As per Goodreads:
The first in a new two-book series about an orphaned princess fighting to reclaim her kingdom while hiding her power from the masked vigilante hunting her, set in a world where magic is not just forbidden, but will soon destroy everything…
A reviewer also said: Game of Thrones meets Batman = epic Jodi Meadows.
Release date is 2015
My reaction:
I’m intrigued with this book. I have a mixed vibe on Meadow’s book but with that kind of descriptions?
One of the best things about books these days is the amount of badass female protagonists there are. Long gone are the days the damsels in distress ruled society’s vision of the perfect woman and romance (not that we still don’t like handsome princes, mind you). But we are now living in an era where feminism has promoted independent, self sufficient, ass kicking girls into literary and cinematic limelight.
Case in point – Disney‘s Brave.
We have all grown up with the idea that the fairy tale prince coming to rescue us is the way us weaker sex is supposed find true love. Let’s just all point our fingers at Disney for giving us that illogical idea. Thanks Snow White, Belle, Ariel for creating unrealistic romances for me to swoon over! You ruined my life! But not you Mulan, you…you’re effing awesome. Nowadays though our little princesses are being taught that “Damnit, you can save yourself! If you even need saving in the first place.” Which is pretty awesome. We can really start seeing this big transition of women taking the leading roll as heroes in the original Charlie’s Angels series. And from there… a great wide world of wonderful women emerged.
But what type of morals are these strong women really teaching us? Especially in YA books, heroines have a lot of different takes on love, life and values.
Thus is brings me to wanting to create “Wine and Women Wednesdays” where we can focus on all different kinds of awesomeness of females in literature.
There’s going to be some good discussions so grab a glass of wine, settle in with a good book and get excited now because I’ve got some legit shiznat coming up.
Book One in the His Fair Assassins Series
Rating: Four out of Five Stars
This came book came to me in a unique way. I had never heard of it until Amy was freaking out because it was super cheap on Amazon for Kindle. So I glanced at the concept, shrugged and said “eh why not?” and bought it. It sat for a few days on the iPad and the longer it sat waiting to be read the more intrigued I was by the concept. I felt like it was just burning a hole in my electronics just sitting, waiting, wanting to be opened.
So I read it.
As we all know, I am obsessed with early eras. (I have a knack for breaking everything electronic thus I am convinced I was supposed to live in the 1800s before ‘high tech’ happened.) That being said, I haven’t really paid much attention to the 1400s. What’s so interesting about it? It’s right before the most glamorous time period (Yay Tudors!) so it gets overlooked by authors of books because everyone, including myself, is so infatuated with the 1500s and beyond. But, this book was really excellent in capturing, what I feel is, the essence of the country and people during this century and was explained to us in a truly captivating way.
Plus… female assassins? That live in a convent like nuns? Who have attitudes and lusty romances?
Hook. Line. Sinker.
This is a looong book. 500 plus pages! But it flew like I was reading a 200 pager. Ismae is lovely. She’s a feisty, insecure, semi-horny but no idea what it means teenager, that could totally hold her own in a fight against Katniss or June from the Legend series. Talk about a kickass girl fight! Ismae is endearing. She’s had to deal with a lot of shit in her life; abusive father, abusive husband, crazy mother. And yet she overcomes it all and ends up being a wicked killing machine. But although she’s brainwashed for years into thinking one way, she has the courage and strength and, well, faith in humanity I guess, to see what’s real and true. She does struggle, and she does flail a bit figuring out where she stands, but that’s what makes me love her more. She *feels* like normal people do. I think a round of applause should be given to LaFevers for the character development.. it’s really beautiful.
And then the romance… it’s simple. Uncorrupted and sweet. It’s slow moving and innocent. Perfect for the story and the time period and character’s personalities. No InstaLove, no triangle. Just lovely. Lovely.
SO although this book is long, and it’s a bit slow in places, it’s really a great read. This is the kind of book you bring to the beach with you and you read alllll day and when you finally come out of your book coma, you have delish story and an awesome tan.
And the best quote ever… “Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?”
Touche, my friend.
Rating: Four out of Five Stars
I am a big fan of audio books. My mom, sister and I used to listen to them all the time when I was younger and since the Boyfriend and I live in different states, audio books have become a life saver on the six hour drive to Cali. Needless to say, I have spent a lot of my life in the car listening to stories (nerd-tastic fuuuur sure!) and this is probably the best book on CD have listened to.
The reason why I say The Best? The descriptions are amazing. A movie was playing in my mind while I listened to The Night Circus. It was rich, dark, luscious with adjectives that made the circus come to life, the people spring into their characters. The story unfolds layer by tantalizing layers in a slow sweet simmering plot. And, readers be warned, there is one steamy scene that is probably the most provocative heaty scene I have read (well technically listened to) and the crazy part? Its maybe four paragraphs long with relatively innocent language. That’s just how well Morgenstern crafts the language in this book. It’s beautiful.
I also spent a lot of time with my mouth hanging open in awe at the incredible concept of the plot. Talk about having a hum-dinger of an imagination! The Cirque Du Reve a.k.a. The Circus of Dreams, was so far beyond what I could ever think up I just drooled over the descriptions of the tents. The Wishing Tree, the Ice Garden, the Cloud Maze… I wish I had an ounce of artistic talent so I could draw how I picture these things. If this book ever becomes a movie and the special effects are done right, it will be on par with epic movies like LOTR, HP, Benjamin Button, all those cinematic masterpieces.
If you do end up reading this book, I encourage you to try it on tape first. It’s really an entertaining read and a wonderful book to listen to. And with Jim Dale as the narrator… oh my lovely man voice. I just want him to whisper sweet nothings in my ear…sigh…
Book One in the Crewel World Series
Rating: Three out of Five Stars
First of all, can we talk about that delicious cover? GORG! I love the colors, the swirls, the lips, the face. It epitomizes what this book is about and I adore an author/artist who can capture the feeling of the book and recreate it for the cover. Two Thumbs Up.
I was really excited for this book. I actually requested it from the library but got tired of waiting so just bought it as an ebook so I could start reading it righthisminute. That being said, I am not quite as excited for the sequel to this book. I loved parts and I struggled with parts. So my review is a solid middle of the road yellow dashed line.
My biggest beef I have with Crewel is how intensely different this world is and how there was exactly ZERO adjustment time for my WSOD. I spent the first 35% percent of the book rereading the description to try to get a sense of WTH this world consisted of. Then, once the Crewler sat down and explained everything to Adelice, our main character, it was like the beautiful flower of knowledge bloomed in my head and all was right in my bookworld.
But then Adelice kinda goes crazy nutso and doesn’t really think about the consequences and the trail of awful she’s leaving in her path when she’s making her decisions. Flip two chapters later then she’s awesome and heroic again. Plus three more chapters, she’s a twat. The End? She saves lives.
See? Do you see my problem? It was so hot and cold, love and hate, rooting for and totally against. I felt like the plot was a ferris wheel and it would slowly go up towards amazing, crest, and then move towards awful. Over and over and over. The world, once explained, IS impressive. I really liked the concept of it, science meeting fantasy meeting dystopia!?! Oh hells yes! The actual concept of this book is completely unique and the storyline is decent. But the characters just don’t jive well. And then throw in an awkward tree point love story and BOOM, it’s all the crap we’ve see before. For once FOR ONCE could the book Lord’s Almighty just have two people like each other and be done with it? I can promise all the YA author’s out there that there are just as angsty teen topics to write about.
All in all, I don’t think I can adequately review this until I read the series because so much hangs on what happens in the next books. Jury is still out. Meh.
Book Three in the Birthmarked Series
Rating: Three out of Five Stars
I enjoyed this book, but overall I think it’s the weakest in the series. Still, the ties and emotional connections I had to the characters from the previous books makes me want to bump my rating to 3 stars.
Here is my criticism: Why oh why do authors think it will be boring if people have normal emotions? Fo reals. I understand the need for drama and foreshadowing and plot twists blah blah blah. But heavens above! I could not keep up Gaia’s epiphanies or Leon’s brooding love-sick control freak-ness. Gaia seemed to change direction in each chapter and I was so flustered by her mood swings I almost stopped reading. Now I understand men when they deal with PMSing women! For a character who was so steadfast and determined, solid and stubborn in the first two books, she sure does a lot of roller-coasting in this one. And I find it hard to believe that she would just get up after that tragedy happens, shrug and move on. I wish O’Brien would have spent more time focusing on her emotions during that realization. And Leon, oh brother. Just the same old same Cassandra Clare type love interest. All passionate brooding but nothing I could really sink my teeth into until the final chapter.
With my love loss for Gaia and Leon, it was hard to truly adore this book the way I did the others. I was infatuated with Gaia’s bravery in book one and two but her heroism in these books stretched by WSOD a tad too far. I couldn’t connect that way I wanted to. Thank goodness the story was technically well-written or I would have set this down. I would have also enjoyed a quick recap from the first books. I hadn’t read the other two books in awhile and it took me a quarter of the book to play catch up before I remembered everything.
If you have read the first two books (and the bridge), you should definitely read the third to complete the series. The story itself is still captivating, even if its pushed to be unrealistic. Just go into with the notion that the characters are not the same they were when you met them.
Hello and Welcome to the year 2013!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! 2013 has some amazing book releases so I am SUPER STOKED for this year. Now, like all book lovers and bloggers, I just had to create a Best of 2012 blog. While most people do one in December, I read lots of books over the holidays so I wanted to wait until the year actually ended before I created my list. You never know what gems you can find in the last weeks of the year! I also wanted to add some variety to the blog so I asked my book soul mate Amy to pick her favorites in each category. You can read her Top Ten Books Read of 2012 here.
Please note that these books are not only the books that were published in 2012. We wanted to included all the books we read so some of them are a few years old. I hope you all enjoy and please add your favorites in each category in the comments!
Favorite Book of 2012
Sydney Amy
The Selection by Kiera Cass Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Favorite Author of 2012
Sydney Amy
Cinda Williams Chima Neil Gaiman
Best Female Protagonist
Sydney Amy
Penryn – Angelfall by Susan Ee Beatrice – Divergent by Veronica Roth
Best Male Protagonist
Sydney Amy
Han – Seven Realms Series Po – Graceling Realms Series
Best Romance
Sydney Amy
America and Maxon, The Selection Katsa and Po, Graceling
Most Resourceful
Sydney Amy
Gaia, Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien Viola, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Best “Come to Jesus” Moment
Sydney Amy
James, Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater Katy, Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Most Badass Character
Sydney Amy
Deuce, Razorland Series by Ann Aguirre Katsa, Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Favorite Series
Sydney Amy
Seven Realms by Cinda Williams Chima Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Best Fantasy Book
Sydney Amy
Graceling by Kristin Cashore Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Best Dystopian Book
Sydney Amy
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
Best World Building
Sydney Amy
Seven Realms by Cinda Williams Chima Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
Best Cover
Sydney Amy
Angelfall by Susan Ee Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Most Looking Forward to Release of 2013
Sydney Amy
Prodigy by Marie Lu Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
First Book in the Seraphina Series
Rating: Three out of Five Stars (I’m stretching the three stars status)
Seraphina came to me as a recommendation. And the fact that Christopher Paolini endorsed it by having a quote from him placed on the cover I was like “yeah buddy! Score zone!”
And then I started reading and I was all:
My issue with this book was that the world wasn’t explained enough in the beginning so I felt like my mind was whirling around plot points without actually getting a hold of them. I like the concept, I can grasp the concept, but it was too much too soon. Where was the meat and potatoes of the world building in the first chapter? I was thrust into the world, that’s very surreal and different from my own, and wasn’t given the chance to acclimate. My WSOD was accosted.
The only time I was completely on board and ingrained in this story is when the characters were having conversations. The dialogue is fantastically written. Those scenes felt less like reading and more like watching a movie. So engaging! I just wish that the rest of the book was as fascinating and griping.
With the character’s being mediocre (although Seraphina finally grows some ladyballs in the end) I was really disappointed in this book. Maybe I put it on too high of a pedestal to begin with? I don’t know. I just wanted so much more from this book. I wanted action, romance, adventure! I wanted all the amazing things in Eragon that I loved so much but it never developed into anything. It was just fluttering on the edge decent. Sad day 😦
Happy Holidays everyone!
I am heading out for Christmas vacation and won’t be able to post for awhile so I wanted to send some quick love to all my wonderful readers! **HUGS**
Below are some amusing pictures that capture my Thanksgiving-now life. Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday! Shoot me some suggestion on great books you read over the holidays! Muah!
I reached my goal for book reading this year at the beginning of the month! Woot woot!
Some of my November and December reads.
I chose to take some inspiration from my Harry Potter Cook Book and create some sweet treats for Christmas presents!
Pumpkin Pasties!
Hagrid’s Rock Cakes – quite tastey and not at all hard as rocks!
Blancmange – pure yumminess. These are my favorite. And they jiggle which is awesome because I shaped them like bugs!
Showing off my new footies, Penelope the Pot (my new teapot), and a very delicious bottle of wine!
Rating: Three out of Five Stars
This was a very interesting book for me. I am usually a trilogy and series reader because I feel like a complete story can’t be told in 300 pages (unless I am in the mood for a fluff book). This book proved that while it CAN be done to a certain extent, the story is just not as engaging as it could be.
Scarlet is a wonderful retelling of Robin Hood. You can still see the “historical” storyline but it gives a dynamic perspective of the story from another person. Well imagined, my friend! The only thing that strikes me as overpowering was the foreshadowing. To write a good story of course foreshadowing is needed, but there is a time and place and a LIMIT. I enjoy quiet hints and and slight teasing of things to come. But these clues were blaring neon signs in a bar. In a way, it made the story seem naive, the finesse was missing.
Regardless of the writing flaws, the plot was fun. It was fast paced and dramatic, even if it stretched reality a bit. I did enjoy Scarlet. She’s a spunky fierce heroine with pink power ranger skills. It was exciting to read her and get to know her a little. Her emotions are a bit skewed and rollercoastered a lot but the action in the book made up for the slower parts. I wish that we could have seen a little more of the relationships between the boys and Scar, but with a one book story, it’s difficult to create more than one fully developed character.
The ending did leave a door open for a sequel, which I would jump on the chance to read. They already have romance, action, a villain, a love triangle… the bones of a great series is there and I hope that Gaughen writes another!
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