Book Nerd Sue

Numb ~ An Original Work

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Ah dear reader,

You see her again.

This time you are one of the people who looks at her oddly.

Why is she always annoyed?

Why does she look like she is half dead?

Why oh why?

I'm upset that you became one of the crowd.

Not caring about how our heroine feels.

Everyone seems to stare at her.

But why does no one ask her what is wrong?

Why is everyone ignoring her?

Why are YOU ignoring her, dear reader?

Weren't you just preaching about mental health and now?

I will never be able to see past this.

Our heroine, after she goes through the trauma in front of all her peers;

Is numb.

She does not feel anymore.

Was it something that could have been avoided by a simple question?

Are you okay?

Then why did no one ask it?

She feels no more.

Numb.

Forgotten.

Exist ~ An Original Work

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:00:00 +0000

That wasn't her last breath, dear reader.

Our heroine has started a new day.

She closes her eyes,

Breathes in,

She tells herself, today will be a better day.

But oh, do you see, dear reader?

Do you see the weight of the world on her shoulders?

Do you see the light of stress charging itself at her?

Do you see the people ignoring her?

Do you see?

Then why do you not do anything, dear reader?

Why have you also forsaken our heroine?

Did she not deserve the happiness that others seem to have?

Did she not deserve to live her life pleasurably?

Oh, why have you ignored her?

You did not know her story.

Our heroine opens her eyes and goes about her day.

Neglecting the pain that keeps growing in her.

She does not want to look at it any longer.

Until.

Until, her feelings implode when she drops her purse.

Until, she sees her best friend with the people that they both were supposed to hate.

Until.

You see dear reader, you could have helped our heroine out on this day.

Made her life a little easier.

At least for the day.

You didn't.

Just like the hundreds that ignored her existence.

****

This is a continuation of the short story(?) and follows Breathe. I don't know what this is supposed to be. But it is something. I swear it isn't supposed to be sad till the end, but do stick around for it.

I hope you all enjoy.

Ansu ^_^

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Pages: 435

Published Date: November 22nd, 2016

Genre: YA Sci-fi/ Dystopia

Series: Arc of a Scythe

SYNOPSIS

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

I don't know what my life was like before this book. I forget how I lived before this book was devoured by me. Scythe by Neal Shusterman is a Sci-fi dystopian novel - two things I am usually not a fan of. But this book was so intricately written and I cannot get enough of it.

I had 'read', rather listened to it on audio-book through Audible.com (not sponsored because let's be real, who reads my reviews anyway?) and I guess I really loved the narrator and that also added to the fact that I enjoyed this book way too much.

This book follows around Citra and Rowan who end up being Scythe apprentices which they do not expect to ever happen and this fact changes their lives. Now, they have the power to kill people, possibly the ones that they dislike even. In this world, we are in the future, where there are no longer any diseases, or problems. Everyone is rich and immortal. The only way one can permanently die and stay that way is through a Scythe. These people are like the priests of this day and age, where they are revered but in this case, people are also terrified of them. Because whenever a scythe is around, there is a good chance someone is about to die, and people run away from that possibility.

One thing that was mentioned in this book was the idea of people from the mortal age (that is, us) must have lived in constant fear of death; quite honestly, everyone lives on the edge in our world. People jump from planes! Like, they put their lives on the line and do not give a crap. We live in a world knowing that we are going to die one day and have made our peace with it. Whereas, in this world, everyone is in constant fear of death by a scythe that they have to think about it frequently.

The characters, especially Rowan is someone I will stand by, I love that kid. Citra was a little pretentious and full of herself, but I still liked her. The romance that was kindling between these characters though, I could have done without, as I did not think it was necessary in this story.

Overall, it was a well-written world because of the uniqueness of it, I have not read a story as such before and I could not stop listening to it.

Ansu ^_^

Breathe ~ An Original Work

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 13:00:00 +0000

She breathed in,

Telling herself that it would be alright.

Every single time people looked through her,

She kept telling herself it would be alright.

Was it really though?

She sees all the people around her laughing.

Happy!

She told herself she was happy.

Was she though?

That guy she thought was really cute,

He was one of the people who was laughing and happy.

That girl she thought was beyond beautiful,

She was one of the people who was laughing and happy.

Why is it, dear reader, that our heroine never really finds the true happiness that we think she deserves?

Why is it always so painful for her?

We look at her life and think is it really hard though?

Probably not.

We ignore her pleas for help.

She breathes in.

Is it her last breath?

****

I did something. I don't know where it came from, do not question me!

I hope you enjoyed this, if you did, share it and follow me on social media. *inserts more self promo*

Ansu ^_^

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 21:38:00 +0000

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Pages: 492

Published Date: July 8th, 2014

Genre: YA Fantasy / Romance

Series: The Remnant Chronicles

The Kiss of Deception is the story about Princess Arabella also known as Lia, who decides that she does not want to get married to the random Prince from Dalbreck. She decides to run away on her wedding day and gets away from her homeland. She lives a beautiful life as a maid for some time and things go disturbingly for her. Her nightmares become real when she is haunted by the people that she has abandoned, and the ones that want her dead.
The Prince who she was supposed to marry has come in search of her, to probably teach her a lesson, and an assassin from another country has been sent to kill her.
When all these things are put together into a novel, it is bound to kill the reader with its feels.

I had not expected much from this novel so my heart was not set for the feelings associated with this book. There were many plot points that I was thoroughly happy to see and this is one book to devour for sure.

Lia is a rebel for her age in this society, where she was supposed to be held in isolation for being a girl and a princess at that, she has rebelled against all odds and ran away for a life of her own. Her brothers seem to be pretty proud of her, which is a sweet thought to have.

Then we have the Prince and the Assassin - now this was something I was shocked with because I totally misread who the prince and assassin were supposed to be. I attached the wrong name to the title. Now I think this was done on purpose and I personally felt that it was well done.
It might be a situation where you read this and you completely know what is going to happen, but little Ansu had no flipping clue and she was left with her jaw dropping.

I expected the plot to have more of Lia escaping her homeland, as in the first few pages it is mentioned that she runs away and finds it difficult, but, let's be real, she's a princess! She should have had more detriments in her travel, but instead it was more like BAM! - now she is where she needs to be and she is living so peacefully.

Other than that, I thought this book was well-written in the way it was developed and thought through. I thoroughly enjoyed it and having also read the 2nd book in this series, I am glad I decided to pick it up.

Overall, I would say it was a very enjoyable read for me and I think you should give it an honest trial as well.

Ansu ^_^

Hi again!

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 15:52:00 +0000

So I stopped posting on this page for over an year, because I started a YouTube channel. While I love making videos and this whole other world that it created, I genuinely miss sitting down to write, and just explode with the words that I really want to say. Sometimes when making videos, I find myself forgetting many of the things that I want to say and vice versa. And although I am not the best at writing, I do enjoy it so much, that I find myself craving to write everyday.

SO!!!

I think I'm going to give this another go, and genuinely try to write interesting stuff on here. It might not be interesting to you, but things that make me feel good. It's mostly going to be related to bookish things, and not necessarily reviews like I previously did, but it definitely is something that I want to keep exploring.

I hope you will join me for this whole journey, because I would certainly be grateful.

See you all soon with another post.

Ansu...

Realm of Booktube

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 23:06:00 +0000

Booknerdsue - Booktube newbie tag

I finally did it, you guys! If you have followed this blog page for a while, you probably know that entering the world of youtube was something I really wanted to do. I finally pushed myself enought to actually film something and post.

While it isn't the best thing in the world, I am hoping I can power through making videos and keep enjoying them as much as I can.

Putting a voice to my face, I hope you guys can enjoy my reviews/ thoughts a little more. I'll talk to you all very soon.

Review ~ An Ember in the Ashes

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:00:00 +0000

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Pages: 446

Published Date: February 9th, 2016

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series: Yes, book 1 of An Ember in the Ashes

Uff. Where can I start with this one. It was a hunk of a novel with 2 perspectives. One is of Laia - Who seems to be a very weak girl who doubts herself at any given second and the other is of Elias- who is a Mask. Masks are trained fighters for the Empire, who are ruthless. They do not care about other people in most cases and lets anything slide that involves cold-blooded murder. There is a lot of action, adventure, mild romance, and a feel of a dystopian land.

I think this was one of the most well-written and exciting novel I have read in a really long time. I think it stands up there with Harry Potter in my heart.

Laia is a character that is portrayed as super weak and I think if I were in her shoes, I would possibly be much worse than her after losing all of my family. The torture and trouble that she had to go through to help the only living member in her family was just commendable.

Elias is someone I genuinely loved for some odd reason. He was the only one who seemed to care about other people when everyone surrounding him just wants to kill everyone. His characteristics was something I actually liked.

Keenan seemed like a guy who had a terrible past and is nice, but I cannot trust him with my whole heart. I feel like he would betray Laia or someone else, or it could just be the vibe that I got out of him.

I honestly thought that Helene was kind of a bitch, she had her qualities but the system broke her heart, she really didn't seem to care about the Scholars or anyone else outside of the school.

The Chef was a mysterious character that I just couldn't pinpoint a fact to why she was special. I think she has a dark past with the revolution, especially with Laia's mother or another thing that I thought of was that maybe the Chef liked Laia's dad, and he got married which also led her to hate the mother much more. I guess we'll get our most awaited questions answered soon enough.

The grand escape is something I look forward to, I would like to see how that plays out for them. Will they all survive

I thoroughly every minute of this book and devoured it in maybe 2-3 days, which is quite amazing for me as I can't seem to focus on one specific thing at the moment. But this was absolutely stunning!

Overall, a fantastic book and I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Winter

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Pages: 823

Published Date: November 10th, 2015

Genre: YA, Sci-fi Fantasy

Series: Book 4 of The Lunar Chronicles series

I finally have my review up for this novel. I did finish reading it in about November of last year. But hey, better late than never eh?

Winter is the final book in the series and it is one epic finale. All of our favorite characters who we have grown to love in the previous books have come together for this one. Princess Winter is loved by all the people on Luna and her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than Queen Levana itself. Obviously, this would irk the obnoxious woman. She has feelings for her childhood friend, Jacin and if he Queen knows of this she is going to be against it.

Winter seems to be weak because she doesn't use her powers for anything. She never manipulates anyone as she has sworn she would never do so for reasons that you would have to read about.

We see that all our favorite characters how equal portions of time in this book. The biggest mystery of why the disease is spreading is solved. And there is so much of heart-break and just a lot of action as well.

Characters - I really like Scarlet in this one. She was a little bit more likable than she was before and so was Wolf. Thorne, I mean do I have to even talk about him? He is sassy, perfect and just an all-rounder. Cress is sweet, innocent and just a ball of sunshine.

Kai just blended with the group perfectly well. I really liked that he was in this novel much more than the other ones. Cinder has developed into a much better character. She has to solve the problems that she has been thrown into. She has to make a ton of decisions as to whether she actually wants to stay in Lunar and how to even get there in the first place.

Winter being introduced in this novel as the most beautiful girl, and a little crazy at that was a refreshment. Everyone is so different from the other. Finding a resemblance amidst each other is one difficult task to achieve,

This whole novel will keep you on your toes asking for more than what it has delivered. Maybe even 4 more books to just try to sate us. This is the epitome of perfection.

Overall, I would highly HIGHLY recommend this series to anyone who is just getting into the YA genre.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Cress

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Pages: 550

Published Date: February 4th, 2014

Genre: YA, Sci-fi Fantasy

Series: Book 3 of The Lunar Chronicles series

By far this was my favorite book, probably of the year even. It was a beauty. the characters that were introduced in this installment was also just a treat to read. I ship Thorne with Cress so hard. When will he see her for the sweet person she really is?

I think I am repeating myself by saying that Thorne is the absolute best in the world. But Cress, who lives in isolation from everybody else made my heart break. All the times she expected to be taken away from the place, she was still left locked. When she thought that she was moving to Earth, she was left in this horrid little spaceship.

Marissa pokes fun at the idea of instalove in this book because Cress has all these expectations to what romance should be when it really is never supposed to be like that.

When she finally gets out of the spaceship with Thorne! I was just really scared for the both of them to actually stay alive through it all. I mean who really knows, right? I was in love with Thorne, why not kill him? That would have been a joke.

But all is well, or so we think.
They land in this desert place and Thorne can't see anymore??? How did that happen? I was confused about that. Did the debris get in his eyes and he can't see anymore! They are separated from the gang, and now Cress had to act like he was her husband to survive through everything that came their way. But oooh there were bad guys who hung out with them and acted as their friends.

This book just really killed me. It was absolutely perfect. I cannot wait to see how this series is going to end with the next book. I certainly cannot wait to get my hands on that one. I hope that it will be even better than this one.

Overall, just the easiest 5 stars that I have given out to any book.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Gathering Darkness

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

Pages: 416

Published Date: December 9th, 2014

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series: Book 3 of the Falling Kingdoms series

This is the third installment in the Falling Kingdoms series. Everyone wants the Kindred. The princesses, the king, the princes, the Watchers. All of them has different motives. Who will get them? Who will die? I guess we have to keep reading to figure that one out huh?

***

As we all know, this series was indeed hard for me to get into. Now that I have, gotten into it, holy shite! This book had a lot of elements in it that I absolutely loved. The world has been built in a way that I really enjoyed and the characters... let's talk about the characters shall we?

We have Magnus (of course I would start off with him), who I used to love and still do. He grew up as a character and his depth was clearly shown. How he tries so hard to be like his father (who is a piece of crap, I might add), but he still has that consciousness in him that what he or his father was doing was not right (that is killing people randomly out of nowhere). His 'love' for his sister has diminished a lot but we still see that there is a part of him that is slightly jealous of Alexius. But hey, the ending with Cleo gives me life. Can you guys get married already? Oh wait, you are. Now love each other please?

Cleo became a much more bearable character in this book. Her growth was also massive wherein she is not a brat who gets her way anymore, but tries really hard to get her throne back. Her relation with Jonas is throwing me, who does she end up with? Jonas or Magnus? Jonas and Lysandra I think would be perfect for each other as well.

FELIX! Oh my Felix, I wonder what ended up happening to him. Because he left, my heart was broken into bits and pieces. I hope that he will come back in the next book and rejoin the clan.

Nic being confused of whether he is straight or bi was a refresher. I never thought that a revelation could happen so suddenly. But I was totally shipping Prince Ashur with him. Wellllll, needless to say, that went drown the drain as well. Awesome.

The writing and plot twists were by far great with this one. I think this story has a lot more potential now. The world has been built. It is getting better by the page, and I cannot wait for the next one.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it. From a 2.5 stars we are up here now!

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Crooked Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 15:30:00 +0000

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Pages: 536

Published Date: September 27th, 2016

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series: Yes, book 2 of Six of Crows duology

What is that red thing on the floor there? Is that BLOOD? *looks closely* There it is. That's where my heart was ripped out and strewn!

What a fabulous piece of work this was. I think I and many others can back me up on this one - this was one of the best reads of the year, hands down.

Are you looking for action? - You got it.

Are you looking for romance/cutesy af scenes? - You got it.

Are you looking for representation of LGBTQ+ at least in the slightest? - You got it.

Are you looking for getting your heart broken? - YOU GOT IT!

***

This novel is the second and final installment of the Six of Crows duology and I don't think there can ever be a much finer piece of work that any one of us could ever read.

It takes off from the fact that Inej is still kidnapped and not found. Kaz and the rest of the crew are trying what they can at getting her back.

Although it appears to all of us that Kaz isn't interested with the rescue of Inej, we all know the truth lies wherein he wants her safe, it's pretty obvious.
Inej is suffering with the bad guys but she doesn't want to give off any information that could potentially jeopardize the entire troop of 5 people.

Of course all the OTPs work out to be great and Wylan and Jesper are super amazing. I could feel Wesper's heart break when Jesper mistakenly kissed Kuwei.
When I finally started liking Matthias, he decided to get himself killed, that felt great. The fact that Nina was so upset killed me. She finally got to be happy with this guy who she used to love for so long had died. And crap.

The action in this novel and the plot twists that came by in my path was stunning. I loved how Leigh got the plot to us was just ah! So good!

The ending warmed my heart when Inej's parents were reunited with her. Finally, after being tortured through so much in her life, things started looking up for her.
I wish there were more books to this duology. Like a couple hundred of them. That would have been great.

Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this story so much and I think you all should read this as it will make your life a billion times better than it is now.

Xoxo, Ansu

Top 5 Book Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Clearly we all love reading. Why else are you here reading through this page? Here are some of my favorite book quotes that either broke my heart, or was inspirational. There are obviously a ton more of these quotes that should make it here, but I tried my best to narrow it down to just these 5 book quotes.

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light" - Professor Albus Dumbledore.

This line is something that almost every book lover knows of. It is also a line that I tend to remind myself whenever I have days that I am upset in.

The Harry Potter movies and books pretty much summed up my entire childhood and I cannot start off a list without mentioning one of it's book quotes.

2. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

"To the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys." Rhys clinked his glass against mine. "To the stars who listen- and the dreams that are answered."

I think we all know how much I loved this book. Of course I would have a favourite quote in this book as well. This line speaks out to me because I like to just wish on stars and sometimes. I don't necessarily believe in it, but who knows? Right? Right.

3. Winter by Marissa Meyer

"Yeah, but broken isn't the same as unfixable" - Iko

Iko was on of my favorite characters in the book series The Lunar Chronicles.
This line hit close to home, because sometimes you don't really see how broken people are. Some of the things even when it seems that nothing is possible, can actually work out to be great in the future. Indeed nothing is 'unfixable'.

4. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

"I'll tell you a secret, Hanna. The really bad monsters never look like monsters."

The people who look the most sane usually end up being the psychopath who just kills everyone on a whim.

5. Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

"No. I can survive well enough on my own - if given the proper reading materials." - Celaena Sardothien

This line was self-explanatory. You give me a book, and some alone time and I am good. For hours. I could just sit reading and would just require the occasional watering and nutrition.

Just a thing I'd like to mention, these photos I got off of google and none of them belong to me in any way, shape or form.

Xoxo, Ansu

Review ~ Rebel Spring

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

Pages: 401

Published Date: December 3rd, 2013

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series: Book 2 of the Falling Kingdoms series

Auranos has been defeated, and Cleo has been dethroned and imprisoned. Four brave people, who will win this war? Many are loved and hated. King Gaius starts to build a road to the Forbidden Mountains, connecting all of Mytica.
The Kindred is key.

***

This novel was so much better than the previous book that grazed this planet. I finally started liking some of the characters just a bit more. The writing style became slightly better as well.

The characters - Cleo is still quite annoying, even though she is imprisoned. I have to give her brownie points just for being adamant about getting her throne back. But I would love to see a book wherein she can physically stand up for herself, rather than saying "unhand me" all the time.
Magnus is still a cinnamon roll whose character is being developed and we can see peeks of his true self.
Lucia is passed out for the majority of the novel and Magnus is melancholic. He obviously still loves her in an odd fashion that I cannot wrap around my head.
Nic and the tragedy that is his life. My heart hurts for you, mate.

Jonas is likable but I don't want him to end up with Cleo or someone. The rebels are weak, in planning and executing things as well. Jonas hears or brings in these 'great' ideas which end up killing everyone. I wish for once he actually listens to others and stop being cocky. I am sure he could do great things as a rebel leader, but that attitude is not going to get you anywhere, Jonas.

Brion. We'll just leave it there. That was unnecessary. I really liked him and he deserved to be happy.

Overall, this was much better than the mess that was the first book.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Scarlet

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Pages: 464

Published Date: February 5th, 2013

Genre: YA sci-fi/ fantasy

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2

Getting a head start into this series just made me super glad.While it didn't feel like it was better than the first one, I did enjoy it.

This story is a re-telling of The Little Red Riding Hood.

Our very enthralling Cinder is trying to escape prison; and if she succeeds in doing so, she will be the most wanted criminal of both the Commonwealth and Luna.

Halfway around the world, we have a redhead by the name of Scarlet who seems to think that her grandmother was abducted. She encounters a street-fighter by the name of Wolf and they travel to unravel a mystery! On this mysterious trip, they meet with Cinder, and now they have to work together.

***

I personally found that Scarlet was really lacking. Either she was solely focused on losing her grandmother, or Wolf and she seemed quite characterless because of this. I was hoping there would be more world-building in this novel, but I was still looking for parts where Meyer would talk about how WW3 occurred and how these people were left to survive.

Now moving those things aside, the story is obvious by the names of the characters and knowing what The Little Red Riding Hood was about. There are 'mysteries' in this novel, which weren't really hard to get.

Moving on to the part where Cinder shows up, trying to break out of prison. She literally falls into the prison cell of a Carswell Thorne (who I just decided to sell my soul to). Carswell is a criminal from many different countries and Cinder and Thorne obviously work together to get out of the prison which had many funny and thrilling moments in of itself.

Even though after being done with this one, I was slightly disappointed, I enjoyed the parts where Cinder and Thorne showed up as I really loved these characters. Thorne is such a witty guy that you cannot help but fall head over heels for the guy. Their adventures got to me and I couldn't keep the book down at those times. But when the switch was made to the POV of Scarlet and Wolf, I sadly just wanted to skip the pages at those times.

To me, it was an okay read, I still think that this series has so much more potential and will definitely finish it. This book and its characters weren't much for me. I could have done without them for now. Maybe my opinion will change in the future, but right now, Scarlet and Wolf are not that great.

Overall, just mediocre, but I still think this series will be great.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Six of Crows

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Pages: 465

Published Date: September 29th, 2015

Genre: YA Fantasy, Magic

Series: Yes, Six of Crows duology

Ketterdam is a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price. Kaz is offered an impossible heist, Will you do anything for the amount of money that is being provided to you? Will the heist be achievable? Can Kaz Brekker and his crew of 5 other people really make it through this time? Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction - if they don't end up killing each other.

***
Clearly, I am late to this as well but HOLY CRAP was this book good. I think it totally deserves all the stars in the world.

The story-world is something I have never seen before. The complexity of each of the places that were described, especially the heist's location was given with a lot of clarity. I usually end up not liking multiple points of views, but I genuinely loved the fact that this book had 5 POVs and depicted it beautifully.

The characters - Kaz I found to be like a lot of the YA depicts - unstoppable/amazing. But the one thing I really liked about him was that he was not perfect like most of the other characters are in usual YA literature. His voice is not like honey drippings or such, it shows how a person can be perfectly normal by being different in many senses. Jesper is in a way the comic relief with Wylan which I think was necessary in a lot of the parts and it was getting too dark for my liking.

Inej - I just really hope she ends up with Kaz. I mean, they clearly have a connection. MATTHIAS AND NINA - I felt like Bardugo was being such a tease with their story and not giving off much and concealing so much more that it drove me nuts! I need them together!!!

The only problem I had with this novel (and I think it was my own fault) is that I wished that Bardugo spoke more about the Grisha folk. Things like how they came to be is not clear in this novel - at all. Again I think that is my fault because I have not read the Grisha Trilogy.

I am super excited for the next book, I wonder what Leigh will do with the next one, here's to hoping it will be absolutely stunning!

Overall, this book is just epic. Like I literally have no words for this novel.

I have died. Not very peacefully, I might add.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Falling Kingdoms

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 17:53:00 +0000

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Pages: 412

Published Date: December 11th, 2012

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of the Falling Kingdoms series

After years of hearing great things about this series I finally decided to give it a shot and read it. I'll tell you this much, don't believe the hype, sometimes it's just not worth it.
I was not the biggest fan of this book, I am not too sure if it will get better in the future, but right now it just left so much for me to not like about it.

There are 3 regions - Auranos - a beautiful, rich and peaceful land, Limeros - snowy, beautiful but is ruled by the King of Blood, and finally Palesia - an extremely poor region that is ruled over by someone who is living in riches.

When I started there was some depth to the novel but it wasn't enough to help me reach that high level that various other books had left me to. I understand this is just the first book and requires some world building, but still, there were other books that stole my breath away with just that first book.

In this book, I barely fell in love with any of the characters and the only people I could stand reading about were Magnus and Nic. Even the main character, Cleo who was supposed to blow me away, was just meh. I found her to be quite a brat and a person who seemed to get everything done in one way, or go the high way. Her love interest in the novel was just so sudden. There is no way a person could just fall in love like that; she could have just thought of herself being in love with the person just because her sister, Emilia, went through a similar situation. I just found it to be annoying and not cute.

The love interests of this novel were questionable because the first love interest that is pretty evident to us is that of Magnus' feelings towards his sister. I was really disturbed by this, I could get it if they knew that they weren't related to each other at all. But the both of them thought from their childhood that they were in fact related and I found this to be really gross (?)

The ruthless King of Blood is like no other. Why he wasn't assassinated years ago, I will never understand. He is a despicable character who decides to just end everyone's life when they least deserve it. He kills witches but he has a person in his custody who is a flipping sorceress. Hypocrisy at its finest.

The writing aspect of this story was fine, not perfect, which hopefully will get better as the books keep progressing.

Overall, not very impressed but I will continue on with the series because I got book 2 and 3 already.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 22:48:00 +0000

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Holidays to all of you from the bottom of my heart.

Stay lovely.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Review ~ Lady Midnight

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 21:43:00 +0000

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Pages: 698

Published Date: March 8th, 2016

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series: The Dark Artifices Trilogy #1

Those of you who are familiar with the Shadowhunter series, welcome -this is a perfect place to be at. If in case you have no idea what the heck I am talking about, then please kindly try your best to read the preceding series i.e. The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare before you dive into this beautiful book.

Just a recap of what the Shadowhunters are - Shadowhunters or the Nephilim are warriors who are appointed by the angel Raziel to control and preside over the demons on Earth.

So let's get started. This book has been sitting on my to-read list for the longest time and I finally got the book from a friend :bless: and I have finally read it! I have to say that I was being really stupid waiting to read it for so long! But hey, the much awaited series is kicked off to a start and it is amazing. Cassandra Clare has never stopped to amaze me with her writing style and I am so proud of her for growing into such an amazing author.

The book starts off with Kit - someone who has the sight and we have never heard of before until now. I was really confused as to why this person who we don't know anything about started this book but holy, why did I not make the connection as to who this person really is!

We have Emma and Julian who we have previously seen in the The Mortal Instruments and loved because they lost many people of their family. In this book, we get to know them a lot better and of course they will break our heart, what did you expect? It is indeed a Cassandra Clare book.
Julian is the love of my life thank you very much. He is someone who is so selfless that he does so many things from taking care of his little siblings and running everything and I cannot understand how one can love their family so unconditionally.
The family including Julian, the twins -Ty and Livvy, Dru and Tavvy will be the death of me.Each character is so unique to their abilities and I really appreciate each and every one of them.
We have more diverse characters like Mark and Kieran (who I was not a big fan of in this book). And of course one cannot forget to mention Cristina who is also a badass with a past which we don't know till the end of the book.

With the characters of Julian and Emma, it is pretty obvious that Julian is in love with Emma from the beginning, but them being parabatai will pose some problems in the future which we don't know if it can be rectified. The scene where Julian shows his artwork from the secret room to Emma was an enticing scene.

As we figure out the villain for this book to be someone none of us would have even thought of, even though there were some very subtle signs in the beginning of the book. That reveal really blew my mind. I never saw that part coming.

The final scene of the book where Emma has the 'talk' with Julian will break anyone's heart. I just could not hold in my emotions. I for sure can understand why Emma did it, but the way she is going to go about with situation with Mark (which is absolutely gross by the way) is indefinitely going to kill Julian.
In the epilogue I think we have a new villain who will probably try to resurrect Malcolm or will try to destroy the Blackthorns.

Overall, this book will keep you on your toes and will kill all of you.

Xoxo, Ansu.

Major changes to the blog

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 19:08:00 +0000

My blog has been changing quite a bit in these few days. I just didn't love the previous set up and I honestly think that I would much rather get it to look simple, yet pretty.
I also found a way to put in social media icons which was great!
I will soon be changing my rating scale as well.

I hope you all like the changes ❤

Bookish Monday ~ Cinder

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Pages: 400
Published Date: January 3, 2012 (Yes, I am late to the party, hush up!)
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy
Series: Yes, The Lunar Chronicles (book 1)

I have never read a sci-fi before and man am I glad I got to doing that now!

Cinder is about a young girl who is a part human - part cyborg, who cannot seem to remember her life before she was 11. Whether it is in where she was born or her real family. She is adopted and brought to China and has a step family ever since she turned 11. She has 2 step-sisters, one of which is really happy to have her there and the other who seems to be upset about this situation. The step-mother is really not fond of the fact that her husband brought forth a random girl from one of his travels and has many questions which have been left unanswered.
While she works at her workshop in the present day she meets the Prince of the region who everyone seems to be fascinated by and she too is hooked once she sees him in real life. The story goes south through the many accusations that are put on Cinder and the many uncovering of secrets that are earth shattering and life-changing for our beloved Cinder.

I am so thrilled I read this book. I know it is has been a long long time since this was published but let's not talk about that. This entire world is in the future even after when WWIII surpasses (let's just hope that never happens). There is a whole new world on the moon for generations and there are people with and without powers on the moon which is fascinating.

Okay, so let's just state a fact here that I mentioned earlier. This is my first ever sci-fi read, so don't blame me if you think this not the perfect example of a sci-fi. I have always wanted to get into The Lord of the Rings series, but had failed.

I enjoyed the characters that were introduced - especially Iko. It/she seems like such a loyal android that would always stick by Cinder and probably could help save her life one day.

The creation of Lunars and how terrible they are really astounded me. I wonder if there is going to be stuff like that in the future! Lunars are just normal human-like entities, but they live on the moon. Many of them have special powers that can help them control people. There are different stages of this entity and the ones that have no special powers are taken away and killed.

Anywho, I loved this book and I know that there are obviously people out there who probably did not like this one. But bah! This is awesome!

Overall, I am glad I picked this up finally!

Ansu/BookNerdSue

Xoxo

Bookish Monday ~ A Court of Mist and Fury

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 09:30:00 +0000

***This post is posted on a Thursday and still called Bookish Monday because IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 640

Published Date: May 3rd, 2016

Genre: YA Fantasy/ Romance

Series: Yes, book 2

Price: $21.99

I would NOT recommend this book for kids under 16 as it has a lot of sexual moments

It's been a minute and a half since I uploaded - good job, Ansu.

But hey, I have been reading pretty well so I am happy!

***

Feyre survived Amarantha's wrath and saved a ton of the faeries by doing so. But now she pays the price by having constant depression because of what she had to do to get them out of the hellhole. Moreover, there is the bargain with Rhys which still holds, even though he hasn't shown up in the longest time. Feyre has to set her future accordingly and decide what to do of her newly found powers. Will she be happy ever again and be with the one she truly loves? Find out through this overly exciting sequel!

***

Ahhhhhhhh!!! This is by far one of the best books i have read in a really long time!
The character development of each character is spectacular, especially Feyre, she seems mature now and is not a purely naïve girl who knows nothing of what she is doing. The only problem I faced with her is that she cut off painting in her most distressful times which probably could have helped her through her depression. I do understand why she did this, but still.

Tamlin is, well, a giant ass. We knew this would happen in the first book, but he too has his problems and he is scared of losing Feyre that he is going to the extent of almost controlling her every move which seemed annoying to me. Feyre is trying to push through it but mostly in vain.

Lucien is like a puppy who has to follow orders and can't seem to do anything else, which again I get, he couldn't do anything else other than listen to Tamlin.

RHYS holy smokes, how good is he? If you read the book you probably know why.
A lot of people aren't fond of Rhys but I genuinely liked his character and the fact that he was really trying so hard to make Feyre independent and better with her mental state of distress. Rhys is viewed as a 'bad boy' with no character but this book shows how one grows up and tries to be a better person in the sense of being more humane.

You would expect there to be a second book syndrome but pfft that didn't even come near this book. It started off a little slow to me, but the second Rhys showed up everything just went great!

I also have heard diverse opinions of people not liking the change in Tamlin, but even in the first book he seemed like he would be really bossy, and was just a pretty boy with almost no character, which he ended up being.

When Tamlin went about to hurt Feyre by keeping her on a leash when she was clearly having a lot of problems...
When you love someone, you treat them like an equal rather than try and be all bitchy to them!
I found it quite annoying how he treated her.
Although, I did feel like Tamlin was really shunned and became the bad guy to make Rhys look like an angel.

The only problem I had with this book is that there were no other race of people, all of them were described to be pretty white af! There were many more different characters introduced and I felt like at least one of them could be a non-white.

THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK!
I don't want to give off any spoilers but holy shit that was one of the best things I read. When the 'thing' was removed, I cried for hours!

Overall, this book is a great addition to the series, and is much better than the first one! Totally worth it!

Ansu/BookNerdSue

Xoxo

Bookish Monday ~ Ignite Me

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Pages: 421

Published Date: February 4th, 2014

Genre: Romance, Dystopian

Series: Yes, Final Installment - Book 3

Price: $12.50

This blogpost could have mild-major spoilers for the previous books in the series, be forewarned!

This is the final book in the Shatter Me trilogy and this is one of my favorite books in a very long time.
The Omega point is destroyed and now Juliette thinks everyone has died just like Warner thinks. She is destroyed because she lost her best friend, Kenji, and a ton of people she genuinely cared about. She has to trust one of the most unlikely person, who she used to despise!
He helps her to start using her powers in a way that would hopefully save them all.

Read this thrilling novel to find out more and what happens to all the characters that we seemed to fall in love with. This novel is filled with a lot of drama, romance, and just a lot of cuteness!

***

First off, I really enjoyed this book thoroughly. Like the previous books this was also a very fast read and I flew through it in no time.Warner has to break the news to Juliette that all the people she ever learned to care about is dead, including her best friend. This cracks Juliette and she wants to make sure she avenges their deaths.She obviously has to join forces with Walter and make it through this whole process of being alone in the world.

The writing style is pretty much the same as the previous ones except this time, there is no rewriting words as she is much more stronger. It still has a poem effect to the novel which I really found refreshing and enjoyed thoroughly.

Character-wise, Juliette definitely improved she became much stronger and smarter, and started using her powers as well as she could possibly get to use them.
Warner has shown so many great traits which he already had shown in Fracture Me but in this novel he lets Juliette know of everything and obviously who wouldn't fall in love with that?
Adam's choices are obviously not justified and he is really mean throughout this book and he is quite irrational.
Kenji is still bae, let's make that very clear. If I had a friend like that. I would probably die.Kenji had some of the best dialogues as usual in this novel which made me burst out laughing for such a long time.
James is a lot more curious obviously and much more adorable and I just want to give him a giant hug. Okay? Okay.

*** Spoilers***

When Juliette finally realized that Warner was a good guy, she obviously had to fall in love with him. The only thing I didn't like about that is Tahereh really made Adam look like a monster. For telling Juliette that she was weak and treating her like so.

The scenes with Warner and Juliette together just made my heart melt all over again. Jesus.

I honestly just detested Adam in this book. He was being quite annoying behaving like he owned the rights to Juliette's life and love. I thought he would make a better couple with someone much more quieter than Juliette; and probably even a person who has ZERO self worth!

I was so glad that nobody died, it really was a pleasant surprise. I really expected James to just drop dead at any second; same with Warner and Kenji. It was heck of a lot stressful! But glad that no one we grew to love just ended up in the grave for now.

***End of spoilers***

I was really happy with this book. It has been a while since I genuinely enjoyed a book in a very long time.And I think this book series is actually going to be worth every penny and time of your life.

It has a lot of romance like I have been saying for the past books. The romance is very intense in this one, and if that makes you squirmy I don't know if this will be a perfect match for you.

Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I hope you do too.

Ansu/BookNerdSue

Xoxo

Bookish Monday ~ Unravel Me

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 13:03:00 +0000

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Pages: 461

Published Date: February 5th, 2013

Genre: Romance and Dystopian

Series: Yes, Book 2

Price: $12.50 CAD

Juliette has finally escaped from the hands of Warner and ran off with Adam and Kenji to the Omega Point. She is still obviously scared of her powers but she still wants to fight back against the Reestablishment. She can't seem to get rid of Warner from her life as it is obvious that he is going to try and find her. She has to make a lot of decisions which will in turn effect hers and Adam's life.

This is an absolutely thrilling novel and i haven't read one like it in so many months! I am so glad I decided to do this to my heart. Juliette does still feel slightly week but she tries to power through it towards the end which is really refreshing. There are so many surprises in this book which made me really shocked.

I would really suggest you read the novella Destroy Me before you get to this book, the reason being you will be able to appreciate Warner and his life and if you just jump into this one you might not feel the same way. You could also be really confused as to what happens in certain scenes as well.

*spoilers*

Let's talk about Adam! He just seems so moody in this novel and I was highly disappointed in it. I mean I get why he is down, he figures out that he is not completely immune to Juliette and she obviously is scared for his well-being that she breaks up with him. This is supposed to be super heart breaking scene but I don't know Adam doesn't seem to get the hint that it is over.

After going into war with the Reestablishment, we see that Juliette almost kills Anderson because she feels bad for Warner and I died at this point because my baby Warner was so badly hurt throughout his entire life - Anderson gets shot in both the legs and I was laughing hysterically at this because he called his son for being weak and just outdone by a mere girl.

Kenji decides to stop the murder and takes Warner with them to Omega Point to keep him hostage in hopes that his father will come back fro him and they could get their fellow friends who Anderson took as hostages back! Right before they leave is when Adam figures out that Anderson is his father too - meaning Warner, James and Adam are siblings! *dead*

The fight between Adam and Warner which Kenji and Juliette interrupts, leading Kenji to almost die? Do you realize that Kenji was my favorite character in the series? Do you realize my pain?

The scenes she has with Warner, hot damn. I honestly felt slightly uncomfortable at first because Juliette still didn't say anything to Adam when he said that he would do something to fix his problem with touching her. But that scene of Warner and Juliette together is just flipping awesome!

FINALLY, the 'second' war, I thought James died. Do you know how many hours I cried my little heart out? And Juliette is shot dead! Excuse me? She is saved but she was SHOT in front of Warner by Anderson to be taught a lesson.

I can safely say he is worse than Voldemort. I hate Anderson with my whole life.

*end of spoilers*

What am I to do with my life now? Send help?!

The writing style was still awesome with the poem-like feeling of it.

The characters did develop a little I just wish Juliette got developed a little more. She is a bad-ass and he superpower is a mixture of Hulk (with breaking through things really quickly) and Rogue (with the lethal touch). I have never seen anything like that in any of the novels I have read so far.

I already have a new ship which is sailing (hopefully in the future, because - such chemistry).

I already sold my heart out to Warner because why not guys?

Overall, such a great and fast read!

Ansu/ BookNerdSue

Fangirl Friday ~ Supernatural

noreply@blogger.com (ReadwithAnsu) — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

I am into season 4 at the moment in Supernatural.
Let's get this straight, I have been meaning to watch the show in the longest time and just got round to it now.
Let's just agree that both Sam and Dean are cutie pies. Yeah? Yeah.
I have to keep wondering how many times those two are going to get themselves killed and then flipping resurrect again.
The only problem that I have faced with the show other than it being slightly ridiculous is the fact that Jensen Ackles really does sound like Batman!

But aside from that I am a fangirling mess of a human at the moment. I have spent more time watching Supernatural than reading. Woops.

I know, not good Ansu, but hey, it's a lot of fun!

I honestly love Bobby's character so much and is it a wonder that I keep expecting him to drop dead all of a sudden?

Obviously everything is peachy isn't it? I mean I am not dying or anything like that. I hope that this series will not kill me, but don't we all know that I am lying to myself and it surely will? Just go watch this show, I think it will be worth it.

Ansu/BookNerdSue

Xoxo