Review: Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss (Kasie West)

Title: Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss
Series: companion to Love, Life, and the List
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Told: First Person (Lacey), Past Tense
Content Rating: Teen (kissing, zombies)
Format Read: ARC (trade)
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase On: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Summary:

Fan favorite author Kasie West delivers an effervescent story about chasing your dreams and following your heart, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Huntley Fitzpatrick. 

Lacey Barnes has dreamed of being an actress for as long as she can remember. So when she gets the opportunity to star in a movie alongside one of Hollywood’s hottest actors, she doesn’t hesitate to accept the part.

But Lacey quickly learns that life in the spotlight isn’t as picture perfect as she imagined. She’s having trouble bonding with her costars, her father has hired the definition of a choir boy, Donavan Lake, to tutor her, and somewhere along the way she’s lost her acting mojo. And just when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse, it looks like someone on set is deliberately trying to sabotage her.

As Lacey’s world spins out of control, it feels like the only person she can count on—whether it’s helping her try to unravel the mystery of who is out to get her or snap her out of her acting funk—is Donavan. But what she doesn’t count on is this straight-laced boy becoming another distraction.

With her entire future riding on this movie, Lacey knows she can’t afford to get sidetracked by a crush. But for the first time in her life Lacey wonders if it’s true that the best stories really do happen when you go off script.

*          *          *

As I say like a broken record in every Kasie West review, Kasie is one of my favorite authors and I will read anything she writes. That said, Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss was probably my least favorite Kasie book to date.

I really enjoyed Lacey's small part in companion novel Love, Life, and the List and was excited for her to have her own story, but despite being an actress in the middle of shooting a zombie movie I found her surprisingly rather bland. Also, while the book mainly took place on a movie set - one of my favorite settings - there was little to it and we only got a few interesting tidbits offhand. I think both of these problems were due to a serious lack of description: the story all but took place on a minimalist low-budget stage in my mind, or just plain white space - so any location description or character movement stood out awkwardly because there was so little of it.

The biggest disappointment though was a distinct lack of Kasie's signature wit. What little banter there was to speak of mainly happened between Lacey and the love interest, and even then it just didn't click like it usually does. This left Lacey to be little more than a somewhat awkward newbie teen on a film set of much more experienced adults, and sadly that didn't make for a very interesting main character for me.

All that said, Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss was still a signature easy and breezy Kasie West read that I devoured over a weekend. And then there was Donavan, the story's saving grace: he was quiet and serious and I adored his strength and gentle smolder. I also enjoyed the slow build and soft nature of the romance, both Lacey and Donavan focused on their careers but also excited to find happiness in being together.

While I will continue to read Kasie's new books and re-re-read old favorites, I must admit I'm losing the thrill I used to feel about her stories. Hopefully the next one will renew my love.

Scribble Rating: 

3 of 5 Scribbles

WoW: HONOR BOUND (Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogging event in which one spotlights an upcoming release they are eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Title: Honor Bound

Series: Honors #2
Author: Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre

Release Date: February 19, 2019
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Summary:

Savvy criminal turned skilled Leviathan pilot Zara Cole finds new friends and clashes with bitter enemies in the second book of this action-packed series from New York Times bestselling authors Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre that’s perfect for fans of The 100 and The Fifth Wave.

Zara Cole was a thief back on Earth, but she’s been recently upgraded to intergalactic fugitive. On the run after a bloody battle in a covert war that she never expected to be fighting, Zara, her co-pilot Beatriz, and their Leviathan ship Nadim barely escaped the carnage with their lives.

Now Zara and her crew of Honors need a safe haven, far from the creatures who want to annihilate them. But they’ll have to settle for the Sliver: a wild, dangerous warren of alien criminals. The secrets of the Sliver may have the power to turn the tide of the war they left behind—but in the wrong direction.

Soon Zara will have to make a choice: run from the ultimate evil—or stand and fight.

Add to Goodreads

Why I'm Looking Forward To It: Honor Among Thieves came the closest to being that book written just for me and is one of my favorite reads (and re-reads) of all time (you can check out my review here), so needless to say I'm desperate to get my hands on this exciting sequel!! 

So what book are you waiting on?

Review: Honor Among Thieves (Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre)

Title: Honor Among Thieves
Series: The Honors, Book 1
Author: Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Told: mostly First Person (Zara), Past Tense
Content Rating: Older Teen (some strong language, violence/murder, abuse and child abuse, brief teen drinking and substance abuse, fighting and scary situations)
Format Read: ARC (trade)
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase On: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Summary:

Zara Cole has been in and out of New Detroit’s rehab facilities for treatment of her antisocial disorder. There’s no adjusting Zara’s attitude, though. A painful past has made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in the Zone instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell.

Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan–a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.

Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned to along with fellow Honor Beatriz, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time, along with a devotion she’s never experienced before. Yet nothing—not her Honors training or her street smarts—could have prepared her for the dark, dangerous truths that lurk behind the glitter of starlight.

Honor Among Thieves is the first book in a daring new sci-fi series by bestselling authors Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre.

*          *          *

In a Sentence: An engrossing and exhilarating teen sci-fi with a kick-arse female lead and sweet but strong sentient ship. 

This was one of those books that I loved so much I had to read it twice to review it, and very happily did so. Blessed with getting my hands on an early copy it was my favorite read of 2017, and my 2018 reads have been hard-pressed to beat it out for best 2018 release.

Main character Zara was tough and kick-arse and, while a bit broken, her openness to embrace and bond with a sentient spaceship proved the recipe for now one of my favorite characters ever. Her story engaged me from Page 1, as did the original alien race of Leviathan and their mysterious motivations. Nadim was an absolute lamb, sweet and strong and curious and a bit broken himself, and his intimate (but non-sexual, they are completely different species) relationship with Zara has to be one of asexual me's favorite relationships of all time. 

The story was a rather relentless and engrossing thrill-ride packed with action and emotion and mystery that I did not want to put down and breezed through twice with ease. Although almost 500 pages long, the plot and setting and characters were so engaging I actually felt it wasn't long enough. I despaired over the whole week of Honors training that was skipped over, and feel it and more training time aboard Nadim could've, if nothing else, really opened up Beatriz's character. Although I really liked what she brought to the story, she never seemed quite a fully formed character, her actions driven by the story instead of a comprehensive personality. She was probably my only slight disappointment with this otherwise mind-blowing book, and I hope she will come into her own in the sequel.

Conclusion: I've said this about books in the past but with its strong main character, sweet sentient spaceship, and their intimate but non-sexual relationship all set in space, Honor Among Thieves has come the closest to being that book written just for me. I cannot begin to express how much I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel, Honor Bound, due to release February 2019!

Scribble Rating: 

5 of 5 Scribbles