Quite Literary

Book Review: A Gathering of Shadows by Victoria Schwab

2016-02-25T02:42:00.000+05:00

Series: Shades of Magic #2
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor
My rating:

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London. In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port. But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.

*awkward silence* What do you mean, I haven't updated this blog in over two weeks?

*cricket sound* Oh, right. Well. School is keeping me busy. And I tend to start lots of new tv shows and never finishing them. But hey, look! The sequel to my favourite book came out!

Enjoy this weird review, or at least pretend to, for my sake. It's only polite. (I am kidding. Kind of.)

It's always been harder for me to write reviews for books that I liked than for the ones I hated.

There is only so many times I can say amazing world-building! and such unique characters! without it feeling over-used. It's rather hard to describe my love for my favourite books.

And it's even harder for me to review A Gathering of Shadows, because it may be my absolute favourite book so far.

Until yesterday A Darker Shade of Magic has been my favourite book. I really didn't think that anything could get better than it, but of course Victoria Schwab proved me wrong.

I really don't get how she does it. Every single page of this book was perfect. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that I didn't like or that bothered me. I wasn't bored once, the story kept me on edge all the 500 pages through. *insert cliche of me not being able to turn the pages fast enough*

Victoria's writing and story-telling isn't just compelling. It's... there is literally no word for it. Imagine your favourite song, how it flows in one magical piece. That's what this book was like for me. Somehow Victoria pieced this story perfectly together, where I couldn't stop reading it, and couldn't stop feeling.

The best books for me are the ones that make me feel something. And in AGOS there wasn't a single chapter I haven't felt the magic, or happiness, sadness, anger or love. I felt every single emotion the characters were going through.

Honestly, it was a surreal experience, I felt like I was in this amazingly developed world.

Schwab's characters aren't just well-written, they are alive. Or well, at least they feel alive.

I am pretty sure Schwab made a deal with some supernatural power, because her writing can't be human. I've never read something so fascinating. (Wow, this sounds so cheesy and dumb. Someone stop me.)

Now, AGOS was a more character-driven story than ADSOM. And I couldn't be happier about it, since I would sell my first-born for these characters. Old characters underwent marvelous character-development, new characters were introduced who I fell in love with. Ships sailed, plot-twists destroyed me and lots of tears fell.

Lots. Of. Tears.

You see, Schwab's books haven't had a cruel cliff-hanger until now. AGOS has probably one of the most painful endings I have ever read. When I finished the book I was crying and screaming and throwing things around the room. It was not a pretty image. Thank god my mom is already used to this or she would have probably called an ambulance.

But honestly? Despite the pain, the ending was perfect.

Schwab ended it on a marvelous note, leaving hundreds of questions open and the readers filled with a desperate need for the next book. *applause* *hysterical crying*

I will count the days until I get to know the rest of the story. It will probably be even better than the first and second book combined. It will crush all my feelings, it will be the hardest thing to finish my favourite story on this planet (yes, maybe there are aliens who have an even better story, who knows), but I can't wait.

ABOUT MAGGI

Still crying over AGOS. School is kicking her ass and she had to lower her goodreads reading challenge. But exams are over soon, so she'll catch up with her tbr then.

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Most Anticipated Books of 2016

2016-02-03T19:25:00.000+05:00

WOHO, we did it! We survived the first month of 2016. I hope you all had an amazing January. For me it was a rather busy month with school and exams, so I didn't get to updating this blog, but now I'm on break and thought why not share my top 9 most anticipated books of 2016.

This list has been changing a lot for the past few months since I kept discovering new amazing books and some other sequels (like the next Throne of Glass book) just don't interest me anymore. So here we go with my Top 9 most anticipated books of 2016.

1. Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

Kings Rising is the last book in the Captive Prince trilogy and it actually already came out on the 2nd of February. My copy sadly did not arrive yet and I'm just dying with all the goodreads updates of my friends and trying to avoid the spoilers. The last book ended with a huge cliffhanger and I need this book right now.
I read the first two books about two weeks ago and immediately fell in love with them, the characters are just amazing.
Captive Prince is a historical fiction M/M romance, and if you're considering to read this don't forget to check the trigger warnings (there are a lot of them!) and stay safe.
There are also going to come out two novellas I think, which I also can't wait for.

2. The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

Again, The Winner's Kiss is also the last book in an amazing trilogy, and the last book also ended with a cliffhanger. It seems that authors do enjoy torturing us.
Anyways, The Winner's Trilogy is on my Top 10 of all time favourite books, since the writing is breath-taking and the characters are all so unique! Plus, my OTP of OTP's is Kestrel x Arin, and I can't wait to see how their story progresses.
I actually requested and ARC for this, since I already got one for the second book, but so far I haven't heard back from the publisher. My fingers are crossed!

3. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

We don't even have a cover for this book yet, so I'll just leave the cover of the first one here.
If you haven't read Six of Crows yet, do me a favour and pick this book up as soon as possible. This fantasy novel has some of the best-developed characters I've ever read about and the plot had me on edge the whole time.
I can't wait to see what Leigh Bardugo has in store for us. I only hope she won't completely wreck me. I need all my Dregs to be happy.

4. Half Lost by Sally Green

I don't know how many of you have read the Half Life trilogy, but I would recommend it to anyone and their sister! If you enjoy modern day witches and angsty teenagers plus a bisexual main character, you should definitely get these books.
If you have read them you will understand my pain and need for the last book. It better end well or I will have to kill someone.

5. The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

Again, the cover for the third book in The Bone Season series wasn't released yet, but I bet it's going to be as pretty as the previous ones.
This is a high-fantasy/sci-fi dystopia set in 2059. It has some great world-building and I got surprised by plot-twist after plot-twist. The cliffhanger get worse with every book but I still love this series so much. Even if The Song Rising ends with a horrible cliffhanger again I will write Samantha a thank you card for all the tears.

6. Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

The cover for this novel was released a couple of days ago and I am swooning, it's stunning!
I usually don't read many middle grade books, but to be honest, I would read anything by Tahereh Mafi. Her writing is just so gorgeous! I completely fell in love with it in the Shatter Me trilogy and I can't wait to get bewitched by her lyrical writing again.

7. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

I have already mentioned it more than once that Victoria Schwab is my favourite author ever. I have read and loved almost all her books so far and I can't imagine not loving this one either.
I don't even know what this will be about, something about monsters and such, and I won't read the synopsis because I just want to dive right into it!

8. A Gathering of Shadows by Victoria Schwab

Don't you love it when your favourite author brings out not only one but two new books in a year? I know that I do.
A Gathering of Shadows is the sequel to the amazing A Darker Shade of Magic, which was my favourite book of 2015. I loved the first book so much and it was just utterly perfect. I can't imagine how the sequel can get any better, but the way I know Victoria it will definitely overcome all my expectations. I can't wait to be swept off my feet by this beautiful book.

9. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

My most anticipated book this year just has to be The Raven King. With all the changes with the release date we've waited long enough I think.

On one hand I can't wait to see how this series ends, on the other hand I'm not ready for all the pain that will come with it. I'm not ready to say goodbye to these characters and the magical story. There are so many questions that have to be answered, I can't imagine how this will all fit into one book. The waiting is killing me guys.

I have two main wishes for this book:

1) PYNCH to get canon and therefore Adam Parrish being canonically bisexual.

2) Everyone to be happy in the end. I won't survive otherwise.

So yeah, that were my most anticipated books of 2016. What about you guys? What are some of the books you can't wait for? Let me know! :-)

ABOUT MAGGI

She is currently crying over fanfiction and cursing her bookstore for not delivering books more quickly.

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Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

2016-01-12T18:15:00.001+05:00

Genre: YA | Fantasy | Romance
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
My rating:

Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen. That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right. Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up. Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.

Actual Rating: 3,5

This isn't a bad rating, not really. I enjoyed this book a lot. It's just, with all the hype going around, I expected something more spectacular.
All my friends adore this book and 99% of the reviews I've read have been praising it to no end. I get why people enjoyed it, but I can't get the hype.

I mean, yes, the characters were amazing and super entertaining. The romance was super cute and I didn't find it that cheesy. I loved Baz's chapters especially, and in the end the book is just exactly what I love; two magical idiots in love with each other plus some kind of mysterious quest. But I must say the characters and romance, plus the writing, was the only thing I enjoyed.

The plot, not so much. The beginning was super dragging and boring. I nearly DNF'ed it. When the Baz finally showed up I nearly cried in relief, because some things finally started happening. Plus, I could enjoy Baz angsting over him being hopelessly in love with Simon.
(His chapters made me so emotional, oh my god. Rainbow Rowell did an amazing job with Baz's characterisation.)

And while yes, there was some kind of plot and random mysterious chapters, it didn't really grip me.

In the end I didn't continue reading it because I was desperately waiting for the solution, I just wanted some more Simon/Baz fluff. (I mean, the kissing scenes from Baz POV are to die for. I love this idiotic vampire so much.) (Can someone also please tell me why it is so hard for some authors to say the word bisexual? I just don't get it. This is one of the things that annoyed me to no end.)

Sometimes the plot was also pretty predictable, I saw the twists coming from a mile off, so the mystery wasn't a mystery for me at all.

So since the plot-line on it's own didn't captive or interest me at all I'm reducing the rating to 3,5 stars. I'd love to give it 4 stars, really, but I just can't do it.

All in all I still enjoyed this book very much, it made me laugh and cry, but in the end the lack of plot and real world-building annoyed me. If Rowell would have developed this further this book would be nearly perfect, at least for me.

ABOUT MAGGI

Her quest this year: graduate high-school, survive the adult world and read as many LGBTQ+ books as possible. So far she managed to read two LGBTQ+ books. The other tasks scare her.

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Favourite Books of 2015

2015-12-31T05:41:00.001+05:00

2015 is coming to an end. (How did this even happen? Did I even have a birthday? Time flies so fast, what even.) And every single social media is reminding me of my activities this year, Goodreads included. So I thought why not present you my favourite books of this year.

To be honest, it was rather hard to make this list. I had anticipated a lot of books this year, but in the end the majority of them (especially sequels like Queen of Shadows or End of Days) disappointed me. I managed to narrow down the list to 8 books, in no particular order. (Though yes, A Darker Shade of Magic is my number 1 favourite of this year and of all times.)

1. A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab

In case you don't know, Victoria Schwab is my favourite author. There isn't a single book of her that I haven't loved with all my heart. And ADSOM was no exception. Like I already mentioned, it became my favourite book of all times. The world-building is amazing, and Victoria has this really easy style of explaining it. The characters are super fun and the plot kept me on edge. Plus, the cover is just stunning!

2. The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

... talking about favourite books of all time, before ADSOM came out, my favourite was The Winner's Curse, the first book in The Winner's Trilogy. It was such a refreshing fantasy novel with breath-taking writing. Marie Rutkoski could write a grocery list and I'd still read it. The sequel, The Winner's Crime, was even better than the first one. The twists kept me gasping and worrying and the cliff-hanger was just cruel. Plus, the romance is so painful, just the way I like it. Anyone who enjoys fantasy novels with political intrigues and a strong female protagonist, go pick up these books, then come back and cry with me.

3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I've only finished this book yesterday, but it's already on my top five list. If you've read my review you know how much I just love the characters of this book. They are so well developed and all so unique. The character dynamics and dialogues are super fun and the story-line surprised me every damn time. There wasn't a single chapter that I found boring. It was a very entertaining and captivating read. I would recommend this book to everyone and their sister.

4. Half Wild by Sally Green

Half Wild is the sequel to the amazing fantasy novel Half Bad. The book is about modern day witches. Amazing, right? The protagonist is a canon bisexual, biracial little soft punk who will fight everyone in order to protect his friends and family. The writing is really unique and the characters are all so amazing. If you ask me about my OTP, I will either answer Pynch from The Raven Cycle or Nabriel, from this amazing series. These two will literally melt your heart and then tear it out and shred it to pieces.

5. The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

The Mime Order is another sequel, to the amazing fantasy novel The Bone Season. While the first book had some flaws, like the info-dumping at the start, it was still a really interesting read. This series strength is the storyline and world-building. Plus, the various cast of characters is also pretty amazing. Whereas the first book left me stunned and speechless, because of it's plot-twists and cliff-hanger, The Mime Order was even better.

6. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Uprooted was, in my opinion, one of the most original high-fantasy novels of this year. It will remind you of the fairy tales you used to read when you were little. The atmosphere that Novik created in this book was just breath-taking. Her writing is magical (ha ha!) and I can't praise this book enough. At times I had to put this book down because it just became too much. It made me feel so much, happiness and nostalgia. If you're a fan of fairy tales, go pick this up. You won't regret it.

7. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The main reason I picked up TWATD is the diversity of the characters and because it's a retelling of A Thousand and One Nights. But what got me in the end was the writing. Renee's depiction of the scenery and the world literally took my breath away. Reading it I could perfectly imagine what she was describing, I was transported into the world of the book. I love when this happens. The plot and characters are also pretty interesting, though there is one character who's POV I would have loved to cut out, he dragged it all a bit down. Otherwise, a really well written retelling.

8. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Maybe you have noticed that all the books so far are fantasy novels. Well, it is my favourite genre. But sometimes, when I'm in a reading slump or book hangover I just need a light and funny contemporary romance. I especially enjoy it if it's funny. Simvon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda was all these things. The narration was so hilarious, I was laughing my ass off. And everything was just super cute and heart-warming. I love how it wasn't just focused on the romance but also dealt with topics as sexuality, family and friends. Definitely my favourite contemporary of 2015.

I've read some other great books this year, but these are my top 8. Let me know what you're favourites of this year are!

And that was it from me for this year. I hope you all have a fantastic New Year's Eve! (:

ABOUT MAGGI

Maggi is currently debating whether she'll manage to finish another book before 2016 comes knocking. Probably not.

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Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

2015-12-30T00:00:00.000+05:00

Series: Six of Crows
Genre: YA | Fantasy
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
My rating:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone... A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

I'm a bit late to this party. It seems like everyone and their mother has already read this book. And the funny thing is, I haven't seen a single negative review on this book, nothing below 3-stars. All of my friends have loved it and there was so much hype around it when it came out.

To be honest, I was really suspicious about it. It couldn't be that good, could it?

Well, I was wrong. It is that good. Even better than I imagined.

You see, I wasn't the biggest fan of the Grisha trilogy, so even after everyone told me the two series are very different, I was still cautious. I was in a reading slump when I started this book and not many releases of this year have impressed me. But already after the first two chapters I knew I would have a marvelous time reading this.

And I had. I was hooked from page one right to the end. There wasn't a single chapter I found boring or dragging. Not once did I want to put this book down. There is literally nothing I disliked about this book, which hasn't happened in such a long time. It's one of those books where you can't turn the pages fast enough.

Sure, there was one character of the six I didn't like as much, Matthias, but I still loved his chapters. The story-line was just so captivating and the character-dynamics and dialogues so entertaining.

I haven't read a book with such well-developed characters in a long time. I love how shaddy, messed up and brilliant they are. There wasn't a single decision the characters made that I was angry about, which happened a lot in the Grisha trilogy. (I should stop comparing these two but I just can't help it.)

The plot-twists kept me on edge the whole time. I haven't seen a single twist coming (beside the ones I've been spoiled for, thank you very much tumblr) and Leigh Bardugo just astonishes me with how she came up with this story with all the twists and characters. This book was so much better than the Grisha book put together.

And I have nothing to criticize about the writing, it was flawless.

Honestly, I have zero complains, except: WHY IS THE SECOND BOOK SO FAR AWAY? and WHY WAS THE CLIFF-HANGER SO CRUEL?

In conclusion, this is competing with A Darker Shade of Magic for the best book I've read this year.

ABOUT MAGGI

She spends her nights reading until 4 am and crying over fictional characters. The ending of Six of Crows ruined her but at least she's out of her reading slump.

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Book Review: Shadowshaper by Daniel José Olde

2015-12-25T01:55:00.002+05:00

Genre: YA | Fantasy
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
My rating:

Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra's near-comatose abuelo begins to say "No importa" over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep.... Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on. Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order's secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wants to become the ultimate Shadowshaper by killing all the others, one by one. With the help of her friends and the hot graffiti artist Robbie, Sierra must dodge Wick's supernatural creations, harness her own Shadowshaping abilities, and save her family's past, present, and future.

What do you mean I haven't updated this blog in a month? Well, you see, I was in the biggest reading slump ever. I just couldn't read any book I had, and the books I wanted to read I would only be getting on Christmas. So I ended up just reading Pynch fanfiction. Then I joined the novelist club on tumblr, and we picked up this book for this month. It still took me over a week to read it, but on the bright side, it's Christmas eve, that means I'm getting new books!

Actual Rating: 1,5

I'm still not sure about my rating, because to be completely honest, there was really nothing I enjoyed about this book. (Except maybe the diverse characters. Plus points for that!)

Sure, it was pretty original and the idea of artists who bind souls to their art is quiet interesting, but it was poorly executed.
While the premise is original, the story line was quite cliché.

You know the story of the girl who is confronted with an unusual happening and the solution is the cute new guy? This is one of those stories.
Our MC sees some unusual stuff about the art in her city and her grandfather starts telling her some weird things. To find out what is going on she has to confront the new quiet guy, who she finds strangely endearing. Of course he is attractive and has a lot of stuff in common with the MC, and he's the only one who is able to help or, or in our case explains the supernatural world to her.
Naturally, it takes him some time to open up so he can stay mysterious. It goes on with the MC trying to understand this world on her own, with some hints from the cute guy and some of her family members.

In the end, I think the plot was way too complicated and the whole situation could have been solved easily if people would actually start talking. But since everyone stayed vague with their explanations the story was dragged out and it bored me to hell.

Some of the dialogues, especially between the MC and the cute guy, were super awkward and cringy. I guess they were supposed to be cute but I couldn't stop rolling my eyes.

The writing isn't really spectacular and the plot-twist just didn't do it for me. Therefore, 1,5 stars.

ABOUT MAGGI
Happy Christmas Eve to everyone! Maggi is stuck with her family, but at least she's getting new books. And since she's on a break now, she can read as many books as she wants.
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Book Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

2015-11-23T03:33:00.001+05:00

Series: The Lunar Chronicles
Genre: YA | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
My rating:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long. Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

The first word that comes to my mind when I think about this book is perfection.
But if I really think about it, it was not really perfect. Still great, but not flaw-less.

Since school is sucking the life out of me, I won't write a proper review, but still give you some of the things I didn't like and the things I liked.

First, the dislikes:

- Too much was happening at times, and the plot and writing suffered from it.
Some plot lines weren't even that necessary, since they were forgotten 50-pages later and never mentioned again. These side plots seemed a bit lazily written and not completely thought through.
I think the problem could have been solved sooner and the book could have been at least 200 pages shorter.

- There were too many repetition. Like, someone would get captured but then managed to escape, only to get captured again 100 pages later. It happened way too often and got a bit boring and annoying.
There wasn't much that surprised me in this book, and the majority of the plot-twists were quite predictable.

Other than that, I enjoyed this book a lot.

Winter's story was super interesting, and she as a character was really refreshing. Also, her relationship with Jacin was so sweet and honest. Her chapters were one of my favourite, though to the end it felt like Meyer didn't put much effort into developing Winter's character and her story further. Her ending just felt a bit... flat.

Cinder was as badass as ever, though some of her decisions were pretty stupid. Nevertheless, I love how her ending wrapped up and that she lived up to her potential. Kai was a cutie as ever.

Scarlet and Wolf were as heart-wrenching as ever, and I just loved Scarlet's and Winter's friendship. They were so weird and fun together.

Cress and Throne... I will never get over these idiots. They're my favourite couple of this series, though I disliked their story-line in Winter a bit, but their ending was amazing.

All in all I think the story was just a bit dragged out, and it would have been better if it was shorter.

ABOUT MAGGI
School is killing her, and she is in a weird reading-slump. All the reading she does these days is Pynch fanfiction and her calculus book. She also feels awfwul because she hasn't updated the blog in a long time.
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NaNoWriMo

2015-11-10T01:46:00.002+05:00

Hey guys, it's November! Can you believe it? Because I can't. Time is going so fast.

Anyways, November means so many different things for me, like exams! sweater weather! beautiful park walks with all the fallen leaves!

But most of all November 2016 for me means NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, it "is an annual, Internet-based creative writingproject that takes place during the month of November. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words (the minimum number of words for a novel) from November 1 until the deadline at 11:59PM on November 30. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing and keep them motivated throughout the process" (yes, I just copied + pasted this from Wikipedia).

I have participated in NaNoWriMo last year, or more like, tried to. I wrote 256 words overall. Yep, I failed big time. My mistake last year was not planning anything and editing the first 200 words I wrote over and over again.

This year I swore to be better, and you know what? This year's NaNoWriMo has been amazing so far!

Not only have I reached a total of 16,359 words in 9 days, but I also met a couple of amazing new people. We motivate each other, share our stories, thoughts and talking to each other is so much fun. I'm having such a great time, and I'm loving my novel so far!

You know the advice "Write the book you want to read"? Well, that's exactly what I am doing.

Those of you who may be interested in my novel, basically, it's an YA dystopia novel, but without any paranormal or fantasy elements. It's about a bunch of teenagers trying to survive. I don't want to give away too many details, because I don't know how to actually summarise it yet.

Buuuuuut, I can say that there's a lot of diversity going on in my book. Which is actually a thing so many are doing. Like, all my friends who are doing NaNoWriMo try to include as many POC characters as possible. We also write about not heterosexual or cisgender characters and we write about characters with mental health problems.

It's something I noticed this year about the novels. I guess we all are tired about the never-ending white girl/white boy stories, because seriously, I haven't read enough books with POC and queer characters, or that are dealing with mental disorders.

We are craving such stories, so we took the thing in our hands and started writing them.

And I can't be more happy.

Something I also noticed is, that writing my first book is more personal than I thought. I putting so much of myself into this book, especially into these characters. And it really helps me to deal with some of my own issues and problems.

Anyways, I'm so excited with what everyone has come up with, and I can't wait to see how everyone is doing. I'm sure some really great books are being written right now!

What about you? Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? I'd love to talk about it. (By the way, my NaNoWriMo name is Maggi Pleskach, if anyone wants to add me.)

ABOUT MAGGI
Her tbr-list is getting longer with each day and she can't seem to find the time to read, because of school and writing her own novel. She can't wait for holidays to start so she can finally read again.
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Book Review: Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

2015-10-23T04:19:00.000+05:00

Series: Snow Like Ashes
Genre: YA | Fantasy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
My rating:

It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell. Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves? Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats? As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

Like Sara Raasch said in the acknowledgements, sequels are hard. And I totally feel you Sara. It seems like most of the sequels this year failed me.
Unfortunately, so did Ice Like Fire.

Snow Like Ashes was one of my favourite books of 2014. Though it was filled with clichés and a stupid love-triangle I couldn't help but love it.
So I'm super sad about Ice Like Fire. I expected so much more.

It wasn't all bad. The plot was quite interesting, but only in the last 30% of the book, and the ending was full of twists I didn't see coming. I'm sure the final book will be pretty great plot-wise.

The problem is that the whole book could have been much shorter, the issues could have been solved faster. Instead it was dragged out, and therefore the story was super slow and boring at times. There were just too many chapters where nothing was happening.

Comparing the sequel to the first one, Ice Like Fire seems ridiculous. Whereas SLA was action-packed and gripping SLA was just a decent build-up for the next book. On it's own it was dull and uneventful.

One of the reasons I loved SLA was Meira. She was such a badass and strong character. She had flaws, one of them is making rash and stupid decisions, but I still loved her.
In ILF my beloved protagonist just vanished. She was replaced with some flat and whinny girl who made even more stupid decisions.

Sara Raasch introduced a lot of new characters in this book, but she didn't really explore them much and I just didn't care about them.

In the end, the only thing I enjoyed about this book were Mather's chapters. If someone would have told me this a year ago, I would have laughed in their face, since I disliked him a lot in the first book.
However, in the sequel he was the only smart character who actually did something. Sure, he was moping around a lot, but not as much as Meira. His chapters were much more interesting than hers.

In conclusion, I didn't like this book. If it would have been at least 100 pages shorter, I would have rated it with 4 stars, but as it was too dragging, I can't go higher than 2.
I'll still read the final book, just because I'm curious to how it will wrap up.

ABOUT MAGGI
It's 1 am, she is listening to Halsey and considering whether she should get some ice-cream. She also doesn't know which book to read next, her tbr is just way too huge.
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Book Review: The Rose Society by Marie Lu

2015-10-18T03:48:00.000+05:00

Series: The Young Elites
Genre: YA | Fantasy
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
My rating:

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all. Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her. But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?

Actual Rating: 3,5

I guess it's time to write this review. I kind of still don't know what to say, I'm pretty torn about it.

The Young Elites is one of my favourite books. One of the main reason I loved it is because it's so different from other YA fantasy books.
It's really dark and the characters are so complex and twisted.

I was super excited for the sequel, but when I finally started it, something felt off.
I'm not saying I didn't like it, but it wasn't as good as the first one. I wasn't as gripped by it as I was with TYE and when I had to put the book down for school I wasn't dying to get back home and continue reading.

Adelina definitely got more twisted in this book, her POV was so much darker than at the beginning of her journey. I loved it, because she didn't pretend to be something else, she was up front about her dark side.
But in the end I didn't enjoy her chapters that much, I even got bored. I can't exactly say what it was that eventually did it for me, but there are a couple things that I just didn't like.

Like Violetta. I couldn't stand her. While I do see that she only wants what is best for her sister, I came to dislike her a lot. She didn't fit in with the other characters, and she just annoyed me.

Then there is Maeve. I couldn't stand her either. She seemed like a really flat character, had no personality and her chapters bored me to death.

Next point, the love-trinagle. I know that it's not exactly a love triangle, but it did feel like it at times, and it really bothered me.
I loved TYE because it was so different from other YA books, and then in the sequel we get this love-triangle trope.
Additionaly, I wasn't Magiano's biggest fan. He is a pretty interesting character, no doubt. And I do like him, but he didn't blow me away. And his relationship with Adelina... well, while it was nice that she had someone, I didn't really see any chemistry between them. There was no real spark (no pun intended).

Now, the things I loved:

The storyline. Marie Lu, I applaud you. The plot-twist were just amazing. And the ending? Cruel.

Raffaele. He was one of my favourite characters in the first book, and in TRS he was as amazing as in TYE. His chapters were probably the ones I enjoyed the most. He just kept breaking my heart.

Teren. Favourite character number two. He's just such an interesting and complex villain, I love how we got to see more of him. But definitely not enough.

Overall, it was a decent sequel, but it still disappointed me. I just expected much more. Still, I am excited to see what happens next.

ABOUT MAGGI
Holidays started, so she will read as much as she can. Her ears are still ringing from the Imagine Dragons concert she was at yesterday (where Dan Reynolds told her she is beautiful). Her life is pretty nice currently.
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Underrated Books Project: The Archived by Victoria Schwab

2015-10-02T20:35:00.001+05:00

Do you ever finish a book and love it so much you can't wait to talk with people about it? But then you go through the tumblr tag and see that the fandom consists of like 4 people and a shoelace?

This has happened to me way too often. It will probably happen again and again. So to share my love for some books and maybe expand the fandom, I decided to present you a couple of my favourite underrated books. Today on the menu: The Archived by Victoria Schwab.

The Archived is the first book in Victoria Schwab's YA fantasy trilogy.

The story's protagonist is teenage girl Mackenzie Bishop, who is what you call a Keeper. Her job is to collect Histories, which are the soul-like remains of dead people, and get them to the Archive.

After her brother's death, Mac moves with her family to a new place, where she discovers that a History was killed in her own room. Additionally the Histories in the Archive go crazy, and Mac tries to find out what the heck is happening.

Sounds intriguing? Yes? No? Well, let me tell you what I loved about the book.

The concept. I've never read a book with such an interesting world-building, it's so unique and creative. Sure, there was a lot information to take in at first and was a bit confusing, but once you got it, it was super refreshing.
The protagonist, Mac. She's one of my favourite MCs ever. She's just such a complex and round character. She's not perfect, she has flaws. But that made her so real and believable, it was so easy to slip into her shoes. Plus, she's also a sarcastic badass.
Wesley Ayers. He's Mac's new best friend ~~love-interest~~, and probably the most important YA male character ever. He's not an asshole or the usual 'bad guy', he's super sweet and caring. He's one of the most considerate, understand and genuinely respectful guys in the YA genre. No matter what, he's always there for Mac and supports her. He also wears fucking eyeliner and does her makeup, and he doesn't make a huge deal about. He's just perfect.

So, there's that. Sidemark: the plots is a bit confusing and slow at the start, but it soon picks up. The second books, The Unbound, is even better than the first one. The third one was not published yet, Victoria Schwab said it will 100% come out one day, but as she's working on three other series she's not sure when exactly.

If any of this interested you, PLEASE get the books. The fandom needs more people.

ABOUT MAGGI
Her exams start next week again so she doesn't get to read as much as she would like. But Halloween is starting soon, and she can't decide about which fictional character to dress up as. Any ideas?
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Book Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

2015-09-26T19:32:00.000+05:00

Series: Unraveling
Genre: YA | Science Fiction | Fantasy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
My rating:

Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared. And that was before she died... and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

To say that this book suprised me is a serious understatement.

Let me first tell you what I expected from this book when I picked it up.

a whiny and stupid protagonist, who thinks she's so much better than everyone else
a weak depiction of a mother with a bipolar disorder and a workaholic FBI father
flat secondary characters
cheesy insta-love
stupid decisions about "saving the world"
a predictable plot

I don't know why I picked it up, maybe because it has been on my tbr for so long, maybe I was just in the mood for a book with an apocalypse in it.
So after a couple of chapters I found myself actually liking the main character and the story.
Everything turned out so different from what I expected.
Honestly, yes, this book was kind of cliché, but I couldn't help but enjoy pretty much every single page of it.

The writing was flawless, and I love how the author handled all the issues.
The MC was neither weak nor whiny, and definitely not stupid. She was pretty smart about her decisions. She was funny and sarcastic too, she felt so real, like all the other characters in this book.

The romance... well it was insta-loveish, but it was tolerable. The thing is, I didn't particulary care about it, since it wasn't a huge part of the story.

About the the predictability, well some twist I saw coming, and other twist suprised me.

Altogether, I have to say this is a underrated YA book and that more people should read it. So if you're into YA sci-fi, you now what to do.

ABOUT MAGGI
She is currently binge-reading the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter and enjoying the hell out of it. Additionally she's still in shock after the last How To Get Away With Murder episode and needs an explanation.
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Loving Problematic Books

2015-09-17T20:49:00.002+05:00

Recently I got a message on tumblr, criticising me for liking Sarah J. Maas "problematic books".

At first I was pretty confused. While reading the first books of the series I didn't notice any problematic stuff. So I decided to educate myself and after a quick search on tumblr and a bit of asking around I realized, that yes, the Throne of Glass, as well as A Court of Thorns and Roses are both indeed problematic.

And this made me wonder, aren't all books problematic? And can't I just enjoy them nevertheless?

The answer is pretty simple. Everyone and everything is problematic. You can't find anything that is perfect. No book nor movie nor person is.
And that's totally okay. Something can be both flawed and amazing at the same time. A book can contain problematic aspects and it's not terrible if you still like it.
(There's this awesome video by Laci Green about this topic if you're interested.)

I think the most important thing in that case is to acknowledge the problems, never excuse or ignore them, get educated on the topic and discuss them.
Please, never ever shame or judge someone because they liked a book you found super problematic. Instead discuss it with them. (@that anon who started all of this: Thanks for informing me, next time maybe elaborate more if it's possible.)

I often oversee problematic stuff in books, they way I did with the Throne of Glass books. But I got informed about it, and while I'm really sad that Sarah J. Maas included those aspects, I still love the first three books (if you've read my Queen of Shadows review you know I didn't like that one very much). And there is nothing wrong about it.

For those TOG fans may be interested about the mentioned problematic aspects, here they are:

racism: a) there is the lack of POC characters and b) the only two WOC characters were brutally murdered for the development of white characters
slut-shaming: some people consider Celaena this amazing feminist, yet she goes around and slut-shames her fellow female characters

What about you guys? You have any problematic books you can't help but to love?

ABOUT MAGGI
School reading is keeping her from her tbr. She can't stop singing High-School-Musical songs and eating ice-cream. She would like to buy some new books, but she spent all the money on the mentioned ice-cream.
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Book Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

2015-09-07T15:24:00.000+05:00

Series: Throne of Glass
Genre: YA | Fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
My rating:

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . . She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return. Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

Believe me, this rating is pretty generous. It’s actually more of a 1-star book for me, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

times I broke down and cried: 5
times I screamed and cussed at the book: 38
fucks I give about this series right now: 0

Let’s start this review a bit different. Let’s think of an alternative title for it… how about… I don’t know… "HOW TO RUIN A CHARACTER AND HIS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH 3 MOTHERFUCKING BOOKS IN ONE BOOK". Yep, that fits perfectly!

*This is not a proper review, it’s more of an incomprehensible rant with a lot of cursing.

Those who saw my updates already know how torn I am about this book. It’s still so difficult for me to form an opinion, because this book was such a mix of an amazing plot-line and ass-kicking and just real bullshit.

About the amazing plot-line, well, Sarah J. Maas comes up with the most mind-blowing plot-twists. The ass-kicking: well-choreographed fights and Aelin’s plans were just brilliant. And I love Sarah’s writing style, it kicks me right in the feels every damn time.
Now, so far it sounds pretty good, right? You may ask, why the 2-stars-rating then?

There’s one thing that ruined everything. The Chaol thing.

First you have to know that I love Chaol with all my heart. #chaoldefensesquad
From book one he was my favourite character and his development through the first three books just blew me away. He is definitely flawed, but who is not.
So the way Sarah handled his character in QOS just broke my heart. She destroyed all his development in 60 pages. That’s right, she threw away all the work she put into him in less than 10% of the book.
This just felt like such a slap in the face. The way she wrote Chaol in the first 70% was so out of character. It wasn’t even Chaol anymore, the Chaol I know and read about would never act the way he did.
You may say that he’s Sarah’s character, she wrote him and probably knows him the best. Do I have any right to say he was out of characters? Maybe not. But I was madly obsessed with him from the start, over-analysed every word he said and action he made. I dare to say that I know him enough to say that QOS Chaol was just bullshit.
Do I sound like a child throwing a tantrum? Maybe. But you know what? I. Don’t. Care.

How could someone put so much effort into developing a character, and then just destroy him and waste all the potential? It makes no fucking sense. It’s stupid. So stupid.

But there is an explanation, well, my explanation. Rowan.

I already knew about Sarah’s obsession with Rowan; every interview I watched she ended up speaking about him and how hot he is. So often she didn’t even mention the other characters.
I’m not complaining, he definitely is an interesting character and I like him. But when an author rewrites a character (Chaol) just to benefit another one (Rowan), I can’t help but feel betrayed. It was like the first two books didn’t even happen to Chaol, we started from zero again. And I’m just so angry.

When the conversation at page 60 happened I just broke down and cried. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. This was not Chaol, not the guy who was ready to give up everything he worked for and ever believed in to send the girl he loves away to keep her safe. This was just a twisted version of him and honestly, I can’t believe Sarah actually came up with this. I FUCKING TRUSTED YOU SARAH.

Chaol deserves so much better.
And the worst thing is, there is no way back from this. No way to fix it. While Sarah did kind of tried to in the end, I still can’t forget this whole bullshit she put me, us Chaol fan, through. She just stabbed us and let us bleeding for some hours, then came back and gave us a band-aid for the wound. THAT WON’T FUCKING WORK.

I’m also a Chaol/Aelin shipper. I’ve been since the first couple of chapters of TOG, still am after QOS and will probably always be. But I knew since HOF that they will not be endgame. And I came to terms with it. I was ready for them to end romantically, but I wasn’t expecting this shit.

Here then comes the second problem, Rowan and Nesryn.
Don’t hit me, but I shipped Aelin/Rowan after HOF. They made sense to me. But the way Sarah handled their relationship in QOS just weirded me out.

Rowan’s POVs were sometimes… dumb. I can’t find the right word for it, but they made me roll my eyes so often. I still like him, but not as much as I did in HOF.
I also didn’t like how fast their relationship progressed. Because in HOF they were just friends, it was one of my favourite platonic relationships, and then in QOS they went from 0 to 100. It seemed forced and was just too fast and kind of weird.

Then Nesryn. Oh, how much I actually love her. She’s such a strong and amazing character. But the way she was introduced ruined it all. It was as if she was just there so Chaol would have someone beside Aelin to talk to. She didn't seem like a character who was planned from the start, but just thrown in when Sarah's started ruining rewriting Chaol. Just a plot-device, and this is wrong on so many levels.

There's something really wrong about how Sarah just cast him aside for Rowan. It's rude as fuck. It ruined the whole book for me, I couldn't enjoy the first 60% because of it. I mean, how could I, he ~~was~~ is my favourite character.

But there were definitely some parts I still loved about the book.

a) Manon. Oh my god guys, her chapters were pure awesomeness. Sometimes they were way more interesting than Aelin's. Her plot-line in this book is just so captivating and I fell in love with her.

b) Elide. Damn, her chapters kind of broke my heart but I admire her so much. I can't wait to read more about her.

c) Dorian. My baby. I'm so scared for you. His chapters were so twisted and dark, but I couldn't help but still enjoy them.

d) Lysandra. Such a cutie. I loved her relationship with Aelin. BROTP FOREVER.

In the end the secondary characters saved this book from failing totally, but I still can't understand how an author can actually just ruin a character and all the foreshadowing for another one.

So, Here's the end of my rant. There are probably more things I wanted to talk about but can't think of right now, I have an awful memory.

ABOUT MAGGI
Wondering about how to unread a book. If anyone has an idea please help her. She needs it. Currently she has to read two books for school and only one of them really interest her. School reading sucks.
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ARC Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

2015-08-26T00:12:00.000+05:00

Genres: YA | Contemporary | Romance
Published: September 1st 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Reader
My rating:

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster

Actual rating: 2,5

ARC provided by Netgalley.

“You can't predict the future. It turns out that you can't predict the past either. Time moves in both directions - forward and backward - and what happens here and now changes them both.”

Believe me, no one is more surprised by this rating than me. 100 pages into the book I was sure I would give it at least 4 stars, but then the second half happened.

So first things first, I knew from the beginning what to expect from this book. I knew it would be a complicated love story, that there will be insta-love and many cheesy lines. I've read some review before requesting it on Netgalley to see if I would like it.

And under normal circumstances I wouldn't get the book, because of the things mentioned above.
But all the review were so positive and my curiosity won me over.

Plus, it isn't the usual complicated romance. The protagonist Madeline has SCID, she's basically allergic to the world. She's been locked up in her home for 18 years, and the only people she sees are her mom and her nurse.

Then the insta-love happens. A familiy moves into the house next to them, and of course there's a gorgeous boy her age, Olly. She starts to kind of stalk him and eventually they exchange e-mails and start seeing each other.

I really loved their conversations, as cheesy as they were. I loved Madeline as a protagonist, with her desire for something more. I loved how complex and diverse the characters were. I loved the magical writing and the cute little images and graphics in between.
I just absolutely loved the first half of the book.

Then the thing happened, and ruined it for me.

BEWARE: SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD!

The thing that ruined the book for me was the last plot twist.
Madeline discovers that her whole life is a lie. She isn't sick. Her mother lied to her.

Oh man. This is just bullshit. The author build this amazing concept with Madeline's disease, her character and her relationship with Olly resolve on this, and then it all happens to be a lie?

I don't know how about you, but I find this twist rather cheap. It's as if the author didn't know how to finish what she started.
What possible outcome is there for a girl with SCID? One that falls in love with her neighbour?
That's why I picked the book up. I wanted to read about this and see how it plays out.

What I got was a beautifully written book with great characters and an interesting concept ruined by a lazy and bad-written ending.

ABOUT MAGGI
Eating ice-cream and adding more and more books to her tbr. Also counting the days till Queen of Shadows and mentally preparing herself for it. ~~She is not ready.~~
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ARC Review: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

2015-08-18T00:00:00.000+05:00

Genres: Historical Fiction | Supernatural
Expected Publication Date: August 25th 2015
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
My rating:

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities... Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

(There is a review of the first book, The Diviners, here on my blog)

Lair of Dreams is just as wonderful as The Diviners, a strange mystery with more fantastic characters to immerse ourselves in.

The book revolves around the mysterious "sleeping sickness," where people go to sleep and never wake up again. Bodies have red welts and blisters appear before dying, and there are no traces of the sickness. The city is in panic. They are turning against each other. And strange disappearances in the dead of night are rising rapidly in numbers.

We have a much more diverse cast in Lair of Dreams, and a larger one too, with more subplots and side-stories thrown into the mix. Some might find it dizzying, jumping from perspective to perspective, but I enjoy it. Each thread of the plot contains little clues we need to piece together the story, and they all intertwine in interesting ways.

Each character that didn't get much of a showing in The Diviners definitely got a bigger chunk in this book. We got more of Henry, which I loved. I didn't really think much of him in the first book, but I just love his character now. He's funny and he's charming, and he's just so adorable.

Similar to The Diviners, the beginning is somewhat slow, taking some time to set up the setting and the story and to give us a good feel of the characters. Personally, I enjoy it. She slowly builds up the mystery, mounting up the suspense until the reveal.

There is more romance in here than in The Diviners, and more drama thrown into it. It's still amazing how real every character feels. Evie, Sam, Jericho, Theta, Mabel, Memphis - they all have distinct personalities and the way they react, talk and act feel incredibly real.

The romance, thank God, is not insta-love. It's slow and it develops properly. It's not even love. It's just the initial attraction you have to someone, growing and shaping into something more.

The ending was what I was waiting for in the first book, and I'm incredibly sad because now I have to wait for the next one. Augh.

ABOUT CLAUDIA
A fourteen-year-old girl who loves to read and vastly prefers books over people. I'm big on doodling so if you ever visit my house, chances are you'll find paper everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

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Book Review: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

2015-08-13T20:27:00.000+05:00

Genres: Mystery | Thriller
Published: September 26th 2006
Publisher: Broadway Books
My rating:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

I stayed up until 6 am to finish this book. I regret nothing.

See, I get scared easily. I don't watch horror movies, because I end up getting nightmares. I'm afraid of the dark.
So reading this book through the night was kind of stupid of me. Nevertheless, I couldn't put it down, because I was so scared but also captivated by the story.

First things first: I picked this book up because of my endless love for Gone Girl. I'm still in love with the messed up story and the complex characters. It's one of my favourite books.

Naturally I wanted to read more of Gillian Flynn's books. I wanted to read more about female villains. So after finishing Gone Girl I immediately got her other two novels.

They've been sitting on my shelf since then, I still needed some time to breath after Gone Girl. And yesterday I picked up Sharp Objects on impulse. Or a part of me was just craving for a creepy story.

So there I was, starting this book at midnight, not thinking about the consequences (like me being tied to my bed, because I was too scared to get up).
I was hooked the moment I read the first page, and didn't move until I finished it. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, I just wanted to devour the book. The story was so gripping and thrilling and full of suspense, the writing was as breath-taking as the storyline.
The plot-twists messed with my head pretty bad, but I loved every minute of it.

Now, the book has one flaw: it's pretty slow at the beginning. But I still enjoyed it, because of the protagonist, Camille.
Living this story through her mind was one of the most uncomfortable, yet oddly refreshing and poignant experiences in my life. And honestly, I find her even more interesting than Gone Girl's Amy Dunne.

Here's the moment of truth: I dare to say, that Sharp Objects is better thank Gone Girl.
It is way darker, the atmosphere more somber and the story and villain more messed up.
I still can't wrap my head around the story and it's solution. It's simultaneously disturbing and genius.

It's the kind of book that will stay with me for a while, my mind keeps drifting back to the story and I'm full with adrenaline again and want to know more about what happened.

Was this book worth the nightmares I will probably get for the next few weeks? Yes, definitely.

ABOUT MAGGI
She loves fantasy books more than everything, but recently discovered her love for the thriller genre (despite having nightmares because of them).
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Five Ways Characters Frustrate Me

2015-08-07T23:53:00.001+05:00

Let's be honest here. Characters can frustrate us a LOT, especially when they're being completely ridiculous. Maybe it's their actions. Maybe it's their personality. Maybe it's the entire character in general.

I have about a million pet peeves when it comes to characters, but today I'll keep the list down to five. I'm sure none of you lovely people out there would bother to read a million reasons anyway. Maybe you can relate, and we can yell at characters together.

Can't defend themselves

Also known as the damsel-in-distress, this character's in the midst of a war and has to always, always stand back and watch the fight, usually with a nice bag of popcorn. Honestly, I don't like reading books when action, war and adventure are the main themes and end up with a character unable to defend themselves from a cockroach. Actually, no. Cockroaches are disgusting.

Sure, I get it if they've never received training. They don't have to be black-belts or seasoned sword masters. But really? Do something. Anything. Don't stand there and scream for your prince(ss), because trust me. That gets real old, real fast.

Prioritizing problems

So, a war's coming up in a story? Two ancient enemies facing each other down with enough firepower to flatten the world? Then it's time to prepare. Train yourself, figure out enemy plans, gear up for battle...

But wait!

Two boys, up ahead! Both smokin' hot, one the brooding angst machine and the other the witty joker. Suddenly, hormones go in overdrive and bam! Priorities rearranged just like that. Now the real problem is: which one to kiss?

I don't know about you, but when this happens I just want to reach into the story and give the hero/ine a nice slap to the head, because, um, hello! War? You know, a big battle where millions could die and potentially destroy the world? Yeah, that war.

Messed-up decision skills

Picture this: a dark alley, a hooded stranger, and instincts screaming for you to run. What do you do?

I don't know about you, but there's no way in hell that I'd stick around for that, "mysterious air around him" be damned. Nu uh. If he wanted to talk to me, he can do it in the sun. In front of the Church. Fifteen feet away.

I know sometimes stupid decisions are needed to move plots forward (like in horror movies. You all know what I'm talking about. Heaven knows the amount of brain cells I've killed facepalming myself because of their decisions.), but don't throw in idiotic decisions. It makes the character look stupid.

Too good, too fast

I'm not exactly talent-less, but I have my strengths and my weaknesses like we all do. But of course there will be that one character who's surprisingly good at everything without even trying.

I don't know about you, but I can't master everything I try. I don't expect to take down a veteran swordsman after a weeks worth of practice because of "natural talent," nor do I expect to master skills that would typically take years to perfect because I'm just that good. But characters (almost always main) somehow end up accomplishing this, because willpower, yo!

Whenever authors do this, it alienates me from the character. Where's the struggle? Where's the strengthening of character? Where's the satisfaction of accomplishing the task after days and days of hard work?

Saying things that we don't really care about

We see the world through characters' eyes, and we'll have them comment on stuff - the actions of others, the information revealed to them - to give us more insight on the plot. But characters can blab a bit too much on things, adding chunks of paragraphs on things we just don't give a damn about.

Let's use Girl of Fire and Thorns as an example. Elisa's our main character, and she loves food. And I mean loves. Every time she eats, there's a 2 1/2-page monologue about her food. Like, really. I love food as much as the next person, but about half the book would be gone if we took out all the food descriptions. Yeah. That's how unnecessary it is. We don't care about your dinner! Eat it and go; there's more important things to talk about.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with my frustrations? What makes you frustrated about a character?

Book Review: Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

2015-08-02T00:35:00.001+05:00

Series: The Dark Elements #3

Genres: YA | Fantasy | Paranormal | Romance

Published: July 28th 2015

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

My rating:

Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust. Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from destruction. Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight like hell…

Okay, here's the thing. I knew from the beginning how I will rate this book, because of the whole 'Who Will You Choose Thing'.

To summarize it, Armentrout let the reader choose who Layla will end up with. There was a poll, and the guy with the most votes got his happily ever after with Layla.

And she did this, because Jennifer L. Armentrout, the author, creator of this story, didn't know how to decide. She basically had no idea how to solve the love triangle.

Which is just ridiculous.

Let's be serious, she created those characters and the story, she knows them better than anyone, and yet she didn't know who Laylor would 'choose'? What the fuck is this?

This is what I call lazy ass writing. She let the readers do her work. Which is unacceptable.

Therefore, I just can't give it more than 1 star.

There's the question why I did even read it, and truth is, I hate not finishing series. I always want to know how it wrapped up.

Now, let's see what I can say about the story itself.

BEWARE, SPOILERS FOR White Hot Kiss AND Stone Cold Touch

It picks up exactly where Stone Cold Touch ended, Layla discovered that Sam, her best friend, is the Lilin. And now she has to kill him to prevent the apocalypse.

I can say without doubt that the plot was action-packed and fast-paced, but there was too much romance for my taste. Which is typical for Armentrout's books.

So if you liked her Lux series and Covenant series you will definitely enjoy this book.

A thing I did like was that the love triangle problem was solved in the first 50 pages. Not too much whining about who she loves more.

But I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes. Her characters are so alike.

Layla is just another Katy or Alex, Roth another Daemon or Seth. Some of the dialogues were just the same. It's like JLA just copied and pasted them and changed a few words.

Additionally I didn't like the ending, it was too happily ever after for me.

All in all it was a nice wrap-up to the story, if she wouldn't have done the whole 'Who Will You Choose' thing, it would have been a solid 3-stars book.

If you're a huge Armentrout fan, go for it. If you think Daemon was kind of an asshole and you're sick of love-triangles, don't even bother.

ABOUT MAGGI
She can't travel the world yet, so she reads about all the beautiful places. And she can't believe Queen of Shadows is only 30 days away.

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Book Review: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

2015-07-30T19:46:00.000+05:00

Series: Magonia #1
Genres: YA | Fantasy | Romance
Published: April 28th 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
My rating:

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

This book is strange. And perhaps that's where its beauty lies.

The story is derived from a mythology often unheard of and I love the refreshing storyline all of delivered. I ate it all up and can safely say a good part of this book's beauty is a result of the world building. Everything was imaginative - I mean, come on, bird people? Ships in the sky? Sky pirates? - and oozing with magic. It was absolutely wondrous.

With that did come a little problem which is probably more of a 'me' thing than anything else. As much as I tried, I couldn't imagine what the bird people actually look like. I just couldn't wrap my head around it and whatever image I had was pretty comical. So yes, there's that.

Fortunately, that was just a minor quibble and there were other things to love. I liked Aza's character. I was expecting her to be whiny but it was quite a lovely surprise when she adapted to the changes in her life quickly without spending paragraphs curled up in a corner hating her life. She had her naive moments, but overall, she was likeable.

Jason was lovely, and we do get a few chapters from his POV as well which aided my understanding of his character. He was adorable and it was really admirable how he was willing to believe things that didn't even come closer to the circle of reality, for Aza's sake.

As for the dynamic between the two, it was present, but I kind of failed to see it, if that even makes sense. Maybe because we don't really get to see many scenes between Aza and Jason but it was still adorable. (Yes I'm confused. Also reading slumps).

All in all, this was a beautiful novel and definitely worth a read despite some flaws.

ABOUT NABAN
Mostly a fangirl and YA enthusiast. I read, I write and occassionaly tinker around with words. Ronan Lynch is life.

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Bookish Hogwash: Book Crimes | Spoilers in Blurbs

2015-07-26T18:30:00.000+05:00

So you're looking for a new book (again). You search Goodreads/Chapters/Barnes & Nobles/Something book-related for the next buy, and something catches your eye. The cover's attractive, so you flip it open to the inside flap where you'll find the blurb. Reading...reading...reading... it seems pretty good so far.

But then.

Right there, in the third paragraph, second sentence, five words and a comma in: A SPOILER.

Now, let me tell you something real quick. I like blurbs. They give me a nice sense of what the story's going to be about, and can get me hooked right away if done right. A juicy blurb is one of two things to get your reader to pick up a book (the first being the cover, obviously. No one really believes the "don't judge a book by it's cover" nonsense. And if you do, stop lying to yourself.), and for many of us it's probably the first piece of the book we'll read. And because it's the first thing you read from a book, it's a universal rule to not put spoilers in your blurb.

I guess some people just didn't get the memo.

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I know I've encountered my fair share of books at stores that gave away some pretty key points in the blurb. THE BLURB. Like, really? Might as well just chop off that section of the book because we've already read it. IN THE FREAKIN' BLURB.

When there's spoilers in a blurb it makes me not want to read the book anymore, especially if it's a really big plot point or if it's a book I really wanted to read. That tiny sentence took out all the fun in the discovery (shame on you), so I put it down and wait till I forget about it.

This crime is more common with books in a series that aren't the first book (which would totally be your fault for getting a spoiler), but I have encountered such books. It frustrates me to no end.

AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS, if you are reading this, I have four words for you:

No. Spoilers. In. Blurbs.

PLEASE.

(Oh. That's five words.)

What about you? What is your opinion on blurbs that contain spoilers? Share your thoughts!

Book Review: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

2015-07-23T23:03:00.001+05:00

Series: N/A
Genres: YA | Contemporary | Romance
Published: June 2nd, 2015
Publisher: Soho Teen
My rating:

In his twisty, gritty, profoundly moving debut—called “mandatory reading” by the New York Times—Adam Silvera brings to life a charged, dangerous near-future summer in the Bronx.

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again--but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas make him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard? [...]

One thing about More Happy than Not is that it isn’t afraid to portray realism in its - perhaps - ugliest form.

Our views on sexuality has changed immensely, and while it's true that we need more books where coming out is not necessary, where the characters aren't described by whom they are attracted to, it is also true that homophobia is still a problem among societies. I'm a firm believer that we need books where there is no default sexuality and at the same time, we also need books like this one.

For starters, I found the starting of the novel to be a bit slow but this was hardly a quibble because when things started happening, it was nothing less than one hell of an emotional rollercoaster. It's the kind of story that doesn't simply come and go. Rather, it's the kind that leaves its mark and for me that was more important than anything else.

There is nothing cute or beautiful about this book, despite some lovely moments between the characters. It highlights the harsher truth. Not everyone will love you. It won't always be flowers and rainbows and sunshine. The characters are diverse and real - awkward and still stumbling around trying to find their footing. I felt for Aaron and I know for one thing that I won't be forgetting him anytime soon.

I'm not sure if a trigger warning is warrant here, but since it deals with topics like suicide, homophobia and depression, be warned that this is not a happy book.

"Memories: some can be sucker punching, others carry you forward; some stay with you forever, others you forget on your own. You can't really know which ones you'll survive if you don't stay on the battlefield, bad times shooting at you like bullets. But if you're lucky, you'll have plenty of good times to shield you."

ABOUT NABAN
Somewhat of a creep, but mostly a fangirl. I obsess over too many books but it's never enough. Waiting for Ronan and Adam to kiss.

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Book Review: Sweet by Emmy Laybourne

2015-07-20T21:42:00.000+05:00

Series: Sweet #1

Genres: YA | Horror | Contemporary

Published: June 2nd, 2015

Publisher: Macmillan

My rating:

*People would kill to be thin.*

Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised—dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days—it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

*But will they die for it, too?*

Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong.

I know I was promised "horrifyingly wrong" in the synopsis, but I was not expecting to headdesk and mumble in frustration and confusion the number of times I did whilst reading Sweet by Emmy Laybourne. A plot that no reader can deny is plain weird, coupled with a massively trope-tastic insta-love romance and shameless body-shaming? Yeahhhh, no. Sweet fell flat for me in every way.

(Warning: sass and semi-ranting ahead).

Let’s tackle this mess one-by-one. There were practically two separate plots happening in the same book. It started off as your typical somewhat funny, splash-of-romance contemporary with an interesting take on the way modern pop culture values a thin body type. Then suddenly, it turned into a zombie/cannibal/vampire (I’m not exaggerating, there is actual blood-drinking of fellow humans) thriller-action plot, which was just confusing. Maybe Laybourne was going for a creepy, dark twist, but I actually found it comical how starkly the two halves of the book contrasted. I can’t really get into the ending without spoilers, but let’s just say it solidified my already low opinion of the book.

The random insta-romance only made things worse. For starters, a gentle reminder that the entirety of this book happens during a one-week crash diet cruise. I don’t know about you, but I certainly am not on board when a girl starts calling a guy her boyfriend within all of, like, three days of meeting him. *cue another Neil deGrasse Tyson eye roll*

To make matters even worse, before the events of the book, Laurel had had a celebrity crush on Tom. Can you get any more cheesy-romance-trope than *~normal girl~* meeting a *~hot celebrity~* and falling in love instantly? It was not working for me on any level.

Just a note, this isn’t a problem exclusive to Sweet, but there was a serious problem about kissing people without consent. I’m not sure why, but a lot of book characters don’t seem to grasp that you’re kind of maybe sort of supposed to ask before completely encroaching upon someone’s personal space?? (This was particularly irksome to me because later Tom asked if it was okay to bring Laurel TEA. You’re going to ask if you can bring someone a hot beverage but not if you can invade their personal space? Uhm.)

Now let’s talk about the more subtle, but most disturbing element of this book: its flawed portrayal of body image. This was especially disappointing since the premise of the novel made me hopeful that it would tackle fat discrimination and self-love well. Instead…

“You’re beautiful the way you are.” ~self-confident Laurel to her self-conscious friend Viv. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy that our female main character was already comfortable in her not-particularly-skinny body prior to any male validation. But when her similarly curvy friend Viv expressed discomfort with her size, Laurel acted as though her singular bland sentence of peer validation should’ve been enough to quell Viv’s self-doubt. It often takes a lot more than one good friend saying you’re beautiful to get over the pervasive fat discrimination of our society, unfortunately.

“She’s pretty. Not too skinny at all.” ~Tom’s thoughts as he first lays eyes on Laurel. *huge sigh* I shouldn’t even have to say why this is problematic, but Tom literally said that people are ugly because they’re “too skinny.” Later, Tom calls Laurel’s body “real” as though all people who are skinny are “fake.” Hey, here’s a radical idea… how about we stop stepping all over one body type while trying to empower another? Thanks.

So yeah.. I would pretty much recommend this to no one unless you desire reading something that you can rage and rant and sass about (which I have to admit is actually slightly fun).

Thanks for reading. :)

Have you guys ever read a book that seemed to totally change course in the middle? Am I alone in being seriously fed up with the lack of asking for consent before kissing in books? If you’ve read Sweet, what did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments!

ABOUT CONNIE
A mildly addicted buyer and avid reader of books. Aspiring writer and/or Shadowhunter and/or warrior princess. Possesses questionable social skills. Home to a nonexistent work ethic, unless you count an unstoppable determination to procrastinate.

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Review: Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

2015-07-16T21:53:00.000+05:00

Series: N/A
Genres: YA | Contemporary | Thriller
Published: May 26th, 2015
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
My rating:

I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.

In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

Sharp and incisive, Daughter of Deep Silence by bestselling author Carrie Ryan is a deliciously smart revenge thriller that examines perceptions of identity, love, and the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose.

The blurb lies.

This book isn't about "[...] the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose." What this book is about, is a heroine swooning over a guy and tossing aside her plans and rational thoughts for the course of true love. A heroine who is none the badass bitch or the unreliable narrator she desperately wants to be.

I'm going to go ahead and call bullshit on the romance. The characters meet at the age of fourteen and barely know each other for a week before falling in love. After four years, instead of it being among the pile of embarrassing things that happened in their early teen days, their love for each other is still going strong. I mean come on, really? Aight. Maybe this is possible in some Utopian reality out there, but the romance in this book earned more eye rolls from me than anything else since we don't see much connection.

It's also laughable how easily the MC strayed from her path. She knew the guy - Grey as the enemy - someone potentially involved in mass murder. I just don't understand how the feelings and fantasies and little flutters could be part of the equation. Heck, their feelings can't be healthy in the psychological sense.

The writing itself was enough to give me a migraine with the repetitivity, lack of substance and the fact that telling was prioritized over showing. There are times when the readers just don't need a chorus to jump in and give them certain explanations simply because they are obvious and the readers are not stupid. Frances felt the need to explain her actions and it was like having someone tell you that you'll die if you were stabbed to death. Or watching Dora the Explorer when you're not, like, three.

"I cross my arms over my chest, cupping my elbows in my palms and allowing my shoulders to hunch so that I take up less physical space. It makes me appear vulnerable and weak."

"Painfully.' I hurl the word, dagger sharp, because I'm angry. And hurt. ..."

"My breathing's a bit ragged, my chin trembling as though I'm overwhelmed."

Double that up by a few hundred pages and you have the trailer.

I have neutral feelings towards the flashbacks. I could care less about the MC's conversations with her love interest aboard the ship but I did like the survival aspect. It was quite cogent and the only time I felt any kind of anything towards anyone in the book.

Another thing is that as far as our MC knows, Grey is hiding dangerous things and is a master of deceptions. Funnily enough, she can tell when he's lying because of the thing he does and he turns pink every other second and stutters and stammers and is basically an all round transparent plastic bag. His character portrayal had the power to kick the unpredictability factor up a few notches but the potential went wasted.

With the way things were, are you sure you can't just look into his eyes and see the truth, Frances dear?

Finally, the rushed ending came along and all the loose ties put my shoelaces to shame. It was also certain I just went through 375 pages of absolute shtako.

Naban is going through what can only be described as an existential crisis and she blames the rain. She has a love-hate relationship with rain. She also feels weird talking about herself in third person. Oh well.

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Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession

2015-07-14T19:43:00.000+05:00

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession. Most of these books are the books I got for my birthday back in May, some I got myself. So here we go.

1. A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas

This has been one of my most anticipated books of 2015, and it did not disappoint me. Sarah's writing was as beautiful as always, and though the plot was a little bit dragging at some times I enjoyed it very much.

2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Fact about me: I don't like horses. I never did. I wasn't one of those girls who had a school bag with ponies on them and watched movies about horse riding. It doesn't even have a particular reason. I just don't get along with them.

So whenever I saw The Scorpio Races, I dismissed it, though a part of my brain screamed: 'Go for it! It's Maggie Stiefvater!'

Then one day I decided to put in on my wish list, and my friends got it for me. After hesitating for another few weeks I finally picked it up.

And while I did enjoy Maggie's writing and the story line, the characters were quite undeveloped and flat. And I still don't get the thing for horses.

3. Half Bad by Sally Green

This is one of those books I started with knowing nothing about it and having no high expectations. I haven't read a single review on it, I just put it on my wish list because a) the cover is pretty and b) witches.

So I was really surprised by how good this book actually was. I loved Sally Green's writing and how she switched from first to second person. The world-building was amazing and the characters felt so real.

Half Bad turned out as one of my favourite books I've read in 2015.

4. Half Wilf by Sally Green

... so it shouldn't be a huge surprise that I ordered the sequel as soon as I had finished Half Bad. And let me tell you: Half Wild was a hell of a sequel. Character development: check. Intriguing story line: check. Cute friendship between two guys: check.

5. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

The first book, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, had been one of my favourite contemporaries ever, because of Peter Kavinsky. He was such a cute and charming guy, and I loved his relationship with Lara Jean.

But in the sequel I felt like their chemistry went from 100 to 0. While there were definitely some cute moments, I was left underwhelmed and in the end quite disappointed.

I still enjoyed the family aspect in the book tough, Kitty rocks!

6. The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Do you want to get your heart broken by a beautiful A Thousand And One Nights retelling? Then I recommend you to pick this book up.

While I still have some mixed feelings about this one, I couldn't help but love the story. Though some characters need some more development.

Plus, thumbs up for diversity in YA books!

7. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

A really magical and fairytale like novel. Amazing world-building, well-developed characters, compelling writing with beautiful descriptions and creative story line.

It was pretty damn perfect and I really wish it would have been at least one chapter longer.

8. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Confession: I've wanted to read this book since the YA hottest author article came out. I mean, yes, Pierce Brown is attractive, but I wanted to know if this beautiful face can actually write books.

And well, he can. Bloody damn amazing. Red Rising just blew me away.

So if you're looking for a good YA dystopia, definitely check this out.

9. The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

This is one of those books everyone seems to love and recommend, but I just never got to read it. And I still haven't, though it's lying on my shelf, looking pretty and starring at me.

I hereby promise to read it this summer, and hopefully love it.

10. The Hero Of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

I've read the first two books in the Mistborn series this year, and I loved them. The Final Empire is one of my all-time-favourites.

And being completely honest, I don't want to read the last book, because I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. I've gotten so attached to the characters, I don't know how to let them go. But one day I will pick this up, and I will read the hell out of it and I will probably cry rivers.

Maggi is currently eating way too much chocolate and deciding if she should continue with The Heart Of Betrayal or watch some more Breaking Bad. She's really bad at making wise decisions.

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