When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she’s a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha — one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles…and make a powerful choice.Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind in this brilliant new fantasy series by Rin Chupeco!

I am at a loss for words. The Bone Witch blew every expectation I had out of the water and I'm left grasping for words to express my thoughts. As the summary states, it's a "Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind" and while I haven't read either (I know, shame on me), I know enough about each novel to know that if one combines the two it will be epic journey.

We follow a young girl named Tea who accidentally brings her brother back to life after he is killed in battle. Her ability to do so means that she has the ability to control Dark and makes her a bone witch, someone feared and despised by society. Luckily, there's another Dark witch passing through nearby who takes her to the Willows where she will be trained to use her necromancy for entertainment and the good of the kingdom.

“There is no greater strength than the ability to understand and accept your own flaws.”

However, once she arrives, Tea realizes that the rigid structure of the Willows is more complex and restricted. As the only other bone witch in the Willows, she has a lot of things to learn and a very important role in society to fill. Amidst the high expectations, Tea continues to challenge every status quo she can and strives to fulfill the duty she believes she has to the world, even if it goes against what the law says.

“We can endure any amount of sadness, for the people we love.”

This story is written in a duo-form storyline that intertwines. The first one follows a bard who seeks a banished Tea out and the second is her story. With the two storylines, you can see how Tea continues to be so strong despite everything that is thrown at her and how she continues to use her powers for what she believes is good.

“Then perhaps we should carve a world one day where the strength lies in who you are, rather than in what they expect you to be.”

I absolutely loved the amount of detail Rin Chupeco goes into when describing the world of the asha from the complex history to the elaborate dresses. While that can get a bit tiresome at times, the vivid imagery helps to keep the story alive and colorful. I also loved the diversity of the characters from Likh to Fox and Zoya to Mykaela. Each represents a different form of art and holds a different relationship that plays an important role in shaping Tea.

Like I mentioned above, words are hard to express just how blown away I was by the story and how everything was executed. Every twist and turn of the story had my mind reeling for answers and I can't believe that I have to wait an entire year to read the next story, but I definitely will keep an eye out.

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS... FOR THE LAST TIME.A season of endings has begun.
It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun.
It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter.
It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.
This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

I have wanted to read The Fifth Season for forever and I'll never know why I didn't pick it up until now. NK Jemisin is honestly such a refreshing voice in fantasy and her stories never fail to disappoint. From the epic world building to dynamic characters, The Fifth Season has everything in it that will completely blow your mind away.

The story follows three different points of views: a young untrained orgene, Damaya, on the start of her journey to the Fulcrum to be trained, a four-ringed orgene, Syenite, who has been assigned a mission with the only ten-ringer in the Fulcrum, and a mother, Essun, on the journey of revenge for her murdered son.

“Neither myths nor mysteries can hold a candle to the most infinitesimal spark of hope.” 

One of the things I have always loved about NK Jemisin's novels is her ability to make the reader directly part of the story. For The Fifth Season, the reader is told at the start that he or she will be playing the role of Essun and throughout the novel, she refers to Essun as "you," talking directly to the reader.

Some parts of the novel felts a bit lagging, I won't lie, but there was this overarching intrigue that kept me reading. I believe that different point of views also helped because it offered both a break if one story line was dragging or it made you frustrated because something good was just happening and you need to keep reading to get back to that particular story line.

“Home is what you take with you, not what you leave behind.” 

  Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh

| ISBN: 1510703489 | Pages: 304 |
 Publication Date: October 11, 2016 | Source: Sky Pony Press | Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars |
★★★☆
Witch’s apprentice Bridey Corkill has hated the ocean ever since she watched her granddad dive in and drown with a smile on his face. So when a dead girl rolls in with the tide in the summer of 1913, sixteen-year-old Bridey suspects that whatever compelled her granddad to leap into the sea has made its return to the Isle of Man.Soon, villagers are vanishing in the night, but no one shares Bridey’s suspicions about the sea. No one but the island’s witch, who isn’t as frightening as she first appears, and the handsome dark-haired lad Bridey rescues from a grim and watery fate. The cause of the deep gashes in Fynn’s stomach and his lost memories are, like the recent disappearances, a mystery well-guarded by the sea. In exchange for saving his life, Fynn teaches Bridey to master her fear of the water — stealing her heart in the process.
Now, Bridey must work with the Isle’s eccentric witch and the boy she isn’t sure she can trust — because if she can’t uncover the truth about the ancient evil in the water, everyone she loves will walk into the sea, never to return. 

This novel was first pitched to me as a watery retelling of Beauty and the Beast so I went into the story with a lot of excitement and curiosity as I didn't know how the plot would unfold. The story begins when the townspeople find a dead girl's body and everyone's worried since there hasn't been a death since Bridey's grandfather jumped off a cliff while following a sound that only he could hear.

With the rest of the town thinking that she is crazy for her fear of water, her account of her grandfather further separated her from the townspeople. When a strange boy washes onshore alive, Bridey's family takes him in and thus our story begins. As the plot unfolds, Bridey begins to make connections between the recent disappearances and her grandfathers and with the help of Fynn and the island witch Morag, she begins to slowly conquer her fear of water in order to fight whatever is plaguing her home.

“Nothing from the ocean is meant to survive on land forever.” 

As I mentioned before, I went into this novel thinking it would be a Beauty and the Beast retelling and while I can see the beauty and beast elements, the story does not follow the traditional tale. Despite that, Fear the Drowning Deep is written with a lovely haunting and lyrical tone that is just perfect for a cold winter day. Everything from the mist shrouded island to the magical beasts that occupy the ocean just paints a beautiful picture of an island off the coast of Ireland.

The relationships are also wonderfully constructed. When Bridey finds Fynn, her parents take him in without a question and help nurse him back to health. Her relationship with her sisters and her best friends are also really sweet and despite the occasional argument here and there, they are always by each other's side. Now, the romance was a different story. There was a hint of a love triangle and I was pleasantly surprised by how the author resolved it. Bridey and Fynn's relationship was one that progressed quickly in terms of feelings, but I liked how they supported each other. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, but I'll admit, it added a new spin to the story.

“And with the melody came the unmistakable sound of water slapping against the rocks far below us, slowly eroding the foundation of Port Coire and everything I loved.”

Fear the Drowning Deep introduces a new mythical voice and I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel. With that said, I'll definitely be on the lookout for future books by Sarah Glenn Marsh and seeing how this story wraps up!

Hello world! This post is going to take me a couple of decades to write because I don't know how to start something brand new. It almost feels like my first blog post which it is (on this blog), but not in real life.

I guess I should start things off basically with some general information. My name is Rivalie and I'm a 19 year old college student (as you can tell from my About Me on the side). Le Petit Photograph is actually my second blog, as stated by the title, a new chapter of my life. I have been on Blogger since 2012 and have been blogging over at Forever Obsession for the past four years. As you can probably tell, it was a huge decision to move my entire platform over to a new place but I decided that it was time for a change. You can read about my whole decision and explanation here if you're curious. :)

Le Petit Photograph is going to be continuation of Forever Obsession but it's going to be the "college edition." Since I spent all of high school blogging on Forever Obsession, I like to look back on it as a snapshot of my high school days. My goal is to have this blog be a reflection of that but from the college version of me.

Essentially, I don't plan to stop posting my book reviews and I will resume that once I figure out how I want to format things here. I also want to try my hand on posting more diary-like posts that can include anything from random thoughts to life experiences. All in all, I want to be able to explore and expand my boundaries with this blog and I hope you're as excited to see what this blog has in store as I am!

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