Friday Reads: ARC Review of Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill!!!

Hello there guys!!

Happy Friday!! It is a Friday after night shift from me, so although it's a pretty awesome day since I have it off, it is also a bit inconvenient since I really need my nap in the morning after work. Do forgive any typos that might happen right now!

For this week's first Friday Reads entry I have an ARC that I was approved on NG by Quercus books and that is an amazing book but also extremely tough to read! As an ARC it shall count towards my 105 Challenge in the books for review category and also as part of the Dystopian Reading Challenge 2015!!

Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Brilliant, relevant and enraging all at once. Is this an amazing book? YES! Will it be easy to read and give you fuzzy feels? HELL NO! But I think it's something every woman of every age NEEDS to read!

This was a particularly hard book for me to read, and I'm pretty sure it'll be for any woman out there, because it holds a mirror to the ugliest parts of ourselves: our envies, our self-hate and self-doubt, how we've all sometimes agreed to some injustice to stay on someone's good side, how we lose control of ourselves and our bodies... and all that hate and those messages about the perfect body, the Vomitorium, the kcal blockers... it reminded me of some less than stellar moments of my teenage self and made me want to go eat some chocolate because I could.

A dystopian story set in a future where women are designed and created, not born, raised together in Schools where they're prepared for their future as companions, concubines or chastities, the only roles allowed to women now. And as the best dystopians, it is so scary because it could be true. Women, specially young girls, have no real rights, no right to think for themselves or to ask questions, they only exist to give birth to sons, please men or care for the other eves. What are the eves? They're the women, and they are as unimportant as to have their names without a capital letter.

So many of the things that happen in the book are already happened, albeit in a smaller scale. Women are still treated as property in many countries, and even in the first world ones, the pressure to look perfect, to be perfect, to be thin, to look perfectly composed, to not be overly emotional and the fact that women still turn against each other for petty reasons instead of focusing on fighting for what's important really, like true equality.

We follow the story from freida's POV, one of the eves in her final year at the School, hoping to be chosen as a companion. I had the biggest swings with freida that I've ever had with a character, I kept on going from hating her to pitying her to understanding and empathy to loathing and wanting to shake her, time and again! She wants attention and she puts up with so MUCH to get it, risking everything for approval.

As I said, this is a MUST READ BOOK and if you know or find any girls out there that think feminism is not their issue or relatable, give them this book and make them think about that it says!

Despite how I needed a break now and read from reading the book, this is a brilliant book and deserved to ger more out there!



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Claimed by Sarah Fine!!

Hey again guys!

As my second Mark This Book Monday entry of the week I have the sequel to Marked and the reason I finally started reading the series, because once I got approved for this eARC on NetGalley I felt like I really HAD to start the series!

Since this one is a fantastic mix of genres and it's an ARC I can count it towards three of my challenges, the 2015 Mythology Challenge, the Dystopian Challenge 2015 and the 105 Challenge for the books for review category!

Claimed by Sarah Fine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Getting approved on Netgalley for Claimed is what made me start this trilogy and I'm thankful for both the approval and for the push to start this series because I'm simply in love!

The second book expands on the world building and twists the plot another notch and although Eli and Cacia are present and continue to be important in the book, the focus is not on them this time, very much like it paranormal romance series, we have a new couple to take the lead, with their own conflicts and their on path to finding their way together.

Since most of the world got established in the first book, we focus more on the plot in this one, because even threads that we though had got solved in the first book aren't exactly as well tied as we thought, and things get even more dire, with people dying without getting Marked, rogue Keres are popping up everywhere and we aren't really sure who to trust at all! The tension was even higher in this one than in the first book, because even the good guys could be influenced and turned against each other.

Galena and Declan are an interesting couple because both are very closed off for their own reasons, but given how Galena is an abuse and rape survivor, some warning for triggers need to be given. It is explored rather well, in my uninformed opinion, but despite their relationship starting as a very marriage of convenience, Declan always gave Galena the power of deciding and choosing what, when and how, and she was the one that made the choice to finally stop letting her past control her.

We discover that there are traitors in both the Keres and the Ferrys and that the Fates are not as in control as we'd think (or even hope) and we meet more Greek myths in this one. Maybe that's why I guessed who the bad guy was a bit early in advance and it made me a bit mad waiting for the rest to catch up, because of my knowledge of Greek myths.

The mix of paranormal romance, urban fantasy in a postapocalyptic setting and Greek mythology is flawlessly done and I was turning pages as fast as I could read them! A fantastic sequel that was as good or even better than the first book was! Very well deserved 4.5 stars for this one and cannot wait for the final book in the trilogy!!




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Mark This Book Monday: Marked by Sarah Fine!!

Hello there guys!

A new week starts with another Monday and it's a working Monday for me, but before that it is a Monday to juggle kitchen estimates for the last time! I'm finally choosing a design and estimate! And I'm hoping for some awesome book mail to arrive too!

To start this week's Mark This Book Monday I have a book that had been in my Kindle library a while, and that I was prompted to read once I got approved for the sequel on Netgalley! Since this one is a fantastic mix of urban fantasy, paranormal romance with a generous dash of both Greek mythology and postapocalyptic it counts both towards my 2015 Mythology Reading Challenge and the Dystopia Reading Challenge 2015!!

Marked by Sarah Fine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have heard such great things about Sarah Fine's books and although I have her YA series already in my shelves and Kindle library, once I got approved for the eARC of the sequel, I decided to start her first adult series!

Marked is fantastic mix of different genres, since it's got mythology, dystopian, paranormal, urban fantasy and some quite awesomely done romance.

We meet Eli once he's just moved to a new city with his sister Galena, we don't know much of their past or the world they live in, but we keep getting tidbits here and there. Eli is a paramedic and find himself paired with Cacia Ferry, who aside from a great paramedic is also the daughter of the most powerful man in the city. And that man and his family have a few mysterious secrets.

I loved how everything was so well described, from the futuristic work as paramedics with techniques even if the technology is different, to the dystopian/postapocalyptic setting and world, with climate changes and water shortages. Even if we don't get the full background story about how it came to happen, we get enough information for us to get a clear picture of the world.

And the most intriguing part is the Greek mythology that's woven into the story. How a family has the charge to help the souls of the dead cross to the place they ought to go (they Ferry them along...), the head of the family is the Charon and those who will die are "marked" by Fate and then the Kers are the one that make sure they die. I wasn't expecting that twist added and really loved it!

I love how the plot and the world building progressed pretty much in parallel, finding out more about the world as we try and unravel the murder mystery that is the linchpin to all the events to come! And at the same time we're trying to figure out things and make sense of the world and discover who's behind everything that doesn't make sense, we also see the relationship between Eli and Cacia develop, from an early attraction that both refuse to act on, to becoming partners at work and a big support through tough times to finally getting together. And boy, do they have chemistry! Chemistry enough to jump off the pages!

Both Cacia and Eli are complex characters that have many secrets that belong to the past that shapes them, but they discover that together they can find a way to go ahead accepting that past and stopping it to define who they are and who they can be.

My first Sarah Fine book was a complete success because I stayed up till 4 am reading till I finished the book, completely engrossed with it, its world, the plot and the amazing romance between Eli and Cacia! Very well deserved 4 stars!



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Dystopia Reading Challenge 2015!

Hey guys!

I have no review for this Friday because I am taking a long weekend off the blog, so to speak, and will be resuming normal schedule from Monday on!

What I have today is yet another sign up for yet another challenge for 2015!! Yes, I think I have once again 5 challenges to juggle in 2015!! I have tried to be more reasonable with my goals and I hope to add some spice to my reading but without any stress or guilt over failure!

I'm once again signing up for the Blog of Erised Dystopia Reading Challenge! This year I did great and conquered the 24 dystopian books I had challenged myself to read, but it was a close thing.





This year I'm gonna be aiming much much lower because I am a bit burnt out on dystopias, and although I have a few dystopian books in my reading pile and wish list, they are very few!

I'm gonna be aiming for the Recruit Level (1 - 6 books).