Book Fidelity
  • Currently Reading
  • Blog
  • Reviews
    • By Author
    • By Title
    • By Trope
    • Favorite Authors
    • Book Series
  • About
    • For Readers!
    • For Authors & Publishers
    • Celia's Faves
    • Challenges >
      • Rory Gilmore Challenge
      • A Book From Every State
      • Horror Books
  • *NEW* Bookish Goods

October 20th, 2017

10/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Fantasy and world-building can come in many different shapes and forms. One of the great things about writing fantasy is its utter infinity of possibilities. A fantasy author is free in ways no other genre writer is, because he is not restricted by any rules in the world for his/her creation. He can literally be and do whatever he wants. However, in time an accepted fantasy spectrum has been set in place, not so much to restrict as it is to organize fantasy stories and make it easier for readers to identify them. At one corner of the spectrum we have Noblebright Fantasy, the typical heroic fantasy in which the world is wondrous and beautiful and the heroes actively seek to protect it or defeat the villains that threaten it. On the other corner we have Grimdark Fantasy, stories that basically depict ravaged, unsafe worlds in which hopelessness is common, and the heroes don't care to change it or improve it, or their efforts to do so are never good enough. However, the in-between is several shades of gray (bad pun, couldn't resist!) and it allows for the richness and complexity of the fantasy genre as we know it. Let's explore a bit more, shall we? Noble vs Grim: The Noble to Grim part of it refers to the actions of the characters (heroes) and how they influence their worlds. What is their motivation? Are they strong and willing to risk themselves for others? Are their actions able to change the fate of society and the world they live in? Image result for harry potter†Image result for lord of the rings†The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Poster In a Noble†story: The characters are strong, capable, and their actions can alter the fate of the world. Usually a single villain threatens the world, and a hero or a group of heroes appear to save it, at great peril for themselves. The heroes are successful in their quests and ultimately defeat the evil and change the world for the better, and the villains are either destroyed or redeemed within the context of the world. Batman Begins Poster†Underworld Poster†Game of Thrones Poster In a Grim story: The characters are restricted and hopeless, they refuse to take action and whatever initiative they display never amounts to much in the big scheme of things. They cannot change the world they live in, and whatever victories they achieve are ephemeral and often temporary.† Their negative qualities are relished and their positive trait are ridiculed or mocked. Heroes are defined by their survival capabilities and not by altruistic deeds or motives, and villains are replaced with new villains in a never-ending cycle. Bight vs Dark: The†Bright†to†Dark†spectrum refers to the world in particular and the conditions it has regardless of the characters actions. How is the world as a place people live in? How is it perceived by the characters (and audience)? Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Poster†Galavant Poster†Avatar Poster A†Bright†World: is beautiful and hopeful. It may contain villains and flaws, but the world as a whole is a place that inspires wonder and desire to explore it. In a Bright world, happiness or the possibility of it, is widely accepted and shared, and characters expect and experience good things from the environment around them.† Despite not being perfect, a bright world is a place you want to visit, and a place in which characters are not afraid to venture and get lost in. The Walking Dead Poster†Alien: Covenant Poster†Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Poster A†Dark†World: has danger and hopelessness as its primary traits. It's an inhospitable environment in which people's lives is hard and death is frequent and real. A dark world does not spur characters into action, because the world itself is the enemy, where every action is dangerous and can have lethal consequences. Fantasy Complexity. In between these corner points is the Neutral, which, whether referring to character or world, describes a story that hangs in the balance between the two qualities. While each fantasy story is as unique as a single snowflake, that complexity and diversity is what makes the genre popular and beloved by its fans, and discussions about Noblebright, Grimdark, Nobledark, Grimbright and the many other spots in between are what makes the Fantasy literature world a diverse, rich universe you should definitely consider visiting†

Heroes and Swords: A Noblebright Fantasy Collection.

Heroes and Swords: A Noblebright Fantasy Collection In the spirit of the classic fantasy of Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and Brandon Sanderson, authors of Noblebright Fantasy all around the world have come together in this E-book giveaway. With stories that are uplifting and full of hope, and heroes who strive for goodness and fight to save their worlds,†Heroes and Swords†will transport readers back to the glory of heroic fantasies, fabulous quests and characters full of charisma and courage.

BROWSE THE BOOKS NOW!

------

0 Comments

Review: Chasing Xander

10/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Chasing Xander
by Lexi Lawton

Synopsis

Kylie Quinn is positive nothing could be more embarrassing on her first day of college than having her unmentionables go sprawling across campus. She was wrong. Very wrong. Having a super-sexy co-ed twirl them around his finger like he's privy to all of Victoria's Secrets is so much worse.

Xander Collins has met his match with Kylie—she’s gorgeous, smart, sarcastic as
hell, and doesn’t give a damn that he’s loaded. She’s also a virgin. And he doesn’t do virgins. Been there, done that, and he’s still paying for it. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends, despite the fact her flirty moves leave him with balls a shade of blue he never knew existed. 

Kylie is special, and she deserves more than his typical “one and done” routine. But as his life implodes and his not-so-brilliant plan to take things slow blows up in his face, he's at risk of losing everything—including Kylie. Now he must decide if everything he's been fighting so hard for is worth it without her by his side.


Review

**I was provided a ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I always go into these romance stories expecting to be swept away into this great story where I get to witness two people fall in love. This is, after all, why I love the romance genre. 

But sometimes I get beginnings like that of this story. Beginnings that are what we can call, Insta-love. Kylie and Xander meet each other on the first day of college (for Kylie, anyhow), and the attraction is definitely there. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But it doesn't take long (the same day?) for Xander to think that Kylie is "different". I'm not sure how he comes to this conclusion as he knows absolutely nothing about her, except that she tends to be klutzy around him. 

We find out that each have their own problems: Kylie is still dealing with the consequences of moving away from her alcoholic father, and Xander is currently under academic probation, and might be kicked out of his fraternity house if he doesn't improve.

Sadly, that's where my interest in this story ended. The dialogue between the characters falls flat, and I feel none of the attraction or intensity either character is supposedly feeling about the other. I grew quickly tired of all the characters in this story that fell quickly flat in just the first 20% of it. 

If you enjoy New Adult books, this may be one you can enjoy. I, however, did not want to spend any more time on it.  
0 Comments

Review: The Mistake

10/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
 The Mistake
Off-Campus #2
by Elle Kennedy

Synopsis

College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hook-ups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he’ll be forced to walk after graduation. A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he’s worth a second chance.

Now he’s going to need to up his game…

After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. She’s not a charity case, and she’s not the quiet butterfly she was when they first hooked up. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He’ll have to work for it. This time around, she’ll be the one in the driver’s seat…and she plans on driving him wild.


Review

This is the second book in Elle Kennedy's Off-Campus series, and I am looking forward to reading the entire series. This was not my favorite of the two, but it was still a great read. 

This book is about hockey player Logan who, if you remember, was kinda lusting after Hannah in book 1. He meets lovely freshman, Grace, and they hit it off really quickly. Logan makes a dumb dumb dumb mistake, however, and Grace doesn't want to see his face again. Understandably. 

Well, Logan is pretty persistent, and that's part of what this book is about. He tries to convince Grace that he can be the guy she needs - especially since he realizes how much he likes her. The other big part of this book is the expectation Logan's brother has of him. Basically, his brother expects Logan to take care of their alcoholic father - something his brother has been doing since Logan has been in school. Needless to say, it's not something to look forward to, and throws his dreams of skating for a big team like the Bruins out the window. 

I absolutely loved Logan's character. He was a great mix of manly, sweet, caring, and...real. Grace's character was also really lovely, but I don't feel like there was much of a transition/change with her in this book. We see Logan evolve nicely, but Grace is a more or less the same throughout. This isn't a bad thing...but in order for me to be invested in a character - I need to see them transform. 

Overall, great second book to the series. If you haven't read my review for the first one, you can catch it here. And you better believe I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, The Score. 

0 Comments
    Picture

      Want to receive monthly highlights from Book Fidelity? Sign up!

    Subscribe to Book Fidelity!
    Click to set custom HTML
    Powered by Curator.io
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alpha Hero But Not A Douche Hero
    Angels
    Anthology
    Anxiety
    Arranged Marriage/marriage Of Convenience
    Author Spotlight
    Awesome Women Doing Awesome Things
    Badass Heroine
    Bad Boy
    Better Luck Next Time
    Biker Guy
    Billionaire Bad Boy
    Book Blast
    Book Blitz
    Book Haul
    Bookish Gift Ideas
    Book Pile
    Books About Books
    Book Spotlight
    Boy Next Door Romance
    Campus Romance
    Cemetery
    Challenge
    Children's Lit
    Christian
    Christmas Read
    Christmas Romance
    Chronic Pain
    Classic
    Coffee
    Collection
    Coming Of Age
    Con Man
    Contemporary
    Cover Reveal
    Cozy Mystery
    Crafty
    Crime Fiction
    Cross Stitch
    Curvy
    Death
    Death As A Character
    Dystopian
    Enemies To Lovers
    Entangled Pub
    Erotica
    Erotica Lite
    Existentialism
    Fae
    Fairy Tale Re Telling
    Fairy Tale Re-telling
    Fake Relationship
    Fantasy
    Fantasy Realism
    Fantasy Romance
    Feminism
    Fever Series
    Fiction
    Final Girls
    France
    Friendship
    Friends To Enemies
    Friends To Lovers
    Funny
    Gargoyles
    Geek Love
    Gift
    Giveaway
    Greek Gods
    Grumpy Hero
    Hacker Girl
    Hard Science Fiction
    Highlander
    Hispanic Fiction
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Romance
    Hockey Romance
    Holiday Read
    Holocaust
    Horror
    Hot Rocker Romance
    In Progress
    It's A Movie!
    Karen Marie Moning
    Las Vegas Baby
    Library
    Life Of A Reader
    Literary Fiction
    Love Story
    LoveStruck
    LSBBT
    Magical Realism
    Marriage Of Convenience
    Meh
    Memoir
    Mental Health
    Meta
    Middle Grade
    Monthly
    Murder Mondays
    Mystery
    Nerdy Hero
    Nerdy Heroine
    Netgalley
    New Adult
    Newsletter
    New York
    No Male POV
    Nonfiction
    Non Fiction
    Non-Fiction
    Novella
    Paranormal
    Paranormal Romance
    PG/PG-13 Rated
    Philosophy
    Plus Size Heroine
    Poetry
    Political Fiction
    Promo
    Psychology
    PTSD
    Racism
    Rape Culture
    Readathons
    Reading Habits
    Recovery
    Regency Romance
    Retelling
    Revenge Love Story
    Rich Boy
    Romance
    Romance Author
    Romance Read
    Romance Read Wednesday
    Romance/Thriller
    Romantic Suspense
    Romantic Thriller
    Sage's Blog Tours
    Science Fiction
    Scorched
    Scots
    Second Chance Love
    Self-Help
    Series
    Sexy
    Short Read
    Short Stories
    Short Story
    "soft" S&M
    Sports Romance
    Spotlight
    Starbucks
    Steampunk
    Suspense
    Suspenseful Romance
    Sweet Candy Press
    Tag You're It!
    Talia Hibbert
    TBR
    Texas
    Texas Bloggers
    There's A Dog!
    Thrift Book Haul
    Thrift Books
    Thriller
    Trigger Warning
    True Crime
    Urban Fantasy
    Vacation Fling
    Vaginal Fantasy
    Vaginal Fantasy Friday
    Vampires
    Werewolves
    Western
    Workplace Romance
    Xpresso Book Tours
    Xstitch
    Ya
    Young Adult
    Zine

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.