It’s Friday and I’ve had cake for breakfast all week, and there is nothing better to top my week off than another epic YA fantasy book! It’s the frosting on my book tour cake. Make sure you grab your own dose of Rockstar Book Tours icing by checking out their website!

Before I get into today’s review, please be aware that this book is a sequel! While I won’t have any spoilers for West written here, there may be spoilers for the first book, East.

“I shook my head savagely. No. I could not give in to despair. Where there was life, there was also hope.”

When Rose and Charles first met, he was a White Bear, trapped in a wicked enchantment with little hope of finding his way back to the human world. Rose was his last hope, and in a single choice, she nearly lost him to the Troll queen forever.

Married with a baby of their own, Rose and Charles believe the Troll Queen is dead and they are finally living their happily ever after. Until a storm destroys his ship and Charles is believed dead.

But Rose knows the storm wasn’t natural and once again leaves behind everything she holds dear to find him. With more obstacles in her way than ever before, and the fate of the entire world resting on the outcome, Rose must once again prove that her love is stronger than the magic woven from evil.

“But worst of all was a nearly overwhelming sense of dread that clenched at my insides. It was like I could feel evil pulsing above me, around me, threatening my reason.”

Meeting back with Rose and Charles was like falling back in touch with childhood friends. The same magic I fell in love with in East was written within the story of West.

One of the things I loved was how seamlessly Pattou tied in key points and characters from the first novel. We get the majority of the plot summarized in a clever prologue, much as East had one introducing us to our characters and the journey we were about to undertake. West is introduced in the same way, and it made the transition into this new story as comfortable as slipping on a favorite coat.

Even more, characters and other pivotal plot points from East were brought up in such clever ways! I can’t go into details without spoiling the story, but reliving these things through memory loss was GENIUS!!! It made the references feel so natural to the story, and yet I found myself smiling as I too remembered these details with the characters.

“In the course of my journey to the land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon, there had been much that was magic, events that could not be explained by the natural way of things.”

Full of the same magical storytelling and heart-pounding adventure, West picks up right where East leaves off. We are quickly caught up with the events in Rose and Charles life, along with the rest of the family. One thing I really liked was how we got to keep the happy ending of East and move into a new story with West. It felt like a natural progression of their life and we were able to accept the ways in which they had grown and changed. In fact, I felt that the story was better for this growth. It didn’t feel like the same story recreated, or elaborated upon, but an entirely new one that completely fit the characters both as they were and as they currently are.

As with East, I think that the writing style will appeal to a wide range of readers. Without being overly complex, Pattou narrates in an easily approachable cadence that will make younger readers able to follow along easily while also feeling rich and magical to older readers as well. This is an epic fantasy that feels like a fairy tale and this magical combination will open the span of readers that will fall in love with it.

Landing at over 500 pages, readers will still find themselves quickly devouring this book. The pages fly by and within a matter of hours I had read the entire thing. We go on an epic adventure, full of twist and turns, hope and heartbreak. The ending is satisfying, and like East, could either be the end, or simply the transition to a new adventure. I’m hoping for more!

Thank you Rockstar Book Tours and HMH Teen for sending me a copy and including me on this tour!!!

West is out this week, and links to all your favorite retailers are below! There’s also links for East.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway and check out the rest of the tour stops too!!!

 

Title: WEST (East #2)

Author: Edith Pattou

Pub. Date: October 23, 2018

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 528

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible,  B&N, iBooks, TBD

 

 

In the sequel to the beloved high fantasy East, Rose sets off on a perilous journey to find her true love when he goes missing in a thrilling tale of danger, magic, adventure, and revenge.

When Rose first met Charles, he was trapped in the form of a white bear. To rescue him, Rose traveled to the land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon to defeat the evil Troll Queen. Now Rose has found her happily-ever-after with Charles—until a sudden storm destroys his ship and he is presumed dead. But Rose doesn’t believe the shipwreck was an act of nature, nor does she believe Charles is truly dead. Something much more sinister is at work. With mysterious and unstoppable forces threatening the lives of the people she loves, Rose must once again set off on a perilous journey. And this time, the fate of the entire world is at stake.

 

Title: EAST (East #1)

Author: Edith Pattou

Pub. Date: May 1, 2005

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 507

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible,  B&N, iBooks, TBD

 

Rose has always been different.

Since the day she was born, it was clear she had a special fate. Her superstitious mother keeps the unusual circumstances of Rose’s birth a secret, hoping to prevent her adventurous daughter from leaving home… but she can’t suppress Rose’s true nature forever.

So when an enormous white bear shows up one cold autumn evening and asks teenage Rose to come away with it–in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family–she readily agrees.

Rose travels on the bear’s broad back to a distant and empty castle, where she is nightly joined by a mysterious stranger. In discovering his identity, she loses her heart– and finds her purpose–and realizes her journey has only just begun.

 

Edith Pattou is the author of Ghosting, a contemporary novel for young adults, told in free verse. She also wrote three award-winning fantasy novels for young adults – East, a retelling of the Norwegian folk tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” and the two Songs of Eirren, Hero’s Song and Fire Arrow. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling picture book, Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden.

She was born in Evanston, Illinois, grew up in Winnetka, and was a teenager in the city of Chicago where she attended Francis W. Parker School. She completed her B.A. at Scripps College in Claremont, California where she won the Crombie Allen Award for creative writing. She later completed a Masters degree in English Literature at Claremont Graduate School, followed by a Masters of Library and Information Science at UCLA.

She has worked for a medical association, a clothing boutique, a recording studio, the Playboy Foundation, a public television station, a school library, two public libraries, two advertising agencies, and two bookstores.

She has lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Durham, NC, Cambridge, England, Stockholm, Sweden, and currently resides with her husband, Charles, in Columbus, Ohio. 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

3 Winners will receive a finished copy of WEST, US Only.

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

10/15/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert– Review

10/16/2018- A Backwards Story– Interview

10/17/2018- Forever Lost in Literature– Review

10/18/2018- Mythical Books– Excerpt

10/19/2018- Patriotic Bookaholic– Excerpt

Week Two:

10/22/2018- Read. Eat. Love.– Review

10/23/2018- Dani Reviews Things– Excerpt

10/24/2018- Adventures and Reading– Review

10/25/2018- BookHounds YA– Interview

10/26/2018- Jena Brown Writes– Review

Week Three:

10/29/2018- Ace Reads– Excerpt

10/30/2018- Novel Novice– Excerpt

10/31/2018- All the Ups and Downs– Excerpt

11/1/2018- Rockin’ Book Reviews– Review

11/2/2018- Paws and Paperbacks– Review

Week Four:

11/5/2018- Smada’s Book Smack– Review

11/6/2018- if the book will be too difficult– Excerpt

11/7/2018- Vesper Dreams– Excerpt

11/8/2018- Oh Hey! Books.– Review

11/9/2018- Two Chicks on Books– Excerpt