3/26/2022 0 Comments march wrap upOne Moonlit Night by Donna F. Brown (Spoilers) This was okay story. I couldn't really connect to the characters but I liked the mystery behind it. It was an easy read though some parts of the story were slow. I didn't really feel the chemistry between Trace and Dan but I did liked Trace; she was a badass. I did have a few questions such as why didn't Silas's dad moved to a different town especially since with what happened between with his wife and Silas. Since living in the old house where the bad stuff had happened, Silas went to the old house to confront his dad which made the dad be an easy target to Silas. And the whole changing name for Silas didn't really helped him that much since the police figured out his new name. The showdown between Silas and Dan was pretty intense. I liked the chopper part of the fight. Regardless, it was a good read with a good mystery. The Book of Last Letter by Kerry Barrett (Spoilers) I loved this book. I loved the characters; both Elsie and Stephanie were likeable characters though I did had a few questions with Stevie (Stephanie) such as when Finn got into an accident and Stevie didn't even visited him. Like, what?? She should've visited him and see if he was okay instead of being scared and pathetic. Sorry but that just didn't sit right with me. I liked reading more about the "past" timeline than the "present" timeline even though it was enjoyable to see how Stevie was figuring out about Elsie and making her own version of the book. I did had an issue with Jackson (which was in the "past" timeline). Even though it was the old times, his actions and what he did towards Elsie weren't okay but those terrible actions were just brushed aside. Yeah, it was the olden days but there had to be at least some consequences. I also liked Elsie's neighbors, The Golds. They were mysterious and likeable but I wanted to find out more about them. How could they pull some strings for Elsie to go to Ireland? What did Golds actually do? Being agents? I liked the twist with one of the other characters in the present timeline and who Helen was related to. The one thing that wasn't really satisfied was the ending of the present timeline. It was an odd ending that just didn't felt like one. Regardless, this was an enjoyable book. Queen of Frost by Aria Noble This was a really an interesting read and honestly, I don't think I have read anything like it....kind of. It did definitely reminded me a bit like the Divergent even though I didn't read the books, I did watched the movies. The main character, Ember was an interesting one. I wanted to know more about her. There wasn't much about her background but I did wanted to see more of how she tinker things since that's what she does at best. We don't get to know more about Felix and what he does but right after Ember meets him, she's able to trust him just like that... The world-building was cool but I did wish we got more of it. They were only mentions of the Old City and the Cathedral which were related to the plot because of what happened later on but there were unanswered questions such as how did the copters get in there? Why were they damaged? On purpose? And what was Before? Ember slightly explained what Before was but not too much. I'm still unsure what Before actually is. Also with Ember, how did the Queen knew her father? Did Ember's father worked for her? The book raised more questions than solving answers. And Eli was barely in the book until the end when he was necessary. Overall, this book was an interesting read and it was also an easy one as the writing isn't anything too big but rather simple. Second Star to the Left by Megan Van Dyke (Spoilers) This was a hot book, it was filled with a hot romance and adventure to go along with. I honestly didn't expected to read a book about Hook and Tinkerbell as a romantic couple but wow, it was good. I like the plot twist between Hook and Captain Blackbeard, showing that Blackbeard was his father and how the other little boy (which Tinkerbell met earlier) was Hook's brother. That was a cool one. I liked the adventure though I did kept wondering what happened to Lily and the boys with the boat. Where did they went after the battle with the boat? Where did they end up? Nevertheless, I loved the battles with the ships and the final fight with Hook and Blackbeard; that was pretty cool. Overall, this was a fun read with cheesy lines (lol, they were funny) with ship battles, adventures and steamy romance. This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi This is gonna be interesting. There are some mixed feelings into this book and then there are some that are not. I really didn't liked the writing when it was about Kamran, his grandfather and Hazan. I dislike "did you not? How could you not?" etc it was annoying. The dialogue bothered me so I pretty much struggled every time Kamran's scene came along.
Alizeh was alright; I did liked how she trusted more of her instincts but she wasn't my favorite character. I wanted to see more of her personality and more of her magic, being Jinn and all but we got nothing. She just felt flat. In fact, I didn't had any favorite characters; they were ok. Miss Huda greatly annoyed me. Like damn, girl, chill. The romance between Kamran and Alizeh was nothing. Zero chemistry; I didn't feel anything for them. The plot was barely in there and it was moving so slow especially in the beginning. I didn't feel it. I wish we had seen more of the world-building. I liked the ending and to be honest, the .5 goes to the ending because it was cool; there were excitements, mysteries and a new character. But also, the ending was...odd??? I don't know; it didn't feel like an ending. It was abrupt. The book was okay, overall. It wasn't bad but I just wish we got more out of it and the beginning wouldn't be so slow; most of the stuff at the beginning could've been chopped off. And there you have it! March wrap up is done! How was your March wrap up? Did you read every thing you had?
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3/1/2022 0 Comments february wrap upGuardian Into the Light of Day by J.L Meredith Okay, I loved this! This honestly reminded me of Supergirl and Starfire from Teen Titans. I loved the characters and the story. I loved how we got to see Guardian flying to different parts of the world, saving people. There were also illustrations in the book which I thought were so cute. The cover is gorgeous and the writing was easy to read; nothing weird. The romance between Marcus and the Guardian was cute too. Really loved it! The Witch's Book of Spellcraft by Jason Mankey Even though I know most of the things that were mentioned in this book, (I love reading about witchcraft; it's so interesting), I still gave it five stars. I think this book would be great for beginners. It still showed me some of the things that I didn't really know about like with the braids and knots/ropes. That was really cool to read about. It gave so many details on what to do with certain things which was very nice. If you want to get into witch craft, this book is for you. Song of Serenity (Memory's Muse #1) by Brey Willows So, there are parts that I really liked and there are some things that I didn't liked which was why I didn't gave it a five star. (Wow, am I being generous with five stars these days???) I really liked the writing. It was simple but not too annoying. It was easy to read and didn't felt too irritating. I did liked the romance between Jordan and Calliope but I didn't like how most of the times when things were tough, they were basically fucking just to solve the problem. Like, dang girl. Calm. I liked the conflict between Jordan's park and Calliope's temple. It saddens me that people want to disturb peace from such a temple. If things aren't meant to be then it's not meant to be. But they did resolved it eventually. Speaking of the resolve, it was too quick. It didn't really held much tension/complications. It was just Jordan pretty much changing her mind quickly even though she was so stubborn about it throughout the book and then she suddenly changed her mind. I wish the problem was a bit more complicated then a quick easy solve. Like maybe the author could've already get Jordan to have her permits and then start the construction and then Calliope steps in and does something....Idk, just throwing in ideas. Regardless, it was a nice story with a nice world-building and I did liked to read more of Calliope's side of story than Jordan. So, that was pretty much it for February. The month was actually a slow reading month for me which was why I only finished three books plus an audiobook (which I still need to write a review, whoops). I'm still going to finish Mind like a Diamond (which I don't have that much left but I can't say that I enjoyed it. I don't really like the MC or the MC's mother. Like, who leaves her friend like that???) Anyway, next post is will be about March TBR!
1/30/2022 0 Comments january wrap upSisters of the Snake by Sarena Nanua and Sasha Nanua SPOILERS! Yay, I'm back with wrap ups! The last time I did a wrap up was in May 2020 which I guess it isn't too bad? But I did managed to read most of the books I wanted to read on my January TBR but two of them I had to wait because of their releasing dates that came later on in January. Nevertheless, it's so great to finally have a proper TBR. Okay, so! This book wasn't bad. The only thing that kept me from rating higher was that it felt like a Fanfiction which was unfortunate. There were things that bothered me like how didn't Amir, Ria's BEST FRIEND, didn't recognized that Rani isn't Ria? And how Saeed didn't recognized that Ria isn't Rani? And no one in the palace didn't recognized just how different Ria was? Rani was healthier than Ria; how come no one noticed the difference??? I wish there were more reactions of when Ria and Rani 'met' for the first time; they just sort of accepted that they were twins. Ria did kind of freaked out but like, they were twins and they just accepted without knowing how they know nothing about each other? The travelling was a bit off. It took weeks for Rani to get away from the palace to get to the river and then the next, she arrived at the palace a few hours later? How did that happen so quickly? Also the fight with Amara? I'm sorry but that was such a disappointment. It had potential to be the epic battle but it just felt flat. Amara just fell through the Snake Pit and vanished without a trace. The fight could've been better. Regardless, even though this book is a retell of the Princess and the Pauper, I also got strong feelings of Aladdin as well. It strongly reminded me more of Aladdin. However, there were things I liked such as Ria doing research about snake venom, learning more about them. I loved when Rani, Amir and the gang went to the temple. Overall, this wasn't a bad book. I just didn't find the story's happy ending to be believable. Everything was wrapped too nicely for a Fantasy book and I read a lot of Fantasy books to where they had complicated problems to be set up for the next book. Sisters of the Snake does have a sequel which I guess I will read it because I do want to know what happened to Amara. This was still an enjoyable read, though. Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen SPOILERS! So, I don't know much about African mythology so I was interested in reading this because the mythology sounded fascinating. The story was ok; I did loved the setting and the world-building. The writing was great but I had struggles to connect with the characters. I find it hard to believe that Yinka was just able to accept that Simidele was a mermaid in a short time. Same for Bem. They had a few shocked moments about the truth but then later, they sort of accepted that Simi was a mermaid. I wish the chapters allowed more time for Yinka and Bem to actually process the fact that Simi is a mermaid. Nevertheless, throughout the journey, came problems. Because I had no connections with the characters, Yinka's death didn't really affected me that much. It felt too flat and I just didn't really care about it that much. I sort of had a little soft spot for Issa so I was a bit sad when he died too. I found the plot twist with Ifedayo rather enjoyable. It was pretty cool. Overall, this book was still enjoyable with all the adventures they went through and I loved the story telling Simidele had done. FireKeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley Wow, I loved this book! And that cover is stunning! I never seen anything like it. I loved the story that was told in the novel. The mystery and the crime was really interesting. I loved the first half of the story as we saw Daunis's life and her relationships with everyone. Her best friend's, Lily's death, broke me and I felt so sad for Daunis. I loved that we got to see the traditions, the rituals, the culture that was in the book. I'm still upset as to what Grant did to Daunis and he got away with it. That was just not right and gross. And the fact that Daunis has to life with that for the rest of her life without any justice. The ending I didn't expect it at all so I was really surprised as to how it was ended. There are trigger warnings such as death, Sexual assault, abuse, addiction but I appreciate as to how the author handled all those things in a professional way. I truly enjoyed the book and the story that took place. It was such a great read. And that, my friends, completes the wrap up of January 2022! Whoo!! I did had a nice reading month for January and I was pleased with the books I read although only of them really stood out to me. I'm saddened that I didn't get the chance to read Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Ashes of Gold. Nevertheless, let's see what February has in store for us! What did you read this month?
5/24/2020 0 Comments MAY WRAP UPTHE FORBIDDEN WISH BY JESSICA KHOURY Well...this was...I don't know. Is this a joke? I'm sorry but what? How on Earth would the Jinni be female? That just screams a love triangle which is in there. Ugh. The world building was cool but the characters, my God. I hated them lot. I hated Jinni and Caspida wasn't that much better but if I had to like someone, it would MAYBE Caspdia; she had her cool moments but that's it. In all honesty, I just didn't care at all about the characters. Aladdin was terrible. The prince? Forget it. Sorry. The writing is basic so nothing really special. The battle near the end? Wtf? I'm sorry but it had potential. It COULD'VE been so much better. The plot was honestly laughable and you can pretty much guess the plot twists and when the prince 'revealed' some stuff, I just rolled my eyes because it was so obvious and I even rolled my eyes even more when Jinni wondered how that happened. *Sigh* Overall, I just didn't really enjoyed it. Although, Zahra's background was cool, this book was just a mess. NIGHT OF THE DRAGON BY JULIE KAGAWA WARNING: Gore, violence, death (like, lots and lots of death), murder, self-harm (blood magic), war themes, loss of loved ones Ah, the final book of the Shadow of the Fox trilogy is here and....wow. There were parts that absolutely tore my heart and then there were some things I didn't really like.... There were too much action scenes and it was hard to keep up with what's been happening. Literally. Chapter after chapter, there were actions scene (Okay, there were some gaps in between which allowed me to breath but still). Normally, I like action but as I said before, this was too much. The book itself didn't really hold any balance because of the action. Other than the action problem, it was a bit slow paced as well. And as for the way how Julie ended the side characters, it wasn't fair to them. She just brushed it off and moved on. Like, why? They deserved so much better. I wish I could talk more about it but I do want to avoid spoilers for the people who haven't read still. I still liked the characters very much and I enjoyed the growth of Tatsumi and Hakaimono and speaking about relationships, I'm still confused about that relationship. Where on Earth did it come from? Another relationship which I didn't like was between Yumeko and someone else. It wasn't Tatsumi or Hakaimono but something else and you could easily guess who that 'figure' was and I had to roll my eyes at that 'plot twist'. Like, why? Yumeko was honestly fine on her own but then you added that twist? *Sigh* The battle was alright but for being the final book, having only 30 Chapters???? What??? It could've been SO MUCH BETTER if there had been more chapters; the epilogue was a bit satisfying. The plot twist (although I had my doubts but I was still right in the end) was easy to solve. In the end, the final book could've been so much if it had more chapters and less actions and I wished that the side characters were held differently. FOUR DEAD QUEENS BY ASTRID SCHOLTE Wow, what a ride. So, it honestly took me a while as to what was actually happening from the Four Queen's point of view and I was still unsure as to what the comm chips were used for until the end came along and explained everything. I liked Keralie and Varin but unfortunately, not so much about the romance. I didn't feel any chemistry between them so the love between them was really not necessary; I wouldn't mind if they had stayed friends. For a while, I thought Keralie was something to Queen Marguerite and I was sure that Keralie was her (not Keralie being Queen Marguerite but something else) and then this (kind of) random character came into the view and well...where did she come from other than a mention???? Mackiel wasn't really convincing villain and you pretty much guessed about his motives and stuff. (Again, no spoilers although this book came out February 26, 2019 but I'm still not taking any chances). The writing I really liked and the world building was cool and it also held sci-fi. I only wished that the plot twists were kept more mysterious although except for one. I was actually a bit shocked that it happened. A TOUCH OF POWER (HEALER #1) BY MARIA V. SYNDER So, this book was kind of a let down and kind of not. It kinda met my expectations and then, it didn't. So, it had the usually love-hate trope relationships just like in every other book...ugh...WHY! The characters were alright although Avry did took a while to be used to. Belen and Flea were honestly pretty much the only characters I like; the others could've used more character developments, at least in my eyes. Kerrick...I didn't like the way how he hit Avry at first. No, that's an automatic turned down for me. The world building was cute as well as the book. The writing, again, basic. The villain, Tohon, sounded like an amazing baddie but upon arriving him, I was really disappointed at how his character turned out. I was getting excited to finally meet the baddie and then his character just kinda went down the drain. The story was predictable and I don't know about you guys but 'being the last of its kind' is so used up and I'm tired of it. I want something new in the YA for once! Overally, the story was okay. It was a pretty fast read (like, a really fast read) but the story wasn't that much exciting and the ending??? Hello??? I didn't liked the ending at all. It felt blunt and still maybe you might have questions at the end. CROWN OF FEATHERS (CROWN OF FEATHERS #1) BY NICKI PAU PRETO Okay...I might have to change the ratings of this book because I'm still not sure how to feel. I did not like the info dumps. There was so much and it was...wow. Just wow. I hope she doesn't add more to the second book because yeah...this was a mess. I only gave it a 3.5 ratings because it was phoenixes instead of dragons. PHOENIXES!!! AUGH! My favorite creatures! I did NOT like Val at all. If that was the author's intention then job well done. Then, again, the usual love-hate relationship; I used to love that kind of relationship but now it's just...so overused. I did appreciate the one plot twist at the end. I mean, it was obvious but whatever reason, my brain didn't made that connection and it was like 'I'm going to lala land'. Cool. Thanks. I almost didn't want to finish this book. It was sooo slow; especially the beginning. Oh my. I get training is important and stuff but wow. I nearly fell asleep and then I did and I had to re read what happened, lmao. I did enjoyed the world building and the history and the writing was pretty cool. All in all, there were so much info dumps which I wish the author had saved some for the sequel. The growth in Veronyka was well done and I still didn't like Val even after that plot twist. ALRIGHT! We made it till the end! Woot. So, I pretty much had an average read except for that two and a half book *sigh* I really wanted to like The Forbidden Wish...but I'm hoping June's TBR would be a solid one. What are your May's wrap up? Did you enjoyed them?
4/30/2020 0 Comments April wrap upYou know, for being in quarantine, time sure moves quicker but at the same time, slower. I mean, we're already done April. But I hope the warm weather would be enough to kill the virus. Let's get on with the wrap ups! HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROW BY ERIN A. CRAIG This book is about a retell of the twelve dancing princesses which I got excited about. Even though, I don't really know the full story of the original twelve dancing princesses, I do know most of it. Even though I had watched the Barbie version of the Twelve Dancing Princess, lol. This book holds mystery, eerie paranormal atmosphere which I love and that drew me in. I love anything paranormal! I love how the story took quite a dark turn. I really loved the characters especially the little ones. Annaleigh was a fantastic character who didn't annoy me and she wasn't too aggressive and the way how the author managed to capture her was just right for the setting of this book so kudos! I loved Fisher and Cassius was a little meh for me but he was okay though. But the one thing that stopped me from getting a five star was the love triangle. I know...*sigh*. I thought we were passed that? In all honesty, the love triangle didn't felt necessary and also another thing that stopped me from getting the five star was that you eventually figured out who is the actual murderer before you even reached the end of the book. About halfway, I already figured out who it was and the final bits of the chapters kinda dragged on. And I did had one question at the end of the book but it was never answered in the book itself so I assumed it was another....something that had happened to that said character. I loved the writing. The writing was smooth and creepy and it was just perfect! It wasn't chunky; it wasn't all over the place and it didn't had those weird lyrical sentences that I didn't enjoy from other books. Regardless, the author definitely didn't shy away from making all those death scenes and I love how she incorporated the Weeping Woman (which is actually a Mexican legend) but in this book, she was called Kosamaras. Overall, it was still a enjoyable read with great gothic vibes! TO KILL A KINGDOM BY ALEXANDRA CHRISTO Oof, I love...LOVE retells of the Little Mermaid. Of course, the original story behind it is quite tragic, I still love how Disney's version made it. So, naturally, when I heard that this is a retell of the Little Mermaid, I got excited. Unfortunately, it's not what I had in mind. Maybe, I was expecting something different? I don't know. I do love how the author put sirens instead of the mermaid that we see in the Disney version. These sirens are unkind, using their voice to drown sailors so I totally loved that. The thing that lured me (ahaha, see what I did there?? That's what sirens do. Okay, bye) are the sirens and how they rip people's heart (okay, that sounds gruesome, I know) but that honeslty got my attention where we have a siren who supposed to rip out a prince's heart to prove her worth to her mother. I loved the characters except for the Sea Queen; personally, I just never found her evil. *Shrugs*. I loved the interaction between Elian and Lira and Elian's crew. Kye's so funny and I love Madrid! So, I never had any problems with the characters except for the Sea Queen as I had mentioned earlier. The world building was nothing really special just like the story itself. I felt like the world building was limited in some ways even as they set sail with the Saad ship. And unfortunately, the ending was too...clean? Like, everything was suddenly solved just like that and they lived happily ever after; there were no characters' death. It was a war between humans and sirens and there were no deaths. Don't get me wrong; there were deaths from the sirens who got killed from the humans but... come on! But when Elian and Lira fought the Sea Queen, it sort of reminded me how Eric fought Ursula in the Disney's version so that was cool. Overall, I just didn't liked the romance between Elian and Lira. It just wasn't necessary. I mean, they spend so little time and then all of a sudden, they were like I LOVE YOU FOREVER! I mean, at first they were against each other but still, later on in the book...Sea Queen never really had evil intention; she just basically wanted the prince's heart and that's that. Ugh. And the story just wasn't anything special. STALKING JACK THE RIPPER BY KERRI MANISCALCO Man, I wish I had remembered what my very first rating of this book was so that I could compare if my ratings were the same or not. So because this was a reread, I'm not going to spend too much time on this. I love the setting; I mean, who doesn't love London??? I always wanted to go there. I still love Thomas Cresswell and Audrey Rose. And I liked the writing but the one thing that still bothers me as I had read for the second or third time??? (Apparently, Goodreads said I've read it three times in a row which is weird because I thought I had only read *shrugs) and it's that Audrey Rose needs to work on her feminism lmao. Because her way of showing it just failed. And that's all I have to talk about. THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS BY NATASHA LESTER Paris! I love books about Paris! So imagine my surprise that I had picked this book up! But...now I'm scolding myself because this book mentions about war...*sigh*. I keep telling myself that I would never read books about war because they would make me cry so why did I pick this book up? Well...the plot drew me in. SImple, really. I mean, who doesn't want to see someone who wants to make dresses from scratch and who wants to own an atelier and see how the process goes?? It was also really cool how we had dual timeline. One was set in the past and other one was set in present day although when I read the present day, I didn't really like how we automatically got see Stella Designs and how it was so successful. For me, that just took the surprise. The present day was told from Fabienne who is Estella's granddaughter. I loved Fabienne; she was so cute! And of course, I loved the past Estella and the present Estella and I was so sad what happened to her in the present day. I loved everything about this book except for the family structure; I was still struggling trying to figure out who's who since I felt there were so many characters. So, I'm just slightly confused as to who are Fabienne's real parents. I loved Estella's part of the story. I thought that was well done. Tres bien! And I loved how we get to see Fabienne being doubtful whether or not that she might be good enough to carry Estella's legend. The writing was great and I loved Sam and Janie but when Lena came into the picture and she finally met Estella and the two of them figured out a mystery, I thought it was too cruel for the author to do something bad for Lena and I didn't really liked it. Like, wow. Overall, it was a pretty cool book. The settings were nice and I liked how we got to see how Stella Designs was made and how Estella refused to make copied designs and she wanted to make her own with her own ideas. But, I just wish the family structure wasn't really confusing. And there you have it! That's my April Wrap up and I had pretty good reads. Nothing five stars...yet but that WILL happen. How did your April reads went? Did you enjoy your TBR? 3/30/2020 0 Comments March wrap upAs I might've mentioned before, March is already over and we're into April. I hope everyone is staying safe during these hard times. Without further ado, let's get going with the wrap ups. THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE BY SAMANTHA SHANNON Oh my Goodness. This was such a BIG BOOK! Goodness. Big books actually intimidate me and they always take me one month to read. And it doesn't help that I'm kind of a slow reader but as I type, I do want to mention that I am almost done this book; I only have six more chapters and I don't know....part of me just wants to give up already but I'm so close.... Where to start? Honestly? I don't know. It honestly overwhelmed me but I guess with the characters. I absolutely loved Ead and Niclays but I wish we actually have Nicalys being developed more. But the problem was that there were waaaayyy too many characters and it was really hard to keep up with them. I honestly didn't like Sabran; I felt she was ungrateful. I really enjoyed Kit and I was saddened as to what happened to him. Moving on, what also threw me off were the dragons. We were promised dragons but what happened to them? There were only a few scenes of them and then that's it. I was so sad about it because that was my high expectations from this book but we didn't get much time from them. I only picked this book because it sounded promising and the title? I had never seen anything like it. I do appreciate of LGBT representation but this book was just way too long and I honestly feel like having 500 pages would be enough and it dragggedddddd….also, I don't know if this was just me but while the writing was easy, it reminded me of Shakespeare. Overall, it was okay and I'm just waiting to finish to read the final six chapters but I don't know. I just feel ready to give up. THE DEVIL'S THIEF BY LISA MAXWELL I'm so happy that I returned to this world because I really do enjoyed it. I love Harte and Esta and their development. Of course, this is also another big book that I've finished but let's dive right into it. Some things I didn't like was that some parts were slow and dragged. Things would happen and then things would not. And also, I kinda forgot what happened in The Last Magician so it was kind of difficult for me to actually follow through this book so that's my fault. There were a few characters where I thought weren't really needed. However, with the whole Thoth and Seshat, I actually wished we were introduced to them in the first book. Maybe not all of it but just a few mentions or something like that. I mean, finding the Book in the first one was pretty important so maybe, they could've added Thoth and Seshat in there. The world building is still marvelous and we also do jump from 1902 to 1904 which I don't mind. I really enjoyed it and it was a fun to read since I wasn't born in those times. (I mean, obviously) Oh another thing, I really started to like Viola and I'm glad that she got more page time. Overall, it wasn't bad and I enjoyed it so I can't wait to read the third book. SOUL OF THE SWORD BY JULIE KAGAWA Ahh, the second book of Shadow of the Fox and unfortunately, I didn't really enjoyed it as much as I did for the first book. There was too much info dumps so it was really hard to keep and remember them. I still love Okame but I especially loved when he was with Tatsumi. Those two are just hilarious when together but of course, we don't really 'see' Tatsumi. We only see Hakaimono which, in all honestly, seems way too over-powered. I'm sorry. I get it that he is the 'all-star powerful' type thing but it was just way overdone and I was sad what happened to Master Jiro. I'm still wary about Yumeko. She keeps repeating how she has to save the world and what not which I get--really, I do but she IS getting stronger which I appreciate. As I mentioned before, while there is a lot of info-dumps in here, I feel like this book was more of a filler since nothing really happened. Nothing like in The Shadow of the Fox. The ending there was one part in the ending of what Yumeko had done. Like, girl??? Really??? You really expected him to not do it???? Ugh and I'm still confused as to what happened with Okame and Daisuke (erm it was never really mentioned in the first book so where did that came from??) Overall, I was disappointed. Nothing much happened and it was more of a filler book and the ending was alright: it was pretty cool though but I just hope that the third book would light up. THE LAST NAMSARA BY KRISTEN CICCARELLI A BOOK THAT ACTUALLY HAS DRAGONS!!!!! DRAGONS!!!!! I enjoyed it this so much and the world building and I really appreciated the writing. It was really nice. Unfortunately, I didn't like Asha. I felt she was too misguided and just had bad tempered. I mean, I get that what you had been through was bad but that doesn't give you the right to be so angry every single time but eventually, I actually grew to be fond of her sometime halfway of the book and I was able to see through her...anger. I really loved Torwin. He was so sweet and was just a nice easy guy to get along with so nothing bad about Torwin. Jarek was annoying so I didn't really care about him. I was so done with him to the point where I actually wanted him dead and well...something happened towards the end where I actually rooted. Sorry not sorry. And for Shadow? I cried for him. That maybe due to being sensitive every time an animal died (because I hate when animals die) and I just...Shadow T_T I loved the world-building and the old stories were well done but while they were well done, I was constantly asking myself why were the people posioned from the Old Stories every time they read but I eventually got my answer and, it was an okay explanation. Overall, while this book does have cliches like in every other YA novels (a forbidden love for example. That is in A LOT in YA), it was intense and it was well done and I can't wait to read the sequel. Oh, and also, I almost feel like the book didn't needed a sequel (of course, from the looks of it, the sequel is being told by Roa it seems from the sneak peek) but the ending just felt perfect. And there you go! So, again, I didn't have a five star but four star is pretty close and that's good enough for me. How did your March Wrap Ups went?
3/2/2020 0 Comments February wrap upAh, it's this time of the month. I was supposed to do this at the end of February; it honestly helps me be more on track but the last few days at the end of February, I got lazy . Oops. But better late than never, right? Although, March 2 isn't exactly late... and I actually struggled with this because I kinda forgot what I read in February. Thank goodness for Bullet Journaling...anyway, onward with the wrap up! A RIVER OF ROYAL BLOOD BY AMANDA JOY Okay, wow where to start? The culture was fantastic and the relationships between Eva and her mom was well done. I also liked the relationship between Eva and Isa and how they used to be so close but then drifted apart over time. It sort of reminded me of Elsa and Anna from the first movie of Frozen. But with the sister's relationships, I really wish we could've seen more of the past time instead of just flashback of when they used to be close but other than that minor flaw, I thought their relationship was well done. The writing was really nice as well so I enjoyed it but the main thing of this book that bothered me was that it wasn't North African at all but maybe that's just me??? I did enjoy the world building but the magic powers not so much. I felt like I've read the same thing in a different book over again. The ending was actually disappointing with me. I get where Eva is getting from but I really wished it had actually happened. Overall, it wasn't bad. The story kinda felt flat. Like, we would have a battle and then it's over. I wish there were more character development; maybe we would get more of it in the sequel but overall, it wasn't bad. CAPTURING THE DEVIL BY KERRI MANISCALCO I was actually sad that I read the final conclusion in Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I definitely see myself rereading these because I just adored them. However, this final book had its ups and down; some bad way and some good way. I still love LOVE Thomas Cresswell and Audrey Rose even though Thomas was being an ass but that's okay. Something did happened between their relationship with a certain person (this happened slightly in the middle of the book, I believe) actually left me scratching my head because it just seemed so sudden and you're like 'where did that person come from?' and 'how come we JUST heard about her?'. If we had seen her or even mentioned her in the last three books, then maybe I wouldn't be really confused as to what her background is but, I just wished we had more information about her so that it wouldn't be 'all of a sudden' thing. The thing that also bothered me was that there were way more ROMANCE than the actual mystery which sucks. I mean, I'm all of romance (most of the time) but I don't like how the romance was taking up nearly the ENTIRE BOOK, ugh. Also, I felt the book felt flat in some parts; I just really wished we had more of the murder mystery and the killer felt obvious. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the series and I can't wait to reread the series. ALL THE STARS AND TEETH BY ADALYN GRACE Alright folks, take a seat because this one was just... a wild ride! It was fresh, it was cool and the cover is just damn gorgeous and it was about mermaids, people. MERMAIDS! Well, there's also pirates and a stowaway princess but MERMAIDS AHHH!! I REALLY loved Bastian and Ferrick. At first, I didn't really liked how Amora treated Ferrick. Like, girl, no but I eventually kinda warmed her halfway of the book. I really LOVE LOVE the world building, ugh, goodness me. And there were A LOT of Pirates of the Caribbean moments: at least for me. I don't want to give too much spoilers but similarly, think of Will Turner being cursed to the Flying Dutchman and Jack Sparrow ( ahem, sorry. CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow) fighting the Kraken. And I so loved Vataea. She was amazing and I loved her so much. The only thing that made me scratch my head was the fact how Amora didn't really knew what was going on in her kingdom. But other than that, I enjoyed this book and the writing and can't wait for the finale! Also, if you're looking something that is similar to Carnval, then this book is for you! A HEART OF FIERCE AND BROKEN BY BRIGID KEMMERER WARNING: Whipping, child imprisonment, mentions of rape/sexual assault, death of loved ones (in past and present), animal cruelty, slavery, murder, slurs, [cr*ppled], whipping of a child, animal deaths (for food) and torture. Okay...okay...this book! The trilogy that I'm gonna adore! We already have a title for the third book. I'm gonna go cry now *sob* like it was there for a while but regardless... The thing is though, the one thing what I don't get is people complaining about this being in Grey's POV while there's no Harper scenes; just a few in the beginning and the endish. Like, hello??? it's GREY'S POV for a REASON. This story is about Grey! Of course, there's not gonna be Harper! Harper was in the first book and her story was done. I was happy to see Noah and Jake; those two are so cute. But the relationship between Rhen and Grey. *Sob* it just had me crying and after that ending, ohmigoodness I just wanna cry. Also, something that bothered me was the actions that Rhen had took in this book. It was just...off about him. I actually would never thought he would those certain things but he did. Overally, I enjoyed it and can't wait for the third book and I know, I'm gona be a hot mess for it.... SENSATIONAL BY JODIE LYNN ZDROK Sensationallllllll is hereeeeeeeeeeeee! In all honesty, I didn't even KNOW there was a second (and final) book. I actually had to go back to the first book to remind myself what happened (I basically read the ending, lol) I do enjoy Nathalie and how she had grown from the first book and we got to understand more of her abilites. I do feel upset about what happened to her aunt which was an unfortunate event and I really wished it didn't happened. The mystery didn't feel...mysterious. I did feel the murdering happening just went...dragging a bit and it wasn't necessarily to have forty something chapters. (I was actually getting impatient to the point where I thought it was done and then I realized that there were a few more chapters, lol) Oh, the one thing that I also really loved was learning more about Paris's History during the late 1880s and early 1890s (maybe?). I don't really know much about Paris during those era so it was really cool to learn more about it! Also, I don't quite see this book to be a duology, to be honest. I really hope Jodie would return to this world to do a final book to be trilogy. Whoo-hoo! We finally came to the end! Huzzah! Overall, I really did had a fun time reading my February TBR. It wasn't anything like January because that was just bad. I don't think there was ever a time where I actually rated a book five-star. Well, maybe, except Catwoman by Sarah J Maas. That book was cute. Regardless though, there were some ups and down but I really did had a fun read!
What were your February TBR? Did you enjoyed them? 1/16/2020 0 Comments January wrap upSo, this year wasn't exactly how I planned it out to be. I mean, it's 2020. New books should be fantastical, right? Although, the ones I read weren't new; some of them were old like in the 2014, 2017 and so on. Even though, we're halfway point of January, I'm actually nearly done my TBR and I'm impressed! Go me! Without further ado, let's see what was on my tbr! THE LAST MAGICIAN BY LISA MAXWELL So, I ended up liking this book although I was actually going to give it a three star rating but I ended up putting it as a four star. It wasn't bad: I loved the idea of time-travelling although there were times where I felt slightly confusing, sometime halfway of the book and especially about the Brink. Either I'm just dumb, over-thinking it or it's just really confusing. The characters were alright although the main character...I'm sorry. I can't stand her, Esta. At times, I'm like okay, she seems like a cool chick but halfway of the book, I was annoyed by her. Harte wasn't any better. And the ending for the battle, it just dragged. I literally kept rolling my eyes, lmao as I wondered when the book will end. The plot twist at the end about the Professor, I already guess as to who it was as the Professor explained about everything and I'm like 'I already know who it is' so it wasn't that surprising unfortunately. And last thing was the friendship between Dolph and Esta. I wished Lisa had explored that more but didn't which was really disappointed. Overall, it wasn't a bad book but it was nothing special. RED RISING BY PIERCE BROWN To be honest, I don't even remember what happened in this book, lmao. Oh my God...I never hated a book in my life (well okay, maybe the Twilight saga and the Caraval trilogy even though I brought the second book and hoping that it would better) I'm sorry. I just hated this book. I literally had to skim through the pages because I couldn't take it anymore. The first half was okay. I was like 'oh okay. This looks cool' but now I'm like 'I want this book to end'. The setting was really nice; the world-building. But the characters; I felt no connection to them. Darrow was annoying, I'm sorry. Like whatever he does, it happens because he's so perfect. He didn't had the hardships, nothing! Everything just happened to be his way. Ugh, I was just so done. The only reasons why I didn't DNF'd was because I only had a few chapters left in the novel so might as well just finish it and it felt such a HUGE RELIEF when it was finally done. Ohmigoodness. The book was boring and I said before, I was struggling to get it through. And countless of times, I've asked myself: "Wait so Darrow isn't really dead?" because that part got me confused or I'm probably dumb and it was actually explained.... I don't know. And then, there were these fancy terms that I didn't even know what they meant. Frysuit, Helldiver, Tinpots, clawDrill...whatever. Where they explained? Probably and I didn't paid attention to it so I guess that's my fault but either way though, those terms left me scratching my head as I tried to understand what they mean. And it really reminded me of The Hunger Games...except Hunger Games was better. I don't know you guys. I just hate this book which means, I'm going to end my post here because even writing this review makes me angry. And as obvious, I won't be continuing this series? I don't know. I just don't care. THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY BY ALIX E. HARROW This book wasn't bad but it wasn't good. I didn't mind the writing. I thought it was well done but the storyline didn't really worked out for me: I just felt like something was lacking and the book was slow, at least for me. It took a while before things got picked up. Locke, the character that was supposed to be evil just fell flat for me. He didn't sound like a villain but ended up being a douche, I don't know. I just didn't really like him. January was okay; she wasn't anything special but I did love Jane so I guess that's a first but in all honesty, I only cared about the dog, Bad. The amount of bad things (see what I did there??) he had been through, I just felt so sorry for the little guy. Like, leave him alone! I did like the idea though and the magical realism with a book inside another book so I thought that was pretty cool. This book may remind you of Narnia so if you like those books then you may like this one. GIRLS OF STORM AND SHADOW BY NATASHA NGAN Well, this book was sort of disappointing. So, this review might be hard to write because I just...didn't really like it. I didn't like Wren in the first book and I still didn't like her in the second book. I still hate Lei even though I found her alright in the first book. Like, the both of them constantly said to one another that they promised they won't keep secrets from each other. And what does Lei do? Keep secrets from Wren. Being a hypocrite, Lei? However, I did like the LQBT representation so I that was neat and a nice touch but too bad, the chemistry between Wren and Lei didn't do a thing for me. The magic that the first book had, it was gone. There was no magic in this book: it didn't really held me captivated unfortunately. The world building was still okay. There were still some odd puzzles such as the Steels.. Were they a part of the story or what? We didn't really see them much. But, I did love Nitta and Bo. Bo was hilarous so I really liked him. The Bird Clan, the one who lived in the clouds-I forgot the name-I thought they were sassy. Or maybe that's just me. Also, just a warning: this book is for mature audience since there are violence, slavery, absue, rape and animal cruetly so I do advise to be cautious about reading this book if you're sensitive to these topics. Regardless, as we reached the ending, I was scratching my head at the ending because it just didn't feel complete and it wasn't until then that I realized that this book is going to be a trilogy which is a good thing because the ending didn't felt complete. ESCAPING FROM HOUDINI BY KERRI MANISCALCO So...this makes me sad.... I love the books and their storyline. The second book, Hunting Prince Dracula I adored it so much. But this one kinda felt flat to me, I don't know. I hated that three love triangle was introduced and it honestly wanted me to slap Audrey Rose. Like girl, get your priorities right. And I hated how her characterization was. Like, really?? I don't understand how her character just got dropped and screwed up so bad. I did love the idea of the Moonlight Carnival and the ship. I thought the creepy atmosphere with all the murderers was a nice touch with the Carnival so I really liked that. But the ending still left me scratching as well as the murderer. I don't understand the murderer??? It didn't felt right and I don't know, I just hated who the killer was. Even the epilogue wasn't satisfying: it just felt short. And in all honesty, I wanted to see more of Houdini: we didn't really see much of him. This book wasn't much up to my radar like how the second book was. I'm hoping the fourth and final book would redeem itself. As I'm writing this conclusion, I realize how harsh I am with these books. Wow. Maybe this year's Resolutions is to be less harsher lmao. Overall, I had a pretty average read for January which is not bad, I suppose. I hope next month would be better.
How did your January reading went? |
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