Friday, January 3, 2014

Book Review: Warrior Beautiful by Wendy Knight


Warrior Beautiful, by Wendy Knight
Published Oct. 15, 2013 by Astraea Press
203p, YA Fantasy
My Rating=4.5 Stars
Source: Provided copy by publisher for an honest review

Working with the ex you secretly love to save the souls of the innocent is almost as bad as working with a mighty battle unicorn who would be thrilled to watch you plummet to your death.
 

Scout is used to pain. Her body has been broken, her heart has been broken, and the only thing keeping her together is her relationship with her younger sister. Lil Bit believes in unicorns and terrifying monsters she calls soul stealers. But unicorns and monsters aren’t real…are they?
 

When Lil Bit falls prey to the mysterious disease sweeping the country, Scout has two options – believe the doctors who say it’s a pandemic or believe Lil Bit, who says it’s the soul stealers. She chooses her sister and goes looking for the unicorns who are supposed to save them. What she finds aren’t the cute pastel mythical creatures she expects. Battle unicorns are big and tough and full of attitude. Who knew?
 

Unicorns are real and so are the monsters. Soul stealers are reaping the souls of the innocent, and the unicorns are fighting to stop them. But to save the world, they need the help of humans – the enemy they’re dying to protect. And first to sign up for the fight is the ex-boyfriend Scout’s heart won’t stop loving, no matter how determined she is to hate him.

Trey and Scout used to be the "it" couple. Until the accident. And Trey broke her heart. She's now back in school and he's trying to make amends but she wants nothing to do with him. Because it hurts too much. And he has a new girlfriend, anyway--Kylin. The only person Scout wants to be close to is her younger sister, Lil' Bit. There's a pandemic sweeping the country and it finds Scout's and Trey's families but they are able to escape with the help of unicorns. Kylin comes, too, which adds extra fun to the mix. As they learn the truth about what's happening and how to stop it, will they be able to do what needs to be done?

Scout is in a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally. I feel for her and want her to be happy. The unicorns aren't able to heal her completely because she's got so much anger and bitterness inside. I really liked what she was able to learn about forgiveness towards the end of the book.

The unicorns are amazing! I'm not usually interested in unicorn stories but I loved Feudlings so much that I decided to give this a try. I'm glad I did. There is some conflict between Scout and her unicorn, Ashra, which was humorous at times. I enjoyed reading about their relationship as much as her relationship with Trey. 

Trey is a confused guy, haha. I understand why Scout is so upset with him and feels love/hate towards him. He makes some typical teenage guy choices and finds himself in a mess that he wants out of but isn't sure how to go about doing it. We get the story from his POV at times so we know how he's really feeling and it isn't difficult to figure out what he will ultimately do. It will be interesting to see what happens next in their relationship.

Warrior Beautiful is a fun book to read and one I would recommend, no matter how you feel about unicorns. The ending sets up the second book nicely and I'm looking forward to hearing when that book will be released!


Excerpt:

She tipped her head, and the candlelight glinted against her silky, honey-brown waves. Her hair had always been his undoing. When they’d been together, he couldn’t keep his hands away from her hair. Or her face. Her lips, her eyes…

“What was that on your shoulder?” She was speaking and he had to drag his mind away from the past and try to figure out what she was saying.

“My shoulder?”

She crossed the short space between them, hesitating, and touched his shoulder. “Here.”

He nearly choked. She wasn’t supposed to see that. But now the sea foam-green eyes were watching him with open curiosity and her lips were parted... he couldn’t tell her ‘no’. Not then, not now, not ever. He looked away, staring at the floor as he rolled the black sleeve of his shirt.

“Forgive me,” she read in a whisper, her finger tracing the hard black letters tattooed on his arm. Without looking from the words, she said, “When did you get this?”

“After… while you… before you left the hospital.” His entire body shook against her soft touch as she traced the ‘F’ again. Did she realize what she did to him? What she still did to him, even after all this time? No other girl had ever affected him the way she did with just the barest touch of her fingertip.


Wendy Knight was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call, etcetera, etcetera). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big: her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S.

You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heel for whatever the occasion may be. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing.


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