Forgotten Violets by Martin Niewood started off slow for me. It was very confusing to me... at first. I couldn’t follow what was happening. It was this way for the first 96 pages or so. However, on that page, it took a turn with a revelation. This is the way the last 100 pages went. I couldn’t put it down after this point.

Wow! There are many twists and turns packed in the last half of this book. Just when you think you may have it figured out, you find out that you don’t, and are a long way from figuring it out.

I am afraid to say much of anything for fear of spoiling it for you!

Nothing is as it seems. Meadow (the lead character), Elizabeth, and Parker try to sort through all of the chaos to get to the truth and not get killed in the process. This book has battles, both physical and mental, romance, friendship, and betrayal.

There is one intimate incident, but it was very conservatively written, not graphic at all, and only a sentence or two long. There is one scene describing illicit drug use, its consequences, and suicide.

If you like mysterious and supernatural story lines, you’ll enjoy Forgotten Violets.

Surrounded by hundreds of miles of frozen tundra, Meadow and her friends have been picked up and imprisoned, and hauled into court to determine just what they’re doing here, because the only other people they’ve found until now that weren’t hostiles, were lost and died in the cold, or have been delivered to them burnt to a crisp. But why?

With a rare ability to eat a strange fruit called elsyn, Meadow will eventually play a huge part in uncovering exactly what secrets are really going on here. There are wars, there’s a monster, and there’s a ghost of a man terrorizing civilians, and creating cults. But it goes much deeper than that, and it’s going to tear the entire fabric of the world apart.

That being said, and as interesting and unique as this book is, I had a lot of problems with it. I felt really confused for most of the book. I had this feeling the whole time that I was just dropped into the middle of a series without an explanation. Because of that, I couldn’t fully immerse myself into it, and had problems getting through it. I just was so lost that I wasn’t able to fully pay attention. That being said, maybe this book just wasn’t for me.

The setting was interesting and the plot was very unique, and for those reasons I would say if you’re fourteen and up and enjoy strange fantasy books, why not give this book a shot? It has a beautiful cover, and I can see people really enjoying it. Just because I didn’t, doesn’t mean you won’t either.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. While I love the cover and the blurb sounds very interesting I can’t get into the story, which is quite confusing. Unfortunately I have not been able to finish this book.

Something weird happened with my laptop and a lot of my downloads disappeared, including this and other Netgalley ARCs I had not yet gotten around to, but are now archived and not available to re-download... I am sadness

I was not a fan of this book. 

The writing style was harder to follow, and I quickly felt lost in this world. There wasn't a ton of world building, and the story felt like it was flat and on fast-forward without much explanation of what was going on. 

I thought the concept of the mysterious drug-like fruit was an interesting and brought a fun twist to the story, but other than that, I wasn't impressed with this book. 

I tend to gravitate towards darker stories, so going into this synopsis, I thought I was going to enjoy it. But in the end, it wasn't my cup of tea. I gave this one 2 out of 5 stars.

This was a very quick and enjoyable read at the moment but since reading it I haven't really retained anything that happened in the book. So it's a great quick read but not very memorable.

My Review: I am sad to say that this one I DNFed early on. It was very confusing to start out with and it just didn't get any better. I really think this one could have been better but that the execution just wasn't done very well.


Go Into This One Knowing: Confusing

I read this and the second book in the wrong order so please bear in mind that might have affected my opinion. I also really appreciate the publisher sending me a copy of this when I’d read the second book and expressed confusion because I didn’t realise it was a second book. I really like the premise. It’s promising and original. Unfortunately a few things got in the way of me loving the book – the pacing, poor use of tropes like love triangles (good use of YA tropes explore character development and arc rather than just hitting a beat. This is why there is such backlash against love triangles. If they’re done well, they tell you something about the character.) The execution just wasn’t great. I was left feeling that the book wasn’t as finished as it could be. I still love the idea but maybe a bit more time spent fleshing it out would have been good.

I’m only going to leave my review here on NetGallery because I didn’t finish it. It feels like this book didn’t even make it to the editor. The beginning was very confusing. She wants to keep it all a secret (so we don’t know what’s going on) and she doesn’t tell anyone. Yet, the King mentions how she keeps talking about Aiden Rose so he wants to sent her to a different city (not sure why). Then it’s mentioned later how she goes on and on about Aiden Rose, yet she actually hasn’t told anyone. She was told the people were the friendliest she’ll ever meet, and then later told that they all hate her and want to kill her friends. ???
Then there are the choppy almost childish sentences mixed in with run on sentences. Seriously, the grammar was awful. This was one of the most poorly executed books I’ve read in a long time. I was keeping notes for the publisher like I usually do (forgot a comma, etc) but the list was getting way too long. I decided I have other books I would much rather read.

It makes me sad reading a book that has so much potential, but makes it look like it has been so hurried.
I wish the world had been developed more so I wouldn't have been left with so many questions. It was just so confusing.

This book was received as an ARC from Amazon Digital Services LLC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I have said it before and I will say it again, I am a huge fan of these mystery dark fantasy books and this one is unlike any other. I have read Martin Niewood's latest book The Wilted Flower District and it was phenomenally written but the characters were written as if we have seen them before and a lot of the time they were significant to the story. Now after reading Forgotten Violets, missing pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together and we are learning about the beginning of the whole disappearance and how this all came to start. I really hope there is more to the series. I know our young adults will like this series a lot if they are a fan of Beautiful Creatures.

We will definitely consider adding this title to our YFantasy collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This was one of the worst books I have read in a long time, which is sad because I recently read another book from the same publisher that I enjoyed immensely. I’ll start by saying that I was given the opportunity to read this book for free after I downloaded the second book in this series, which at the time was not marked as being a sequel. I am very grateful that I was given the chance to read this book, however the terrible grammar and confusing storyline made this a difficult read. I was frequently confused as hours or sometimes even days would pass in the storyline from one sentences to the next. Events that should have been described in three or four pages were vaguely summarized in one. The world building was severely lacking as well and any emotions the characters had were unrealistic. The main character hardly grieved when one of her best friends had been missing for days and presumably died for her. If that isn’t bad enough, throw in the fact that this missing person turned up completely fine with no explanation as to how they survived or how they made it back to the city a week later. It also seemed like a love triangle was literally written into existence with no prior build up just to add more drama. If the confusing and choppy storyline wasn't enough to deter readers, the run on sentences and poor grammar almost certainly would. These were sentences taken directly from the text:

"Why would he would shake my hand?"

"If he was the leader of the second city how did he vanish unless that is what he intended to do but why?"

"'Don't forget that Velvet's soldiers could be here as well so under no circumstance make any noise or it will be a dead giveaway especially with the echo in this place,' Robin exited and we all followed."

"Trying to hold in my excitement but giggling."

This story is not without creativity, but it does lack cohesion and a through proofread. It had potential, but did not deliver. I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I don't know what to really think about this book...I mean there were many different plots holes with this book and I didn't really know what to think. I think that was my main issue. It felt like the author would forget that they were prisoners and then have them wandering around town, or like would say they were in a vault but were at the same time running across a frozen wasteland. Another issue was that I couldn't picture the world very much. Like I had no idea when I read this what anything looked like. I couldn't picture this world and it left me hanging. I just didn't care for this book too much and I wasn't interested anymore.

It appears I wasn't the only one who couldn't finish this book. I rarely don't finish a book I start, but I just could not get through this. I lost interest very early on, pushed to about 50%, then couldn't go on. Things do not connect, the characters lack personality.... there was just nothing to keep me going.

DNFed this book. It's very hard for me to not finish a book but I had zero interest in finishing this...it was not well written...not much to say about it...bad pacing...story seriously lacking

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review"

At eighteen, Meadow Noone has endured more horror than most people witness in a lifetime. After escaping her captor’s cellar, she realizes that this was not the end of her problems; it was the beginning. Rescued from the lifeless tundra, she is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. Feigning amnesia, she is determined to hide her secret, a secret too terrible to reveal.

In a place where nothing is as it appears, her trial in Thornbridge is unnerving, as the formidable interrogator, Quinn Cerpen, knows more than he is letting on. Pursued by real and legendary demons, Meadow’s enemies are closer than she could imagine for Aiden Rose, the monster of the tundra, is always watching.

I really wanted to like this book even after I saw the low rating for it but I just couldn't. I wasn't a fan of the writing and the story. The story was abit all over the place and not enough detail was put into the story so most of the book seemed rushed and there seemed like so many plot holes. I can't really say much about the book because even though I just finished it I really don't remember much about the story itself.
I ended up giving giving this book 2 of 5 stars.

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this book pretty early on. It just didn't grab my attention the way I was hoping.

I feel proud of myself for hanging in there and finishing this book, because at some points it was hard not to quit.

From the beginning you are confused and you stay confused untill the end. The point where the world she's in is somewhat revealed, that she is dead after having accidentally killed her sister Violet, hence the title, and this world is the afterlife which is not as one would expect, doesn't really help either. Nothing is explained in this story, the plot just rolls along and it is expected that you should be able to follow without any information.

You don't know who the protagonists are, their stories, their connections to each other. Some examples: Meadow, the MC, has a horrible lifestory she refuses to share, why is Elizabeth and Peter her friends, who is Aiden Rose, Ivy, Quinn, what are their personalities? The setting we're in is just as diffuse; the town and the world. Besides, where does the Elsyn, this fruit she eats three times and is severly hooked on, fit in? A bit of these things are explained in the two last chapters, if you can hold on that long...

There are so many jumps in the plot, it is hard to follow. The connections between scenes are bad at the best. Some plotpoints are suddenly thrust in to the story, confuses you for a chapter or so, and are then removed again or forgotten, like the quartet love drama that suddenly is an issue, but then one of them is killed the next minute and the issue is fixed... Another example of confusing plot is the bad guy, Aiden Rose: he is a dead good/bad legend who apparently is alive, but then he isn't really the baddest badguy, maybe he even is a bit sensible, you get my point?

This was a lot of rambling, my frustrations given an outlet, because this story has so much potential, but it is lost in a confusing construction and a blurry plot.

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. First time reading this author. I love the cover. I am uncertain about this book. I was confused from the beginning. I finished the book but am still not clear on what I read. I felt like this was number 2 in a series. The characters were interesting and I liked the main character, I just was almost always lost. If you like urban fantasy maybe this is for you! It is a deep, dark convoluted plot. If you like that then I think you will love this book.