Waiting on Wednesday- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting. It's been like a year, since my last WOW. I'm so glad to be back!

 

 

I finally started this series last month after dragging my feet for years. I just wasn't sure if this would be my type of book. Boy was I wrong. I've flown through the first three books in a few weeks. I am about to start the fourth book, I cannot wait for this book. I was trying to read the fourth book closer to this release, but I just cannot wait! Such a great series so far. I did not know this was a series of six books, so that's the only downfall!

 

 

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those don't.

As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

Aelin's journey from assassin to queen has entranced millions across the globe, and this fifth installment will leave fans breathless. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?

 

That cover is awesome!! I cannot wait. What are you waiting on???

Top Ten Tuesday!

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Favorite 2016 Releases So Far This Year.

Many of the books I've been reading lately, are not new. So I will be adding books that I have read that were published this year and previous. This is my first one! 

1. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

2. Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

3. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

4. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

5. The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

6. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin 

Those are the ones that I've loved so far. I didn't read that much until a couple months back. 

What are the books that made it on your list?! I would love to know and build my TBR list!! Leave a comment below :)

Beautiful Randomness

Hey guys!

I just wanted to post that I also have another blog for makeup reviews/swatches, crafts and just all kinds of things! 

Link below:

craftsbeautyandreviews.blogspot.com

Britt-Marie Was Here by @Fredrik_Backman

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this book. This review/opinions are my own.

This really does break my heart. I loved both of his previous books: A Man Called Ove & My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. I loved them both! I know that his books can start off slow and then it’s just amazing after about 1/3 of the book. I really tried. I am about 55% of the way and I just can’t get into this book. It’s definitely going to be one of the rare DNF-Did not finish- books. I am so sad about it. I know that I’ll be in the minority here. If someone can tell me that it gets so much better, please do so. I just can’t get attached to any of the characters or the plot.

Let me explain myself, the characters. Ugh, I cannot stand the way he’s chosen to describe these characters. Actually, most of them don’t even have real names. How is “Somebody” a name?! I get that’s what she makes up. It still just makes everything confusing. There’s so much strange dialogue between the characters that it makes it awkward. I know it’s totally the point. Britt-Marie is an awkward OCD soul. I get it but you have to engage me into these conversations. Most of this book is just boring and it goes nowhere. I’m 55% of the way through and NOTHING has really happened. I also did not laugh at all. I didn’t think it was funny and she kept saying “ha ha” and I was getting really annoyed with it.

This book had so much potential but it just completely fell flat for me. I couldn’t get pulled in by any character. I did try though. I picked this up and read a few chapters over the course of a month! I just had to stop every time. I told myself that this would be the time I got sucked in and it never happened. There’s so much I want to read and I just can’t keep trying to get this one finished. I gave it a valiant effort, I swear.


View all my reviews

The Heart of Betrayal by @Mary_E_Pearson

The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to thank Goodreads First Reads and the publisher, for providing me with a copy of this book. This review/thoughts/opinions are my own.

Blurb from goodreads:
“Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia's life, her erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny.”

Okay, I will admit that I did not read the 1st book. Honestly, I did not know this was part of a trilogy, when I requested it on goodreads. I started reading this book and kept thinking that I was missing something. Sure enough, it is a sequel. I went ahead and continued reading it because I could not get my hands on the first book. I figured that I would be okay because they usually will summarize big moments in a previous book. I was not wrong.

Anyways, I really liked this book. It was fast paced and I was just sucked into this book. I spent the rest of the day reading because I just had to know what was happening.

I loved all these characters. Wow, the scheming and plot twists were pretty great. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Towards the end of the book, I was starting to get really nervous! I really liked Lia. I really liked how independent and brash she could be. She wouldn’t take anything from anyone. She always knew how to push just far enough, without actually crossing the line. I enjoyed that and I will admit, sometimes it made me nervous.

I definitely was torn between the boys. There is clearly no love triangle here but I really like Kaden. I actually like him more than the Prince. He’s (Prince) a bit arrogant and all about being a hero. He didn’t really end up being the Hero to me. Lia doesn’t need a hero at all. I just really liked Kaden and we learn so much about him in this book. I will definitely go back and read the first book though.

The ending is definitely a surprise. It does take us some time to get there but it’s not boring. You fly through this book but we do get a lot of background and history of Venda.

I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book to see how this ends!

View all my reviews

Heir of Fire by @Sarah_J_Maas

 

I started this book on Wednesday night and spent my whole day off Thursday reading. I am so glad that I kept up with this series because I'm loving it.

 

In this book, we start off with Celaena making her journey to Wendlyn. She is heartbroken and truly lost. She ends up getting "captured" by Rowen and taken to her evil aunt. She makes a bargain with her, to train with Rowen to gain information. Most of the book ends up though her whole process, while getting pieces of what is going in back in Ardalan with Chaol and Dorian. There's a lot of evil, lies, plots and crazy happening in this book. You get a lot of information about many different aspects but at the same time things are coming together.

 

The writing is just outstanding in this whole series. Maas does an amazing job doing different points of view throughout this series. There's a lot of times that I'm not fond of reading all the different perspectives of characters. It can drag out too much and bore me a little. She does not do this here. She does a great job, incorporating a lot of opinions and thoughts, while keeping the plot moving. You don't get much of a retelling, more of how they are moving forward and vital information. You get to see how all the pieces are moving, since all the characters are a bit scattered.

 

She has a way with words too. You can just feel what these characters are going through and feeling. Especially, Celaena and her dealing with her heartbreak and past. You can also picture everything she's writing, as if you are seeing it for yourself.

 

We already have a lot of characters but she adds more in this book. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about Manon and her story but I feel like it's going to come together in an epic way. I really got into their perspective and how they do things. It was a bit separated from the books actual plot but I know that it will come together later. I think it's basically to give us a peek into the witches side of this whole war/world. It gives us some good information! I really loved Manon's character by the time we got to the end of the book.

 

 Oh, how I love Rowan. Seriously, he might be my favorite out of all the male characters. He is tough and relentless. Although, you definitely see his other side when it comes to Celaena. They really have the perfect connection and are so similar. They way things come together for them was a bit predictable but I'm not mad about it. It's great! I cannot wait to see what happens in the future with them.

 

I thought that Maas did a wonderful job with Celaena's character in the second book and having her character grow. Boy, did she blow that out of the water in this book. She has Celaena grow into a true warrior/assassin/queen. She embraces her past and learns to deal with it. She makes it part of her and it just takes her to the next level. I love how she's fighting this constant battle of her past/present/future. She's constantly trying to hurt herself and not care about her life because she's trying to atone for the bad things she has done. She doesn't feel she deserves to be queen because she has done nothing for her people in 10 years. She is fighting this constant battle within herself and Maas does a great job making you feel it too.

 

This book doesn't have much in the romance sense but that's okay. There is so many other things going on, you don't have much time to miss it. I'm sure we will get a lot more in the next book. I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to start the next one.

 

Crown of Midnight by @Sarah_J_Maas

 

 

 

 

Wow! This book blew me away!

Okay, I totally understand why people have a love for this series. I guess, I shouldn’t say that just yet, with two more books to go. The reason being, this book was fantastic! I was so let down by the first book because it was just slow and the plot didn’t really pull me in. Not the case for this one, at all.

The plot is amazing. There is so much going on that it’s a wild ride. You really just get sucked in and it’s been a while, since that’s happened with a book. I devoured this book in a short time. There is so much character development, plot development and the writing was fantastic. I will admit, this book does not feel like a YA. It’s pretty dark at times and things are described very detail, especially the violence. It didn’t’ take anything away from me. It’s just a warning, if you have teens reading this series. There was so much more magic and power. The way that Celaena’s character developed was beautiful to see. She’s much more powerful and there is so much more depth there.

It wasn’t just Celaena’s character either. We get so much more from all of them! They are all making mistakes and trying to learn from them. Gosh, Maas, did an amazing job with the relationships in this book. I love how she showed us vulnerability from all the characters. They are not perfect but they are trying their hardest. So much more intense and much more tangled. We not only read but understand how they are feeling toward each other. I love how there is no more love triangle. As a reader, you know exactly who is she is in love with.  There is so much deception, secrets and lies. They are all unraveling and it’s becoming so interesting. I honestly, cannot wait to dive into the next book.

I'm so surprised that this book was not predictable. I didn't really know what was going to happen most of the time. I didn't expect that twist either, what a gut puncher! I can't wait to see how Maas works out all these relationships in the next book. I'm totally joining in all they hype! I hope the rest don't disappoint!

 

The Crown by @Kiera_Cass

 

 

 

 

I really want to give this 2 stars but I thought I would be generous because I liked the original books so much. This book was just such a disappointment. The Heir wasn’t too bad and I figured that maybe this one would be better. Nope, it was worse. The biggest problem I have with this book is that it is SO unrealistic. There’s several things that make it so.

For example, there is no way in heck that Maxon would give up his crown and make her daughter queen, to be with his wife. I get she’s a bit sickly now but his DUTY is to be a KING. He’s still of sound mind and there’s no way, after 20 years, he’s going to give up and put his daughter that has no experience on the throne. Secondly, how in the world did she just decide to change the whole entire way the country is run on a whim? Oh, I’m on an emotional high because my “all the sudden” love of my life, loves me back. Let’s get rid of everything that the people are happy about with a snap of my fingers.  It’s just not realistic.

The worst thing to me was the love story or lack thereof. I get that her and Erik had some moments but they never really had much of a way to REALLY fall in love. It just doesn’t happen like that. Cass did not give us a love story and something for us to root for. It was just out of the blue, “Oh, I love him.” It felt forced and I just couldn’t buy it. I found myself really rolling my eyes throughout this book. It’s so sad because I did like the original story. 

Maybe I have just grown as a reader, not sure.

 The writing in this book just really fell flat for me. Not only was it a short book to really end the duology, it was really rushed. I kind of felt like Cass was tired of the series or something. The ending just wrapped up so quickly. She proposes to her “love” and makes a huge change in the country and it’s all happy ever after, in a few pages.

I’m just was expecting so much more. Definitely more of a romance, like Maxon and America’s story.  

Throne of Glass by @Sarah_J_Maas

 

 

 

I was really excited to start this series. I have been putting it off for far too long. I went on vacation and thought, what the perfect series to start!

 

I am so sad to say that I was a bit disappointed. There was so much hype about this book, that I was a tad let down. The good thing, is that the second book is doing better for me. ;-)

 

We start off with Celaena imprisoned and her thinking she's going to die. We then find out that the Prince is there to take her, so she can be his fathers Champion. Such an amazing premise and there could have been so much out of this book. I felt like the story just dragged on and on. I was waiting for some awesome action and for the story to pick up. Don't get me wrong, it's good but not great. I was finding myself a little bored with the story at some points. It finally started to pick up at the end. There was so much of the middle that could have just been cut out. I'm intruiged about all the magic that's starting to happen and what Celaena's roll will be. There's a lot of potential. I hope it gets as amazing as everyone is talking about. I need a lot more movement character and plot wise.

 

I did love Celaena and I think there's a lot more to her than we know. Maybe even more than she knows. I also really liked how she is so independent and doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. I love her sass too. It should be interesting to see how her relationship grows with Westall and the Prince. This is a good book and I'm expecting it to really take off in book two.

 

I'm a tad bit annoyed that there is ANOTHER love triangle. Come on!! I'm not even sure, who I want her to end up with. Maybe the second book will help with that.