Mark This Book Monday: Mini Reviews for Reawakened and Ink & Bone!!

Hello everyone!

Today is one of those Mondays where I'm gonna forego sleep for the most part in the name of social life and time spent with my favourite people! Since one of my besties lives in Italy, the whole group doesn't meet together more than twice a year, so whenever we do, it's always a celebration! And this time, I'm hosting breakfast at my new apartment, so I'm extra excited!

Today for Mark This Book Monday I have two mini reviews, since I do have a bit of a backlog of reviews pending! Since one of them is all about Egyptian mythology I'll be counting it towards by 2015 Mythology Challenge and the other book will be counted for the 2015 Release category for the 105 Challenge!

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had read quite a few super positive reviews of this one, but I wasn't sure what to expect of this one when I started reading it.

Despite having a rather large cast of secondary characters, we follow Jess's POV throughout the whole book, except for the communications/letters/memos we get in the beginning of each chapter, that I loved, btw, since it gave us a lil more information about how the Library has always been working, and some outside info that Jesse wouldn't have.

The world building of this book has to be my favourite part of it for sure! The Great Library of Alexandria never burnt and instead it became the greatest power of the world, with daughter libraries all over the world. And since knowledge is power and power corrupts, the Library holds to the knowledge and its power with an iron fist, and won't tolerate any suggestions of change that will lessen their absolute control.

As a book lover and book hoarder the thought of not being able to own copies of books is something that made me panic a lil bit! And I absolutely could relate to Jess's horror and disgust at the thought of someone destroying books or eating them! So very few copies of them, and people decide that they want to eat them? Twisted indeed!!

I loved how we get to know our batch of students that want to enter service to the Library, with their own motives, hidden or not, and how they competed and helped each other all the time. I also loved seeing their opinions of each other and their mentor change with their tasks and their triumphs and loses.

There's plenty of character development and there's also a lil bit of romance here and there that didn't take over the book or the plot and that was rather believable and well done.

The ending was both the right way to close this book as a chapter in a larger story but still giving it enough closure and also the perfect set up for what's to come in the sequel!

This was my first Rachel Caine book but it won't be the last, because now I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the next one! Very well deserved 4 stars to this one!



Reawakened by Colleen Houck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was my first Colleen Houck book, and I'm happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had heard some rather meh things about her previous series, but then I read some awesome reviews for this one from bloggy friends, and it had this gorgeous cover and Egyptian mythology that I love, so I decided to give it a try!

It took me a little to warm up to Lillian, because at first I really didn't like her or her attitude much. But once she finds herself dealing with a guy that appears out of seemingly thin air, dressed in a skirt and that needs "sustenance", I really liked how very realistically she reacted, trying to rationalize his ramblings into something she can understand at first, and how she simply wants to help him and get back to her regular life.

But of course that's not how things work out when you are dealing with a resurrected mummy/god/prince that needs to find his brothers to stop the end of the world at the hands of the god of Chaos. And I started to warm up to her and the way she tried to face things and how she dealt with the "what's expected of me" and the "do I want to do this, how do I know what I want to do" doubts that are her main point of growth in this book.

Amon was a character driven by his mission and that finds himself in a much more hostile environment this time around, not waking up close to his brothers or with a Vizier ready to help him, and he makes the most of the odd circumstances he finds himself, and learns the most of the changing modern world he awakens in this time. He was rather swoony and sunny too (pardon the pun) and I loved how he managed to teach Lily a few lessons about enjoying life by enjoying some of the small things, and I loved how much he enjoyed "feasting"!

The humour in this book was great and it got even better once we meet Amon's brothers! Those two are adorable and are ever bantering and are so snarky sometimes... I loved them!

Having so many Egyptian myths and legends explained thoughout the book was also one of my favourite parts, although I knew them all already, I loved reading about them, and how the author managed to weave them into the story!

The ending seems quite final as it is, except for that final bit, and now I just cannot wait to see how it will all come to play in the sequel! Very much deserved 4 stars for this one!


View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell!

Hiya there people!

So today is Monday and for me it is a Monday after a tough night shift at work and a tough Monday when I try not too sleep too much or too little so I can still function during the evening when I'm meeting friends from India here in vacation but also manage to fall asleep at night!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have yet another ARC review! This one I got both approved via NetGalley but also got gifted a physical ARC by my friend Britt from Please Feed The Bookworm! Such a lovely cover, so I'm super happy to have the physical ARC!

As a 2015 release it counts towards by 105 Challenge too!

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I fell in love with the cover of this book and really wanted to read a Cinderella retelling with not your typical ending. I ended up with both a physical and an eARC of this one and I'm beyond grateful for them!

Mechanica is a more "faithful" retelling than others that I have read before, but I cannot generalize much since I haven't read many. Nicolette is an orphan that's left with her Steps once her father dies. She's treated like a servant and lives like one. There's even a ball and a prince in this story too, but the setting and the way the story is woven sets it apart from the more known versions of Cinderella.

This is a world of clockwork and magic and secrets. Where the Fae were treated like servants before being expelled and where rebellion and a war are looming. I loved all the lil stories woven here and there about the magic and the Fae.

My favourite part of the whole book has to be seeing Nicolette working on her clockwork inventions and discovering all that had been shut down and finding a way to connect with her mother through the memories and diaries. And to see her planning and plotting a way to escape the Steps with her own work and talent, without needing anyone to rescue her!

I love that no matter what hurdles she faces, Nicolette continues to work and try to fix herself a new and better life, with her friends and some of those lovely mechanical critters that were her very first friends (and quite a wink to the Disney rodents).

I really loved many things in this book and you might be wondering why it didn't get a higher rating, but the thing is that the overall feeling was not one of overwhelming love or amazement, so I cannot give a 4 or 5 stars rating, but THIS is the kind of fairy tale I wish I could have read when I was a pre-teen and one I'll make sure young girls that I know will get to read.

We don't need books that have girls being rescued by marriage to a prince, but girls that despite being treated badly are still capable of finding friends and getting over heartbreak without bitterness and through their own work and talent rescue themselves. And this is a book that says exactly that. So big kudos to the author for writing a modern version with a very classical fairy tale feel to it.

Very much deserved 3.5 stars to this one. It'll be in the Xmas list for some young girls this year from me!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Mini-reviews for Rogue & Magonia!!

Hello there guys!

Happy Saturday! After today, the hiatus officially starts on my blog... I'll still have some post here and there, but I'll spend less time checking posts or comments, because I really need a bit of a breather and I'm gonna have other demands of my time pretty soon with everything involving the apartment.

I'm having a pair of mini-reviews for two books for this week's Saturday Pages, one an awaited sequel, the other a new book from a new-to-me author, both counting towards my 2015 releases category for the 105 Challenge!

Rogue by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Julie Kagawa is one of my auto-buy authors, because I've loved everything I've read by her and Talon was no different last year, it wasn't exactly what I expected but it was a great book nonetheless. When I got approved on NetGalley to read Rogue early I was extremely excited.

I'm not gonna say I was terribly disappointed, but I must confess to not be as thrilled with the book as I expected. It was a book full of action, with Ember on the run with Riley, full on rogue, and rescuing Garret and running from Talon and the Order of St George both from then on.

I felt like there was a lot of action, a lot of running and fighting but we really aren't getting to many places at all. Talon want Ember back and we continue to perceive that there's a lot more behind the why but no idea why, we know Talon is hiding something big and we only get an answer that leads to more questions by the very end. And we still don't discover anything more about the past of Talon & St George and their battles.

And my biggest issue with this book is probably Riley, I think that I like him as a dragon and head of the rogue operation well enough, and I liked getting his backstory of when he left Talon, although I felt it didn't give us all that much information, but when it comes to him and Ember? I just cannot stand him.

So there comes my big issue, I don't tend to like love triangles, and although I still understand this one, two guys, one for each side of Ember, the human and the dragon... I cannot stand Riley as a love interest, I'm Team Garret and I am very much bothered with how Riley acts.

Ember is confused from her own feelings and the way her dragon reacts, but I'm still not sure how that dichotomy works, but I guess we might get more explanation for that in the next and final book, or so I hope! She is still hoping that her twin will choose her instead of Talon despite the initial betrayal, and she proves a bit too naive and not as good a fighter as you'd have expected after her training.

All in all, a good enough book, but I wanted more... more answers and less triangly! Oh well, 3 stars to this one. I do hope to get moooore answers on the final book!

*EDIT* There will be 5 books total, so who knows when we'll get answers!!




Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What a fascinating book! I loved the pacing and the writing and although I had a few issues with Aza at the very start, I grew to love her dearly!

I wasn't 100% sure I'd like Aza because somehow her snark and way to deal with her illness seemed a bit odd to me at first, but very soon I saw the way she tried to face every day, and how she tried to define herself, not only as the girl with the death expectance and the freak insides. We see her with her family and with Jason, and I fell in love with the lot!

I really enjoyed having their alternating POVs, both Aza's and Jason's, since we went to know them both better from each other's perspective in a way we wouldn't if we only saw each other as they see themselves, and it also completed the events happening.

The book has a big feeling of contemporary story at first, and then moves into the fantasy realm without a hitch, making us wonder too about the possibilities of ships in the sky! I was rather annoyed at the insistence of the Magonians for Aza to believe them and to simply leave everything behind and to adapt quickly to their expectations, when all she knew was the human life for fifteen years! I really liked that Aza was so realistically thrown for a loop and tried to adapt while still feeling out of kilter.

The worldbuilding on the ships and Magonia and was fascinating, as we learn details little by little along with Aza, and I feel like there is more to discover in hopefully a sequel, because although we get a wrap up on the plot ARC that was central to this book, there is plenty to expect to come up for a sequel for sure!

A word of warning, there might be some hints of a somewhat love triangle, but not. Just a few vibes here and there, all justified for reasons I won't discuss because spoilers, but it never went full love triangle.

It was a very compelling read that I couldn't put down and that I thoroughly enjoyed! A wonderful 2015 that I highly recommend! Well deserved 4 stars for this one!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins!!

Hey there guys!

Getting a review up for today has been quite a close call, because last night I was too tired to schedule one and I was not sure if I'd have time to write one today before work with everything that I had to do this morning, but I was inspired enough to write a quick one!

This Saturday Pages is all about a quite awaited sequel that didn't suffer from middle book syndrome or sequel slump and that as a 2015 release is part of my 105 Challenge!

Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I read Rebel Belle last year I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did, and since it was my first Rachel Hawkins I had no idea I was in for a treat with the banter and the humour, but this time with Miss Mayhem I knew what to expect when it came to that.

What I wasn't expecting were the new twists she threw into the relationships between the different characters and the turns and twists that the plot would have!

Harper finds herself trying to juggle her role as Paladin and protecting David with the lies she has to tell her friends and family to explain absences, strange events and all mananers of oddities that keep on popping here and there, and it all gets even more complicated when the Ephors appear again! I was very annoyed as was Harper when they came demanding and blackmailing and generally putting everyone in danger and not giving any answers.

Harper finds that trying to juggle having her ex and her new boyfriend as part of the team as well as her best friend back, but not quite as she was before she was taken... can be a bit much, even for her. And as she tries to get everything sorted, she finds herself learning to work with others in a way that she didn't have to before.

It was very interesting seeing Harper & David work both as a team and as a couple, and how Harper needs to learn to give up her control freak tendencies a bit, because David needs to make his own choices, no matter how much she has to protect him. Their dynamics were full of banter and humour but thankfully no unnecesary drama!

The dynamics between Bee and Harper also undergo a pretty big change and one that I was not expecting, but it's fantastic that they didn't have a competitive friendship where when there's a hitch they try to tear each other down, instead there's talking and figuring out things and asking for time to do so when necessary.

I loved that Harper's family continue to be present, and that despite her powers and all the crazy stuff going on, her parents are present in the story and not as oblivious as you'd expect. And I simply adore her aunts, Aunt Penelope in particular!

The ending was quite the unexpected twist and quite horribly cruel, so be aware that the wait for the final book is gonna be BAD! I have no idea what aces Rachel Hawkins is hiding in her sleeves, but I cannot wait to find out! Very much deserved 4 stars!



View all my reviews

Friday Reads: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios!!!

Hey there guys!

It is Friday! And I'm hoping to get a pair of books in the mail and to have some time to read before going to work night shift, because then I work night shift on Saturday again, which means I'll spend most of my Saturday sleeping...

For this week's Friday Reads I have a book that punched me in the feels in the best of ways and that made me sob and ugly cry and any other actions involving tears that you might think of. I preordered it from Book of Wonder signed and personalized and I got a special promo letter from Josh to Skylar for V-day and that was just wonderful too!

Since it is a 2015 release it will count towards that category on my 105 Challenge!

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My ratings usually come from gut feelings and when I've been through so many emotions and I've cried as much as I did with this book, it deserves 5 and more stars for sure. And this is particularly relevant for me since this one is a contemporary book, and it's not a genre that I am drawn to much. I usually am very picky when it comes to contemporaries and this one was an absolute bullseye for me!

Skylar is our main character and it's a girl that wants to get out of the small town she has always lived in, and that dream of going away, all the planning and saving and thinking, is what has kept her sane through a very crappy and tough and all around messed up family dynamic, with her dad dead and her mum not being much of a parent for quite some time. Skylar has just graduated high school, has a scholarship for a fantastic art school and she just needs to get through a final summer before she can follow her dreams.

The relationship between Skylar and her mum was painful to read at times, but so raw and real and heartfelt. Skylar has been the one taking over the adult role and being the one responsible for herself and her mother for a lot time already and once her mum falls into another dark hole, Skylar feels like she'll have to give up everything to pull her mum out of it. It was very much a role reversal with the teen being the responsible one and the mum being the one in need of care. I found myself wishing that Skylar would stop feeling so responsible for her mum and would decide to focus on herself more, and feeling like crap for wishing that because her mum is her only family, and we do take care of those we love.

Then we got her friends, Dylan and Chris, both excellently written secondary characters that break through the possible sterotypes. Dylan is a girl that wears tight clothes and has a baby boy, a teen mother that is madly in love with her son's father and that has managed to graduate. Chris is Skylar's ally on the quest to leave their town, to be more and a genius at math. I loved how their relationship went through some hardships due to their different choices about staying or leaving for the future, and how despite it all they were there for each other through and through!

And then we got Josh, and he is such a broken and complex character and one that I simply felt for so much! He also wanted to leave town and did so as a soldier, to fight in Afghanistan, and he is injured, loses a leg and returns suffering from PTSD. A mess if there ever was one. I am very happy that we got both Skylar and Josh's POV, because his chapters if shorter, were even more emotionally heavy and poignant and made me cry like mad! Being in his head was both amazing and painful and was necessary to get us readers to not hate him after one pretty big mistake he makes, but seeing things from his POV... well, we know he made a BIG mistake and we still want Skylar to kick his arse but also to forgive him.

I'm glad that Skylar and Josh's relationship is built by working together, hanging out together, becoming friends by feeling like outsiders and not really belonging in a place, and after quite a few false starts here and there, with communication and a lil help from others here and there, they find a way to be together. They have to work on their relationship a lot, but they do have dreams to achieve and someone to share those dreams with. And an amazing black lab doggie that made me cry even more!

This book was an amazing read for me and not only because it was extremely emotional for many reasons and not just the romance, but so many important relationships like between parent and children, friends, co-workers, parental figures. And it makes you really think and wonder about the consequences of war for those that come from it and their families. A brilliant book through and through.



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Empire At Night by Kelley Armstrong!!

Hi there guys!

Happy Saturday! Having the weekend off is quite amazing and a nice change, so I'm going to the cinema with a friend and spending some time reading and relaxing, and continue plotting apartment decoration!

I'm starting this week's Saturday Pages with the review of the sequel of the very first Alyssa Recommends book!! I'm gonna be counting this one as part of my 105 Challenge since this is a 2015 release and that's one of my categories in the challenge!

Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Last year I read Sea of Shadows as my first ever Alyssa Recommends book and it was a fantastic start. I loved the world building, the magic, the main characters and the way the plot was progressing as an overall series ARC and the plot driving the book. So I was extremely intrigued and awaiting eagerly the sequel.

It was a happy coincidence that the edition I happened to preorder in my Kindle not the US one and ended up downloading on April 1st instead of having to wait till April 7th!

Despite having read the first book a year ago and not having the clearest memory of everything that happened, I never felt lost or confused, and we quickly get up to date with what's going on now after the events of book 1. Ashyn and Moria are at the Emperor's palace as guests, and both are uneasy because they feel they ought to be doing something more after what they witness and being Keeper and Seeker.

Empire of Night is a fantastic sequel. We get character growth for both Moira and Ashyn, we learn more about Ronan and Tyrus and even Gavriel and the Emperor. When we're not having quiet moments of character development and dealing with court politics and intrigues, we finally start moving into the action to the moderate happines of Moira, that was chaffing at the inaction.

There's so much plotting and crafting in this book and despite having the sisters together for a good portion of it, since they're dealing in their different ways with the aftermath of what happened in book 1 and their grief and guilt about it, they are emotionally stranged somewhat. Then once they start being on the move again, they find themselves working together and dealing with the dangers as a team once again.

The mission they find themselves in ends up quite disastrously and the sisters end up once again separated, Moria kidnapped, Tyrus with Ashyn and Ronan and a big mess underway for them all. Treachery, political intrigues (again) and lies all over the place makes any rescue plans or direct action complicated, so there's a lot of hiding and spying and escaping.

There was very subtle romance in the first book and in this one things are less subtle but still didn't take over the book either. The romance not only was adorable even with some heartbreak in there but also was a fantastic way to get to know and develop our characters even more. Moria and Tyrus make a fantastic team as friends and as a couple and I love how their relationship developed.

I love the nuances of the culture and world building, how there's more to everything that we think at first, and then once the book it's almost over... we encounter not one but TWO cliffhangers, of very different sort with each one of the sisters' POV! Both equally intriguing and maddening and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

Very much deserved 4 to 4.5 stars to this one, when does the next book comes out?!?!



View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: Every Move by Ellie Marney!!!

And as the second Mark This Book Monday post of this week, I have one of those highly awaited books that I've been making grabby hands since I read the first book of the trilogy!

I highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone and it reinforces my love for Australian fiction and authors, and I plan to continue to support Ellie Marney and whatever books might came after this trilogy!

As book released on 2015 (even if only in Australia) I'm totally counting it towards my 2015 release category in the 105 Challenge!

Every Move by Ellie Marney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Since I first got my hands on book 1, Every Breath, I've been addicted to this series, that can be considered a contemporary retelling of Sherlock Holmes with murder mysteries and the most shippity ship of all times. And so my need to get my hands on this final book was rather dire, and after preordering somewhere and them not shipping it, I ended up ordering it directly from the Australian publisher. It arrived as I was leaving for work, so I spent the whole shift wishing the time to pass faster because I wanted to get back home to devour it! And that I did! I stayed up till 5 am till I finished inhaling the book!

If you still haven't started this series, you really ought to get going, but even if you've started it, you might expect some spoilers in this one for book 1 and 2, since I might discuss some of the events, so GO READ THEM NOW!!

As the previous two book the pacing and the plotting and the mysteries in this one were done so well! And the characters and emotional connections and the relationships as well! I love how important for the book are all the relationships, not only Rachel & James and their romantic relationship, but also Rachel and her brother, and Rachel and her parents, specially her mum.
No absent parents here, no even those that are dead, since Mycroft's parents are always present in the way they have shaped who he is and his interests and motivations. Rachel's parents don't trust her know, and her mother is both angry and scared with Rachel's taking off after Mycroft to London and returning injured.

Rachel is going through a very tough time after the events in London, and although she doesn't acknowledge it really, she's trying to push through it, but she cannot allow close contact with even her family and she gets nightmares every day, PTSD to the letter. And it's fantastic how the author deals with it. With Rachel trying to get away from everything and returning to her home away from the city for a day with her brother (that doesn't really work as she expected as they end up having company) and then having someone not involved with the events or her family helping her finding a way to regain control of her fear somehow by focusing on defending herself.

Mycroft and Rachel are a bit more distant at the beginning of the book, given how each of them is dealing with the aftermath of London. Mycroft has thrown himself even harder into investigating his parents' case, and Rachel cannot deal with any of that, so they barely spend time together. It is painful to read, how they need each other not only as a couple but as friends and how they cannot seem to be able to communicate with each other, both thinking that the other needs the time and space to sort themselves out. But when they confront not only each other but their feelings and the way they're dealing with the fear, the threat and the mystery... they're back to being one united team, the ship to end all other ships.

There is one new guy introduced in this book, one that has an interest in Rachel and that helps her when Mycroft couldn't, teaching her self defence and being a neutral party for her to talk to, but I cannot speak of love triangle since Rachel never thinks of anyone but James. And nevermind that Mycroft does actually punch the dude, which if not exactly something I should condone... I actually enjoyed it loads in the book! Bad Pili!

As far as the mystery goes, I had a bad vibe about one character in Every Word and to my surprise, I ended up being right on who was our Moriarty to my surprise and glee! The final climax was full of heartstopping action and tension and boy I couldn't turn the pages past enough!

This book and series was an amazing journey and despite some of my issues of lack of knowledge of the Australian flora that made me pause to search for some terms in my phone (Dictionary app for the win!) I adored everything from these books, from the characters, their relationships, the mysteries, the pacing, the plotting, the OTP!! Very well deserved 5 and all the stars!! VERY recommended!!



View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab!!!

Hello there guys!

Happy Monday! Yes, it's Monday, the week starts, but since I've been working the weekend... it is just another day but one where I can get book mail! ;)

Today for Mark This Book Monday I have an amazing book to feature and share and flail about! I read & loved the sampler but given my book buying ban I didn't preorder it, but on release day I decided to say "To hell with it!" and buy the book BUT it was already out of stock in many places! Which wasn't all that cool until it meant I got a brainwave, asked the author for where to buy signed copies, and I ended up getting a signed and personalized copy of it, from Scotland! =D

And since this one is a 2015 release it counts towards that category in my 105 Challenge!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Holy crackers!

I read the sampler for A Darker Shade of Magic, I absolutely loved it and was so excited to finally continue reading! When I finally got my hands on a copy of (signed!!) I knew I needed to save it for a day off, cause I wanted to read it from start to finish!

And that's what I did! And it just cannot be done any other way, because once you start reading this one, you just don't want to stop! At first because you are so intrigued about the characters you are meeting and the worlds you are discovering, and soon enough it is because you already care for those characters and the action starts ramping up and then they keep rescuing each other and getting into even more trouble, and then the shit has hit the fan and no one seems to have realized it!

The world the author has created in this book is fascinating and I love how we've got plenty of pieces to feel like these different Londons are all real, as familiar or as alien as they might feel to us. But at the same time, I love that there's still a lot to discover about them.

Grey London, the more normal London, the one without magic, the one more like our world and the one that felt like the Jack the Ripper's London for some reason to me (Victorian London after all), it's quite full of surprises after all. Red London, the most magical but also the more orderly, is fascinating but we get only a glimpse of the city itself, and there are quite some secrets and mysteries around it still. White London, the most crazy and dangerous of the lot, with mad rulers and a hunger for magic that it's more dangerous than magic itself! And finally Black London, the most mysterious of the lot and the cautionary tale for all magic users!

But as much as I feel that we got a real feel for all the places, that the atmosphere was so real and different when switching from one London to another and I was completely immersed... I feel that we have just but scratched the surface of these worlds! I feel like there is so much more coming and I just cannot wait to visit more and discover more and see more in the next book! I feel like that's the mark of an amazing first book: you get a complete overview of the world with enough information to make it feel real BUT having enough to make it grow even bigger and better in the upcoming books!

I fell in love with the characters quite easily too. Both Kell and Lila are delightful and different and complex and I adore how Lila is entirely unapologetic of who she is, what she does and what she wants! She's a pirate looking for her ship and adventures and she finds way more that she could ever dream about! I love how different and at the same time how similar Lila and Kell are, because both accept who they are but want more and keep having their own ways to rebel about the cards they have been dealt.

And not only the main characters feel real and you feel like cheering for them, every single character you encounter has a genuine feeling to them, even if it's just a man that lost a game of cards once against Kell, or the lady that sells Lila the clothes she always wanted, and even more the bigger secondary characters like Rhys, and Holland and the evil twins. And let's not forget about the magic, because at some point in the book you feel like the magic IS a character too, and one that worries you as much as the human villains! And really I won't give any more details because I might end up getting into spoilery territory, and I want to avoid that at all costs!

So, the world building is fantastic, the characters are amazing... and the plot? The plot is brilliant! It's quite hard to manage to build a plot and make it progress and get to a resolution in a first book of a trilogy but the author managed to do so in here and brilliantly! There was so much tension once we reach the climax of the story! But yes, you heard it right, there is resolution and a full story arc closes, and no, there is not a cliffhanger (what?! YES, you heard right!) but an ending, it might be an open ending, and yes it does leave you wanting more because you need more Lila, more Kell, more Rhys and yes what if?? and you want to know MORE about everything!

As I guess it's easy to surmise from my overly wordy review, I adored this book and I just cannot wait to get my hands on its sequel... next year! GAH! SO FAR AWAY!! Very much deserved 5 and all the stars to this one!!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon!!!

Hey guys!

The weekend is here and with it a new entry of Saturday Pages! And this one is counted for my 105 Challenge because as a January release it'll be included in my 2015 release category.

The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


First of all I must thank my friend Kristen from My Friends Are Fiction because she was the one that convinced me to read The Bone Season and I discovered a fantastic series that is now on its second book and we have 5 more books to look forward to!

The Mime Order starts right where The Bone Season left us and it was full of action from page one. Then we get a small breather while Paige tries to recover from the ordeal of being kept captive, trained and escaping but it's not too quiet since she's in hiding and running from Scion.

I wasn't very happy with how Paige returned to Seven Dials after how Jaxon treated her in Bone Season, but it was also understandable that she needed a safe place to hide, and returning to her position as Mollisher was the most obvious choice, even if her swallowing her pride and running back felt like a step back.

But things change quickly once Paige finds herself in a crime scene, and she decides she needs to solve the crime before she is accused of it. And we are treated to a wonderful murder mystery full of twists!

Most of the world building was done in The Bone Season, but everything gets bigger and better in this book. We see more of the Syndicate, discover more about the different leaders and the inside workings of leadership. I loved how Paige decided to work from the inside to change things and try to unite the voyants in the fight against Scion.

There's quite a bit of growth for Paige in this book, she returns as an escaped victim from the Rephaim and seems to go back to being under the care and fist of Jaxon, but she cannot ignore the threat to all the voyants or the fact that the Syndicate is a bunch of squabbling criminals that can't seem to see beyond their own petty noses. She decides she needs to change things and she takes responsability and fights for those that no one else seem to care about. I just loved how she went against what was the obvious choices or the easy ones.

The romance in this series is on the rather subtle and secondary side, but it is present and although it's not the main motivator for Paige's actions, Warden is a constant presence and reassurance, as well as someone that will always help her try and get stronger. The chemistry between Paige and Warden is pretty good but given their differences is fantastic that they acknowledge how difficult their relationship will be and how they feel very strongly but won't put it before everything else.

The final part of the book was extremely intense, trying to solve two mysteries at once and preparing for the final battle, and once all of that is done, we get an even bigger surprise and slap in the face! Now I just cannot wait for book 3!! Go Paige!! Very well deserved 5 stars for this second book that has no sequel slump in any shape or form!



View all my reviews

Friday Reads: The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows!!!

As the second entry for this week's Friday Reads I got a recent review that I absolutely devoured as soon as I could, and that I am eagerly awaiting a signed copy (I read my Kindle copy) of the book! It sucks that I cannot attend book events not only not often but nearly never, but it's fantastic that there are bookstores where I can get signed (and personalized!) copies!

This one counts towards my 105 Challenge and my 2015 release category!

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's no secret that I love Jodi Meadows and her books since I read Incarnate, so I was super excited to get my hands on a copy of Orphan Queen! I had wanted to read it on release night but I was at work so after a few things here and there, I couldn't read it till the 11th, but I just devoured it!!

Wil is a wonderful character! She's a princess in hiding, she steals to survive and to take care of her band of orphans that are working to get back their kingdom and her crown. She's a thief, a fighter, a warrior and a forger but has issues with her leadership. She also has a secret that would probably condemn her to death in a world where magic is forbidden.

Wil, Mel, Patrick and the rest of the Ospreys are what's left of the noble families of Aecor and after 10 years of hidding, they're ready to start the fight to recover their kingdom and throne. Wil & Mel infiltrate the palace and then Wil starts discovering some information that she didn't have and start asking questions that she isn't sure she'll like the answers to.

The world building is fantastic! We learn about the different kingdoms and their history and the history of the use of magic and the creating of the Wraith. There's the official story and information and then there are many mysteries and half truths that need scratching at before we get a better look at the bigger picture.

The kingdom of Aecor and The Indigo Kingdom were allies back in the day, until the magic and its use got between them, we discover quite a lot about the past and what ties them together. Wil believes on her parents values when it comes to magic and holds a lot of anger and resentment towards the royal family and infiltrating the palace makes her confront those memories and feelings.

I loved seeing Wil on her night escapades and her evolving  relationship with Black Knife, the masked vigilante that roams the city at night, fighting crime and Wraith and capturing magic users. I simply adored Black Knife! He's an impressive fighter and he finds Wil quite interesting, so they both start clashing to end up working together trying to make the lower levels of the city a safer place. Their banter is fantastic and the chemistry is quite palpable between them!

I did have my suspicions on the non-vigilante identity of Black Knife and I was right but it was still fantastic to see Black Knife reveal himself to Wil and then later on for him to realize who Wil really is! The romance is quite subtle and not prominent but still was fantastic and I loved how it changed both Wil & Black Knife for the better!

With the political manouvers, the spying, the infiltrating, the forging, the dancing (both literal and metaphorical) and the dangerous adventures that a future queen embarks on to deserve her throne... This was an utterly fantastic book, with wonderful characters and engrossing plot! The ending is an absolute bloody killer and I am left clutching my heart and very much Impatiently awaiting the release of book two... NEXT YEAR!! GAAAH!!

Very much deserved 5 stars to this one!!



View all my reviews

Friday Reads: Fairest by Marissa Meyer!!

Hello there guys!

Friday is here and for me is the end of my days off and the start of my working weekend! On Tuesday I went to a meeting for my apartment complex and it was a bit nuts, so on Wednesday I decided to take a full reading day!

For my first Friday Reads entry of the week I have a new release of this year and as such one that counts toward my 2015 release category on my 105 challenge!

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fairest is one of those extra books that we didn't expect and we didn't think we needed, but once you've read it, you realize that it was a really good idea to add it to the series!

We've hated Levana since pretty much the first time she came onto the page and that hate has continued growing with each book and each revelation of her evil plan, or at least that has been my case.

I was really excited to see Levana's story because I always like villains to have layers to their story, their evilness and their evil plans. I always like to know the reasons and why's of actions of everyone, I prefer a villain that I can understand how in their twisted way they can justify their actions, even if I'll never agree with them. Evil for evil's sake without some grey areas is rather boring for me!

And we do get a lot of background information about Levana and her entire family of psychopaths. I did feel bad for Levana every time she interacted with her sister because if Levana is nuts, Chanary was even worse! We learn about their parents, the lack of familial love in the family and between the sisters. There's quite something about the nature vs nurture in here, but in Levana's case is nature + nurture!

She is born in a family of sociopaths (and probably psycopaths) so she's got both things against her, and although we see her making some better choices here and there and being worried about Luna's welfare... she ends up being true to type and make choices that show her lack of empathy and her delusions that end up in lies that she makes herself believe.

I can understand better how she came to be the cruel and mad queen that we met in Cinder and I was quite glad once the book was over, because being in her head was one hell of a twisted place to be! We also get more background story on Winter's and on princess Selena's pasts and I'm sure all that will help us understand Winter better the next time we meet her.

A great book that would deserve a warning, because getting into Levana's head is not something for the faint of heart, but worth every cringe-worthy moment for the insight that we get and how the fight of our heroines and heroes being even more dire! Very well deserved 4 stars, Marissa Meyer knows how to write and write well ALL sort of characters!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury!!

As the second and last entry of this week's Saturday Pages I have one of my most awaited debuts of this year, and one that luckily didn't disappoint!

As a debut book it counts towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge and since it's also a 2015 release, it counts towards my 105 Challenge in that category!

The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


From the first moment that I saw that cover and read the summary for this book, I knew I needed to read it and so it was preordered and then I started reading it as soon as the book arrived in the mail!

The world of The Sin Eater's Daughter is what I'd call more historical fantasy. Full of rich detail about the kingdom of Lormere and its legends and religion's myths, so much to the point that the King and Queen are the Gods incarnate, and as such they are obeyed and worshipped. Twylla lives at court as the daughter of the Gods incarnate and her touch is deadly. There's magic at play, but there's such a strong medieval feel all over the book: monarchy, theocracy, guards, castles, court...

Twylla was a really interesting character and her growth is phenomenal. She starts as a girl with a terrifying power that she weilds, but she feels like she doesn't have any power at all. She left for the palace because she wanted to avoid her family's destiny, as she was the Sin Eater's Daughter and she again feels like a prisoner of her destiny as the Goddess incarnate. She feels the responsability of the lives she's taken and she wonders if she's doing the right thing, and she feels very accutely the lack of human contact.

She was a challenging character to connect with sometimes, because she continues to feel like she has no choice and whenever she makes one, she keeps backing out of it. She's so unsure of herself, so scared! And it does take her a while to realize that no one can make her choices perfect, that no matter what she chooses it'll be hard, and she might need to do what she fears but what will be better for her.

I was very surprised about one of the plot twists and also slightly disappointed, not disappointed because the twist wasn't good or it didn't make sense, because it actually made the book so much more interesting, but... dammit, too spoilery to discuss it here! But after a few hints here and there, I'm looking forward about what will happen in book 2!

Twylla is engaged with the prince because as the Goddess incarnate she was the only suitable match for him, given that the Royal family only married within the family (and they wonder why the babies are frail and die younger every generation, inbreeding much?) but they have barely interacted with each other. The romance is a bit complicated because Twylla feels a sense of duty towards the prince because of the crazy situation that they have, but she wants to follow her heart for once. And her heart points towards a guard that's a foreigner and that makes her ask questions and doubt the truths she's always been fed, and so she continues to be torn between heart and duty.

You might call it a love triangle, but give how they bother me and how little this one bothered me... I dunno, I guess I could understand how trapped Twylla felt in a web of lies, deceit and political manouvers! Having your world shaken and given choices that you didn't think you have can be paralizing, and given how controlled her life had been... I understand how scared she was to make her own choices. If you free a caged bird, they don't always know how to fly free.

The Queen was one fantastic villain, twisted and powerful, and that was very good at keeping control over those that she ruled by any means available, be it worship, kindness or cruelty! Mad with power and not as easily defeated as her own son would think!

I couldn't stop turning the pages because I wanted to learn more about the world and see how Twylla would get herself extricated out of the treacherous spiderweb of the court and the Queen! And the epilogue had to be my favourite part of the book! Twylla finally made her own choices, took her life into her control and decided to make her own destiny! But that knock on the door!

Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars to this brilliant debut! I cannot wait for the next book!



View all my reviews

Friday Reads: Ensnared by A. G. Howard!!!

Hello there!

Friday is once again here, and I'm having a weekend of zombieness, because I'm working today and Sunday night shift, which means I'm hoping for quiet shifts for some reading time! And then I'll spend Saturday and Monday like a zombie!

Today I have one of my most awaited books of the year up for review for this week's Saturday Page! And it also counts towards my 105 Challenge for my 2015 release category!

Ensnared by A.G. Howard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ensnared was one of my most awaited books of this year, the conclusion to one of my fave trilogies as of late, the Splintered series! A creepy and visual reimagining of the Alice in Wonderland story with Burtonian touches!

After that cruel cliffhanger of an ending that Unhinged left us with, I was dying to get my hands on Ensnared and although it was shipped early, I had to wait over a week and a half till it finally arrived!

The book starts pretty much where Unhinged left us. With Alyssa dragging her dad into an adventure that he doesn't even know he's part of, with magic shrinking mushrooms and a toy train where to recover his lost memories.

Everything got bigger and creepier and the plot twists got even twistier! Alyssa's dad past was something I wouldn't have expected but so very fitting! And then going to AnyElsewhere was like Wonderland with an extra dose of darkness and creepiness, and meeting the Queen of Hearts was even creepier than the Red Queen, except for when you realize that the Red Queen has plots within plots and you're not sure how Alyssa and the rest will manage to stay afloat!

The character development, the plot, the descriptions, the brilliant and visual writing would guarantee a 5 stars from me for this book, but emotionally this book was very tough for me to read... not by any fault of the book, but my own emotional state. I was too anguished and I ended up having to distance myself from the romance and the story a bit, so when the ending came I was left with a very odd feeling. Uneasy I think it's how I'd describe it, so I'm gonna end up giving the book 4 stars. Not because I don't think the ending is not appropriate or the book isn't amazing, but the romance gave me such a bittersweet feeling...

So 4 stars it is for this one, a wonderful conclusion to this amazing series and I cannot wait to see what Anita has coming next!



View all my reviews