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Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (Passenger #1)

This journey is only the beginning...

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Pulled back through time to 1776 in the midst of a fierce sea battle, she has travelled not only miles, but years from home.

With the arrival of this unusual passenger on his ship, privateer Nicholas Carter has to confront a past that he can't escape and the powerful Ironwood family who won't let him go without a fight. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value; one they believe only Etta can find.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by an enigmatic traveller. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta from Nicholas, and her way home, forever.

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken Publisher: Hyperion Source: Unedited Reading Copy won at Between the Covers YA Fan Event, 2015 Reading Time: ~9.5 hours Rating: 1.5/5

It's over. It's finally over! After 6 months I've finally finished reading Passenger. I'm so excited to start reading something new again! Honestly, Passenger is one of the most tediously long books I've ever read. I literally had to force myself to finish reading it and I'm not sure why I didn't just give up on it. I guess I'd hoped that it would get better at some point, that I would see in it what so many people have loved, but I never did. Or I at least never saw more than glimpses of it.

I have to admit that the world that Passenger is set in, in which people are able to travel through time through portals, is quite interesting. Alas, the way it was written and how we moved through it just left me bored after every chapter. Etta's quest to find a powerful time travel object to save her mother accompanied by the brave and handsome Nicholas is an exciting premise, but it just completely fell flat for me. I found almost all the chapters to be too long, without very much happening, and filled with details that I just didn't care about.

I didn't like Etta pretty much right from the beginning. She struck me as impulsive and thoughtless, at least during the first few chapters maybe of the book when everything starts to go wrong for her. Passenger is so detailed but there is very little insight into Etta's thoughts and it seemed to me that she rushed straight into whatever action she took with zero consideration for anything. This settled down a bit once Etta became less confused about what was happening to her, but following that I just couldn't connect with her.

I enjoyed the chapters from Nicholas's point of view marginally more than Etta's, but they were often shorter and there were a lot fewer of them. I'm not sure I can say I liked him, he's a good guy but other than that he just didn't make me fall in love with him the way he did Etta. I didn't care at all about the romance between them. They are quite obviously attracted to each other straight away, but their relationship builds so so slowly to the point where I just wanted them to kiss already and get it over with so I could stop reading about them thinking how it would never work between them.

I'd expected more from Etta's time travelling. I'd hoped it would be an exciting adventure as she travelled through portal after portal to different times and places. But there were only a few moments that I actually found interesting and the rest was just over detailed and left me feeling bored. The only parts of the book I actually almost enjoyed were when people were chasing them or trying to kill them or we were learning something new that didn't take pages and pages and pages to get to the point.

I just think that Passenger could have been so much better if it had been shorter and focused more on Etta's quest. There is one chapter towards the end, a whole fifteen or so pages, in which Nicholas is lying bed recovering/trying not to die from a (stab?) wound. Etta comes to visit him once, they have a romantic moment and she tries to convince him to continue fighting. That was the entire chapter. Nearly twenty minutes of reading about him lying in bed!!

I feel like I must have read a different book to everyone else because I have no idea what people loved about Passenger. That being the case, if I've convinced you that Passenger isn't a book for you (or maybe you've started it and just don't want to finish it) but you'd still like to know what happens at the end I will gladly spoil it for you!

Sophia—whom Etta leaves behind when she ~runs away to find the astrolabe—has actually been following Nicholas and Etta throughout the entire book, just waiting for them to lead her to the astrolabe so she can destroy Cyrus Ironwood with it. So, Sophia kidnaps Etta when they're finally close to the astrolabe while Nicholas is recovering from his wounds so she can get it without his interference. But of course it's not only Sophia and the Ironwoods who are after the astrolabe, the Thorn family is too, and posing as some Ironwood guardians a couple of Thorns turn on Sophia and Etta and take the astrolabe for themselves. This causes a big change in the timeline and Etta ends up orphaned from her time and disappears back to whenever things are still the same? Nicholas—who is not fully recovered from his wounds yet but came to protect Etta anyway—then meets Rose—who has escaped from the Ironwoods keeping her hostage, and who it turns out is the person who shot Alice—and he agrees to go after the Thorns to retrieve the astrolabe while she attempts to locate Etta. Rose also confirms that Henry is Etta's father and that Nicholas's brother is probably still alive. Nobody dies.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend Passenger. Even though lots of people love it I just didn't. It could have been really exciting and fun to read but I found it to be too long and mind-numbingly boring. I want to say that I definitely won't be reading Wayfarer, but I've just read the description and "They cross paths with a mercenary-for-hire, a cheeky girl named Li Min who quickly develops a flirtation with Sophia." that has me wanting to suffer. Plus, since it's only a duology I could get the ending by only being bored for one more book. Despite that, I probably won't be reading Wayfarer, let's be real.

Rating: 1.5/5

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The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts: Review & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts blog tour! Check out my review, visit the other stops on the tour, and make sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post!

True love can’t be strategized.

After book blogger Vivian Galdi’s longtime crush pretends their secret summer kissing sessions never happened, Vivian creates a list of safe crushes, determined to protect her heart.

But nerd-hot Dallas, the sweet new guy in town, sends the mission and Vivian’s zing meter into chaos. While designing software for the bookstore where Vivian works, Dallas wages a counter-mission.

Operation Replacement Crush is in full effect. And Dallas is determined to take her heart off the shelf.

The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts Publisher: Entangled TEEN Release Date: 6 September 2016 Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Reading Time: ~5.5 hours Rating: 3/5 Stars

Review

I wanted to read The Replacement Crush because I haven't read anything cute and purely romance-y in a while and because the main character, Vivian, is a book blogger. At the beginning of the book, Vivian gets her heart broken by a sleazy guy, but instead of swearing off love completely she decides she's going to find someone "safe" to replace him with, someone who won't break her heart.

The Replacement Crush focuses heavily on Vivian and her mission, and of course, Dallas. I was a little disappointed to not get to read more about Vivian's friends, however, this is Vivian's story for a reason, and it's a pretty good one. Her mission to find a good replacement crush is mostly a complete failure. When she meets McNerd hottie Dallas, she is instantly attracted to him, and so naturally she decides he cannot possibly be her replacement crush. It was fun to read about the two of them arguing and getting to know each other throughout the book. Some of my favourite moments were when Dallas was trying to get Vivian to admit to her feelings for him, he could be so coy and yet so obvious at the same time.

Vivian and Dallas get along well and the connection between them felt very natural. However, to me, Dallas seems like one of those characters who is too perfect. He does make some mistakes throughout the book, alongside the many that Vivian makes, but otherwise, he is everything Vivian could possibly want in a guy. But then again, The Replacement Crush isn't supposed to be a truly realistic story of love, it's just a fun romance, so this is only a thought I've had since finishing reading, not something that made me enjoy it less.

I think my favourite thing about The Replacement Crush, aside from the romance, was Vivian's bookishness. She writes short, fun book reviews for her blog, Hunkaliciousheroes.com (sadly not a real site), helps her mom in her bookstore, Murder by the Sea, and hosts a weekly romance book club, The Lonely Hearts Club. The book includes a few of Vivian's book reviews and I really enjoyed reading them, although I'm not sure if they're for real books or not. The members of Vivian's book club are a lot of fun, and it reminds me of why I wish I was in a book club, too.

There was only one part of the book I really didn't like. Jake, the character who broke Vivian's heart at the beginning of the book, gradually becomes more and more abusive and violent towards her. His behaviour was obviously in the book to add more drama, I just think it was wrong for The Replacement Crush. It got very serious, with Jake not just threatening but literally being about to rape Vivian if others had not intervened. The Replacement Crush isn't a very serious book, so I don't think it should have included such a serious topic.

I couldn't possibly review The Replacement Crush without mentioning Star Trek. There are so many Star Trek references, as both Vivian and Dallas are Trekkies, and there is a quote at the beginning of nearly every chapter. As someone who's never watched any Star Trek at all, it was a bit annoying at first, but gradually I got used to it. I thought it was fun and a little quirky, especially when Vivian started having conversations with Spock in her head (and sometimes out loud).

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Replacement Crush. Vivian and Dallas are cute, and she has a lot of great, supportive friends whom she has a lot of fun with. While I had a few issues with it, unless they're the kind of things that put you off, I'd say The Replacement Crush is worth reading. I definitely recommend it for when you're in the mood for a relatively easy, fun, cute, romantic read.

Rating: 3/5

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Lisa Brown Roberts

Lisa Brown Roberts still hasn't recovered from the teenage trauma of nearly tweezing off both eyebrows and having to pencil them in for an entire school year. This and other angst-filled memories inspire her to write YA books about navigating life's painful and funny dramas, and falling in love along the way.

Her almost forever home is Colorado, though she occasionally pines for the days when she lived within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean. Her house is full of books, boys, four-legged prima donnas, and lots of laughter.

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Gamescape: Overworld by Emma Trevayne: Review & Giveaway (INT)

I'm super excited to welcome you to my stop on the Gamescape: Overworld by Emma Trevayne blog tour! Check out my review, visit the other stops on the tour, and make sure to enter the giveaway to win a signed hardback copy of Gamescape: Overworld!

The planet is dying. Centuries of abuse have damaged the earth beyond repair, and now all the authorities can do is polish the surface, make the landscape look pretty to hide the disease within. Two prominent yet mysterious businessmen couldn’t fix it, either, but they did something even better. Together, they invented Chimera, the most complex and immersive virtual reality video game the world has ever known. The Cubes in which Chimera is played quickly became a fixture of this landscape: part distraction, part hospital, and almost wholly responsible for holding up the failing world economy.

Miguel Anderson is also dying. He isn’t the only one who plays the game–everybody does–but Miguel has more reason than most: When players leave their Cubes for the day, the upgrades and enhancements they’ve earned for their virtual characters leave with them. New lungs to breathe poisoned air, skin that won’t burn under the sun are great and everything… but Miguel, born as broken as the earth, needs a new heart–and soon–if he wants any hope of surviving just a little longer.

Then the two Gamerunners announce a competition, with greater rewards and faster progression than ever before, and Miguel thinks his prayers have been answered. All he needs to do is get picked to lead a team, play the game he’s spent years getting good at, and ask for his prize when he wins. Simple, really.

At first, things seem to go according to plan. Mostly, anyway. Inside his Cube, with his new team–including his best friend–at his back, Miguel begins his quest. He plays recklessly, even dangerously, for someone whose most vital organ could give up at any moment, but his desperation makes him play better than ever. The eyes of the world are on him, watching through status updates and live feeds, betting on his chances. With greater rewards, though, come greater risks, and the Gamerunners seem to delight at surprising the competitors at every turn. As he ventures deeper into a world that blends the virtual and the real to an unsettling degree, Miguel begins to wonder just why the game was invented at all, and whether its stakes could be even higher than life and death.

Gamescape: Overworld by Emma Trevayne The Nova Project #1 Publisher: Greenwillow Release Date: September 13th 2016 Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia Reading Time: ~6 hours Rating: 4.25/5

Review

Wow! Gamescape: Overworld went so far outside my expectations, in both a good way and a weird way. I wanted to read it because I enjoyed one of Emma Trevayne's other books, Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times, and wanted to see how her YA work would differ from her Middle Grade. But wow, I hadn't expected to enjoy it just as much as I did. It hooked me in from the very first page, with its gaming themes and a main character who I grew to care for so much, plus a puzzle I just couldn't solve.

In Miguel's dying world people's one escape and hope at a better life is playing Chimera. A virtual reality game in which they can be rewarded with real life biomechanical improvements for completing levels. To be fair, I think if Chimera weren't a virtual reality game and it didn't have such amazing rewards, it would be a pretty standard game. However, I still enjoyed reading about Miguel playing it. Especially when the competition started and Miguel has to play a slightly different version of the game, where the stakes are much higher than ever before. Those chapters especially were intense and fun to read because the ~gamer in me loved how different each level was from the last and because the consequences for getting things wrong were so high for Miguel and his team.

I hadn't expected to care about Miguel quite as much as I did. From the beginning, we know that he has been playing Chimera for years with the hope that someday he can get far enough into the game that he's able to win himself a new heart. I don't want to give away what happens, but on at least one occasion I ended up sobbing because I just felt so heartbroken for him. He's lived nearly his whole life knowing that his heart could stop working at any moment, yet he's still so full of hope and determination.

I can't say I particularly liked or disliked most of Miguel's team. I did enjoy his friendship with Nick, though, they've been best friends since they were kids, so their well-established relationship was a lot more interesting to read about than the others. I honestly just didn't trust Leah, I don't think there was any particular reason for it, I just didn't. But that made reading about her growing relationship with Miguel not enjoyable because I was constantly questioning why she was doing everything and what she really wanted from him. Maybe I just didn't connect with her or understand her very well. I did kind of like Grace, but aside from her intelligence and antagonism we didn't get to know her, or Josh, all that well. Not that it really mattered, it just meant that I cared more about Miguel and Nick (and wished that Anna, Miguel's girlfriend, had been a larger part of the book).

As I became more and more invested in the book, I started to wonder why the Gamerunners (the creators of Chimera) had decided to run the competition in which Miguel was competing. I loved the Cutscenes, short chapters from the points of view of the two Gamerunners, that gave us insight into everything that was going, while also leaving everything a complete mystery. There were so many whys and hows that just kept me hungry for more. Even now, though, having finished Gamescape: Overworld, I'm still not 100% sure about why the competition was held. I have a few inklings but I'm hopeful that the next book will more thoroughly explain it all to me. And if not, I may need to reread Gamescape: Overworld to figure it out!

My mind still isn't made up about the ending, though. I'm not sure if I think it's great or if I think it's too weird. Maybe both? I believe it could be possible to guess the ending before you get there because once the twist of it was revealed I realised that it wasn't completely out of nowhere. However, it was still so unexpected to me. Definitely not the direction that I thought Gamescape: Overworld would go in. Still, I'm eager to read the next The Nova Project book and find out where things will go from here!

I’d definitely recommend Gamescape: Overworld if you are a bit of a gamer yourself, or just if you enjoy reading YA science fiction. It’s an exciting book with quite a unique storyline and world, and I loved it so much more than I could have hoped!

Rating: 4.25/5

I received a copy of Gamescape: Overworld via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

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Emma Trevayne

YA sci-fi/cyberpunk writer. Fan of words and music and chocolate. Represented by Brooks Sherman of FinePrint Literary Management. My first novel, CODA, will be out Spring 2013 from Running Press Kids, and its sequel, CHORUS, will be released the following year.

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Top 10 TV Shows I Started Watching this Year

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. It's been a while since I've done one of these, so it's a bit weird that this list isn't going to be very book related, but I watch a lot of TV so it's a pretty easy one for me to do.

I considered doing my top 10 favourite shows but I have such a hard time picking favourites! Maybe I'll attempt that some other time though. I also would have liked to do 'ten new shows coming out this Fall that are on my radar', but even though I watch a lot of TV I haven't had a lot of time lately to find out what new shows will be coming out. All I know for sure is that I'm looking forward to Class! (I don't actually even know when it'll be on though....)

Today I'm going to be listing the Top 10 TV shows I've started watching since the beginning of 2016, in chronological order. Looking back through my watch history on TVShow Time tells me that this year I've started watching 26 new shows, which is both wonderful and awful. I'm always telling myself that I'm not allowed to start watching any more new TV shows, but there I am, at least two or three times a month, starting something new. So, here's the 10 new shows I've enjoyed most so far this year.

The Shannara Chronicles

I mentioned The Shannara Chronicles in some of my All the News posts last year (x, x) and I'm really glad that I decided to start watching it. Based on the books by Terry Brooks, I love the world that The Shannara Chronicles is based in. Not only that, The Shannara Chronicles has made me ship 3 characters together for the first time! I think Amberle, Eretria, and Wil have such a great dynamic when they're all together and even though I'm pretty sure it will never be, I can't help but hope that by some miracle they all end up together in the end. I also love the opening credits, I even bought the song (Until We Go Down by Ruelle) on iTunes!

Crashing

Crashing is the only show to make it on this list that has already been cancelled. I am severely disappointed that this is the case because I really wanted to get to know its characters better. Well, to tell the truth, I was mostly only watching for Sam and Fred's relationship because they're adorable and stupid (in a good way), but I also enjoyed Melody and Colin's relationship, too. I wish that someone would pick it up and make a second season, but I, unfortunately, don't have my hopes up. It's an interesting comedy though and since there're only 6 episodes it's a good one to watch if you don't want a huge commitment.

Superstore

I was a bit iffy about watching Superstore at first, I thought it might be too silly, or if not, at least the kind of show that would get cancelled. But now I think it's just the right amount of silly. I love that it's got such a diverse cast, and that there're 2 Asian characters, and that 1 of them is Filipino! I think seeing Mateo speaking Tagalog was the first time I'd ever seen anyone use my mother's language on TV and it was honestly beautiful, even if I couldn't understand what he was saying.

Shadowhunters

Do I even need to say anything about why Shadowhunters is on this list? If you've watched it you know how great it is! I loved coming home on Wednesday afternoons to watch Shadowhunters while I ate lunch after work and I really really cannot wait for season 2! I need more Malec!!

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

I watch Arrow and The Flash (and Supergirl), so, of course, I was going to start watching this as well. It took me a little while to get into Legends of Tomorrow, but I eventually came to love it. I'm definitely a Leonard and Sara shipper so I'm really upset by the end of the season, but I'm hoping season 2 can somehow fix things???

UnReal

This is another show I was iffy about watching at first. I'd seen the posters for it with the actors standing naked behind TVs and that alone put me off it. But my sister was really interested in watching it so I gave it a go with her. (Plus, Freddie Stroma, aka Cormac McLaggen, is in it.) I absolutely love the show (and Rachel) now, the drama and backstabbing and lies and manipulation are so good and I can't wait to see what happens season 3!

The Catch

I read a description for The Catch that said it was about a female private detective and that pulled me in straight away. It turns out it wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting, however, I've still really enjoyed it. Possibly it's due to Shonda Rhimes? Producer of two of my other favourite TV shows, Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder. That makes me think I should also start watching Scandal, but since it's already 5 seasons in I'll put it off for a bit longer.

Good Morning Call

Good Morning Call is so cute! I love how overdramatic it sometimes gets and the romance is just perfect. I really really hope there'll be a second season because I need more of Nao and Uehara being adorable!

Nathan For You

The reason I started watching Nathan For You is this clip. I haven't quite finished watching season 2 because I'm watching on Stan, which doesn't have season 3 yet, but I think it's hilarious. It's a great show to watch erratically and when I can't really be bothered watching something complicated.

New Blood

I saw the poster for New Blood online and was like "what's this show with the two cute guys?". Episodes of New Blood are nearly a full hour long, and could possibly feel slow to some people, but I was hooked from the beginning. I loved seeing Rash and Stefan's relationship evolve. They're both impulsive and I loved watching them try to get out of the crazy situations they got themselves into because of their inexperience. I don't think the show will go there, but I'd love it if their relationship was explored in a more romantic way in season 2. I also really hope that there will be a season 2 because I need to know what happens next!

Hopefully, this list doesn't give away how much of a TV addict I am? A couple of other shows that didn't quite make the cut, but that I've enjoyed nonetheless, include Billy & Billie, Not Safe For Work (2015), Terrace House (the season that's on Netflix), Mum (from the creator of one of my absolute favourite shows, Him & Her), Witless, and Dead of Summer (I actually started writing this list before I watched the season final, had I already watched it Dead of Summer might have actually made it up there).

Have you been watching any of these? What's your favourite TV show that you started watching this year?

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Review: A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes (Spirits and Thieves #1)

The turn of a page will open the portal from our world to Mytica’s past.

Crystal Hatcher, modern-day Toronto: Crys must solve a deadly mystery after witnessing the shocking event that leaves her little sister, Becca, in a coma.

Maddox Corso, ancient Mytica: Maddox is torn between his own grave troubles and those of a stranger when he’s visited by the spirit of Becca, a strange girl from another world.

Farrel Grayson, modern-day Toronto: When the enigmatic leader of the ultra-secret Hawkspear Society enlists his help, Farrel starts to question everything he thought he knew about family, loyalty, and himself...

Ancient magic has brought these young people together. Base desire may rip them apart.

A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes Publisher: Razorbill Source: Library Reading Time: ~6 hours Rating: 3.5/5

A Book of Spirits and Thieves is an enjoyable addition to the Falling Kingdoms universe. I love that it brought together modern-day Toronto and ancient Mytica, and gave us more history about a world I've grown to love. Even though I can't say I really care about most of the characters in A Book of Spirits and Thieves, I'll definitely still be continuing this spin-off series.

So, obviously, my favourite thing about A Book of Spirits and Thieves is the extra details we get about Mytican history. Markus, Eva, Cleiona, and Valoria are all characters we've read about in the Falling Kingdoms series and I just loved getting more of their backstories! Even though it's in the past, and probably won't have much affect on the future of the Falling Kingdoms series, I'm eager to find out as much about this world's history as possible (and to spend as much time there as I possibly can!).

I found the story in A Book of Spirits and Thieves to be a bit lacking. I didn't even realise when I'd read more than half the book because it felt like not all that much had happened. So I wouldn't say A Book of Spirits and Thieves is action-packed, however, I did find it very easy to read. Even though it didn't feel like much was happening, I was still turning page after page to find out how things would end. And towards the end is when things finally do get quite full on. It left me excited to continue the series and to finally read Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms #4)!

We read from three character's points of view in A Book of Spirits and Thieves—Crys, Farrel, and Maddox—but I can't say that I think any of them was my favourite. I did like them all, but I didn't really connect all that deeply with any of them. Crys spends most of the book trying to figure out what happened to her sister, Becca, which I respected, but I can't say I really liked her until she totally played Farrel when he thought he was playing her. I started off liking Farrel, he's a bit of bad influence, but because of his involvement with the Hawkspear Society I eventually wanted him to fail. I'm very torn about liking him, so hopefully by the end of the Spirits & Thieves series I'll be able to like him unreservedly again.

Maddox is probably the most interesting character of the main three and it's his story I most want to see developed further in The Darkest Magic (Spirits and Thieves #2). Since he's the only one in Mytica it's through him that we learn more about its history, and he is also the main way we get to know Becca. His relationship with Becca is pretty cute, but their romance isn't a focus of the book, especially since Becca is only a spirit in his world. Becca was probably my favourite character in A Book of Spirits and Thieves, possibly followed by Adam, Farrel's younger brother. We don't get to know either of them very well in the book but hopefully we will in the rest of the series. Despite suddenly being brought to Mytica as a spirit, Becca handles her situation very well and is even calm enough to help Maddox. I like that she helps him to believe in himself and his abilities, and stays positive even though she's trapped in an unfamiliar world and can't do anything to change that.

While I don't think A Book of Spirits and Thieves is the best book about the world of Mytica and beyond, I enjoyed it as an addition to the Falling Kingdoms series, and can't wait to read its sequel, The Darkest Magic. I recommend reading it if you've enjoyed the Falling Kingdoms series so far, or if you've wanted to read the Falling Kingdoms books but haven't yet, then I think this is a good introduction into the world.

Rating: 3.5/5

Check out my review for Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes (Falling Kingdoms #3)

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Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows #1)

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he’ll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court (a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage (who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward (and spend it!)

Kaz nees a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done – and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they might just be unstoppable – if they don’t kill each other first.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Publisher: Indigo Source: Library Reading Time: ~9.75 hours Rating: 4.75/5

I have a feeling this review is going to be very difficult to write, considering that I read Six of Crows sporadically over the last month* and a bit. That wasn't because I wasn't interested though, quite the opposite, I think Six of Crows is amazing! I love everything about it: the characters, their relationships, the action, the twists, the heist. All of it kept me enthralled and wanting to read more.

Of course, the reason I wanted to read Six of Crows is because I love Shadow & Bone. I was a little worried because I had seen some negativity directed towards it, but the draw of more adventures in the Grishaverse was too strong. I'm so glad to have finally read Six of Crows, and I think I might end up loving this duology more than the original trilogy. Six of Crows has something that Shadow & Bone didn't: Inej—I love her so much!—and Kaz. Don't get me wrong, Alina is great (and I love the Darkling!), but Inej and Kaz are two characters who just had so much more for me to connect and empathise with. Both have dark/unhappy pasts that have brought them to a point where undertaking this deadly heist seems more like a way to freedom and fulfilment than a suicide mission.

It's obvious from the beginning that Inej and Kaz have feelings for one another, but that neither knows what do with them or how the other feels. I loved watching their relationship develop and seeing how who they are and what they need affected it. Kaz especially wants to show no weakness, but time and again his feelings for Inej affect his judgement and actions. There is one scene, towards the middle-end of the first half of the book, that I found very shocking and brutal, in which Kaz tears a guy's eye out for hurting Inej. Thankfully, that is the most violent moment in the book, I found the rest of it to be relatively tame.

The other four characters in the book took a little longer to grow on me, but eventually I came to care about them all as well. Nina and Matthias are from opposing sides of a war between Grisha and the Fjerdan hunters, known as drüskelle, who would see them all enslaved or dead. These two have a history that we learn about slowly, one that makes us question whether either of them can be trusted. I was never quite sure where Matthias's loyalties were because, while he cares so much for Nina, he is also honourable and dedicated to the drüskelle cause. I loved reading about them fighting and flirting, their mistrust and their unity.

More so than Nina and Matthias, I enjoyed reading about Jesper and Wylan. At the beginning of the book they've basically just met, so we get to watch their relationship develop from Jesper annoying Wylan (because he already likes him and wants his attention?) to them genuinely caring about each other. I seriously cannot wait to read about how their relationship grows in Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2)! Perhaps even more so than with Inej and Kaz because they're so much cuter and more flirty! (Inej and Kaz could totally be cute too if they figure stuff out, I just can't really imagine it.)

The action in Six of Crows is pretty much nonstop, making this nearly 500 page long book a breeze to read. As I've said, I did read it rather erratically, however there was never a time when I picked it up and felt like I no longer cared about what was going on. Everytime I started a new chapter I was reabsorbed into the world in which Kaz and his crew are attempting to do the impossible. Every step along the way there was a new challenge for them to overcome and I was always worried that each setback would be their last. I loved the intricacy of their planning and all the different components that had to come into place so that they could successfully infiltrate the Ice Court.

Whether or not you've read the Shadow & Bone trilogy I would recommend reading Six of Crows. The two, while set in the same universe, can be read without each other. There are a few things in Six of Crows that will hold more significance if you've read Shadow & Bone, but I'm pretty sure it's easy enough to follow along without it. That being said, I also recommend reading Shadow & Bone for its own sake, because it's really great, too!

Rating: 4.75/5

Check out my spoilery ~review of Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone #3)

* I read and wrote this review for Six of Crows from March-May.

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Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne: Review & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne blog tour! Check out my review, visit the other stops on the tour, and make sure to enter the giveaway to win a copy of Absolute Brightness!

From Academy Award-winning writer, actor, and activist in the LGBTQ community comes a groundbreaking story about love, prejudice, and being yourself.

Phoebe’s life in Neptune, New Jersey, is somewhat unremarkable. She helps her mom out with her hair salon, she goes to school, and she envies her perfect older sister. But everything changes when Leonard arrives.

Leonard is an orphan, a cousin who Phoebe never knew she had. When he comes to live with Phoebe’s family, he upsets the delicate balance of their lives. He’s gay and confident about who he is. He inspires the people around him. He sees people not as they are, but as they hope to be.

One day, Leonard goes missing. Phoebe, her family, and her community fight to understand what happened, and to make sense of why someone might want to extinguish the beautiful absolute brightness that was Leonard Pelkey.

This novel by the cofounder of The Trevor Project inspired the critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway show The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.

Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Release Date: May 31st 2016 Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, LGBT, Mystery, Contemporary, Coming of Age Reading Time: ~5.5 hours Rating: 4.25/5

Review

Absolute Brightness is a thought provoking and heartbreaking book. It is a book about love and hate and the complexity of human behaviour. When I began reading Absolute Brightness I hadn't been expecting something quite so deep. But now, as I sit here trying to write this review, I am almost overwhelmed by the emotions it has stirred up.

We read from Phoebe's point of view, she is Leonard's older sort-of cousin and when they first meet she instantly thinks he's a loser. She can tell that Leonard won't fit in, that his sense of style and way of being will be seen as disruptive by others. She doesn't want anything to do with him. Because of this, it is all the more special when Phoebe eventually grows to care about him and we learn how absolutely bright Leonard Pelkey is.

It took me a few chapters to actually like and care about Phoebe and Leonard, but once I did I cared a lot. Phoebe is spunky and smart and doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her. While she constantly expresses her dislike for Leonard (behind his back), you can tell that underneath it all she cares about him and wants what's best for him.

Leonard, on the other hand, is someone who so obviously wants to be liked and included. He loves to help people by giving them makeovers and is surprisingly sensitive to criticism. However, even though he lives a life filled with adversities he remains positive. I love his relationship with Phoebe because he really looks up to her, even though she doesn't think she's someone worthy of being looked up to. It's all these things that made me care when Leonard went missing, that made me wonder why anyone could want to harm him.

While I liked the characters and was interested in the story in Absolute Brightness, I didn't particularly like the way it was written. Absolute Brightness is written in past-tense, with Phoebe kind of telling us what's already happened. This bothered me especially towards the beginning of the book. I found the descriptions of events to be more focused on the physical details, what was said and done, and didn't include how Phoebe actually felt about things as often.

The other thing that bothered me was that at the beginning of the book details about Phoebe's life are very slow to be revealed. At first, it felt like her whole world was revolving around Leonard because we still hadn't learned anything about her life. She is our narrator, but it's not until at least chapter 4 before we begin to actually get to know her. Considering that the book only has 23 chapters, I think this was not soon enough. But despite these things, I found Absolute Brightness to be a really moving book.

By the end of Absolute Brightness, we know what happened to Leonard. But I've still been left with the question of why? Despite it being very clear in the book that the reason Leonard went missing was homophobia, I still can't understand completely the motivations of the character/s that caused it. It is a reminder that sometimes when people do bad things we can't always make sense of them. I am saddened by the fact that what happened to Leonard is so realistic, but I'm glad this book exists to make people think about it. Absolute Brightness will also make you think about good and evil, and leave you wanting to bring more of the former into the world.

I like that Absolute Brightness isn't really about the mystery, but is more about people and how they deal with difficult situations. Leonard, Phoebe, and all the other characters we meet in Absolute Brightness are unique and have their own perspectives, and I like that we get to see their flaws as well as their strengths. It is difficult to love a book in which someone goes missing because of their sexuality, but Absolute Brightness is worth reading, regardless.

Rating: 4.25/5

I received an ebook of Absolute Brightness in exchange for my honest review.

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James Lecesne

JAMES LECESNE has been ranked by the NYTimes as "among of the most talented solo performers of his (or any) generation," and he's been at it for over 25 years. His most recent solo play, THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY opened Off Broadway at The Westside Theater and received rave reviews. Mr. Lecesne wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award Winning short film, TREVOR, which went on to inspire the founding of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide 24-hour suicide prevention helpline for LGBT and, Questioning youth.

His young adult novel, ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS, was published by Harper Collins and was awarded The William Morris Award by the American Librarian Association and was nominated for a The Lambda Literary Award. His novella TREVOR was published by Seven Stores Press in 2012. Also available - THE LETTER Q: Queer Writer's Notes to Their Younger Selves, edited with Sarah Moon and published by Scholastic in 2012.

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Giveaway

1 winner will recieve a copy of Absolute Brightness (US Only)

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Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh: Review & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh blog tour! Check out my review, visit the other stops on the tour, and make sure to enter the giveaway to win a preorder copy of Ivory and Bone! (1 US only and 1 INT)

A prehistoric fantasy—with allusions to Pride and Prejudice.

Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe—that’s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to like and trust him, but any hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless—and nearly grave—mistake. However, there’s something more to Mya’s cool disdain... a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya’s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives.

As Kol gets to know Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he’s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo—Kol doesn’t know which—had been planning all along.

Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh Ivory and Bone #1 Publisher: HarperTeen Release Date: June 7th 2016 Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance, Retellings, Fiction Reading Time: ~5.75 hours Rating: 4/5

Review

I could tell I was going to enjoy reading Ivory and Bone before I'd even finished the first chapter. I love the way it's written and because of that, I found it very easy to connect with Kol and care about his story. I also found Ivory and Bone's setting very interesting, I haven't read many books set during prehistoric times but I could still tell that a lot of research must have gone into writing it to give it the amount of detail that it has.

For most of Ivory and Bone we are reading a story that Kol is telling Mya, it is the story of everything that has happened since they met. Because of this, it felt like I was reading something quite intimate and personal, while also being beautifully simple and full of imagery. Ivory and Bone focuses heavily not only on Kol and Mya's relationship but on the relationship between their two clans as well as with another. Lo and her clan add to the difficulties present from the beginning that prevent Kol and Mya from seeing eye to eye.

There is a lot of mistrust between Kol and Mya—especially on Mya's end—that builds throughout the book, despite many attempts at reconciliation from both of them. I love that they both tried over and over again to move past the bitterness between them, but that most of the time they only managed to make things worse. There isn't actually much romance in Ivory and Bone, however, whether they were fighting or flirting, it was fun to watch Kol and Mya's relationship grow.

While Kol and Mya try to move past the history between their two clans, the arrival of Lo produces a conflict that spans beyond the three of them. There is hostility between Mya's and Lo's clans, the reason for which is shrouded in mystery to Kol. I love how much Kol wants to believe the best in both Mya and Lo, but that eventually he is forced to choose a side and defend the girl he believes is right, as well as her clan.

The fighting in Ivory and Bone is so vivid, but not heavily violent. Kol lives in a world where hunting mammoths and seals for food is normal, but killing another human being is still terrible. It is also a world in which family and one's clan are more important than almost anything else. I love the different social customs that the three clans have and the stories about their origins. They all believe in the Divine, but each of their relationships with her varies. I really enjoyed this rich history and their social structures.

I also really like Kol's family, especially his younger brothers. Pek, Kesh, and Roon all have romances of their own and do a lot better with girls than Kol does. It is their relationships that added cute sweetness to Ivory and Bone and left me saying 'awwww'. The four brothers are all quite different from one another, but they understand and care deeply for each other. The same goes for Kol's mother and father, their worry and love for their sons is so touching, although each shows it in different ways.

I'm really happy with the way Ivory and Bone ends—it's a really satisfying ending—but because of this I'm confused about how it will be extended into a trilogy. I can't help but think that things are so nicely wrapped up that I won't feel inclined to read the next book, despite how much I've enjoyed Ivory and Bone. I hope that unlike some other series (This Shattered World and His Fair Assassin, to name a few) Ivory and Bone continues to follow Kol's story, rather than being about someone else in his world, so that I feel compelled to keep reading. (Unless we get to read about Lo before her clan visits Kol's, but I think that's more of a prequel novella than a full sequel.)

Ivory and Bone has been marketed as a Pride and Prejudice retelling, however, I'd say it is a very loose retelling. When I recalled this about half way through the book I was worried I'd spoiled everything for myself, but there really aren't many similarities, including the fact that it's gender swapped. The main thing that knowing the story of Pride and Prejudice will give away is which girl Kol should trust and which one is lying and manipulative. Otherwise, Ivory and Bone is quite unique.

I would definitely recommend Ivory and Bone if you like historic fiction without too much romance (which is the perfect amount to me). It is a beautifully written book with complicated characters, an intricate world, and moments that made me laugh and cry.

Rating: 4/5

I received a copy of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

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Julie Eshbaugh

Julie Eshbaugh is the author of the upcoming Ivory and Bone (HarperCollins, 2016). She used to have trouble staying in one spot, having lived in places as varied as Utah, France, and New York City. Julie eventually returned home to the Philadelphia area, where she now lives with her husband, son, cat and dog. Her favorite moments are when the unexpected happens and she cheers loudest when the pitcher gets a hit.

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Giveaway

Julie is holding a pre-order giveaway for Ivory and Bone on her website. Everyone who pre-orders the book before June 7, 2016 and submits valid proof of purchase will recive an Ivory and Bone bookmark, and will be entered to win one of 3 prizes! 11 people will win prizes including tote bags, posters, and even an American Express gift card worth at least $60 US dollars! (The value of the gift card has been increasing as the number of pre-orders increases.) Visit Julie's website for more details.

2 winners will recieve pre-order copies of Ivory and Bone (1 US only and 1 INT)

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Review: More Than This by Patrick Ness

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is this possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? The street seems familiar, but everything is abandoned, overgrown, covered in dust.

What’s going on? Is it real? Or has he woken up in his own personal hell? Seth begins to search for answers, hoping desperately that there must be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife. . . .

More Than This by Patrick Ness Publisher: Candlewick Press Source: Library Reading Time: ~6.75 hours Rating: 5/5

I love More Than This! I'm going to go ahead and say right now—even though it's the first book I've read this year*—that it will be one of the best books I read in 2016. I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to reading it!

From what I'd heard of More Than This I was expecting something weird and possibly surreal, but while I did find it quite mysterious at first I don't think it's all that strange. The concept that the world of More Than This is built on isn't really unique, however, the story itself is. I think it's important when you start reading More Than This to just go with it, trust that Patrick Ness will not steer you wrong.

The prologue (?) of More Than This dumps us right into Seth's life, or slightly more accurately, the end of it. It's intense and had me hooked straight away. After that, the book is separated into 4 parts, and I think each part begins when Seth's perspective of his world changes. I won't go into much detail about the last 3 parts to avoid spoiling anything, but in part 1 Seth is quite lost and confused. He should be dead but isn't? Or perhaps he is? How can he tell?

We learn about Seth's life through flashback chapters, which during the first part were the chapters I was most interested in. His family and friends are all so complicated. The brief glimpses we get of them in Seth's most painful and/or beautiful memories show this really well while also telling us everything we need to know about him.

In part 2 of More Than This we meet a few new characters and Seth finally begins to learn the truth about his new world. The whole book kind of changes when you reach the end of part 1/beginning of part 2, so if you don't enjoy the first part as much as I did you should at least keep reading until part 2. Once part 2 starts you just get sucked in all over again.

I love the romance in More Than This, there's not very much of it, but what's there is beautiful and feels so real. It's not perfect but it's so precious. I'm so overwhelmed just thinking about it again that I don't think I can actually say anything else about it!

I honestly wish More Than This was longer, it doesn't need to be, but I just want to know what happens after the end. It ends well, in a way that leaves you imagining the possibilities of what's to come, but I don't want to imagine, I want to know! That said, I did love the ending of More Than This, and the message the book leaves you with: Even when it feels like you've got nothing left, there's always more.

TLDR: More Than This is amazing, I definitely recommend reading it. The characters are complex, the world is intriguing and well built, and Patrick Ness made me cry again (multiple times). More Than This is a somewhat mysterious and intense but well-paced read. I wish I could articulate this better, but Patrick Ness's writing is beautiful.

Rating: 5/5

Read my reviews for other books by Patrick Ness:

A Monster Calls The Rest of Us Just Live Here

* I read and wrote this review for More Than This in February, I haven't not read anything this year until April/May!

[ruthreads]

Cover Characteristic – Hands

Cover Characteristics is a weekly meme hosted by Sugar & Snark. It’s been a while since I’ve participated in Cover Characteristics, but I really like this week’s characteristic. I haven’t read any of these books, but I really want to! Hopefully, I can get to at least some of them this year.

Featured are:

In the Skin of A Monster by Kathryn Barker

What if your identical twin sister was a murderer? Does that make you a monster too? A profound, intense, heartbreaking fantasy that tackles issues of fate versus free will, and whether you can ever truly know someone.

Caught in a dreamscape, mistaken for a killer ... will Alice find a way home?

Three years ago, Alice's identical twin sister took a gun to school and killed seven innocent kids; now Alice wears the same face as a monster. She's struggling with her identity, and with life in the small Australian town where everyone was touched by the tragedy. Just as Alice thinks things can't get much worse, she encounters her sister on a deserted highway. But all is not what it seems, and Alice soon discovers that she has stepped into a different reality, a dream world, where she's trapped with the nightmares of everyone in the community. Here Alice is forced to confront the true impact of everything that happened the day her twin sister took a gun to school ... and to reveal her own secret to the boy who hates her most.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, and her ability to trust.

And when Minnow rebelled, they took away her hands, too.

Now the Kevinian Prophet has been murdered and the camp set aflame and it's clear Minnow knows something. But she's not talking. As she adjusts to a life behind bars in juvenile detention, Minnow struggles to make sense of all she has been taught to believe, particularly as she dwells on the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of; if she is willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past.

Powerful and compelling. this remarkable and brave debut novel reveals the terrible dangers of blind faith. And the importance of having faith in yourself.

Phoenix Island by John Dixon

The judge told Carl that one day he'd have to decide exactly what kind of person he would become. But on Phoenix Island, the choice will be made for him.

A champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. He can't seem to stay out of trouble, using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies. His latest incident sends his opponent to the emergency room, and now the court is sending Carl to the worst place on earth: Phoenix Island.

Classified as a terminal facility, it's the end of the line for delinquents who have no home, no family, and no future. Located somewhere far off the coast of the United States and immune to its laws, the island is a grueling Spartan-style boot camp run by sadistic drill sergeants who show no mercy to their young, orphan trainees. Sentenced to stay until his eighteenth birthday, Carl plans to play by the rules, so he makes friends with his wisecracking bunkmate, Ross, and a mysterious gray-eyed girl named Octavia. But he makes enemies, too, and after a few rough scrapes, he earns himself the nickname "Hollywood" as well as a string of punishments, including a brutal night in the sweatbox. But that's nothing compared to what awaits him in the Chop Shop: a secret government lab where Carl is given something he never dreamed of.

A new life. . . .

A new body. A new brain.

Gifts from the fatherly Old Man, who wants to transform Carl into something he's not sure he wants to become.

For this is no ordinary government project. Phoenix Island is ground zero for the future of combat intelligence.

And for Carl, it's just the beginning. . .

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

Antony and Cleopatra. Helen of Troy and Paris. Romeo and Juliet. And now... Henry and Flora.

For centuries Love and Death have chosen their players. They have set the rules, rolled the dice, and kept close, ready to influence, angling for supremacy. And Death has always won. Always.

Could there ever be one time, one place, one pair whose love would truly tip the balance?

Meet Flora Saudade, an African-American girl who dreams of becoming the next Amelia Earhart by day and sings in the smoky jazz clubs of Seattle by night. Meet Henry Bishop, born a few blocks and a million worlds away, a white boy with his future assured—a wealthy adoptive family in the midst of the Great Depression, a college scholarship, and all the opportunities in the world seemingly available to him.

The players have been chosen. The dice have been rolled. But when human beings make moves of their own, what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones

People think of Mother Nature as a gentle lady. They forget that she's also Death...

Sixteen-year-old Poppy Sinclair believes in quantum particles, not tarot cards, in Dawkins, not druids. Last summer, in a boating accident in the Lake District, Poppy had a brush with death. But the girl she finds face down in Scariswater hasn't been so lucky. As she fights to discover the truth behind what she believes is murder, Poppy is forced to concede that people and things are not always what they seem and, slipping ever deeper into a web of lies, jealousy and heart-stopping danger, she comes to realise - too late - that the one thing that can save her has been right there, all the time.

[ruthreads]

Holding Court by K.C. Held: Review & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Holding Court by K.C. Held blog tour! Check out my review, visit the other stops on the tour, and make sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post!

Sixteen-year-old Jules Verity knows exactly what's in store at her new job at castle-turned-dinner-theater Tudor Times. Some extra cash, wearing a fancy-pants dress, and plenty of time to secretly drool over the ever-so-tasty--and completely unavailable--Grayson Chandler. Except that it's not quite what she imagined.

For one, the costume Jules has to wear is awful. Then there's the dead body she finds that just kind of...well, disappears. Oh, and there's the small issue of Jules and her episodes of what her best friend calls "Psychic Tourette's Syndrome"--spontaneous and uncontrollable outbursts of seemingly absurd prophecies.

The only bright side? This whole dead body thing seems to have gotten Grayson's attention. Except that the more Jules investigates, the more she discovers that Grayson's interest might not be as courtly as she thought. In fact, it's starting to look suspicious...

Holding Court by K.C. Held Publisher: Entangled Teen Release Date: 1st March 2016 Genre: Young Adult, Mystery Reading Time: ~3.75 hours Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review

Holding Court is such a fun light read. I enjoyed trying to decipher all of Jules's prophecies and trying to figure out who the murderer was. It is quite predictable, but in a fun way that added a sense of anticipation for what was to come. I really liked the romance between Jules and Grayson, too, despite—or perhaps because of—its obviousness.

The Main Character: Jules

Jules is one of those girls who thinks she's not much to look at but is actually pretty gorgeous. Thankfully, this doesn't come up too often, so isn't something that put me off reading Holding Court. Other than this I quite liked Jules. She's a good friend and doesn't rush into dangerous situations without thinking. Although, I am slightly disappointed that she doesn't make more prophecies during the book. However, she does make around 20, which, considering the length of the book, is a reasonable number.

The Prophecies/Psychic Tourette's Syndrome

Most of the prophecies Jules makes throughout Holding Court are related to the murder, but figuring out which is often difficult. They are often quite cryptic and don't make any sense until they're meaning is completely revealed. I really enjoyed reading people's reactions to them, though. Because Jules usually blurts them out at inopportune moments they often result in confusion or awkwardness.

I decided when I began reading Holding Court that I would make note of all Jules's predictions as I was reading so that I could return to them easily and try to figure out what they all meant as more was revealed. In the end, there are still a few that seem somewhat unresolved, but nothing that makes the story feel unfinished.

The Romance

Despite how obvious it is that Jules and Grayson are going to end up together I still really enjoyed reading about them. Their quote trading is super cute and they get a lot of the same references (that I know nothing about, unfortunately). It could get annoying that they so obviously like each other but are oblivious to each other's feelings, but to me, that's the kind of torture that's fun.

The Mystery

I really liked trying to figure out who the murderer was. All the clues are there, and if you're like me and take the time to think about it before the reveal, you'll probably be able to figure out who did it, too. I like that I was able to guess with some certainty who the murderer was, I would have been annoyed had it been someone totally unexpected, because where's the fun if you can't figure it out? Still, I spent most of the book questioning almost all of the character's motives.

The End

At first, I was pretty annoyed with how Holding Court ends. It doesn't end badly, I just thought there was going to be a bit more. The important things, like who the murderer was and if Jules and Grayson would get together, are wrapped up, but everything else is left up in the air. But now that I've had a little bit more time to reflect, I've realised that most of the things I was curious about do have a sense of inevitability about them, so I'm actually quite satisfied with how Holding Court ends. Still, it would have been nice to be able to read about everything else, too.

The Writing

Holding Court is a very quick read, not heavy on details. I read it because I thought it would be light and fun, but I think it could have been amazing had it gone more in depth. I would have liked to learn more about Jules's mother's and grandmother's gifts, and about Cami (Jules's best friend) and Bree (Grayson's girlfriend).

It is quite predictable, but how could a book with a psychic as the main character not be? I don't think the predictability was a bad thing, though, it made me anticipate things more and added intensity to a lot of moments. There was always the chance that I could be wrong or had misinterpreted a clue/prophecy, so I was always eager to find out if I was right or not.

TLDR

I wanted to read Holding Court because I thought it would be a light and fun murder mystery, and that's exactly what I got. Jules and Grayson are silly and adorable, and the mystery, while somewhat predictable, is intriguing. It's a quick read, one that you can easily put down and pick up again whenever you have a spare moment. I'd recommend Holding Court to anyone wanting to read something not too serious with a cute romance and some supernatural elements.

Rating: 4/5

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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K.C. Held

K.C. HELD was born and raised in California with stopovers in Honduras, Mexico, and France. Married to her high school sweetheart, and mom to two avid bookworms, she holds an MFA in costume design and is an accomplished seamstress with a background in opera, theater, film, and television. Although she once spent a summer working in a castle, there were no dead bodies involved.

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Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive a Holding Court swag pack containing a magnetic prophecy kit, signed bookplate, coloring postcard with stacked coloring pencil, and a bookmark.

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Review: The End by Charlie Higson (The Enemy #7)

Keep moving. Keep fighting. Stay alive.

The sickness struck everyone over fourteen. First it twisted their minds. Next it ravaged their bodies. Now they roam the streets - crazed and hungry.

Sickos swarm the streets of London. Gathered in the centre of the city, they lie in wait.

The survivors have one final epic battle to overcome. Together they must work out a plan of attack and stop the grown-up’s reign of terror before it’s too late.

The end is coming.

The End by Charlie Higson Publisher: Puffin Books Source: Library Reading Time: ~7.5 hours Rating: 5/5

The End, what a brilliantly amazing conclusion to The Enemy series. I've loved these books so much over the past year since I read The Enemy, these characters have become my friends, people I've loved and cried for. Their stories have reached into my heart, torn it apart and filled it with joy. I'm both heartbroken and overjoyed by the conclusion of this book and this series.

There's not a lot I have to say about The End in the way of a review as I've probably already said most of it in a review for one of the previous books. Nevertheless, there's still a lot I'd like to write about, it's likely there's going to be a lot of spoilers.

The End begins at about the same time as The Hunted (The Enemy #6) and is very basically the lead up to and fighting of the battle for London, between all the kids we've grown to love (and some we haven't) and the sickos, the grown ups, the enemy. It was so nice to read about all of my favourite characters coming together to figure out how they were going to face the threat of the amassing army, even though I sometimes missed Ed's presence. Everything that has been built-up throughout the previous six books in the series comes together in The End, and it is glorious. Every character is remembered and plays their part.

The standout characters for me in The End are Achilleus, Shadowman, and Sam and The Kid. I've loved all of them throughout the series, but Achilleus really took a special place in my heart because of his love for Paddy. It was so sad to read about Achilleus's grief following Paddy's death, his honesty and openness were so beautiful. It was already clear to see that Achilleus cared about Paddy, especially after giving him Bright Eyes, but him saying the words and being so upset that he'd never get to tell Paddy was so heartbreaking it brought me to tears. I really hope Achilleus will find happiness with Will, he deserves it after all the death he's caused and witnessed.

I'm like 0.00001% disappointed that Shadowman wasn't in The End more. It's not even really a complaint, the book was so amazing that it doesn't really matter, I'm just greedy and want more of him. He has so much heart, one of those characters who protects themselves by not getting attached. In a world where adults kill children, he can't bear to see more of his friends die, so he spends most of his time on his own. In The End Shadowman finally sees Jester again, after Jester abandoned him and left him for dead. Shadowman is understandably angry with Jester, but he puts that aside (mostly) so they can work together and help plan how to defeat the sickos. I felt such victory when Shadowman was threatening Jester so that he'd help him. I've disliked Jester ever since we found out who he really is, so when Shadowman had his crossbow aimed at him it felt like justice. Shadowman wanted vengeance, but when Jester finally died, swamped by sickos, and Shadowman cried it was an extra stab to my heart.

And even though I'd hated both Jester and David throughout the series, when their deaths came about I did feel somewhat sad for them. It makes me angry that in the end they were just two boys, who'd made a lot, like A LOT of mistakes, so I couldn't be happy and feel victorious about their deaths. Still, it is probably better for the future that they are dead because had they survived they would have continued to butt heads with everyone.

Small Sam and The Kid don't play as large roles as they have in some of the previous books, however, they still managed to make me cry two separate times. After Yo-Yo (Charlotte) died and The Kid was so upset and Sam was comforting him but also feeling sad that he'd never see Ella again I felt so overwhelmingly sad for both of them. But especially for The Kid, his sadness was so unbearable because he's usually so optimistic and just ready and up for anything, nothing ever seems to get him down. I did love the depiction of his grief, though, that his feelings weren't trivialised even though he's so young. Also, I still just really love Sam and The Kid's friendship, it's filled with trust and support, and they have so much respect for each other.

I'm really happy with how things play out in The End. The first ~3/5 of the book is about the kids planning for their war against the sickos, but of course there's so much more happening. As usual, we get glimpses of what St George is thinking/planning, Einstein and his scientists at the museum are working on a cure for the disease, and there are a lot of big egos causing conflict. If you've enjoyed the previous books in the series then I definitely think you'll enjoy The End as well.

The last ~2/5 of the book is mostly the kids actually fighting against all the sickos and I'm really glad that so much of The End was dedicated to this. I loved all the strategy involved and how well everyone came together in the end to fight. It was so exciting to read, especially because of all the little hints about what was possibly going to happen, it really added this sense of anticipation that really made me believe that they could win. And then when Ed arrived it was so good to read about him again. I cried at the mention of Jack and Bam, Jack is forever my favourite character in this series, so I loved that Ed was still fighting for him.

I'm really happy with how The End ended, however, I'm somewhat dissatisfied with the conclusion to the series as a whole. I loved that The End ended with Sam and Ella finally being reunited, it really brought the series full circle (and made me cry), it was exactly how the book/series needed to end. But I wish there had been more about what happened to all the characters. There is a little about all of the main characters to show how they might move on with their lives, but it just isn't enough for me. I really want to know what Shadowman's plans are, he is one of the characters we don't really get anything for.

I'm really glad to have read The Enemy series, it will forever be one of my favourites. The End, like the rest of the series, is filled with intricacy, emotional depth, and complicated characters, and I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a little bit of blood and violence in their fiction.

Rating: 5/5

Read my reviews for the previous books in The Enemy Series:

The Dead (#2) The Fear (#3) The Sacrifice (#4) The Fallen (#5) The Hunted (#6)

[ruthreads]

Review: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Not everyone has to be the chosen one

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death.

What if you were MIkey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

And what if there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life?

Even if your best friend might be the God of mountain lions...

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness Publisher: Walker Books Source: Library Reading Time: ~4 hours Rating: 3.5/5

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is quite an odd book. Patrick Ness is an author whose books I automatically want to read, but the concept of reading about a character who "just live[s] here" really intrigued me, too. It's a bit like two books in one, as we get Mikey's story and a very abridged version of Satchel's "indie kid" story. At times, Satchel's story leaks into Mikey's, but for the most part, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is about Mikey and his life.

Mikey is a normal kid in a world where lots of quite crazy things happen. He just wants to spend times with his friends, explore his feelings for Henna, and graduate high school without the strange lives of the indie kids getting in the way. I liked Mikey, he is very relatable in that he often feels like his presence isn't necessary and he worries a lot (not in an annoyingly repetitive way, though). He has OCD and I found the chapter/s in which he was trying to deal with his anxieties to be really powerful, they actually brought me to tears because I found their message (and its presence) so beautiful.

Mikey has an interesting group of wonderful friends. Jared, his best friend, is God of Cats and is dealing with the implications and responsibilities that go along with that. I found him to be quite a loving and loveable character, and I really liked his friendship with Mikey as they really care about and look out for each other. Mel, Mikey's older sister, has suffered from bulimia and, as a result, is finishing high school a year later than she could have. As with Jared, Mikey and Mel have a great supportive relationship and a nice dynamic. Despite Mel being the older sibling they treat each other as equals and rarely argue. They've been through a lot together and it's easy to see how they respect and care about each other throughout the book.

Mikey has been in love with Henna for years. For much of that time she has been in a relationship with someone else, but during The Rest of Us Just Live Here they finally have a brief chance to explore their connection before Henna leaves for Africa with her parents. I like Henna because she's quite honest and kind of fearless, and I enjoyed reading about the development of her relationship with Mikey. Their depiction as two teenage friends figuring out their feelings for one another is awkward, open, and kind of cute.

Mikey and Mel have a home life that puts a lot of pressure on them. They love and protect their little sister Meredith, because their father is an alcoholic and their mother is a busy politician, and neither of them is there as much as they might need to be. I really like Meredith, she is an A+ cute and insightful little sister.  Considering the fact that Mikey's parents are often absent they are still large parts of his life, and they were a very necessary presence in The Rest of Us Just Live Here, helping to really build Mikey's life in detail. They aren't the best parents, but I didn't dislike them.

Even though we only get the main points of Satchel's story with the mysterious blue lights and zombie deer, I still couldn't help but become a little swept up in it. On some level, her story is very cliched, but it's also exciting and takes many twists and turns. If her story were written as a full novel I think my favourite character would probably be second indie kid Finn. I really like the integration of Satchel's story into The Rest of Us Just Live Here, it adds some danger and even a bit of comedy and relieves some of the intensity from Mikey's story.

I found the plot of The Rest of Us Just Live Here to be less involved (although the inclusion of Satchel's story did add some sense of plot progression), with the characters and the passing of time being the story's driving forces. Thus, I couldn't say The Rest of Us Just Live Here is the best book I've read by Patrick Ness, however,  I'm very glad to have read it. It leaves me with the feeling that it's possible to overcome anything. I would recommend The Rest of Us Just Live Here to everyone.

Rating: 3.5/5

[ruthreads]

2015 Bookish Surveys and Stats

I’m going to be combining The Perpetual Page-Turner’s End of Year survey with The Book Addicts Guide’s Statistics survey in this post because I want to do them both!

End of Year Survey

2015 Reading Stats

Number of Books Read: 47

Number of Re-Reads: 4

Genre Read the Most From: Science Fiction (specifically YA)

Best In Books

1. Best Book Read in 2015: I’m so torn, I only rated 4 books 5 stars in 2015. It really comes down to The Dead by Charlie Higson and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. I can’t choose!

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? I think my biggest let down for the year was Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? The Flywheel by Erin Gough, I was surprised by just how much I loved it.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? I haven’t pushed many people to read things, but I got a friend to read Throne of Glass and the rest of the series.

5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015? I’m torn again, I started Half Bad by Sally Green and Unwanted by Amanda Holohan and loved them both. My answer here for best sequel is the same as my answer for question 1 :3 I finished reading about 6 series this year I think, but definitely the best was The End by Charlie Higson.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015? Either Sally Green or Amanda Holohan.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? I didn’t used to read much realistic fiction, but this year I read about the same amount as I did fantasy so I guess it’s not really outside my comfort zone anymore. I only (tried) to read 2 adult novels this year though, so I guess I’ll go with the only one I actually finished, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? It was probably one of the books in The Enemy series by Charlie Higson.

9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? I want to say it’s Queen of Shadows, but it’s probably actually The Flywheel.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015? The Last Ever After by Soman Chainani.

11. Most memorable character of 2015? Jack from The Dead.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015? I was going to say A Court of Thorns and Roses, but I’ve changed my mind and I’m picking Half Bad.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2015? I wouldn’t say it changed my life, but it definitely made me think: Underneath Everything by Marcy Beller Paul.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read? I didn’t read too many books that came out more than a few years ago, but A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

It wasn't just about the kids today, though. It was all of them. Everyone he'd lost. Malik, Aleisha, Bam . . .

And Jack.

This was mainly about Jack. It always was. He was always there, in the back of his mind.

– Page 431, The Sacrifice by Charlie Higson

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015? I’m pretty sure the longest was Queen of Shadows and the shortest was A Monster Calls (~13.75 and ~2.5 hours to read, respectively).

17. Book That Shocked You The Most (Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)? The Dead or Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) I don’t think I had one? Can I say Sam and Celaena/Aelin?

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year? My brotp of the year was Jack and Ed from The Dead, without a doubt.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously? I’m going to assume I’m not supposed to say a sequel here and go ahead and say A Monster Calls.

21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure? I think there was only one book I read based sort of on a recommendation, but I didn’t really enjoy it, so I don’t have a best.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015? Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses and Eikko from The Heir by Kiera Cass.

23. Best 2015 debut you read? Not totally sure what were debuts and what weren’t, but I’m gonna go with Underneath Everything.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? Unwanted or A Court of Thorns and Roses.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? The Romeo Club by Rebekah L. Purdy.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015? Only nearly? There were so many books that made me cry in 2015! Almost all the books in The Enemy series, Queen of Shadows and The Assassin's Blade, A Monster Calls, Vanishing Girls, Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican, and The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? The Flywheel.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? The Dead?

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015? Unwanted.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad? Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn (ooh that made me so mad, and not in a good way).

Blogging/Bookish Life

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015? To be completely honest I don’t follow too many book blogs, and most of my favourites haven’t posted in a while (one of them seems to have disappeared, too). Two of my favourites from 2015 are Scarlet Nerded and The Mad T-Party (neither of which has posted in a while).

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015? I don’t think any of my work is good enough yet to “favourite” it :3

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog? I started posting my All the News posts, those would probably be some of my best non-review posts, since I don’t really do discussions.

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)? I MET SARAH J. MAAS!! Also, the Between the Covers YA event was pretty awesome too.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015? Meeting Sarah J. Maas, of course! But getting approved for my first ARC on Edelweiss was pretty great, too.

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year? Just trying to balance it with the rest of my life, since it was my first year blogging I tended to swing between overly posting and not posting enough. Hopefully this year I’ll strike a better balance!

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)? My most viewed post by far was my first All the News post because Lauren Oliver reblogged it (!!!!!!), resulting in hundreds of hits.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love? Like all my reviews? Haha, nah, even though I don’t get many views/comments I can’t complain.

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)? There’s nothing that comes to mind, although I think this year was the first time I visited the Little Library at Melbourne Central, and that’s pretty cool.

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? My goodreads reading challenge was 40 books in 2015 and I read 47!

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016? Well, I already have Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo sitting on my desk waiting to be read, so probably that.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)? The 5th Throne of Glass book! There’s probably others, but I can’t think of them now.

3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? I really want to read Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace.

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016? Well, the next Throne of Glass book, obviously, but also The Returned by Victoria Schwab and The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater. (I caved and went on goodreads and looked through my to-read list...)

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016? If my counting is correct then I made 99 posts in 2015, maybe in 2016 I can make it a nice, round 100.

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone? I haven’t read any yet, but I’ve just started reading Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, so perhaps in a few days I’ll be telling people to read that.

Statistics Survey

Number of...

Number of books read…

Under 250 pages (not including novellas): 4

Between 400-449 pages: 8

Between 450-499 pages: 3

Over 500 pages: 3

Over 1000 pages: 0

Number of…

Audiobooks: 1

Re-reads: 4

DNFs (did not finish): 2

Number of books rated…

Five Stars: 4

One/Two Stars: 3

Number of authors met in 2015: 4?

Number of book events attended in 2015: 4?

Number of books you read in one day: 1

Number of books that made you cry: 12

Number of 2016 books you have on pre-order: None (but I will put Throne of Glass #5 on pre-order when it’s available)

By the Books

Book read furthest away from home (vacation reads?): I didn’t go on vacation but probably Falls the Shadow

Book that took you the longest to read: Queen of Shadows

Book that you personally connected with the most: It might have been The Dead or The Flywheel

Book that made you love the villain: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Book you said you’d come back to but still haven’t picked up again: There actually isn’t one, yay!

Book you read waaaay before it’s publication date: I read a couple before their publication dates but none were waaaay before.

Book you read on your birthday: Complicit

Book with a character who shares your name: Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams

Book you weren’t entirely truthful about when rating (Fluff up any ratings? Rated even though you didn’t finish?): I rated Feed by Mira Grant, but I definitely didn’t finish it.

Book you read in 2015 but already want to re-read: The Flywheel, Underneath Everything, The Dead

Book you borrowed from a friend a long time ago and still have: I don’t really borrow books from friends, so I don’t have any

Book you wish you could go back and read for the first time again: The Dead or Vanishing Girls (so that I could read it with a more open mind from the beginning)

Most books read by one author this year: 6

This & That

Happiest & saddest: Happiest was probably The Romeo Club and the overall saddest was probably A Monster Calls

Longest & shortest…

By page number: The Last Ever After & The Romeo Club

By title: A Real Guide to Really Getting it Together Once and For All (Really) by Ashley Rickards & Feed

From buying to reading: Savage Drift by Emmy Laybourne & Queen of Shadows

Best & worst…

Average rating on Goodreads: 3.8

Books you read/your rating: The Dead and Queen of Shadows (5 stars) & Complicit (2 stars)

Series enders: The End by Charlie Higson (5 Stars) & Homecoming by Kass Morgan (3 Stars)

First & last…

Reads of 2015: False Sight by Dan Krokos and The End

Books on your bookcase (1st book on the top left and last book on the bottom right): If I Ran the Circus by Dr Seuss & Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion

Most disappointing & biggest pleasant surprise: Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither & The Flywheel by Erin Gough

Fandom you joined & one you abandoned: I’m not sure how to answer this, I don’t think I joined any new book fandoms, I did join the Daredevil and Jessica Jones fandoms though? I don’t think I abandoned any book (or tv) fandoms either

Series you picked up & series you quit: I finally read Death Sworn and Death Marked by Leah Cypess, but I didn’t quit any series, unless Feed by Mira Grant counts, since I didn’t even finish the first book

Most lenient & harshest ratings: I might have been a bit lenient with my rating for Complicit, but I don’t think I was too harsh in any of my ratings

Most hyped & furthest under the radar that you read: I’m not sure if Red Queen, A Court of Thorns and Roses, or Gone Girl was the most hyped, but furthest under the radar was probably Unwanted (since goodreads tells me it’s the book I read in 2015 that the least number of people read)

Grab Bag

Book you read that is red: Dear Killer

Starts with X, Y, or Z: None!

Book you hugged when you finished it: The End by Charlie Higson, definitely, but there were probably others too, like The Dead and The Last Ever After and Queen of Shadows and The Assassin's Blade

Book you wanted to throw across a room: Complicit

Food you craved while/after reading a certain book: I don’t remember craving any specific books

Book that became an instant go-to recommendation: Probably A Monster Calls

Furthest out of your comfort zone: A Real Guide to Really Getting it Together Once and For All (Really)

Read on a recommendation (that you may not have picked up yourself): Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

Forced yourself to finish: Falls the Shadow

Series or author’s works you binged (whether all at once or throughout the year): The Enemy series by Charlie Higson (even though I read the first book in 2014)

Blogging Life

First…

Post of 2015: Review: False Sight by Dan Krokos

Review of 2015: ^^^^

Last…

Post of 2015: Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving Under my Tree in 2015

Review of 2015: The November Criminals by Sam Munson

Number of posts in 2015: Technically, it was 99 but I don’t count some of those so more like 95 or 96

Number of reviews posted this year: 42

Least coherent review: Maybe my review for Queen of Shadows?

Post with the most views (posted in 2015): My first All the News post

Post you wish you could re-write: Literally almost all of them, I want to go back and reformat the html in so many of them because it was just so messy!

Done! That took me a bit longer to finish than I’d expected, but I’ll still do the same thing at the end of 2016!

Did you do any end of year surveys? Link me to them in the comments!

[ruthreads]

All the News: Like All Of It

Happy New Year everyone! I’ve been meaning to write this post for at least 3 weeks, so I’ve got a lot saved up.

First up, the cover for the second Spirts and Thieves book by Morgan Rhodes, The Darkest Magic, was revealed over on the Falling Kingdoms facebook page!

I’m still waiting on my library to get Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms #4) and A Book of Spirits and Thieves, but I’m desperate to read all 3 of these!

The full cover illustration is especially gorgeous.

http://morgan-rhodes.tumblr.com/post/135333349447/abosat-the-darkest-magic

Throne of Glass is jumping on the colouring book bandwagon!

SO ecstatic to finally share the news! There's going to be a THRONE OF GLASS coloring book!! Ahhh!! 🎉🎉🖌📚😁😁 https://t.co/J1uWxjtkIx

— Sarah J. Maas (@SJMaas) December 14, 2015

Lauren Oliver’s next book is called Replica and is set to be released in September. The short description below makes it sound very dystopian (which I'm not that into anymore), but I trust Lauren, so I’ll definitely be reading this anyway.

All right, friends. Thrilled to announce a new YA project I’ve been working on for years—coming to you next fall!! https://t.co/REaygvlHGf

— Lauren Oliver (@OliverBooks) December 15, 2015

Replica, the first of the two books, tells the story of Lyra, known by the number 24, a replica – human model – who was born, raised, and observed in a clandestine research facility called the Haven Institute. When Lyra escapes from Haven and meets Gemma, a stranger on a quest of her own, earth-shattering secrets are revealed. Publication is slated for September 2016.

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza looks to be the first of potentially many HarperCollins books that will be adapted into series. I've been meaning to read this series since the first book came out, I really should get around to it.

Exciting news–my MILA 2.0 series is getting another shot at TV!! https://t.co/N3Z3OLi6PH @HarperCollinsYA @EpicReads

— Debra Driza (@DebraDriza) December 14, 2015

There’s the possibility of Hunger Games prequels.

Bloomsbury have made some fun quizzes: Which Throne of Glass Character are you? (Apparently I’m Chaol? Hmmm...) and Who is your Hogwarts best friend? (Mine’s Ginny, whoop!) Also, there’s a Harry Potter name generator which is pretty cool...

Netflix has acquired global rights to Shadowhunters, so for those of us outside the U.S., we’ll be able to watch each episode (I’m assuming) the day after it airs.

The release date for Ascendant, the last Divergent movie, has been pushed back from 24th March, 2017 to the 9th of June. It’s a bit disappointing that I won’t be able to see it for my birthday again, but an extra 3 months wait means the series is prolonged a little longer?

Sticking with Divergent, we also have new Allegiant movie posters featuring Tris and Four.

Fellow Initiates, the wait is over! Check out the new @Divergent #FourTris posters exclusively HERE! #WeAreAllegiant pic.twitter.com/Vzutpc8dzF

— k (@dauntlessrebeI) December 22, 2015

Warner Brothers released an extremely teasing teaser trailer for that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie. I really need to read the book so I understand what in the world is going on in this teaser!

Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, authors of Illuminae, have announced the title for the second book in the trilogy, it’s Gemina! At first I didn’t think this was as cool as Illuminae, but now I quite like it.

Maggie Stiefvater posted a Gansey Christmas/holidays drabble!

http://maggie-stiefvater.tumblr.com/post/135789527881/a-minor-raven-boys-holiday-drabble

Michelle Hodkin posted a little holidays teaser! I’m guessing it’s from the still untitled first book of the Shaw Confessions?

http://michellehodkin.tumblr.com/post/135926561253/happy-holidaysmerry-christmas

Phew! That’s everything.

I hope 2016 brings even more YA book adaptation news!

[ruthreads]

Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree in 2015

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a top 10, I actually meant to do a couple over the last month but unfortunately never had the time. Anyway, I’m here doing this one now.

This list is in alphabetical order and I guess I’m kind of cheating, because I haven’t listed just ten books, I’ve listed a number of series. I mean what’s the point in only owning one book in a series?

1. The Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I love the Grisha Trilogy and I want to read Six of Crows so badly. My library is getting a copy of Six of Crows and I’m the first on the waiting list, but it’d be awesome to own all the books set in the Grishaverse.

Check out my thoughts on Ruin and Rising.

2. The School for Good and Evil Trilogy by Soman Chainani

In part I want to own this trilogy because the covers are so gorgeous! Illustrated covers are my weakness.

Check out my reviews for The School for Good and Evil and The Last Ever After.

3. The Gone Series by Michael Grant

Do I even need to say anything here?

4.The BZRK Trilogy by Michael Grant

.......

5. The Enemy Series by Charlie Higson

I have The End borrowed from the library and sitting on my desk right now, waiting to be read. I’m so excited but nervous about reading it!!

Check out my reviews for The Dead, The Fear, The Sacrifice, The Fallen, and The Hunted.

6. Simple Plan: The Official Story by Kathleen Lavoie

Not something that comes up very often here, but I’m a huge Simple Plan fan. They’ve been my favourite band for at least 12-13 years so it’s a tragedy that I still don’t own Simple Plan: The Official Story. I need it 3 years ago.

7. Throne of Glass #5 by Sarah J. Maas

It’s not out yet, it doesn’t have a cover or even a title, but I want it.

Check out my reviews for Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, and Queen of Shadows.

8. The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness

Don’t these covers look amazing next to each other like this? My sister’s currently reading the trilogy and is reminding me of when I read it three years ago. I’d really love to own and reread it.

9. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: The Illustrated Edition

Isn’t this on every Harry Potter fans’ wishlist?

10. Courtney Summers’ Books

So, I’m really cheating on this one, but at least these books are still all by the one author, @summerscourtney. I read This is Not a Test a few years ago and loved it and ever since then I’ve wanted to read all of Courtney’s other books. (I already own This is Not a Test, so that’s why it’s not up there.)

I guess my ‘Top 10’ turned into a ‘Top 33’? Whoops.

What’s on your wishlist for Santa? Any of my 33?

[ruthreads]

Review: The November Criminals by Sam Munson

‘What are your best and worst qualities?’

This is the title of the essay Addison Schacht has to submit to gain a place at his chosen university. Straightaway, Addison sees an opportunity to tell his story-so-far: to unburden himself, so to speak.

And boy is there a lot to unburden.

His business – dealing pot to his peers – is booming, and starting to demand increased effort. His relationship with Digger, his best friend (NOT girlfriend), is getting more and more ‘complicated’, as they say. His classmate Kevin was murdered point blank, and now Addison can’t stop thinking about who killed him, and why? And then there’s the small question of the rest of his life . . . Over the course of this unorthodox application, Addison confesses his triumphs, tragedies, strengths, weaknesses, blessings and curses to his academic jury.

The November Criminals is the darkest, most raucous and unconventional coming-of-age love story meets mystery you will read this year.

The November Criminals by Sam Munson Publisher: Hachette Australia Source: Won from @dateabook​ Reading Time: ~6.75 hours Rating: 3/5

I wanted to read The November Criminals because it intrigued me. As I write this its average rating on Goodreads is 2.96 out of 5. This, to me, means it’s generally disliked―or at least not liked―and yet next year a movie based on it will be released in theatres (starring Ansel Elgort and Chloë Grace Moretz). That is what intrigued me: Why would a book with, in my mind, such terrible ratings be made into a movie?

I started reading The November Criminals on an afternoon when I couldn’t be bothered doing anything else. Had I tried to read it while in any other mood I might have given up on it. It reads as the mostly unfiltered thoughts of Addison, and while it does flow well for the most part, it can be rambling, confusing, and sometimes boring (all of which typically resulted in me thinking “What is he trying to say here?”). These things didn’t bother me enough to make me stop reading The November Criminals though. I actually kind of enjoyed the writing style, it felt real to me, like it was an actual, albeit somewhat pretentious, teenage boy’s thoughts I was reading.

I found Addison’s sceptical attitude to be quite relatable, I enjoyed his wit, and found many of his actions amusing. There were also times when I laughed at him because he was such a pretentious idiot (he could acknowledge that he was being a pretentious idiot though, so that made it okay). Addison is a smart teenage boy (read that as a slight oxymoron), and even though I can’t really picture him as Addison, I’m interested to see how Ansel Elgort portrays him in the movie.

I cannot picture Chloë as Digger. Aside from in Kick-Ass I’ve never seen her in anything, but I’m not sure she’ll make a convincing Digger. Digger is in some ways abrasive, she is strong willed and sure, intelligent and surprisingly sensitive, a combination of qualities I’m not sure I’d believe coming from Chloë. Retrospectively, I find that I respect Digger, however one thing she does is almost unforgivable (read the spoiler in the second bullet-point below).

While I’m thinking about Digger, I wouldn’t say The November Criminals is much of a “love story”. There’s certainly more than just friendship between Digger and Addison, however I wouldn’t call it romantic. They’re very open concerning how they feel about each other, except they’re also really not. I didn’t find them cute and I wouldn’t have minded if they had got together or not. But really the “romance” is somewhat secondary to the rest of Addison’s mess of a life, and I don't think that on it's own it's a reason to read The November Criminals.

There are some (other) things in The November Criminals that I think are easily dislikable.

Jokes about the Holocaust (despite Addison explaining why he liked to collect these jokes, and my rereading the paragraph at least twice, I still don’t think I understand? Unless it was simply because the first one he told made Alex cry).

Some animal abuse/violence towards animals (Digger actually shot a dog, in self defence, but still. And there’s the illegal dog fighting, which at least Addison is somewhat uncomfortable about, but he still places a (really large) bet on one of the dogs).

The use of obscenities?

I can definitely see these as being things that might put someone off (excluding the obscenties I did find them somewhat unsettling to say the least), but despite them, and the previously mentioned incoherence, I did like The November Criminals. I’m certain at least 5% of what Addison was trying to say went over my head (I don’t want to overestimate, I do think I understood most of what he was saying), however most of what I did understand made me feel content with continuing to read.

Would I recommend The November Criminals? Maybe. If you have nothing better to be doing and you’re not reading it as a way to procrastinate doing something else. I think that’s probably the easiest path to being able to appreciate The November Criminals, although it's certainly not a book I think everyone will enjoy.

Rating: 3/5