Book Review - Winter by Marisa Meyer

Winter

(The Lunar Chronicles #4)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fairy Tale Retellings. 

Published: November 12 2015

Pages: 823 pages (Paperback) (Puffin)

Read: December 25 2015 - January 3 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Book 1/65 - 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I craved this book! I read Cress in August of 2015 and after finishing that book all I could think about was Winter! I needed Winter as soon as I finished Cress but alas, like all of us, I had to wait. And I waited, and then it released and well I waited some more because my little brother had gotten me this book for Christmas and as you can see I cracked open this beauty on Christmas Day. 

And well, what can I say? I fell in love with this book from the very first page. I was already in love with each and every character from the previous books and well, I didn't fall any less in love with them in this book. I was just so excited to see what would happen in Winter.

Let's start off with the characters. I love them. *Sigh*. Well all the main characters anyway. Levana and her minions were just pure evil you couldn't help but despise them. I thought Winter was such a unique character. I loved her and her personality. Her loyal nature and her craziness made her all the more adorable. Then of course there was her love interest, Jacin. Jacin was such an admirable character also. I admired how much he took care of Winter and their relationship was perfect, even in their flawed ways. 

As for the setting of this book. I really enjoyed seeing the world of Luna. It was this aspect that I was really most excited to see and it didn't disappoint. Even though I could kind of see a similarity to the 'Hunger Games' world there on Luna, most dystopias and science fictions do have that similar aspect though so it wasn't too hard to bypass this little snippet.

A lot of the negative comments for Winter seem to be about the predictability of this book. But I knew it was going to be predictable from the beginning. It is a fairytale retelling and well, fairy tales end with a happily ever after. Honestly, if there was a not happily ever after to any of the story retellings here in The Lunar Chronicles I don't think I would have been able to cope. I would have just crumbled and never resurfaced.

To end this I was extremely happy with the conclusion of The Lunar Chronicles. I loved the additional characters, the new setting, the way the plot unfurled and the way all the ships sailed! I really want more from this world though and literally cannot wait for the release of Stars Above.

And of course the Queen of Retellings is writing an Alice In Wonderland retelling called 'Heartless', that is coming out in November and I just can't wait!! Eeeeeeppppp!!  

Broadening My Horizons - Outgrowing YA?

Broadening My Horizons - Outgrowing YA?

I suppose this is a response to WhittyNovels Youtube Video 'Outgrowing YA Fiction?'. Since watching this video I've just been thinking constantly about the topic and I've watched many other Youtubers also give their opinions and I support every one of their opinions. I can see where everyone is coming from and I can see all the pros and cons and well I just wanted to add a little insight here and just write down my thoughts, maybe for all you guys to see but personally for me to look back on too.

I started reading YA six years ago in 2009, because of Twilight. I did read ocassionally before that. As a child I read books like Animal Ark and Dolphin Diaries and all the rest but I hadn't considered my reading to be a full fledged hobby at that point. It was the beginning of reading Twilight that started my obsessive hobby of bookworming. In truth it took me a whole year to read those four books but once I finished Twilight, I branched out into the YA genre. I went into Marked, Hush, Hush, Vampire Diaries and City of Bones and never looked back. Still I can tell you that I have basically only read YA books.

Why? Because I enjoy them! And that is why I read. I read for enjoyment. I read to fall in love with a story and to see all these different places and all these different characters. I wouldn't say in my 6 years that I've read as much as many other book lovers in the book community. I've read barely over 250 books, but I can see the repetitiveness easily in some books. In YA there seems to be a set way of things. You can see the same characteristics in main characters, in love interests, in those love triangles and sometimes they are predictable. But you can always, always find those hidden gems that break all the rules. There's no predictability. Our characters are different. The writing is beautiful and the stories are just so unique that you just can't find that pull anywhere else. 

Personally I think the standard of YA is getting higher and higher. I have fallen head over heels in love with books in all the different YA sub genres from Contemporary to Fantasy to Historical Fiction. But in saying that you can find those pretty bad books too, sometimes more than you find the gems. It all really depends on what you choose to read and how fast you read.

I have stopped going with hype. It is generic. After all, we all don't have the same tastes. Just looking, even at this month alone, the YA books that were hyped to oblivion were Passenger and Truthwitch. Neither book I will be picking up because they didn't interest me. Don't hate me for this but it is my choice. I have decided to read books only if I am so completely, over the moon interested in them and it seems to work for me. I won't read a book that gives off a vibe of being predictable or in some ways a copy cat of books I've read before. There has to be something different, something that inevitably draws me in before I'll add a book to my TBR these days. But not every book is great either, so of course I'll come across some books I hate too even if something did draw me to them in the first place.

So yes, I love YA. Most of the books I've read in my lifetime are YA. Over 90% of my current TBR are YA. And I know I'll be reading YA for a long, long time into the future. Just because I'm turning 20 in a few months is no indication that I'll be giving up YA.

In saying all this, I have had an itch. An itch to explore more in the genres of books. I have started to want to read New Adult, I'm going to give Colleen Hoover a try, along with Adult Fantasy, Thriller, Historical Fiction and Romance. All which have one book on my shelves at home. Plus I have wanted to start reading Classics and I've even made it a goal for 2016 to read three.

So in no way shall I ever give up YA (I literally cannot see that in my future right now) but I will be exploring more. Whereas in the past I could have said that I only read YA, now I'll be saying that I read a mixture with most of my books being YA. I'm excited to explore these new genres to me and well as they say, let the adventure begin.

December 2015

December 2015 Book Haul / Wrap Up

I'm so sorry for this being so late but I'm just going to post this little wrap up because honestly I'm being lazy but anyway....

December 2015 Book Haul

I got a lot of books in December.... it completely destroyed my TBR but I'm so excited about all of these books that I have no worries :p Let's just read!!

• Crow Moon by Anna McKerrow
• Fairest by Marissa Meyer
• Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes
• All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
• You by Caroline Kepnes
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
• Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
• The Diviners by Libba Bray
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• In The Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
• Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick
• Soundless by Richelle Mead
• Winter by Marissa Meyer
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
• Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
• Rogue by Julie Kagawa
• Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

December 2015 Wrap Up

I read 8 books this month! Yay!

What Was Read:

• Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong (5 Stars)
• A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (5 Stars)
• The Accident Season by Moira Fowley Doyle (4 Stars)
• Fairest by Marissa Meyer (5 Stars)
• Talon by Julie Kagawa (5 Stars)
• Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (5 Stars)
• After The Bridge by Cassandra Clare (5 Stars)
• On The Bridge by Cassandra Clare (5 Stars)

Defeating My TBR Progress!!

My TBR has gone all the way up to 92 thanks to Christmas but hey you don't see me complaining :p !

And I'm just going to wrap it up here! I hope everyone had a happy December and a great New Year :)

Wishlist Wednesday #3

Wishlist Wednesday #3

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Pen to Paper. This meme is where you showcase one book that is on your wishlist and that you can't wait to get off your wishlist and into your hands.

On my Wishlist Wednesday today is....

The Mystery Of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos

All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It's the story of how her parents met: he, a forensic pathologist, she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when she was a baby, a woman who was always possessed by a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as troubled waters.

When Imogene is seventeen, her father, now a famous author of medical mysteries, strikes out in the middle of the night and doesn't come back. Neither Imogene's stepmother nor the police know where he could've gone, but Imogene is convinced he's looking for her mother. She decides to put to use the skills she's gleaned from a lifetime of her father's books to track down a woman she's never known, in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she's carried with her for her entire life. 

This book is Rebecca Podos debut novel and I just am so intrigued by the premise of the book as you can see from the synopsis above. I just really want to read this book and hopefully it shall be good. This book comes out next week on January 26th 2016.

Have you read this book?? 
Is it on your wishlist??

What have you got on your wishlist??

Top Ten Tuesday #3

Top Ten Tuesday #3

Top Ten Books I Recently Added To My TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and consists of them picking a topic each week for us bloggers to list our Top Ten.

I'm going to base this on the books that I have added to-read on Goodreads meaning that I may physically own some and not others but I'll let ya'll know down below. So without any further comments here are the last 10 books I've added as to-read on Goodreads!

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
As you may know reading the full Harry Potter series is one of my goals for 2016 and this book was going cheap on The Book Depository a few weeks back so I bought it! I now need to only get book 4, 5 and 6. This is a book that I do physically own!

2. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
This is another book that I own. I just got it at the end of December and it is the sequel to A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. I loved that book and can't wait to dive into this one.

3. Rogue by Julie Kagawa
Another book that I do own and was purchased the same day as the book above! Rogue is the sequel to Talon which I really loved and I cannot wait to continue on with the series!




4. How It Feels To Fly by Kathryn Holmes
This book is about anxiety and courage and making your dreams come true. It releases in 2016 and I just found the premise so interesting that I added it to my TBR.

5. The Smell Of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
I just really, really have a good feeling about this book, that is exactly why I added it to my TBR. This book is about four teenagers, all living different types of lives in different types of houses and then their lives entangle and that's all I really know. This book releases on February 23 2016!

6. Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood
This book was added to my TBR because I am really intrigued by the premise and synopsis and I feel it will be just one of those amazing contemporary novels. This book releases May 3 2016.



7. Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
This book just sounds so good! I am really, really intrigued and well that is why it's on my TBR. This book releases on March 22 2016.

8. Vicarious by Paula Stokes
This book just sounds so badass! I found it recently and added it to my TBR. Vicarious is out on August 16 2016!

9. A Study In Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
Ahhh it's a Sherlock Holmes and Watson retelling!! So of course I added it to my TBR after I saw it on Goodreads. This book is released on March 1 2016.



10. A Glittering Court by Richelle Mead
I loved, loved, loved Vampire Academy series and the Bloodlines series. I have Soundless waiting to be read so of course I'm going to add Richelle Mead's new series to my TBR starting with A Glittering Court. This book releases on April 5 2016!




What books did you last add to your TBR?

Wishlist Wednesday #2

Wishlist Wednesday #2

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Pen to Paper. This meme is where you showcase one book that is on your wishlist and that you can't wait to get off your wishlist and into your hands.

On my Wishlist Wednesday today is....

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

London, April 1812. Eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall is on the eve of her debut presentation to the Queen. Her life should be about gowns and dancing, and securing a suitable marriage. Instead, when one of her family's housemaids goes missing, Lady Helen is drawn to the shadows of Regency London.

There, she finds William, the Earl of Carlston. He has noticed the disappearance, too, and is one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of powerful demons that has infiltrated every level of society. But Lady Helen’s curiosity is the last thing Carlston wants—especially when he sees the searching intelligence behind her fluttering fan. Should Helen trust a man whose reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her headstrong sense of justice lead them both into a death trap?

I first saw this book as an arc at an event I was at. The arc cover intrigued me so I looked further into this book and that is where I got hesitant.... I wasn't sure whether I was going to add this book to my wishlist or not and I spent days thinking about it. Should it go on my wishlist, should it not? And then I finally came round and caved and said yes, yes it should. Was I the only one to think this was like The Infernal Devices by hearing about its premise alone? It was my love for that trilogy that actually got me to add it to my wishlist as well as that our main character is eighteen and it's set in London and it is back in the past. This book basically has everything I love in it so I'm hoping to god that I love this book to. This book deosn't come out till next week on January 21 2016!

Have you read this book?? 
Is it on your wishlist??

What have you got on your wishlist??

Top Ten Tuesday #2

Top Ten Tuesday #2

Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn't.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and consists of them picking a topic each week for us bloggers to list our Top Ten.

I was actually good with reading 2015 releases this year but here are the ones that I wanted to read and had full intentions of reading but never got around to...

1. Shadow of the Wolf by Tim Hall
I actually bought this book when I saw it in the bookstores. I had heard nothing about it and bought it on the whim that it was a Robin Hood retelling. I'm still really interested in reading this though and it's on my TBR for January!

2. The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury
I was super hyped to read this one and I just didn't.... I bought this book and everything but just never got around to reading it in 2015.

3. An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
I still haven't found this book in any book shop around me which sucks... I would order it online but I want to see the covers in person so I can choose which one to go for but ugh....




4. You by Caroline Kepnes
I bought this just a few weeks before 2015 ended and never got around to reading it. P.S I know this book was originally published in 2014 but the edition I have was published 2015 and I'm going by my Goodreads listing peeps!

5. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
I really, really want to read this book! But it's not around in paperback anymore :'( But ya, I will find you book!

6. Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
So want to get and read this book, but this is another one that I'm waiting for its release in paperback so I should be getting this this year ya'll



7. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
This one also came out in 2014, but the paperback version just came out in 2015 and that is the one I'll be reading! I got this book for Christmas so yay! 2016 will see the reading of Snow Like Ashes!

8. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
I really want to finish The Grisha Trilogy first before diving into this one so.... that did not stop me from getting this book on its release date though.

9. The Rose Society by Marie Lu
I don't know why I never got to this one... I have the book and everything. grrr....



10. These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly 
I need to get this book as soon as possible and read it! I don't know why I haven't picked it up yet.....





What books did you not get to in 2015?

Book Review - Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

(Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #1)

Author: Ransom Riggs

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal. 

Published: June 4 2013

Pages: 356 pages (Paperback) (Quirk Books)

Read: December 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Book 58/60 - 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is a book that I read solely because of recommendations and the hype that surrounded the book. I had never read the synopsis for this book. All I knew about Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children was that there were creepy photos and children with different types of peculiar abilities. 

This is one of the books that I am delighted that I followed the hype and went with the whim of purchasing and reading. This was a book that I read so fast and loved every piece of it.

I loved Jacob's character. I loved the character of his grandfather and I loved the mysterious messages and crypticness of the story of the Peculiar Children. Ransom Riggs did an amazing job at creating characters within the real and peculiar world. The peculiar children were fascinating characters.

I found this book to be quite unique within in this book. It is tue first book I've read about where as a protective strategy, people are living in a continous loop of time. One thing I would have loved to see more about were the 'bad guys' in this book. I know we do get a backstory and description but somehow I just felt unfulfilled with the amount of knowledge I got about these people and organisation. 

One thing that I did find to be quite unnecessary was the romantic relationship. This story didn't need that. It would have well suffised without it and besides I found that romantic coupling to be quite weird. If you've read this book you understand where I'm coming from. But even though I wasn't pleased with the story containing a romantic relationship it didn't affect to take away my enjoyment of this read. 

And just to pop back around to the mentioning of those creepy photos that I knew the book contained before reading. I have to say that they were a great addition to the novel, even though not all were creepy, I found them all to be very interesting and then to find out that these were actual real pictures was just spectacular!

I'll be sure to be purchasing and picking up Hollow City and Library of Souls as soon as possible! 

Book Review - Talon by Julie Kagawa

Talon

(Talon #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dragons. 

Published: January 15 2015

Pages: 445 pages (Paperback) (MIRA Ink)

Read: December 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

‘There are a dozen soldiers hiding in that maze. All hunting you. All looking to kill you.’

To the outside world Ember Hill is an ordinary girl, but Ember has a deadly secret. A dragon hiding in human form, she is destined to fight the shadowy Order of St. George, a powerful society of dragonslayers.

St. George soldier Garret is determined to kill Ember and her kind. Until her bravery makes him question all he’s been taught about dragons.

Now a war is coming and Garret and Ember must choose their sides – fight to save their bond or fulfil their fate and destroy one another.

Book 57/60 - 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge

As soon as I saw Talon, I knew it was a book I must have, one that I just had to read as soon as possible (I know this didn't happen, I purchased the book for my birthday way back in March 2015 and didn't actually read this book till December but oh well....) This was a book that was popping up everywhere.Why? One, because Talon was by Julie Kagawa. Two, because this book was about dragons and three, because of its dynamic cover! Can we just get an awww of appreciation for that dragon scaled feel to this awesome cover. 

Let's start this review with the not so great things. I know what you're all thinking, 'Sarah, you gave this book 5 stars, what could possibly be not great?'. Well let me just start by saying I may have had a preconceived notion about what this book would be about. When I heard 'dragons', my mind went straight to badass and fights and awesomeness that was unparalleled to this universe because it's dragons right? What I didn't expect was a practically contemporary feel with summer beaches, surfing, cliques of girls and hot guys and a rebellious 'teenager' fighting a schooling system. So when I was reading the beginning of this book, I felt disappointed. I actually felt so uninterested and had that 'this book isn't right for me right now', feeling that I put this book down for over 3 months. That's right people I started this book in August and after a few days stopped and picked it back up again mid-December when I got hooked!

Back in August I was definitely going through something because when I finally decided to pick back up Talon in December I craved the book! I read and read and read and suddenly Talon became everything that I wanted the book to be. Somewhere between a quarter and half of the book through, the feel of the book changed. No way in hell did it feel like I was in a contemporary no more. There was action, guns, mystery, betrayal, that heartfelt feeling of knowing what is going on in the character's life when they don't and of course let's not forget, there were dragons! The sole reason I had picked up this book had come in snapping and flaming fire. It was these ending three quarters / half of the book that completely redeemed this for me and that is why I gave it five stars.

I just instantaneously fell in love with the characters, practically every character and I felt so many emotions when reading the battles and torments that they went through in this book. I even held out hope for redemption for some of characters just wanting to see the good in them even though the betrayal some of these characters did was unforgivable! This book nearly broke me.

I became so invested in the plot. Everything just got so interesting towards the end! I don't know who the hell I'm shipping but I have respect for both of the love interests in this book for different reasons. I really can't wait to continue on with this series. I went out on got Rogue at the end of December and I'm practically sitting on my hands wanting to read it which I'm going to be doing soon after I finish the books I'm currently reading. 

Julie Kagawa you have written a great dragon book!

Wishlist Wednesday #1

Wishlist Wednesday #1

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Pen to Paper. This meme is where you showcase one book that is on your wishlist and that you can't wait to get off your wishlist and into your hands.

On my Wishlist Wednesday today is....

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03
The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival. 

As soon as I heard about this book I added it to my wishlist. It is a book about such a devastating topic that I wanted to see how the author portrays this in a story. This is also this author's debut novel and I'm intrigued to see her writing style and techniques used within this book. This book just released a few days ago and well, it's on my Wishlist Wednesday for a reason, right??

Have you read this book?? 
Is it on your wishlist??

What have you got on your wishlist??

Memes 2016

Memes 2016

For 2016, I'm going to be continuing on with:

• Top Ten Tuesday
• Wishlist Wednesday
• Best of the Bunch

Top Ten Tuesday

#1 - Top Ten Resolutions I Have For 2016
#2 - Top 10 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn't
#3 - Top 10 Books I Recently Added To My TBR
#4 - Top Ten Historical Settings I Love

Wishlist Wednesday

#1 - This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
#2 - The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
#3 - The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos

Best of the Bunch
January 2016 - 

Top Ten Tuesday #1

Top Ten Tuesday #1

Top Ten Resolutions I Have For 2016.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and consists of them picking a topic each week for us bloggers to list our Top Ten.

2016!!! Bum, bum, bum. I really hope that I complete all my resolutions this year.

1. Read a total of 65 books!
2. Read the whole Harry Potter series..... (I know, but 2016 is my year!)
3. Catch up on A Song of Ice and Fire series (I'm on A Clash of Kings)
4. Read all the books of the list of 30 books I already own 2016 TBR. (If ya'll want to see it tell me in the comments below!)
5. Get / Buy a maximum of 40 books... (I added more books to my shelves last year than I read O.o)
6. Read some classics! (More than likely the Bronte sisters novels as there is something to do with them this year, I'm not sure what...)
7. Finish a minimum of 10 series!
8. Stick to the mini challenges on Goodreads.
9. Stick to AYearAThon.
10. Review books after I've finished them!!!

Mini Reviews

Mini Reviews

Fairest:

(The Lunar Chronicles #3.5)

by Marissa Meyer

5 Stars

Book 56/60

I read this book in December 2015. I got it for a Secret Santa and really wanted to read it before I got to Winter so I did and wow. Marissa Meyer really showed Levana is this book. She definitely didn't set out for us to sympathize with her. From reading this novella, I could see why Levana was the way she was and I could get her sick, twisted logic but damn, was she screwed up. Levana is just evil. Plain and simple. But I still really enjoyed seeing the backstory of Levana and Winter and Selene. I think that it really added a lot to the series before reading Winter,

After The Bridge:

(The Infernal Devices #3.1)

by Cassandra Clare

5 Stars

Book 59/60

Ahhhh Tessa and Jem! Wow, this short little novella really broke and sewed up my heart all at the same time. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen this before. What type of shadowhunter fan am I?? A lovely little piece and I just, I really want to see more from these characters!

On The Bridge:

(The Infernal Devices #0.5)

by Cassandra Clare

5 Stars

Book 60/60

Will! Will! Will! Oh my, this novella was just *sigh*...

Book Review - The Accident Season by Moira Fowley Doyle

The Accident Season

Author: Moira Fowley Doyle

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magical Realism. 

Published: August 18 2015

Pages: 280 pages (Paperback) (Corgi Childrens)

Read: December 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

It's the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom.

The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.

But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?

Book 55/60 - 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley Doyle was a very interesting read, to say the least. I found this book to contain such a weird story within its pages. It's actually quite hard to explain really. 

The Accident Season is about Cara and her family which go through a 'season' every October where lot's and lot's of accidents occur, from falling to being hit by cars to breaking bones to being killed. And there is no explanation as to why this happens. Until now. In this book we discover all about Cara and her family along with the accident season and what's behind it.

This book is a mental challenge. There is so much confusion and weirdness that tells the tale of this disjointed story. There is so much fantastical imagery that your head will be full of it and still not understand where it comes into the story or what is happening, I found this confusion I had while reading this book added to my reading experience because it was unique, I haven't read something quite as disjointed as this book. But it was this aspect that did keep me from rating this book 5 stars also, so maybe it could have been a bit less confusing.

I also loved the writing style of Moira Fowley Doyle. Her writing just captivated me. I loved the descriptions and just the way she told this story. There was something there, that I can't put my finger on, that really attracted me to the writing of this story.

The relationships within this book was also quite strange, but I didn't find that it affected my reading of the novel. I actually quite enjoyed the way that Moira Fowley Doyle explored different types of relationships within this novel, from abusive to loving to LGBT relationships along with friendships and family relationships. There was just such a rounded and diversity here that I couldn't help but admire the author for it.

As for the characters I fell in love with Bee, she was such a quirky character in this novel. Cara was a great protagonist as well and loved seeing the story from her. Every character added so much to this story and I found it incredible how Moira Fowley Doyle compared the personalities of the characters to mystical beings in this magical realism book.

This is just the second magical realism novel that I've read and the first by Moira Fowely Doyle, as this was her debut, but I literally cannot wait to discover more in the genre of magical realism as well as read more from Moira Fowley Doyle.

Book Review - A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You

(Firebird #1)

Author: Claudia Gray

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Time Travel. 

Published: October 7 2014

Pages: 360 pages (Paperback) (HarperTeen)

Read: December 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

Book 54/60 - 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Can I just start by saying that that cover is absolutely stunning! I just love the colours, the two landscapes and it's just so incredible!. Congrats to whoever designed this cover, you are absolutely amazing at what you do!

I also must make the admission that I bought this book because of the cover. I had read Claudia Gray's first book in her vampire series many, many years ago and I didn't like it...
Then there was the point of this being a time travel novel. I love time travel novels. All The Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill is just a perfect example of a time travel book, but I've read so many bad ones too... Time Travel novels just seem to be a hit or miss with me and that sort of frightens me when I pick up a time travel novel.

But I loved the time traveling (well, dimension travelling) aspects of this book. I loved the set up and the explanation of having a multiverse rather than a universe and having all those different dimensions where everything was possible. Where in this world maybe you said no to something but in another you said yes and it could have completely transformed your life and then you could go see it.

Out of all the dimensions, I loved one in practicular. (It was the dimension where Marguerite was in Russia) This dimension made me fall in love and broke my heart. (For those of you who have read this book you know what I'm talking about!) But each and every dimension was just really interesting to resd about. I loved discovering the differences and what stayed the same. 

Towards the end of this book I was so invested in the characters especially Marguerite,  that every emotion she went through I felt myself. 

The twists and turns, the love, heartache and betrayal kept me completely hooked in this novel from the first page all the way to the last. I was actually so sad to finish this novel and am really excited to see where this story goes. I can't wait to find out what dimensions / worlds we'll see in the sequel 'Ten Thousand Skies Above You'. So it is a definite to be read in 2016.

*Plus I just can't wait to add the beautiful cover of the second book to my collection anyway.* 

Book Review - Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong

Empire of Night

(Age of Legends #2)

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Magic. 

Published: April 1 2015

Pages: 424 pages (Paperback) (ATOM)

Read: December 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS AHEAD

Sisters Moria and Ashyn are the Keeper and Seeker of Edgewood. Or at least, they were.

Their village is gone. Their friends have betrayed them. And now, the emperor has sent them on a mission to rescue the children of Edgewood—accompanied by Prince Tyrus and a small band of imperial warriors. But the journey proves more perilous than they could have imagined. With treachery and unrest mounting in the empire, Moria and Ashyn will have to draw on all their influence and power to overcome deadly enemies—not all of them human—and even avert an all-out war

Book 53/60 - 2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I bought this book on the day of its release and I can say that I'm absolutely disgusted with myself that I left it till now to read. I loved the first book of this series so much. The creepy atmosphere, the characters and I even felt so betrayed and heartbroken because of my new fictional crush in this book. *cough, cough, Gavril, if anyone wanted to know.*

Empire of Night continues on where Sea of Shadows ended. Ashyn and Moira are in foreign territory at a palace looking for help from the king and his warriors against the threat if a man that completely decimated their village and neighbouring villages. 

In this book we get just as much action as the previous book. Empire of Night also kept that creepy atmosphere that I loved in Sea of Shadows. I was excited to see where the plot of this book would go and I can say that it was not disappointing. We are introduced to new characters, new love interests which I may find questionable (it's like Will and Jem all over again, who do I choose???), new creatures and new locations in this world which I loved seeing. 

I was glued to the pages of this book because I am seriously invested in the lives of all these characters. I loved swapping from points of views but found them to be at such cliffhangering ending when the switch would occur. This was a particular annoyance at Ashyn's concluding chapters because it ended on a cliffhanger and then we saw nothing from her afterwards! It makes me crave the next book so damn much. 

But I really can't wait for the next book. I am enjoying the way the plot is going and I really want to know how things are going to go. I want answers to all those mysterious things that are going on and I just can't wait to see how Kelley Armstrong concluded the series in the next and final book 'Forest of Ruin.' It is definitely a book I'll be getting on its release date!.