Mark This Book Monday: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff!!!

Hiya there guys!

Today I have a scheduled post here for you all, while I am enjoying a pair of days off at my parents' cottage, reading up a storm and relaxing and playing with puppies!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have a book that will be for sure on my Top 10 list for 2016 and one that I'm already in the process of re-reading and collecting a few editions of!

I've heard quite a bit of debate and controversy about Nevernight being YA or not being YA... and my own opinion would clearly be that it ISN'T YA. It's a really dark and bloody book and it simply feels like an adult book for me, not so much because there is sex in it, but mostly because it's dark and violent and pulls no punches.

And I'm stealing this lil bit from a friend's review (Jessica from Rabid Reads) where the author himself answers the question:


There seems to be some confusion on the YA/not YA nature of this book, so let the record show, in response to the question, "Are your books YA or not?" on his website FAQ, Kristoff replied:

THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE is a different beast. The protagonist is a sixteen year old girl. Does that automatically make it YA? My editors say “Definitely not, and who the hell let you out of your cage? Get back to work”.

These books are about an assassin. They are, as you may expect, somewhat violent as a result. They also have sex scenes (and now I have to contemplate the fact that my mother is going to read them *shudders*). I’d rate them MA (or NA if you prefer) and describe them as “crossover books”. But they’ll be found in the adult Fantasy section of your bookstore.

 Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Started reading it last night and spent the majority of today glued to the pages! Bloody and unapologeticly gory and full betrayal and darkness!! And some damned amazingly brilliant writing. A brilliant book that is bound to give me a damned book hangover for sure!!

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It indeed gave me a massive book hangover and all the reading I managed to do was listening to my re-read of the Throne of Glass books. I've already started re-reading Nevernight, because that's one sure cure for a massive book hangover, right? Right.

Nevernight is one amazing book with brilliant and lyrical writing, weaving words like a master, and those footnotes? The perfect way to add more to the story without bogging down the pacing of the plot or the narrative. I loved the footnotes in Sir Terry Patchett's Discworld and the footnotes in Nevernight really reminded me of those, full of humour, information and a wee bit of irony here and there!

Mia is our main character, and a girl that had everything taken from her and that decided to never again have anyone else make choices for her. We get quite enough back story to understand where she's coming from at first, and we keep on getting a little bit more here and there, giving us tidbits of the past to help us understand better what's going on in the present.

Her will to become an assassin and train in the Red Church is fueled by revenge and it's what makes her get through the very tough, very bloody and very messy training in there. The teachers are all assassins and they have no qualms about students dying or being at risk of it, training is brutal in so many ways. Then you have to deal with the rest of the fellow students that are rivals and quite fierce ones, even Mia might have considered some as allies and friends (at least to some extent).

Not all adult books have sex in them, but this one does, and I have to say that I really liked how empowering it was for Mia. She made the choices every time of when, with whom and why, and what the limits were for her, and I felt that it was a message we don't always get in books, so I applaud Mr Kristoff for that!

Plenty of twists, betrayals and most of them got me completly by surprise! This one is one hell of a captivating book that you will want to savour & devour at the same time! I simply adored it and I'm beyond looking forward to the next one! 5 stars and many more!!


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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of And I Darken by Kiersten White!!

Hello there guys!!

A new week is here and lucky me is starting it with a day off! Quite fantastic to have a day to recover and unpack after my trip before going back to work!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have an ARC review and being approved for this one on Netgalley really made my day! It's the first book in a new series that as soon as I heard about, I knew I HAD to read it!

As an eARC it counts towards my NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge and will help maintain my over 80% ratio on NG!

And I Darken by Kiersten White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


From the very first time that I heard about this book I knew it was going to be a Pili book. It's historical fiction and a retelling with a gender bender protagonits, based on Vlad the Impaler (in case you don't know, he's the historical figure Dracula was inspired on) and it's written by Kiersten White.

And the book really didn't disappoint at all! The beginning felt a lil slow, since we're dealing with Lada (our female Vlad) and her brother Radu's childhoods. It might have been a bit slow but it was quite important to build up them as characters from the very beginning, and that's what Kiersten did here. The pacing might have felt a bit uneven here and there because of that, but she crafted and developed the characters superbly!

The relationships between Radu and Lada, their father and older brother, and later on with Mehmed and those they meet at the sultan's court are built so well and in such a complex weblike way. The complexity of human relationships overlap with political manouvering and plotting.

Many facets of the characters are explored, like sexuality and gender expectations and power and religion and the sense of belonging with someone or somewhere. It is a character driven novel and as such although the plot is also fantastic and it's making progress through Lada's life to show us how she arrives to be person that made the history books (alas, as a dude), the main focus is always on the characters' journey and development and their changing relationships.

I'm already in love with this series, and it's just the first book! I'm confident I will love each coming book even more because even if they will get more brutal as Lada herself does, fighting for what she wants more than anything, her Wallachia, no matter what heartache she has to leave behind, the more I'm sure to enjoy them. So very much deserved 4 stars for this fantastic first book!

Mark This Book Monday: Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets Anthology!!

Hiya guys!

I'm finally getting back to more regular blogging, or so I hope! At least I'm trying to do exactly just that! I'm gonna be doing some scheduling of posts whenever I'm motivated to do so, and then don't feel like I'm failing when I cannot manage it!

Today for Mark This Book Monday I have a review for one of my VERY backlogged ARCs that I got from Netgalley that I finally managed to finish, and that will count towards my NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge, that I've had quite forgotten as of late!

Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets by David Thomas Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It really took me a while to read this anthology and I'm glad that I took a lil time reading it since it's helped with the wait for the next season of Sherlock.

There are 14 short stories, quite very different each one of them, with a very different feel to all of them, and some of them definitely made me watch to check out more of the author's work

All of the short stories in here are well worth the read, each one of the imagining Sherlock in many different ways, but I must confess my favourites were the ones where Sherlock & Holmes were gender swaped or taken into a different era or setting!

We've got Sherlock as part of a carnival where a serial killer was starting his work (one of the creepiest stories), Sherlock as a female investigator and Watson as a doctor that meet through a reality show being filmed, Sherlock & Watson being teenage girls that also write fanfic about Sherlock Holmes. More traditional ones with extra magic added to the setting, Sherlock being conjured as a demon from another plane to help solve the murder case of a magician.

Sherlock with romance, gender swapped or not, LGTBA ones, set in fantasy worlds, in different periods, adding different version of other characters (like Irene Adler), imagining them as actors that played the characters they created... in this anthology there really is something for every single fan of Sherlock Holmes & John Watson!

Very much deserved 4 stars for this anthology!



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows!!!

Hello there guys!

A new week is here and since my weekend is Monday and Tuesday, I'm gonna enjoy a day off over here while I also do some hourse chores.

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have an ARC review for an upcoming April book that I absolutely adored!

But before I proceed with the review, let me give you a warning in GIF form:

The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jodi Meadows has done it again! ALL THE FEELS!
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I was so very lucky to read The Mirror King so very early on last year and not too long after reading The Orphan Queen, which was an absolute treat (and a real lifesaving!!) after THAT (bloody awful & heart crushing) cliffhanger!!

Let's start with a fair warning here, if you think that Orphan Queen was a killer for your feels, well... Mirror King might just be even crueler and more heart breaking! It'll ALL be worth it but... you might just really need the help and support of the OQ Support Group!

Mirror King starts JUST were Orphan Queen left (and thank goodness for that!) so binge reading these two back to back is the wisest choice (if it's been a while since you read OQ, do a re-read, it'll be for the best) so you can read the story with the right flow.

Things are extremely dire and stakes are very high from page one, and the action, the feels and the twists don't really slow during the whole book! And if you are wondering what more surprises might be coming in this one... well, let me tell you, hold on to your knickers, because they ARE coming!

Wil spends most of the book between a rock and hard place, with the Ospreys seemingly no longer on her side, trying to reclaim her kingdom at odds with her heart and her alliances. And let's not forget her magic and the Wraith and the unexpected consequences of it & how she can possibly make sure that the Inundation doesn't repeat and take everything away from everyone.

The romance is a killer for the feels, the friendships are also a point of conflict and feels and then the politics, the battles for the kingdoms and the battle for survival really!! Gods, this book barely gives you time to breathe!

It's a fantastic final book for the duology, full of action, full of emotion, full of twists and suprises and did I mention emotional distress?? It's brilliant but make sure you'll have plenty of tissues and comfort food and a member of the OQ Support Group a DM away to talk feels!!

5 very emotional stars to this brilliant conclusion that gave me a massive book hangover! I cannot wait till I can re-read Orphan Queen & Mirror King back to back!



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Mark This Book Monday: The Power by Jennifer L Armentrout!!

Hiya guys!

A new week, a new Monday and not just any other day because today is our leap day: February 29th! I must confess February has passed quite fast but I was quite ready for it to end...

Today I have yet another Jennifer L Armentrout book in the blog as this week's Mark This Book Monday! This woman is a damned machine and there's no book of hers that I read that I don't absolutely devour and love!



The Power by Jennifer L. Armentrout

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Return totally managed to change my perception of Seth and to put me clearly on his side, and now The Power has managed to have a feelings overload, so much that I was teary for half the book (and nearly the other half I was fanning myself because hot damn!)! I also partly blame the book and its emotional upheaval for my crappy funk the next day.

Seth is still trying to deal with who he is and his actions of the past and despite his arrogance and attitude, he doesn't believe he deserves anything good to happen to him, and seeing him doubt himself and punish himself was absolutely heartbreaking!

I love that we get dual POVs here, with Seth's and Josie's because I love Josie's voice and her determination to do what's right but at the same time try and remain her human self even if she's way much more than that. I also love how clear she is about her feelings and how determined she is to be on Seth's team and to be there for him and show him he deserves good things too!

Aside from the overall arch of finding the other demigods to try and defeat the Titans there's also the fact that since the Breed order was abolished the tension between Pures and Half-Bloods have been increasing, and the authorities are unsure on how to deal with them in some cases, and in others, they don't want/can't deal with it.

We get Alex & Aiden back and I really loved how they reacted to Josie, not so much about their attitude with Seth sometimes, but I must say I would have been right on their side if I had not been on Seth's mind for a book & a half now. But no matter what, now they make quite an awesome fighting team, even if they have to deal with a new demigod to help them, one that is so full of himself that could fill two of him...

Plot wise the book was good, but oh boy, the emotional side of it is what really got to me and made me devour it and cry and gaaaah, that damned ending!! I just cannot wait for the next book and I'm gonna die waiting! Damned cliffhangers, they will surely be the death of me!! Very much deserved 4 stars for this one!

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Mark This Book Monday: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton!!!

Hey guys!

It's Monday and you know what this means? Yes, a new week is here and this one is full of amazing books that release tomorrow, so just one more day till AGOS!!!!!! And The Forbidden Wish, and The Power, and Titans!

I'm trying to start this week right after my blogging failure of last week when I only posted two reviews, but were two great books that deserved the 5 stars they got!

I'm starting the week with yet another 5 stars and it being a debut no less!! My second debut of the month and so keeping me in track for my 2016 Debut Author Challenge.

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A fantastic debut that had me up till late with the old "just one more chapter" lie!!

Rebel of the Sands is one of those books that catch your eye with a stunning cover, a very intriguing premise (mixing middle eastern lore & the wild wild west?) and that grabs you from the very first pages!

Amani is a girl that wants to run away from a place where her future is not hers to a less certain but more hopeful one and she's not afraid to bend and break any rules that will get here there, even doing things she wouldn't be proud of. But she's resilient and brave and kind and damn I fell in love with her so very quickly!

The world is brilliant mix of the world out of the arabian Thousand & One Nights stories and feel, but also with the outlaw and shoot first and ask later feel of the wild west. Like the perfect mix of east & west, the world feels gritty and hard and magical all at once! There are trains, shoot outs, caravans in the desert, djinns and magical horses, a Sultan allied with foreigners, and rebel prince...

The plot might seem pretty straight forward at first, but be assured there'll be a few surprises to keep things interesting along the way and few twists that will make go "well played, Ms Hamilton, well played!". This one is a proper page-turner that will you continue to read till 4 in the morning because you want to know what comes next!!

There is romance, but is more of the slow burn variety and it's mostly in the back because things are rather dire and there are a few issues about trust that need to be resolved here and there, but I so ship those two!!

Thankfully there is NOT a cliffhanger in this one, I repeat, there is no cliffhanger. The story is self contained to a point and although the bigger picture is unresolved and there's more to come and I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2, this one can be read like a standalone with an open ending! Very much deserving 5 stars to one hell of a debut!!

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Mark This Book Monday: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon!!

Hiya there!

Back to the work routine on another Monday after a weekend of binge watching Jessica Jones (guys, it's AWESOME!) and re-watching Star Wars for me!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have my first Diverse December finished read up for review, and since it also was a 2015 debut, it counts towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Everything, Everything is my first finished read for #DiverseDecember and I'm quite glad that I started with this one, given how it was a super fast and adorable read (for the most part) that I could finish on a quiet night shift at work. Written by a BAME author and with a mixed race main character, diversity is not a flag waved in this one, but an integral part of the book as is.

I really loved how the book didn't just follow a liner storytelling format but also had IMs and e-mails, and homework assignments and some other more visual formats intersected, it gave it a very vibrant and dynamic feel at times.

Madeline has never got out of her house because she's allergic to the world, so she is homeschooled, cared for a nurse and her mum and have very limited interaction with the world outside. Barely anyone is allowed to come in, and they have to get through a decontamination process to do so. Her voice was a lil naive at times, but that's quite realistic given how few interactions she had with the outside world and how limited her experience in general is. I loved her relationship with her mum and Carla, her nurse.

Everything changes when a family moves into the house across the street, and as part of that family there's a boy, Ollie. Their interactions are sweet and adorable and funny and I loved how they were supportive of each other, but seriously, the adorableness of their interactions with their awkward pauses both online and in person were a delight to read.

Madeline changes because she finds that she wants more and she is no longer content with her bubble life and like any teenager tries to find her way and explore and take control of her life, even if in her case it could be a fatal risk. I felt like the relationship between Maddie and her mum was written so well. The guilt of leaving paired up with the desire of leading our own destiny.

There was quite an unexpected twist that I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it still. It really changed the perception of everything, and it made sense if you look back at all the events and reactions, but to a point it felt like a bit of the easy way out of the conundrum? I can't really explain it without spoiling things, but it also added a lot more to the complex mother-daughter relationship being explored here for sure.

All in all, a rather delightful debut, full of adorable moments and also with a much darker ending, even if it's also full of hope. 3.5 to 4 stars to this one!



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Mark These Books Monday: Mini Reviews for Toads & Diamonds and Soul Warrior!!

Hiya there!

Happy Cyber Monday guys! Are you doing some online shopping?? I totally plan to do so as soon as my paycheck comes in! I've been eyeing stuff for quite a while, and now that there are so interesting sales, I'm gonna indulge a lil bit! Not in books though, giving my self imposed book buying ban.

Today I'm starting the week with a mini reviews edition of Mark This Book Monday. Today I have two books that are based on mythology or folk tales, and as such both will count towards the 2015 Mythology Reading Challenge, which means I continue to improve on that already conquered challenge!

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A gorgeous book both inside and out! With a beautiful mix of mythology and fairy tale/folk tale feel, with goddesses and gifts that could be blessings and curses.

The story is one that I think I've heard before, two girls meet a woman that is a Goddess in disguise (could be a fairy or something other, cannot remember the first time I heard it) and each of them get a different gift/curse. For one diamonds and flowers drop from her lips everytime she speaks and for her sister it's toads and snakes.

I've just loved the way the author twisted the tale here though, although the girls get the same gifts, in both cases it's bestowed both as a gift and a lesson, not gifting one girl and cursing the other. And the relationship between both girls although they're stepsisters is wonderful, they love each other as sisters and support each other as such.

I love how each of them faces their gift/curse differently, and how their mother handles each curse with the same aplomb and want for secrecy and how it just goes awry.

Diribani is taken to court with the prince and princess, and there among privilege she wonders what good is the miracle she's been gifted and how can she help others. Tana is feared by the conqueror rulers but not the people, and starts a journey to understand the Goddess' purpose.

I simply loved the writing and the descriptions in this book, so lush and vivid! It was clearly based on the Mughal empire conquest & of the many hindu kingdoms of India, even if the religions are changed and don't really correspond, they do have that feel of cultural clashes and how the conquerors handle letting the conquered having their traditions and their faith.

It has a very clear folk tale feel in the telling of it all, because while there's plenty of world building to show us the kingdoms, the plot doesn't drive to a certain event per se, but more as a way to change things and to get the girls to find their way and learn their lessons and teach them to others.

A wonderful take on a known folk tale, where the girls get to make their choices and fight their battles as well as they can, with a wonderfully diverse background! Very much deserved 4.5 to 5 stars!



Soul Warrior by Falguni Kothari

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I discovered this book via Twitter when Sonali Dev recommended it to me. I requested it on NetGalley and was approved and a lil late because it's already been released, I finally got to read it!

Epic fantasy based on hindu mythology. If that sounds intriguing and interesting to you, go grab this one immediately! A certain knowledge of Hindu mythology would be good, to sort of know who is who, but the author also adds her own spin and twist, so it's not absolutely necessary (or you can read the book and find references & then learn some about Hindu mythology too!).

Lord Karna is the Soul Warrior, the one that fights to keep the balance and the demons out of the Human Realm. And he gets assigned a task he never wanted, train 6 new warriors to help him defeat the demons.

To add to the unwanted task, the warriors are the offspring of his brothers that he hate, and the woman he loved but that spurned him in his human life. And then as it happens, the warriors are girls!

One word of warning, different incarnations, God's avatars as they are born into the human world, reincarnations, human life and then immortal life... yes, it is confusing! But that's Hindu mythology for you... take it or leave it, really. It's explained as easily as it could be here, but it's a complex and confusing mess, probably even for the Gods themselves. It does let itself to epic fantasy and loads of family & romantic drama very well though, and it's handled great by the author.

The plot progresses with quite a bit of family and relationship drama, as expected with Gods & Goddesses, learning lessons from the past and Karna learning lessons from his charges. What seemed like a strange request turns to be a much bigger quest, one where he'll have to choose between honour and the task he always fought for over thousands of years, and family and love and finding a way to protect the Human Realm and those he love.

Full of quite a few twists, fun characters as the 6 girls have their unique voices that manage to drive Karna nuts for the most part, a plot that thickens as pages go by and quite the cliffhanger at the end, this is a book that I highly recommend if you like epic fantasy with a heavy mix of mythology!

A bit torn between 3.5 to 4 stars! Cannot wait for the sequel!



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Mark This Book Monday: The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas!!!

Hiya guys!

A new week, a new Monday, and back to work for me! For once I'm returning to work at the same time than most people, but after a bunch of days off, I'm feeling quite refreshed!

I've had some social life, plotted stuff for the apartment, done some cleaning and loads of reading and catching up on sleep!

Starting the week with Mark This Book Monday, this time is three mini reviews that were my Alyssa Recommends books for September, October and November! I had failed to read one of Alyssa's list of recommendations for September and then I decided I could do the whole trilogy and catch up that way!


The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was supposed to be my Alyssa Recommends book of September, but rather failed at reading it on time. But I've just finished it! The magic! The world! Eton! Wyverns! The shippity ship!! LOVED!

Fantasy is my favourite genre to read, along with science fiction, so when a book comes highly recommended from my fellow bloggy friends, I know I need to read it, but in this case... I wanted to wait for the whole series to be either finished or nearly so, and binge reading book 1 and 2 was quite fantastic!

I had an idea about the book being about a girl passing for a boy at Eton and helping a prince but I was quite puzzled about how that would fit when I start reading the book, but soon enough pieces started clicking together.

I really liked Iolanthe from the start. She's plucky, strong and capable, but she's not usually reckless and she's very much the reluctant hero, so much that she resents Titus for bringing her into the fray and even more in the way that he did.

Titus, well, it took me a lil longer to warm up to him, a think a lil less than Iolanthe but I wasn't turned into a canary. We get to see his duty bound self, his fear and acceptance of his destiny and duty and his resignation make him seemingly cold when he is anything but.

Romancephobe here, but I just shipped the ship so much! Not only they have an attraction that is floating there somehow, they are comrades in arms and make a great team once they fight their differences, the not-so-good starts and put all the cards on the table!

The world building was fantastic, the mix of normal places and the magical realms was so well done! You could tell how the atmosphere was different and you just felt you were in very different places! I loved how the author managed to make us feel like we were in Eton with those boys, and you really felt Iolanthe's worries about discovery!

The plot is perfect for a first book, giving us enough of a storyline to be completed but knowing that there's much to come still, and that the battle might be done but the war isn't! It doesn't end with a cliffhanger at all, but still leaves you wanting more!

Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars to this one!



The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My October Alyssa Recommends book and one of those sequels that throw you a curve ball, upend all your expectations and do not suffer from sequel slump or second book syndrome at all!

I started this one immediately after finishing book 1 and the beginning of the book really threw me off, as it was nothing as I would have expected!

We meet Iolanthe and Titus in a very unexpected and dangerous situation, with no memories of themselves or each other, and boy with how much I love them teamed up and together, seeing them start again from scratch was both tough but also terribly endearing and heartwarming!

The action moves from the very life threatening present to the past while we try to piece together what happened to them to find themselves where they do and without memories, and it's agonizing! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

The plot twistes itself quite a bit in this one, with disagreements, Iolanthe having issues with her destiny or lack thereof, Titus being a bit of an arse at some point of another, but not enough to make you dislike him, just to shake your head at him and his one-mindedness about the prophecies.

Many of the twists were game changers and some of them are in even better appreciated once you read the final book! This review is a bit more vague, but I really don't want to end up spouting spoilers if I get overenthusiastic talking about the book!

Once again, great fantasy book with awesome world building, characterization and impeccable pacing & plotting. Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!



 The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My Alyssa Recommends book for November and another resounding success! I really loved this one to bits! It started right where the last book left us, with quite a cliffhanger by the way, and it put us straight into the action & the battle! Wyverns, lightning, very very frightening! (errm, sorry, I got carried away with the Queen reference there...).

I'm gonna struggle with this review not because I didn't love this book, because I did and very much so, but because I feel like going into it knowing as little as possible will make the reading experience even better!

Let's just say that the books is action packed, Iolanthe is her awesome self, Titus has a few somewhat understandable lapses of judgement where we can understand his point but we also want to shake him for it. The Bane is damned scary, war is ranging and no one is safe. More prophecies come into play and there are casualties.

And if the tension of everything else is not enough, and it'd say it really is, when we get to the epilogue, Sherry Thomas shakes us once again so we don't get too comfortable!

Quite probably my favourite book of the three of them, very much deserving of 4.5 stars!


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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Passenger by Alexandra Bracken!!

Hello guys!

A new week is here and I'm highly awaiting my Illumicrate in the mail and hoping The Book Depository will ship my preorder of The Vanishing Throne soon, but it still won't arrive by release date... oh well!!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday entry I have an ARC review from one of my BEA ARCs! So far I only have 3 pending to read, and only two are behind schedule, so not doing too bad!



Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


WOAH! Holy revelations at the end Batman!! And I seriously dislike Sophia with a passion, even karma seems to be doing its work!

My BEA ARC is nowhere near the finished book and I really really loved it, so I cannot wait till I can read the finished book!

Reading Passanger as an ARC was a new experience for me, because it underwent revisions and a new beginning was added, with changes that had to span the rest of the book, more minor as they might be. So while I had the new beginning because the author had sent them on her newsletter, I had already read the old beginning too (stopped reading when I heard about the changes) and when I started reading again, I had both beginnings in my head, so to speak.

That made for a different reading experience, because not only I was reading the book but I was also wondering about how some things might be affected by the changes to come in the final book, and how some other things would have been changed. If you're wondering if that somehow affected my reading negatively, nope! It made reading the book even more fascinating!

And I must confess to be absolutely in love with the essence of the story and the characters! No matter what changes have happened to the story, I love Nicholas, I love Etta and I love their world of time travelling families and passages!

The world building was fantastic, with little details here and there that might have not seem all that relevant until they became crucial! I loved how Alexandra Bracken took us to many different places and times in the world and how very real each of them felt! There were so many lil tiny details added here and there that you might not notice too easily but that do create a great atmosphere!

Etta was a great character even if it took me a lil while to relate to her. I could see her love for playing the violin and her drive and ambition but once she was thrown into completely uncharted waters it's when I began to really like her. She was trying her best to adapt and understand but she couldn't stop being herself and that got her in trouble a few times. It's true that she sometimes run without thinking, but being treated as if she ought to know everything and be grateful for her choices being taken from her can make anyone make a few rash (and slightly unwise) choices.

Nicholas is a fantastic character, with a troubled and difficult past, hard choices made for him and others he had to make himself, and despite his justified hate of the family, he's not one to judge others too easily or too fast, even when he is judged and dismissed too easily too often. I don't want to talk too much about him because you simply need to meet him yourselves!

If you're wondering if there's romance, yes there is, and the romancephobe that I am doesn't really complain about it! There was a bit of instantaneous fascination at first, and they're thrown together by fate and family interests but their connection and chemistry felt quite intense and real, so I do ship this ship, very much!!

As far as the plot goes, you are not really sure about where things are going at first, so we're very much like Etta, but as she figures things out, everything seems to be taking shape. But don't get too comfortable because there are some serious plot twists thrown here and there, and the bomb at the end of the book is quite something too! Cliffhanger warning here for all of those like me who need to be prepared for them!

I cannot wait to re-read my finished copy of Passenger once I can finally get my greedy hands on it. This ARC got 4 stars but I get the feeling the finished book might get 5 stars once I read it!



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Soundless by Richelle Mead!!

Hello there guys!!

Monday is here and for me is my 6th day on a row of work (even if it's a night) but yeah, technicalities aside... I really need a day off!

I've been in a bit of a reading and review writing slump this past week and I hope I'll be getting over it this week! And I'm trying my best by starting the week right, with a new review for Mark This Book Monday!


Soundless by Richelle Mead

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Soundless is not my first Richelle Mead book, because I'm in love with her Age of X series, but those are adult dystopia/fantasy, and since I almost am scared to admit, I haven't read her Vampire Academy series, this was my first Richelle Mead YA.

I was quite excited about Soundless since it was a standalone fantasy book, but once I got my hands on an ARC at BEA, it was quite a tiny ARC so I began to worry about the world building and the full ARC of a fantasy story in a book with less than 300 pages!

BUT I should have not worried! Somehow the author managed to wove a complete story with a fantastic world building and some lovely Chinese mythology included, that made for a very welcome change!

Our main character, Fei, lives in a village on top of mountain and their livelihood depends on their mining of precious metals since they send them mountain down in exchange of all the food they cannot grow. Everyone in their village has been deaf for generations so they depend on the artists to paint everyday their news and happenings. But now the villagers are also going blind, starting by those that work in the mines, they're sending less metals down and getting more foods up.

Things are getting dire, and when Fei's sister starts losing her sight, Fei feels like she needs to do something more. And then she recovers her hearing and that changes everything.

The world building is done in such a lovely progression. We get to know the village, and their way of life and surroundings quite well through the work of Fei and her interactions with others. Then when Fei starts her way down the mountain with Li Wei, we see more and more of what's in this world other than their little village cut from everything and everyone.

As they discover that they really knew nothing of what's going on down the mountain and so many secrets are revealed, we meet a few new characters here and there. Some of them felt more vague, like more archetypes than characters, and others were more fully fleshed.

The relationship between Fei and sister is the main motivator of Fei's quest and I was quite glad to see that for a change, instead of the romantic feelings. Even if there are romantic feelings, but for Fei, her sister is first and foremost.

I don't know a lot of Chinese mythology and I always mean to read more of it, but getting a smaller story based on it like this one, it's always a good reminder and a good motivator to do so!

The feel of this book is not of epic fantasy, but more of folk tale or fairy tale (and I agree with Jessica from Rabid Reads on that) but that for me was not a bad thing at all!

The descriptions felt very visual and rich and I feel the author did a great job at trying to describe and explain hearing when everyone around you has been deaf for generations, and you have to try and find books written by people that could hear, and figure out what sounds are what words! Made me really think about how many things us lucky enough to be in possession of all our senses take them for granted!

The ending was what I had expected more or less with a few clues that we were getting and it was both open but with enough resolution to imagine what might continue to happen in the village. Once again, it felt very fairy tale-like!

Very well deserved 4 stars for this one!!



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin!!

Hello guys!

I'm back after a lil break since last week I took a trip to London with my younger nephew and I didn't have the time or energy to leave some scheduled posts!

I promise to share photos from my trip as soon as my laptop and my phone stop acting up and decided they want to talk to each other, because right now, I cannot get the photos from the phone to the lappy! *frustrated groan*

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have one of my ARC from BEA for review and one that goes very well with my goals for October to read more diverse books because this one has a Jewish protagonist in a Third Reich victorious world, and if that doesn't make us reflect on diversity and the importance to not ignore the voices of all, I don't know what will!

Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My first Ryan Graudin book and I couldn't have chosen a better one! WWII was always a subject that was engrossing, fascinating and revolting at the same time for me.

A book with an alternate history were Normandy, operation Overlord and Day D did not happen... it's again both fascinating and beyond scary and the author handled it perfectly.

Yael, our main character is as complex as they come. She was a Jewish girl taken into one of the Nazi camps and used as a the first subject in a cruel experiment by Doctor Death himself. But Yael uses her new abilities to escape the camp and finds herself with the resistance. But after all Yael is not sure who she really is anymore, who is the real she if she can be anyone? I loved how she used her pain and her memories to by her center and to feel who she really is.

If you are wondering what the Wolf by Wolf title does have to do with the book, well, you very soon understand that it is extremely important and that wolves have a relevance to Yael and to the story, in more than one way! Very cleverly done by author!

The book is told in alternating both the now and the then, as we follow the unfolding of the plot to assassinate Hitler by getting close enough to him by winning a race (impersonating a previous winner) and as we learn the past of Yael and her wolves.

Jumping from one time to the other was never jarring in the story, at least for me, it managed to give an extra layer to everything that was happening in the now as well as providing context and character growth to Yael without having to insert it forecefully somehow in the main present line of narrative.

The tension of the race was always there, not only in the shape of the dangers of the race itself, the tension of having to win, the rivalry and the probable dirty tactics used by rivals, but also in the risk of discovery by two people that were close to the rider that Yael is impersonating: her brother Felix, and a fellow rider that had relationship with her that was never know in a paper trail, Luka.

Yael has to bluff her way through tangles of a past that she knows nothing of and avoid discovery at all costs to protect her mission, and at the same time, she finds herself tangled in Adele's life and needs more than ever to remember who she really is and what her mission means, to her, her wolves and the world.

The world building was quite fascinating, not just because we visit quite many places along the race from Germania (former Berlin) to Tokyo, but also because the author has to imagine what sort of society would have emerged from a Third Reich victory. And she does that brilliantly, painting a society that keeps on making me thankful to live in the society we do, despite the many flaws that it might have nowadays!

A fantastic book that leaves us with an ending that opens for even more questions and that packs quite a punch of surprises! Cannot wait for the sequel!! Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo!!!

Hello there!

Today I had to get up earlier than planned because the carpenters were coming home to fix up the last thing that was pending in my house, and now that is done so hooray! Now it's just getting the rest of the furniture, sorting more stuff and unpacking things... A few months still of work, I think, but very much worth it!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have one of my BEA ARCs for review, one that I simply adored and I'm itching to re-read and that was full of diverse characters, so it'll be counting towards my 105 Challenge in the diverse category!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I had been silly enough to start reading the first 3 chapters as FierceReads started sharing them and I was left wanting so much more (will I ever learn not go for excerpt? I don't think so!) so very soon after I returned from BEA with this amazing ARC (signed!) I caved in and read it.

I had loved The Grisha trilogy very much, but I must confess that I love this one even more! I was captivated since page 1, wondering about what was going on and how will these characters that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley were going to be involved in a heist.

The beginning of the book reminded me a bit of the start of Ocean's Eleven, since we meet and gather our team of dangerous outcasts, recruiting and rescuing when there's need for it.

Six of Crows was a multiple POV book done right. All the different POV voices were distinctive, relevant and captivating. My favourite character has to be Inej, but my favourite chapters have to be Kaz's, because his story was such a mystery and he's such a fascinating character! You would never consider him a good guy, but he is a multifaceted characters with so many layers and grey areas that I was so drawn to him!

The basic plot is essentially assemble team of dangerous outcasts with special abilities to do the impossible and get something from an impregnable somewhere at the time where it'd be harder to do. But this plot done right is one that has you turning pages like there's no tomorrow! And Leigh Bardugo really did it right!

The alternating POVs worked great for it because you never have all the information, the only one that does is Kaz and he isn't exactly forthcoming or inclined to share it all with either his teammates or us readers, because he is a character with so many secrets! And that reluctace on sharing does gain us (and the others) more than one near heart attack with changes of plan, betrayals that might or might not be real and unexpected tanks (yes, you read right, tanks... you'll know what I mean when you read it).

Even though if romance is not a priority or even a side plot (well, maybe there's one exception) for this book, I ended up shipping quite a lot of ships SO VERY MUCH!! I will not say more because discovering those ships was also part of the experience but one in particular gave me all the feels and I just cannot!!

A wonderfully diverse cast of characters that are all in shades of grey, not really evil, but not what you'd easily qualify as the good guys, with a plot full of surprises, pacing done perfectly, with slow moments and heart stopping moments, full of ships to ship that won't take off from the character development or the plot development and a cliffhanger ending that has me begging for the sequel... this is my favourite Leigh Bardugo book to date!

Very much deserved 5 stars to this one and I'm just dying to re-read my finished copy as soon as it arrives in the mail!



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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!


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Mark This Book Monday: Tonight The Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

Hiya guys! Happy Monday!

In my case it's Buying Groceries Monday because I still need to stock up in a lot of things since I just moved to my apartment last week. And to add some motivation to the grocery shopping after night shift I'm also buying ingredients to make ice cream! Mmmmm, ice cream!!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have the last book that I read as part of ARC August and one of the ARCs that I got at BEA'15! Since it is a YA contemporary I'm counting it towards that category for the 105 Challenge!

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Another unconventional coming of age story about a girl learning who she is and finding her worth not definying herself in relation to others.

Unfortunately I couldn't relate as much to Arden as I would have liked, and when you can't relate with the main character the emotional connection with the book diminishes, and since I'm a gut-feeling kind of girl when it comes to rating, I cannot give this one more than a 3 stars.

Characters are very well written and realistic, complex and with good and bad things. The relationships between friends and family are also complex and feel real. Friends are there for each other, but also resent each other on occasion and feel like they matter less or underappreciated. The way that Arden deals with her mother leaving is also excellently done.

The writing was fantastic too, but that is something to be expected of Leila Sales, so even if I wasn't too keen on Arden or her story I just couldn't stop reading. Seeing Arden's growth towards the end of the book was satisfying and I also liked how the people around her shook her ideas about them and herself by the end too and how she learnt to look at herself and others in a different way.

But for most of the book I just couldn't stand Arden and the way she was handling herself or her life... I just couldn't relate to her at all, and then when we meet Peter? Nope, couldn't stand him at all either...

One of the things I loved the most about this book, as I did with TSWSYL, is that the romance is not magically fixing anything, and that it's not the most important part of the book. Growth for the characters is, figuring out who they are and who they want to be and understanding themselves and others better is.

And I think that after loving This Song Will Save Your Life so MUCH and relating so much and feeling so much for Elise, it was dissapointing to feel so contrary and so little empathy for Arden...

So yeah, clearly this was a case of "it's not me, it's you" with a book. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because of its superbly written characters.





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Mark This Book Monday: A Curious Tale of the In-Between and The Copper Gauntlet!!

Hello there guys!

Welcome to what I've decided to call the Middle Grade edition of this week's Mark This Book Monday!

Today I have two of my BEA ARCs that I read for ARC August up for review and for are MG books, so both count towards my MG reads category on the 105 Challenge!

 

A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm not the biggest middle grade reader ever, but I do enjoy some MG books now and then. After reading my BEA ARC of A Curious Tale of the In-Between I know I'll read any and all MG that Lauren DeStefano will write!

Pram is a lil girl that lives with her aunts at the home for the elderly that they run. She's always been special as she can see ghosts, but her aunts think that she's just peculiar and has imaginary friends, which is easier than to think she sees ghosts.

Once I started reading the book I wasn't sure what to expect because I had not re-read the summary since I added the book to my TBR GR list and my BEA list.

But I really enjoyed reading about Pram and how despite being peculiar and not wanting to be someone that she isn't she makes a friend when she goes to school, but she also tries to keep her friendship with ghostly Felix. Clarence and Pram help each other with their own issues that they feel adults can't or won't help.

I was quite intrigued when I saw where the book went with the ghosts storyline and how it was great in terms of world building but also character development, not just for Pram. Villains are not just black and white, even if their actions are despicable enough.

I really don't want to say much about that part, because it is heartbreaking and kept me quite on my toes and turning the pages fast, it's my fave part of the book and I think I enjoyed it as much as I did because I had no idea what to expect from it!

The ending of the book had enough closure to make it a story unto itself but it also left enough open for more of Pram and Clarence and Felix adventures and I cannot wait to read the sequel, which I hope it'll be equally as creepy, disquieting, heartwarming and endearing as this one! Well deserved 4 stars for this one!




The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed reading the first Magisterium book last year, so when I had the chance to grab an ARC of The Copper Gauntlet at BEA this year I didn't hesitate!

As in The Iron Trial we find ourselves with characters and situations that might remind us of other stories at first sight, three friends, a magic school, a connection between the bad guy and one of our heroes... does it ring a bell? Well, this book did it again, and took things in the most unexpected and unfamiliar direction you could expect.

Callum finds himself in an even worse situation than he did in the first book, because he has a big secret to keep about himself, one that makes hum doubt his every choice, and not only that but he suspects his dad is no longer on his corner.

Aaron and Tamara continue to be his friends and partners in crime (and escaping from home and the Magisterium and fighting unexpected Elementals... you know, the usual!) but they find themselves facing a few issues about trust and priorities that end up with Cal and Tamara butting heads.

I was quite surprised about the final showdown and how it was resolved, but also glad for how the auhors once again went for the less expected course of action. I might have not connected with this book as much as I would have liked, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless and will be looking forward to the sequel. 3 to 3.5 stars.



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of A Riot of Storm And Smoke by Jennifer Ellision!!!

Hello there people!

Today is a new week and one of those Mondays after working the weekend, so nothing much is different for me!

I'm hoping to get some quiet time to read at the cottage during this week since I work the weekend once again... On the bright side that'll mean a lil extra on my next pay check, which will be highly welcome!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have an ARC of a book that I have been eagerly awaiting and when the author asked if I wanted to get I'm surprised she didn't go deaf from my squealing... I guess she's like she lives in Florida!

As an ARC it is part of ARC August and as a fantasy book it'll also count towards my 105 Challenge!

Riot of Storm and Smoke by Jennifer Ellision

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What a fantastic middle book! It's got everything that a second book in a trilogy should have: plot development, action, character development, new conflicts and new characters!

Riot of Storm and Smoke starts right were Threats of Sky and Sea left us, but Jennifer does a very good of jogging our memory to bring us up to speed with lil nudges here and there, but nothing too repetitive that could bother someone binge reading the books.

The book is told in (mostly) alternating dual POVs, Bree and Caden's, and it manages to be distinct enough and to move along the plot, showing us what is going on both sides.

Bree is on the run with her friends and she's keeping quite a few secrets from them, which usually isn't the wisest course of action, but give the situation, I cannot really blame her for trying to figure out things on her own and trying to clutch to the last vestiges of her old life, even if she knows nothing is as she once believed. She's struggling with all the revelations and it shows in her grasp of her power.

Scaping the king will prove difficult enough even with the Underground's help and at every step of their way there's a new difficulty and we get quite a few surprises! We even meet some unexpected allies and an enemy comes back in a very different way winning a measure of reception even!

Kaden's side is no less painful and worrisome to read and although he grows a lot as a character, he is also dealing with some deep worries that sometimes hinder his ultimate goals of freeing his country and doing what's best for his people. His search for allies is not without even more danger than Bree's flight but he also finds himself with a loyal ally and friend that also has enough sass to keep him in check! I adored Lilia's names for him!

There's a lot of tension in the book, with a few more calm moments now and then that simply lull you into a feeling okay before some new worrisome twist is sprang on you! And the ending? Well, talk about an explosive climax in more ways than one! And yes, it does end in a cliffhanger!! BUT it's the exciting kind of cliffhanger, one that leaves you excited and making grabby hands for the next book, but not one that leaves you screaming in frustration!

A fantastic second book very much deserving of 4.5 stars!



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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!



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Mark This Book Monday: All the samplers!: Dove Arising, Daughter of Deep Silence, The Heir, Ungodly!!

Happy Monday you guys!

This week is gonna be quite work-busy for me, and I still hope to manage to read a bit at night and hope that I won't have to juggle too many apartment related things...

And if only the damned heat wave went the F away! This heat is really killing my energy and my productivity!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I'm gonna have a special Samplers mini reviews, so I can finally get them off my NetGalley Shelf!



Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

This was a rather short sampler, but quite enough to give us a sense of the state of mind of Frances right as she is rescued from a shipwreck, dealing with survivor's guilt and having to face the fact that the other only survivors are lying about what happened in the cruise and how the ship was sunk.

I liked Frances' voice and just the first chapters were really intriguing, really left me wanting to read more. And for some strange reason the sampler also made me think of the Doctor Who Xmas Special about the space Titanic (Allons-y Alonzo!). I think the whole conspiracy feeling about a ship sinking making it look like an accident or lying about how it was an accident is the similar thread there.

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? Quite so!


Dove Arising by Karen Bao

This one was a slightly longer sampler, and one that showed how unique the voice of this novel is. Phaet doesn't speak out loud, much or nearly at all. That could have proved a challenge to relate or to connect with her, but given it was not like that at all. Being inside her head with the first person narrative was a treat!

I loved how she was determined to work hard and make the most of her intelligence and was aiming to do what she loved, but how she was even more determined to keep her family together.

The world building of the Moon as a colony and the society developed there felt like a mix of classic science fiction and classic dystopia, and one I really would love to read more about!

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? YES!


The Heir by Kiera Cass

I must confess that getting this sampler was a total guilty pleasure, because I read the three Selection books and enjoyed them, even if they were the fluffiest of fluff. I had decided not to give a flying f*ck about the next book because I felt it wasn't needed, but then I got curious and grabbed this sampler.

It is a fairly big sampler, with the first 10 chapters of the book. The writing is equally as easy to read and devour as the rest of the Selection books, but Eadlyn, our new main character and the daughter of Mer and Maxon, is not an easy to like character. She reads entitled and spoiled in a way that her brother doesn't, and when she makes a point of fighting for her independence and self reliance, it comes out more as a selfish tantrum.

There's a new Selection, one with a female as a chooser for the first time, so it's like a first edition of the Bachelorette. And maybe it should have read girl empowering, but since it was used as a distraction, it felt manipulative and even if that was not the intention, it read like "you need to find someone to love, or you'll never be happy" sort of attitude pushed onto Eadlyn.

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? Well, yes...
Will I buy the book and read it? Nope, I'll probably beg for spoilers to know what the hell happened though.


Ungodly by Kendare Blake

My most recent sampler grab and one that I had to read right away, even if reading a sampler from the last book of a trilogy you love is never really a good idea...

This one is also a BIG sampler, with the first ten chapters and quite a few answers and twists already happening!

After the very bloody and cruel ending of Mortal Gods, we see the fallout and what happened to our characters, meet a few interesting new characters (helloooo there Death!) and see Athena in a rather unexpected light and continue to feel like hugging and walloping Cassandra in the head! Neither Athena nor Cassandra are easy characters to love, but for some reason I give Athena more lenience and Cassandra ends up making me want to shake her a bit more, with her combination of hatred, naivete and deep knowledge at the same time...

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? HELL YEAH, EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY WANTED TO BEFORE!!

Mark This Book Monday: Burn and The Wrath & The Dawn!!!

Hello there guys!!

I hope all you US peeps had a brilliant weekend with the 4th of July and the Women's World Cup win, and I hope that my fellow Europeans are surviving the bloody awful heat wave!

Today for Mark This Book Monday I have two mini reviews for two books that have been part of a very good reading binge, until I ended up with a massive book hangover last weekend. Both count towards my 105 Challenge, one as a 2015 Release and the other as Fantasy book! And since one of them is also a debut, it counts towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

Burn by Paula Weston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is what a final book in a beloved series needs to be! And this is the perfect finale for this series, with the good and the bad and the fights and everything! 5 stars doesn't start to describe it properly!

Writing a proper review of this one is gonna be rather difficult, given how easily I might end up spoiling either this book or any of the previous 3, but given how the summary tells you the big ending of the previous book... Just trust me, start reading this series now!

Gaby has to be quite one of my favourite female characters with her flaws, her loyalty and her way of fighting what doesn't make sense and accepting things once they are proven. And I love that despite getting all the missing pieces, she still made herself anew!

We get quite a few twists and surprises when it comes to getting all the pending information, and trust me, we do get it in spades! Some of the twists are quite game changers for all the characters. Some unexpected alliances happen, and some moments of hilarity also unexpectedly happen!

The romance in this series is the most awesome mix of attraction/slow burn/complicated relationship that you can find, and even if we find out what happened in the past between Rafa and Gaby... it made me root for them both even more!! *happy sigh*

Another thing that I loved about this book is how important the relationship between siblings is, because Jude and Gaby and their relationship really is pivotal on everything that happens, the good and the bad. Splitting apart and getting back in touch... and you gotta love how even when choosing different sides, it is a great depiction of a familiar love!

And I don't want to fail to mention how much I loved that friendships are also very much important in this book. Between Rafa and Jude, Gaby and Maggie, and how those friends stand various tests, one of the biggest the revelation of not being human and fighting demons!

If you are a fan of angel books, you NEED to read this series. If, like me, you really aren't too keen on books about angels... you NEED to give this one a try, as I did!! Aussie angels are different mate! ;)





The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! THE NEXT BOOK!!! I NEEEEEED IT!!!!!

*takes a deep breath*

Okay, now I feel like I can attempt to write a somewhat coherent review, now that a pair of days have passed and I still feel very strongly about the book but not as lost for words!

First of all, I haven't read 1001 Nights properly, but I do own a gorgeous edition of the books, and I've read quite a few of the stories as children's stories and know a bit about the general plot of the book.

That might have been for the best given how this one is a loose retelling, and although we get some stories told at night here too and those I was quite familiar with, we get more of the day to day of Shazi and Khalid and how their relationship changes in unexpected ways for them both.

The writing and descriptions are fantastic, lush and visual and I was completely immersed in the book! So much that I completely devoured it in a day! The clothes, the architecture... the FOOD!! I'm still craving Indian and Persian food after reading this book because so much amazing food!!

I loved Shazi as a character, she's loyal, she's fierce and her internal monologues where always very sincere. I love that she can be trying to achieve her goal and protect her family, but she finds herself learning more and her feelings change and she never really lies to herself.

Khalid is a more difficult character to relate at first, because we know so little about him, but we also know there's so much more about him, about the deaths and about his fight for his kingdom, and as Shazi discovers it, so do we. I feel like I fell for Khalid right beside Shazi!

Political intrigue, magic and love, this book has them in spades! Add to that a completely heartbreaking ending and you find yourself as I did, screaming for a sequel! A fantastic debut very much worthy of 5 stars!



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