Tag: Stephanie Garber

Friday YA: Finale (Caraval #3) by Stephanie Garber

Finale is a story about the meaning of love and how that meaning changes for each of the characters in this story. Tella’s love for Legend is tested by her confusing feelings for Jacks and Scarlett’s love for Julian is never wavering but her definition of love changes when she uncovers some truths about her past. Both of their journeys are tested but eventually love conquers all, and in this novel you can’t take that statement literally.

Stephanie Garber continues with the beautiful prose from the first two novels. Each word is imbued with ribbons of color which seems appropriate to the theme of love that runs through this story. At times though her lyrical style seems to distract rather than draw attention to, and I’ll admit my mind wandered a bit. I found myself scanning back through the pages wondering what had happened since I last tuned in. I still enjoyed the story, but it took a really long time for it to reach a conclusion.

Tella and Legend continued their tale of unrequited love. If an immortal feels the emotions of love it turns them human and Legend fights his fears through most of their storyline. I found Jacks’ emotions the more interesting of the two men, since he gave into his obsession and seemed to turn Tella’s head with his feelings, even though those feelings were rather unhealthy.

Scarlett’s story with Julian remained unchanged, however her character grew a lot more than Tella’s did in this conclusion. She learned a lot about why she could see the color of other people’s emotions and how she dealt with that knowledge uncovered strengths that she previously hadn’t really shown. I cared a lot more for the resolution of her story than I did for her sister’s which seemed a lot more shallow a tale.

Finale was my least favorite book in the series, but part of that was that the newness had dulled slightly. Some new characters (the Fates) were introduced and time was spent allowing us to get to know a few of these characters so that it helped build more of an impact to the conclusion of the story. The end felt a little too pat for all of that prior build up, but I did feel like I got the conclusion that I wanted for these characters and I was left feeling pretty satisfied. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Finale: A Caraval Novel

Copyright 2019 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads3 Comments

This Chick Read: Legendary (Caraval #2) by Stephanie Garber

Caraval is a magical game led by the ringmaster magician Legend where contestants are invited to compete for a grand prize. Legendary starts where Donatella and Scarlett and the “players” have moved on to the next Caraval. Instead of being the end result of the game Donatella is a participant. Like her sister Scarlett, Tella had been writing to Legend over the years hoping to become a participant of the game, but not for the same reasons as her sister. Tella has been haunted by a deck of cards she had seen in her mothers room as a child. A deck similar to a Tarot card but the fortunes that are told are cast by the Fates and destined to come true unless you can change your future. Tella holds one card from this deck which has shown her different futures, one of which is that her mother is still alive. Tella, with Legends help, is playing the game to set her mother free, but the other players have their own reasons for playing the game and those reasons are in direct opposition to Tella’s.

In Caraval the book, we followed Scarlett as she searched for her missing sister. If she found her she would win the game. Tella was a secondary character in Caraval, missing in action until the conclusion of the book. Legendary is centered around Tella’s journey to win the game. Stephanie Garber’s descriptive prose and colorful adjectives enhanced the magical elements of Tella’s game playing. The characters she interacted with were either cruel and evil or seductive and mysterious- no one was the girl or boy next door. Emotions were always at an extreme level creating a tension for the reader that made you eagerly turn each page. I loved this book because it was so easy to get lost in the story, the characters, and the magic.

Tella started off this novel as a young, self centered beauty used to getting her way. What started off as a game became very real very quick. When Jacks is introduced into the story he is the perfect evil counterpart to Dante’s good looking goodness and as I turned the pages the line between good and evil became smudged.

Do we find out who is the real Legend? I think so? Yes. Well, I believe I did? Hmmm. Yes. Stephanie Garber just announced that there will be a third novel. Thank goodness! I can breathe in relief that I will live in this magical world one more time and also finally get a danged conclusion! Reading Legendary is like getting a golden ticket to another world minus the chocolate river and oompa loompa’s. Legendary is a totally enjoyable escape from reality that I would highly recommend to anyone who likes magical fantasy. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Legendary

Click this link to purchase! Legendary: A Caraval Novel

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small stipend for any purchases made through the above link.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Ever since she was little Scarlett has had a dream of she and her sister Tella escaping their reality to go to Caraval, a magical performance that takes place in different locations annually. One day she receives a return letter from the master of Caraval, Legend, with an invitation to join the performance this year. Now that the invitation has arrived Scarlett panic’s at braving their fathers wrath until Tella takes that decision away from her, spiriting them to Caraval, Scarlett an unconscious accomplice. When Scarlett awakes, she finds that Tella has become the mystery she has to solve in order to gain the prize, one wish.

Even though I had read a lot of reviews about Caraval, I still didn’t know what to expect from the actual story. I knew the synopsis, but what I didn’t get from the glowing reviews was how the characters and story were so colorfully written. Scarlett has the ability to see emotions in color and Stephanie Garber embued the body of the story with the richness of those colors. As Scarlett unravels the clues to the mystery of where Tella had been hidden she goes on a journey of self discovery. Having lived under her fathers rule, his actions determining her own, this was the first time she was able to choose the path she’d take. As the story progressed, I loved seeing her self confidence bloom!

Caravel was one of those stories you want to relish, yet are also eager to see what the next chapter brings. I found myself speeding up and slowing down, changing the pace of my reading to fit the sequence of events I was reading about. This novel could’ve been a stand alone and I would’ve been happy with the completeness of the ending, but Legendary, the second novel, will be out May29th and we’ll get to read about Tella and find out what makes her tick. I hope to see behind the curtain of Caraval even more with her story and dare I hope a glimpse at Legend himself? ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Caraval

Click the link to purchase! Caraval

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads10 Comments