Goodreads Monday | Umberland (Everland #2) by Wendy Spinale

Hey friends,

I hope you’re having a great Monday!

These last couple weeks have been insanely busy and I’m hoping that this week will finally slow down. I have some videos to edit, photos to take, and posts to schedule in my “down time”.

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As you’re all aware, today is Monday (at least it still is in the States) meaning it Goodreads Monday! For those of you not familiar with this meme, Goodreads Mondays originated on Lauren’s Page Turners’ blog. To participate, you just showcase a random book from your Goodreads page. The twist is that I’m only going to feature my TBR shelf (aka the “want to read “shelf)  like many other people do so I guess it’s not that much of a twist, BUUUUUT, I’m also going to predict my star rating of the book! I’ve seen both Regan (PeruseProject) and Sam (Thoughts on Tomes) do 5 Star TBR Prediction YouTube videos and have been inspired to do a video or post but was struggling to find some 5-Star predictions. This is kind of my middle ground where I can predict my star rating and why and then revisit this post after I read it to see how close I actually was.

To pick the books for this, I’m putting my Goodreads want to read shelf number in a random number generator and letting fate pick the number for me. The lucky number for this week was 126 and as you can see from the title, the lucky book was Umberland by Wendy Spinale.

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Title: Umberland
Author: Wendy Spinale
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Steampunk
Source: Not owned/Library
Pages: 288

Synopsis

They’re dreadfully fond of beheading people here…

Gwen, Pete, and the others have escaped from Everland. Except the safe haven they hoped to find at Alnwick Castle doesn’t exist. With the Queen of England on her deathbed, Duchess Alyssa has stepped in, but things have gotten worse as the cure Doc created for the Horologia virus has mutated into something even more deadly. The only possible solution he can think of is to go back to the virus’s origin: an extinct poisonous apple.

Legend has it, though, that a tree bearing the apple might be found at the center of an impossible labyrinth hidden deep within Germany. A place no one in their right mind enters. With no other options, Alyssa sets out with only her sword, her wits, and the help of Maddox Hadder, a wild boy who oversees the castle gardens. To get to the center of the maze, she’ll be forced to battle monsters more terrifying than her darkest nightmares.

But can anyone truly survive the madness of the maze? And what if there’s no apple to be found there?

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Star Rating Prediction:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – 4/5

I first heard Hailey from Hailey in Bookland (time: 8:07) talk about this book/series and I’ve been pretty intrigued ever since. You guys know how much I love retellings (especially Alice in Wonderland retellings!). I started listening to the first book in this series last year and ended up putting it down. I wanted to follow along with the physical book and not be totally consumed by school when I give this series a read.

Because I like retellings and seen some good buzz from people that like similar books to me, I think I’ll end up liking this book/series

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Have you read Umberland or other books in this series?

What did you think?

Let me know below!