Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers #2) by Brenda Drake @brendadrake @EntangledTeen @YABookShelf #bookreview #YA #fantasy
Title: Guardian of Secrets
Author: Brenda Drake
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Page Count: 400
My rating: 4 stars
About the book:
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.
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.
Find this book online:
Goodreads / Amazon
About the author:
Brenda Drake, the youngest of three children, grew up an Air Force brat and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up is of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When Brenda’s not writing or doing the social media thing, she’s haunting libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops or reading someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).
Carries Book Reviews 
Spot on review Carrie!😊
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Thanks! I hope we have less of the I can’t live without him, oh look another cute boy, but I really love him blah blah in the next one. LOL
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That was a bit annoying.😕
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How have I not heard of this? Jumping through libraries sounds amazing! Definitely adding this and the first to the TBR!
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I was slow picking this series up myself but was offered the chance to review all three with the third one due to come out on the 6th I believe, it’s been good so far. 🙂
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I loved the first book in this series and am looking forward to reading this one next week. Great review, Carrie. Hope I don’t find the teen flip/flop romance too annoying!
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Thanks! It’s definitely a fun series but as much as teen relationships can be a bit fickle I really didn’t need reminded so much in this one but hey at least it was realistic! LOL
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Fantastic Review Carrie!😍 Man, you got to it before me!😨 LOL 😂 I am still glad you enjoyed it regardless of the YA issues you had! I am hoping I LOVE it as much as the first! *Fingers crossed*
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Thanks! I managed to get through my Jan titles so I had to squeeze it in before starting to work on the mountain of Feb I have. LOL
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I still need to post some of my Jans!😢 If they grant a wish for you and the archive date is far away do you think they still want it by publication?🤔🤔 Most publishers don’t really say and there is no specific guidelines on when to turn them in so it confuses me.
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Generally I think they all would like them by publication but some get more specific and ask to wait until a certain time. I know plenty of reviewers that get behind though so just do what you can when you can and as long as they do get turned in you should be alright. 🙂
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I know people say they like them by publication but I can’t find it anywhere on the internet as a guideline or preference?!? Maybe I am a little slow but I try to get all done as close to publication as possible.
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Well I’m not sure it’s actually written down as a rule anywhere but more something reviewers tend to know when getting ARCs, they are meant to generate buzz before publication to boost sales. 🙂
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Oh gotcha! That’s what I was thinking earlier. We receive the copies early so they want us to spread out the word early to help the hype but it’s not a rule because we are doing it voluntarily and if something happens that’s life kind of thing but like you said as long as you are turning them in and trying.😍 I just got so behind because all this sick crap and my kids being sick. I know Kim’s been down about keeping up as well.😨
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Yes, I’m sure authors and publishers know that real life can happen to anyone at any time. What I think they don’t want to see is someone collecting books and not really reviewing, say someone who reads a book a month but has over a hundred already in their pile, what really then is the chance all of them would ever be reviewed at that pace? LOL
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Definitely see your point on that one! Lmao! That would definitely make them frustrated. You have great points about it!😁 I am resting at the 55% ratio. I am going to try and hold back some control and get up to 80 but its so hard!😓
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Look at the bright side of things, the more books you turn in the more books it takes to lower your ratio. I think it would take like 200 or some such to bump me under 80% these days. LOL
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