A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - Review // Where I Have the Same Problem with Ms. Maas

Okay. Let me briefly say why I had a problem with Throne of Glass. The writing and story-line was very fanfiction-y. I knew the exact story line as it was happening because I had read it a thousand times. I knew Celeana as the all-perfect female lead that reflects the author's own desires about herself. The writing style wasn't anything special, and I had frankly read better fanfiction.

The first thing I noticed about A Court of Thorns and Roses was that Maas's writing style had much improved. Check.

The second thing I noticed about the book was that Feyre wasn't all-perfect. Check.

I was really, really glad about this. So glad, in fact, that I gave it five stars upon finishing it.

And then . . . I took a second.

If you noticed, I only mentioned two of the three (main) things that I didn't like about Throne of Glass. Albeit, this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but the Beauty and the Beast plotline wasn't what bothered me. It was a mix of the first two combined . . . kind of (mixed with a few popular series).

Feyre wasn't near annoying as Celeana (in her perfect, perfect-ness). However, she was annoying in her own way. In a Bella Swan way . . . wait . . . a . . . minute.

There are a lot of weird Breaking Dawn things happening in this book. And in Bella Swan fashion, Feyre doesn't understand. I would love to talk to you about it, but I can't do it here in a non-spoilery setting.

Okay, let's move on. 

All of the male characters are super fleshed out, which was amazing and unexpected and really, really welcome. Like I love all of them (and I love some of them more than others).

This isn't a straight-up Beauty and the Beast retelling. There are cool twists and turns and Sarah wonderfully weaves the original story while making it very much her own with the awesome twist of the Faeries (which I know nothing about FYI).

Feyre has her flaws and it's wonderful. While she is a sort of mash up of Bella Swan and Katniss Everdeen, she is her own character.

I love Lucien. I love Alis. They are amazing, but as the friendships of our main character . . . they were really weak. There are no real female (or any) friendships in this book, so that's what I am hoping for in the sequel.

Let's talk villains.

This will be vague because it doesn't come up until a little later in the book, but I adore our villain in this story. Like pretty much all of our other characters, our villain is incredibly well fleshed out. Like, she's a wonderful, wonderful villain.

And I will leave you with this: #RysandIsEndgame (And I know it's supposed to be Reece-and, but it will forever be Rye-sand in my mind.) I can see myself, however, being swayed towards Tamlin.

Content: PG-13 to R

Language: Not Really

Violence: Definitely There

Sex: Not explicit, but there

YES. YES. YES.

I am eagerly anticipating the sequel.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Published:
Format - Pages: Hardback - 416
Source: Library
Genres: Young Adult, New Adult, Fantasy, Fairytale Retelling
Goodreads - My Goodreads Rating
Buy it! - Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Timesbestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

 Have you read ACOTAR? What did you think? Who was your favorite/least favorite character? Tell me down below!

Stacking the Shelves [19]: Libraries are Great

Stacking the shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and it's all about sharing the books that have come into your possession throughout the week, whether it books added to your collection, ebooks, library books, etc. Sunday post is a weekly meme  hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer where bloggers can recap their week, showcase books, and share news.

**all goodreads links are available through the picture of the cover**

Library

      

      

      

I don't have enough words to talk about each and every one of these books, but I will be doing a comic book wrap-up soon where I talk about all of these lovely volumes. If you want to start X-Men, All-New X-Men is the place to start. 

Identical and The Queen are both for #Cramathon next weekend. I will be doing a lot of traveling, so I got the e-versions of these to read on my phone. 

Also, so many people love Poison Study and Clockwork Angel that I just had to (even though I haven't read The Mortal Instruments series, I feel like I shouldn't have to).

Barnes and Noble

I made a cheeky visit to Barnes and Noble after finishing Unravel Me. I just couldn't not. I am so glad that this is the one that I have a physical copy of. So glad.

You Might Have Missed

Top 10 Books of the Year (So Far!)
Top 5 Favorite Chapter Headings
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi - Review // The One Where I'm Dying
#FridayReads - 3 July 2015

Upcoming

ACOTAR Review

Top 10 Hyped Books I Haven't Read (Yet!)

Monthly Waiting on Wednesday

#Cramathon TBR + Challenges

Ignite Me Review

What I Read This Week

What? I read three books and a comic book volume and a novella? I don't know who I am anymore.

Don't Read: Fracture Me, ever. Just know that Adam is a horrible human.

Funnest Read: All-New X-Men, vol. 2 / The Selection (America wasn't annoying until the last 7%)

Best Read: Ignite Me by far. There is no competition. None.

When I Wasn't Reading

Yes. I have fallen prey, but I still managed to read everything above while still finishing over half of the first season. That's what I call an accomplishment.

Also, I been tumblr-ing Warnette hardcore since I finished Ignite Me Friday. Like, it's probably unhealthy.

What did you do this week? What books did you get? What do you think of the books that I read? Tell me down in the comments!

#FridayReads - 3 July 2015

I actually have a reasonable TBR for this weekend. 

I know, I know. Crazy. 

I only have about 100 pages left of Ignite Me. If you want to know my immediate reaction to finish this wonderful, wonderful book, you should follow me on instagram/twitter. I'm sure there will be lots of fangirling.

I was supposed to be participating in a readalong for Shadow and Bone this past week (oops) but more interesting things happened, so I need to start and finish that by Sunday. I have confidence in myself. 

And in between (or if Shadow and Bone ever gets a little dull) I want to read Ms. Marvel this weekend. I might pick up another comic bind up as well. I just need to save one for the cramathon next weekend. 

What are you reading this weekend? How are you celebrating the Fourth of July? Tell me down in the comments!

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi - Review // The One Where I'm Dying

 Okay, this review is most definitely going to have spoilers for the first book in this series, Shatter Me, so go and read that if you haven't already. My review for the first book can be found here.You should also definitely read the novella Destroy Me before reading Unravel Me. All you need to know is that I loved this, and it's a great sequel.

Farewell to all who haven't read Shatter Me!

So this book picks up three weeks after the first book ends. Normally, I am not good with dates, characters mention them once and then they're done and I'm supposed to remember. Well, Juliette mentions it a bunch of times that it's been three weeks since they arrived at Omega Point and three weeks since she shot Warner. At one point three turns to four, so I am 90% sure that this book takes place over 2-3 weeks. 

The first half of this book was slow for me, but that was mainly because I was waiting for Warner to show up. However, if I had known going in that going in, I would have found the first half very interesting because it was super interesting and a lot of cool things happen in this book. 

So many fun and exciting things happen in this book. I couldn't put it down. Which is why I was glad I picked up the digital copy (aka I can have it on my phone and my iPad and take it with me everywhere), even though I really, really want the physical copies of this series (I may have taken a cheeky visit to my Barnes and Noble to pick up Ignite Me yesterday . . .)

While I kind of hated the Adam x Juliette relationship (not because it wasn't Juliette x Warner, but because Adam was keeping secrets from Juliette and many more spoilery things), I absolutely adored the friendship that we see happening between Kenji and Juliette. I want a whole book on Kenji and his life before and after and in-between this series. I just want to know everything about Kenji. Everything.

Also, so many Warnette feels. 

I will say that I am slightly worried about Ignite Me because we haven't really done anything to try and fix the government thus far (kind of), so I don't want Ignite Me to be Mockingjay. Because if Kenji dies . . . I give up.

I AM NOW GOING TO GO INTO A BRIEF SPOILERY SECTION UNDER THIS NEXT PHOTO, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ UNRAVEL ME, THEN YOU SHOULD LEAVE BECAUSE THIS BOOK IS TOO GOOD TO GET SPOILED FOR.

I would like to start this off by saying that I was right about Warner. I have honestly never been happier in my entire bookish life because I am always wrong when it comes to predicting things in books. (You should have heard me when I was reading the Divergent series.) But I kept saying that since Adam disabled powers that Warner would be a "sponge" for powers. Yes. My description of his power is a sponge. 

Also, the best that I have been able to come up with as to why I love Warnette so much:

Warnette = Dramione + X-Men

Also, I hate how dismissive Tahereh was of James's power (Oh, and I have a few theories as to Anderson's possible power). Oh. Oh. Oh. That. That made me slightly less okay with Warnette for a while until that night-time scene right before he left.

Oh the feels.

OKAY. THE SPOILERY SECTION IS OVER NOW.

Now, for the Warnette playlists.

       

       

Believe me, I listened to far more than this. You can see all the ones for Warnette here, but I tried to pick ones that have different songs because many of them are the same.

Such a fantastic sequel! I loved it more than the first!

Content: PG-13

Language: Mild - When Kenji is around

Violence: It's there

Sex: A few steamy make-out scenes

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Published: 1 January 2013 by HarperCollins
Format - Pages: eBook - 480
Source: Library
Genre: YA Dystopian Romance
Goodreads - My Goodreads Rating
Buy it! - Kindle, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Have you read the Shatter Me series? Do you want to? Have you heard about Warnette? Tell me down in the comments! 

Top 5 Favorite Chapter Headings

"Top 5 Wednesday" is a weekly meme created by Lainey at GingerReadsLainey on Youtube and hosted by Goodreads hosts Lainey and Mindy. You can find the goodreads group here.

For this week's topic (favorite chapter headings), I am going to show you some of my favorite different types of chapter headings (because oh my goodness there are so many) through specific favorite titles of mine (minus the one I haven't read) . . . let's start with the one book that I have not read.

Fun Graphics

It just makes everything more fun to have a cute graphic surrounding the title. I specifically love the one on the chapter headings for Libba Bray's The Diviners because look at it. It's very New York-y and very 20's. Which is good because that's the setting of the book.

Fun Font + Something Unique

Never will I ever pass up a chance to talk about All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. First off, I love this font. It's the font on the cover, and it is my new (?) favorite. 

Finch has a problem. He falls Asleep for days at a time, so whenever the story switches to his perspective, we see how many days he has been Awake.

Violet's sister just died, and she cannot wait to get out of her hometown and go off to college, so whenever the story switches to Violet's perspective, we see Violet's countdown to graduation.

Before + After

I'm not good with timelines in books.

How many days has it been since this event happened? How long is the story arc? Normally I can't tell you.

With John Green's Looking for Alaska I can. Even though there are no specific "chapters" there are. The chapters are the days, which is nice that it is broken by days. Some days a lot happens, others nothing happens at all, but overall I really love this set-up.

Unique Chapter Titles

I couldn't not bring up PJO. I couldn't not.

While they do (in this case) tell the reader what is going to happen in the upcoming chapter, it definitely draws the reader in and encourages the reader to keep reading because . . . what do you mean you don't want to know how/why Percy vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher?

Important to the Story

Along the same lines as PJO, I adored the way that Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson was set up. If you don't know, in this story our main character's best friend goes missing. In her wake, she leaves a list of things for our main character to complete over the summer. So, the chapters are set up as which item our main character will complete that chapter.

Do you agree with my choices? What were some of your own? Is The Diviners as good as it is pretty? Tell me in the comments below!