Book Nerds Across America

Book Summary
Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port receive a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. Every year, the poorer residents look to see that their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father’s microscope.

In the province of Caldon, where women are trained in wifely duties and men are encouraged into collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her Mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition.

With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone’s ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the maze.

Flo's Summary
I adored the Storm Siren trilogy (links to my reviews below), so I was super excited to read this one. What a fun concept! The result ended up being a mashup of so many great stories like Divergent, The Maze Runner, Theseus and the Labyrinth, and likely others.

The stand up parts of this story were the time in the maze. I was fascinated by all the adventures, puzzles, and challenges the contestants faced. Unfortunately, they didn't enter the labyrinth until more than halfway through the book. I know we needed all the information from the beginning of the story, but I felt myself glazing over a lot of it in my eagerness for the "action" to begin.

Rhen and Seleni's friendship was fantastic. They were two different women who wanted different things in life, but who stood by each other and supported each other's decisions. I don't want to comment on Holm because I want to be spoiler free here, but the story behind Holm was a commentary of its own that tied into the theme of the story. Naturally, we love Lute. (And by "we" I mean "me" -- but probably you, too, when you read it!) Finally, I adore this quote:

"What if I don't fully belong anywhere...because I belong to myself? Maybe that's the sea's strength, and maybe that's my strength, too. It's not that I don't belong. It's that I belong to me."

Right?! Didn't that just give you chills?! Succinct, but telling -- and very, very powerful.

To Best the Boys publishes March 19, 2019 from Thomas Nelson.


Thank you to the Thomas Nelson for sending me an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.


Storm Siren Trilogy:
Storm Siren: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2014/08/storm-siren-by-mary-weber.html
Siren's Fury: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2015/03/sirens-fury-by-mary-weber.html
Siren's Song: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2016/03/sirens-song-by-mary-weber.html

I couldn't be more excited about the release of The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber! I enthusiastically read and reviewed Mary's Storm Siren trilogy (links below), so I was thrilled to hear about her next book. Here's the description:

Ever since the Delonese ice-planet arrived eleven years ago, Sofi's dreams have been vivid. Alien. In a system where Earth's corporations rule in place of governments and the humanoid race orbiting the moon are allies, her only constant has been her younger brother, Shilo. As an online gamer, Sofi battles behind the scenes of Earth's Fantasy Fighting arena where Shilo is forced to compete in a mix of real and virtual blood sport. But when a bomb takes out a quarter of the arena, Sofi's the only one who believes Shilo survived. She has dreams of him. And she's convinced he's been taken to the ice-planet.

Except no one but ambassadors are allowed there.

For Miguel, Earth's charming young playboy, the games are of a different sort. As Ambassador to the Delonese, his career has been built on trading secrets and seduction. Until the Fantasy Fight's bomb goes off. Now the tables have turned and he's a target for blackmail. The game is simple: Help the blackmailers, or lose more than anyone can fathom, or Earth can afford.

Do you plan on picking up Sofi Snow?


Storm Siren Love
StormSiren:http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2014/08/storm-siren-by-mary-weber.html

Siren'sFury:http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2015/03/sirens-fury-by-mary-weber.html

Siren'sSong: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2016/03/sirens-song-by-mary-weber.html

Book Summary
Nym and Draewulf prepare to face off in a battle destined to destroy more lives than it saves.

With the loss of Tulla still fresh in mind, Rasha’s fate unknown, and Lord Myles taken over by the dark ability, Nym and the few Bron soldiers rush to warn Cashlin’s queen. Only to discover it may already be too late for the monarch and her eerie kingdom. As the Luminescents are sifting through Nym’s past memories and the queen is reading into her future, Nym is given a choice of how to defeat Draewulf, but the cost may be more than she can bear. And even then there are no guarantees.

With that reality burrowing into her bones—along with the guilt of the lives she will sacrifice—Nym returns to her homeland of Faelen to raise an army of peasants through promises of freedom. But when the few friends she has left, along with the world and citizens she loves, are staring down the face of a monster and his undead army, will Nym summon every element her blood is capable of controlling . . . or surrender to a different strength—one of sacrifice?

Because in the end, death may be more merciful for them all.

Flo's Review
It seems like only a few months ago when I walked by and picked up an ARC of Storm Siren on a whim while at a conference because I loved the cover. But, alas, it was about 2 years ago, and now we are at the end of the trilogy. Bravo! to this series!! Mary Weber took me on a legitimate roller coaster of emotions throughout. I was happy, then terrified, then sad, then hopeful, then despairing, then happy, and repeat. And everything else in between! At the end of each of these three books, I was left with a big book hangover and strong emotions.

But mostly at the end of Siren's Song and this trilogy, I am satisfied. Like the end of a thrill ride at a theme park, I am slightly breathless and have a smile on my face. If you are looking for a well thought-out, action-packed fantasy, then you should consider picking these books up. Not to mention the hotness -- er, I mean the romance. Eogan. *fans self* But there wasn't just romantic love -- there was friendship, there was love of country, and there was sacrificial love. Siren's Song reminded me of other books I enjoyed, and not in a bad way. It also definitely had strong unique characteristics. There were some beautifully written passages at the end of this one. (I kinda want to share them, but better not, in case they even slightly spoil anything.) 

My only minor complaint is that I felt that Nym spent about 40% of the book looking for Eogan. Seriously, it felt like every three paragraphs or so she was looking around whatever setting they were in, trying to find him.  If you played a drinking game and every time she was looking Eogan you took a drink, then you'd be continually happy while reading this book. Lol. I guess it's understandable, though.

I have to also comment about Mary Weber herself -- I took to lashing out my feels on her as I read the trilogy, and she is the absolute sweetest in responding! I love it when authors take time to really converse with their readers. *warm fuzzies*

Also, I posted a picture on our Instagram, but these books are just SO PRETTY! Like I said before, it was the cover of Storm Siren that made me pick it up, and the other two covers are equally beautiful:


Storm Siren review: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2014/08/storm-siren-by-mary-weber.html
Siren's Fury review: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2015/03/sirens-fury-by-mary-weber.html

Book Summary
"I thrust my hand toward the sky as my voice begs the Elemental inside me to waken and rise. But it's no use. The curse I've spent my entire life abhorring—the thing I trained so hard to control—no longer exists."
Nym has saved Faelen only to discover that Draewulf stole everything she valued. Now he’s destroyed her Elemental storm-summoning ability as well.
When Nym sneaks off with a host of delegates to Bron, Lord Myles offers her the chance for a new kind of power and the whispered hope that it may do more than simply defeat the monster she loathes. But the secrets the Bron people have kept concealed, along with the horrors Draewulf has developed, may require more than simply harnessing a darker ability.
They may require who she is.
Set against the stark metallic backdrop of the Bron kingdom, Nym is faced with the chance to change the future.
Or was that Draewulf’s plan for her all along?

Flo's Review
I'm pretty sure Mary Weber just likes to toy with my emotions. I always come out of her books with the all these FEELS. And also, she is the sweetest person on Twitter ever because she's very nice to me as I flail in my feels to a million tweets directed at her as soon as I put down the book.

Siren's Fury picks up right where Storm Siren left off -- so you're immediately wrapped back up into the emotion you felt at the end of the last book. From there it hits the ground running, because Nym has a BIG problem that she is trying to fix so of course she is going to go barreling into trying to fix it. The book is aptly titled, as a lot of what Nym feels in this part of the story is fury, anger, rage. The whole idea of not letting your emotions control you is taken to a whole different level when you have supernatural powers. There were times when she was so blinded by it that I was screaming at the book, "Nym!! NO!!" But then I always got to cheer when she came back to herself.

Nym has changed from the first book because now she has not just had owners and masters; she has had friends and she still does. This changes her motivations for action in a good way. There seemed to maybe be a few too many moments of, "He got away again?!?!" to the point where it was a little frustrating. Myles is a perfect shady character because I just feel creepy and slimy every time I read about it. And I really liked Rasha's unfailing support of Nym.

While not as much of a cliffhanger as the ending of Storm Siren, Mary did still leave us with some quite intense loose ends. However, while at the end of the first book it was like, "Everything hurts and how is she going to make this good again???" I left this book more optimistically -- I believe she can make it good again and I'm looking forward to seeing how she is going to do it.

Siren's Fury comes out in June 2015 and I encourage you to pick it up immediately if you've read Storm Siren. And if you haven't read Storm Siren yet, you've got some time to do so :)

Book Summary 
In a world at war, a slave girl’s lethal curse could become one kingdom’s weapon of salvation. If the curse—and the girl—can be controlled. As a slave in the war-weary kingdom of Faelen, seventeen-year-old Nym isn’t merely devoid of rights, her Elemental kind are only born male and always killed at birth — meaning, she shouldn’t even exist. Standing on the auction block beneath smoke-drenched mountains, Nym faces her fifteenth sell. But when her hood is removed and her storm-summoning killing curse revealed, Nym is snatched up by a court advisor and given a choice: be trained as the weapon Faelen needs to win the war, or be killed. Choosing the former, Nym is unleashed into a world of politics, bizarre parties, and rumors of an evil more sinister than she’s being prepared to fight . . . not to mention the handsome trainer whose dark secrets lie behind a mysterious ability to calm every lightning strike she summons. But what if she doesn’t want to be the weapon they’ve all been waiting for? Set in a beautifully eclectic world of suspicion, super abilities, and monsters, Storm Siren is a story of power. And whoever controls that power will win.

Flo's Review
Storm Siren was one of those books that I'd never heard of until I reached BEA, but then I grabbed on a whim. This is a big thing because I flew to BEA this year and so I was trying as much as possible to minimize the number of books I took. But look at that cover, guys. It's gorgeous! And then it sounded like a fun fantasy read as well.

Fast forward to a few months later when I'm tweeting the author at 2 a.m. whining how she ripped my heart out and left us with a MASSIVE cliffhanger. (She totally did.) 

I enjoyed meeting these characters. Nym -- you wanted to feel sorry for her, but she didn't want you to. Adora was the definition of crazy. But unfortunately, in a scary way -- like she's nuts because you don't know what'll she'll do. And I fell in love with Colin the second I met him. Colin was funny and fun, but also was deeply supportive and caring. Team Colin! 

The story did seem a little slow around the middle...I think maybe some of the journeying and training and partying could have been condensed or something. Toward the end we get back to the reveals and the action, culminating in the aforementioned cliffhanger. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the situation at the end of the book plays out and how Nym will be in light of everything that happened.