If you were blown away by Ink and Bone last year, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. If the slowness of***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
If you were blown away by Ink and Bone last year, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. If the slowness of Ink and Bone was a little harder to bear but you loved the concept, this book is DEFINITELY for you. If you are a bibliophile who wants to read a book about badass detective librarians, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. So basically, read this book.
4 Reasons to read The Invisible Library
1. An ambiguous library. Secrets are kept from the librarians yet we aren’t entirely sure if the library is good or evil. The MC acknowledges that she is probably told a bunch of lies but at her core, she is a bookworm so being at the library is where she feel most comfortable. I like to think that the library is a little fishy but not truly evil but who knows what secrets will come crawling out in the next two books ;)
2. The world building. Holy moly the world building in this book is good. I love alternative universes but I absolutely love the author’s original take on them here. I love how she also incorporates the missions the librarians go on within them. Basically, librarians are interested in books that are particular to a specific alternative. Do you love collecting multiple editions of your fav books? Can you imagine how much fun it would be to collect multiple editions from alternative universes with potential extra content that wasn’t published in your own universe? IT WOULD BE FUCKING AMAZING. Maybe a universe exists where I can get the ending I’ve always wanted from Looking for Alibrandi.
3. The characters. OMG THESE CHARACTERS. SO MUCH LOVE. Can I cuddle them? Irene is pretty badass. She can literally kick ass and is super smart. Kai has some really juicy secrets (and powers) that made me so excited and I know will have many more readers flailing. The secondary characters are also wonderful and add layers of wit and complexity to the novel.
4. The Plot. I have a pretty bad relationship with books that take place over a short period of time but it works perfectly here. The author does time SO well in this book and I really cannot tell it’s been only 2-3 days (and of course, no insta love happens which helps.) There is so much excitement crammed into those days in a way that really isn’t unrealistic (given the ways in which this fictional world functions.) There is an element of mystery, adventure and survival. The plot also just works well because the world building is so good so I don’t have stupid questions and am just busy flipping the pages to know what is GONNA HAPPEN and who done it.
Basically, this book was amazing and will definitely go on my favorites of 2016 list. YOU SHOULD READ IT because it’s bookworm porn and I HAVE THE FLAILS and need someone to flail with.
Note that I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review...more
When a book’s tagline is “Orange is the New Black with a twist,” one cannot help but be dr***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
When a book’s tagline is “Orange is the New Black with a twist,” one cannot help but be drawn to the book. When the book also has a creepy cover and a REALLY cool premise, one feels the need to get one’s hands on it as soon as possible.
One in this case is obviously me (and could also be you, IDK how you feel) and I was really excited about this book. The excitement paid off because Burning is a really fucking good book. It is deliciously creepy (pretty sure I’ve used this phrase before to describe a good horror-y book, I CANNOT HELP it okay, I am not that great with words) and it made my heart pitter patter. I’ve also admittedly be in a reviewing slump and
Burning
just made me feel better about everything. It was the kind of book that as soon as I finished it, I wanted to yell at the world and tell everyone that they needed it in their lives.
Burning
is the kind of book you really want everyone to know about in case it completely slipped their notice. IF IT SLIPPED YOURS, PLEASE GO ADD IT TO YOUR TBR.
Okay, I think I’ve done enough ‘vague’ fangirling and perhaps it’s time to actually mention what it is that I like about this book.
For starters, I absolutely love the world. The author does such a fantastic job with building dynamics between various groups in the novel. Most of these relationships are horrid, but within all the badness, there is some good. We have some fantastic friendships and an interesting budding romance (which I am not sure was needed, but the love interest was super cute SO YAY.)
Angela is also a great character. She makes mistakes, I did yell at her a bit, but she is so well rounded. It is easy to slip inside of her head and understand how her desperation to get out of the correction facility affects her decision making skills. Her backstory also comes to us in bits and pieces scattered throughout the novel. It makes it easy to sympathize with her and wish Angela could just get the fuck out of there.
The author also does a great job of including diversity in the novel. Given the setting of the novel, I think the diverse aspects are important and really help understand the various dynamics with groups and also help us better understand the power dynamics at play.
The best part about this book is its plot. There are twists but they aren’t surprising. I am not sure they are meant to be surprising either. They work in that they read like pieces of a puzzle coming together. You see the general picture but the little pieces help make the image clearer. As the novel progresses, we get more paranormal elements come out and play and add to the creeptastic atmosphere of the book. All the conspiracies floating around and the growing desperation of all the characters adds to the intensity of the book and everything comes to a conclusion with a big bang.
So the ending... For those of you who absolutely despise cliffhangers, this book has one. I also do not like cliffhangers but I don’t think there is any other way for this book to end. The book ends on a very high note and all I want right now is a sequel. *makes puppy dog eyes*
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In conclusion, I highly recommend this book and think that everyone should read it. After all, monsters are more interesting ;)
Note that I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review...more
Walk on Earth a Stranger may just be the best YA Western I’ve read so far. It’s all I ever***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
Walk on Earth a Stranger may just be the best YA Western I’ve read so far. It’s all I ever asked for bundled into an exciting adventure that had flipping pages as fast as I could. Fair warning though, this book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
For as long as I can remember, reading books that feature journeys has been *my* thing. I mean lots of things are my thing, but I always find myself craving a good old adventure. Across a country, to the top of the mountains, WHEREVER. I love living vicariously through characters journeying to some place and reading about the hardships they have to overcome. But that is just me as a reader and not everyone wants to read an entire book reading about a character’s journey. Some people will want more.
I don’t have much to go on but I have noticed that all the YA Westerns I’ve read so far, parents seem to die and I am not sure how I feel about this trope. Wouldn’t it be nice if parents actually got to live and if there were other catalysts to inspire these journeys across the wild west? There were a bunch of other tropes but I kind of just moved on from them once we got to the actual journey bits. That’s when the book REALLY just grabbed my attention and I COULDN’T STOP.
Leah is a fantastic main character. I loved reading about her, I loved being inside of her head and I LOVED getting to be a part of her journey. When her parents are suddenly killed and it becomes obvious that her uncle, her new guardian was responsible, Leah decides to run. Leah is smart. A lot of female leads are smart, but I love that Leah is not someone who rushes things. When she decided to run away from her uncle, she actually decided to stay an extra couple days so she could plan and get things ready. She also knows how to take care of herself but realizes that when running away, groups are better than individuals.
This book also features a diverse set of characters which is awesome. We have the “confirmed bachelors”, we have Hamptom who is a slave and Leah’s best friend Jeff who is half Native American and thus has to deal with with a lot of prejudice and resist the urge to punch people (or was that just me?)
What I loved about this book is that it not only featured diverse characters, it also addressed a lot of important issues of the time. The book brought up the injustices being committed against various races by the Caucasians (trying to be PC here and not say white people) and it also showed us instances of where assholes did horrible things because of their assumed superiority.
The writing was also terrific although I did find myself sometimes slipping into the ‘cowboy slang’ from Vengeance Road. If you read my review for Vengeance Road, you’ll know that the cowboy slang had actually bothered me in the beginning, but here I was finishing off certain sentences the way they would have been if this book were written in the same style as Vengeance Road. Having said that, I thought the writing style was perfectly suited to the situation and really did make me feel like I was right in the middle of it all, journeying across the continent with Leah and company.
The book also has a slight fantasy aspect, given Leah’s gold-detecting powers but their origin wasn’t really explored and to be honest, it really didn’t bother me that it wasn’t. I didn’t need the answers to all the questions and I was okay letting her powers be (especially since there were so many other awesome things happening.)
There is also a subtle romance in the book. My shippy senses were already tingling as soon as I was introduced to the two characters so to finally see my ship sail towards the end of the book made me so happy! It’s a friends-to-more kind of romance and it just made sense given how well they (yes, I am purposefully avoiding naming who the love interest is) worked together and how supportive they were of each other.
As I mentioned earlier, this book is all about the journey. In fact, after the first 20 percent or so, the entire book IS the journey Leah makes from her town in Georgia to Sacramento, California. The journey was so well written and SO DETAILED. I was FANGIRLING and was up until 5:00 in the morning reading the book! I literally couldn’t take my eyes off the pages and all I wanted to know was what hardship they would have to face next and how they'd overcome it. I wanted to know how many people would make it to California (because people do die and it was heartbreaking.)
This book is perfect for readers who enjoy stories of survival and adventure. It is detailed, heartbreaking and at the same time manages to fill you with so much joy. I LOVE THIS BOOK and maybe you will too!
Note that I received an advanced copy of this book for review in exchange for an honest review...more
After really enjoying book 1 , books 2 and 3 never quite hit the same mark and I dived into this new installation hoping that it would be the one to remind me why I continued to read on, and I was right! The Diamond Conspiracy is definitely a worthy addition to the series and kept me on my toes (even when I trying not to dose off because it was 4 in the morning).
This is such a fun and quirky series and while I continued to stick with it when books 2 and 3 didn’t impress me, I am glad that The Diamond Conspiracybrought about a much needed sense of urgency and A LOT MORE ANSWERS.
I love me some answers and this book definitely provided us with some. It didn’t answer everything and even more questions were brought into the equation but I was very happy to have some of my big questions finally answered.
In this book, we finally (FINALLY) got to see Eliza and Welly work as a couple! I cannot tell you how happy this made me because I was getting tired of seeing all the jealousy and the two continuously going back and forth. I just wanted them to be happy and then they finally worked all that out in the previous book and we got to see them work as a couple! And they make a cute couple! I love how toned down Books’ jealousy was in this one and I loved that they were so supportive of one another as a couple. They still have adorable banter but it just gets even cuter because now they are a couple.
They shined in this book. I loved seeing Eliza become even stronger with Books by her side and the same goes for Books. It’s so wonderful seeing how far the two have ventured out of their comfort zone and how much they have grown. Eliza has transformed from a brash character to someone who takes more time to think things through without just jumping right in with her firearms (although that was funny). Likewise, Books has become someone who is starting to deal with the ghosts of the past as he becomes more sure of himself.
I loved that a certain Bruce Campbell was brought back but I hated how his previous actions were kind of overlooked now that he was kind of a good guy. I hope we get to come back to him and make sure he atones for all the horrible things he did in the past.
The plot in this one was fabulous and I loved seeing so many aspects of previous books come into play. It seems as though one arc of this book has come to a close and I hope it stays that way! I am looking forward to seeing many other aspects of this world being explored. Especially since so many interesting things were brought to our attention in this installment (LIKE TIME TRAVEL. ZOMG).
The ending especially, while not necessarily an emotional cliffhanger was just surprising but also amazing and I just want to know so much more about what is happening and what it means and all of those exciting/annoying questions that come about when authors dump important info on you right at the end of a book.
All those wonderful things about the book said, I would like to say that there were times where this book was wordy/tell-y and when the pacing didn't work with me. There seems to have been a huge improvement since the previous instalments so I will give the book that but I still had trouble paying attention to what was going on at times and I think I just missed important things as a result, re-reading can help but you know, it can be annoying when you space out and have to re-read things because you didn't quite catch them the first time (kind of like when you read textbooks :P)
Having said that, this book was fantastic and so much fun and if it’s any indication of future books to come (LET THERE BE MORE), then I know I better keep in touch with this series!
If you’re reading this review and haven’t read any of the books in this series, I’d definitely say you have some reading to do!
This book was a delight to read and the best thing about it is that I hadn’t even read the Fal***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
This book was a delight to read and the best thing about it is that I hadn’t even read the Falling Kingdoms series but I still managed to follow along and enjoy the book.
A Book of Spirits and Thieves follows the lives of Crystal Hatcher, Farrell Grayson and Maddox Corso. Each of their stories is compelling in their own right and while I may have had a favorite storyline, I thought that there was enough time spent developing all of them that I enjoyed reading all of the storylines.
My biggest problem with the book all comes down to one quote.
“Sounds like a good book.” Or a piece of feminist trash.**
This quote made me see red but at the same time, I am not ready to write this book off just because of the one horrible quote. I want to give the book the benefit of doubt since everything else in the book was fantastic and pretty much contradicted the implications of that quote. Maybe the quote was a way of representing the character who said it (and how far gone he was) instead of just saying that books featuring strong women are feminist trash (which would be odd considering that this book features badass females!)
This book is classified as fantasy and I thought it was interesting that that two of the storylines are set in the modern day world where as one is set in a completely different world (Mytica.) I thought the transitioning between the two worlds worked very well and the author took steps to show us how the two timelines are related. But, I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHERE THINGS COULD GO. I have SOOOO many theories and I am dying to read the following books in the series to see whether or not any of them pan out.
Crystal Hatcher, aka Crys is not always the nicest kid but it isn’t because she thinks the world is out to get her. Over the past two years, since her father and confidant left her, she has become detached from her surroundings. She misses a lot of classes and spends most of her time taking photos. She isn’t as close to her younger sister as she used to be and she takes her family for granted. When her sister goes into a coma after touching a book, it’s a moment of awakening for her as she realizes what a bad sister she has been for the past two years. It’s up to her to solve the mystery of THE BOOK.
One of the great things about Crys’ storyline is that even though she sometimes doesn’t trust the right people, she does eventually confide in her mom and that made me happy. I like it when kids don’t always run around doing things on their own and instead choose to trust an adult who actually knows what’s going on.
Crys was a great main character. She frustrated me at times but people make the wrong decisions all the time. That doesn’t make them awful. Crys is determined, mostly smart, loyal female lead and super badass.
Farrell on the other hand, whose story is also set in the modern world, wasn’t as awesome. But then again, he wasn’t meant to be.
His story isn’t about him finally realizing all the things he has been doing wrong but rather about him sinking further into a deep dark place. Maybe to the point of no return. I don’t know. Farrell just worries me because we all know that he isn’t a horrible person. The initial chapters make him out to be a great person under all that yucky exterior. He obviously has self-esteem issues and is still grieving the death of his older brother; however, those two things don't mix well and lead him to making some veryyyy horrible decisions and saying a lot of mean things. It’s kind of terrifying to watch him become more and more detached and lose his morality. I just want to read the next books and see what will become of him. I want him to live up to the good person we all know he is.
This brings us to the last character, a young Maddox. I’ve said so much about the other two and I am trying to think about what sets him apart. I think what sets Maddox apart is that he isn’t as bitter or even detached as the other two characters. There seems to be a naivety to him (although that could be because he is a little younger than the other two characters), that makes him endearing. He has been through so much in his 16 years but he never completely loses hope and that’s great.
I love the way his story works out too. In his story, we really see the fantastical elements come to life since we are immersed in a world that is clearly not our own. We meet a fantastic array of characters who support him (INCLUDING Crys’ comatose sister. INTERESTING? …)
There is a bit of romance in the book which ended up not working for me. There isn’t much of it so it wasn’t that big of a problem but I just didn’t think it was needed ya know? I didn’t need there to be an insta-love kind of thing to make the book more enjoyable since I already thought it was fantastic.
So basically this book is great, a quote and romance aside. It’s easy to get into, it flies by and it’s quick to read. You maybe, definitely want to check this one out. ALSO DAT COVER THO. Lookit! IZ SO PRETTEH. I just want to stroke it all day….. NOW GIMME NEXT BOOK *makes grabby hands*
**The author confirmed that that quote was in fact meant to rile the readers.
Note that I received a finished copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ...more
I think this book should be renamed to All The Bad Things That Can Happen to Jayden Over the Course of the Book. I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING. Jayden has the worst luck in the entire world. From the beginning of the novel to the end, tragedy seems to follow her around and she can never catch a break!
Which was why my feelings towards this novel were initially a jumble. I absolutely hate that she had to go through all these things and would have loved to see her catch a break that wasn’t just in the form of a romantic interest (although given that their romance is forbidden I don’t know how much of a break it really was). I feel like having all of these tragic things happen to her sometimes just made it hard for me to relate to her but the more I think about it, the more I realize that none of these tragedies are implausible, it’s just that it’s bothersome that someone could have SO MUCH fucking bad luck! *shudders*
Everything that happens to Jayden over the course of the book is a fantastic way to show the strength of her character, and how she doesn’t fall apart give her circumstances. You get her fierce determination to hold her self upright even as her world falls around her but the best thing about all of this is that you also see her desperation. You see that she is affected by what is happening to her, she isn’t just a stone statue (hehehehe) taking all the hits without feeling anything. She is affected! She has to seek help from people, even when she doesn’t want to, even when it goes against everything she believes in, which is why I thought she was a fantastic character to read about.
The secondary characters were a little more harder to understand and I had a LOT of problems getting behind Jayden's sister, Leila. Leila is the most selfish being ever and a compete opposite to Jayden’s selflessness. I didn’t like her at all but at the same time I felt like we weren’t supposed to exactly hate her but we were also not supposed to love her. It's impossible to even attempt to understand her though! It’s so hard to admire a character who cannot hold their own in the face of a tragedy. Who only thinks about how it affects them and no one else. Who wants to leave their family and run away because that is the easier answer. Leila does all of those things. And the fact that she was the older sister made it a lot harder to understand. I get that she is doing her own thing, living her dream, instead of being held down by tradition but that didn’t mean I liked that she left Jayden to deal with everything. She never took the time out to understand what Jayden was going through. She was the center of her own universe and that bothered the living daylights out of me. Especially when we are supposed to be seeing this ‘sisterly’ bond between them. *shudders*
The romance was also something that I was not entirely sold on. I loved reading about it, but it seemed a little cheesy at times and then there didn’t seem to be a clean transition between the getting to know each other faze and the ‘true love’ phase. I totally ship Kadesh and Jayden as a couple, don’t get me wrong, but I felt that their love was a little unbelievable. I did get used to it though and by the end of the book, I was just as invested in their romance as many other readers and hoping that they would get their HEA.
One of the best things about this book, is definitely the world building. I may not know much about the Mesopotamian world but the richness of the book and the way the author infused so many cultural details made me feel like she did her research and took the setting of her book seriously. There are some books where you might feel like even though the book is set in a different era, it seems like it’s in our world and it was clear that that was not the case in this book. From the way she shows us the traditions of the desert people to the way she builds the world and the just the setting of this world, it’s beautifully done. Kimberley just did a fantastic job. Although I do admit having a map in there would make a helluva lot happier so I could see what side of the red sea we were on and then all those other fantastic details Kimberley mentioned as part of her world building.
The ending was horrible but at the same time it wasn’t. There was yet another tragedy right before the ending but instead of making everything seem hopeless and waiting until the sequel to give us poor readers a smidgen of hope, Kimberley gave us something to cling on. Something to hope for. Although given how little that smidgen was I kind of found myself pitying me because I was so desperate to cling on to something. Although that really does show how invested I was as a reader and can I just have the next book? CANS I?
This was an incredibly emotional read and I would recommend it to you if you know you are a reader who can wait for seemingly long periods of time for sequels. I know that I am going to be anxiously anticipated book 2 so, if you want to join the wait and whine over the injustices of not having sequels be readily available after reading the first books in series, JOIN THE CLUB. ...more
After falling in love with Cruel Beauty last year, I was ready to see what else Rosamund had t***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
After falling in love with Cruel Beauty last year, I was ready to see what else Rosamund had to offer. When I found out she had a new book coming out, and that it would be a retelling of Red Riding Hood, I was over the moon! This book was absolutely, a 100%, worth the wait. I stayed up until 5:30 in the morning finishing the book and I loved every single minute of it. Here are reasons why you should read the book.
1. The fantastic female lead. Rachelle is badass and she is almost an anti-heroine but you cannot help love her and want to cheer for her because even though she doesn't believe it, we know that she is a fantastic human being at heart.
2. Armand. ARMAND WAS SO SWOON-WORTHY and I cannot even. Whoever said good boys finish last? I know I didn't because good boys like Armand are definitely not going to finish last. The thing about Armand is that he is so pure of heart and so good but he isn't helpless. He is confident and knows how to take charge. He is a wonderful human being and I love him.
3. The romance. While the romance needed some more development (in my opinion) I will definitely say that it was one of the more enjoyable ones I've read. Armand and Rachelle do not have a case of instalove and it's so great seeing them fall in love with each other (even if it was a little sudden). They work well together and I just love them, okay?
4. The world building. Given how great it was in Rosamund's debut novel, it's not surprising at all that she put so much effort into developing this new world and it's intricate details.
5. The plot. It's well paced and maybe you'll even pull an all nighter reading the book like I did.
So basically, you should read this amazing book....more
Rashika (is tired)
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