Wow this book was something else, it turned everything I knew on its head. It was filled with deceptions and I found myself doubting the characters I love and trusted in book one.

Brenda has really kicked things up a notch and I couldn’t be happier, this book left me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

I was told about this series am I’m glad I have read them. This book had everything I like and was better then the first . And who wouldn’t want to jump into books

(Source: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley, Entangled Publishing, LLC, Teen and Brenda Drake.)

Oh... I LOVED this book so much! It was meant for me! I love when authors make the second books in the series more personal, romantic rather than just action filled, it lets us to get to know the characters that we already met in the first books more intimately, and becomes the force behind their true-being, from there on they can again focus on action, mission and saving the world.

“I’m falling for you, Gianna,” he had said. “With time, I’ll prove to you we belong together. Go ahead and have your fun with Arik, but it’s my arms you’ll end up in one day.”

What I do not like are the love triangles, and well firs† quarter of this book was full with it, but well my boy won so that is what was important for me. Now, I never like when the love interest changes, and the new character becomes the one, but here, it is probably the first time that I liked it. People who know me, know that I dropped the Throne of Glass series just because Sarah J. Maas, messed with Chaol's character, in a way that did not make sense at all, same with her other series called A Court of Thorns and Roses. But here it was done so organically, and the change was actually justified and not forced on the reader so, despite the fact that Arik was a prick in this book who only doubted Gia and wanted her to just follow orders, maybe my weird obsession with fictional arranged marriages and Bastien's looks as well, I wanted him to be THE ONE for her.

Bastien stopped and studied my face. “I want you fully. Without Arik in your heart.”
“He’s no longer there.”

This guy was a true book-boyfriend material. He jumped after her into trouble, he followed her, he led her, he let her be who she was, he worried about her but did not baby her, he cared about her but he pushed her, most of all he was the only on who truly believed in HER and in THEM. That is what made him to shine brighter than Arik, and made me to fall for him as a character.

“Bastien is an upstanding bloke, but he’s not the one you’re meant to be with. You’ll see. Our hearts are intertwined. We belong together.”

Arik had his reasons to act the way he did, and yes I shipped Bastien with Gia, but I cannot deny that at sone point I felt hurt and heartbroken on Arik's behalf. Despite anything I still loved him and wanted him to be happy. Who knows, I think there is a girl for him in the horizon that we are going to like, A LOT, and be surprised by it, let's see.

“I lived here with your mother once. It was one of the happiest times of me life.”
“That was before we met,” Sinead teased, and headed down the hill. “And now, every day is his happiest, so I like to believe.”
Carrig chased after her. “I wasn’t meaning that our time together hasn’t been just as happy.”
She wrapped her arm around his back, and he encircled his around hers. “You big oaf,” she said. “You forget I’m Fey. I know your true feelings. If I didn’t, comments like that would have chased me away long ago.”

In this book there were many more twists than in the first one, and the author introduced new characters but Sinead I think is the one that I liked the most. It was fun to get to know Carrig more, and see that like Gia's mom, his life did not end after their separation and they both were happy at the end of the day. I liked that we really got to know him as a person and of course as a father.

Royston came out of the cottage. He had his shirt off, which didn’t surprise me.
Deidre’s mouth gaped. “Who’s that?”
“Thor,” I mumbled.
“Huh?” She flipped me a quizzical look.
“That’s Royston.”
“You mean the one?”
I watched her suspiciously. “Yeah, apparently he’s going to save all human and Mystik kind.”
“He looks like a god,” she swooned, and clambered down the hill.

The second character that I ADORED was Royston. He was cute, fun and clueless which did not really go well with his looks, but the author managed to make it work. He kind of reminded me of Thor as well, cute and goofy with enormous strength. He made me laugh and I was hoping him to end up with Deidre, fingers crossed.

As I stared down at the glorious site of the Ireland farmland, I knew what I had to do. I was surer of my feelings than ever before.
Wherever my chosen path took me, I knew it would lead me to where I belonged.

Overall, this book was more focused on the romantic and relationship part, be it family, friends or significant others, but at the end of the day while it helped us to dive into their personalities more, it never stopped the characters, and us, to try to save the world.

Guardian of Secrets is the second novel in Brenda Drake’s Library Jumpers series and is a fast paced and eventful sequel that will definitely keep readers on their toes.

Gia Kearns whole world changed the day she learnt she was a part of a race of beings known as Mystiks, able to travel to different places and dimensions by jumping through library books. Discovering she’s a part of a prophecy to one day defeat the biggest threat to the Mystiks, Gia has become a Sentential, training and preparing to save the world from a coming apocalypse. Not only has she and her dad had to move away from everything and everyone she’s ever known, but now Gia has been tasked with locating rare items of magical abilities that have been hidden for decades. Oh, and her boyfriend Arik is all of a sudden more interested in another girl than her and is breaking her heart in the process. Danger is right around the corner in the Mystik world and Gia is right in the heart of it…..

Although it’s been a while since I read the first novel Thief of Lies, I found it very easy to slip into the world explored within this series. Brenda Drake details a very easy to follow but action and adrenaline packed series. There’s enough going on within each novel and the characters have enough chemistry to keep me reading. Admittedly there are some things I like about the series more than others, but overall I find I enjoy following Gia on her journeys.

I like seeing all the different characters and discovering how they all fit in together. In a sense Library Jumpers makes me think of a cross between the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare and Mythos Academy by Jessica Estep. It’s a good blend that makes for entertaining reading.

I must admit, I was a little perplexed by the devolvement of the relationship between Gia and Arik in this novel. While they didn’t blow me away with their relationship in the first novel, I did enjoy their chemistry and connection enough to feel that Arik’s decision to turn his back on what they shared and take up with another girl straight away was disappointing. Eventually author Brenda Blake reveals the reason for this development, but it still felt somewhat unnecessary for my tastes and I felt that is could have been handled better. Plus I’m just not comfortable with seeing a love triangle in the series—it’s annoying to me.

All that being said, I did find Guardian of Secrets to be a decent read and will definitely be reading the final instalment to see how Brenda Dlake plans on tying everything together and concluding the series. After the ending of this second novel, I’m sure she has a lot of excitement planned.

the library jumpers series continues with guardian of secrets. gia and her friends are keeping busy by hunting for the chiave that will unlock the prophecy foretold before gia's birth as well as battling the mystical demons that make up conemar's army.

on top of that gia is still learning to harness her magical abilities. and dealing with family, friend, and boy drama. her changeling "twin" hates her. her pop is starting a new relationship that involves some serious pda. her best friend is a mess because he's just discovered he's adopted and his birth father is totally evil. the guy she keeps thinking about isn't the guy she is dating. and the guy she is dating is acting totally weird.

so it's totally high school meets the end of the world. love triangles become love rhombuses and it's not clear where the relationship musical chairs will end. between the fighting for her life and the fighting in her love life, gia would just like to catch a break. but with the mystical world ready to fall apart, there's no time for self-pity. and here's a lot gia has to fight for.

**guardian of secrets published february 7, 2017. i received a digital copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange for my honest review.

In Guardian of Secrets, Gia, Nick, Arik, and the rest of the team are back to the human world. This time they’re hiding from the Mystik world by blending in with the human population. Gia and the rest of the Sentinels are training, Gia and Nick are on the hunt for the missing keys to unlock the Tetrad, and unrest is brewing in the Mystik world. Everything she learned about the Mystik world is starting to come into question.

There was a ton of action in Guardian of Secrets. A ton of revelations was made, and people that were thought to be dead were found. Of course, the book ended in an epic battle to set up the next and final installment. Guardian of Secrets ended with high stakes, and it’s up to Gia to save her family, friends, and the world.

I really liked Bastien, Gia’s betrothed, in this novel. I feel like he really stepped up and helped Gia out a lot in her times of need. (Granted, I don’t think we got to see much of him in Thief of Lies. It was hard to make a decision about him.) Gia also grew a lot from Thief of Lies to Guardian of Secrets. She still doesn’t trust her gut as much as I feel she should, but she’s handling her role a lot better.

A big part of this novel was the love triangle between Gia, Arik, and Bastien. While in the human world, Arik seems to have moved on from Gia and is interested in a neighbor. To be honest, while I’m team Bastien, I really actually feel bad about the situation that happened between Gia and Arik. I don’t want to give much away. So I’ll let you all read it for yourself. This was another situation, however, where I feel as if Gia didn’t follow through with her gut feeling.

Overall, Guardian of Secrets was a good middle installment in the Library Jumpers series. It set up the series for the final installment and didn’t feel like simply a “filler” book. I enjoyed the conflict that occurred, and I can’t wait to see how everything is going to end.

Guardian of Secrets by Brenda Drake is the second book in the young adult fantasy Library Jumpers series. In the first book readers were introduced to Gia Kearns who was with her friends in a library when she spied a cute boy and while watching him he suddenly disappeared. When Gia and her friends went looking they found a book the boy left behind of libraries from around the world and when Gia accidentally spoke a phrase she found she and her friends were pulled through the book and found themselves in a library in Paris.

After finding themselves halfway around the world and not sure how they got there things suddenly got worse when a demonic hound attacked. But the boy that Gia had followed came to the rescue. Arik explained that he and his friends are Sentinals charged with protecting humans and the gateways in the libraries. After learning of the strange world from which Arik came from Gia found that she herself had ties to that world that she never knew existed.

Their story has now continued in Guardian of Secrets and being a continuing young adult fantasy series it’s best if readers start with the first book if they have not read that one yet as there would be a lot of plot, character and world building missing if trying to jump into this one. I mentioned in my review of Thief of Lies that this story reminded me a lot of Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter books with a lot of similar elements added and I still think fans of that series would enjoy this one too.

I would also warn again that while I love the action and adventure in this world that Brenda Drake has created the story does involve a lot of the old young adult tropes that I see other readers often complaining about. I’ve actually lowered my rating a tad on this installment because the teen angst bothered me a bit more in this one than the first but I was still a fan of the ongoing action and plot. Looking forward to reading book three of the series really soon and seeing where the story heads next though.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Such a great read! Really enjoyed how the author made the characters come alive!

Book Talk 1/19/18
Traci Kenworth

Guardians of Secrets (The Library Jumpers #2) Brenda Drake. Feb. 7th, 2017. Entangled, Teen. Netgalley. YA Fantasy.

Saving him could end her world.

Being a Sentinel isn’t all fairytales and secret gardens.

Sure, jumping through books into the world’s most beautiful libraries to protect humans from mystical creatures is awesome. No one knows that better than Gia Kearns, but she could do without the part where people are always trying to kill her. Oh, and the fact that Pop and her had to move away from her friends and life as she knew it.

And if that isn’t enough, her boyfriend, Arik, is acting strangely. Like, maybe she should be calling him “ex,” since he’s so into another girl. But she doesn’t have time to be mad or even jealous, because someone has to save the world from the upcoming apocalypse, and it looks like that’s going to be Gia.

Maybe. If she survives.

I start all my reviews with the blurb from either Goodreads or Amazon whichever I find it on first. I’ve been asked by Entangled to review #2 and #3 which will be in the future. I couldn’t wait to read the second book in this series as I loved the first and it was a hit with me. Here goes:

Arik and Gia are settling into a new school and a new routine after the events of book 1 and that means going public with their relationship for the first time. Things are off to a great start but the moment that they make it official, Gia learns another girl is interested in Arik. Arik begins to act strange as the days pass, questioning Gia and making time with this girl until finally, he breaks it off with Gia. Devastated, Gia tries to make sense of it all, but other events are happening at the same time which take Nick and her looking for chiaves. During their searches, attacks begin happening throughout the Mystik world. Someone is searching for Conemar. When she falls into a trap, she finds that her heart might just heal with the help of another, but will they be able to stop the attacks on the Mystik world? Or will she lose more loved ones?

Gia and Arik are such good characters although I had my doubts about the latter in this book, lol. Brenda Drake writes a clever fantasy that will have fans of all ages thrilled. This world has such depth to it, it’s like stepping into it from the first page. The plot was seamless. I find myself very fond of these books and looking forward to the next book. Try them, you won’t be disappointed!

*****

Drake did it again, what an amazing 2nd installment to this series. This book is full of action, adventure, and some romance. I was pulled right in and I couldn't put the book down! Lots of things happen in this book but I don't want to give anything in the plot away! The love triangle between Gia, Arik, and a new character named Bastien just adds to the story. I am almost finished with book 3, which I am loving as well. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

Once again this one was action packed and the story continued forward with the search for more Chiavi at a fast pace. This would have been a five star for me but the part of the story with the triangle of Gia, Arik, and Bastien was messy. The way it happened was a bit too convenient and thrown in. Made their story line a bit disjointed for me. I do like that the traps came into play in this book. Can't wait to start #3. I received an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I was geared up and ready for this book to be epic and it was exactly that. This book dove far deeper into Gia's love life, and her quest. I loved getting down to the nitty gritty, and I mean more Arik and Bastien? Yes please.



With the hunt for Gia on, and Conemar getting even more evil, this book was constant upheaval. I have to admit, there were some twists I didn't see coming, but in the end they definitely made the story. My heart broke a few times, but slowly I think book three is going to heal it.

The characters in this book go through so much in such a short time, you watch them go from the ragtag group to a family. A family that fights for each other. I loved watching the changes happen and getting to fall in love with each of the different personalities.

As the split developed, I LOVED the fact that we found out more of the secrets about the past. Throw in some HUGE surprises and I was all for it with this book.

Can't wait to see where book three takes us!

Fans of Maas, The Creepy Hollow Series, and Jessica Shrivington will LOVE this series.

"Guardian of Secrets" is an intriguing continuation in the Library Jumpers series (and you do need to have read the first one to enjoy this one). For the basics, Library Jumpers are the sentinels and wizards who can use certain books in the libraries to jump to other libraries. The books are guarded and only those with abilities/who know how can get through. Gia thought she was a normal teenager in the first book, only to find out she is a sentinel, born of two sentinels, and there is a huge war brewing between Conemar (evil wizard) and his followers and everyone else. Gia and her friends (and boyfriend Arik) have gone into hiding in rural Massachusetts.

As descendants of Gian and the prophesied, Gia and Nick must continue their search for Chiavi, enchanted items left for them by Gian. These stories (of their search) are the most interesting parts of the first two-thirds of the book. The rest of this part of the book is about their hiding/being at school- and most notably (as mentioned in the book description), that Arik dumps Gia very abruptly for another girl at school. He doesn't seem to be acting like himself, but as she is unable to find any evidence to the contrary, Gia is forced to let go and try to move on. The love triangle escalates in this book, as Gia finds herself turning to Bastien, who also shares more of her interests (e.g. reading) than Arik does/did.

This novel appears to be more of an in-between book and it leaves off with a cliffhanger, so I am very excited to read the next book soon! As it had been a while since I read the first book, I needed lots of reminders for who everyone is/what was going on (there's a large cast here), so I would recommend reading these relatively close in time, as you definitely need the first book for a lot of context for what happens in this second one. I found the romance to be well done, albeit with a heavy hand of teenaged angst (but they are teenagers), and I think it's a strong second/intermediate book. I am very excited to continue with the next in the series!

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers #2)
Brenda Drake
Book Review: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Guardian of secrets is the 2nd book in the Library Jumpers series. It's a continuous story and I would recommend you start with book one. Assassins of Truth, book 3 is out 6th February, so now is the perfect time to read this trilogy.

Gia is back. She's starting a new school, leaving her human friends behind and setting into a new location. Luckily she still has her Sentinel friends, but her romantic life is about to get more complicated. This book is slow to start but does pick up the pace. Of course, there is magic, adventure and danger. Gia won't go down without a fight. You'll need to hold onto your seat for this one and it will leave you wanting more.

*There is a mini catch up at the beginning of this book.

4 stars out of 5.
*ARC Netgalley.


Kindle £6.17, 353 pages
Published February 7th 2017 by Entangled: Teen

Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Another beautiful cover!

Check out author's other books? YES
Recommend this book? YES

Notes and Opinions: Being able to read these one right after the other I know I will NOT be getting any sleep tonight. I wanted to get these done ASAP because I have fallen in love with this story and world! This was another one that I couldn't put down and man it did not disappoint. Although I didn't care for the love triangle as I thought it was not needed the rest of this book was perfect! We're back in the world of power and magic picking up where we left off in book one. The characters had some great growth from book one to this one and I really like where the author is taking them. This story was a rollercoaster of feels and I just couldn't put it down. If you liked book one you will die hard love book two!


Go Into This One Knowing: Love Triangle

When Gia's boyfriend starts acting strangely, she is incredibly hurt. It's hard enough jumping from library to library through books in order to track down the remaining keys, all while being hunted. As Gia works with Bastien, she grows closer to him, making her feelings for Arik even more tortured. The romance triangle isn't overdone here, and this is a solid enjoyable second in a series book.

Books acting as portals to libraries around the world, transporting magical knights through them in order to save the world?

Yes, please!

Guardian of Secrets is the second book in the Library Jumpers series, and definitely not the one to start with. There's too much going on, too many characters and plot threads already happening at that point--and book 2 takes everything to an all new level. A major character's going to be under a spell, other characters aren't going to make it into book 3, and Gia's going to be involved in a significant love triangle--so. Much. Going. On. I feel like I need another week to process it all...and I should probably re-read before book 3 comes out...

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

This review was posted 13th February 2017

Guardian of Secrets is the second book of the Library Jumpers series and I really enjoyed the continuation of this tale. A nice mix of action and romance, I felt like this book managed to advance the overall series while still whilst still being an enjoyable story in itself.

What I love most about this series is that the premise is so very different from other stories I have read. I love the idea of being able to jump through gateway books from library to library and I like the magic/sentinel system as well. I felt like this second book started to delve a little deeper into the world and I liked the extra world building that came with it. We started to hear more about some of the other havens as Gia and Nick search for the Chiavi.

I liked Gia. I found her relatable but suitably badass all the same and I liked seeing her journey through the pages. I also like Nick and the fact that we got to see the conflict he was going through in adjusting to the new information regarding his real and adoptive parents and with the onset of magical powers. The conflict felt real and was dealt with quite well I though. I also liked that all through the book, the reader wasn't sure who to trust and this added to the mystery and suspense of the book.

The story itself moved quite quickly, the action marrying nicely with the revelations and various plot points revealed as the story progressed. I liked the mystery of the Chiavi and found the Somniums also very interesting.

Overall I enjoyed this latest instalment, finding myself thinking about the characters and what might happen next even after I had finished the last page and am genuinely looking forward to the next instalment.

An enjoyable read and I give this book 3 ½ stars
Sapphired Dragon XX

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley.
I have to say the concept of these books appeals to me a lot (It might be related to me being a bookworm, but whatever), but I didn't exactly get what I thought. However, it was good, just in a different way.
What I really loved were the libraries' descriptions, now they are all on my bucket list! The characters were as nice as in the first one, though I'd have liked to see a little bit more of her changeling. The pacing is absolutely frantic and doesn't give time to get bored. And when I say no time I mean no time at all. I liked this one as much as the first and look forward to the next one, I hope it doesn't disappoint!
Finally, Bastien is the best! Team Bastien all the way!!!

I'm still not sure about the rating. I loved the first book, the second one frustrated me a lot and sometimes made me wanna skip chapters and parts of the story. But that was just about the relationship stuff. I don't know.

Let me start to talk about the things that I really enjoyed in the book.
The search for all the Chiavi and the places it took Gia and Nick. That's what I love about the story, that it isn't just based around libraries in the USA, but actually around the world and that we actually see them go these places. Loved it.
Also there is something about the fightin scenes in the books, that is just incredible. They are intense and so well described, love it.

Character- and relationshipwise. I loved how much the relationship between Gia and Deidre grew. In the beginning, Deidre kinda had to find herself for a bit and not just be a copy of Gia and then they could finally build their friendship and actually acted like sisters towards each other. LOVED IT. I was also happy to see characters like Nana and Afton show up once in a while. And Faith. FAITH!!!!! I just love Faith so much and I'm bitter, I'm very bitter about things that happend. BITTER. I also loved the friendship between Gia and Jaran, how he was there for her and took care of her when she was a total mess.

Now let's get to the spoilery part, normally I wouldn't mention them in reviews but I need to talk about it. Now. So I'm serious, don't read further if you don't wanna read spoilers. Don't.

Arik. Arik and Emily. I knew he was spelled somehow. Cause the Arik we got as soon as he got together with Emily, wasn't the Arik that I loved in the first book. So either the author decided to completely change his character or something fishy was going on with Emily. And I was so happy that Gia thought that as well and that she actually had Jaran looking for any marks or tattoos on Ariks body. BUT YOU IDIOTS DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH. When they figured out there wasn't a mark/tattoo and then Gia thought about Arik's hair being longer, I just screamed at her to look at his damn neck.
But no. No. This was just the opening for Gia and Bastien becoming a thing. And ugh, no. No, I'm not a fan. That were the parts I was so frustrated with that I wanted to skip them. Ooops, no offence to everyone liking them, I just don't.

The only good thing about Gia and Bastien falling into the thing whose name I can't remember right now, was that they found Gian (alive!!!) and Royston (THE ONE!!!).

I'm mad, that we actually lost Gian at the end of the book. I'm mad about Kale. And I'm super mad about Faith. Cause Faith was my baby. UGH!!!!!