MY CONTRARY MARY By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows

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

MY CONTRARY MARY By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi MeadowsMy Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows
Series: Mary #1
Published by HarperTeen on 6/22/21
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Retellings, Young Adult
Pages: 512
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?

Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.

Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn after the king meets a suspicious end. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis face a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

Short and Sweet Review

We’re in the time of the Renaissance France and Mary Queen of Scots has lived in France since she was a young girl. Mary has always known she was going to marry the Dauphin Francis, but Mary has a secret she’s an Eðian. This gives Mary the ability to change into her spirit animal which is a mouse and she uses this ability to learn things about the other royals living in the castle. Unfortunately there’s a lot of scheming going on and soon Mary and Francis are going to be thrust on the throne and even sooner someone is going to try to get them off.

There’s a lot of characters in this book we have Mary and Francis and we have Mary’s four ladies in waiting also all named Mary so they all go by nick names and we have Ari Nostradamus and Catherine De Medici and King Henry, oh and Mary’s uncles.

Anyway the book started off a little slow which I suppose was to build everything up and things did pick up halfway through the book after King Henry met his end. Catherine De Medici is up to no good and so are Mary’s uncles but they’re not working together so at some point Mary and Francis do end up splitting up and Mary goes to Scotland and Francis is in France dealing with his mother. Ari Nostradamus was an okay character she was hired by Catherine to spy on Mary and I feel like she started the ball rolling with the trouble that came to Mary after her and Francis’s marriage. I guess Ari was useful because she could make potions but some of the things she did were annoying. Mary was an a good character she didn’t want to believe that her uncles would plot against her and Francis felt the same about Catherine.

Overall this was a good book. It definitely got better during the second half when things started to pick up and more of the plots against Mary and Francis were revealed. I’m excited to see what the next installments in the Mary series will bring!

MY LADY JANE By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

MY LADY JANE By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi MeadowsMy Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows
Series: The Lady Janies #1
Published by HarperTeen on 6/7/16
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 512
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

ReviewedbyDani

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

Like that could go wrong.

Short and Sweet Review

King Edward is dying of the affliction and he needs someone to take the throne after he dies, and he picks his cousin Jane. The only problem is Jane needs to get married and produce a male heir who will eventually take the throne.

Jane would much rather spend her days reading books than to be bothered with the thoughts of marriage much less running a country.

Gifford or G, spends his day as a horse and his nights as a man and would prefer to be free and not get married.

When Edward, Jane, and G learn that the kingdom and the throne are in danger they realize that only they can put a stop to it.

We get Edward, Jane, and G’s POVs and I don’t think there was one I preferred more than the other. So Edward is dying of the affliction and his time is running out rapidly. Although Jane doesn’t want to get married she’ll do anything to help her cousin. Jane and G don’t have a lot in common, and they argue with each other often. Over time their bond and relationship gets better and realize that they do have feelings for each other and are willing to risk their lives for the other. There were some things that I wasn’t expecting especially after Jane loses the throne. I liked seeing how the characters were separated and eventually found each other and had to come up with a plan to win the throne back. I loved Edward’s sister Bess she knew what she was doing and was kind and knew how to command a room. I enjoyed this book but I still thought it was a little weird when the humans would talk to the animals.

I’ve already read the second book in this series and I’m excited to read the third book!

MY PLAIN JANE By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

MY PLAIN JANE By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi MeadowsMy Plain Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows
Series: The Lady Janies #2
Published by HarperTeen on 6/26/18
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Retellings, Young Adult
Pages: 464
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

ReviewedbyDani

You may think you know the story. Penniless orphan Jane Eyre begins a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester—and, Reader, she marries him. Or does she?

Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Bronte, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.


Short and Sweet

My Plain Jane follows Jane Eyre as she leaves he teaching job to become a governess at Thornfield Hall. While there Jane meets the master of the house Mr. Rochester, and falls in love, but strange things are happening at Thornfield Hall. In this adventure Jane has her best friend Charlotte Bronte an aspiring author, and they both meet Alexander Blackwood a supernatural investigator.

Characters

Jane: Jane is often described as being plain and I guess to most people who come across her she is. Jane is able to see ghost and is in fact a beacon but she wants nothing to do with becoming a ghost hunter which is why she takes the job as a governess. Jane is an interesting character I liked her but she did let the shady things that Rochester did slide, I felt like she should have inquired more about the weird things going on at Thornfield.

Charlotte: Charlotte is an aspiring author and one of Janes best friends. Charlotte is not a seer but is intrigued by the work the society does to hunt down ghost so she sticks around and tries to help Alex. Even though Charlotte can’t see ghost, her great observational skills and ability to make plans does end up becoming useful enough to keep her around as an assistant.

Alex: Alex is one of the best ghost hunters and takes his job very seriously. Alex comes across Jane and realizes that she would be a great ghost hunter but she doesn’t want to accept his offer so he decides to do whatever it takes to convince her to join the society.

Helen: Helen died when she was at Lowood so she’s obviously a ghost. Helen sticks around because she believes Jane needs her to and they are best friends. I love Helen she sticks up for Jane even though most people can’t hear or see her, and when Jane is at Thornfield she acts as a voice of reason.

Mr. Rochester: Edward Rochester is the master of Thornfield Hall and something is very off with the man. Honestly he just acts so strange and acts like certain things haven’t happened, for example if there was someone banging on the wall he would pretend he didn’t hear it.

Romance

Jane and Mr. Rochester: Um Rochester is really old and acts very strange and he tells Jane nice things and I guess this is why she loves him? Honestly its just all so strange especially his odd behavior.

Charlotte and Alex: In the beginning Alex looks at Charlotte as a pest but as time goes by and they spend more time together he starts to fall for her and vice versa. I liked this relationship it wasn’t instant it took a little while to develop.

My Thoughts

~ I thought this book was funny and I wasn’t expecting that but there was a good amount of humor.

~ I liked the mystery aspect of this book, because what in the world is going on at Thornfield and why does Rochester act so strange? I also liked the ghost hunting and it was fun seeing Alex do his job.

~ So in this book Charlotte and Jane are best friends instead of Charlotte being the author of a book Jane is a character in.

~ I loved Alex and Charlotte’s attempt at trying to recruit Jane to join the society it was interesting seeing Charlotte’s plan play out.

~ Charlotte’s brother Bran is also a character and he’s supposed to be a recruit for the society but he isn’t living up to the expectations. Bran is sweet but he does make a mess of things.

Overall

I genuinely liked this book going into it I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it but I fell in love with the premise and the characters. I haven’t read a lot of books about ghost hunters but I thought it was great and I enjoyed the twist on Jane Eyre. So the books in the series don’t have to be read in order but I definitely plan on reading the first one and I can’t wait until the third book is released!

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DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY By Brodi Ashton

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

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY By Brodi AshtonDiplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton
Published by Balzer + Bray on 9/6/16
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

ReviewedbyDani

Raucous parties, privileged attitudes, underage drinking, and diplomatic immunity . . . it’s all part of student life on Embassy Row.

Piper Baird has always dreamed of becoming a journalist. So when she scores a scholarship to exclusive Chiswick Academy in Washington, DC, she knows it’s her big opportunity. Chiswick offers the most competitive prize for teen journalists—the Bennington scholarship—which would ensure her acceptance to one of the best schools in the country.

Piper isn’t at Chiswick for two days before she witnesses the extreme privilege of the young and wealthy elite who attend her school—and realizes that access to these untouchable students just might give her the edge she’ll need to blow the lid off life at the school in a scathing and unforgettable exposé worthy of the Bennington.

The key to the whole story lies with Rafael Amador, the son of the Spanish Ambassador—and the boy at the center of the most explosive secrets and scandals on Embassy Row. Rafael is big trouble—and when he drops into her bedroom window one night, asking for help, it’s Piper’s big chance to get the full scoop. Except Piper discovers that despite his dark streak, Rafael is smart, kind, funny, and gorgeous—and she might have real feelings for him. How can she break the story of a lifetime if it will destroy the boy she just might love?


Short and Sweet

Piper Baird has always wanted to be a journalist. When Piper gets a scholarship from Chiswick Academy in Washington, DC, and she knows that this will give her an opportunity to win the Bennington scholarship. Once Piper arrives at Chiswick she quickly realizes that the journalism program is way more competitive than it was at her public school. Now Piper knows that to win the Bennington she’ll have to write an exposé  no one will forget.

My Thoughts

~I also didn’t mention above that while at Chiswick Piper meets Rafael one of the many students at the academy that has diplomatic immunity. Rafael is at the center of most of the scandals and secrets so Piper uses this as an idea to write about the kids at her school who have diplomatic immunity for her exposé.

~ Piper was not an easy character for me to like and I think by the time that there was a reason for me to feel bad for her I didn’t, because of the decisions she made. Piper was pretty heartless and brash at times and I understand that winning the Bennington was important to her but it was like she was using Rafael’s friendship to learn his secrets and use them in her story.

~ I forgot to mention that Rafael is Piper’s love interest. So while she’s writing this story and getting more information about him and other kids with diplomatic immunity she begins to develop feelings for him.

~ One thing I didn’t like was the stereotypes… I’ll just leave it at that.

~ The subplot and plot just ruined this story for me, they didn’t take off and there wasn’t really an ending to anything.

~ I liked the ending but by then it felt like it was to late for me to actually like the book, so I basically like the last 10% of the book.

Quotes

~ “Pipper Baird. Clumsy, torn pants, western-style rider, astute, easy smile, tendency to speak her mind, even if it’s rude.”

I love this one the most Rafe stops talking to her but the Bennington is more important than his friendship

~ “Since it’s the season of gratitude, I would sure be grateful if you’d just start talking to me again and give me a story.”

Really?!

shocked really big sean cell phone bad text

Overall

There were some moments I enjoyed and others I didn’t, but I just wanted more from this book in the end.

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