Tag: young adult

Books, fantasy, paranormal romance, Reviews, scifi, Urban Fantasy

Freeks by Amanda Hocking

Karen

freeks

I thought this cover was so intriguing so when I had a chance to grab the ARC of this book through netgalley I jumped on it. I’m a bit undecided on this one…honestly I’m meh about it. Here is the blurb:

In a world of magical visions and pyrokinesis, Mara just wants to have a normal life. But is that possible?

Mara has become used to the extraordinary. Roaming from place to place with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Carnival, she longs for an ordinary life where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future.

She gets her chance when the struggling sideshow sets up camp in the small town of Caudry and she meets a gorgeous local guy named Gabe. But before long, Mara realizes there’s a dark presence lurking in the town that’s threatening the lives of her friends. She has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she had in order to save everyone she cares about—and change the future forever.

It’s going to be another pro and con review guys sorry.

Pros. The concept. I love that Amanda explored the idea of a traveling circus and I loved the whole idea of this book. I found the world easy to understand and the characters enjoyable enough.

Cons. It has instalove, which I hate. Why do we need this? I really think the romance in this book actually took away from the story.

Setting. This book is set in the 80’s, now that alone doesn’t bother me (I remember the 80’s) but the author constantly reminds you of this fact. It’s not so much hints as being beaten over the head with it, so it gets old really fast.

Overall I enjoyed it enough but I think I would get it from the library. If you do want to purchase it here is the link from Amazon:

Books, fantasy, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance, Urban Fantasy

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

Karen

image

I’m a little late on this review but honestly I had a hard time with this book so I waited a long time to post this. Here is my review A Court of Mist and Fury by SJM but first of course is the blurb:

Feyre survived Amarantha’s clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can’t forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin’s people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas’s masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

The review:

I know I have an unpopular opinion but I feel it’s important to be honest in all my reviews so here it is, my official review of the book. Let me start out by saying that I was actually looking forward to this book, I had heard that it would be a retelling of the Hades/Persephone tale and I found that idea to be interesting. I liked Rhys in the first book, he was bad, totally amoral and seemed to have his own agenda so I was eager to see how she would work the story, and I originally liked Tamlin and Feyre so I was also curious to see how she was going to break their relationship apart. Needless to say I was unhappy with much of this book, but let’s break it down:

1. The length. Holy moly. This book clocks in at 640 pages officially but it felt like 700 and should have been at the very most 400 (though I would have been very happy with it stopping at 350). In fact when I hit 355 pages I remember putting a marker in my kindle and saying “where is this booking going?” in the notes. It needed editing, major editing, I mean like 200 pages worth. Many times the book would go on for pages about side stories or pointless topics that just needed to go.

2. The sex. Listen I read a lot of PNR so it’s not that the sex itself offended me, it’s that it wasn’t very good and it didn’t belong in this type of book. You can’t write a first book for YA and then write a second book that is so obviously NOT YA and expect all the YA fans out there not to read it. And it wasn’t well written! If your going to make the jump into the big girls club do it well dammit! Ugh so bad I actually skimmed the sex scenes, they were just…ridiculous.

3. Feyre. I disliked her sooo much in this book. I am realizing this is a trend with me and SJM, I don’t like her spoiled, selfish, over the top lead female characters. You know the ones that can make mistakes and do what ever they want and EVERYONE kisses their feet but if someone does something, even minor, they don’t like it’s full on temper tantrum time. And everyone in the book is totally fine with that. I hate that, making me really dislike the book.

4. Rhysand. Like I said earlier I loved the contrast of this character in the first book. He was a very good villain, but in this book he lost all the qualities that I loved about him. He went from being this strong, crazy, slightly evil man willing to stand up to Feyre and do whatever it took for his survival (and that of his people) to a marshmallow willing to do anything Feyre wants even if it means everyone else suffers. I hated to see him destroyed.

5. The plot. Which was? Getting the cauldron? That can’t be it, that’s the last 50 pages that would be crazy. Falling in love? Is that a plot? I’m so confused what is the point of this book….

So another SJM series is done for me, honestly for me I think I just don’t like her books. It was really my fault for starting another series after being so disappointed in the direction the ToG series is going and ultimately stopping that one as well.

Books, fantasy, great reads, Reviews, scifi

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Karen

Six of Crows

I just finished this book and I must discuss! I loved it…loved, loved, loved it! But this book broke two of my rules as a reader so it leaves the question, can a book be good enough that no matter what the author does we will forgive?  Let’s talk about the book first because frankly this book deserves it.

This blurb: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

If you feel like this blurb doesn’t give you enough information don’t feel bad, the whole book is like that. Getting info is like squeezing water from a rock, you are always desperate for more and never feel as though you have enough. But it’s so successful in this sorry because it keeps you in suspense the whole time, always wondering what is going to happen next, always curious about the main characters themselves. It’s beautifully done too, I never wanted to put the book down because I was lost, I always wanted to find out that next secret or see what the next part of the plan was.

The characters themselves: they were so dark, damaged and honestly somewhat bad that it was refreshing. They rarely did what I wanted them to do, or reacted the way I expected them to at first, so I was forced to really get to know them and once I was fully committed to what they were doing and truthfully…I liked them. Ugh the anxiety! The odds are always against them and no matter how smart Kaz is, things don’t always go their way, I felt like I need an anxiety pill halfway through this book (or some Vodka) I was so stressed, and dedicated to knowing what happened.

******THIS PART MAY FEEL LIKE A SPOILER***** Though I don’t spoil any of the story itself I do make a reference to the ending, if you don’t want to read about that be done with this blog, thanks for reading! Otherwise read on but you have been warned!! If you decide to stop here hey that’s okay I recommend you read the book, you can always come back..

 

 

 

Now let’s talk about the things I usually hate that this author did that I forgave or overlooked. (1) The multiple POV. This is a personal preference for me but usually I DNF books that are written from multiple POV’s. I don’t care if it’s in the first person or third person but when it jumps from person to person to person and I’m constantly having to adjust to a different personality and style per chapter I usually get frustrated. For some reason it worked in this book, because the characters are so closed off I feel I would have never learned anything personal if we didn’t jump between people. (2) The cliffhanger. Ugh this is a deal breaker for me. Now there are degrees of a cliffhanger and as far as this one goes it’s borderline. I feel like authors write cliffhangers for two reasons, because they can’t decide/or can’t write an ending or they want you to read the next book. This felt like the latter. I hate that. I’m going to read it anyway, 90% of the book is resolved, why, why, why?? Maybe you read it and don’t feel like it was a cliffhanger? I did. That being said I will still read the second book, I fact I just preordered it on Amazon. I just like it when my stories are tidy, all finished up with no lose ends.

Okay that being said this book was still amazing, you need to get it and read it. Now!

Books, Reviews, scifi

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Karen

red queen

This one I’m torn with, I have things I liked about it and things I didn’t which will probably put me in the minority since it’s such a popular book. But let’s do this right fist the official blurb..

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart…

Pros first. The writing was amazing, first YA book I’ve read in awhile that had a solid plot and well written characters. Mare, who this story was about, at the beginning I liked her, unfortunately it didn’t stay that way but I’ll explain why. The prince brothers Cal and Maven, best characters in the book. They actually stuck to character, which was nice for a change. Loved the villains in this book, great job. The world building was spot on, I understood where they lived and the divide between the silvers and the reds. In fact I enjoyed the concept, if you have a super power and have silver blood you’re a silver (let’s call them upper class) if you have no power and have red blood your a red (servant class). I enjoyed the idea of having the power but not the right blood color, very cool.

My problems, I think I figured out the twists too early. Therefore I started to get really annoyed with Mare, who had no problem participating in killing silvers but was appalled that the silvers killed back. I’m never a fan of the everybody wants you thing, though the end helped with this a little, but I think I’m over lead female characters that do selfish stupid stuff and don’t understand why things go wrong. So done with that.

There is a fantastic part at the end where a character straight out tells her, I was your friend and you betrayed me, now I’m going to die. Your fault. I was cheering for him, she doesn’t seem to grasp that when you use people they can get hurt, even with the ending I don’t feel like she really got it.

Would I recommend this read? Yes I think it’s good enough to recommend. I will read the next one and see how it goes. Some characters are interesting enough that I want to read more about them.