Kim Chance

Sixteen-year-old bookworm Lainey Styles discovers she is a Keeper--a witch with the exclusive ability to unlock and wield a powerful spell book that has since been stolen by a malevolent wizard--but with the help of some friends Lainey attempts to steal it back.

Keeper

Sheila Goicea

See this FULL review on my blog along with others at: shesgoingbookcrazy.com

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
All great wars are fought over power.
While I really wanted to love this book, I just couldn't find it in me to rate it any higher than three stars. The first 20% sucked me in. Lainey is the typical, everyday girl that is completely unsuspecting. Her observant but sassy character was refreshing and captivating to begin with. Then, the weird and rather creepy encounter between her and the witch takes place, and the plot's individuality and pacing goes downhill from there. 

One of the biggest issues I had with this book was that Lainey persistently believed that she needed to handle these supernatural situations alone--when she lives with her uncle and his obviously "witchy" girlfriend. (view spoiler)[(By witchy I mean, is basically a witch herself) (hide spoiler)] If you live with someone who speaks about your energy regularly, and practices rituals religiously, I'd think that would be a great resource to confide in after an experience like Lainey had with encountering the dead woman. I get that some people might think you are crazy for saying these things, but that's not the case here. It's simply too obvious of a solution.

As Lainey continues to deny the fact that she's seeing a ghost that is trying to communicate with her, the plot drags on for the first half of the book. Lainey meets a mysterious character named Ty, who is of the tall, dark, and handsome sorts. He instantly becomes a love-interest for Lainey, although she tries to deny that as well. Lucky for her, Ty knows more about this world she is encountering than she.

As Lainey uncovers the secret behind these odd encounters with the woman, she realizes she's very unprepared to deal with the responsibility that has been set in her lap. Too many times these types of characters become overly-capable in an unrealistic time-frame. A crash course in self-defense turns people into super-heroes, which is what happened here. I would have liked to see more of a progression in Lainey's abilities rather than the instantaneous progression that happened. 

Despite its short-comings, this was an entertaining read. It wasn't as in-depth, or original as I was hoping. However, its characters were likable, had some depth, and the main topic was unique. It simply needed more focus on its uniqueness in order to help it gain some distinguishability. 

Vulgarity: Moderate - 64 words counted.
Sexual Content: Minimal.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★★

Jessica Williamson

4.5 Stars

 I received an arc of this via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. 

Maybe it's me, maybe I haven't read a lot of witchy YA books, but I found this plot to be original and fun to discover. I quite enjoyed the storyline and I LOVED the characters. 

I liked Kim's writing style, it was easy to follow and fun to read. I feel like there will probably be another book after this one, to bring the story full circle, and I would definitely read it.

Lainey is over analytical and scientific but it works for her. She has some MAJOR freak outs but honestly, I can't blame the girl, I would too.

Maggie. A++ to Maggie! She's obsessed with comic books and she's a best friend who actually stays around for the duration of the book. That doesn't happen a lot in YA. Usually, the best friend gets pushed away as other characters get introduced but Maggie makes her place in Lainey's world well known.

Ty. Ty is around too conveniently for my taste. (view spoiler)[ And some people are freaking over his betrayal at the end but I saw it coming a mile away. Also, I'm not sure he actually isn't on Lainey's side. He could be undercover with the Master.  (hide spoiler)] 

Gareth and Serena. I love these two. They are very well rounded "side" characters. I love what they bring to the story.

The Master. Honestly, all I could think about when I was reading about the Master was the Magister from The Infernal Devices series by Cassie Clare. (view spoiler)[ And just like with the magister I thought he was under-developed and not really all that scary.  (hide spoiler)]

All in all, if you like Paranormal YA books you will most likely enjoy this one!

Ruth Parker 

I finished reading Keeper last year but I never wrote a review or marked it on Goodreads. I received an ARC of Seeker and decided to read Keeper again to refresh myself.
And boy did I love it! I forgot how well the characters were developed - Maggie is pretty awesome, although I think I’d get tired of her constant comic book references after a while, Ty is dreamy of course and Lainey is a great heroine, accepting of her destiny and equally dismissive of the magic she seems to be experiencing! So believable.
The last quarter was better than the rest and it just kept coming. The twist - oh the twist! I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into Seeker next!

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors!

Author: Kim Chance

Book Series: Keeper Duology

Rating: 3/5

Publication Date: January 30, 2018

Recommended Age: 14+ (witchcraft and wizardry… wait that’s that other series, romance, violence)

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Flux Books

Synopsis: When a 200-year-old witch attacks her, sixteen-year-old bookworm Lainey Styles is determined to find a logical explanation. Even with the impossible staring her in the face, Lainey refuses to believe it—until she finds a photograph linking the witch to her dead mother.

After consulting a psychic, Lainey discovers that she, like her mother, is a Keeper: a witch with the exclusive ability to unlock and wield the Grimoire, a dangerous but powerful spell book. But there’s a problem. The Grimoire has been stolen by a malevolent warlock who is desperate for a spell locked inside it—a spell that would allow him to siphon away the world’s magic.

With the help of her comic-book-loving best friend and an enigmatic but admittedly handsome street fighter, Lainey must leave her life of college prep and studying behind to prepare for the biggest test of all: stealing back the book.

Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. The pacing was great, the story was unique for the most part, and the writing was decent.

However, I do feel that the book was way too cliché for me. The side characters aren’t totally developed and the main character is your typical YA girl. The magic in the world wasn’t really explained and sometimes stuff happened that was really mind boggling. The relationship really irked me too.

Verdict: It was decent and definitely for you if you like the cliché ya fantasy.

Kathryn

I really loved this book. It was so fast-paced and incredibly action-packed. The characters and their relationships were so great and incredibly relatable. I loved the story-line and how there were two storylines that almost paralleled and crossed over each other at times. One of the things I loved the most was how the story was grounded in reality with all the pop-culture and comic book references; it made it so much more real.

JacQueline Roe

** spoiler alert **
           Okay, I’ve waited long enough to write this review. Does anyone else have to wait a long time to write a review of a book when something in the book sets their teeth on edge? There are tons of people who love this book, and maybe you will, too. 
Maybe it’s just me, but parts of this book were beautiful. Although I didn’t love the profanity & extramarital sex, I know that’s my worldview & not everyone’s. I get that. 
What I struggled with was how this interesting plot kept getting more & more muddled by the end. Again, I think too many ya fantasy authors are hung-up on twists & turns to keep readers guessing. I liked a few of the characters, but I probably only loved Maggie & I feel like that stopped me from fully engaging. By the time we got to the end, I felt several characters had been broken (not Maggie, thank goodness!) & I had been tricked about what to believe about the world. I was so disappointed. Obviously others could totally love this book, but I just didn’t.

Wren Hardwick

This reminds me a lot of Cassandra Clare’s first books. The story is very interesting and something that is unique and will draw you in, but the writing is young and the characters are a little weak. Her writing was aimed for young adults but the way it was written seemed to be towards a younger audience. With that said, I have high hopes for Kim Chance because Cassandra Clare has become such an amazing author and weaver of stories and has become one of my favorite authors to obsess over.

There are a lot of pop-culture references in this book. I’m talking comic book stories, television shows, and literally anything else you can nerd-out about. I’m a professional nerd, so it was easy to breeze through for me; but for some people, it might be confusing. 

We have a teenage girl who has unexpected things happen to her and a past she wasn’t aware of. We have a mysterious boy who seems to be a street fighter and somehow involved in all of it. We have a quirky best friend who is willing to do anything and everything to help the main heroine. And we have The Master, who is the big bad and someone you do not want to mess with. 

There are a lot of supernatural creatures and humanoids in this, and it was really fun to see how all of that was woven into the story. I really did enjoy this book, but it might have been too young for someone in their mid-twenties. I’ll probably pick up the next book because I see Chance as someone who is just now growing into the writer she is going to be. Plus, if this story is any indicator of the story-teller she is, then I am eager to see what else her brain is holding! 

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ARC, 12% | This has a lot of pop-references. Like comic books, superheroes, Lord of the Rings and Supernatural... thankfully, I got an “A” in nerd and I’m following along smoothly.

Keeper

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