Hello guys! Lots of fun things have been happening over the past few months with more cool things to share with you in the near future! But today I wanted to post 3 reviews written by Erica Luo, a middle schooler from Washington state. She sent these to me through her teacher, Mr. Pearson, since she is unable to post reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. I was so impressed with her writing and thoughtfulness that I wanted to share her reviews with you (don’t worry, she sent in her consent!).

Also, below I have posted some pictures of some of the events I’ve been doing including an author visit to Colonial High School, the Amelia Island Book Festival, and a really cool limo ride to Chili’s and ice cream autograph party for students who read all 15 of the Sunshine State books!

Reviews by Erica Luo

I really enjoyed Gilded by Christina Farley. I loved the plot and the awesome character development. I could picture every single moment of the book in my head. The ending is great, it leaves you wanting to read more. The book starts with 16 year old Jae Hwa having to recently move from the United States to Seoul, South Korea. Her life is chaos, her grandfather hates (?) her, and this boy named Marc is SO ANNOYING, she WANTS to like him, but family issues. Then she sees two creatures of Korean folklore on the street after being sent outside for hurting someone in Tae Kwan Doe, she’s confused and scared. That’s when her grandfather explains that their family has been cursed for centuries, every generation the oldest female over 15 years of age will be kidnapped by Haemosu, the Korean god of the sun. It turns out she is the oldest female in her generation AND over 15. Haemosu will stop at nothing to capture her and turn her into his bride. Even if it means hurting the ones she loves most. Jae struggles to find a way to beat Haemosu, so she can get her life back. Jae is a really complicated person, you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at her. When you listen in to her thoughts, you can almost feel her pain, from losing her mother, and shock from seeing two mythical beings. Jae is portrayed at the beginning to be sort of confused about feelings, she has loyalty to her family’s favoring (Example: Not wanting to like Marc because her father wants her to date a Korean). In the end, she seems to understand her feelings a lot more than she did before. The books teaches you how things can all work out in the end no matter how hard they seem to be. Jae suffers great loss, but in the end it all works out. I’d recommend it to people who are ok with a little romance and violence.

The book Silvern by Christina Farley builds off of Gilded is a unique way. The book somehow manages to continue a seemingly closed off book, which is very surprising. After beating the living daylights out of Haemosu, Jae thinks her connection to the spirit world is over. She can go on with life and pretend that didn’t happen. Until someone sends an assassin to kill her in a Tae Kwan Doe test. She barely manages to escape with her life, and finds out that now Kud, the god of Darkness, and Haemosu’s partner in crime, sent the assassin. Now ANOTHER god is trying to kill her. Great. She and her friends must find the White Tiger orb before Kud does, and fast. No one likes an angry god. This time, Jae feels so much more sorrow, you want to cry for her, all her emotions are now clearer, and she learns more about The Guardians. There is so much character development in the book, Farley even makes the immortals have human like personalities, which makes you think of people in history, or people you know around you.  This book teaches the lesson of hope, to never let hope go no matter what. Throughout the book, Jae always has hope that something good will come out of every situation. I’ll warn you though, this book does have a bittersweet ending, so you might get a bit emotional. Once you finish this book, you’ll be waiting for the next!

Brazen by Christina Farley, is probably the best book in the ‘Gilded’ series. There is so much suspense and stakes for survival, you’ll be on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. Jae is now Kud, the god of darkness’ servant. She has to do whatever he tells her, the contract on her arm is a sign to remind her. Now her father and grandfather think she’s dead, even though she’s not. That’s the punishment of being Kud’s slave. She can’t see her family OR Marc anymore. And now she and all her friends, her supporters are now supposed to be her foe. But Jae has a plan, a plan to break free of Kud’s control. She only needs someone to believe her. Jae is now begging for help from her former allies, because she needs their help. Jae is so pitiful, and when everyone calls her a ‘thing of evil’ you want to magically pop into the book and yell at them, you will genuinely feel all Jae’s emotions. Her fear, anger, sadness, worry, and even hate at herself. The book taught me that when all hope is lost, you have to try your best to find hope, even in the most impossible situations. The ending of the series is calming, you feel like the story has closed off somehow, and peace is restored.