SPFBO 10 Elimination Round: Jen

We continue with the SPFBO 10 Elimination Round! In case of any confusion: this is not an official SPFBO thing. We here at QBA decided to section Phase 1 into Elimination Round (once known as The Reaping), Semi-Finalist Reveal, and Semi-Final Stage.

What does this mean? Each of us will cut 2 of our titles in the Elimination Round. We’ll add our mini-reviews, explaining our reasons. Once that’s done, we’ll start revealing our semi-finalists (fair warning: not all of us might pick one) and saying goodbye to the remaining titles. Pretty much the same way we did for SPFBO 9. In the second half of Phase 1 (also known as Semi-Final Round), the team will review each of the semi-finalists.

I’d like to thank each and every author who submitted their book to SPFBO this year. I know how hard it must be, but sadly, we can’t forward all of you to the finals. That said, it’s time to say goodbye to two of the books in Tru’s batch. As a reminder, you can check out our SPFBO 10 page to see how we allocated our books and follow our progress.

Previous Elimination Round posts: Tru, Timy, Liis, Arina

Note from Jen

This is year six for me and SPFBO, and I have to say the cuts don’t get any easier.

I had one of my strongest batches this time around and though I’ve managed to narrow it down to the three that I’ll be choosing from in the next post, I do hope that readers will give these current cuts a shot, because they certainly have made things tough for me.

Thank you to the authors for submitting and we hope to see you in a future SPFBO!

Where Fate Whispers by E.G. Tudor

In the Twin Realms of Nos and Sol, Ceridwen Moonshade anxiously awaits the Fated Pair Choosing; she hopes to be partnered with her best friend, Malakai Ostara.

But the Fates have other plans.

Something insidious lurks amongst the shadows, and Ceridwen’s whole life will turn on its head, when an ominous prophecy is foretold. In order to save the realms and stave back the horrors of the lower realm of Fog, she must put aside her own growing feelings for Malakai and do what is right.

But in the process of discovering who she really is, and what she is capable of… will she realise that Fate isn’t always set in stone?

Read: 100%

Where Fate Whispers leans towards the YA/NA side with a sweet romance, fated pairs, and love conquers all kind of feel.

Kai and Wen are best friends and in no surprise to anyone who knows them, they are chosen as teens, to become a future fated pair of the Twin Realms where they will be bonded and rule together. But during that same choosing ceremony, the Fates themselves speak, and for the realms to survive Wen and Kai, instead of bonding must fight on their Fate’s Day with only one of them surviving for the Realms to be safe.

*

I am a die-hard enemies-to-lovers fan, so when I read the prologue, I was very excited for that bit of trope switching up.

Where Fate Whispers wasn’t quite enemies to lovers but I still enjoyed how WFW was playing with the romance tropes by forcing them to become enemies from the best friends that are crazy in love with each other. The inevitable ‘breakup’ came before they’re even ‘together’ and my heart was hurting for them losing that friendship before I even got to see how deep it ran!

But I must say while this had some very neat ideas and should have been full of tension because of those same ideas, it wasn’t. Not that that is a bad thing – it depends on your expectations. This was just a very sweet story and would be suitable for even a younger teen audience.

Where Fate Whispers had a lot of great points:

I loved Wen and Eva’s friendship – I am always saying that there should be more women friendships in romance (or any genre really) and that was a huge plus for me. I also loved Wen and Kai (and that Kai was as sunny as the realm he was from). They were super sweet together. And really the characters were all pretty awesome in their own ways.

The story and plotting were a bit predictable and the resolution felt easy – at least for someone like me who’s read hundreds of romances over the years. I didn’t find too much to surprise me, other than Luna. I loved the mothling sidekick! I mean really, who’d have thought the animal companion would be a giant moth? When was the last time you’ve read that? For me, I can safely say never! This was way more awesome than the usual wolf companion of the night-people trope.

Where Fate Whispers has a lot to offer in the way of a sweet romance, some cool trope-twisting, and some nice friendships.

Silverskin by Caitee Cooper

When Ellie Forth sets out to have a great Alaskan adventure with her remaining family members, she’s got something to prove—and not to them, but to herself. Four years after the unexpected death of her mother and sister, she’s ready to re-embrace her adventurous side.

Oliver Cole’s life, on the other hand, is very simple: go to work, catch fish, come home, and stash every penny earned into his bank account so he can afford to pay for college. But his life is turned upside down when Ellie and her brother—two nearly-forgotten acquaintances from his childhood—burst back into his life.

After a horrific encounter with the supernatural deep in the Kenai Peninsula, Ellie and Oliver must team up to discover the truth about what happened in Portlock, and how to fight a rising tide of evil that has the power to envelop not just Alaska, but the entire world.

Read: 100%

The setting for Silverskin was the biggest reason I wanted to read this one and it was one of my choices when we divvied up the books. It takes place partially in a small remote Alaskan community – access is by ferry. I live in the north so I was excited to read something with similarities in lifestyle to my neck of the woods.

The scenery is beautiful, the ghost stories are creepy. I really enjoyed the horror aspects; it reminded me of early supernatural or even X-files – when they had episodes that dealt with local legends and not aliens.

I thought the book had great use of atmosphere. There are interludes that allow us to see how the entities were affecting the townspeople /family/friends and giving the whole situation a more personal feel to our leads.

Silverskin’s story is slow to build though – it’s a character story first and has a pretty emotional beginning when the lead Ellie, already dealing with the loss of her mom and sister, loses yet another important person.

During this time Ellie reconnects with childhood friend Oliver; whom she knew from time spent in Portlock hunting and hiking when younger, and their families had become friends. (Oliver’s family runs the guiding camp where she and her family holiday at.)

There is a lot of time spent on letting these two characters reconnect during the story over shared grief – through calls and messages, and eventually in person. I did like the respectful amount of time the relationship was given, considering the events of their first meeting after so many years.

The writing is nice – clear and easily accessible. It has that careful and slow feeling that you sometimes get with a debut, especially one dealing with triggery issues; grief along with affects of the hauntings – depression, suicidal thoughts, etc. It’s very heavy content, handled cautiously.

This is my number one complaint in nearly everything I read so take it with a grain of salt but I did feel the story could use a thinning down, as the page count was a bit high for what it was and some places felt dense in the way the information is given – like the scene with Oliver and the Nantinaq among others. Repetition is a killer for me and some of the info/feelings etc tended to repeat, muddying up the pacing. Anyway, just a couple of my thoughts. It was very little to detract from the good stuff.

Silverskin is definitely a stepping-off book to a series which doesn’t fully resolve everything here, but it does really let you get involved with its characters, so ymmv depending on your taste.

Silverskin is a thoughtful story of two people’s journey of healing, set against a creepy backdrop of an entity-haunted Alaskan wilderness.

To keep up with our process and the competition, please check out our SPFBO 10 page!

If you’d like to know more about the QBA team, then meet us in our introduction post!