Friday Reads: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch!!!

Hi there everyone!!

Happy Friday! I'm on one of my looong weeks of work at work, one where I don't have any days off, but I'm finding that I'm doing a rather good job and juggling blogging and work and keeping up with watching my shows and even getting some sleep... what I'm not doing? Baking or anything photography... I'll have to work on that next week!

For this week's Friday Reads I have one of the first books that I read when I came back from my vacation cause my SIGNED copy had arrived while I was off! A phenomenal debut and one that I'd highly recommend to anyone that loves fantasy!



Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Snow Like Ashes was one of those highly awaited debuts of the year for me and I had a few issues with my preorder for it, change of shipping dates for Amazon, etc... BUT then I saw that Books of Wonder would have signed copies, so I decided to spend a bit more on shipping and get myself a signed copy! Brilliant choice except cause it meant a longer wait to read it...

But once I got reading it, the wait didn't matter any more! It was one of those books that you can't really put down easily at all because you want to know more! We start the book right getting to know Meira and watching her struggles with what she want to be and what she wants to do and what is asked of her, so we don't know much of the world at first. But soon enough we get more information, and the world continues growing from the small and personal, to the big and world changing.

I felt like the mix between the character growth and making us care for their struggles and worries, the world building progression and the advancement of the plot was mixed and done very well. The world might not be as epic as in other fantasy worlds but it does give you enough to keep you looking forward to what might be there to come next.

On the romance front, it's there and there's even a dreaded love triangle, one where our girl Meira finds herself thrown head first and without consulting her. She has always felt something more than friendship from Mather, but since she's just a regular girl and he's the heir and king on exile, it's something impossible. And then comes Theron, and Meira finds herself in an unexpected situation with an unexpected ally. I was not annoyed by this triangle and even if I found myself siding with Theron, I still felt for Mather! Well played Sara Raasch, well played!

All this put together would sum up to a 4 star book for me, but I still haven't talked about out main character, our main girl, our Meira! Meira is what made me give this book 5 well deserved stars, because she is a flawed character, but she's also strong, sassy, sensible but stubborn and she won't let others make her choices for her without putting up a fight and making her own choices on how to react and how to shape her future. Simply put I.LOVE.MEIRA!!

And let's not forget to add a villanous villain, many political intrigues and ramifications, quite a few surprises and twists (even if I suspected some, that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book) and an ending that without a horrible cliffhanger makes you want to get your hands on the next book NOW!!



View all my reviews

Showcase Sunday #48!!

Showcase Sunday is a weekly feature hosted by Vicky of Books, Biscuits, and Tea where all book lovers can share with others what bookish goodness we got this week, be it purchased (physical or eBook), won, gifted or for review!

Hello guys!! Now that I'm from vacation I have quite a gigantic haul after 3 weeks where some giveaway prizes arrived, a few preorders too and let's not forget 2 Book Outlet orders AND the books I bought during my US trip!!

Serious space problems here guys... I really need to look into moving somewhere and soon!

I ordered signed copies of Snow Like Ashes and Winterspell from Books of Wonder!

They arrive while I was in the US...

I won Lisa Loves Literature September is for Sequels giveaway and I chose the paperback of In the Shadow of Blackbirds and hc of Of Metal & Wishes! Thank you so much Lisa!!

I also won a Twitter giveaway from Abrams & Chronicle international and I got a gorgeous ARC of The Cure For Dreaming! Thank you soooo much!!

I also won a preorder of Blue Lily Lily Blue at Blog of Erised and it arrived while I was away (which had me pinning for the book from afar).

Two more preorders from The Book Depository arrived: The Cure For Dreaming and Talon!!

Then comes my stack of book from US! The pile with Dylan are all signed and are the books I got at events at Barnes & Noble and Books of Wonder. And the other pile are special editions I got at B&N AND a signed an even slightly annotated ARC of Liars INC that Paula sent me via Sarah!

Another amazing preorder! Special edition of The Body Electric by Beth Revis, signed and with all the most amazing swag you can imagineeeee!! Thank you Beth and Malaprops!!

And last but nowhere near least, it's my welcome package to The Insiders Street Team full of amazing swag and my missions! Thank you soooo much Cristin Terrill!!

And then my Book Outlet order(s)! Deception and Infinite are hardback copies of books I already have in Kindle but I needed them in physical form cause I adooore them! The rest I've been eyeing for a while and had to snag them for cheap!

And that's all folks, and it's a whole lot of books!! *hugs the precious*

So what did all guys get this week(s)??

US Trip 2014: New York City!!

Hello guys!!

As you might have noticed, the blog has been rather quiet for the last two weeks, and even if I returned this past Tuesday, I still haven't unpacked the suitcase or even started editing all my photos!

But, I must say that this trip was exactly the therapy that my broken heart needed! I took a trip on my own, enjoying my own company, did exactly what I felt like doing all the time, attended book events, met awesome people finally in person... all in all, now I can say that I closer to being finally okay than I've ever been since the beginning of the year.

This first post is gonna be all about my 4 days in New York City, and it will include 2 book events, one amazing Broadway musical and a stroll at Central Park with the adorable and lovely Nikki Kelly!!


Day 1: Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake Release party at Books of Wonder!

I arrived close to 2 pm and navigating JFK, going through immigration and reaching my hotel took a while, but soon I grabbed my printed Google maps directions and headed to Books of Wonder for my FIRST EVER book event! It was a lot of fun and Kendare Blake was amazing (so were the croissants, I must say!) and I loved hearing all about what inspired the series, and also I'll never be able to look at a T-rex the same ever again, from now on I'll picture them as gigantic red and yellow chickens... And it's all Kendare's fault!!

Then when the signing part happened I started chatting with Kendare telling her I was the Spaniard on Twitter that had just landed that day and then a super nice fellow book lover (and I'm sure book blogger) took a picture of us despite the non-cooperation of my phone (thank you!). It was simply fantastic! I came back to the hotel, and tried to fight jet lag to read Mortal Gods, but I only managed 2 chapters before crashing!

Day 2: Fierce Reads Tour at B&N Tribeca

My second day started with me waking up at 4 am in the morning, finishing Mortal Gods and then deciding that I needed to go grab some cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery (that was super close to my hotel), try to find a Body Shop and the metro/subway station to go to TriBeCa to the Fierce Reads event!

I tried two cupcakes at Magnolia, and although the Apple Harvest cupcake was very nice (although didn't really taste of apples at all), the red velvet cupcake was quite a disappointment for me... too dry and compact and made with vanilla whipped icing which was too sweet for my taste, I prefer the red velvet made with cream cheese icing! *sadface*

Then was my time to try and find the damned and hidden red line 1 subway station! It took me close to half an hour but I found another bakery to try the next morning! ;) Finally I was on my way to TriBeCa and then after locating the right B&N, I had sushi lunch at Good Foods and then went to camp at the store to await the event time to arrive! I met Amber from The Book Bratz and fellow Founder Member of the Styclar Street Team and then we grabbed our seats on the first row!

When the authors arrived and took their places Nikki spotted us and she was all "Piliiiiii!!" and telling all the other authors that we were founder members for her street team and that I had travelled all the way from Spain! She was beyond aadooorableee!!

The whole event was a LOT of fun!! All the ladies were amazingly funny! Nikki was particularly adorable with her Queen's English and cute accent! We also were very lucky to have Ksenia Winnicki in the audience as well as the model for Lailah's cover! 

Then came the moment of signing books and swag collecting and in general forget to take pics with everyone for me... I didn't get photos with Jessica Brody, Gennifer Albin OR EVEN NIKKI HERSELF! Thankfully we took a Team Styclar one!

With Marissa Meyer! And sporting my beloved Pivot Book Tote painted by the awesome Becca from Pivot Point Reviews!

Styclar Team: Amber, Nikki & myself, taken by Ksenia!

 And my loot from all the book events!! All signed books!! *FLAILS*

 Day 3: Hop On & Hop off and WICKED!!

I started by 3rd day in NYC with tea made with hot water from the tap because to my shock and horror there was no kettle on my hotel room!

The day was spent doing touristy things like visiting places via the Hop On, Hop Off tourist buses and taking loads of photos all over the place, that I will need to edit soon!

And then in the evening, another milestone for me! I finally got to see Wicked The Musical, after wanting to see since 2008 when I read the book, which happens to be one of my favourites (and I feel like I need to re-read soon!!). I went completely overboard with buying swag but I felt like the experience required it! It was simply beyond amazing! And I'm listening to the soundtrack while writing this!

My Ozmopolitan in a souvenir cup! Green and with this amazing artwork that I love!

 
All my Wicked swag!: Program, CD, Playbill and totebag! 

 
 And this was the amazing curtain down look! And the mechanical/clockwork dragon!



 

Day 4: Baked by Melissa and Central Park with Nikki Kelly!

On 4th day and last full day in NYC I started a very rainy morning with some souvenir buying and some Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes for breakfast! And by some, I mean 12! I ended up doing a proper tasting at the hotel hall! ;)

All in all, a much better experience than the Magnolia Bakery ones! If you're in NYC, go visit!!

Then I had sushi for lunch in my hotel firescape while listening to the main title of Outlander... One of those fun things that had to be done! I loved that my window was on the firescape side, it's so typical from that side of the ocean! Then I met with Nikki at my hotel and we walked towards Central Park hoping to come across a bookstore, but weren't lucky!

We took a walk around the park, chatted about how hard it is to make proper tea in the US due to the usage of "creamer" instead of regular milk, we chatted about the Fierce Reads Tour and about the upcoming Styclar books but because I'm all NO about the "Spoilers Sweetie" she only told me that I better prepare myself for book 3 since it's gonna be the wildest of rides! And then Nikki had to go back to her hotel for more meetings, but I'm hoping I'll get to the UK soon-ish to visit her (and will bring cupcakes).

Then I returned to my hotel where I ended up crashing early... damned jet lag! Up at 7 am at the latest and off to bed at 9 pm at the latest! Where's my usual night owl gone to??

And the next day I was off to Chicago, the Windy City but that will be a post for another day!! Probably Saturday!! This one is so bloody long already!! Thank you for reading till here, you're champions!!