Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

November 1, 2015October 27, 20152 Comments

Genre:

Young Adult, order Fantasy

Pages:

465 pages

Part of a Series?:

1st in the Six of Crows series

Release Date:

September 29th, price 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

My Review:

Leigh Bardugo has created yet another masterpiece that completely blows my mind. Its not just a great YA novel and its not just a great fantasy novel…its just a great book period. She created this incredible world in the Grisha trilogy, and made it so that it was one of my favorite series, period.

Then she goes and continues in this world, and she opens it up even more. She’s already created this beautifully complicated but addicting world, and she opens it up and it is so easy to just fall into it. This new place is so different than Ravka and what we were used to with Alina but it also feels familiar, like you’re stepping out of Ravka and traveling the rest of the world. That’s how great Leigh is at writing, that’s how fantastic she is at world building. World building is the one thing that I struggle with the most and its a HUGE part of why I admire Leigh so much.

But I also love how much more she opens up her world, and its more than just it taking place in another country. We get so close to Alina in the Grisha trilogy but in this book, there are six characters, so different from each other and yet they all have to work together in order to make this incredibly impossible thing work. Leigh’s ability to create such rich and interesting characters in the same book and make them all insanely likable and yet you kind of want to wring their necks too…I love it.

I never know what to say about Leigh’s books because I always just feel sort of socked in the stomach after I read her books. In a good way, of course. She’s just such an incredible writer. She tells amazing stories with these compelling characters and sometimes you feel like you could get lost in what’s going on, but it also is so easy to be a part of. Give it a few pages, you get yourself centered in the story and then bam! You’re there, you’re involved and literally can’t stop reading. She blows my mind. I throw myself at her feet. I could only hope to write as well as she does.

And she’s my friend. That part blows my mind too. I’m friends with someone who writes incredibly amazing books, YA or not, fantasy or not, just straight up these books ARE so good and I’m already addicted to this characters (Inej = life) and I can’t wait to read more!

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

October 31, 2015October 27, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, health Fantasy

Pages:

522 pages

Part of a Series?:

Spinoff of Fangirl

Release Date:

October 6th, 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.

My Review:

You know what I think amuses me the most about this book? This book is literally a fan fiction of a fandom that only exists in another fictional book. Its beautiful, and I love that this is a thing, and that its successful and even more, its SO damn good.

Its no secret that Fangirl literally is one of my favorite books that I’ve ever read. From page one until the last, I connected with Cath so much, and the story. Its just…its me and Harry Potter, easily. Which gave me an emotional attachment to Simon Snow and Baz and the rest of the characters…these characters that don’t even really have a story but Rainbow makes you love them.

And then there’s this book. THIS BOOK. Its just…I love it. Its a fan fiction of a not real story. And its a fan fiction of the finale to the not real series. Its absolutely absurd when you really think about it, but this is exactly what it is and it just WORKS.

I adore Simon. I adore Penelope and Baz and I love them all. My love for Baz is so deep, I can’t even begin to explain it. Even though this isn’t a real story, I guess, Rainbow makes it real. She makes it seem like you’ve been part of this huge Simon Snow for years and that’s exactly how I felt. I was like, HOW IS THIS GOING TO END? IS SIMON GOING TO FULFILL HIS DESTINY? WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH PENNY? AND OH GOD I SHIP SIMON AND BAZ SO MUCH.

Any author that can make me love these fictional characters so much, so easily, totally wins all the marbles in my book. Seriously. Because its just such a fun story. It has everything that I love about Harry Potter, which makes it the perfect fictional stand-in for Cath in Fangirl. Its hilarious and its action packed, but it has that sort of whimsical and magical feel of Harry Potter…and it has this romance that KILLS me in all the good ways, because there is just not enough fantasy out there with a M/M love story and I adore Simon and Baz together SO much.

But I also think that it makes such a great Harry Potter fan fiction as well. Its obvious what Simon Snow is supposed to be but that’s what makes it so great. Its Rainbow’s own little shoutout to this amazing series, and she takes it and writes her own fan fiction and its beautiful, and cheeky and the bad words make me laugh because its a total fan fic thing to do. It literally feels like a Harry Potter fan fiction but one of the best written and it doesn’t feel fake or, like its taking advantage of an already established fandom. Its like, she’s paying it a huge compliment.

It also really makes me want more Simon Snow, which makes NO sense because really, its ONLY the one book. It just makes me laugh at the absurdity and yet its just so freakin perfect.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: The Fifteenth Minute (ARC) by Sarina Bowen

October 30, 2015October 27, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

New Adult, find Contemporary, website Romance

Pages:

294

Part of a Series?:

5th in the Ivy Years Series

Release Date:

October 13th, 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

Book Depository

GoodReads Summary:

Freshman Lianne Challice is known to millions of fans as Princess Vindi. But sometimes a silver screen sorceress just wants to hang up her wand, tell her manager to shove it, and become a normal college student. Too bad that’s harder than it looks.

She’s never lived a normal life. She hasn’t been to school since kindergarten. And getting close to anyone is just too risky — the last boy she kissed sold the story to a British tabloid.

But she can’t resist trying to get close to Daniel “DJ” Trevi, the hot, broody guy who spins tunes for hockey games in the arena. There’s something haunting his dark eyes and she needs to know more.

DJ’s genius is for expressing the mood of the crowd with a ten second song snippet. With just a click and a fade, he can spread hope, pathos or elation among six thousand screaming fans.

Too bad his college career is about to experience the same quick fade-out as one of his songs. He can’t get close to Lianne, and he can’t tell her why. And the fact that she seems to like him at all? Incredible.

My Review:

Dear Sarina Bowen,

I have always had a soft spot for hockey. I have. I used to live next to this big empty lot when I was a little kid…that eventually became the Arrowhead Pond, now called the Honda Center…which houses the Anaheim Ducks. I love hockey. I had a friend in grade school who had season tickets. I got to meet some seriously awesome players back then. I love hockey. I haven’t been as attached to it over the past couple years because my first love is baseball. This is true.

Because of your writing, your stories, and your characters…I am now massively in love with hockey. Your stories freakin ROCK. Every single story is so different and the characters so unique, but you make them all lovable and you make it so we want to keep reading about them, book after book after book. Seriously. This fictional world you’ve created at Harkness College feels so incredibly real to me and I love every moment of it.

Which brings me to DJ and Lianne. I ADORE every moment of Lianne. I love that she’s this super famous actress in this super cheesy film series, and that she just wants to go to school and be normal but even without the whole famous-actress-super-rich-thing, she’s just SO awkward as hell and it just makes the whole book to me. You’re trying to figure out how to handle that she’s this famous person, but you’re too busy laughing at how insanely normal and silly and awkward and awesome she is. Seriously. I’m jealous of Bella for being her sort of roommate because I want Lianne to be my best friend. I love that behind this facade of supposed perfection is this girl who is literally just trying to figure out who she is, and where she stands. She’s insecure with boys and she is embarrassed at Bella and Rafe’s sexy times next door. She’s so refreshingly normal and I fall in love with her at every page.

And then there’s DJ. I adore DJ and I think its because we’re able to keep this connection to the hockey theme of the whole series but in a totally different new way. I love that he used to play but that being in the booth, playing music, playing with the reactions of the crowd, and using the music to interact with the players. I love music, a lot, but I have no connection to it other than loving it and listening to it. DJ makes it seem like so much, and connects it with something I do love: sports. I never thought of the music other than something they play through the speakers but it can have an effect on the crowd and the players and I LOVE it.

Plus, okay, besides all of that…you just write amazing books. I laugh a lot, and the sexy times are ALWAYS so good, and it makes me want to become a better NA sports romance writer, and you are a huge influence.

Keep writing these. I’ll keep reading. For sure.

Also, can I, like, HAVE Rafe? I know he belongs to Bella and all that, but I’d like him to kind of belong to me too? Is that okay? Is that a real thing…

Let me know.

Love, Sara

Rating:

5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

October 27, 2015October 25, 20151 Comment

Genre:

Young Adult, sildenafil Contemporary

Pages:

364 pages

Part of a Series?:

Standalone Novel

Release Date:

September 15th, 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

My Review:

I was so incredibly impressed with the first book that I ever read by Julie Murphy. I do own her first book but honestly just haven’t had the chance to dive into it yet. Have you seen my TBR pile? Its massive!

Anyway, I had heard some really good things about Dumplin’ and I knew I eventually wanted to get my hands on it and was SERIOUSLY stoked when I got it in one of my OwlCrate boxes (You rock, OwlCrate). I decided that I needed to get on that right away and I did. And I read it fast.

Here’s the thing: I could sit here and tell you that its a great book about body positivity and that we should have more books like this and that it preaches self confidence and all this stuff. I could go on and on about that but I’m not going to.

Because even though that’s all true, very very true, there’s just so much to this book. I absolutely adore Willowdean. I love that she just sort of accepts the person that she is, and I love that. Willowdean is Willowdean. She’s big but that’s just the way it is. But she has insecurities and she has a hard time sometimes believing in herself or her own attractiveness but I never sit here and feel like its specifically because she’s fat. She has this because she’s a teenager and she’s going through the same shit that we all go through when we’re teenagers. THAT is what I love about it. Sure, we have body positivity, sure we have diversity with a character that isn’t perfect and pretty and skinny. But Julie doesn’t make it a big thing, not to me anyway.

Willowdean is a great, familiar, awesome character that just happens to be bigger and THAT is what makes it so good. She creates this character that is SO different from maybe what we’re used to in YA but we all connect with her because she feels so real and familiar. She has a shitty job and there’s a cute boy that can’t make up his mind about her and she’s like WTF (I’m 27 and I still deal with this crap…) and that’s what makes it so good. Creating diversity by making a diverse character who has these differences but connects with everyone…GENIUS.

I have no idea if I’m making any sense.

Basically, I totally loved this book. I adore Willowdean and kind of wish she was my best friend. She’s a great character and THAT is what makes this story so damn good. The story itself is great but Willowdean carries it and its definitely one of my favorites of the year.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: Flamecaster (ARC) by Cinda Williams Chima

October 26, 2015April 6, 20201 Comment

Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?

This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy of the novel obtained through Edelweiss. This is in no way had an effect on the integrity of my review. Please note that published novel will differ from this ARC.

Continue reading →

Book Review: My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M Cameron

September 13, 2015September 10, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

New Adult, order Contemporary, viagra sale Romance

Pages:

363 pages

Part of a Series?:

Second in the My Favorite Mistake series

Release Date:

January 28th, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Jos Archer was the girl with the perfect life; until the night it all came crashing down around her. Now, nine months later, she still hasn’t begun to pick up the pieces. Even transferring to a new college and living under the watchful eye of her older sister, Renee, isn’t enough to help her feel normal again.

And then she meets Dusty Sharp. For reasons Jos can’t begin to fathom, the newly reformed campus bad boy seems determined to draw her out of her shell. And if she’s not careful, his knowing green eyes and wicked smile will make her feel things she’s no longer sure she deserves.

But even as Dusty coaxes Jos to open up about the past, he’s hiding secrets of his own. Secrets about the night her old life fell apart. When the truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together;or tear them apart for good?

My Review:

I loved this book even more than I loved the first one. The first was sweet, and all of that, and I loved seeing Taylor and Hunter fall in love but I really love Jos and Dusty…oh especially Dusty. I loved them from page one to the last page.

I like that Jos and Dusty both have secrets, they both have issues that they’re dealing with but they can’t help but be drawn to each other. What makes that even better is that their problems are connected and it takes them a bit to realize that. I don’t know why but I really like that. I like that they push each other away and pull each other back and take care of each other and mess up. They feel so real to me. I wish I genuinely could find a guy like Dusty, because that’s how incredibly real these two characters felt to me.

I also liked the way Chelsea captured loss. Both Jos and Dusty are dealing with a loss and they each have their own way of handling it and I think she does a beautiful job of capturing the emotions and the struggle of it. I really feel what Jos is feeling when she talks about this boy who became her best friend, who literally become her everything, before he was taken away from her.

I’m sitting here, trying to think of what to say about this book because one, its been a little bit since I read and two, I just loved it so much that I can’t really get the words out. Just thinking about it makes me want to read it again because I truly really enjoyed Jos and Dusty’s romance. I truly LOVED Dusty so much.

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars