Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura: My Introduction to Star Wars Novels

Star Wars - Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura

A Star Wars Disney Canon Junior Novel

Published: August 4th, 2020

Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

# of pages: 252

My rating: 3 stars

Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration

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It's been a few years since Poe's mother passed away, and Poe and his father, who was a pilot for the Rebellion, have had more and more trouble connecting. Not sure what he wants to do with his life, teenage Poe runs away from home to find adventure, and to figure out what kind of man he is meant to be.

 

 

 

2020 is the year of Star Wars for me. I finally started watching the movies on New Year’s Day (thanks Disney+ for finally giving us a way to watch all of them in one place!). Poe Dameron quickly became one of my favourite characters of the franchise, so when I saw this book about a young Poe, I was intrigued. The Rise of Skywalker movie left me with so many questions - Poe was a spice runner? What was his history with Zorii? - and I was glad to have the opportunity to get some of those questions answered.

 

Since the death of Poe’s mother several years before, Poe’s dad has tried to quell Poe’s desire to be a pilot and seek more than a life as a farmer on Yavin 4. Poe longs for the type of adventure his parents experienced when they were fighting in the rebellion, but he knows he’ll never find it under the watchful, overprotective influence of his father. His life of adventure comes in the form of helping a stranded group of ‘smugglers’ off Yavin 4, but he gets more than he bargained for when he realizes he’s just offered to be a pilot for the infamous Spice Runners of Kijimi.

 

As a newbie to the expanded universe and origin stories, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Free Fall. It was interesting getting a look at Poe as a headstrong teenager and seeing his character fleshed out a bit more. Like many, I wasn’t thrilled about the whole ‘Poe was a spice runner’ reveal in The Rise of Skywalker, but knowing the details made me feel better about it. You could really feel the conflict within young Poe - his desire to return home warring with his desire to stay loyal to the spice runners, especially to Zorii, with whom he’d formed a connection. He ultimately realized that while he wanted a life of adventure, he wasn’t cut out for the violence, thievery, human trafficking, and other horrors that came with being a spice runner. His misadventures were necessary to show him what he did want and that there were safer and more noble ways to get the adventure he craved.

 

While I mostly enjoyed Free Fall, I had a few issues with it. The pacing was off, I was often confused about the passage of time, the relationships were very flat, and the ending was abrupt and not very satisfying. Overall I found myself wanting more. More of a connection to the characters, more depth, more emotion. While I did feel Poe’s conflict, I wanted to really connect to him and feel more emotion from him. This book felt like a tiny piece of a snapshot and I wanted the whole picture, or better yet, the whole album.

 

Poe had lived such a sheltered existence and here he was thrown into this life of crime and violence, but we got more action scenes than actually seeing how it all affected him. And while we did get the history between Poe and Zorii, I wanted to know more about Zorii herself other than the one-dimensional impression we got of her having no morals and being driven by anger and a misguided sense of loyalty to the spice runners. I was also hoping for more depth in Poe and Zorii’s relationship; we were told they’d formed a connection and had moments of intimacy but other than a few brief on-page scenes, we didn’t see much of it. We were told the important bits and then shown the action.

 

Mild potential spoiler: A friend of mine knows I ship Poe and Finn; she sent me an article a few months ago about how this book appeared to keep Poe’s sexuality open in subtle ways. In the book, the author used neutral phrasing that would definitely leave Poe’s sexuality open to interpretation. For example, “He’d cared for people before - felt the flutter of excitement at something new with someone, only to see it dashed” and “He’d messed up relationships with people before”. The use of ‘people’ rather than a specific gender is subtle and I’m sure it’s as much as Disney would allow, but it gives me some hope that maybe somehow, someway, someday, we’ll get more.

 

While I didn’t love Free Fall, I’m glad I read it. If you love Poe Dameron and want to know more of his back story and his history with Zorii, Free Fall makes for an interesting read that answers some of the questions raised by The Rise of Skywalker.

Have you read Poe Dameron: Free Fall? Have you read any of the Star Wars books? Have any favourites/ones you'd recommend to a newbie like me?

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*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!

The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler: RomCom Fun in the Land of the Midnight Sun

The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska #1) by Sarah Morgenthaler
Published: May 5th, 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Tropes: Small town, vacation romance/fling to forever
Heat level: Steamy (lots of hot kisses, no on-page sex)
My rating: 4 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
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When Graham Barnett named his diner The Tourist Trap, he meant it as a joke. Now he's stuck slinging reindeer dogs to an endless string of resort visitors who couldn't interest him less. Not even the sweet, enthusiastic tourist in the corner who blushes every time he looks her way…

Two weeks in Alaska isn't just the top item on Zoey Caldwell's bucket list. It's the whole bucket. One look at the mountain town of Moose Springs and she's smitten. But when an act of kindness brings Zoey into Graham's world, she may just find there's more to the man than meets the eye…and more to love in Moose Springs than just the Alaskan wilderness.

Like many other people, I’m all about the light and funny books these days, and The Tourist Attraction definitely delivered. It was sweet, hilarious, had great characters, and a romance that was easy to root for.

Graham hates tourists. As a reluctant diner owner in Moose Springs, Alaska, he’s seen it all, and he hates that his town is overrun with rich, entitled tourists who wreak havoc, flash their money around, and are just generally a nuisance, even if they do help him pay the bills. He does have a soft spot for one tourist in particular, though, and when she arrives with a friend in tow, he’s charmed despite himself. Zoey isn’t like the others; she’s not rich and spoiled, and she didn’t choose Alaska on a whim. She toiled away as a waitress for years, saved all her money, and finally made her dream of visiting Alaska come true.

Graham and Zoey were such great characters. They had an instant connection and their playful banter had me grinning and laughing out loud. Zoey is adorable and relatable, and I wanted to be friends with her right away (hello, fellow shy bookworm, let’s hang out and read together!). I appreciated that she didn’t have everything figured out; she’d settled into her waitressing job back home as a means to an end, with her big goal being Alaska, and now that she could check that off her bucket list, she didn’t really know what was ahead. As for our hero, I know a lot of people are all about the grumpy hero, but they’re not always my favourite; they’re often unforgivably rude and seem to have little to no reason for the giant chip on their shoulder. Graham appears gruff and grumpy, but he’s actually a squishy, soft sweetheart, and the way he is with Zoey melted my heart. He saw her - truly saw her - from that very first moment, and the way he thought about her and treated her made me swoon.

The Tourist Attraction is adorable and witty, and the banter between Graham and Zoey is honestly some of the best I’ve seen. Prepare for lots of giggles and swoons, a side of feels, a stand-out setting, and a couple of animals that totally steal the show. I’m excited this book is the first in a series of standalones, because I’m eager to return to Moose Springs in the autumn with Mistletoe and Mr. Right. 

Have you read The Tourist Attraction? What did you think? Have you been to Alaska?

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The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton: Wenches and Girl Knights and Feminism, Oh My!

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton
Published: May 5th, 2020
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
# of pages: 384
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
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Working as a wench―i.e. waitress―at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood, so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.

Company policy allows only guys to be knights. So when Kit takes her brother’s place and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But the Girl Knight won’t go down without a fight. As other wenches join her quest, a protest forms. In a joust before Castle executives, they’ll prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval―if they don’t get fired first.

This book was such a delight. The title and cover piqued my interest immediately, and the synopsis had me certain I’d be cheering for Kit, which is exactly what happened.

As a history nerd, Kit Sweetly knows the history books have an unfortunate tendency of leaving out or overlooking badass women. As a teenage girl who works in a medieval-themed restaurant called The Castle, she knows some people still have fairly medieval views when it comes to what women can and can’t do. Wanting to channel her inner Joan of Arc and become a Castle knight like her brother, Kit is tired of being told only cis men can perform in the nightly jousting shows, so she sets out to do something about it.

I loved Kit. She was feisty and smart and determined. She’d been knocked down by life - her family lived in poverty and her dad was an addict - but she refused to stay down, and I admired her tenacity. It’s not every day one gets the chance to do their part in challenging the patriarchy, and while I loved that aspect of the story and rooted for Kit and her friends, this book was about much more than that. Kit was a regular teen with normal ups and downs - family drama, friend issues, worrying about college - and she felt real and relatable.

This is the second book I’ve read recently about teenage girls challenging patriarchal views and shaking up the status quo (the other one was Rules for Being a Girl by Katie Cotugno and Candace Bushnell). I wish there had been more books like this when I was a teen, but I’m so glad they’re being written now. I also truly appreciated the poverty representation - something that’s familiar in real life to many people, but rarely seen in books - and the diversity within Kit’s friend group. There was also an adorable, swoony friends-to-more romance that had me grinning and squeeing.

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly is a sparkling debut from Jamie Pacton. It strikes a perfect balance of fun romcom and heartwarming story about friendship, life, and overcoming obstacles. This is one of those books I'd love to see adapted for the big screen!

Have you read The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly? What did you think? Have you read any books recently with strong themes of feminism?

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Summer at the Highland Coral Beach by Kiley Dunbar: A Perfect Escape From Reality

Summer at the Highland Coral Beach by Kiley Dunbar
Published: March 27th, 2020
Publisher: Hera Books
Genre: Contemporary romance
# of pages: 300
My rating: 4 stars
Acquired this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
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Beatrice Halliday needs a break from life. Booking a trip to the Highlands on a whim, Beatrice hopes learning Gaelic in a beautiful Scottish village might help her heal her grief after losing her baby, her husband and her much loved job in a space of months.

But Port Willow Bay isn’t exactly as the website promised. Instead of learning a new language, she’s booked in to learn the ancient skill of willow weaving, her hotel room is Princess and the Pea themed (with a stack of mattresses for her bed!) and worse still, her tutor is Atholl Fergusson, grumpy landlord of the hotel where Beatrice is staying – and she’s the only one doing the course.

But as Beatrice finds herself falling in love with Port Willow Bay and its people, and as she discovers the kind heart beneath Atholl’s stony exterior, can she really leave?

Scotland has been at the top of my travel wishlist for ages, so on the day of the cover reveal for Summer at the Highland Coral Beach, my first thought - before even seeing the cover or reading the synopsis - was ‘you had me at Scotland’. Then I saw the gorgeous cover and I knew I had to read this book. After reading Kiley’s sophomore novel, Christmas at Frozen Falls, I knew she had a knack for transporting the reader to the setting of the book, and Summer at the Highland Coral Beach was no different. I felt like I made the journey with Beatrice to Port Willow Bay with its coral beach, turquoise waters, and the charming Princess and the Pea Inn.

I really liked Beatrice. She’d been dealt a difficult hand between losing her mum, losing her job, a rocky patch in her marriage, finally getting pregnant and then losing the baby, and then her husband leaving her when he couldn’t handle how she was dealing with her grief. Desperately needing an escape, she booked a holiday to the Highlands on a whim. Port Willow Bay was beautiful, but the Princess and the Pea Inn didn’t exactly live up to what its website promised. Beatrice quickly realized her whim wasn’t the smartest idea and she decided to return home, but circumstances kept her in Port Willow, where she began falling in love with the inn, the charming town, and its people...especially one person in particular, a hot Scot named Atholl.

While this book packed an emotional punch with its talk of grief and loss, it was also funny, charming, and romantic. The characters were wonderfully quirky and the setting was gorgeous (my desire to visit the Highlands has increased exponentially). I enjoyed watching Beatrice’s growth and seeing her figure out you can’t outrun your problems - they go with you wherever you go and stay with you until you confront them head on. She learned how to begin the healing process after loss, and how to move on while still honouring the ones you loved and lost. I also really appreciated that Beatrice was older than your typical romance heroine (just about to turn 40).

Sweet, funny, and emotional, Summer at the Highland Coral Beach was the perfect escape.

Have you read Summer at the Highland Coral Beach? What's a setting you always love reading about? Have you read any books lately that have felt like wonderful escapes from reality?

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Tweet Cute by Emma Lord: Grab a Grilled Cheese and Prepare to LOL

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
Published: January 21st, 2020
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Tropes: Enemies to lovers, anonymous relationship
Heat level: As sweet as Monster Cake and Kitchen Sink Macaroons
# of pages: 368
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
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Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected. 

Tweet Cute was an absolute delight. Emma Lord managed to create the perfect balance of adorable, funny, and emotional. The story was lighthearted and heartfelt at the same time, and it hit me in the feels as often as it made me laugh out loud.

Pepper and Jack were fantastic characters. They were realistic and relatable, and I loved how layered they were. On the surface, they seemed so different, but they were dealing with many of the same issues: complicated family dynamics, pressure and expectations from others (and themselves), trying to figure out who they truly were and what they wanted in life. I really felt for both of them as they learned some difficult, painful life lessons. They were easy to root for separately and together. Their inner dialogue was witty and real, and their banter was hilarious. Jack and Pepper weren’t the only great characters; there was an entire cast of friends and family members, and all of them had something to add to the story.

2020 is starting strong for me reading-wise, and books like this one continue to set the bar extremely high. I rediscovered my love of YA last summer, and Tweet Cute is the exact type of book that continues to fuel that love. This book will make you laugh out loud, feel all the feels, and crave grilled cheese and baked goods.

Have you read Tweet Cute? Do you have a favourite book that deals with an anonymous relationship or one that started online? This book is being called a modern-day take on the movie You've Got Mail - am I the only one who hasn't seen it? *hangs head in shame*

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*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!  

Review: The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie

The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie
Series: The Abyss Surrounds Us #2
Published: April 18th, 2017
Publisher: Flux
320 pages (eARC)
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Acquired this book: Via NetGalley in exchange for honest consideration
Warning: May contain spoilers
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Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart.

But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers that Bao is not the only monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against creatures she used to care for and protect?

Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?

It’s been almost a year and a half since I read The Abyss Surrounds Us, but within a few pages of The Edge of the Abyss, I was sucked back into Cas’s world of pirates and sea monsters. This was a fantastic conclusion to a well-written, action-packed sci-fi adventure in a world that’s easy to imagine.

Picking up shortly after where the first book ended, Cas has left her life as a Reckoner trainer and sworn allegiance to the totally badass pirate queen, Santa Elena. As one of Santa Elena’s chosen few, she’s in training to one day take over as captain of the Minnow. Her one advantage is an extensive knowledge of Reckoners, which puts her at the forefront when the crew discover the rogue Reckoners that are swimming free in the NeoPacific and could cause irreparable damage in many ways.

I loved how The Edge of the Abyss built on The Abyss Surrounds Us. In this book, we get to see more of the pirates themselves and learn about pirate politics, which was fascinating. We get to see more growth from Cas, and we also get to see more of the secondary characters, which I liked. They became real people for me in this book, a true supporting cast.

I have slightly mixed feelings about the romance in this one. On the one hand, I understand Cas’s hurt and anger and being unsure whether she can forgive Swift for the things that came to light at the end of the first book. She and Swift are finally on equal footing, but so much has happened that seems impossible to get past. Their relationship was always complex, and I appreciated the slow burn of it, but there was almost too much back and forth. Cas has a lot to deal with besides her feelings for Swift - guilt over leaving her life and family behind, uncertainty over her future, trying to figure out a plan to deal with the Reckoners - so while I would have easily understood the romance not being a main focus of the plot, the way it was handled makes the plot feel choppy at times. That being said, the emotions were realistic. Their romance was never hearts and rainbows, full of mushy sentiments and pledges of eternal love, and that made it more realistic than a lot of other YA romances because young love is often rocky and uncertain and confusing. I was ultimately satisfied and I appreciated how things ended, but the rocky ride was a bit tiresome at times.

The Edge of the Abyss is fast paced, engaging, and full of thrilling action and great characters. I’d love to see this duology turned into a movie or TV series. 

{My review of The Abyss Surrounds Us}

Have you read The Abyss Surrounds Us or The Edge of the Abyss? What did you think? If you haven't read them, do you plan to? Do you have any recommendations for books featuring pirates?

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Review: It Happened on Love Street by Lia Riley

It Happened on Love Street by Lia Riley
Series: Everland, Georgia #1
Published: April 25th, 2017
Publisher: Forever
368 pages (eARC)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Acquired this book: Via NetGalley in exchange for honest consideration
Warning: May contain spoilers
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The most romantic place she never wanted to be . . .

Pepper Knight moved to Everland, Georgia, as step one in her plan for a successful legal career. But after this big-city gal's plans go awry, going home with her tail between her legs isn't an option. So when the town vet--and her sexy new neighbor--offers Pepper a temporary dog-walking job, she jumps at the chance. No one needs to know that man's best friend is her worst nightmare . . . or that Everland's hot animal whisperer leaves her panting.

The last thing Rhett Valentine wants is to be the center of small-town gossip. After his first love left him at the altar, he's been there, done that. These days, life is simple, just the way he likes it. But sultry southern nights get complicated once sparks fly between him and the knockout next door. When she proposes a sexy, secret fling--all the deliciousness and none of the prying neighbors--it seems too good to be true. And it is. Because Pepper's determined to leave Love Street, and when she goes, she just might take his heart with her . . .

I’ve been a huge fan of Lia Riley’s since her debut novel, Upside Down. I love that with each of her new series, you never quite know what to expect. Wherever her books are set and how ever different the characters and plots are, a few things always remain: humour, great characters, swoons, and super hot sexytimes. Those are four things I know I can count on when I pick up a book by Lia Riley, and that remained true with It Happened on Love Street.

Pepper had no intention of staying in Everland. Besides the fact she’s a big city girl and doesn’t think she’s cut out for life in a tiny place like Everland, she also needs to work, and not just at any job - she needs to make enough money so she’ll be able to support her dad and sister someday. She’s always been the steady and dependable one, thinking her family is her responsibility, and making her life choices based around that fact.

Pepper was a hoot. She was such a fun, feisty character, and I found her easy to relate to. My situation isn’t the same as hers, but I’ve felt the weight of responsibility toward family, so I understood her motivations. Rhett had his heart broken in a very public way many years ago and ever since then, he’s tried to live under the radar - something that’s hard to do in a town as small as Everland, especially with nosy neighbours and plenty of town gossips. Pepper and Rhett are a bit misguided because of things they’ve gone through and how they think things should be handled. When they meet each other, their cautious natures are put to the test. I enjoyed the progression of their relationship.

This book was so much fun. It had me laughing from pretty much the first page. Besides Pepper’s hilarious inner dialogue and some of the mishaps she experiences, the quirky secondary characters were highly entertaining.

If you’re looking for a sweet, sexy, laugh-out-loud funny small-town romance with a fun premise and an equally fun cast of characters, be sure to pick up It Happened on Love Street.

Have you read It Happened on Love Street? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? What's the last book that made you laugh out loud?

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