dnf @ 11% - idk if i ever liked the premise of sad 16-year-old girl whines because her daddy won't let her get her way and date the guy she's OBVIOUSLY in love with even though she's only known him for like a month, but i certainly don't like them now.

i feel kinda sad that this one flopped for me, because the premise of potions that can transport your to different realms and make you invisible etc etc was really promising. however, the worldbuilding felt a little lazy. i don't normally go into that much detail about books i don't finish (especially since i read just over 10% of this book), but i feel like being a little nit-picky today.

the book starts with jennifer finding out that her boyfriend, curtis, drowned as a result of a drunken boating accident. i felt sorry for about .01 seconds. my sympathy ended when i found out he was the one who was drunk and he also refused a life jacket because he "couldn't breath." well, curtis, that's not going to be a problem for you anymore. i also had a little hiccup in this prologue because jennifer takes a moment to remember that, when she was in macy's buying her new itsy bitsy black polka dotted bikini, curtis told her that her boobs looked big in it.

imagine, if you will, that you're sitting in an ambulance on the shore while the coast guard are searching for your potentially dead boyfriend that you all but watched drown fewer than 24 hours ago and all you can think about is that one time in the macy's dressing room that he told you your titties looked nice in your new bathing suit. hm. interesting.

anyways, after curtis dies jennifer joins an organization called "against drunk boating." yeah, that's it. we don't know what against drunk boating, but they sure are against it. the rest of the book starts with jennifer and her little brother traveling to ireland to stay with their aunt and uncle. when they arrive at the house, they offer to take their own bags because they don't feel comfortable with the servants taking them. it's a little thing. but both the servants and their aunt and uncle seem hideously offended by this. their aunt even goes "oh just let them do it, it's their job." that was strike one.

strike two was the aforementioned sad 16 year old girl. her name is keeva and she's the princess of something or other and she's >:( because her daddy won't let her run around and socialize with the peasants. she's also got this guy appearing on her balcony every day that she's Totally In Love with. but she hasn't told him and doesn't until she finds out that he's leaving for good because he's from some other different magical realm or other and he's been stealing the rarest magical potion of them all so he can come and woo her every day--but his dad found out and he can't do that anymore.

i stopped reading after keeva decided that she was going to bribe her dad's head wizard guy, inargram, to get more of that super rare and expensive potion so she can go and meet her fake boyfriend who basically broke into her house and told her she was hot for a few months. killer seduction technique, my dude.

anyways, i am not made for YA novels. at all. so, onto the next.

This is a fantasic fantasy tale and I have enjoy every bit of reading this story. ( )

In Forest of Lost Secrets, Emmett and Clarice Swan tell the story of Jessica and Riley, whose parents sent them to Ireland to stay with their aunt and uncle as a way of helping Jessica move past the death of her boyfriend. Meanwhile, in Defaria, Princess Keeva feels slighted by Neasan, the future prince of Panagu, and convinces her father to declare war. Unfortunately, Defaria lacks the magical elixir for needed for crossing realms. The Panaguan forces launch a 200-year-long project to manufacture the red elixir on Earth in 1774, where time moves differently from the magical realms. When Connall, Laughlin, and Meyler Kyne discover a Panaguan stealing their family gold to make the elixir, they enlist the help of Keeva, who masquerades as a local spirit. Unfortunately, they find themselves trapped as trees for over two hundred years until Jessica and Riley discover them, leading the five on a quest to prevent war between the magical realms and permanently transform the Kyne brothers back into humans.

The Swans include some nice touches, particularly in their portrayal of the Kyne brothers adjusting to life 200 years in their future. Laughlin’s enjoyment of footwear particularly shaped for right and left feet shows a great deal of research to understand that boots used to be generic and gained their shape through wear (pg. 197). I realize that Keeva is meant to be irrational and unlikeable, but her method of falsely starting a war contributes to the societal stigma against victims of sexual assault that silences them by claiming that false accusations somehow grant power (pg. 57). Nearly everything else in this novel is well-constructed, but authors should relegate that particular narrative element to the wastebin of fiction. That part notwithstanding, the Swans’ portrayal of magic is uniquely suited to a story grounded in emotion and alienation. Finally, the addition of LGBTQ representation through Riley is a welcome part of this modern fantasy novel. ( )

I really liked this book. It needs a sequel so I know what happens to the characters after the ending that was given. I enjoyed the current day, to past, to other planet settings. I also liked the magical appeal too. ( )

I made it to page 102 and had to stop reading the book. I just could not get into it nor did I like the characters at all.Oh I didn't tell my boyfriend I didn't love him, so he drank too much and died. Really? And then she gets in a stupid fight with two girls regarding how people should be treated as servants? WTF? On the fantasy side... a girl thinks she loves a boy and sees him kissing another woman... therefore she gets her father to declare war against them but must wait 30 years to attack a man making gold for an elixir. Yup that about sums up the ludicrous plot and I'm done.