HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ANNABETH CHASE!!

Ugh, I feel sooo bad, because I missed my literal role model's birthday.
HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY, Annabeth, and also my friend :D

URGHuaodsfaosdfapsddfpajsdff
MY THOUGHTS
IM SO PISSED AT MYSELF
Okay.
calm.
k.

Book Review | A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)

Author: Sarah J. Maas
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's

Page Number: 416

Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: May 5, 2015

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles 

My Review:
Well, well, well. Today I'm going to be reviewing a book you may or may not have heard of, it's totally not hyped up by bloggers and bookish people.

Wow. What...a...difference.

I can't say I preferred this over TOG (Throne of Glass), because Throne of Glass is more badass YA style, which I prefer, but this is certainly good.

Interesting plot, however, the plot, like most people said, was pretty, slow. The book really picked up in the last, 150 pages or something, but the beginning, was basically steamy hot romance. In the beginning, I thought that this book would have action packed scenes with betrayal and suspense...but I got...steamy hot dude. 

The characters didn't really impress me that much, because I preferred Lucien more than Tamlin (I know, i know...please don't kill me). I just felt like Tamlin was sort of a generic hot guy, I mean, he did have some special things, but seriously, he's just the same as every other hot guy. Lucien actually had a good personality, with an interesting backstory, and HE'S FUNNY. His humor is just...beautiful. <3

I expected Feyre to be this badass girl, sort of like a mixture of Katniss Everdeen and Celaena Sardothein...but really, she wasn't that amazing. She didn't have Katniss's amazing hunting skills, or Celaena's badassry. And her FAMILY. HER OLDER SISTER IS SUCH A HERA*, oh gods. She didn't do anything, and I felt sort of bad for Feyre but still. I just...urghhh. Rhysand creeped the hell out of me, I find him really creepy. 

Action wise, this book didn't blow me away, but it did have some pretty tense parts, which, of course, were my favorite. 

In conclusion, this book would be really, really, good, IF it didn't have so much hype surrounding it. However, given the hype, this book did disappoint me a bit. 

*-Hera means b*tch, I'm trying to stop cussing, failing terribly. le sigh.

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄

♡ Beatrice

Mini Reviews | Siege and Storm & Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm // Ruin and Rising

Author: Leigh Bardugo
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SIEGE AND STORM

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Page Number: 435

Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: June 5, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles 

My Review:
This book was just as good as the first one. Alina finally showed her kickass side, the adventure was so, sooo good, and the overall plot was so amazing. And awesome. lol I suck at reviews...

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄❄

RUIN AND RISING

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Page Number: 435

Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: June 5, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads:   
The capital has fallen.

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

My Review:
Finally a good ending to a trilogy! Fabulously wrapped together, this book really focuses on how they must work together to save Ravka.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄❄

♡ Beatrice

June Wrap Up!

Well, I just came back. And guess what! I read a grand total of 5 books. I know, right? 

Soooo, let's get on to the books I read! xD

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson, and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.


  

~Beatrice

Book Review | Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Since You've Been Gone

Author: Morgan Matson
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Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Page Number: 449

Genre: Contemporary
Publication Date: May 6, 2014

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back? 

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

 Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not? 

Kiss a stranger? Um...

Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find? 

Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles 

My Review:
Why, hello! Long time no see :D
ANYWAIES:

Since You've Been Gone was an excellent start to the summer. It was bright and beautiful, and the cover. Just admire it. I loved everything about everything in this novel, and the most important thing I learned from this story? Make sure your car has a roof so that water doesn't come spilling onto your iPod when it rains, disabling the loop function ;) Just kidding, just kidding. Friendships were the biggest part of this story, not romance, friendships, not family, but FRIENDSHIPS. <3 YA needs more of these books.

Emily and Sloane are best friends. But, what would you do if your best friend leaves right before what you thought was going to be the best summer ever? 

This book was hilarious and heart warming, it crushed my heart to pieces but somehow mended it as well, and it was the type of story I now know only Morgan Matson can do for me. The main characters were so amazing (except for Sloane, Sam, and Gideon), I loved how Emily discovered who she really was, and also discovered who every one of her friends really were. This book was really a book about discovery and I just loved it so so much. Frank is so cute and adorable, and asdkjfla;sdlfaj;sdflkaj;lksdfadsf, and smart and loving and caring, and omfg. Emily was really strong, instead of crying when she realized Sloane was gone, she set out to find out where Sloane had gone. I really liked how Emily even made more friends: Dawn and Collins, and Frank, of course. Emily's character development in this book was incredible. 

“He looked right at me as he gave me a half smile. "You're the brightest thing in the room", he said. He lifted his hand from my waist, and slowly, carefully brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek. "You shine."

In conclusion, this book was beautiful and amazing and cute and heart breaking, but it's the little things that matter the most. And in a well ordered universe, everyone would read this book. 

Quoteable Quotes: 

“Nothing worth doing is easy. Especially not in the beginning. But I'm not about to give up.”  

“I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.”

"I think it's harder to be the one left behind."

"In a well ordered universe..."  

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄❄

♡ Beatrice

HAPPY BIRTHDAY | Draco Malfoy, Frank Zhang, Rick Riordan

Happy birthday, y'all! :D

♡Beatrice

 

Book Review | This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World

Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
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Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Page Number: 390

Genre: Scifi
Publication Date: December 23, 2014

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles 

My Review:
(You might notice I'm going back to out of five snowflakes ;) )

One word-insta-love. That ruined it all. I enjoyed These Broken Stars a lot, and seeing all the pretty good reviews on Goodreads, I was expecting more than this. I was disappointed. Quite a bit, as you can tell. (I'm going to just list because I'm lazy and yeah! :D)
1. Instalove. I hate hate hate hate hate insta love. If you're going to have romance, I'd like to see some development, please! Jeez. It's been like 2 weeks since I've finished this book, and I still have no idea how they got together, and I feel nothing for their romantic relationship like I did with Lilac and Tarver. Also, they broke up, and hated each other, but loved each other...but what??? Seriously, your world is dying, and you're yelling at each other? Why? Why. Why.

2. World Building. I know it's in the same galaxy thingy as These Broken Stars, but I read These Broken Stars a year ago! Instead of refreshing and reviewing the galaxy again, I forgot everything. Also, I felt like the authors didn't mention the world much, they just assumed it was there. 

3. Plot. The plot was all over the place. Things were happening at random times, random things happening, like, what??? We were just here, talking, and now we're fighting for no freaking reason? No. Please. No. It was very obvious, the random, if any plot twists they threw in. They made no sense, and really shouldn't be there. Also, it felt very similar to Legend by Marie Lu. I found myself comparing the two, which is bad, because if I start comparing, which is pretty rare, it's probably a sign that the book's plot feels familiar to me.

4. Characters. I actually appreciated Jubilee, but Lee? Really? I know you're trying to be unique and all, but no. For example...

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

So in the beginning of the synopsis, they're calling her Jubilee, and then they're calling her Lee? When my friend first saw this, she was all like, who's Lee? And I had to point out to her the JubiLEE, which is really ridiculous. However, I did enjoy Jubilee as a character, although she did annoy me sometimes, acting all dramatic. Flynn was the typical male heroine, nothing funny about him, although I did like his sass ;) There were too many minor characters, with all the same voices, and I confused them WAYY too often.

5. Writing. Kaufman and Spooner's writings are pretty different, but they really blended well together in this book. I dunno...it's probably just me.

Final Rating: 

❄❄.5

♡ Beatrice

May Wrap Up!

In the month of May, I read 13 books, which isn't too shabby. (but I still have 6 more reviews to do XD).
Let's get started, you know the drill. Click the title to see my review (if I have one)

I started out the month by reading Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Falling into Place by Amy Zhang, The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stievfater, Free to Fall by Lauren Miller, This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner, Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski. 

And no, I didn't include The Comedy of Errors because I had to read that for school and it was blah. 

Book Review | Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

Free to Fall

Author: Lauren Miller 
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Publisher: HarperTeen

Page Number: 496

Genre: Dystopian
Publication Date: May 13, 2014

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness?

What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

What if you never had to fall?

Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results.

Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school.

Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

 Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

My Review:
Free to Fall was at my local library. I don't know what made me pick it up, maybe it was the face, but boy oh boy, was it good.
I read it EVERYWHERE. At the grocery store, during class, and even in the shower, I think!
BUT-
Let's get into the good parts.
Free to Fall wasn't a unique dystopian, but it was more scientific. I really hate it when in dystopians, they don't explain things in the very last book in the trilogy. Free to Fall is a standalone. I know, can you believe that? They make standalone dystopians now?! But instead of shoving a bunch of sciency things to you at the end, Miller sprinkles clues in the pages, really making you think what you are reading. Oh, and the plot twist. I didn't see that coming, but if you did read it carefully enough, you'd probably see them. It's not that Miller makes it obvious that it's coming, she just drops bits of info, just to make you wonder.

The characters weren't the strongest point in this novel, I'll admit, however, I did somewhat enjoy them.

I really loved the relationship that was developed between Rory and her friend, Hershey. I was glad that instead of having the main relationship be a romance, Miller actually put a romance and one - no, two friendships, which was very important in this book. The romance was a bit iffy for me, but it wasn't the majority of the novel, which was good.

The pacing in the beginning was slow, pretty slow. The ending though. The ending made up for it.
Holy schist, the ending. Wow. That was probably the best dystopian ending ever.
 

Final thoughts: Free to Fall was a entertaining dystopian that I would recommend for fans of Legend or Divergent. It's certainly one of my favorites now!

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

♡ Beatrice

Book Review | The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Boys #2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
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Publisher: Scholastic Press

Page Number: 439

Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Publication Date: September 17, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps form others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

Of The Raven Boys, Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Maggie Stiefvater's can't-put-it-down paranormal adventure will leave you clamoring for book two." Now the second book is here, with the same wild imagination, dark romance, and heart-stopping twists that only Maggie Stiefvater can conjure.

 Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

My Review:
This review will be pretty short, because this is the second installment in a series and I don't want to spoil anything.
I loved The Raven Boys. Let me just.

I wasn't one of those people who adored Ronan in The Raven Boys. To be honest, he was a bad boy, but he was a bit too much of a bad boy. He was like, insane. No offense. I preferred the classy Gansey, if you know what I mean.

But I picked up The Dream Thieves. And now I admire Maggie Stiefvater even more. 

The Dream Thieves focused on Ronan's past, and it was really interesting, and now I just love Ronan just as much as Gansey. 

Remember I said I liked Adam? WELL NOW.

Adam: *says something annoying*

Me: SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.

Adam: *says something not annoying*

Me: URGHHHHHH SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.

Dude, I don't even know, but that thing at the end of the first book ;) made me reconsider if I actually liked Adam. EVERY SINGLE THING HE SAID, I just wanted to yell at him to shut up.

But. 
I used to either love a character for an entire series, or hate a character.
Maggie Stiefvater changed that. 
The plot was just as mysterious and entertaining, and I loved all of it. Heart warming, discovering, amazing, incredible, wow. 
Go read this series, now. Please?

Final Rating: 

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

~Beatrice