“Once upon a time, in the final days before Salt and Marsh Witch War, four Boneless Mercies turned their backs on the death trade, and went west, seeking immortality.”

The Mercy trade is a life of death, and it is a trade only for woman. This book follows four Mercies who travel town to town performing mercy killings, never revenge or vengeance. It's a hard and sad life, one that makes them outcasts from everyone they come across, they have themselves and no one else. But one day they decide to change their path, to seek a life that could change it all. A chance at a warriors glory like something from the old Vorse tales.

This book is very atmospheric and the author does a wonderful job at building this world and painting the forest they travel through. The story follows the single POV of Frey, which is a shame as I would have liked to read from the other girls as they're all so different and come to the trade for different reasons. Frey's blood sings for glory and wants more than the sad work of Mercy killing.

As they travel closer to their destiny you see such a change in her fellow Mercies, which is why it would have been nice to have different POVs, the people they meet and they stories they share and tell has an impact on them. They are a family and they decide their fates together.

Truly I loved how this was written, every moment felt right and written with depth and care, but it was defiantly lacking something. There didn't feel like a sense of urgency, or any real wow moments, when I think back to any fights they did have on the road or going into the Marsh to face the Cut Queen it wasn't quite punchy enough. But on the flip side I loved the entire section with the Cut Queen, it felt weird and creepy and unpredictable but it lacked that something, that drama.

There's a lot to love about this book and there's a lot that needs some va va voom, there is a standalone companion book set in the same world I will be giving a read.

“I wanted to change my fate, to force it down another road. I wanted to stand in the river of time and make it flow a different direction, if just for a little while.” 

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

A sweet story about kindness and caring for others.

The artwork in this book is lovely. I really enjoyed the various textures used.

There are some rather dark themes in the beginning, such as the main character's father going to sleep on the porch and not waking up, which may not be a good fit for younger children. There are also issues of poverty that come up, which can be a great way to discuss the topic with older children.

Overall, it was a very lovely book. The ending was very sweet and it had a wonderful message about showing kindness to others and the beautiful idea of "what is given from the heart reaches the heart".

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

I came across this in the Lending Library. I liked the odd title and the gorgeous cover and the fact that I had really no idea what it was about.

When I started reading it, I was instantly conflicted. I really liked the poetic narration. However, the characters were two-dimensional cardboard cutouts you can find in any teen book. They aren't unique or fully-formed or even that interesting.

Also, the loose plot that is strung through the book didn't interest me. It just kind of went along without any real story, just the boring, annoying characters describing their lives with oddly similar narration styles. Also, Midnight's sections were so long that I just ended up hating him. I would go days without reading this if I was on Midnight's section or would just put it down partway through his dull narration because I had no interest in it.

My main problem with the book was that I just didn't care about any of the characters. The whole time you're supposed to be trying to determine who is the hero, who is the villain, and who is the liar. However, from the start, it's pretty obvious it's not going to be as clear-cut as presented. The book didn't make me feel invested in anyone so whenever something actually happened, I just kind of shrugged and moved on.

Once the big reveal comes about, it didn't even affect me because of this lack of investment. I was mostly just annoyed because it felt like the author was just trying to "trick" you with unreliable narrators, rather than coming up with an interesting twist.

Despite my initial excitement, I was left feeling dissatisfied when I finally finished this. Nothing happened, the message was fairly obvious, and any of the unpredictable twists just didn't seem to matter because the characters just felt like shadows on a page.

However, the narration was quite lovely at times with beautiful lyricism and interesting descriptions. I did enjoy the writing style overall. It was almost like reading a really long poem. I may check out more by this author, but I am definitely going to need a more interesting plot and more compelling characters.

I read 22 books in April with an average score of 3.66. 1 was a graphic novel and 13 were YA. My most-read genres were fantasy, contemporary, and historical.

My favorite book was You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters - Kate Murphy. My least favorite book was Infinity Son - Adam Silvera.

I made some progress on my 2020 Reading Plans list by reading 1 more book. I'm now at 16/38.

5 Stars

4.5 Stars

4 Stars

3.5 Stars

3 Stars

2.5 Stars

2 Stars

1.5 Stars

Books by author gender:

• Male: 3
• Female: 16
• Genderqueer: 2
• Female/Non-binary Mix: 1

Books by format:

• Physical: 3
• Audio: 19