Ruthless magic| Non-spoiler review

Title: Ruthless magic

Author: Megan Crewe

Published: May 30, 2018

Rating: Rating: ♛♛♛.5

Goodreads

In the contest to keep their magic, the only options may be die… or kill.

Each year, the North American Confederation of Mages assesses every sixteen-year-old novice. Some will be chosen. The rest must undergo a procedure to destroy their magical ability unless they prove themselves in the mysterious and brutal Mages’ Exam.

Disadvantaged by her parents’ low standing, Rocío Lopez has dedicated herself to expanding her considerable talent to earn a place in the Confederation. Their rejection leaves her reeling—and determined to fight to keep her magic.

Long ashamed of his mediocre abilities, Finn Lockwood knows the Confederation accepted him only because of his prominent family. Declaring for the Exam instead means a chance to confirm his true worth.

Thrown into the testing with little preparation, Rocío and Finn find themselves becoming unlikely allies—and possibly more. But the Exam holds secrets more horrifying than either could have imagined. What are the examiners really testing them for? And as the trials become increasingly vicious, how much are they willing to sacrifice to win?

The first in a new series by USA Today bestselling author Megan Crewe, Ruthless Magic combines the magic of Harry Potter with the ferocity of The Hunger Games alongside a poignant romance. Fans of Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, look no further for your next urban fantasy fix!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I will be honest about the fact that it took me some time to get into the story, but after a few more pages, I was totally in for it. The story alternates between two perspective; Finn Lockwood and Rocío Lopez. The contrast shown between the two characters was very interesting since we could see two different perspective of the same world. In fact, Finn wants to prove himself without having his family name hanging on his head while Rocío has to prove to everyone that her family name does not mean that she cannot be powerful.

The determination of the characters inspired me so much. They were willing to do anything to prove themselves and I find that so admiring. The pace of the book was quite slow at first which is why I was confused in the beginning, but once the tests started, I was hooked. At some moments in the book, it was even keeping me at the edge of my scene, wanting to know more about what would happen. The horrible things they have to do and endure kept me reading to know more about those characters.

The writing was easy to understand and well-written. The author made a great job at describing the world and I could imagine it clearly in my head. Also, the magic system was so creative and exciting. The competition aspect of the book was what sold the book for me. I just adore whenever characters have a clear goal and would do anything to attain it.

I would like to add that I was quite confused at times about whose of point of view I was reading since it does not specify. For the next book, I would like that it is more obvious or that it is mentioned from which characters are we reading.

The book was filled with action packed adventure for people who want to start reading YA fantasy. Although, having read many books with the same setting and genre, it did not stand out for me. I was not entirely blown away by it, but it is definitely a good book to start with if you want to start with YA fantasy.

History is all you left me| A story worth crying for

Title: “History is all you left me

Author: Adam Silvera

Edition house: Soho Teen

Published: January 17th 2017

“When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course. 

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart. 

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.”

After reading “More Happy Than Not” by Adam Silvera, I knew I had to pick up his other books as soon as possible and after picking this one up, I do not regret a single thing.

Adam has a way of introducing those characters that you can’t help but care about within just a few pages. I could not believe how fast I got attached to Griffin (the main character) and Theo (which is kind of surprising since he is dead at the beginning of the story).

The flashbacks between the present where Griffin is dealing with his grief and the past where we learn more about their love story is utterly heartbreaking. I found myself sobbing even in the happy moments and feeling that kind of emotion confirms the brilliance of this book. You know the kind of books that blow you away and when you finish, you just sit there staring at the ceiling? Well, this is exactly how I felt after finishing “History is all you left me”.

The only “problem” that I had was that in the middle of the book, things seemed to be dragged out and the pace was too slow in my opinion. The beginning as great, but after that, it seemed to be more about personal growth than memories or adventures the characters go through.

Overall, it is an excellent book and I highly recommend it to people who love that roller coaster of feelings while reading a book.

What did you think about this book if you read it?

Daily Quotes| A book that destroyed me

Quotes from ‘History is all you left me’:

“Time doesn’t heal all wounds. We both know that’s bullshit; it comes from people who have nothing comforting or original to say.”

“I feel like a rock being skipped through the ocean—pain, relief, pain again, relief again, eventually destined to sink.” 

“I’m blown away by how happy you make me. Thank you for being there for me when I’m stupid enough to think I’d rather be alone.” 
— Adam Silvera (History Is All You Left Me)

 

February TBR 2018| Mostly re-reads

My TBR keeps growing and I’m probably never going to finish all my books, but here is my TBR for February.

I usually don’t plan what I’m going to read (probably because I’m such a mess) for the month, but I decided to give it a try this month.

Since I’m new to this, I did not exactly know how many books I should plan to read. Let’s be honest, I am going to read books that are not on my TBR and not finish the latter, but since everyone is doing it and it seemed to work (sort of), I’ll give it a try!

So the books on my list is:

ASSASSIN’S BLADE AND THRONE OF GLASS(REREAD)

I have been planning to reread the throne of glass series so for this month, I will be reading the two first books of the series (well the #0.5 and #1).

I am still excited to read this series again even though I know what’s going to happen. There’s just something magical in rereading your favorite series. I also planned that this year, I will be rereading a lot of my old series that I love. I already finished some of them in the month of January like The Selection or To all the boys I’ved loved before.

HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME

This is my current  read. I finished half of it and I already think that this book is perfection. Seriously, the mixture of happy moments and the sad ones are the best. The flashbacks and the emotions they make you feel is amazing. Love it! And I definitely recommend it.

HALF BAD

I have not started that one yet, but I am very intrigued in this world. I heard a lot of things about it and cannot wait to dive into the book. I am most excited to discover the world and what the politics are made of.

UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT

I had this book on my TBR for more than two years now and I have finally decided to give it a try and see where it goes.

What do you guys think about those books? Have you read any?

Nevernight Review| By the Gods, Bless this book

Title: Nevernight

Series: Nevernight series

Author: Jay Kristoff

Published: August 9th 2016

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Rating: ♛♛♛♛♛

“Never flinch. Never fear. And never ever forget”

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

This book contains mature content; you have been warned.

For me, that book was pretty much everything I dreamed of in a book. Mia is willing to go to an assassin school where she will learn the greatest techniques to avenge her family.

It was fascinating to see a perspective that was surrounded by revenge. I thought that the characters were very well-built and the way they interacted with each other was utterly wonderful. For once, the characters were not perfect; they did not have perfect look with perfect hair and all that nonsense. I found myself being able to relate a lot to Mia throughout this book. I feel like young adult book tend to always have characters with perfect body and face which is not representative of the reality at all; and you might add that we read books to escape that reality, but I found it refreshing for once that the characters were not with the flawless faces.

Another thing I deeply loved about this book is the way the characters are being taught at school. I do not know about you, but I love books where the characters go to school to either learn magic, the art of death, etc. And this book did not disappoint on this aspect; I found myself wanting to know more and more about this amazing world and how the politics of this society differs from ours (I mean..they do praise the god of death).

One thing I found myself having trouble with was the writing at first; I am not sure if it got better afterwards or if I simply got used to it back then, but at the beginning, the writing and the world building was not that easy at all. The book is written in a very poetic way that might make your head swoon and make you want to stop reading, but for the love of god, do not stop reading because you’ll really be missing out.

Lastly, if anything stopped me in the beginning to read/buy this book was the price since you might have noticed is not cheap, but to be honest, I do not regret at all since this story is moving and simply breath-taking.

Did you hear about this book before? What type of genre interests you the most?

I had to include a part where I rant about everything I absolutely loved about this book.

First of all, can we talk about the school (although I really wouldn’t call it a school). Just the steps to get there got me sweating. So they get inside this mountain (which awfully reminded me of ACOTAR to be honest) and there is this ceremony where we first learn about Cassius (which for half of the book, I called Cassian before realizing that this is not ACOMAF…yeah sorry not sorry) and I immediately knew there was something with him. But he died at the end and we were left with some unanswered questions…sigh. I actually thought that he was an interesting character and I see no use of killing him since he could have helped Mia a lot; and someone picked up on the fact that he called her sister? If I’m not mistaken, it was also mentioned a second time in the book.

Second, the classes they had to take were so intense. Like can you imagine going to a school where your teachers are trying to kill you!? And seeing your friends die if they are not smart and good enough. Loved the school but I probably would have died while climbing the mountain so yeah.. not really for me.

I am not going to mention Tric because my heart is actually not ready to explain what happened yet. Hopefully, some sort of magic will bring him back in the second book…hopefully (I am not in denial phase…nope).

The last thing I want to talk about is the betrayal of Ashlinn. I was actually devastated when we found out that she was planning on taking Cassius and that she was the one who killed Charlotte. I was hoping that the friendship between Ashlinn and Mia was true and that they would fight for each other since it is rare to see that in fantasy books. And I think that she could have been pardoned by Mia (after some time of course), but she totally ruined it by killing Tric. My poor Tric…

Here are some quotes from the book :

“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You’re a daughter of the words. A girl with a story to tell.” 

“You’ve got the look of a girl who’s no stranger to the page. I can tell. You’ve got words in your soul.” 

“The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.” 

“You’ll be a rumor. A whisper. The thought that wakes the bastards of this world sweating in the nevernight. The last thing you will ever be, girl, is someone’s hero.”

“Iron or glass? they’d ask.
She was neither.
She was steel.”

That is it for my review of Nevernight and I hope you liked it.

What was your favorite moment of the book?

Do not forget to put a spoiler alert in the comments before writing spoilers.

Talk about responsibility…

So, it has been more than a year since I last posted something on my blog and I am truly sorry about that. I do not have any excuse for not keeping my blog updated for this long except that I got a huge reading slump. And by huge, I mean I got it for about a year and a half. A week ago, I started reading again and I cannot express how much I relieved and happy about that. In short, I will be posting more regularly again and hopefully, reading slumps are behind me.

Just if some of you guys want to know, Beauty and the Beast movie made me want to read again after this long time. Something about watching Belle get so stunned by the library made me want to read again. And for that I am grateful.

What was your longest reading slump? And how did you get out of it?

Crooked Kingdom Review/Discussion| My favorite duology

Title: Crooked Kingdom

Series: Six of Crows series

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Published: September 20th 2016

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Rating: ♛♛♛♛♛

“Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return.”

Since this is the second book of the series, don not read this review if you haven’t read the first book. You can read my review on Six of Crows here: Six of Crows| Review

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope.

As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.

“I would have come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

I have been anticipating this book months before its release and as soon as it came out, I read it. To be honest, I had no doubt in my mind that this book was going to be amazing after what happened at the end of book one.

Before diving into this book, I didn’t know if it was possible that it would be better than the first book, but I fell in love all over again with the characters. I just admire their courage and what they would do for each other. It is just amazing knowing someone would literally die for you. It is just fantastic.

I don’t really want to say anything else because it will spoil people so if you haven’t read the book, do not read further.

“Have any of you wondered what I did with all the cash Pekka Rollins gave us?”
“Guns?” asked Jesper.
“Ships?” queried Inej.
“Bombs?” suggested Wylan.
“Political bribes?” offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. “This is where you tell us how awful we are,” she whispered.”   

It is no mystery by now that I absolutely live for those characters and this plot. I was scared that we wouldn’t see Inej until the end of the book, but that wasn’t the case. I was so pleasantly surprised when Inej was returned to her crew and they planned what they were going to do. It was painful getting through her chapters at the beginning though. Seeing all she had to go through and the fact that she thought Kaz and the others weren’t going to rescue her, just broke my heart, but I was so happy to see that at the end, Kaz opened up a little and he and Inej would maybe end up together.

On a positive note, Wylan and Jesper are now officially a thing. I remember shipping since the beginning. I mean, all the flirting and there was chemistry ever since the beginning. My heart was overwhelmed when I learned that they were going to stay together at the end. In this book, we learn the backstory of Wylan and it just makes me love him even more. I just love how Leigh Bardugo writes her characters, they all have a back story and those stories make you feel even more connected with the characters.

Also, let’s not talk about Matthias because I don’t think I’ll ever be over it. Nina is probably one of the best characters I ever read. She has been through so much but her personality is still joyful and cheery and I just love her for it. It shows that no matter what happened, you can still be happy and that it is just so inspiring.

There is so much more but I won’t write a too long post for this book (mostly because I don’t know how to do this book justice).

This or That tag|It’s been so long

God, it’s been a long time (around three months) since I’ve last posted something. The reason is because I was in this huge reading slump and didn’t want to post or write anything. I’m still having trouble reading but it’s getting better so hopefully, it will pass. To motivate myself I decided to do a tag. Hope you guys like it. So I was tagged by TheBookMermaidBlog and you guys should check hers out. Here are the rules:

Rules

• Mention the creator of the tag (Ayunda @ Tea and Paperbacks)
• Thank the blogger who tagged you
• Choose one of the options, you don’t have to tell the reasons why you chose that but you can also do them if you want to.
• Tag (10) other people to do this tag to spread the love!

Reading on the couch or on the bed?

I mostly read on my bed…actually, I almost do everything on my bed, homework, research…

Male main character or female main character?

I really don’t mind as long as I love them and as long as they are not annoying, but I’ll go with male main character since most books I read is from a female’s. It’s always nice to see what’s happening in the head of someone from the other gender.

Sweet snacks or salty snacks?

Salty snacks.

Trilogies or Quartets?

I think I’ll choose quartets for this one. The bigger, the better.

First Person POV or Third Person?

Third Person POV (especially if it’s in multiple POVs).

Reading at night or in the morning?

I always read at night since I’m not really a morning person.

Libraries or Bookstores?

Bookstores. I just love buying books.

Books that make you laugh or books that make you cry?

Umm…both? I just love books that make you feel something, wherever it’s tears or make you laugh.

Black Book Covers or White Book Covers?

Black covers

Character Driven or Plot Driven?

Character!! Always the characters.

I tag:

Books at Dawn

Amanda 

ShannonPaigeWaters

AdveturesBookishGirl

KellysRamblings

And anyone who wants to do it!!

Champion Review/Discussion| An must-read ending

Title: Champion

Series: Legend

Author: Marie Lu

Published: 5th November

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Rating: 5/5 stars

It has been a while since I posted and I apologize. I didn’t really have time to do anything really. In the last week, I only managed to read one book (Champion) and guess what? I’m behind my goodreads goal but that’s okay. I’ll try to catch up after, especially on Christmas break. So yes, I finished the Legend trilogy!!! I’ll be reviewing it and discussing it after. Do not read this review if you have not read the previous books.

He is a Legend.

She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

Rating: ♕♕♕♕♕

Honestly, I think that I liked Prodigy more than Champion. Just because in this one, there was a lot of June and Day moments (not as much as in Prodigy). And as you all know, I’m a romantic junkie and they are one of my favorite OTPs. But overall, I really loved it.

Like always, Marie Lu’s writing was stunning and she always manages to make me see the whole scene inside my head. I forget that there are words and just dive into the story. Only a few writers can do that but Marie Lu is definitely one of them. Her writing is so easy to get into and so familiar. She also knows how to keep a reader hooked until the very last page. Her story is astonishing in every way; the characters (one would think that they are actually real), her plot (it was so action-packed that I had to pause at certain times, in a good way) and this series has been more than I ever expected it to be.

To be honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of June in the first book but as the story went, I fell in love with her and Day. I don’t think I’ll ever forget them because they are a part of me now that I’ll never be able to recover from.

If you haven’t read Champion yet, I really recommend it to you because it’s an amazing finale.

What do you think about this book? Please leave a spoiler alert for the people who haven’t read the book yet.

So this spoiler section is more of my feelings about the ending and I won’t go into too much details about the other aspects of the book because it’s been quite a while that I read it and I forgot to take notes while reading it.

So, the ending…

First of all, I am really happy that Day and June didn’t die. Thank the gods for that. But, the ending still hurt. I can’t believe that Day forgot June. It wasn’t the most unpredictable thing that could have happened, but I honestly didn’t see it coming. I think that I was so concentrated on the fact that Day might die that I didn’t see the possibility that this would happen. Anyways, it’s not the most uncommon thing to happen in Ya books but this particular one hurt the most because it was the end of the book. Everything was going great and they just succeeded to not go to war and you think “awn this is going to be a happy ending”, but then Day loses his memory….

What do you think about the ending?

Do you agree that because you read a lot, that means you have no life?| Discussion

Where did idea came from??

I have been toying with this idea for a long time. Lot of non-readers think that because you read, it means you have no life…? Well, do they mean that they don’t the time to read because they prefer doing other things that are considered as having-a-life?

What do I think??

Well, like the saying goes: a person who reads lived a hundred lives whereas a someone who doesn’t has only one. Honestly I love reading (duh) and I don’t think that I’m “wasting” my life or time doing the thing that I love. Others might want to do other things than reading but I don’t.

And yes, maybe we are not the kids that always go to parties and everything but that’s because we prefer diving in the story and probably living something far better through a book. I really don’t understand why people say that you have no life if you read… They don’t realize that for me, it’s the kind of life I want to live in.

I know this was a short discussion, but right now I’m really busy with school and all. I want to also apologize that I’m not posting regularly anymore. Hopefully, next week I could start again