Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: The Thorn and The Sinking Stone by C.J. Dushinski!

Title: The Thorn and the Sinking Stone
Author: C.J. Dushinski
Release date: March 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Length: 313 pages


Book Description via Goodreads:

Warring families. Forbidden love. And danger they can’t escape…

Daggers. Roses. Cowboys. Boat Men. Survivors of Earth's Last War, four “families” vie to rule the dreary streets of Rain City through violence and blood. Valencia Hara, Princess of the wealthy Black Roses, is raised in warrior ways with sharpened steel. But she is no ordinary Rose. She is Cursed—tainted with the ability to see seconds into the future…

To avenge his father's death, Sebastian Leold, of the rival gang Two Daggers, must face off against the Black Princess, he with his dagger, she with her katana sword. Yet a secret from a shared past leaves him unable to kill beautiful Valencia; nor can she kill him. For they once knew each other beyond their blood feud…and they have more secrets in common than they know.

But in a world filled with vengeance and violence, there can be no room for love…

Buy it here: Amazon | BN | Kobo

About the Author:

While attempting to navigate life as a responsible human being, CJ graduated from university with a B.Comm and worked her way along as marketer, copywriter, and graphic designer to earn a paycheck while pursing her passion for creating fantastical stories set in dark and wondrous corners of the world. Born amongst the wheat fields and open skies of the Canadian prairies, CJ’s imagination has always run wild, taking her on adventures across the world from modeling in Seoul, South Korea to backpacking through Europe and surfing (poorly) in Hawaii.

After wandering through ancient cities and civilizations, learning from diverse cultures, and surrounding herself in new experiences, CJ was inspired and began work on her debut Young Adult novel THE THORN AND THE SINKING STONE, to be published by Entangled Publishing 2014/15. CJ currently resides in Calgary, Alberta Canada – home of the Canadian Rockies – and keeps one hand on her passport and pen at all times, ready to pick up, see the world, and weave her experiences into stories.

CJ is represented by Marlene Stringer of the Stringer Literary Agency LLC

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Review:

★★★★ ★

4.5/5 stars.

Cowboys? Katanas? Forbidden love?

Yes please.

The moment I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I had to read it. And boy, was my instinct right. I really enjoyed The Thorn and the Sinking Stone.

This book is a really intriguing blend of dystopian, romance, fantasy, fairy tale, scifi, and urban fantasy. I know that sounds like a lot of genres but oddly, it somehow works. I can't explain how. The chapters are written in two alternating points of view, from both Sebastian and Valencia who are in rival families. This brings a nice layer of character (and plot) depth to the "Romeo and Juliet" trope of fighting families and forbidden love, because we are able to read what each character is going through and feeling. This made them all the more relatable, and allows the reader to see both sides of things- that means villains are not truly villains, and heroes are not always heroes. Valencia and Sebastian are given unique, independent voices that are easy to separate while switching chapters.

I really liked watching the main couple's past become clearer, and their feelings towards one another develop. I hate the term "book boyfriend", but I definitely loved me some Sebastian. He's caring and protective and torn in half about his life. I also really liked how strong and kick ass Valencia was. She's a fierce sword wielder who knows how to swallow her fears and seize opportune moments. Reading them together was really interesting, seeing how they handle the world that seems to be against them.

The writing was very descriptive and well done. It was easy for me to get swept up in the scenery among the characters and play the scenes out like a movie in my head. The one thing that I wish had been developed more was the historical context/dystopian dynamic. This book takes place in the future when a city was reclaimed, but we are only really given a nutshell version of what happened and why their lives/cities are this way. I would have appreciated some more world building in that respect, because I think it would have helped me to better grasp why the four houses/families act the way they do.

I recommend this book to young adult fans who like any combination of forbidden love, fantasy, princesses, scifi, Romeo and Juliet, curses, weapons, or dystopia. This book does deal with violence and contains some profanity, so take note of that if that's undesirable to you. I sincerely look forward to reading the next book in (what I think and really hope) is a series.

I received a copy from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: The Nine Fold Heaven

Title: The Nine Fold Heaven
Author: Mingmei Yip
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
Pub. Date: June 25th 2013
Source: Author, Mingmei Yip

★★★★★

Five stars.

The Nine Fold Heaven is a continuation of the novel Skeleton Women. In this next book, Camilla, Shadow, Rainbow, and even Jinying and the notorious gang leaders return. Camilla is left in the aftermath of the downfall of Master Lung, in a pool of uncertainty and speculation- Is Master Lung alive, and what of his son? To further tempt Camilla, she has heard rumors that even her own son may still be alive. Though once bitter rivals eager to claim the coveted spotlight in 1930s Shanghai, Camilla and the mysterious magician Shadow must now work together to free themselves from the seedy underbelly of the lives they lead, and nothing- not gangsters, superstition, or even the law- will stop Camilla from achieving her agendas, both hidden and in plain sight.

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I was ecstatic when Mingmei Yip contacted me to review The Nine Fold Heaven, since Skeleton Women was one of my favorite reads of last year. I have to say that I definitely was not left disappointed.

The author's gift for narration and prose is one that I rarely come across while reading, a cool and refreshing change from my normal books. It wraps around the reader's thoughts and demands attention in its beauty and detail. There is a melodic, dark tone to the entire novel that I cannot quite explain, leaving the writing with a vibe somewhere in a mixture of a song, a meditation, and a story. This work is also sprinkled with quotes from books and poems, as well as Chinese sayings and proverbs, that help give this book a tone of unique mysticism that sets it apart from others. And then there are the elaborate details that whip up vivid images of Chinese life. Whether in a five star restaurant or a slum of Hong Kong, I was easily able to lose myself in the world that Camilla lives in.

As an English speaking reader, I also greatly appreciated that non-English words were italicized. I was easily enough able to learn their meaning based on the context, but it was a simpler process because my attention was drawn to them.

The plot of this book takes many twists and turns, and often times I found myself utterly unknowing where it was going to lead me next. When Camilla is self-reflective or plotting, the writing appropriately slowed to a more leisurely, tranquil pace. But when gangsters, masterminds, and murder take their place in the story, the pace quickens to one full of action and suspense that left me quickly turning the page to find out what happened next. More often than I'd care to admit, I was pleasantly taken aback by a change in story development.

Like Skeleton Women, The Nine Fold Heaven is full of strong female characters, and I don't read nearly enough books where this is the case. Whether it is the meticulously trained Camilla, the cunning and elusive Shadow, or even the little orphan Peiling, each are headstrong and smart in their own ways. My personal favorite is the journalist, Rainbow, due in large part to her "army" of Pink Skeleton women, who obtain her information from the four corners of Shanghai and beyond.

Emotions run strong throughout the course of this book, and there are a lot of them. The love of a mother. The desire or romance of a lover. The desperation of one fallen on hard times. Even the wistful memories of love and memories long past. I felt so many things while reading this, sometimes more than I could name and definitely more than I could even comprehend at times.

Another aspect of this story that I thoroughly appreciate is that there is no cut and dry good versus evil. Everyone is a little bit of both. There are "bad" people who unexpectedly do good things, and there are "good" people that are forced to do bad things do to dire situations. Because there is no clear villain, this story has an added layer of realism and grit that give the story more depth.

Though this is a continuation, and I recommend reading Skeleton Women first, it is not required. Back story is provided throughout enough that this can work as a stand alone. For anyone interested in gangsters, strong female leads, Chinese history, or beautifully woven narration, The Nine Fold Heaven is a must read. This is adult fiction, and does contain brief profanity and adult situations. This is the second book I have read of Yip's, and it definitely will not be the last.

Thank you to Mimgmei Yip who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.