Jan 31, 2023

Review--Seasons of Chaos by Elle Cosimano

 

Perfect for fans of Holly Black and Victoria Schwab, this enthralling duology follows Jack and Fleur, star-crossed lovers trapped in an endless cycle of death.

As immortal Seasons, Jack and Fleur wielded powerful magic in their roles as a Winter and a Spring. Yet there wasn’t magic strong enough to keep them apart, and they risked everything for their love, for the freedom to live their lives as they choose—together.

That choice came at a cost. Jack sacrificed his Winter magic—and his immortality—to ensure their survival. Although he’d do anything for Fleur, he can’t deny the emptiness he’s felt since. Or the fear that his choice to give up his magic may have doomed them after all.

The world they thought they left behind is still dealing with the fallout of the rebellion they started. With Professor Lyon as the new Chronos, Seasons are free to do as they please. But not everyone is happy with the change in leadership. When an old enemy seeks revenge, the world’s most powerful magic runs wild and unchecked, creating global chaos.

Thrust into the middle of a new war, Jack and Fleur are faced with the aftermath of their choices. But are they strong enough to save the world from a storm that’s spinning out of control.

 

Seasons of Chaos brings an end to Elle Cosimano's Seasons of the Storm duology! I was excited to dive back into this story, wondering what was going to change things since things seemed relatively happy at the end of the first book, and hoo boy this one was a doozie!

I started the book already shocked to find that Doug was getting his own point of view for this one! I still kind of wished that we could've gotten more from Julio and Amber's perspective but I guess in the long run, this was always Jack and Fleur's story! Getting back on track, Doug, the nemesis of Jack gets a lot of page time in this book because he's public enemy #1! He was not at all happy with the regime change when Lyon became the new Chronos. He'd never be Doug's Chronos and Doug is ready to set things right...i.e. making everything go back to the way his Chronos was running things.

Meanwhile, Jack and Fleur are living mostly happily ever after! They are living in Mexico where Fleur can flourish. Jack is now her handler and mostly human--or I guess as human as the handlers ever were, but still immortal to a point where they can continue to protect their season. So that is what he does, he protects Fleur. Until the unthinkable happens and she is kidnapped, along with Jack's previous handler, Chill.

Now Jack is going to do whatever it takes to get Fleur and Chill back. He teams up with Amber and Julio and another surprising face joins him as well with a plan of their own. I feel like I am leaving a lot out of the plot, but I really don't want to spoil things for you, if you happen to be reading this! Major things happen fairly early on, I'd say in the first 1/4 of the novel and these are big life changing events. It basically sets the course for the rest of the novel. Despite the events happening early, I decided to refrain from divulging into the meat of them! Big things happen, I'll leave it at that!

Getting Fleur and Jack's point of view pretty much gives us eyes on the entire playing field, as well as Doug's point of view, because whoa! I always find it odd to read from the point of view of the villain. Sometimes the author can almost make the villain endearing to the reader, but I can honestly say that this was not the case for Doug. I did not like him one bit and kept hoping he'd fall flat on his face! Lol.

I felt like I did better with the pacing of this one. Things were a bit slow in the beginning but once I got past that 1/4 mark, things got a little more intense as the story moved along! I will say that I was a bit sadden that Amber and Julio weren't in the book more. They took awhile to show up in person, and even after that point, Jack ditches them to save them and they were theoretically gone again! I don't know why I felt so invested in these side characters, but for some reason I did! They had their own story to tell and I felt like we never really got to know them beyond the basics. Like I would have loved to know how those two fell in love.

Another thing that continued to throw me in this series was how the teenagers who represented the seasons died. I get that they came back and weren't really being killed, but the whole process was confusing to me. When you watched one die but then they popped back up in a stasis chamber...but I think they needed to be wearing one of the ear pieces that allowed them to communicate with their handler. As I said, I probably missed some of these details in the first book as when I saw a character die, but then 50 pages later they are alive and kicking was a little mind boggling to say the least!

The story ended in a nice way! I have to say I enjoyed this ending a bit more than I did the previous one. Perhaps because I knew there was another book to come I wasn't really sold on the first one's ending, but this one definitely took the cake! I was sadden by the losses that occurred once again, but overall I felt like there was a bit more happiness to this story. It was a good ending all in all! If you've ever wanted to read a book that explored the changing of the seasons and mystical explanations of the weather, this is the duology for you!



Overall Rating 4/5 stars







Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker



Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

 

"'Why is there blood on your hands?' I ask. The leather is soaked, staining my fingers. I catch a hint of peppermint and pine. Winter magic." p 214


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TITLE Seasons of Chaos
AUTHOR: Elle Cosimano

PUBLISHER: HarperTeen
GENRE: YA Paranormal/Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: June 8, 2021





Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

 

This week's topic is: Top Ten Favorite Cartoony Covers

 

*in no particular order

 

10. FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT by Elle Cosimano
9. ABBY COOPER: PSYCHIC EYE by Victoria Laurie
8. SECONDHAND SPIRITS by Juliet Blackwell



7. PRINCE OF SONG & SEA by Linsey Miller
6. THE EX HEX by Erin Sterling
5. THE SHIFTER ROMANCES THE WRITER by Kristen Painter



4. DEAD UNTIL DARK by Charlaine Harris--random comment, but it upsets me that the Goodreads images even took off the original series name from the cover. I get that it was changed, but there still should be an edition with the original name on it.
3. BLOOD BATH & BEYOND by Michelle Rowen
2. TEMPEST RISING by Nicole Peeler






1. REMEMBRANCE by Meg Cabot--so glad this one was kept in a cartoony look to match the last two books of the series. My first 4 copies were a different look written under her pen-name at the time. Which was still an amazing look, but yeah...lots of covers going on with this one! But since this was the "adult" installment of a YA series, it did need to kind of stand out on its own. So I'm cool with the differences from that standpoint.

 

 

 

 

 


 

 



Jan 30, 2023

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

 

Last Week I Read:

One Girl in All the World by Kendare Blake (5 stars)



Currently Reading:

Seasons of Chaos by Elle Cosimano



What I Plan to Read Next:

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano



Other Posts of Interest:

Book Spotlight: Rockin it Old School with The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith
Teaser & Top Ten Tuesday
Can't Wait Wednesday
Books from the Backlog #15
Book Blogger Hop
Stacking the Shelves
14th Blogoversary & a Giveaway!








Jan 29, 2023

14th Blogoversary & a Giveaway!

 


Can you believe I've been blogging for 14 years now?! OMG, where has the time gone? I feel old! Like seriously, having a big anniversary like this really makes you realize how long you've been doing something! Lol. For 14 years I've been gabbing about books I've read and loved and maybe didn't love. I've made so many blogging friends, watched so many other blogs come and go...and though I've been doing this for a exceedingly long time, I really don't see myself giving this up!

Blogging may be a dying breed, but I still blog hop every week. When I see a review pop up on a friend's blog of a book I was debating about or what to read and just haven't gotten to it yet, I always read the review to see what they thought of it! The thing about all these other social media platforms is that you don't get that same kind of information one needs when trying to decide if a book is for them. I am old school in this, because I like to read a review. I don't want to sit and listen to a video clip, I don't have that kind of time. I've got lots to do and books to read myself! Lol. So yeah, my blog will be around for many more years to come. Likely until the internet breaks or whatever. Then it will be more keeping a diary on my laptop pretending to blog!

Since I've been noticing a great decline in the blogging world, I've been debating about how to hold contests these days. My big Halloween giveaway had the lowest of contest entries I've seen in all my blogging years. It was a little disheartening to say the least, but here we are. I'm nearing another milestone next year, so I feel obligated to hold some sort of contest now and then! So hopefully this one goes well!

 

 

So I plan to give away a $25 bookstore gift card! The bookstore has to have the ability to send e-gift cards, basically doing it this way in case you want to get an indie bookstore gift card. I will open this to international followers, but it will end up being $25 (USD) of books from The Book Depository, pending that they ship to you. If they do, you're in! Simple enough? If you have questions, you can leave them in the comments below!

Entrants must be 13 years or older or have a parent's permission to enter.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

 


 

Stacking the Shelves

 

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Reading Reality.

 

Another week went by and I once again can't even remember what happened at the beginning of it! It was uneventful to say the least!

 

Here's what I got this week:

 

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo--SIGNED! Standard & B&N editions! Sadly the B&N edition came with the awful sticker of DOOM and since it's been sitting on the book for two weeks, there's no pulling that bad boy off...even with a blow dryer as when I tried it started to peel the RED off the cover. So very disappointed in B&N for this!


THANKS AGAIN to Good Choice Reading for providing SIGNED copies!



Red by Kate Serine--I had seen this one around awhile back and was curious but was overwhelmed with other review books at the time. When I saw it on sale for .99 I decided what the heck?!
Princess of Thorns by Tessonja Odette--a freebie read I got from Tessonja's newsletter! It's a prequel story to one of her new series. I just ordered copies, so I thought why not a free prequel story too?!



Then for review from the publisher & Rockstar Book Tours I received:

One Girl in All the World by Kendare Blake--already read and reviewed! Check out my review/tour post here and for the giveaway!



THANK YOU Disney-Hyperion & Rockstar Book Tours!



Then I also got my Fairy Loot Adult book! I had figured out what one this was and thought it didn't sound too bad so I decided to go ahead and get it! I'm starting to think I might cancel this subscription sadly, as it's getting too costly to have two book boxes (plus the occasional Owl Crate) every month. Even with skipping, but since there are limited skips now with Fairy Loot I might just hang onto my YA one and lose the Adult one.

 

Since I wasn't spoiled for this one, I decided not to share the actual picture either! I definitely like this cover better than the US one! The US one wasn't bad, this one is just gorgeous! Hoping to enjoy this one since I didn't care for a previous book by this author. Fingers crossed!

 




I was also surprised when I got this in the mail! It's part one of the preorder incentives for The Ruined! I preordered this when it was thought to come out in February 2023, but now it's December of 2023! I guess they were already set to be produced and they received them around the same time, so they sent them out! Pretty cool!



THANK YOU Penguin Teen!




And that was it for me this week! What all did you get?