Warrior Beautiful (Riders
of Paradesos, #1)
Author: Wendy Knight
Synopsis:
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 be-lieves 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?
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 be-lieves 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.
About the Author
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.
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.
Where to Stalk
Wendy
My Thoughts
I have read very few young adult books about unicorns. I feel like they are hard to come by, especially ones in a contemporary setting like this novel. So when I was approached about doing this blog tour and writing a review, I jumped headfirst into it with the hopeful assumption that I would really enjoy it. Thankfully I was right and absolutely loved it! The main character and heroine of the novel, Scout, is still recovering from a car accident that almost took away her ability to walk a year ago. The only person she feels truly understands her is Lil Bit, her truly special younger sister, who everyone else is busy telling she needs to change and she's crazy. Because Lil Bit believes wholeheartedly in unicorns and their nemeses, soul stealers. Scout believes that Lil Bit is telling the truth as she sees it, not intentionally lying. But she's not sure whether or not to believe that either phenomenon is real, even though she might've seen a unicorn in the hospital after the accident. Scout is full of hurt and anger, but her family loyalty was something fierce to behold that I truly admired. I understand the feeling that you would walk through fire to get back your sibling from danger.
Trey is the other side of the coin, Scout's ex-boyfriend who abandoned her after the accident they were in together and now regrets his awful decision. He's wrestling with guilt over Scout's injuries and he's still in love with her, even though he's in a relationship with a girl named Kylin. But when the soul stealers attack the entire town, including Trey's family, he and Scout are taken to Paradesos to train with the battle unicorns to attack and kill the evil beings. He immediately bonds with a unicorn named Torz, while Scout has a tenative understanding with a sarcastic unicorn named Astra who has also suffered great pain in her life. A huge chunk of this book was set in Paradesos, while both teens were training to become warriors with their respective unicorns, and it was definitely some interesting world-building that I enjoyed reading. I really enjoyed the in-depth characterizations and the fact that this book was in third-person omniscient. It really let me get an inside look at both Trey AND Scout's feelings, so I never ended up hating Trey for his mistakes with Scout, or vice versa. Probably the most beautiful part of the book for me was the sister-to-sister relationship between Lil Bit and Scout. I also appreciated the fact that this book was clean. It was nice to read a book where the romance was key, but it didn't become the entire novel and the author didn't use it as an excuse to get nasty.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this one. I had a hard time putting it down to go to bed, desperately wanting to know what happened next! There is a REALLY big cliffhanger at the end, and I cannot wait to read the next book. Exactly the right balance of action and everything else, probably my only complaint would be how heavy the angst between Scout and Trey got. I am not a fan of angst and it became a focus point for me a little too long. Otherwise, I could find no real faults with this one! I highly recommend it to anyone in search of a good book involving some unicorns (be warned, these ones are rather fierce) and some interesting worldbuilding!
VERDICT: 4.5/5 Stars
*I
received an ARC from the author. No money or favors were exchanged for this
review. This book was published October 15th, 2013.*
Top Ten Quotes
"Scout smiled fondly at her across the table. Lil Bit didn't hold a grudge. She rarely got angry even. If only we were all like you, Scout thought, and Lil Bit met her eyes across the table, breaking into a smile. Somehow she had heard Scout. Somehow she had always been able to."
"You don't think I can take a soul stealer?" Trey gave her a lopsided grin and her heart melted, but she ignored it. "No. Lil Bit says the only thing that can take a soul stealer is a unicorn."
"Don't be ridiculous. You can't hear our thoughts. Those are ours. You can hear what we want you to hear." Ashra scoffed, throwing her majestic head.
"Hey! They're not monsters!" Scout yelled before she even realized she had opened her mouth. She advanced on Kylin, wishing she had a horn of her own to shoot sparks with. "They're beautiful! They fight the monsters, you idiot!"
"Oh good grief. Are you always so helpless?" Ashra muttered as her horn sparked again and flames spread, forming steps from her back to the ground.
"Kylin jumped away from the keys and they fell into the thick grass at her feet. Her mouth opened and closed but she only made infuriated little squeaking sounds."
"The unicorns hate humans. Basically, you wander away from me and they'll probably kill you." Ashra sounded distinctly cheerful about the prospect."
"If I want to kick you, it doesn't matter where you stand," Ashra said. She unfurled her wing from her side and knocked Scout away from her. Scout heard Ashra's snicker in her mind, and if horses could grin, Ashra was definitely doing it. "Watch it you overgrown bird." Scout eyed, her thinking about shoving her back, but Ashra was huge. It would be like trying to shove a barn over. "Yeah, that's what i though." Ashra whinnied..."
"But then Kylin's eyes landed on Scout and she scowled. Yeah, cute as a vampire bunny, Scout thought. Across the valley, Ashra tossed her head and stomped her feet, chuffing."
"Ashra twisted her long neck to study Kylin. Scout could swear there was suspicion in her eyes. My horsey doesn't like her either. Ashra snorted and tried to whip Scout with her tail."
GIVEAWAY
**Must be 13 or older**
**Opened to U.S. Only**
**Winner has 48 hours to respond before a
new winner will be chosen**
**Winner will win: an ecopy of Warrior International,
a Warrior Beautiful keychain & a signed bookmark**
TOUR SCHEDULE
NOV 18
Brooke's Blog (Book Spotlight + Book Soundtrack + Dream Cast)
Deal Sharing Aunt (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek + Top Ten)
Mom With A Kindle (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek)
Always Jo Art (Book Spotlight + Book Soundtrack + Dream Cast)
NOV 19
Paulettes Papers (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek)
Moonlight Gleam (Guest Post)
NOV 20
Once Upon A Coffin (Book Review)
Diamond in Rough Coal (Book Review + Top Ten)
My Book Chatter (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek)
NOV 21
An Author in Progress (Rebecca Lamoreaux) (Guest Post)
Robin Ambrose (Guest Post + Top Ten)
Paranormal Book Club (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek + Author Interview)
Mom in Love with Fiction (Book Review)
NOV 22
Now is Gone (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peak)
Rose & Beps (Book Spotlight +Book Soundtrack + Dream Cast)
Indy Book Fairy (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek)
Writing On the Sunny Side of the Street (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek)
NOV 25
Shantal Hiatt Sessions (Book Spotlight + Book Soundtrack + Dream Cast)
Angela Corbett (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek + Book Soundtrack + Dream Cast)
Racing to Read (Book Review)
Author Shelli Proffitt Howells (Book Review + Sneak Peek)
NOV 26
Lindzee Armstrong (Author) (Book Spotlight + Book Review + Sneak Peek)
Tammy's Tea Time (Book Review)
Jannat Bhat (Book Spotlight + Sneak Peek)
Jen Wylie (Book Review)
Blog Tour Set Up by TeamNerd Reviews
Thank you for having me and for your kind review! I love it!
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