#Review - Where There Be Humans by Rebekah L. Purdy #YA #Fantasy

Series: Standalone
Format: eBook, 263 pages
Release Date: June 1st 2020
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Sixteen-year-old Ivy Archer is arguably the best warrior-in-training Gob Hollow has ever seen. Yet everyone—except her best friend she suddenly has other feelings for—looks down on her because she's only half goblin, with no idea what the other half is. She’s always suspected it might be human.

But humans, she’s been told, aren’t real. They’re only creatures of myth.

When the prince of their kingdom is taken for ransom, it’s Ivy's big chance to prove her worth. And when she learns his captors are human, the rescue mission becomes personal. The stories were clearly wrong, and now she has a chance to find the truth about her lineage, as well. If she survives…

With a small band of warriors at her command, including her best friend turned crush that’s getting harder to hide, Ivy sets out to find the prince and her human family. But the answers lie within secrets and conspiracies that run far deeper than she ever imagined.

Where There Be Humans, by author Rebekah L. Purdy, follows 16-year old Ivy Archer as she journey's for clues to her heritage, and to save the boy who she respects. Ivy lives in a place called Gob Hollow where she's an outcast. She has no clue who her mother is since the truth has been kept from her. She believes that she's 1/2 human and 1/2 Goblin since her skin coloring and features are entirely different from everyone else. Even though she's one of the finest students and warriors in training of her age, but she's never taken seriously. 

She's been told that humans are fictitious and don't exist. But, she knows otherwise because she's been doing her own research. Her only real friends are Pudge Wayfever and Prince Dorian. When King Starshooter decides it's time for a coming of age journey to the Outer Realm for the first time in 17 years, Ivy knows that this might be her best shot to prove to everyone, including her father, that she's more than qualified to take this dangerous journey and hold the Sword of Avarik. Unfortunately, and for other reasons I won't spoil, Prince Dorian is chosen instead. 

Ivy knows that something happened 17 years ago when the King was a boy who traveled to the Outer Realm. There are a few people still alive who know the truth including her father and their cook. For Ivy, something surprising happens to her. She appears to have been chosen by the Goblin's Hag for some reason that won't become clear until much later in this story. It will also explain why she's so different from everyone else in Gob Hollow. With her father and cook being very secretive, Ivy feels as though she is being punished while everyone else can get away with whatever they want to. 

In that regards, it is Dorian who is chosen to go on the quest after making his intention know that he plans to marry Ivy. But, when Dorian doesn't return after several months and appears to have been captured by Elves, there is only one choice as to who is going to bring him back: Ivy. As the truth about Ivy's tattoo's are revealed, Ivy becomes aware that she's been lied to her entire life. Also, since the Hag has chosen her, there is no way the King can refuse to allow her to go on this journey. She, and her best friend Pudge join the rescue attempt at bringing Dorian back home. 

What they don't count on is discovering the truth about her heritage, the truth about humans, and a large conspiracy that could destroy Gob Hollow if someone doesn't step up. Ivy struggles mightily to remain calm in a constant storm of turmoil. She knows that there is only one person she can trust. Everyone else seems to have their own agenda and their subterfuge may encompass a large swath of Goblins. Ivy's time in the human world is brief by dangerous. She encounters hatred at the extreme level but also love from a woman who knew Ivy's mother. In the human world, Goblins are the ones who are thought to be fairy tales. Ivy also encounters new allies and her feelings for Pudge grow stronger and the danger gets more intense. 

Overall, I really liked Ivy. I liked that she shows courage in the face of one dangerous situation after the other. I liked that Pudge wasn't shoved out of the way to make room for Ivy to fall in love with someone else. The ending is a bit on the predictable side but I'm satisfied overall with the story.

 

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#Tuesday Review - The Summer Marked by Rebekah L. Purdy (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: The Winter People # 2
Format: E-Galley, 304 pages
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

The sequel to the chilling Winter People returns to the world of Faerie, and is a romantic and enchanting follow-up.

Salome left humankind behind to be with her boyfriend, Gareth, in the Kingdom of Summer. But now forces of darkness are rising. Her happily-ever-after is coming apart, and the Kingdom is on the brink of war. 

Newly-single Kadie Byers is on her way home for Thanksgiving, imagining a visit filled with hot chocolate, a hot guy for a little rebound action, and some girl time with her bestie, Salome. Except she receives a message from Salome with two important words: PLEASE HURRY.

When Kadie rushes to help Salome, she’s ripped from the human world and pulled into the kingdoms of Faerie, where she's shocked to learn that Salome's monsters are real, and that she's now at the mercy of one extremely vengeful Winter Queen... 

Now both Salome and Kadie must find a way to survive the deadly chaos...or lose themselves to Winter's deadly, icy grasp.

The Summer Marked is the second installment in The Winter People series by author Rebekah L. Purdy. The story picks up not long after Salome Montgomery left the human world to travel to Faerie with her betrothed Gavin. While The Winter People was mostly about Salome, this time her best friend Kadie gets a turn to either put up or fade away into the background. And, put up she does. I never thought I would see the day where the Prologue and Epilogue were more informative than the rest of the story. If you miss certain facets of each, you will totally be in the dark as to what is happens to Salome in this book, and why.

We really get a better look at the war between the Winter and Summer Courts almost right from the beginning. We get to meet the nasty evil queen Grisselle who embraced darkness, and destroyed the courts of Spring and Autumn, and now wants to wrap her hands around Salome's throat and squeeze. The court of Winter is a dark, nasty place with creatures right out of the Brothers Grimm. There was a particular question about a character that went missing in the previous book after he became someone not recognized by his family. No worries readers. Purdy actually ties up that loose end rather nicely. 

I didn't care all that much for Nevin no matter how hard he tries to say that everything he's done, including lying and betraying Salone, was for the good of his people, the Summer Court. Nevin is a controlling, manipulative, arrogant, and puzzling character who continues to interfere in Salome's relationship with Gavin. A relationship, I must say, that Salome CHOOSE after being kept in the dark for almost 11 years by Nevin and others in her own family. A relationship that truly bears no resemblance to what happened in the previous installment thanks to the Winter Queen's antics, and some difficult challenges facing Salome.

Salome isn't the same character that she was in The Winter People. She's growing into some wondrous and unknown powers. She's finding allies and goes on a search for answers to what is happening to her. She continues to try to remain faithful to Gareth, but Nevin is just as thick as they come and refuses to let go. While Salome is finding her own path and hopefully a happy ending, Kadie keeps being thick headed. I wasn't a fan of Kadie's in the first book. Although she was Salome's best friend who put a whole lot of time into their friendship, she makes bad choices. Bad choices that get worse by the chapter until you no longer recognize her at all.

Readers will get a whole new cast of characters this time around. There's Dorsinae, Griselle, Lachlin, Etienne, Teodor, and Lord Darach of the Autumn kingdom who becomes friends and perhaps a guiding force as well. As for Kadie, the old saying of you can't always get what you want, must have not sunk into her thick head. I did like the possibility of Etienne and Kadie however. Guess we shall see what the next installment brings. I have to ask Purdy if Kadie's actions were because of the Queen's actions, or was this actually in her heart all the time?

**I received this book for free from (Publisher) via (NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

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#Friday Review - The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy (YA, Fantasy)

Series: The Winter People # 1
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Salome Montgomery fears winter—the cold, the snow, the ice, but most of all, the frozen pond she fell through as a child. Haunted by the voices and images of the strange beings that pulled her to safety, she hasn't forgotten their warning to "stay away." For eleven years, she has avoided the winter woods, the pond, and the darkness that lurks nearby. But when failing health takes her grandparents to Arizona, she is left in charge of maintaining their estate. This includes the "special gifts" that must be left at the back of the property.
 


Salome discovers she’s a key player in a world she’s tried for years to avoid. At the center of this world is the strange and beautiful Nevin, who she finds trespassing on her family’s property. Cursed with dark secrets and knowledge of the creatures in the woods, his interactions with Salome take her life in a new direction. A direction where she'll have to decide between her longtime crush Colton, who could cure her fear of winter. Or Nevin who, along with an appointed bodyguard, Gareth, protects her from the darkness that swirls in the snowy backdrop. An evil that, given the chance, will kill her. 

When Salome Montgomery was SIX years old, she fell through the frozen pond on her grandparents property and nearly died. Luckily, someone saved her, and warned her to stay away from the woods or SHE will find her. Eleven years later, Salome still has hallucinations from nearly drowning and dreads when winter comes around. Hard to avoid winter in Michigan unless you become a snow bird and fly south! She doesn't wander very far from her property, and really only has one true friend in Kadie Byler who keeps her from diving off the deep end of the pier. Then her grandparents leave for Arizona for the winter, and puts Salome in charge of doing various chores including leaving shiny objects behind in a tree. 

When you think about this clue the author gives you, it should wake you up to the fact that there is something definitely out of the ordinary going on in Salome's world and her Grandparents are probably at the center of it. Salome's world gets even more complicated when while doing her chores, she runs into the mysterious Nevin. She also continues to hear voices. Voices that nobody else can hear. Voices that make her question her own sanity and thus makes her parents worried. You could call this the point where everything Salome thinks she knows, gets thrown right out the window by a little thing called a curse which nobody is able to talk about. 

Nevin pretty much becomes a fixture in Salome's life, but readers don't know much about him. There are clues and hints as to the fact that he isn't human and he has made some really awful mistakes in the past. There are hints that Nevin adores Salome but something is holding him back from helping her break the curse. That is until the next boy comes along and catches her attention. That boy is Colton Myers, Salome's long time crush, and star Basketball player. Colton is the flip side of Nevin. While Nevin is mysterious, yet you know there's a real connection between him and Salome, Colton is the one that gave me the ultimate creeps from the first time we meet him. Then Purdy decided that 2 boys weren't enough to confuse Salome. So, she adds another!

Meet Gareth. Gareth is almost always around when something sinister happens to Salome. And by sinister, I mean that the villain of the story wants Salome dead, and she doesn't care who she hurts in the process. Gareth is an interesting character. First he is a barista that makes Salome weak at the knees. Then he shows up at a strange bar with a friend that Kadie chases after like a cat with a mouse. Gareth is my favorite character and I can't tell you why without spoiling Nevin and Colton's actions in this story. The best thing I can say is, read the book, and the sequel!

This story is filled with magic, and curses, and fairies, and romance. Salome isn't a Mary Sue character, but she isn't all fierce and determined either. She's a reluctant heroine in that it takes her awhile to get her engine motoring. When the engine is rolling along, and she is searching for clues to the curse, then things become interesting. I do think that she could have tried to ask for a bit more help. She relied on Kadie for nearly everything, which is fine, but Kadie spent most of the time chasing one boy after the other. Salome, in my opinion, could have used her for her research. It would have got to the root of the problem and curse sooner. 

Obviously there is more to this series than what happens at the end of this story. Apparently, there are at least 2 more books in this series. Author stated that she will NOT write any more quadrangles. I do sincerely hope so. After all is said and done, the right choice was made by Salome, which is a pretty unusual name, by the way. Goes back to Salome /səˈloʊmiː/ was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. Or, Salome is named as one of the women present at the crucifixion of Jesus: "There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome"

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