Fantasy · Paranormal · Science Fiction · Uncategorized

The Queen’s Wing

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The Queen’s Wing

Jessica Thorne

41443903

 

Publisher: Bookouture

Release Date: November 21, 2018

Date Read: September 11, 2018

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Sci-fi

Rating: B/ 4 Stars

“She killed her with a pair of embroidery scissors!”

Like’s that the sin here. I used embroidery scissors.

-Jessica Thorne, The Queen’s Wing

***I got this ARC from Netgalley and the books publisher in exchange with the hope of a review. The feelings for this book are mine and mine alone.***

There is almost nothing Bel loves more than flying, but when the royal family, her distant family, is wiped out, Bel’s dad takes the throne. One of his first demands on the throne is for an alliance to be formed by marrying Bel off to a man she has never met or seen planets away. To help her family, Bel has to give up everything, flying, her family, the guy she loves, to marry Conleith, a widowed man who rules a world opposite of hers. Bel must try to find her balance at this new place where people think she is a savage, while also trying to survive assassination attempts from the people who killed her cousins, the mysteries that surround Conleith’s world, and find out if she is really going to marry Conleith because she wants to or because she is being told to.

The Queen’s Wing is a fantasy book that mixes with the sci-fi genre. Bel comes from a world where everyone, including women, are ready for a fight if needed, and ride in the air. Conleith’s world is more peaceful and elegant. They aren’t really fighters, which is what brings Conleith and Bel together. I tend to not really enjoy sci-fi. There’s only really one Sci-fi book that I like, which is Red Rising by Pierce Brown.(It is one of my favorite books serious that I recommend to everyone.) I am happy to add The Queen’s Wing to that list. As soon as I started reading and saw them talking about other planets, and some other sci-fi elements, I felt like I was going to not like it, but the fantasy part made the book better. Although the book does take place within different planets it is a fantasy at heart. There’s space ships, but only for a few chapters and then it’s life at the kingdom. I also really enjoyed Bel. In the beginning, to me, Bel sounded childish. She has this way of thinking in the beginning that is dream like. Her thoughts are like day dreams and her wishing and thinking of what she wants to happen. But after her father takes the throne that is gone and Bel becomes selfless and serious, but still remaining herself. She comes into her new life of being the royal princess quickly and starts to take charge. Bel felt like a real person, not just a character. This book really reminds me of The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, expect without all the betrayal. It has those elements from the Red Queen series that I enjoyed and i think if you like  the Red Queen series this is a good new series that is going to be coming out to look at.

 

Pros

  • I really enjoyed Conleith, and he isn’t the typical character I like. I like characters like Rowan from the Throne of Glass series, Warner from Shatter Me, Cardan from The Cruel Prince. I like the more darker characters or warrior types. I guess it follows that cliche of liking bad boys but mine is in book form only. Con is nothing like those characters, the other male interest is, but I didn’t like him nearly as much as Con. From the moment Con appeared I knew I would be cheering for him. He is sweet, treats Bel like a equal, so adorably shy. He is more sweet and gentle, but he does get angry and that side of him still has a gentle side even though he is yelling at people. He is also incredibly smart, and just watching him try to make Bel happy about their situation is heartwarming. Con was probably my favorite character, even more than Bel maybe.
  • There’s two LGBTQ characters who don’t seem to just be in it to help sell the book. They are not overstated or talked about so much to the point where it becomes apparent that they are there for nothing more than to be LGBTQ. It’s more like the two characters happen to LGBTQ. It doesn’t define them as their whole character.
  • Although Bel does get an almost instant attraction to Con, they’re relationship is slow growing. They fight and argue, have awkward moments around each other, and then have their bonding moments. Even with Shae, which is someone she knew her own life, it’s also a growing relationship of them figuring out what and how they feel about each other. I’m usually not a fan of love triangles, but this also isn’t a normal love triangle. To understand why you’ll have to read.

 

Cons

  • They kept mentioning an empress and it seemed like there was a dislike for her, but they never go into it. I don’t know if that’s something that the later books will go into, but for this one it doesn’t.
  • The beginning can be somewhat confusing, or it was for me at least. The author just kind of goes into the story without explaining anything, but as the story goes on she does start to explain more. It’s one of those book where the more you read the more you can understand it.
  • There is one more part that I personally find a con but I’m not sure if I can say it because the book hasn’t been released yet. Once it’s released I may come back and write it in, in place of this. I will say it’s a con for me but I know it’s not for a lot of people, and that this con didn’t change how I felt about this book at all.

 

I think this is a really good upcoming series for sci-fi and fantasy readers. It had really good characters with a good plot. I had actually planned on splitting this book up into different days to read it but I ended up reading it in one night. I couldn’t put it down. I have no self control, especially with books. I plan on reading the second book whenever it comes out.

 

Fantasy · Magic · Romance

Fire Study (Study #3)

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Fire Study

Maria V Snyder

1966969

Publisher: Mira Books

Year Released: 2008

Date Read:  Septemeber 10, 2018

Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Romance

Grade: B/ 4 Stars

 

“There’s always another storm. It’s the way the world works. Snowstorms, rainstorms, windstorms, sandstorms, and firestorms. Some are fierce and others are small. You have to deal with each one separately, but you need to keep an eye on whats brewing for tomorrow.”

― Maria V. Snyder

 

A war between the magicians and Ixia is about to take place. Yelena is finishing her apprenticeship, but still is having trouble proving to the Magicians Council that she is not against them or trying to  betray them. Matters are only made worse when a plot is made against Yelena that makes everyone out to get her. Yelena must get all of her friends together to try to stop the war that is brewing and save Sitia from its own destruction. There’s only one more problem. One of their friends is betraying them, and Yelena doesn’t know who.

Fire Study is the best of both the first and second book of the Study series. You get all the characters from the first book and all the characters from the second book working together, either helping or trying to get rid of Yelena and Ixia. An even better part is that it’s a book that is pretty much full of Yelena and Valek. It’s also full of more of Yelena’s sneaky plan’s and Valek’s plan B’s which is just him cutting throats.

 

Pros

  • Even though there is more of Valek in this book, it’s still not romance heavy. Maria V Snyder always has a way of putting her romance in the background and letting the characters figuring themselves out and growing take the lead. She also always make the male interest majorly supporting the main character. They are there to help them with what they need, and to help them grow. But she does it in a way that doesn’t make the male interests just a support character with nothing else to them. In the Healer series, Kerrick is also there to help Avry but he also has his own goals that he sets out to do. Avry helps him and he helps Avry. It’s the same with Valek and Yelena. I really enjoy reading Maria V Snyder’s relationships, not only with the couples, but the friends. The friend’s bonds aren’t as strongly written as Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys series, but it’s still very present.
  • Yelena’s growth. Her growth throughout the three books seems subtle but as she has figured out her new powers she has grown with them. She went from being someone who avoided the conflict and was just trying to survive in the first book, to saving both the place she grew up  in and the place she was meant to be. She’s gotten more confident in herself and mentions Reyad less showing that she is learning to move on from the pains in her past. 
  • There’s more action scenes this time. Even if there’s not actual fighting all the tie there’s scenes that get intense and make you want to keep turning the page.

 

Cons

 

  • Cahil is still an annoying brat through most of it. He got more ok towards the end though. I was hoping Valek would just kill him through it. 
  • The book can be seen as boring possibly because it is almost the same as the second book. More sneaking around, council doesn’t like Yelena, people trying to make Yelena pick a side, a lot of people want to kill her. It’s the same as the second book with just different events. I still enjoyed it but I can see how someone could think it was repetitive.

“It’s the problem with mistakes, they tend to linger.”

― Maria V. Snyder

This is the second series written by Maria V Snyder that I have loved and i’m glad that it’s not over. I only finished the first half of the Study series and will soon start the second part of Yelena’s story with the Soul Finders series. I can’t wait to see what new issues Yelena will have in the Soul Finders series and have more of her and Valek. This book was a good conclusion to the first half of the series and marks a good place to take a break on from. Everything is solved with no foreshadowing so you can read this book and be content to stop. You wouldn’t even have to read the second half if you just wanted to leave Yelena’s story there. This is a good series to read if you like magic, adventure, political disagreements, assassins, diversity, kingdoms, and if you liked Maria V Snyder’s Healer series. 

 

Children/ Middle School · Contemporary · Graphic Novel

Crush

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Crush

Svetlana Chmakova

cover148345-medium

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: October 30, 2018

Date Read:  September 10, 2018

Genre: Graphic Novels, Children’s Fiction, Middle School

Grade: B-/ 3.5 Stars

***This ARC was given to me from Netgalley. That does not change my views on the book. I was not told to review it or to write a positive review. I was given the ARC in the hopes of writing the review. ***

Crush is a graphic novel about a giant middle schooler named Jorge. Jorge is a athlete who uses his big size to stop people from bullying other kids and is generally just nice to everyone. Through one of his friends, Olivia, he meets a girl who he starts to develop a crush on. This graphic novel is a middle school story about fitting in and showing the growth that a few simple years can make.

Being someone who just recently graduated high school reading this graphic novel was like looking back at the sweeter memories of middle school and high school. I can’t give my review as a kid in middle school reading it but I can on an adult reading it and as someone who didn’t really like school, for the reasons in this book, it did make me smile remembering school, which is an achievement in it’s own. It made me laugh reading the kids feel like it was the end of the world with the little drama that was going on. It made me laugh because I do remember being in middle school and thinking all the little drama going on was so much bigger than it actually was and worrying about it for days when in reality it didn’t even matter at all. There were so many little memories of school tied into a 240 page book. It was worth the read for that alone. There was also a bunch of little other details that made this book very cute and something I think children, especially middle schoolers should read.

 

Pro

  • The diversity. They put in so many diverse characters and put them in there like they belonged, because they do. The kids didn’t question that their female teacher had a wife, or that their coach was wearing a hijab. To the kids it was normal, which is what we should be teaching our kids.
  • The coach taught the kids that our bodies are ours and no one else has the rights to touch or speak about your bodies. That it is not ok to touch someone without their permission. It’s something we never thought we would have to teach kids but i’m glad the book did it how it did. It showed how uncomfortable and wrong it is to even as a ‘joke’ touch someone when they didn’t want to be. I remember people doing this as a ‘joke’ in high school and when I told them I didn’t want to be touch they would do that manipulation thing where they tell you, “It was just a joke”, trying to make you feel ridiculous for being upset about it. This happens in the book and the way it was handled shows young readers how it should be handled.
  • They expressed how you should never wear or do something just because someone else likes it. That if you want to wear something, but don’t because you know people won’t like it, that you should wear it anyways because if someone has a problem with it then they are not for you.
  • I know a lot of people think the jocks in school being jerks is just a stereotype and for some people, it might, but I remember in my high school the stereotype fit a lot of the jocks. And I know people think it’s not because they’re jocks, it’s just how they are, and to a degree that might be right, but the jock part does also make a play into it. There was a part of the book where they talked about a certain kid who was a jock and did things such as, bullying, playing ‘jokes’ on people, and just being a jerk, just to see how much he could get away with it. And he did get away with it. People let him because he was the popular jock. The kids in school gave him special privileges for it when they shouldn’t have. It turned him into a person who thought they could get away with anything and people don’t matter. I was forced to be around people like that all day. The school idolized them and acted like they could do nothing wrong when they did all the time. I remember a bunch of athletic kids bully a girl in my class out loud in the middle of a class discussions. They wouldn’t let her speak and just downed her every time. The worst part was our teacher was a coach and let them do it. He let then shut her down to the point where she wouldn’t try speaking anymore and then laughed at her when she said it was because she was tired of them picking on her like that. I know people get tired of the cliche that jocks are jerks but stop acting like they can do no wrong and giving them a narcissistic personality.by doing so.
  • Lastly the relationships, not just the romantic ones but the friendships. It showed the bad parts and the goods parts and what relationships with anyone should be like and what they shouldn’t be like.
  • The art is cute.

 

Cons

 

  • It’s pretty short since it’s only 240 pages but it’s a graphic novel and they don’t tend to be long. That did make it hard to elaborate on things.
  • A lot of things did seem to happen for convenience. It was very easy to tell what was going to happen because of it, and i will admit that it seemed like the diverse characters were there just to have them there.

 

Despite the convenience, it was a fun read and if you want something fun and quick to read this is a good one. It took me only around a hour or so to finish it. It was an easy read that had me smiling as I read it. It did middle school in such a cliche, but also real way that will make anyone reminiscence on the time they had in middle school.

Fantasy · Magic · Romance

Magic Study

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Magic Study (Study #2)

Maria V Snyder

1265703

 

Publisher: Mira

Year Released: 2007

Date Read: September 8, 2018

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Romance

Grade: B/ 4 Stars

“I’ll have you know that the most delicate flowers often produce the strongest scent when crushed.”

― Maria V. Snyder

**This review contains talk of things that could trigger some people. If you do not wish to read things that contain talk of rape or rape victims then please either do not read this review or just be aware of it.**

 

Magic Study is the sequel to Maria V Snyder’s Poison Study. Yelena no longer is having to test foods for poison but that doesn’t stop her life from being in danger. Yelena has left Ixia, the place where magic is banned, and now is in her home land where she will meet her family she was taken from and learn more about herself as she learns magic. Learning about her new magic is the easiest part of Yelena’s new life as she tries to solve who is kidnapping and killing girls, and stopping multiple people from trying to kill her, not to mention being named a spy by a man who claims he is the rightful heir to the throne in Ixia. More and more problems pile on to Yelena as she starts to uncover more about her would be life.

Going into this book I was scared that I wouldn’t love it as much as the first book, or just hate it general. I was glad those thoughts did not become true. I loved this book almost as much as I loved the first one. I thought I was going to miss Yelena’s constant interactions with Valek throughout the whole book but Yelena’s story kept busy. There was never an off period where nothing was happening. Yelena was always having something going on. Drama with her family(mainly her brother, Lief), constant ridicule from the same two people, being chased by a man whose pride was taken by Yelena, and trying to stop a man from harming more girls. It was a packed story but it wasn’t too packed where it seemed like to much. It was just the right amount where you never got bored reading it.

 

Pro

  • I don’t know how she hasn’t, but Maria V Snyder needs to be praised for how she writes how Yelena handles being raped and how she comforts other girls who go through it. I loved in the first book when she spoke briefly about it but I especially loved how she spoke about it in this one. Her conversation with Tula about how none of it was her fault, and then told her that it was going to be a battle to get through it but everyone would be there to help her.
  • Valek’s love and loyalty to Yelena. Valek make it apparent that whatever Yelena wants from him all she has to do is ask him for it. Valek will give her anything or do anything for her. He is constantly popping into her head when she is in need of it and asking her what he can do for her, and no matter how weird or impossible her request is, all he says is he will do it with him calling her love tied onto the end of it Valek was only in this book for a little less than half(if even that) and he still had me swooning over him.

Cons

  • The only real con I can think of is that this book does have a lot of drama going on, though that wasn’t a con for me, it might be for others. There was a lot more action and fighting scenes then the first book.
  • Cahal is annoying, but that’s his character. He is very obnoxious and is always angry for no reason. He is very bratty and reading about a very bratty man isn’t the most enjoyable. The more he shows up the more the dislike for him grows. He gets worse as the book goes on, though i’m sure that was the point of his character. 

“And what did you give him in return?”…

“My heart.”

― Maria V. Snyder

Magic Study was just as good as Poison Study. The characters have grown and changed from the first one and the story is progressing in a good way. The action is coming along more and so is Yelena as a character. There is a lot of times when some off the middle books in a series get boring but this one kept my attention well. It was a very good addition to the series.

“Living is a risk…Every decision, every interaction, every step, every time you get out of bed in the morning, you take a risk. To survive is to know you’re taking that risk and to not get out of bed clutching illusions of safety.”

― Maria V. Snyder

Contemporary · Fantasy · Mystery · Suspense · Thriller

Lies You Never Told Me

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Lies You Never Told Me

Jennifer Donaldson

36547961

Publisher: Razorbill

Year Released: 2018

Year I Read It: 2018

Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Contemporary, Suspense

Grade:  D/ 2.5 Stars

 

*Before you read this review please know that there is talk of many things that might trigger people. Mostly being manipulation and relationship problems. Those are the only triggers within the review, but there are more in the book. To see the ones in the book please scroll to the bottom and read them. I will make them bold so they stand out clearly.*

 

Gabe and Elyse are two teenagers with two separate lives in two separate places. Both of them have things that they are hiding. Although they live in different towns, they both have one thing in common, both make the mistake of picking the wrong person for them. Elyse is shy but is forced to come into the spotlight when she is surprisingly casted as Juliet by the new drama teacher. Elyse believes she needs extra rehearsals which leads her to someone she should not be with. Gabe on the other hand has all he ever wanted, a hot popular girlfriend. To bad she is terrible and slightly crazed. Gabe thought she would be all he ever wanted but finds himself wanting to break up with her. These two actions made by these two people make the biggest impacts on their lives and might even bring them together.

 

I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway and in the spirit of winning one I figured I should give it a review. Sadly I did not finish the book nor could I bring myself to finish it. My reason for not finishing it wasn’t because it was an awful story. I just figured it all out very quickly and it got boring to me once I knew what was going to happen. I was reading what I already knew and it got less entertaining as I read it. Once I got halfway I figured out the plot twist and from there i couldn’t bring myself to finish it. I used to watch a lot of lifetime and this book was like that. Once you watch one of them you start to understand how they all work so figuring out what was going to happen in this book wasn’t hard and to me was just like watching another crazy lifetime movie.

 

Pro

  • If you are a fan of lifetime movies then this is like one of those movies in book form. It has that crazy atmosphere with people making horrible decisions. It definitely has some moments that make you think, what the hell is going on. It does what all lifetimes movies do, making you think about everything you do and focus on the negative possibilities more than the positive.
  • If you like stories that are messed up in a psychological way this is one of those. It’s not the horrifying type of psychological, but the type that really makes you think about what you do, and who you should trust.
  • It does teach the lesson to be cautious of who you give your heart and trust to. Get to know them more before you go all in. People are good at acting to get what they want. Watch out for signs and if you see a bad one, don’t blow it off but instead investigate it deeper.

Cons

  • It is very easily to tell what is going to happen, maybe not to the full extent, but the future of what is going to happen within the book isn’t hidden. Through the characters actions and choices it’s very easy to know what they will do next and predict everything.
  • Elyse is one of the characters you want to help but also ask why is she being so dumb. She’s that typical teenager who makes every bad decision because she can and part of her feels like the world owes it to her. It does provide in depth why she feels that way by showing her home life, and it does make sense, but watching her mess up where most people would know that’s not a good idea is one of those moments where you cringe because her decisions can be so dumb. I would say it was like the author wrote her like she thinks a high school girl would act, but I have personally seen high school girls act like Elyse did so the author wasn’t actually wrong in her character, and the author did show how easy it can be for a man to manipulate a younger girl. For showing how a grown man can exploit a girl, who has nothing, like it was nothing more than a game, I give her props. As someone who doesn’t mind reading age gapes in romance (within reason and something that clearly isn’t manipulation, and also not like 15 years old ) I know that age gapes do get romanticized a lot, mostly in fantasy settings, so I liked that she showed the realness of what could actually happen in that situation and why young girls should be cautious of getting into a relationship with a older man.

 

The book had its good parts and its bad parts. I don’t tend to read a lot of psychological thrillers, I tend to prefer watching them, so I don’t know how they are usually written, it could just be me. Also I believe this is her first book and for a first book it was good, but as someone who loves mystery… everything, I didn’t think this was a good mystery. I’ve been stumped many times with mysteries and this I got instantly. Once a mystery is figured out the flame starts to die down, and unless the author fans the flame the fire gets put out. If you’re looking for a mystery, this is not one I would recommend, but if you want a disturbing story about the abusive relationships of two teenagers then I would recommend this one. It made you feel disturbed reading it, which you should when reading something so problematic. Once again, I give the author props on the relationships because watching Elyse’s views on her relationship change do seem so real, and watching both Elyse and Gabe slowly see real cruel parts of the people they loved did make you feel something. And this does happen to people, especially young people because they lack experience in this area. As someone who was lead on by someone’s lies, although it was not a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but someone very important to me, I have felt somewhat like what they have gone through and I think people should be more aware of telltale signs of when a person is not who they act/say they are.

 

*This book does feature, people on drugs, manipulation, stalking, abusive relations, and bad relationships with parents. If any of these do trigger you or you don’t like reading then be aware or don’t this book. It does go into depth with all of these, it’s not just a glimpse into them. This book is very heavy with manipulation and pathological liars.*

 

On the other hand if you are someone who doesn’t know the signs of someone manipulating you then this is a good book to help you understand those moments, and to watch out for them. Manipulation can be very subtle and a lot of times people don’t know they are being manipulated. It happens more than you think.

Fantasy · Magic · Romance

Poison Study

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Poison Study

Maria v. Snyder

60510

Publisher: Mira

Year Released: 2007

Date I Read It: August 28, 2018

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Magic

Grade: B/ 4 Stars

“To Yelena, our newest food taster. May you last longer than your predecessor.”

― Maria V. Snyder

Yelena is given the choice of death or a small chance at life after she is arrested for murder. The  Commander is in need of a new food taste tester, and Yelena would like to live. To prevent Yelena from running away she is given the poison, Butterfly Dust, which she needs to take a daily antidote of to stay alive. The only one who can give her the antidote is the Chief of Security, Valek, who also makes her learn how to taste and smell poisons, and sometimes even ingest them to learn the immediate symptoms. Yelena thought her only problem would be risking her life by taking the chance of being poisoned, but as the father of the man she murdered tries to have her assassinated and spies betray the castle, Yelena will find out the job that already seemed impossible to survive just got even more impossible.

If you enjoy fantasy books that take place inside of a castle type setting with spies, assassination attempts, forbidden magic, and a handsome killer with a growing soft spot you would probably enjoy this book. After reading Maria V Snyder’s Healer series I decided that I would try out her other series, Poison Study. Maria V Snyder’s book reminds me of all the adult type books I read without all the adult content(Although some is there just not descriptive). She doesn’t focus on the romance, but on the main character dealing with her problem. The romance is present, but her main characters always tend to focus on their objectives more than their love interest which is refreshing since a lot of young adult books do tend to focus on the love interest.(Which I don’t mind, I love, but it is nice to step away from it for awhile) She also has a way of making the main character coming off as strong without overly doing it or making them invincible. In this book Yelena is not really a fighter, she’s just does what she needs to survive. Yeah, she killed a man(with reason) but Yelena only fights back when she has to do it to live. What makes Yelena strong is that she bounces back and she’s smart. She is strong without being physically strong. Yelena is vulnerable and she isn’t some crazed killer, she is just a normal person who got stuck in a bad situation and is trying her best to survive.

“Trusting is hard. Knowing who to trust, even harder.”

― Maria V. Snyder

Pros

  • A lot of books start with the romance as soon as they can. While Maria starts off with chemistry between the characters and you can see where she is going to go with it, the characters themselves aren’t pining after each other throughout the whole book. It’s a slow builds with each of their interactions, like a normal relationship would between to people who weren’t looking for one.
  • Valek. He is just a really good character. He comes off as a little cold at first but it is shown very quickly that he isn’t. He is actually really nice and sweet. He just comes off cold because if he doesn’t know you or feels that he can’t trust you he feels that you are a danger to the Commander. The only times he actually gets angry at Yelena is when something happens to or with the Commander, otherwise he helps her out.
  • How Yelena handles her past. Why Yelena killed that man, the true reason, is what made me see Yelena stronger then I already did. Through the book you can tell something happened to Yelena, and based on how she talked about them, you could assume it had to do with a torture like situation. I had figured that they had hurt her but not in the way that they did. I think that Yelena handles herself very well and in a way most people wouldn’t after that. I loved everything about how Yelena handled it from the moment it happened to her. Also while it is a part of her character it doesn’t define her, she doesn’t let it.
  • A surprise LGBT character that isn’t in there just to have one.

 

Con

  • It’s really hard for me to find a flaw in this. I’m searching for it deep in my head,  but one of the only ones I can really think of was when the romance did happen it happened fast. They talked about it for a few seconds and then a lot happened really fast. It did seem like a little awkward pacing.
  • If you are an action fan this does not have a lot of it. It is only the first book so in the others there might be more. But the action in this never lasted long, it was very quick and done.

“Everyone makes choices in life. Some bad, some good. It’s called living, and if you want to bow out, then go right ahead. But don’t do it halfway. Don’t linger in whiner’s limbo.”

― Maria V. Snyder

This is my favorite type of book so for me personally it is hard to see fault with it. I like adventure type stories with assassins, castles, spies, and cold characters going soft. So for me this was a book I was very happy to find because this is the type of story I’m always looking for. It actually makes me scared to start the second book because I don’t want it to be so different from the first. If you liked Morgan Rhodes’ Falling Kingdoms series, or Maria V Snyder’s other series that she made, then I would try this one.

“What have I earned from you, Valek? Loyalty? Respect? Trust?”

“You have my attention. But give me what I want, and you can have everything.”

― Maria V. Snyder

Dystopian · Science Fiction

The Young Elites

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The Young Elites

Marie Lu

20821111

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Year Released: 2014

Date I Read It: June 2018

Genre: Fantasy, Science fiction, Dystopia

Grade:  C/ 3 Stars

“So. Tell me, little wolf. Do you want to punish those who have wronged you?”
― Marie Lu

The young elites is an anti-hero story about a world where an deadly illness has infected kids, killing some, changing others. Those who survived the illness have been given a mark on their body. The mark is different for everyone but it is always a clear sign to the public, those who bear the mark are the Malfetto. Adelina is our main character. The sickness causes Adelina’s hair and lashes to become white, and takes one of her eyes, leaving behind a jagged scar. Those with marks like these are treated as damaged good, and most of all, are feared. It is rumored that some of the kids with a mark posses gifts. Powerful gifts. These kids are called, The Young Elites and they don’t want to settle for the public treating them like garbage.

I love anti-hero stories. Heroes mess up and aren’t perfect. This book sounded really good and had high praise from everywhere I saw. Sadly, I did not like it. It wasn’t the story that was bad. The story was very engaging. It was Adelina. I did not like her. I found her very annoying. Most people get annoyed by characters that don’t do anything or are very weak. That is not why I don’t like Adelina. The whole story point from Adelina’s view was focused on the betrayed her. Except they didn’t betray her. Adelina was selfish and didn’t trust them. She got them into trouble and betrayed them so they cut off contact with her. She wasn’t betrayed, it was the equivalent to firing someone because they majorly fucked up. If someone causes you to lose everything and continue to do what they want you wouldn’t keep them, you would cut them loose. You don’t keep a leech attached to you while it sucks you try, you get rid of it. Adelina throughout the series that they betrayed her when they didn’t. They helped her and she screwed them over. I got tired of hearing her complain about it. Adelina acts like a brat. She is aloud to do something, while others can’t. And if she only felt betrayed for a little while, I would understand, but she holds on to that fire like it is her only life source. The book is muddied by Adelina’s hatred for the people who ‘betrayed’ her. The only people who betrayed her is her father.

 

Pros

  • The one thing I like about Adelina was the realness of her mentality as far as showing how each experience takes a toll on her. As the books goes on and Adelina does even more villainess things, caving into the villainess role, she starts to actually lose her mind. She literally starts to go insane. I think the author wrote her mentality very well. Adelina’s family relation wasn’t good and that reflects very well on Adelina’s character. My favorite part of this book was watching Adelina go from having only a little bit of darkness in her to going to where she is almost completely corrupt and is starting to barely make sense of reality.
  • The abilities are actually really cool. They have some unique ones that I haven’t seen in other stories so reading how they worked was interesting. I liked reading how Adelina’s power worked and I liked Magiano’s ability as well.  
  • The plot twist was by the best part of this book. I haven’t expected it and it was the only reason I wanted to keep reading. I give Marie Lu props on that one. It was good. It pulled me back in where it had been losing me. That mixed with Adelina’s compete spiral into insanity.
  • The actions scenes were, in my opinion, the best written parts of the book. I’m usually the type who when reading action like scenes have a hard time paying attention. The action in the book wasn’t just telling you. It made you feel emerged into it.

 

Cons

 

  • Once again, despite the things I said I liked about Adelina, the whole her thinking she was betrayed and sticking to that ruined her as a whole. There are even moments where she admits that she betrayed them, but she doesn’t think they should be mad and betray her. When I read it I keep thinking of a child who knows they did wrong but refuses to actually accept it. I hated reading it. Adelina could of been so good, but I couldn’t get past it. She kept bringing it up and wouldn’t let it die. I know that authors need to give a reason for the characters to keep going and do these big things they do, but there are better ways to do it. The idea of the push wasn’t even bad, it was how Adelina handled it. And I guess I can see the other side of it where people say it’s more realistic because Anti-hero’s would have that set of mine, and I agree that some anti-heros would, but anti-heroes also hero characteristics to go along with it. Adelina has none. She doesn’t help anyone but herself. That would make her a villain, not an Anti-hero. Even then, that’s a whiny villain and I prefer smart, terrible in a good way villains, not someone who complains non-stop, that’s just a bratty child.
  • Adelina and Magiano. At first I loved it. I thought it was cute. But then both of them couldn’t decide if they wanted each other. I liked Magiano, he was probably my favorite character, but they were constantly going back and forth about how they felt with each other, and it got annoying kinda quick.

 

I don’t hate this book by any means. It was not bad. If Adelina’s character wasn’t as whiny to me, then I would have fully enjoyed it. Books to me really depend on the characters, especially the main character since you see them the most. When I don’t enjoy a book’s characters it’s really hard to enjoy the book. The other most important part of a book to me is the relationships built between all the characters and I didn’t particularly like the relationships in this besides how loyal Magiano felt towards Adelina. If these things don’t bother you like they do me, then this book will probably be very good to you. These characters are definitely more on the darker side, and not very much on the good side other then wanting equality, which is important, but it feels like Adelina is doing it for more selfish reasons while the other people, the ones who ‘betrayed’ her are actually doing it for the right reasons.

“Embellish your flaws. They will turn into your assets.”
― Marie Lu

I haven’t read any other Marie Lu books but I do plan on reading her Legend series. I enjoyed the tone of the story and dark atmosphere. I don’t believe that just because I don’t like one of her series that much that I won’t love her other series. The Young Elites just wasn’t for me.

“Sometimes, the only way to set things right is to do what is difficult.”
― Marie Lu

Paranormal · Urban Fantasy · Vampires · Werewolf

Kate Daniels

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Kate Daniels

Ilona Andrews

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Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Released Year: 2007

When I Read It: August 2018

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Werewolves, Vampires

Grade: B/ 4 Stars

“Kate’s Speciality: Killing things, with much bloodshed. Talking trash, infuriating authority. Driving Beast Lord crazy.”

― Ilona Andrews

The Kate Daniels Series is about…. Kate Daniels. Kate Daniels is a problem solver in a world that is an alternative version of Atlanta. In this Atlanta magic has disrupted the balance of things and has the effect of making electronic devices only work half of the time. Cars and phones are not reliable. Kate Daniels wanted to live her life alone at her house with no complications. She didn’t want people to care for or a relationship of any kind with anyone, but after the only man who is in any way important to her dies Kate finds herself more wrapped up in the world of the supernatural then she planned in being. Bound on finding the killer of her Guardian, Kate must meet with the People(vampires but cooler) and the Shifters, which causes her to get sucked up into their lives. Of course that wouldn’t be all. Kate is hiding something. Something that people would kill her for if they knew. Kate has been taught her whole life to keep it a secret, but can she while being wrapped into the dangerous life of magic in the alternate Atlanta.

 

For all the urban fantasy and werewolf lovers, here you go. I gift this series to you. Want a bloodier Mercy Thompson story that is still heart warming and maybe a bit more steamy, this is it. Kate’s character is that of the bad ass aunt you wished you had. She will do something just because you told her she couldn’t. No means nothing to her. It’s the gasoline she needed to make her fire go out of control. Kate is strong and doesn’t sit on the back lines letting people do all the work for her. Kate has her own fair share in killing people and getting hurt. Although Kate is the type to want to shut out people, when she cares for people she cares for them deep. She isn’t a shifter but to her pack is pack. If you’re in her pack she will protect you and care for you. Also the insults she throws make you actually laugh while reading. Seriously I want Kate to be my aunt. I want her to be real so she can adopt me into her family.

The series is set up in a fantasy, crime, detective type of book. Each book faces a new problem that arises and within the same book it is solved. There is still a over all major plot happening throughout the whole book. A lot of the little crimes that Kate has to solve all go back to the main plot unfolding and Kate getting wrapped up into it deeper and deeper with each book. Each book has it’s own enemy while the books main enemy gets closer and closer. It also takes a more unique twist on the creatures. The People are like necromancers that control vampires through a connection in their mind(it’s very interesting). The shifters are a huge pack of subpacks of different Shifters ran by the Beast Lord(Who is a giant white striped tiger). The strong shifters can also half shift. (I’ll leave what they look like up to your imagination.) Also a man who can shift into anything he desires, including extremely bodacious women.  

Pros:

  • The world is very different and therefore very fun to read. Ilona Andrews takes a very different take on the typical supernatural creatures we all know and make them into something new. It’s refreshing to not read the same vampire and werewolf stories over and over again.
  • Curran. Curran and Kate’s relationship throughout the series goes for a ride and once it sails it is what relationships should be. They become a solid unit. They trust each other completely(except for one of the books but there was a reason for that), and when they do fight it might start with some yelling but it always end with them having a conversation on how to fix it. It’s not a relationship full of drama. It’s pure love and respect for each other.
  • Kate with Julie and Derek. Kate never saw herself having a love life, much less kids, but she treats Julie and Derek like they are her own and her relationship with the two of them are possibly cuter than her with Curran. Like Curran, Derek would give his life for  Kate.He is with her every step of the way throughout the books. I didn’t count it but I would definitely say over all, for most of the books, Derek is with Kate more then Curran is. Derek is one of the only characters Kate let’s make fun of her and also respects despite him barely being an adult. Then there’s Julie who is the reason I want Kate to be my aunt. Watching how she handles Julie and all of her little problems is definitely different than a normal mother type would do but Kate is also not normal. There has been multiple times of Kate going out of her way to make sure no harm comes to Julie and each time you can see just how much Kate truly loves her. She works hard to even train Julie to be a tough women so that if Kate isn’t able to help her in time she knows that Julie can help herself.

 

Cons:

  • Although I love Curran and I love his relationship with Kate, in the beginning it did start a little weird. Curran is an alpha male and he acts like it, even towards Kate in the beginning. He acts like he is trying to push his dominance on Kate at times but Kate doesn’t take it and each time he does it she knocks him down a peg, which is what I love about them. And eventually the dominance does start to get cuter and more like them playing rather than him actually acting like her alpha. Them claiming each other was my favorite part of their moments before they got together, and is when the the dominance starts to stop and they start to become equals.
  • It does take a little while for it to fully say what Kate is and what her relation is to what’s going on with everything, but it doesn’t leave you in the dark not knowing anything. Hints and little tidbits are dropped along the way until the point where she out right says it. I know a lot of people just want to know things as fast as possible, so for the people who don’t like waiting to find out the characters secrets this does take a little bit of time. Good news though. The books aren’t terribly long, usually less than 300 pages, and you can fly through them fast and learn her secret quick.
  • Some people might find it repetitive since it does follow the style of each book having a murder or something happens and Kate has to stop it. It’s inner parts are different and always have different things happening but it does always start with something bad happening and Kate fixing it at the end. Cliff hangers aren’t really happening with this series, either. The problem is usually solved and might just have some slight foreshadowing as to how the main plot might progress in the next book.

 

I think this book is up there on the Urban fantasy. I’ve definitely found my fair share of horrible urban fantasy books, but this series is one of the best of its kind. Right under Mercy Thompson which is my favorite werewolf/ Urban Fantasy series. I have yet to finish the series completely,(The last book just came out a few days ago) but from the 8/10 books I have read I have gotten to know the series pretty well and fell in love with Ilona Andrews’ character, Kate Daniels. 

“I think you’re confused as to the nature of our relationship. You and I, we don’t get along. You’re a psychopathic control freak. You order me around and I want to kill you. I’m a pigheaded insubordinate ass. I drive you mad and you want to strangle me.”

― Ilona Andrews

*It does have sex scenes but there not too detailed. A paragraph or two. They aren’t having sex every other chapter, more like once or twice within the book once they become a couple. Not for kids, and depending on how old you are maybe not for teens but for the older teens whose parents don’t care what they read(Like mine) it’s ok. Definitely don’t read though if you can’t read anything that features sex. It’s nowhere near a big part of the book, like I said it’s a paragraph or two like two or three times an book, but it does have sex scenes with very mild descriptions of what is going on. If you like your books clean of that this series is not for you. *

“Did those nice church ladies come by again?”

He nodded. “I asked them if a man died and then the woman remarried, and then the three of them met in heaven, would it be a sin for them to have a threesome, since they were all married in God’s eye. And they decided they were late to be somewhere else.”

― Ilona Andrews

Horror · Paranormal · Vampires

Cirque Du Freak

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Cirque Du Freak

Darren Shan

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Publisher: Harper Collins

Year It Came Out: 2000

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Vampires,

Grade: A/ 5 Stars

“Even in death may you triumphant”
― Darren Shan

If you are a fan of the dark side of the supernatural world and also enjoy a story full of character development look no further.

We all have those books we read that stick with us for the rest of our lives. For me that book series would be Cirque du Freak. There are many things about this series that I love and I could talk about for hours. It’s been a little while since I fully read the series but I can still remember almost every event that happened. That’s how much I loved it.

Cirque du Freak is about a boy, Darren Shan, who goes to a illegal freak show called Cirque du Freak with his best friend Steve. This isn’t the typical freak show of a bearded ladies(although there is one). At Cirque du Freak you meet and fall in love with characters such as a man with two bellies, a man who can cut off and regrow any limb, a wolf man who is more wolf than man, and my favorite of the Circus members, Evra, the boy with snake skin. The most important member of this circus though by far is Larten Crepsley who can hypnotize his pet spider, Madam Octa. Darren loves spiders and loves Madam Octa immediately, but his friend Steve sees Mr. Crepsley’s act and loves it for other reasons. He recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a famous vampire from one of his books. Of course Darren blows him off because vampires aren’t real, but when Darren steals Madam Octa and troubles happens Darren not only is forced to come to terms with the fact that Mr. Crepsley is a genuine vampire, but as payment for what Darren did he must become Mr. Crepsley’s half vampire Assistant, which to many would seem amazing. But as we follow Darren through the book series it shows why being a slow aging immortal is not ideal.

This series hits with its emotional ride right away in the first book and keeps going and progressing with it’s emotional ride. (I will never get over the second book. I want to cry every time I think about it.) Each book comes with its own problems that Darren has to solve or fix and as the story progresses. As Darren grows(though not physically by much) the problems became more serious. Though some things you should watch out for are that there are many deaths throughout the series, including children, and there are some scenes that are torture like. If you are sensitive to these things I would advise not reading or be cautious of it. Although it’s not terribly descriptive at times, It has been awhile since I read it so I can’t remember exactly how descriptive. Though I can say I read it as an eighth grader and I personally was fine.  

 

Pros:

  • You start with Darren in middle school and get to read as he grows. As you read you can actually see him growing up in his decisions and thinking process. Although Darren doesn’t physically age more then a few year account of him being a half vampire, he does grow in a mature way and learn from everything he sees and goes through
  • The character development is amazing. No character stays the same throughout the story, except Mr. Desmond Tiny, he stays weird. Some characters become better people while others become worse or even insane.
  • The Relationships. Watching Darren and Mr. Crepsley’s relationship change from a more cold teacher like situation to actual friends and caring for each other is heartwarming. Darren makes many friends along the way and each of the relationships he forms with them makes you fall in love with all the characters more. Even some of the ones who do villain like things.  
  • This book is full of lessons, like continuing to try even when you don’t want to. Be more aware of what your decisions will do to others. Always do what’s right, even if you’re scared to do so. And my favorite, just because someone does something bad doesn’t mean they are bad. Often people have reasons for why they do what they do, and it’s worth finding out why. It can’t change what they did but it can help you understand and even not hate them for it.
  • The Quotes. When it comes to understanding life and how people are, Darren Shan does have a really good way of wording it.
  • ALL THE DEATHS HAVE A REASON!!!

 

Cons:

  • As much as I love this book, when I went to try to go reread it a few months ago I couldn’t. I read a lot of Young Adult books, or New Adult books with really good writing, and this series isn’t written like those. Granted, the series does follow a middle school boy into high school ages, but the writing is like a middle schooler is writing it. I’m not saying that it doesn’t have good grammar or is horribly written. It isn’t. Although Darren Shan does have many beautiful written thoughts and sayings from the characters, the normal writing writing is very simple, which is the way a lot of middle schoolers think. The book is written in a way so everything is very easy to understand and isn’t at all hard to follow. It’s written in a way anyone could read it without having to pause and try to think about what just happened. I just personally couldn’t reread it because i’m used to more adult like writing. (Though I do look through all the quotes on Goodreads from time to time. When he gets into the characters inner thoughts he does so well.)
  • I hated the last book. I don’t know if i’m the only one who did but I did. It was interesting in a way and if people like the last book I could honestly understand why. And to the authors defense, he did foreshadow the whole time that what happened would happen, but I just didn’t like it. I thought the last book seemed rushed, and to me, was not the greatest ending to what was such an amazing series. When I think about Cirque du Freak I honestly forget about the last book because I just don’t like it.

Despite the simple writing and the last book being a bust, I think it’s a series that people should definitely read, especially people new to the reading world. I like to think of it as a beginner book that is opening you up to what the world of reading is. Monsters, deaths of your favorite characters, unforeseeable plot twists, and characters that leave their mark on you. I chose to do this book as my first review because I do think it is an amazing series and it’s not as well known as I think it should be.

“You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”
― Darren Shan

Ps. The movie for this book is one of the worse book to movie adaptations I have ever seen and don’t compare the two. The movie combined multiple of the books together and was wrong throughout most of it.  The characters weren’t even right, nor did monkey girl exist. It is just terrible and if you thought it was bad don’t assume the books are bad. The movies were like someone was high on some real potent stuff, read half of the first and last few books then combined them and stamped it as good before reviewing it. The movie was an F.  I thought the Percy Jackson movie was better than this movie. At least it got a good chunk of the book right. The Cirque du Freak book was more of a parody. Although there was one line Mr. Crepsley said that made me laugh and still makes me laugh.

“For a long time that’s all I could do, howl and scream and cry like the wild animal of the night that I’d become.”
― Darren Shan