Nichole

My new adult/contemporary Binge continues. There are a few authors that a lot of people talk about when it comes to New Adult and Elle Kennedy is one of them. Plus with my love of hockey, this book was a must. I actually enjoyed it more than I expected. The romance was a great slow build and the inevitable breakup before they get back together was done well.

This book was slow to start, but once I got into it and really got to know the characters and their plight, I adored this book. Jay Kristoff has this very descriptive elegant writing style that at first can be off-putting. However, once I got used to it in the first 100 pages or so, I grew to really enjoy the level of description.

The only other thing I wish to comment on is how complete this book felt. I assume it was done this way in case the rest of the trilogy was never published, but I have no idea where the story and the characters will go after how Stormdancer ended.

I don't have much to say about this one except this series is becoming one of my guilty pleasures. There is something so great about reading a contemporary after all the fantasy and sci-fi books I read. I'm really enjoying this little contemporary/new adult fix I've been on.

As soon as I got home from work today, I sat down and started this book. I had to take two breaks, one for dinner and another because I was getting to wrapped up in the story and needed a breather. For me, this book was even better than the first. This installment brought in Reed's POV and I feel like we got to know so many more details and secrets about the Royals. It was still just as ridiculous as the previous book, but kept me entertained.

That being said, the cliffhanger in this book was even worse than the first. We were left with two huge bombshells that have me dying for Twisted Palace.

I've never read a Katie McGarry book before, but now that I have I really would like to read more. The writing style is perfect for contemporary books and I loved the switching between the two character's POVs.

Oz and Emily couldn't be more different at the start of this book. I connected with Emily right away when it came to her fears and her controlled life. Oz was the complete opposite. I really liked watching their story unfold and figuring out all the lies that everyone had kept from them.

For me the best character was Olivia, I loved how brutally honest and to the point she was. She wouldn't put up with anyone's BS and I loved that about her. She is in the middle of a biker gang, but still somehow puts herself at the top of the hierarchy.

I started this book by listening to the audiobook, but I couldn't actually read the book that way, the narrators just did not allow me to read and grasp the story. Their voices were too aggravating for me. They may not bother other people, but for me it kept me from getting through the book. Instead, I just read the book and had no issues getting into the story and becoming engrosses with the characters and their world.

This book was slow to start but then it picked up and I was totally invested in the story and the characters. The ragtag group of friends in this book is amazing. They are each their own character and all fit together. I also really loved Melissa Grey's writing style.

As for the plot and story arc, it was interesting how this book answered so many questions, but it also left some still to be answered in the rest of the trilogy. But this book definitely has a complete arc. I look forward to The Shadow Hour and seeing what Echo, Caius, Jasper, Dorian, and Ivy get up to next!

This was a really entertaining book, until I got to the end that is. But regardless, a nice quick read to break up all the fantasy I read. The writing was not the best, but the story and the characters made up for it.

There won't be a review for this. Just know, I love this world and these characters and I'm a mess right now.

So this book. I do not know what I was expecting going into this, but I am not really sure it matched the expectations. I am not a fan by any means of the House of Night Series. Eventually I want to read them all, but I am in no rush. For me, the downfall to that series is its length and mediocre writing. This book reminded me of the same things that irk me when it comes to HoN.

The writing in this book left much to be desired. There is nothing spectacular about it and the plot and characters are not exciting enough to make up for it. I cannot pinpoint exactly what it is about the writing style that does not work for me, but I just know it is not my cup of tea.

As for the actual story and characters. I did not fall in love with any of the characters. Alek and Eva have this ridiculous insta-love stemmed from fate and destiny, but we do not even see any of that romance. It was such a strange concept for me. We have them talking about love and needing each other after only spending like an hour together. I was expecting this book to be a paranormal romance and what I got was set up of a journey with a whole lot of destiny and backstory.



Speaking of backstory, the one thing I really enjoyed with this book is the level of backstory we got on the Furies and why Alek and Eva have to save Tartarus. I also enjoyed the sisters fussing over Alek. As for plot this whole book was a drawn out forty-eight hours or so. Parts that were supposed to be suspensful and thrilling left me indifferent. I was not pulled into this story and what was happening. Typically when a character is being threatened and hurting you want to see them get better and have that small voice in the back of your head that questions if they will really make it out of this okay. I did not feel any of these thoughts or feelings at any point in this book. I just did not have a connection with the characters that comes with experiencing the story.

I have the sequel Scarlet Rain also checked out from the library, but I am not sure I even want to continue with this series at this point. But on the other hand, these are short books, so it is not a huge time commitment to read them. However, I am not at all invested in this story. I am a little curious to see what happens to Tartarus but I am not entirely motivated to continue.

3.5 Stars

I really enjoyed this book it was a refreshing YA romance with a tiny, and I mean tiny, amount of fantasy. I really wish we had gotten more world building and explanation of the lashed and where they came from. But this is a Wendy Higgins novel so I expect romance to be at the forefront.

The relationship between Aerity and Paxton actually didn't bother me as much as I thought it was going to. I think Wendy did a good job of having it slowly grow into something while still starting out with that fire.

There was a huge chunk of this book that was boring to me. The hunters were doing the same thing day in and day out and there was not enough going on to keep me fully invested in the story and the characters.

Overall, this was a good “light” read. It was light in the sense that it was not the typical high fantasy, intricate magic system I have been reading lately. This book is definitely not for everyone especially when it is marketed as a fantasy and definitely leans more towards romance centric rather than the fantasy aspect.

I look forward to seeing how Wendy Higgins ties everything up in the next book since this is one of those rare YA duologies.

While I really enjoyed this book, it did not live up to the first one for me. I really enjoyed Tarver and Lilac's story but did not feel as drawn to Jubilee and Flynn. That being said I did appreciate all the extra knowledge and information we learned about the whispers and where the come from and what they are doing.

I really wish we had gotten more of Tarver and Lilac but I get that these are companion novels not really sequels. Flynn and Jubilee were quite the pair though. This is another great example of true hate then love relationships and I really enjoyed it. Plus it was not over the top. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner do a great job of having the action and story take the forefront in the book with the romance being a side character.

So I rushed to finish this book before The Darkest Magic came out thinking I would pick The Darkest Magic up right away but I should have know. The book has been out for a week and a half and I have not even started it.

This book was very interesting. We have two coinciding stories being told that are both interconnected in a way that is still mostly unknown. These two stories are told from four different characters point of views. You have Maddox, Farrell, Becca, and Crystal. One story is in modern day Toronto and the other is ancient Mytica. It was fascinating to read this book and see how Morgan Rhodes was connecting the two very different worlds.

This book gave a lot of great backstory on Mytica and how they go to where they are in the Falling Kingdoms Series and I really loved the extra information. As for the Toronto story, I have been to Toronto only once in my life but I knew exactly where a lot of the landmarks Morgan Rhodes uses were. And I loved that she was descriptive enough and used names that I recognized, it just added to my investment in this story.

I definitely have a favorite character after this book but based on what happened I do not want to say who it is. I will just keep that to myself and see what said character does in the next book.

It is way to late to formulate an actual review and true thoughts on this book, but I will say that I loved it. It was fully of amazing comebacks, snide remarks, and great sarcasm. I basically read this book in one sitting so you know I enjoyed it.

But do not go into this trilogy expecting an amazingly written story. It is full of amazing remarks and sarcasm, but it is completely unrealistic and has many aspects that are completely not plausible. This is a good book to read when you need something quick to get through and something that is over the top and obnoxious.

I do not know where to begin with this book. I do not think anything I write will do it justice. This book had everything I wanted and needed. There was so much to fall in love with.

I'm a huge fan of Victoria Schwab and everything she has written, this book being no exception. She just has this way of writing that pulls you right into the meat of the story and the world. So Verity is an amazing setting. From the first page I was obsessed with learning as much as I could about the city and its strange inhabitants. Victoria did a fantastic job of giving us the information about the world as we needed it. The story unfolded in a great way that keep me hooked all the way through. For me there was very little down time at all, I was eager throughout the book to see what was going to happen next.

In terms of the characters, we have two completely different but also the same people. Kate and August were a great pair and I loved watching their chemistry unfold throughout the book. There is so much keeping them apart but they are thrown into this war.

Victoria Schwab has this way of making you think everything is going to be okay then throwing a total curve ball at you. At the very end of the book you get what I assume is monsters rising in Prosperity and Alice reviving who I'm also assuming is Sloan. This is going to make for a great conclusion to the duology. I'm really interested to see how Schwab gets August and Kate back together for this one.

I don't even know where to start with this review. I really enjoyed the action and pace of Red Queen and I was really eager to see where Aveyard would take this series moving forward. That being said I honestly am beyond disappointed. This book had none of the excitement or intrigue of Red Queen. More than half of the book was all this information and planning. And yes it was important information but there had to be a better way to present it to us.

As I got closer to the end, I figured there had to be something exciting coming and we would get this explosive conclusion making us impatient to get our hands on the next book. But that did not even happen. This book probably had one of the most anticlimatic important deaths I have ever read. Two fairly major characters died and it just happened. Plus that explosive exciting cliffhanger ending I was expecting, I predicted that at the beginning of the book when this whole thing started.

Obviously I'm very frustrated with this book especially when the first book was so enjoyable. I'm really nervous about what is going to come next and after finishing Glass Sword I'm not even sure where I stand with the series as a whole. I'm tempted to reread Red Queen to see if my enjoyment of the initial read would remain after a reread. I have preordered book three and right now that is mostly because I'm a completist and want the whole set rather than my need to see what happens next.

I finally finished this book after reading it for two months. I ended up listening to most of this book on audiobook because of my eye surgery recovery but that was perfect because it is read by Anderson and Gloria themselves.

This book was an amazing foray into Anderson but also Gloria's life. This book is told back and forth between Anderson and his mother in the form of emails. While it is back and forth between the two it it still feels very much like you are reading a novel. I loved reading about various aspects of both of their lives and I loved how personal this book felt. This book was truly about a mother and a son and their relationship.

4.5 Stars

When I finally finished this book, I then proceeded to internally scream nope in my head repeatedly. I knew we were in for a crazy ride at the end of the book, but I was not expecting it to be anything as extreme or unexpected as it actually was. I was not at all prepared to read those last few chapters.

For me this book started off really slow, it was not until right before the tournament began that I really connected with the plot. That being said this was still an amazing and strong sequel. I'm still amazed every time I finish another Victoria Schwab book. She has slowly become one of my favorite authors (even if I have only read four of her books).

February is so long away I have no idea how I'm going to patiently wait to get my hands on A Conjuring of Light. It is going to be a long wait. This would have been a five star book if it were not for the slower start.

Um... So I basically just finished that book in one sitting.



I have no idea what took me so long to get around to reading the trilogy. I always hear such amazing things about it. I was in love with the world for the first half of this book, then in the second half I was on the edge of my seat, frantically reading to find out what was going to happen next.

I will definitely be reading the rest of this trilogy, hopefully sooner rather than later. I would love to finish this trilogy so I can read Six of Crows before Crooked Kingdom comes out in September.

I may or may not write a full review once I have had real time to digest this book and everything that happened. But do know I absolutely loved it and it is definitely a new favorite!

nope nope nope nope. Can it be May 2017 so I can have book 3 please?

I've completed another series this year. This is number 4.

In terms of the actual book, I'm honestly super disappointed. It is no secret this series has had its ups and downs with me. However, after finishing Blue Lily, Lily Blue, I really thought we had turned a corner. I know I'm in the minority here, but this book just left me so unsatisfied. There was all this buildup leading to the end and now I feel wholly unsatisfied.

I still really love these characters and Maggie's writing, but this plot is still all over the place for me. Yes, Maggie did a great job tying everything together that we have been slowly unraveling throughout the entire series. However, at some point there is a finite number of directions and strings you can add to the story without getting into a tangled mess. This book definitely teetered over into the tangled mess arena for me.

I feel like this is such a negative review for a book that was mostly enjoyable. But my thoughts are conflicted. I loved what happened with our characters and other characters that we go to know more about. But in terms of the story, this book was a regression after Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

It is no secret that I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I love the writing and the characters, but I've always felt very “meh” about the story and plot. I've just never connected with the story and the direction Maggie Stiefvater takes the story.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue started out the same way as the previous two. I loved reading about these characters I've come to love, but I had no interest in their quest and the story. For me, this series is a character driven story. I'm reading this series to get to know them and “interact with them”. I love the sass, the teasing, and the ease of Blue, Gansey, Adam, Noah, and Ronan's eclectic relationships. They are this misshapen conglomerate of people that work so well together. While they may not always see eye-to-eye, we know they rely on each other.

This series takes place over a very short time period and in this installment the summer is ending and school is beginning. I really wish we had gotten more scenes of Blue and the boys at their respective schools. Aglionby has always fascinated me and I really wish we could have seen more.

This book took a really interesting turn about 300 pages in (rough 100 pages remaining). I started to become really attached to their quest and what they were trying to do. It took almost three books, but I'm now fully invested in this series. It is about more than just the characters now. I also want to follow them on this quest to Glendower.

This book had a lot of heartache. There was so much sadness and I'm now even more scared of what is to come in The Raven King. I'm also very glad I already have The Raven King in my possession, because the ending of Blue Lily, Lily Blue is not something you want to sit on, having to wait to see what happens next.

This is a super long review, but basically for me this was the book that made me fall in love with this story completely. I still would not consider this a favorite series, like many others do, but I now understand the unconditional love people have for this series. I get the devotion to both the characters and the story. It just took me a while longer to get the story part.

For me, this one wasn't as good as the first. I fell in love with the characters and the story in The Winner's Curse. In The Winner's Crime, I was looking forward to more character development, but more importantly more political intrigue, planning, and deception. I feel like many aspects of this were lacking in this installment. And that is not to say this was a bad sequel, it was an amazing one. For me however, it just did not live up to the high expectations I had.

I love how fast I can fly through these books. In terms of my ranking of this series, book two is still my favorite, but this one is definitely second. I really liked Cage and Eva's story.

I enjoyed this book so much more than The Raven Boys. I feel like in this book, I really got to know each of the characters more and I really got to start making predictions about what is to come.

While I have made a few small predictions, I still have no idea where this story as a whole is headed. I know I am only halfway through the series so there is a lot of story left, but I'm still very unsure of the overall direction.

This book started and ended with secrets and I really, really liked that. It was great parallelism that tied the book together. That being said, there was also quite the cliffhanger at the end and I'm very curious to where this leads us for Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

4.5 Stars

Horrible cliffhanger, I need to know what happens next. Luckily I have The Heart of Betrayal already and can find out ASAP.

This book had such an interesting concept with the lack of information given to the reader. We knew that an assassin and prince were after Lia and we knew they were named Rafe and Kaden, but you do not find out until the latter portion of the book who is who. I will embarrassingly admit my guess was wrong. I definitely have a favorite guy right now and since I always choose wrong, I'm assuming I will be left annoyed when she finally does choose.

I really enjoyed the writing in this book, it was amazingly well done. I also enjoyed the folklore and quotes at the beginning of every chapter, they added to the story and the world. Since this book was written where we did not know the true identity of two of the characters, I applaud Mary E. Pearson's ability to write and let us learn about this characters without slipping in who they are. There were so many times where I thought we would finally find out, but the story progressed in a way that it was not necessary to disclose the information yet.