Book Review - You Are Mine by Janeal Falor

You Are Mine by Janeal Falor | Blushing Geek

You Are Mine by Janeal Falor
Series: Mine, #1
First Published April 30, 2013 by Chardonian Press
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
370 pages
Format: eBook
Source: Freebie
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ehjqyg

Serena knows a few simple things. She will always be owned by a warlock. She will never have freedom. She will always do what her warlock wishes, regardless of how inane, frivolous, or cruel it is. And if she doesn’t follow the rules, she will be tarnished. Spelled to be bald, inked, and barren for the rest of her life—worth less than the shadow she casts.
Then her ownership is won by a barbarian from another country. With the uncertainty that comes from belonging to a new warlock, Serena questions if being tarnished is really worse than being owned by a barbarian, and tempts fate by breaking the rules. When he looks the other way instead of punishing her, she discovers a new world. The more she ventures into the forbidden, the more she learns of love and a freedom just out of reach. Serena longs for both. But in a society where women are only ever property, hoping for more could be deadly.

Review

This book really surprised me. I haven’t heard of the author, Janeal Falor, before until I came across this freebie on Amazon and when I checked out its sypnosis and the reviews in Goodreads, I got curious so I decided to get it. And my! I’m not sure if I could say that I love it as a whole but it sure gave me something new and introduced me into a new world of magic. And you know me, I love magic so when the word warlock was mentioned in the first chapter, my whole attention was already fixed to this story.

You Are Mine revolves around Serena who’s turning 18 and is about to get married to a nasty warlock. It’s different in their country because women are supposed to be owned and just a “vessel” to produce children. Women were oppressed in their country and Serena is just one of the few who are always punished and treated unjustly by warlocks, especially their father. Since she’s the eldest of 13 sisters and another 1 coming (only Serena confirmed it) it still didn’t hinder her to become hardheaded and headstrong.

Before I move on, let me tell you that this book isn’t for everyone. I’m sure the first few pages would feel like a drag or will make you feel disgusted or uncomfortable especially if you’re against abuse. In this book, women are treated so cruelly and only men can do magic. I was really uncomfortable reading those parts so I’m not really sure what made me still read it until I realized that I am starting to like it. Honestly, until now I’m still thinking about what really made me like it. Was it the character? The twist? But either way, there’s no denying how I enjoyed this story considering the unpleasant idea.

For the characters, well, for Serena, all that stood up for me was her stubbornness, her determination to help others, and she’s very headstrong too which leads her being punished almost all the time until she was owned by Zade. I don’t want to be inconsiderate but sometimes it could be irritating to always read a part where she is always expecting to be punished after doing something bad. Well, I can’t really blame her since it’s like a tradition in their country. Hmm, what else? Well, this is YA so I was expecting a lot of angst, but there’s almost none that really flipped me off.

For Zade. Well, at first it’s really hard to feel some romantic feelings towards his character because mostly in stories, giants (or maybe they’re just big) we’re portrayed as the bad guys. But if he’s always so nice and blushes like a teenager who got caught looking at his crush, then my! I don’t mind having a crush on a giant at all, haha. Zade came from a neighboring country and they’re known as barbaric, so I was really surprised when I got to really know his character. Despite his size, he’s really nice to Serena and her sisters. He was even willing to face danger just so he could save her. Isn’t that romantic? And speaking of giant, everytime I imagine his character, all I can see is Khal Drogo from the Game of Thrones but younger, *wink.

I’m not particularly fond of the writing style of this story but overall, I was still amazed how it was able to catch my attention. After finishing this book, I feel like there were some scenes that didn’t sit well on me, but I guess that was overshadowed by the ending, *wink.
Despite all the issues I encountered, I still think it deserves my 4 star rating. This book gave me something new, and now, whenever I think about warlock, I am not just picturing Harry Potter in his wand doing some chants but also Khal Drogo (look alike, hehe) spelling a dress to change its color every minute. I can’t really explain it well how this book made me feel but if you enjoy YA fantasy, you may want to give this book a chance, *wink.