R.I.P. Carol Channing ~ 1921 – 2019

Tags

Broadway Legend, R.I.P. Carol Channing

Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.

 

White Stag (Permafrost #1), by Kara Barbieri ~ Blog Tour & Book Review

Tags

Norse Mythology, YA Fantasy

There’s been a lot of buzz about White Stag during the last several months, so I am thrilled to be participating in this blog tour!

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

386 Pages

Synopsis: As the last child in a family of daughters, seventeen-year-old Janneke was raised to be the male heir. While her sisters were becoming wives and mothers, she was taught to hunt, track, and fight. On the day her village was burned to the ground, Janneke—as the only survivor—was taken captive by the malicious Lydian and eventually sent to work for his nephew Soren.

Janneke’s survival in the merciless court of monsters has come at the cost of her connection to the human world. And when the Goblin King’s death awakens an ancient hunt for the next king, Soren senses an opportunity for her to fully accept the ways of the brutal Permafrost. But every action he takes to bring her deeper into his world only shows him that a little humanity isn’t a bad thing—especially when it comes to those you care about.

Through every battle they survive, Janneke’s loyalty to Soren deepens. After dangerous truths are revealed, Janneke must choose between holding on or letting go of her last connections to a world she no longer belongs to. She must make the right choice to save the only thing keeping both worlds from crumbling.

Let me start by saying this story has a lot of abuse, including rape and torture, so some readers may have trouble reading it. While I don’t usually mark down because of that, in this instance I am. All the horrible things that Janneke goes through never seems to actually play into the development of her character. Instead, the rape is brought up repeatedly and I had the sense it was done more for shock value than anything else. The other problem I had, was although I liked Janneke and Soren as individuals, there was no believable chemistry and I never was able to buy into them as a couple.  

The world building is promising, but in this first book there wasn’t enough to differentiate it from other fantasy books. And finally, I found the plot confusing at times, especially at the beginning when I felt as though I was dropped into the middle of a story. 

Overall, while I was disappointed in White Stag, I do think there is some promise for the series, so I most likely will try the second book. And I have to give the author kudos for making the jump from self-publishing, to landing with a major publisher. I hope as her writing career progresses, some of those rough edges will be smoothed out. I also want to point out that there are many readers who loved this, so I’d advise going on Goodreads and Amazon to check out some other reviews before you decide whether you’d like to try this.

About the Author: Kara Barbieri is a twenty-two year old author with a love for the weird and mystic. She enjoys weaving ancient mythology into her stories and writing characters who are strong yet vulnerable at the same time. In her free time she trains with the same weapons her characters use, studies as a linguistic major, and generally tries her hardest not to be normal.