but the author really did an incredible job at making me suspend disbelief and just enjoy the story. You get some really descriptive, beautiful words throughout this book and are able to picture the crazy airship battles and amazing locations that are visited. Everything, even the automaton, come to life between the pages of these books and I think that everyone will enjoy reading the adventures of Arabella Ashby.

The world is unique, mostly because these characters spend most of the time on either Mars, traveling between planets, or on Venus, the leading lady is one that many will likely relate to and love for her out of the norm behavior, and the writing will take you on an out of this world adventure that you won't soon forget. Arabella and the Battle of Venus is an exciting sequel to Arabella of Mars that is sure to delight fans of steampunk and space travel and capture the attention of fans of fantasy with a hint of historical fiction.

Get Arabella and the Battle of Venus here!

Giveaway!

About the Author