Sophie Reads YA: C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld

ARC Review: The Secret City (The Alchemist Chronicles #2) by C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld

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The Secret City
Series: The Alchemist Chronicles #2
Author: C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld
Published September 1st 2016 by Atom

Goodreads Synopsis
'Remember: Demons lie'

Locked away inside the fortified walls of Oxford's St Wilfred's College, surrounded by alchemists sworn to protect them, Taylor and Sacha are safe from the Darkness. For now.

But time is short. In seven days Sacha will turn 18, and the ancient curse that once made him invincible will kill him, unleashing unimaginable demonic horror upon the world.

There is one way to stop it.

Taylor and Sacha must go to where the curse was first cast - the medieval French city of Carcassonne - and face the demons.

The journey will be dangerous. And monsters are waiting for them.

But as Darkness descends on Oxford, their choice is stark. They must face everything that scares them, or lose everything they love.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

The Secret Fire was one of my favourite books last year, and I knew I wouldn't be able to wait long to wait its sequel. When The Secret City went live on NetGalley, I immediately requested and downloaded it, and started to read it.

Picking up after the events of The Secret Fire, Sacha and Taylor find themselves in Oxford, for their own safety. Now that Taylor knows she is an Alchemist, and it's up to her to destroy the curse on Sacha's family, she throws herself into her training, as Sacha's 18th birthday, and the day when the curse will be unleashed, is quickly coming up. However, her training is slow going, and she feels like she'll never be able to achieve the incredible feat.

Sacha, on the other hand, is feeling useless. While Taylor spends her time doing something useful, he's kept secreted in the stuffy university buildings, for his own 'safety'. Chafing under the lack of freedom, Sacha wants to escape more than anything, even though he knows there will be consequences if he does. When he and Taylor escape the security of campus for a little while, they unwittingly bring danger to Oxford, and discover who is behind the summoning of the demon.

I love Sacha and Taylor so much, both individually, and together. Since the first book, they've grown so much, and lost all of their childish sensibilities, in the face of true danger. They realise that they need each other to succeed, and both would do anything to keep each other safe. After the evil alchemist turns up at their safe haven, they discover they need to return to France, to the site where it all began, so many years ago, when Taylor's ancestor cursed Sacha's family. During the road trip, Taylor and Sacha become closer than ever, and with how this book ends, I really can't wait for book 3.

The plot was ridiculously good! From the get go, there was danger, and it grew and grew, until I was proper scared for both characters. At times, I was on the edge of my seat and probably looked silly to anyone looking at me, because of all the emotions. Really, this was even better than book 1, which I didn't think would be possible, and I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel. An amazing book, that I can't recommend enough.

Dates Read:
August 25-26, 2016

Rating
5 Stars

C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld

Waiting on Wednesday: The Secret City (The Alchemist Chronicles #2) by C.J. Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld

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5 Stars

ARC Review: The Secret Fire (The Alchemist Chronicles #1) by C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld

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The Secret Fire
Series: The Alchemist Chronicles #1
Author: C.J. Daugherty & Carina Rozenfeld
Published September 10th 2015 by Atom

Goodreads Synopsis
French teen Sacha Winters can't die. He can throw himself off a roof, be stabbed, even shot, and he will always survive. Until the day when history and ancient enmities dictate that he must die. Worse still, his death will trigger something awful. Something deadly. And that day is closing in.
Taylor Montclair is a normal English girl, hanging out with her friends and studying for exams, until she starts shorting out the lights with her brain. She’s also the only person on earth who can save Sacha.
There’s only one problem: the two of them have never met. They live hundreds of miles apart and powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep them apart.
They have eight weeks to find each other.
Will they survive long enough to save the world?
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

As you probably know, C.J. Daugherty has quickly become a favourite author of mine, and as soon as I found out that C.J. had a new series coming out, I knew I needed it! In this series, which she has co-written with French author, Carina Rozenfeld, we are treated to the dual point of view story of Sacha and Taylor, teenagers from France and England, respectively. Sacha is a 17 year old, living in Paris, who knows he can not die, no matter once. Due to some curse placed on his family, he will die on his 18th birthday, and not a second earlier. He is now closely approaching said birthday, when he is contacted by an English girl, in order to tutor him. This girl is Taylor, also 17, whose sole ambition is to do well in her exams and go to Oxford university to study with her grandfather. She soon finds herself thrown into a magical world when she manages to blow up sound systems, etc., using just her mind. Taylor is the only person who may be able to reverse the curse on Sacha, but dark magicians and creatures are doing everything they can to separate them.

Taylor and Sacha were wonderful protagonists. Both of their voices were distinctive, and I could imagine that I was actually living their lives with how descriptive their words were. I loved them both equally, and was invested in their lives as much as they were. When they actually met up in person, I was so giddy. The tension between each other was palpable. I think I actually swooned when Sacha called Taylor sweetheart. Sacha and Taylor are my newest OTP, and I need more romance-y feels from them in the sequels!

The plot was really intricate too. Though it is set in the modern world, in both the rural English countryside, and the bustling city of Paris, the history of the curse and the Alchemists really made it feel sort of outer-worldly. More people than you would expect are involved, in one way or another, and that also helped it to feel fully integrated in normal life. I really felt for Taylor, as she had no clue what was happening at first, was was simply shoved, head first, into this magical world, which was a tad scary. Imagine finding out that you are the 'saviour' of the known world, and if you don't succeed, the while world is going to go to pot? Yeah, that's what Taylor is facing. At least with Sacha, he had some forewarning, though it was still morbid knowing he can't die until a certain day, when he will definitely die. No wonder he was a bit of a basket case to begin with. Once Taylor and Sacha realised how involved they were with everything, and that they could work together to stop the end of the world, I felt like they matured a lot, and really came into their own, in terms of their abilities.

I'm seriously invested in this book, and series, and just wish I had book two in my hands. The acknowledgements from both authors at the end of the book were so sweet, and I love that the idea of co-authoring the book came over a cup of coffee. I can't wait to see more of Taylor and Sacha's story, and would say everyone should just drop everything, and get this book ASAP - you will not be disappointed!

Dates Read:
August 22-24, 2015

Rating
5 Stars