Saturday Pages: ARC Review The Forbidden Orchid by Sharon Biggs Waller!!!

Hey there guys!!

How's your weekend going? Mine is going well, I've been trying to work on the blog a bit more after being in a rather crappy funk as of late and today I am gonna be able to celebrate her birthday with one my best and oldest friends, we've been friends since 5th grade!!

Today I have on the blog on my MOST awaited books of the year!! I'm a huge fan of Sharon Biggs Waller since I read (AND ADORED) her debut, A Mad Wicked Folly (the Spanish version of the book happens to be my friend's birthday present btw!) and I was dying to get to read her next book about a girl that defies convention to help her father find a rare orchid in China!

I was so very lucky to be sent a widget to read the book early via Netgalley, so this one will also count towards my Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge!

The Forbidden Orchid by Sharon Biggs Waller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was pretty sure after A Mad Wicked Folly, but now having read The Forbidden Orchid, I know that Sharon Biggs Waller writes the kind of historical fiction that reminds me why I love the genre! Thoroughly researched, painted so vividly you can feel the earth under your nails and the sea breeze on you face! With amazing & complex characters and a journey that is never as straightforward as you'd expect.

Elodie is the oldest on a family of ten girls with a father that spends most of the time away, travelling the world and finding new plants for collectors and scientists. She is both responsible and level headed and also a little bit eccentric since she isn't one to conform exactly to the society's expectations. I absolutely loved reading through her journey of discovering who she is and growing into the woman she wants to be. She had the rebellion and the fear and the strength to try and do what she thought was right. And thankfully also had the common sense to try and learn from others when need be, even if she was a bit of the "I will go on by sheer force of will if need be" variety.

I loved that there was a lot of emphasis in the family dynamics, between Elodie and her sisters, the relationship between their parents, Elodie and her dad, and then the different relationships with a different culture once we start the journey in search of the orchid. I loved that Elodie was most of the time torn between defiance & compliance and that she learnt what battles to fight upfront and which ones to try and turn her way in more subtle ways.

I've already mentioned the fantastic world building and the attention to detail that Sharon so easily slips everywhere, but I just love how completely you feel like you are there in the China seas, or the jungle looking for an orchid, or the English countryside.

The book felt a lil slow in the beginning but I think that was more my impatience with getting onto the travelling in China and getting onto the orchid search than the book's fault. You cannot have a girl in 1861 go trampling in search of an orchid without some proper set up and serious circumstances! But once things started getting in motion, the pacing was as flawless as always!

There's romance in the book, and oh boy, was I rooting for them both since the very first moment! And if we do add the most adorable doggie ever to the book... there's plenty of cute moments! And some very necessary ones to lighten the mood here and there. There's a point when you might want to shake Elodie, but she really needs to learn to make her own choices, so do have patience with her!

A really wonderful historical fiction book that I absolutely adored and cannot wait to read as a finished copy next!! Very much deserved 5 stars!

View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Sword & Verse and The Dirt on Ninth Grave!!

Hey there guys!

How's the weekend going so far? Mine is going well, will be re-reading Red Rising and reading Rebel of the Sands today and tomorrow! YAY for reading plans ;)

For this week's Saturday Pages I have another installment of one of my all time fave urban fantasy series that I am NOT losing interest in and my Alyssa Recommends book for February that will also count towards the 2016 Debut Author Challenge!


The Dirt on Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After the massive cliffhanger and wrench that Darynda threw on the previous book and all the info we were given and all the shocks and battles, I wasn't sure how this one was going to work out... aaaand I really should have not doubted Ms Jones because it was perfect!! And if you aren't up to date with the series yet, this is the moment when you stop reading because I'm not sure I'll be able to review this one without spoilers cropping up!!

Janey is trying to figure out who she is after waking up with amnesia in a small village in New York and if amnesia wasn't bad enough, she can see dead people and many other things that would land her in a psych ward if she ever were to tell anyone. It was so endearing to see her figuring out the why's and how's and doing what she's always done without knowing that she is. And she finds herself surrounded by the people that love her and she doesn't even know who they are!

Being in her shoes has to be hard, not knowing who you are or if you have anyone that cares for you and wondering where they are? But I think for the rest of the gang and specially Reyes, it had to be even MORE painful! Given all that, this one was a terribly emotional book, and I'd take a guy like Reyes Alexander Farrow any day of the week, son of Satan or not!

By the end of the book her amnesia is more dangerous than ever and we find ourselves hoping that Janey can put things together before the shit seriously hits the fan, and we get more than a few surprises along the way, with one or two tidbits of information that were as unexpected for her as they were for us!! Now I'm wondering what Darynda Jones will have in store for the next book and I SIMPLY CANNOT WAIT!!

Very much deserved 4.5 stars to this one!!

View all my reviews

 Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is one of those times when you have things that you really really loved about a book and then things that really annoyed you so you end up giving it 3 stars because it feels fair, and decide to add a .5 extra because you really liked how everything was wrapped up in the end!

The big positives for this book for me? The gorgeous writing and the stunning world building!! I loved the story of the Gods snippets that we got at the beginning of every chapter, I loved everything that surrounded the writing and the God's language and the one of the Learned Ones and the Arnath and the way the society and everything was described, so visually and not stopping the flow of the book.

The negatives are mostly two: I wasn't sure where the book was going plot wise, was the rebellion attacking? Was there gonna be a coup? Both? Neither? It felt like it took forever to things to come clear. And then I didn't connect with Raisa nor with Mati and I wasn't 100% sold on them or their relationship. I don't know why they kept irking me so often and made me want to shake them so badly sometimes! I'm usually much better at empathising with characters, but Raisa and Mati continued to make unwise choices and then wonder why shit happened... GAH! I feel like I'm somehow being unfair to the characters, but there were so many occasions they irritated me... *sigh*

The climax and the ending was done really well and I loved how Mati and Raisa had stopped making choices that irritated me to no end and of course the unexpected twist was quite something! The ending is open enough but also conclusive enough to work for both a standalone and first in series, and if there is a sequel, I'll be checking it out! After all, Kathy MacMillan's writing is great and so is the world she has created! 3.5 stars for this debut!

View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: The Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy!!!

Hey there guys! *waves*

As the last reviews for January I'm having a series that I binge read on Monday last week! It was my day off and I was supposed to buddy read The Deal with my friend Alyssa from The Eater of Books. And that we did, we both read it and loved it, but for some reason I ended up binging the rest of the series till 6 am! O_o
Thank goodness for working the 3 to 10 pm shift and being able to sleep in till noon!

So this week's Saturday Pages is all about mini reviews for all three of the books! Now I'm impatiently awaiting the next book to come, because for once a series of companion books ended in what could be considered if not a cliffhanger, at least quite the shocker!


The Deal by Elle Kennedy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Loved this one! I don't usually read a lot of NA, probably the last NA I read were Ann Aguirre's 2B series (that I loved) but I decided to buddy read this one with my friend Alyssa from The Eater of Books and boy did I love it!!

This book was full of humour, some real life issues that are dealt with but don't become the center of the book and don't make for unbearable drama and angst. The characters deal with the issues, work on them and live with them, but the book is not about getting over said issues/bad things. They appear because they're part of the character's life but they go on and live and thrive. Big kudos for the positive message there.

We get alternating POV chapters between Hannah and Garrett and boy how much did I love these two! I adored how Hannah was both confident and strong but had her insecurities and vulnerabilities that she worked at dealing with. And Garrett, oh dear... that guy! He's cocky and confident but also so focused on his sport and on what he wants to accomplish! He's more than just a stereotypical jock from the beginning, and the more we get to know him, the more I liked him!

I don't know a whole lot about hockey, but this book really made me want to start watching the game and managed to explain enough about the going-ons in the team and game without being boring.

The romance was simply fantastic, from dislike, to platonic friendship to a chemistry that's off the charts and all with low angst, even when the conflict arises near the end of the book. And even more when on the moment of possible drama and confrontation... you end up laughing your arse off because of the fantastic humour!

I laughed, out loud and a lot reading this book, I giggled, I cackled, I swooned and I fanned myself. I seriously loved it to bits and want to re-read it soon. Also, I want a Garrett of my own... too bad we have no hockey over here that I know of! 5 well deserved stars for the kind of NA I'd love to read more!



The Mistake by Elle Kennedy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As soon as I finished reading The Deal I needed to read this one, and seeing how it was on sale, I JUST HAD TO GRAB IT AND READ IT!

I really liked Logan as Garrett's best friend and although I was a bit unhappy and wary about certain developments and Logan's feelings by the end of The Deal, I trusted the author wouldn't go on the high on drama and angst route and she didn't disappoint.

Logan is not in the best place emotionally at the beginning of the book and his family situation isn't helping with how unhappy he feels about things. He's quite the player, inside and out of the ice rink, and now he's feeling unhappy and restless about it. And he ends up making the "mistake" the title refers to. Mostly being an arsehole and not seeing what's in front of him!

Just like The Deal was, this one is told in dual POV, Logan's and Grace's and I loved them both. I understood and felt for Logan, but wanted to seriously slap him silly on the first few chapters (that's actually what on second thought costed this one a half star and for me to drop the rating) but then when he was determined to win Grace back no matter what? Oh boy, he was beyond adorable!!

Grace is a fantastic character! At first she's a bit unsure of her place on campus and who she is, but after facing Logan's issues and her best friend's... well, she finds herself putting herself first and finding that she can be assertive and strong. Her parents are fantastic and I loved how crazy but awesome her mum was. I loved how she started doing things for herself but still gave Logan a chance at working hard to prove himself.

Another fantastic example of humour and low angst NA, with fantastic chemistry, many laughing moments, some serious ones and quite a few "oh dear" *fans self* moments too! Hockey players do really have a certain something! 4.5 to 4 stars to this one!



The Score by Elle Kennedy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Given that I was not a big fan of Dean in the previous book and that at the start of this one I really disliked him and he irritated me to know end with his attitude, I'm surprised but how much I ended up liking him by the end of it! How did that happen??

This book is like the previous ones told in dual POV, Dean's and Allie's. We already know them both from previous books (or at least we thought so!). Allie is Hannah's best friend and I really liked these two as best friends, always being there for each other when they needed it. And because of that support and helping between them, Allie gets herself into quite an unexpected situation, right after breaking up with her long term boyfriend.

Dean... well, Dean is quite different from what I expected him to be. He's a massive player and what we see of him in the beginning reaaaally ticked me off. And the way he continued to go after Allie was both irritating and somewhat alluring. Confusing? Contradictory? Hell yeah! I could understand Allie's mixed feelings because I was having them myself to a point!

The chemistry between these two is OFF THE CHARTS and I really loved seeing a different side of Dean and seeing Allie asserting what she wants to do with her life. I must say that the ending was a bit more angsty and Dean disappointed me a lil bit, because he failed Allie in ways I wouldn't have expected him so, although things get sorted and fixed with work and in an adult manner, not too fairy tale like.

The biggest surprise was the bomb thrown at the very end of the book, that left me making all the grabby hands at the next book and Trucker's story!! Very much deserved 4 stars for this one, proving that I can like NA and quite a LOT at that!

Saturday Pages: NIL & NIL Unlocked by Lynne Matson!!

Hey there guys!

Saturday is here and although I have to work this weekend, I'm quite glad that I'm rather recovered from my stupid cold and I won't be a snot mess at work.

For this week's Saturday Pages I have a new series I have absolutely fallen in love with, and I must thank Paula Stokes for insisting that I read NIL already! It might have taken me a while, but now I'm up to date with the trilogy and bitting my nails waiting for the final book!!

Nil by Lynne Matson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4 to 4.5 stars! I just couldn't stop turning the pages! NIL was a fantastic book with great characters and relationships between them and amazing mysteries and tension that reminded me so much of all that I loved from LOST (before it got too twisted & weird and stopped making sense!)!!

The book starts with Charley going on about her day until she encounters something that takes her away from her hometown and leaves her, naked, on an island in the middle of nowhere. I really liked how Charley tried to figure things out, tried not to panic (much) and started preparing to survive. Once she got to NIL city, we discover more about the island and its rules and its current inhabitants. I really liked Charley's voice, she understandably reluctant at first, but soon she found herself wanting not to just get through her own days & escape but also wanted to make a difference and figure things out.

Thad is the current leader of the city and the second POV in the book, Charley being the first one. Thad's been on the island for a while and he's trying to do his best to keep the rest of the group safe. He was taken in the same fashion as Charley, as were the rest of the island inhabitants, and he's got a very level head as a leader, although he has his moments as a teenager guy. His voice felt very genuine and he was so passionate about snowboarding and wanting to get his life back & help others do the same too.

NIL itself feels like a character in the book, ever ellusive, never sure if it's good or bad or even sentient to a point? Probably it's more the influence that being there in the island has on the characters, but you are never really sure.

I loved how we started digging on the mysteries of NIL, how we met so many characters and we managed to end up caring for so many of them, unwisely so, given how unforgiving the rules of NIL are, and I couldn't get enough of the interactions & links between the different characters and how each one of them brought something different to NIL & the group, and how NIL affected them differently.

The relationship between Charley & Thad might seem to progress at a rather fast pace, but given the high stakes on the island and how it feels like its own universe, for some reason it worked really well for me!

So yeah, all that I loved about LOST (at least the first 3 seasons, because I stopped watching after that) in book form, with mysteries, high stakes and characters you really get to care about it. Very much deserved 4 stars for Lynne's debut!




Nil Unlocked by Lynne Matson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


NIL Unlocked was one of those fantastic sequels that maintain the feel & magic that you fell in love with in the first book, but also manages to build everything up, and in this case, it is done adding more hints and revelations about the mysteries of NIL.

We got back to NIL and to characters that we've already met, but we also have someone new, Skye, and she's not your usual NIL newbie... She's got inside knowledge and she's also been trained by her dad to survive on tough conditions and tropical islands. She also doesn't arrive in the island by the same usual method and by doing so discovers so much more about the island's secrets and past.

The other POV aside from Skye is Rives, someone we already met in the first book, and a character I liked already, but seeing him here and being in his head while trying to be a good leader and figure out NIL made me like him even more.

I really liked finding out more about what made NIL what it currently is and if only a little bit of what it used to be, as it's always the case with me, I always WANT more. I really liked some of the new characters that get to the island and how their perspective could be very different from those that had been there for longer, how the place you come from can change the way you view NIL... Hell, heaven or purgatory, or simply a place to survive through, or a place to escape from...

In this one I felt like NIL as a somewhat sentient entity was stronger, given how much it felt like that for both Rives & Skye, and how things seemed to align somehow... I'm still unsure if it's really like that, or if it was a case of finding what you're looking for in events, but was some good food for thought when it came to pondering theories in this one!

Rives & Skye made a great team, both romantically & as fighting-against-NIL team mates. It really took them a while to bow down to the pressure of time-ticking and let go of their doubts, but I really liked how their relationship build up.

I was fearing a much more heart-wrenching cliffhanger, so I was relieved when it didn't happen. For sure there's a mystery to be solved and something to finish & get sorted once and for all, but my worst fears didn't realize and for that I'm extremely thankful to Lynne!

Once again, NIL Unlocked was exactly what I had wanted LOST (after season 3) to be and it wasn't! Very much deserved 4.5 to 5 stars to this one! Cannot wait to get my hands on the final book!! Is it May yet??



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Their Fractured Light & The Darkest Minds!!!

Hiya there guys!!

I'm having the weekend off and so far not many plans other than reading and binge watching something on Netflix (quite probably Daredevil, so I'll be up to date once the second season comes out). And maybe getting some sushi for dinner if I do some around the house chores too ;)

For this first Saturday Pages of the new year I have another two books that I read in 2015 but I had failed to review yet!


Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Starbound series has been a joy to my science fiction lover soul since I first got my hands on the first book, and now that I've read and loved the third and final one, my only complain is there I won't have any more of them to look forward to.

On Their Fractured Light not only we get alternating chapters of Gideon & Sofia's POV, but also there are some small... interludes I'd call them, with a different voice or voices that really do add some much to the story and bring the three books together in a rather unexpected way too!

Gideon and Sofia are a fantastic couple although their relationship ends up being complex and twisted due to their very own natures and their secrets. I really enjoyed how even lying to each other they found truths to hold on about each other, their own selves and what they really wanted to do and what risks were worth taking.

I was also very happy to see Flynn & Jubilee and Lilac & Tarver back! Getting them all as a big team, despite some hitches along the way was fantastic, because I loved having the other four back and they still didn't take away from Gideon & Sofia's spotlight!

There were some series twists and unexpected things dropped on us that really left me reeling and shocked and very very concerned for how my dears will save the day after the severly mind & heartwrenching twists were thrown into the story! I cannot say any more because big spoilers obviously, but wow... Amie & Meagan know how to throw things at you that both surprise you, break you and still make a lot of sense!

Quite simply put an amazing book and the perfect ending to this very beloved trilogy! Great characters, fantastic plot not only on this book but the overall for the whole trilogy! Irrestible science fiction, space opera style! Extremely deserving of 5 stars (with their respective star systems!).

My only complain? I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye to these characters!! I need more!! Maybe an extra epilogue? A novella? Something!!


The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved dystopian stories with an absolute passion till I got really burned on them, one of those problems of reading too much in the same genre, and so I have not read any dystopians and have been avoiding them for the past year. BUT, I had the whole series in my Kindle for quite a while and decided to read at least the first book to get myself acquainted with Alexandra Bracken's writing before diving into Passenger.

And soon enough I remembered why I used to love dystopian stories, why I rooted for their characters and why I was so hooked on them that I ended up burning myself up. The Darkest Minds is full of action, dangers, great characters and twisted plot that leave you breathless and a darkness and danger that cannot be discounted as something imagined and unprobable. Yes, mental powers are not likely to come after an illness, but the way the government and society reacted? Yep, not unlikely at all!

Ruby was an amazing character to root for, to worry about and to feel like smacking on the head on very rare occasions. Given her past and her fears, I could understand and forgive some of her less than stellar choices, thankfully rare as they were. I loved how she didn't want to be a leader or take risks at first, but she steps up when she knows she has to and when she needs to protect those she cares about.

I was very distraught about the ending because of the sacrificies that she makes, but since this is the first book in the trilogy, I'm both excited and scared to see what twists will come in the next books and to read about Ruby's journey!

Very much deserved 4 stars to the book that returned my love for dystopian books!


View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: ALL THE SAMPLERS!!

Hello there guys!!

Yesterday I absolutely enjoyed my first opera experience, getting goosebumps and nearly crying at the end, Madama Butterfly was fantastic! Now the besties and me are planning to go see Rigoletto next when the company plays it in Feb/March!

Today for this week's Saturday Pages I have mini reviews for all the samplers that I recently got from Netgalley! I know a lot of you guys don't like samplers but I seem to have zero self control when it comes to books I want, and also samplers are very useful when I'm curious about a book by a new author, or for a book that I should be more excited about since it's an author I love...

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab


This one was simply lack of self control... AGOS is one of my top 3 most awaited sequels for 2016 and the moment I saw this sampler available on NetGalley I knew I had to read it.

It's quite a big sampler, and I'm already itching to re-read it, so I won't have a problem with re-reading the beginning once the book comes out!

Although I was 100% before now I'm 1000% sure that I'll absolutely love this book!! Our beloved Lila Bard is being her badass self, and even more badass that ever before! I just had to adore her & her restlessness and her wish & fear to belong and settle down.

We see that change has come to Red London, Grey London and White London, and whatever we thought we knew about the Antari is being challenged very early on! Or maybe I'm just reading too much into certain details... Who knows!

We meet a few new characters, although we barely get to know them, although Alucard gets a bit of more page time, and he promises to be a very interesting character indeed! There seems to be a certain history that will come into play later on, and I cannot wait to find out more!

Really guys, if you haven't read ADSOM, go read it now and if you have... go preorder AGOS NOW! If you already have it preordered, as I do... rest assured, we're gonna love this one to pieces, I KNOW IT!!

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury


Jessica Khoury has a few books out already but for some reason I haven't read anything by her yet, so when I saw the sampler for this one (fantasy! Aladdin retelling!) I decided to check it out and see if it could be my kinda thing.

And as it happens, it is! I really enjoyed both the descriptions and the writing and loved how it starts and feels familiar (if you've watched the movie) but also how different it is, and not only because the genie, jinn in this case (let's be proper) is a girl, but also because of how much history is behind the current story. How much regret and guilt the jinni carries with her.

We meet quite a few characters that could be familiar but that are also complete different and with a very different history and development, from Aladdin himself, to the princess, to the Jinni... And I cannot wait to see more of these characters, and of course to get more of the world building and of the history snippets that Zahra gives us here and there.

The sampler gave us only a small peek at the plotting that might come into play in the book, from Zahra's mission to gain her freedom to Aladdin's quest to do something important, and where both might clash at some point and what choices will Zahra make this time!

This sampler convinced me that I want to check this book, so much that I ended preordering it!

Riders by Veronica Rossi


This is sampler that I requested because this is a book that by all usual standards I ought to be super excited about! It's by Veronica Rossi and I adored her Under The Never Sky series, and the book is a reimagining about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so really... it sounds like it'd be a Pili book! But for some strange reason I'm not that excited about it.

Reading the sampler I was a bit thrown off by how it starts in the middle of the action so to speak, and how our main character spends his time tied to a chair telling someone from the US government (and us of course) all that's been going on till that moment.

I don't usually mind that style of storytelling, but I'm not sure how I'd like if the whole book is gonna be told like that till the final part or something... At least all of the sampler is Gideon recounting what has happened. And although I want to find out more and meet the rest of the Horsemen and know what the hell happened to land Gideon in military custody... it feels like there's a lack of urgency since it's a recount of the past.

After reading this sampler I'm still unsure of this one, and will be awaiting reviews from my bloggy friends that got ARCs before deciding whether I get this one or pass it up.

Saturday Pages: Mini Reviews: The Rest of Us Just Live Here, An Ember in The Ashes & Winter!!!

Hiya there!

How's your Saturday going? I hope the weekend is going well! I work this weekend so I plan to be really lazy and not do much other than that!

For this week's Saturday Pages I have a bunch of mini-reviews because I have been in a rather massive reiew-writing slump and I feel that mini-reviews are much more manageable and less imposing that having to write a looong review, even more when I really loved all these books and sometimes when you really love a book, it's harder to find the coherent words for it!

I feel like I have mostly abandoned (& FAILED!) my challenges for this year, but since one of the books is a debut, I'm totally counting it towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It took me a while to read this book because I started it when the hype was at its peak and for some reason it didn't seem to grab me at the time. I decided to set it back down for a while and it was the right call. Now that the hype is gone (and I know for sure there is a sequel coming) I picked it up again and simply devoured it!

An Ember in the Ashes is told in dual POV, Elias and Laia, both part of this reimagined Roman Empire-ish world, one an Elite soldier, the other one of the oppresed & conquered, both looking for freedom and both stuck in a situation where they cannot reach it.

The world is brutal, the military training is brutal, slavery is brutal, the power plays are brutal and there are so many characters driving their own agendas without regard of others that is a wonder how some of them remain human. There's also a magical feel to the world bulding and the world, some glances at beauty and freedom and happiness that are the best motivators for the characters.

Elias and Laia's fights are very different from each other, Laia's trying to fight for her brother and trying to find acceptance of herself and finding her courage. Elias is trying to keep his individuality and his soul/conscience in a brutal world he never wanted to be part of.

And then we have the bigger picture issues, with the Trials, a new Emperor needed and the war that is coming towards the Empire and the humans that was foreseen but no one seems to remember.

The book can feel like its own story sorted but the ending has so many open threads unsorted and unfinished that it NEEDED a sequel, and I'm so very glad we'll be getting it! Not soon enough, because sequels are never here soon enough unless you're dealing with a finished series.

An Ember in the Ashes is a stunning debut! With magical writing, fantastic world building, imperfect & believable character with great development and neck-breaking pacing! Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!




The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My first Patrick Ness book and I am simply in love! This book is both funny and poignant, reflecting on what it is to try to get through normal life with whatever challenges it may throw at us, showing us what mental health issues can look like without ridicule but with enough humour so it wouldn't feel hopeless.

I love Mikey, I love Mel, I love Jared and I love Henna. They felt complex and genuine and raw and real. They felt very much human. I flipped the book open to check it out and I simply continued reading till I was done with it. Laughing and tearing up and simply loving it to bits!

This book had a strong sense of tongue in cheek humour when it dealt with the paranormal cliches of the "chosen ones" stories, but the focus was always more in the regular lives that the "rest of us" normal people have to deal with, even if we also saw how the events could affect the normal lives as collateral, without really being sure what the hell is going on.

I cannot really write a coherent and good enough review for this book because it has so many different aspects and genres and themes all mixed up and they all work together flawlessly!

This was my first Patrick Ness book and I think it won't be the last. If you haven't checked it out yet, don't fear the hype and go read it, it's very much worth it! Very well deserved 5 stars!



Winter by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Oh boy, what a wild ride this was!! And what a lovely book hangover is to be expected now because I really don't want to say goodbye to these characters!!

I'm not sure how to even begin to review Winter... I finished it yesterday and I still don't think I have enough coherent words! The wait was very much worth it and mostly all I can say is that I loved it and *ALL THE FLAILS*

First of all, I must give mad props to Marissa Meyer because she ALWAYS manages to make this romancephobe ship all her ships like there's no tomorrow! Cinder & Kai, Wolf (Ze'ev) & Scarlet, Cress & Thorne (oh boy these two were killing me in this boooook!!!) and Winter & Jacin!! From first attraction to alpha insticts, online crushes to long time friendship & love, she manages to make it work and root for the characters like mad!

As the final book of the series where all things come to an end, I was expecting planning and plotting and scheming and confrontation, but the amount of emotional ups and downs and the tension that the whole book managed to mantain for its over 800 pages is mind-blowing! I couldn't read fast enough and the book never felt long!!

I love the growth and development that the characters had in this one, even Winter we had barely ever met before, we get to know her and understand and feel so much for her, with her insanity born of kindness and a desire to do what's right and never harm anyone!

And as always, Marissa Meyer managed to weave some bits of the original fairty tale here and there, wonderful easter eggs/winks that I loved finding along the book! So well weaved into the story and the world she's created!

I... I just have no more words, and I'm already babbling!. Just, read it! It's brilliant! 5 very MUCH deserved stars!


View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Mini Reviews for Maxon and Portia by Christina Bauer!

Hello there guys!

Happy Halloween! I hope you are all enjoying this day, handing out candy, dressing up or reading and/or watching some spooky movies! My plans are to watch Nightmare Before Christmas before work tonight... Yes, I work on Halloween night and I'm extremely bummed about that!

Today for Saturday Pages I have a pair of mini reviews for two ARCs that I got via NetGalley (thank you Ink Monster) and that are part of a series that I'm really enjoying, Angelbound and Angelbound Offspring!


Maxon by Christina Bauer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Since I fell in love with Myla and Lincoln in Angelbound I have continued to read all the books in the series, and although I haven't felt the same love for any of the books as for the first one, they are still good and fun to read!

This is the story of Maxon as an adult, and as such we don't really see as much of Myla and Lincoln even if they do appear here and there. I'm pretty sure this book can be read without having read the previous three books, because we get enough little tidbits here and there about past events that are relevant to understand.

The book is told in dual POV, Maxon's and Lianna's. I really liked Lianna, how she was trying her best and standing her ground, I could really relate with her hate of being addressed as "a girl" in a demeaning or patronizing way! I loved that she could stand her own, even if she had some growth to do and adapt to the new situation!

Maxon is one of those alpha-ish guys that never really veers into the arsepha side of the spectrum, and that never treated Lianna as a "must be protected and therefore underestimated" being, so that was a big plus to him. Reading his POV felt like a rather realistic male thought process, so that was also another plus. He was a bit hormone driven and hot and cold on occasion, but he had his own issues that could justify the back and forth!

As far as world building goes we get a look at Elementals and their society and culture and how they interact or not with our previously known realms, as well as a little look at the human realm. The plot is both a mix of Lianna's quest and an Elemental and how to remove a tirant from power and Maxon and Lianna's relationship development.

The pacing was fast and so I read the book quite quickly! I guess I felt like it lacked maybe a lil bit of depth or lenght to develop the relationship a bit more, because it felt a lil bit too quick, even if we have to accept some supernatural connection given the world the book is set in. I guess that my main complain and why I give this one 3 stars, but on the very good side of the three stars!


Portia by Christina Bauer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Portia is the second book in the Angelbound Offspring series and just like Maxon, it can be read as an standalone, not only from the Angelbound series but also you don't need to have read Maxon to read this one, but I'd recommend that you read them all, everything will make a lil more sense!

Portia is a lil bit different from the rest of her family, not so much of a fighter with her hands, more with her brain. She's always been a bit of a second rate sort of royalty given her marks and has got more scorn than respect. I loved that she was a bookworm and had a big connection with both her maternal grandmother & grandfather!

I really liked that Portia could stand her own and show her family (and the general population) that she doesn't need to be a big physical fighter to be able to do something to save the world! And to do so she does have some help, namely Tempest, the Furor Emperor, a full on demon and dragon!!

I really enjoyed the quest to save all the realms that Portia and Temptest embark themselves on, I really like the world building that was done during the quest, but I felt that the romance progression was a bit too fast (even faster than it was on Maxon) and although it is understandable to some extent once something is explained in the narrative... It just felt too fast and too convenient.

I'm tempted to give another star to this one or at least a half star because of the Furor dragons and the ending because I really loved it, but I still felt that the book was a bit too rushed and maybe a bit too short? I wouldn't have minded 50 more pages or so!

This one gets 3 stars but once again, 3 to 3.5 stars and the good side of the 3 stars!



View all my reviews

Saturday Songs & Pages: #TLCReadAlong: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer!!

Hello guys!

Today I'm a mixed up sort of post since I was feeling quite unmotivated to write yet another review... so I got an idea for this post!

It's a mix of my usual Saturday posts, Saturday Song and Saturday Pages! I'll have a mini review of my re-read of Scarlet for the #TLCReadAlong and also a few songs that made me think of the characters!

To begin with, I'm sharing a song that I feel it's perfect for these amazing retellings, because they are familiar versions of a Once Upon a Time story but they're amazing stories on their own! (and I LOVE this song from the Maleficent movie!).

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner




I remember being rather unhappy about how the focus in the book kept changing from Cinder to Scarlet the first time I read the book, before I realized that was how the series was, both consecutive/sequel like books but also with different main characters (and couples) at the head of each book, adding to the cast and the team, making the world richer and the plot even more complex!

So this time around I was ready to read again about Scarlet and Wolf with a different mindset and I found myself liking Wolf almost from the get go, and getting to warm up to Scarlet so much easily too! She's got quite a temper and I feel like teen-Pili would have related with her throwing tomatoes at the wall so much!

I have once again realized that I had forgotten quite a few details but holy cow! I totally had forgotten about some bigger things that I cannot mention because SPOILERS but damn, I'm so glad I re-read this before Winter! 

I also found that I had a few more issues with how Scarlet and Wolf's relationship progress, mostly in the time frame it takes place... somehow I don't think I felt it went too fast as much as I did this time. I can understand that for Wolf it is more of a primal thing, an Alpha finding his mate, but for Scarlet? Even after knowing what I know about her... it doesn't make the same sense for me. But by the end of the book I'm once again totally onboard with the ship and I find them so adorableee!!

Dear Captain Thorne, I had forgotten how conceited and irritating he read from Cinder's POV, since I got used to him being a lil different and seeing him way differently from Cress' POV! But I liked how he quite quickly became an ally for Cinder and how he and Iko ganged up on Cinder whenever Kai is involved!


And now for some more songs!

This Florence +  The Machine song is perfect for the relationship between Scarlet & Wolf, given how primal and visceral it feels at times!







 
This Metallica song is perfect for Wolf, even if it might refer to shape-shift at some point, the title is quite on point!




 

I had the harderst time finding the right song for Scarlet, because she's such a firecracker and strong character... And I think this one is pretty accurate after all! If you have any other suggestions, let me know!






And last but for sure not least I found this song that I'd say would be the perfect fir for Queen Levana! Found it while I was looking for the right song for Scarlet!!





Do you guys have any other songs that make you think of The Lunar Chronicles or any of the characters? I have a few ideas for Cress!

Saturday Pages: DNF Review for Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman.

Hello there guys!

Happy weekend! I hope you guys are having a great weekend, all I'm hoping is for a pair of quiet shifts at work, because at least I have awesome co-workers for the weekend!

For today's Saturday Pages I have a DNF review... I have a hard time not finishing books, but I'm learning to let go of those that really don't grab me enough, so I can focus on the next one that I might just LOVE!

 

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series


DNF Review:

I was quite excited to read this one because Alexander the Great is quite a favourite historical character of mine, and the Alexandros series by Valerio Massimo Manfredi is one of my favourite historical fiction series! 

That one is NOT YA and this book is, and I hope that I was not drawing unconscious comparisons mentally while reading, because that wouldn't have been fair to the book... 

I read till 48% of the book, stopped... and didn't feel like getting back to it at all. I sort of wanted to know what happened, but I just didn't want to grab the book again AT ALL. And that's a sign that I needed to DNF for sure.

My first issue with the book was the multiple POVs. I don't always enjoy multiple POVs, but there are books that I've loved to bits and the different POVs have not been a hindrance for the plot or the storytelling, but here... we jumped from one POV to the next with very little information about what would tie them all together, or where the story was going. And when we did, we got the information repeated in various POVs...  And by halfway through the book I wasn't sure of the relevance of some of the POVs to the story overall... Somehow I barely cared about the different characters and I didn't find them compelling.

The plot... we get too many unsubtle hints about some things and at the same time, we have no idea why the different POVs matter or how they will combine to form a coherent plot... 

I liked that it seemed to be a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, but the writing and the character progresion (or lack thereof) really were off putting for me. I just didn't care enough!

So, if I had to sum up my review for this book in one word and the reason why I DNFed it?: MEH!


Now, for something different I leave you with Iron Maiden's Alexander The Great! An epic song that tells the whole story much better than this book would in about 8 minutes!

 

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson!!

Hey there guys!

It's the weekend! Well, I say so while I crash after working night shift and going grocery shopping afterwards to avoid the weekend crowds! *collapses in bed* I shall be taking a nice middle of the day nap!

But I'll leave you with a Saturday Pages review for one of the books that I read for ARC August! And it is another YA Western! I think I have a new appreciation for westerns since I really enjoyed the two that I've read, and they were quite different from each other!

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I adored Rae's Fire & Thorns trilogy so I was dying to grab her next book and when I heard it would be a western I was even more intrigued!

If any of you are wondering about similitudes with Vengeance Road, they really don't exist aside from that both are YA westerns with a female main character that disguises herself as a boy for a part of the book. The main characters couldn't be more different and so couldn't be their journey, voice or plot.

Leah can feel gold, keeping her ability secret for fear of robbery, murder or exploitation. She lives modestly with her parents, until her life is turned upside down and she must flee from a man that would use her ability for his own means.

She decides to run away and join the Golden Rush to California, hoping that her ability will help her find a new life there amidst the gold madness.

Leah's journey is one of running away a future that she doesn't want, towards the hope of a better one. But in the end the destination isn't as important as the journey itself.

Leah as Lee finds herself with a freedom that would have been unheard of and meets quite a few characters that both change her and are changed by her.

I must confess that at first I was expecting the voice of the book to be in dialect too, and at first it sounded very modern, but once I got hooked on the action and the characters' relationships and dynamics I stopped noticing if the language sounded modern or not.

The biggest strenght of this book for me is in its characters and the way their relationships change and evolve as the journey goes on. All the secondary characters had more complexity than expected at first and they keep surprising us now and then. How some accept the conventions and rules of the time, and how some of them subtly bend them to their convenience. It really irked me how some attitudes changed from being Lee to being Leah, but I was glad that she had enough allies and friends that would not change the way they treated or appreciated her no matter what she was called or if she wore skirts of pants!

The plot of the book is pretty straight forward, it's a road trip in oxen carts, looking for a chance at a better life, so it's all about the very hard journey that it is. Injuries, power plays, encounters with "Indians" that will make your blood boil for the treatment of the Native Americans, but so true for the time, and that might make us think of what has really changed from then to now.

The end of the book brings us full circle to a situation that could have been very much the same that Leah was running away from but that is completely different because of the journey she and her fellow travelers went through. I know this is the first book of a trilogy, but it could have equally been a standalone with enough resolution if a lil bit of an open ending to imagine more details of the future on our own.

Very well deserved 4 stars to this one!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of A Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev!!!

Hey there guys!

Happy Saturday! I came back from spending a pair of days (mostly) unplugged at my parents' cottage, getting loads of puppy love, getting pampered by my mum and watching shooting stars at night with my mum and bro. And reading, loads of reading! Less ARCs than I should have, but I despite my best intentions, I'm always a mood reader at heart!

Still I managed to read a pair of ARCs and start another, and one of them is the one I'm reviewing today for this week's Saturday Pages, counting it towards my ARC August challenge and also since it is a diverse read, towards my 105 Challenge!

The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read and loved Sonali's debut last year so when I heard about her next book coming out this year I knew I had to read it! Of course I did a lil jig when I got approved for it on NetGalley by the publisher and after reading it I already have it preordered for myself and for my ex didi.

Ria's story is not an easy one, given what a traumatic past she had to deal with and what she fears will be the sure consequences to her future. She's carved herself a career on Bollywood and she keeps everyone away from her. But when her cousin calls her and begs her to attend her wedding, she feels like she needs to go and be there for the family that loves her, and after a potential scandal, leaving Mumbai for Chicago seems like the best option.

While I don't know all that much about the insides of the world of Bollywood, I have been treated as part of an Indian family both in India and in the US, and reading this book felt like being back there. The descriptions are effortless and vivid and the relationships between the characters always so well developed!

Ria is a very complex character with many different sides to her, and we can very well see them at play when she is just Ria with her family, to when we see her as Ria Parkar, the film star. She's both strong and enormously fragile, always battling with herself and trying to get through everything on her own. I wanted her to finally allow others to help her and seeing how hard her path was through it all really made my heart ache!

The romance here was particularly heartbreaking because of the history between Vikram and Ria and how meeting again after ten years there's a lot of pain and anger and suffering but still an undeniable chemistry and a knowing about each other that was painful to read about. I don't know if it'll be as painful for other people as it was for me, but the emotions jump out of the pages!

Mental health and the stigma still associated to mental health illnesses is also a big component of the book. Ria's life has been defined by that stigma and it's what continue to define how she sees herself and how she shapes her future.

A fantastic book with a wonderfully complex romance and a lot of depth. Bravo Sonali Dev! Very well deserved 5 stars!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Fated by Sarah Fine!!!

Happy Saturday guys!

I hope you're weekend is being quite fantastic, I'm only hoping that things won't be too terribly busy at work and that I can get some quiet reading time tonight!

For this week's Saturday Pages I have an ARC review that I was supposed to leave for later in the month but thanks to miss Alyssa from The Eater of Books I ended up devouring in one day!

It's my first full ARC read and reviewed for ARC August! and since there's quite a lot of Greek mythology involved in this one (with the three Fates and all) it'll also count towards my 2015 Mythology Reading Challenge!

Fated by Sarah Fine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Servants of Fate books were my first contact with Sarah Fine's books and I couldn't have chosen a better gateway because I've loved them all, and now I want to read all of Sarah's books!

That said, this one has to be my favourite book of the trilogy and an absolutely perfect and brilliant ending for it!

When I finished reading Claimed I suspected and hoped that the final book would be about Jason Moros and Aislin Ferry and when it was confirmed, I was both very happy and intrigued! None of them had seemed easy characters to like or understand in the previous books, even if Moros had a certain charm to him, if he seemed unreliable and dangerous.

But from the first moment we see things from their POVs things quickly change on our perception. Aislin is not the seemly cold and ambitions person we thought on Marked, but someone that is fully dedicated to protecting her family and to do what's necessary to keep humanity safe too. She knows how to handle power and how to hold it and use it, thankfully for the right cause! I loved that she allowed herself to lose control here and there and that her feelings towards her family are showcased so strongly too!

And Jason Moros... oh dear, I have massive crush on the personalization of Death ladies and gents! From his worry about his sisters (the three Fates) to his growing devotion to Aislin and how determined he was to fight Chaos no matter what! I loved how he proved that he was not just worried about keeping himself in business so-to-speak but he had the well being of his Keres very much in mind. And he's ready to fight for what's right even if no one expected him to!

One word of warning, this is a fantastic book, but not an easy one to read sometimes, because there are some tough bits, with Aislin suffering at the hands of Moros' other siblings (Lies, Strife and Vengenace) and with things getting really dire and with very little hope of a HEA, you might need a lil breather now and then while reading, just be sure to persevere!

Not only we are fighting for Aislin to keep the Ferries under control and supporting her for whe she'll have to face the Keepers but we also continue with some fantastic world building by visiting yet another realm that could not be more diffent from what we've seen so far!

I'm having a very hard time trying to review this and not spoil anything (anymore than I could possibly have done already!) but this was such a fantastic book and even if I got a few suspicions on what could happen in the end, I was still surprised that it happened the way it did!

I give up, just... READ THIS! IT WAS BRILLIANT! Very much deserved 4.5 stars to this one!!



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Hatchet and The Secret of the Mansion for The Midnight Garden Readalong!!

Hello there guys!

Things are getting crazy once again because juggling everything with very few days off is complicated and I cannot wait till I get some more days off soon so I can do stuff at the apartment and have time to post a bit more!

Today for Saturday Pages I have two mini reviews for two books that are part of The Midnight Garden Classic MG & YA Readalong Challenge! They're May and July books (because I haven't yet managed to finish June's book...).

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3.5 stars. The narrative style and Brian's voice threw me a lil bit at first and it took me a while to get used to it and to his stream of consciousness mixed with his narration of current events style of writing. Even when I thought I had managed to get into the book, sometimes an event will jar me out of it because it was a bit difficult to keep events and feelings separate and making sense of both.

But I really liked how he was resourceful but nothing that he did seemed too far-fetched or impossible with some knowledge of basic survival, even if I know I'd fail at starting fire with the hatchet as Brian did!

His small failures and triumphs felt very well balanced but also made you think about for how long can he keep up with his limited supplies and knowledge? Small in a scale, but such a big thing because they could be the difference between life and death.

There was quite a strong message about how very poorly prepared we are to deal with the outdoors and how frail humans are left to their own devices and having to confront wild animals, not even counting the carnivores!

And even if it was a bit obvious, the message about appreciating what we have and thinking about where our food comes from would be a good message for all of us, food doesn't come in neat wrappers at a supermarket only, and we ought to remember what's behind it all!

The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was such a fun sweet book! And it reminded me of one of my fave series as a child, The Happy Hollisters! Oh, how I devoured their adventures!

A perfect summer read and even if it'll be a bit of a different read for younger kids these days, given how old timey it can read at times, it was full of charm and reminded me a lot of both very loved books I read when I was Trixie's age and also of the summers of my childhood, that I also spent under very little supervision, safely roaming and playing around in a small village, far from the rest-of-the-year-life-in-the-city!

Trixie was both an endearing and irritating character at the same time, because she was sweet and enthusiastic but could also be a bit too quick to judge and rather prone to act first and think later! Often rash and always determined she was also a very honest and open girl that was the best kind of influence for the very city girl and sheltered Honey (also, that name?).

They both form a team that keeps each other on balance and once they find a very unexpected friend that they want to help and a mysterious inheritance to find. I was expecting a lil bit more of the house mystery but I wasn't really disappointed because the book was full of summer goodness and the mystery was just another part of it!

3.5 stars to this one and I'm curious to give a try to more books in the series, if I can get my hands on them!



View all my reviews

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

Hello there guys!

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

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

Rogue by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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

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

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

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

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

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

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



View all my reviews

Saturday Pages: Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins!!

Hey there guys!

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

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

Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



View all my reviews