5.27.2014 | Tuesday

The Gleaning

Item: The Gleaning
Rating: 4
Author: Kim

category: Book Reviews
tag(s): young adult
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title: The Gleaning
author: Heidi R. Kling
series: The Spellspinners of Melas County #2
published: 10 January 2013
genre(s): fantasy, romance
pages: 200
source: NetGalley
format: eARC
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookBub | StoryGraph | Goodreads

rating:

| series rating:

the blurb

In the second installment of the Spellspinners saga, Lily’s worldview is rocked by fear, mistrust, and heartbreak, as she deals with the fallout from the night of her enchantment

Someone powerful is determined to keep her and Logan apart. But who? And why?

As the covens prepare to do battle in the Solstice Stones, the lines between good and evil, dark and light, begin to blur. Allegiances are called into question. Trust is broken. And all Lily knows may just be an illusion.

Will the star-crossed lovers unearth the seeds of betrayal before it’s too late? Or will the witches and warlocks of Melas County be forced to say goodbye to their magic—and any chance of reconciliation between the covens—for good?

In The Gleaning, nothing is as it seems. And Lily and Logan will have to tread carefully if they hope to uncover the truth in time to save their love and break the curse.

my review

This is such a fun series to read! The story surrounds the Spellspinners, witches and warlocks that have been separated into two communities and cursed. They have been given 100 years to fulfill a destiny of change or their magic is lost forever. Magic and curses are not a new premise, but the mythology that the author has built around them is very different.

I also love the active fiction format of this series. It is so much fun to make choices for the path that your experience takes. It also makes it fun to reread the book and make different choices. They begin and end the same ways but the path to get there changes with every choice.

There is much more mystery and intrigue in this book, a lot more darkness. There are twists and turns galore in this one, too, bringing in all new and disturbing aspects to the story line. The past truly comes back to haunt the current generation and there are so many secrets that are revealed.

Things to love…

The characters. The characters are more fully developed this time and we learn so much more of the mythology and back story through them.
The darkness and the secrets. The intrigue level is so intense in this book!

some quotastic goodness

More than anything I wanted Logan to bear the mark. To be the Chosen (Loc.15).

I inched along the slick walls in the dark, my palms slipping against the smooth concrete. Then suddenly the surface wasn’t cool and hard anymore. I felt my hands squish wet indentations into the wall that smelled of fresh blood (Loc. 211).

A fantastically fun read!

About Heidi R. Kling

Sea, which launched June 10, 2010, is a bittersweet love story set in the aftermath of the devastating 2004 Indonesian tsunami. Heidi’s first novel, Sea was a finalist for “Northern California Book of the Year”, an IndieNext Pick, Goodreads “Mover and Shaker,” a Gateway Reader’s Award Finalist , Scholastic Readers Choice among other generous accolades.

Witch’s Brew: Spellspinners 1launched The Spellspinners of Melas County series January, 2012. A serialized saga of estranged witches and warlocks, set in a modern, but fantastical world and told in an innovative “active fiction” format not unlike the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books we loved as kids. The Gleaning: Spellspinners #2 followed and Devil’s Frost: Spellspinners #3 launches January 21, 2014. Seven more books are planned in this magical series readers compare to LJ Smith, Cassandra Clare and Melissa de la Cruz. Think of The Spellspinners of Melas County as a popular TV series…you read instead of watch.

When not penning novels, Heidi contributes short stories and essays to teen lit anthologies such as Truth & Dare, The First Time, A Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls, and Two & Twenty Dark Tales, and feeds her ravenous appetite for unputdownable books, addicting TV dramas and Thin Mints.

After earning her MFA in Writing for Children from the New School in New York City, Heidi returned to her native California where she lives with her husband and two children right over the coastal mountains from the sea.

She hasn’t spotted a warlock in real life. Yet.