Review: Poor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino

Title: Poor Unfortunate Soul, A tale of the sea witch

Author: Serena Valentino

Genre: Middle Grade

Publisher: Scholastic AU / Disney

Publication date: 1 October 2019

    Rating: 3/5

Synopsis from Goodreads: The tale of the sea king’s daughter Ariel is a beloved one of losing and then finding one’s own voice. The story has been told many times and in many ways. But always the mergirl always wants more than her world can offer, and her father demands that she live within the confines of his domain. Her rebelliousness costs the little mermaid her voice and nearly her soul. But the power of good prevails, and Ariel emerges proud and unchanged. And yet this is only half the story. So what of Ariel’s nemesis, Ursula, the sea witch? What led to her becoming so twisted, scorned and filled with hatred? Many tales have tried to explain her motives. Here is one account of what might have shaped the sea witch into a detestable and poor unfortunate soul.

---

*Thank you to Scholastic Australia for sending me a finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

I was so excited to get into this book. The Little Mermaid has been a long time Disney favourite of mine and I could not wait to get a glimpse of that world. And let me tell you Valentino did not disappoint in this regard. Not only were the scenes that were taken straight from the movie fantastic but she also did the character of Ursula and others justice in the new plot points of this story.

I love Ursula as a character she is just the epitome of a great villain. But one always wonders how dose a Villain of this magnitude become what they are? And Valentino with this story gave me those answers beautifully. This backstory plot was completely believable and quite frankly made me look at Triton in a completely different way. I mean he’s never been the best of characters but now he’s pretty low on my list!

I don’t read a lot of middle grade fiction but my love for Disney and in particular The Little Mermaid had me hooked enough to give it a go and to be fair this is one of few times I have not minded middle grade writing style. Its descriptive and guided enough to allow those its intended for to read and enjoy it but not too slow that older Disney lovers wouldn’t enjoy. Just like me.

The down fall to this book for me was the fact that I thought it was a standalone. Not that I wasn’t aware of the other Disney villain books but I just thought they where all stand alone and not linked in any way. Which is wrong! there is overlap. Did I enjoy hearing mention of other Disney Characters like the Beast and Maleficent? Yes! But other involvement of characters like Circe and the three witch sisters where a bit hard to catch up on their backstory and understand their relevance. As well as mentioning of goings on in previous books.

Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable middle grade read however my misjudgement on whether or not the story was a standalone caused some confusing. meaning I wasn’t able to completely engross myself in the story and world. Therefore, I am rating this one 3 out of 5 stars. Have you read this one or any in the collection? Who is your favourite Disney villain and why? Lets chat in the comments below. Until next time happy watching and reading!

ARC Review: The Best Moments by Elena Monroe

Title: The Best Moments, The Amherst Sinners Series #2

Author: Elena Monroe

Genre: NA romance

Publisher: self published

Publication date: 20 August 2019

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

SAINT
College turned out to be my first everything.
Love.
Sex.
Heartbreak.
Betrayal.
Giving up and running home wasn’t an option.
My life was stained by absentee parents, a night of regret still haunting me, and living so controlled I barely felt anything, but white knuckles before I met Oliver. 
Least he was a stain I wore proudly.
One pretty face made me feel everything.
For that, all I wanted was to save Oliver from his past more than myself.
Isn’t that what unconditional love is?

SINNER
College was supposed to be my second chance.
I was working on my third.
I broke her heart in record time.
Everyone leaves and no one ever comes back. I knew that best. Even Layla.
The guilt of another regret weighted too heavy. So heavy, I invited my demons back in to soften the blow.
I added more mistakes to my bad reputation.
Everyone was right about me.
It was never my demons, she was never the cure, and I’m simply a pretty face with an ugly past

---

*Thank you to the author Elena Monroe for sending me an ARC e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this one sent to me by the incredibly lovely author Elena! This book just like the first one did not disappoint! You can see the review for my first book here if this is the first time you are hearing of this series I highly recommend you check it out! If not there isn’t going to be any major spoilers here so feel free to read on.

I absolutely devoured this book in 24 hours just like the first one I could not put it down I needed to know what happened to my precious little bean Layla and Oliver!! Plus the rest of the sinners but mainly Oliver! LOL.

And again just like the first book this book was a wild fucken ride of emotions I think I felt every emotion under the sun and I could just feel the struggles each individual character was going through. And I felt like I was struggling along with them, questioning my own morals and how I would react to certain things.

There was just so much angst, so much drama, so many high stakes, steamy sex and basically everything you want in a smutty NA romance! That ending though! My goodness Elena you tore my heart out as well as leaving it on the biggest cliff hanger there could possibly be!! I need the next book now especially after finding out it will  be set five years in the future! Ah I need to know what has become of my little beans! haha.

One last note Fuck Hunter, Team Ollie for the win ❤

In conclusion, this was a fast paced addictive read that made me feel all the emotions and left me dying for the next instalment. Hands down really recommend this series if you are a fan of NA romance/ smut especially darker romance. Overall, a strong 4 out of 5 stars. 

Have you read this one or the first book yet? What are some of your favourite smutty romances? Until next time happy watching and reading! 

While You Were Reading by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus Blog Tour

Hello my lovelies! 🙂

Today is my blog tour stop for While You Were Reading by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus. Keep reading for all the details of this new piece of Aussie fiction as well as my review. Be sure to check out the other participants stops through to July 12th! And thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!  

Title: While You Were Reading

Author: Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus.

Genre: Contemporary fiction

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia

Publication date: July 1st 2019

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis from Simon & Schuster Australia: 

Words are messy. Love is messier.

A hilarious, insightful new novel from the creators of Books on the Rail

Meet Beatrix Babbage – 29-year-old dog-earer of books and accidental destroyer of weddings.

After ruining her best friend’s nuptials, Bea relocates to the other side of the country in search of a fresh start, including meeting new people, living life to the fullest and finally pulling off balayage.

But after a few months, life is more stagnant than ever. Bea’s job is dead-end. Her romantic life? Non-existent. And her only friends are her books, her barista and her cleaning lady.

​Then Bea stumbles across a second-hand novel, inscribed with notes. Besotted with the poetic inscriptions, Bea is determined to find the author … and along the way, she finds herself entangled in one hell of a love quadrangle.

Funny, poignant and insightful, While You Were Reading reveals that there’s no such thing as perfection, the value of true friendship and, most importantly, the power of not living in fiction, but still reading it … Often.

A love story for book lovers that celebrates much more than romance.

I was excited to receive this book and was expecting to really enjoy it, given that I have been really into romances lately and I knew it centred around a book and a love for reading and all things bookish. However, I am sad to say this was not completely the case for me.

This book actually took a fairly long time to really hook me. In fact, I was feeling a bit meh about the whole thing until about chapter 19. Really the only things that kept me going were some of the book references and the character Dino. Seriously Dino is the best character in this book hands down. Apart from that for the first 19 chapters I disliked many of the characters, they weren’t relatable or likeable or were just annoying. Even the main character Bea while having some traits and moments where I liked her and could relate to her, also annoyed the crap out of me and came across pretty childish half the time. I also felt that cramming so many bookish references and things such as bookstagram came across a little try hard to start with.

However, after those first 19 chapters things really got a lot more interesting. I started to like Bea a little more, I think she grew up a lot and had major character growth which allowed me to relate to her more. There was a bunch of plot developments and drama that changed the pace and drew me in. And the idea of the use of bookish references and bookstagram, writing, publishing etc. felt a lot less forced and actually really added to the story and had my bookish fan-girl squealing.

In conclusion I am rating While you were reading a solid three out of five stars. It really was half and half for me. The beginning was a struggle but by the end I rather enjoyed reading about these eccentric characters and enjoyed the journey they had been on.

About the Authors:

Twitter: @thebookninjas

Instagram:@aliandmichelle

Facebook: @aliandmichelle

Website:www.aliandmichelle.com and www.booksontherail.com

Have you read this one yet? What about The Book Ninja? Do you enjoy books where characters have the same hobbies as you? Let me know in the comments below! Until next time happy watching and reading!

Review: The Dysasters By P. C. and Kristin Cast

Title: The Dysasters

Author: P. C. & Kirstin Cast

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Publication date: 26 February 2019

Rating: DNF 1/5

Synopsis from Pan Macmillan Australia: 

P. C. and Kristin Cast, the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of the House of Night phenomenon, return to the scene with The Dysasters – the first action-packed novel in a new paranormal fantasy series.

Adoptive daughter of a gifted scientist, Foster Stewart doesn’t live a ‘normal’ life, (not that she’d want to). But controlling cloud formations and seeing airwaves aren’t things most eighteen-year-olds can do.

Small town star quarterback and quintessential dreamy boy next door, Tate “Nighthawk” Taylor has never thought about his “extra” abilities. Sure, his night vision comes in handy during games, but who wouldn’t want that extra edge?

From the moment Foster and Tate collide, their worlds spiral and a deadly tornado forces them to work together, fully awakening their not-so-natural ability – the power to control air.

As they each deal with the tragic loss of loved ones, they’re caught by another devastating discovery – they are the first in a group of teens genetically manipulated before birth to bond with the elements, and worse… they’re being hunted.

Now, Foster and Tate must fight to control their abilities as they learn of their past, how they came to be, who’s following them, and what tomorrow will bring…

---

*Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

Ok this review is going to be a little saltier than my regular ones. I just don’t even really know where to start. This book put me in a reading slump almost every time I picked it up! Hence why this review is so late and why I am now so behind on my review books and haven’t read a page of anything in over 2 weeks! I am just so disappointed. I went into this expecting to really enjoy it as I am 1. a sucker for YA fantasy and 2. a huge sucker for elemental magic! This book sounded like such a cool concept and idea but unfortunately, in my opinion, it just did not deliver.

Although this read was a DNF for me I am giving it 1 star still instead of zero because it did have a handful of likeable qualities for me. Firstly as I have already said the idea/concept was a good one, just poorly executed. I also really enjoyed the illustrations throughout the book, every few pages had a comic style insert. Which I thought was a cool and unique idea. I also like that the first main character was tough and didn’t take crap from anyone. But that is where the positives ended for me.

The two main issues for me with this book were the pacing and the character choices/development. The best way I can describe the pacing of this book is like it was the reverse of normal storytelling pacing. Less than 50 pages in there is a big event that results in the destruction of nearly an entire town yet then for the next 200 odd pages nearly nothing happens it feels slow and boring and a little anticlimactic after the dramatic start.

The other issue I have is something I tend to feel about a lot of Cast’s books is that many of the characters feel forced and like the authours are trying to hard to be diverse and put every possible character type/personality etc into the story. Now do not come for me, I am a huge advocate for diverse books and love reads that people can find a little of themselves in and relate to. But when this is done well! When the characters feel like real people and their race, gender and or sexuality feels genuine and real. If that makes any sense. Basically, I don’t think you need to have every type of person represented in your book in order for it to be diverse and when you do try to put that much in, it can feel forced. Which concerns me in terms of how the representation feels to those the characters are meant to be representing.

In conclusion, this book is the first book I have DNF in a very long time. I tried so hard, pushed through for months until finally with only about 70 pages left I just couldn’t waste any more of my time and energy on it. A cool concept that was poorly executed and weirdly paced. This read just was not for me! 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? What element would you like to control if you could control one? Let me know in the comments below! Until next time happy watching and reading! 

 

 

Review: The universe listens to brave by Rebecca Ray

Title: The universe listens to brave

Author: Rebecca Ray

Genre: Self-help/ non-fiction

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Publication date: 26 March 2019

Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis for Pan Macmillan Australia: 

This book of wisdom has been written for you: the ones who seek to live with more courage.

Reach for it when you’re setting an intention, making a big decision, doing the work of healing, grieving, creating or learning to love yourself, and you need reminding to keep choosing brave.

This is your invitation to leap into your most expansive life.

Dr Rebecca Ray is a writer, speaker and clinical psychologist. She invites you to contemplate your true self, in its bravest form: the self that is still asking questions. The self that is seeking wisdom. And the self that’s determined to stay open to the possibilities of a life inspired.

---

*Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

Happy release day to this beautiful book. Some of you are probably thinking a self-help book? This isn’t her usual gig? And you would be right, I don’t read many self-help books as a lot of them don’t call to me and don’t seem like they are what I need. However as soon as read the title and synopsis of this book I knew I needed to give it a go! You see I have always been someone who overthinks and therefore struggles to do the brave things. I was also diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder at the start of this year and this book sounded like it could help or at the very least provide some inspiring words.

This book did not disappoint me right from the get go the reading experience is made special just from the visual beauty of the book. The cover is stunning, and the inside is just as pretty with pink monochrome pages throughout. It would make a great gift for a mum or sister based on the visual appeal alone.

Just like the physical appearance of the book the words within are just as beautiful and just as inspiring as I thought. Rebecca relates to the reader by explaining her own experiences with anxiety and trying to live life bravely. And the large amounts of quotes, affirmations and mantras throughout made me feel inspired and like I am not alone in any of the things I am feeling.

In conclusion, this book is absolutely stunning inside and out. I recommend it to anyone who struggles with living bravely or anxiety or really anyone looking for a hit of inspiration.  The only reason this read is not 5 stars for me is because not every single mantra resonated with me. Which is fine! The words that did resonate with me have left a hopefully lasting impression. Which is why I am rating this read 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

Do you read much self-help? Any recommendations? Do you use mantras or affirmations? What are some of your favourites? Until next time happy watching and reading!

 

Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi Blog Tour

Hey, Hi, Hello! 🙂

Welcome to my blog tour stop for the amazing Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi. Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia and AusYABloggers for allowing me to be a part of this tour and sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

If you would like to follow along with the rest of the tour stops, check out the other stops from today or yesterday’s stops, you can check out the tour schedule here. ❤

Title: Emergency Contact

Author: Mary H. K. Choi

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia

Publication date: January 1st 2019

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis from Simon & Schuster Australia: 

From debut author Mary H.K. Choi comes a compulsively readable novel that shows young love in all its awkward glory—perfect for fans of Eleanor & Park and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him. 

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

First off can you just look at that cover! LOOK AT IT!!! It’s more beautiful than the crazies in Bird Box find the demons!!! Like the title is a rose gold foil in real life and it is so stunning! Not to mention the artist has done a fantastic job depicting Sam and Penny! I picture them almost exactly like this! Just look at the hair!!

This book has two point of views both Penny and Sam. Now books with multiple POV’s can be really hit or miss for me. Really, they are only a hit if I like all the characters who have a POV. Luckily in this case I loved both characters so actually really enjoyed the deeper insights I got into both of their lives. Trying to pick a favourite main character out of Penny and Sam is hard! I just kind of love them both! Although it was frustrating watching them both make some of the decisions they did!

I loved the writing style of this book. This is a fantastic Debut novel! Great writing!! I loved that the book had both “real life” scenes and text conversations. I also think Choi’s writing style was fresh and unique. The story, but more importantly the way it is written is reliable and emotive. This book made me laugh, made me sad, made me feel like I’m not alone and made me think! This book is not just a light fluffy read, although it definitely has those moments! It manages to also cover some heavier or more serious subject matter such as mental health, substance abuse and rape. So, if any of these things are triggers for you please consider before reading.

On top of great characters, uniqueness and great writing. I also loved this book because of how diverse it is and how much is represented in this book! Obviously, I can not comment on how well everything was represented as I don’t fit into all that was. However, I simply love that this book has such a diverse range of main and side characters from appearance, race, personality, mental health and even socioeconomic standing. As someone who does suffer from anxiety, I will say I thought this was well represented even if I do not share all of the symptoms as the characters, I found I could relate. And one of my favourite things is when I feel I can relate to a book especially in terms of my anxiety! Makes me feel less alone and like its ok.

In conclusion, I found this book to be all around awesome! I 100% do recommend! Congratulations on a fantastic debut Mary H. K. Choi I will 100% be reading any future work! The fantastic writing, characters and unique story line along with some awesome diverse representation convinced me to rate this read 5/5 stars! About the Author:

Mary H.K. Choi is a writer for The New York Times, GQ, Wired, and The Atlantic. She has written comics for Marvel and DC, as well as a collection of essays called Oh, Never Mind. She is the host of Hey, Cool Job!, a podcast about jobs, and is a culture correspondent for VICE News Tonight on HBO. Emergency Contact is her first novel. Mary grew up in Hong Kong and Texas and now lives in New York.

Image credit © Aaron Richter

Twitter: @ChoitotheWorld / Instagram: @ChoitotheWorld / Website: http://www.choitotheworld.com/Have you read this book? Did you love it as much as I did? What are some other books you feel have good anxiety rep? As always happy watching and reading! 

Review: Time Crawlers By Varun Sayal

Title: Time Crawlers

Author: Varun Sayal

Genre: Sci-fi Short stories

Publisher: Independently published

Publication date: June 15th 2018

Rating: 2.5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Alien Invasion, Dark Artificial Intelligence, Time-Travel, High-Tech Mythology, Djinn Folklore, Telekinetics, and life-consuming Cosmic Entities are some major themes in this book which has six tightly-knit, fast-paced Sci-Fi stories.

1. Nark-astra, The Hell Weapon
The weapons he possesses make him the destroyer of worlds, and he burns for revenge. A high-tech take on ancient Indian mythology.

2. Death by Crowd
The dark desires of the masses; darknet websites fueled by a crypto-currency. What lurks in the background – an advanced artificial intelligence?

3. Genie
He rubbed a lamp alright, but what he got was the shock of his life. An entirely sci-fi take on the djinn myth.

4. Time Crawlers
There are individuals who existing in multiple time periods at once, and there are those who know about them….

5. Eclipse
No attacks, no blood-shed, yet there was an invasion and a conquest. Who are these shapeshifter aliens being hounded by an eclipse?

6. The Cave
The fate of an advanced imperial race hangs in balance as a dark celestial entity meets a legendary protector.

Thank you to the author Varun Sayal for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As the synopsis depicts this is a collection of six sci-fi themed short stories. I generally am not a fan of short stories and short story collections. This is because I am a very character driven person and don’t feel short stories give me enough time to get to know and connect with the characters. This collection was no exception. Just as I started to learn the character names and get a feel for what their personality might be like BAM the story ended and it was time to move onto the next one!

Another thing that bothered me about this collection was the writing style itself. I tried not to think too critically about the writing style as I understand this is a debut collection and self-published, so may not have gone through as big of an editing process. With this being said however there were a number of grammatical errors/ misused words and or extra/ missing words. I also found it hard to determine what age group the author was writing these stories for. I actually personally felt that the writing style changed from story to story some seemed to be written in a middle grade type of way with basic description and wording where as others seemed to be adult fiction with more description, but more thinking required from the reader. For the most part though I felt the writing got better with each story.

As for the stories themselves they were a bit hit and miss for me. Some I found a little boring, confusing and not completely thought through. While others, especially the last few, I found the underling ideas, themes and concepts to be very interesting and unique. I liked how many of the stories had an underling theme of morals and the way they were written made me not only question the morals and actions of the characters but ask myself what I would do in these situations and what my own morals are like. A few of the stories also had some very effective plot twists that I did not always see coming and think could be used to an even bigger effect had the story been a full length novel.

In conclusion I enjoyed the premises of most of the stories and the underlying theme of humanity and morals. Many of the ideas, concepts and technologies had great potential and were unique. However, the inconsistency of the writing style throughout all the stories mixed with my dislike of short stories in general made this collection somewhat hard to read. Therefore, I have given this short story collection 2.5/5 stars. Do you enjoy short stories? Or do you have similar issues with them like me? What are some of your favourite short story collections and or sci-fi reads? Until next time happy watching and reading! 

Review: Lisette’s Paris Notebook by Catherine Bateson

Title: Lisette’s Paris Notebook

Author: Catherine Bateson

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: Allen & Unwin 

Publication date: January 2017

Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

What do you wear to Paris? Ami and I discussed it for hours but I still couldn’t think of anything suitable. Ami said a trench coat with nothing underneath but your best underwear. That was only if some boy was meeting you at the airport, I said.

Eighteen-year-old Lisette has just arrived in Paris (France!) – the city of haute couture and all things stylish – to practise her French and see great works of art. Her clairvoyant landlady Madame Christophe forces her to attend language lessons with a bunch of international students but soon Lise discovers she’s more interested in studying boys than art or verbs …

When the undeniably hot Anders jogs into her life it feels too good to be true. Things get even more complicated when she is pursued by Hugo, a charming English antiques dealer.

Can she take a chance and follow her own dreams? How far into the future can Madame Christophe see? And could Lise really be falling in love – in Paris?

So, as you may already be getting from the bio this book is a YA contemporary romance, coming of age, finding yourself story. The main narrator Lise is an 18 year old Australian girl taking a gap year trip in Paris. It is a very cute quick read. Not only is the main character Australian but the author Catherine Bateson is an Australian making this particular read a #loveozya book. Which I think is fantastic! I love reading and supporting Aussie authors and their books. It’s something I have been thinking I need to consciously make an effort to read more of so this book was the perfect opportunity to do so! 

Quick mention to the cover of this book. I think this book is so cute and all the little pictures really give me young holiday in Paris vibes! Can I pack my suitcase already?? 

The first half of this book is frustrating to read. Not because the story is bad. It isn’t. But because after arriving in Paris and first experiencing the magic of the city the MC quickly starts to make some what I would consider pretty stupid choices. So, this is frustrating to watch unfold as I just know it will end badly. I had to constantly remind myself that the MC was only 18 and that if she didn’t make these mistakes this story wouldn’t be one of self-growth and discovery. Another negative for me was that although this book had many cute and whimsical travel abroad vibes. There were also a number of parts I found particularly cringe worthy instead of cute. For example, there is a part where the MC and a love interest are discussing her previous intimate experience and as she is shy to talk about it, he uses a doll like a ventriloquist to make her comfortable enough to tell him. I see the cute moment the author was trying to go for here. But I was cringing the whole time. 

On a more positive note after the first 100 pages I started to find Lise a lot less annoying. Even though she still didn’t always make the right decisions I found most interactions less cringey. I enjoyed seeing her grow and become more comfortable in Paris and the relationships she was building were really pulling me in. I also enjoyed reading about all the different activities and places she visited in Paris. The way the author described them had a magical, whimsical quality that made me want to book a flight straight away. I also adored the main love interest and once he came into the picture found myself wanting to just keep reading and hoping like hell it would all work out for them both! 

In conclusion, this book didn’t make it to my top favourite reads. Because of the cringe factor and my frustration with some of the MC’s actions. However, I did overall really enjoy it. Because of the cute romance and the travel lust it inspired. I think it really achieved an appropriate self-growth, young adult coming of age story. Which is why I am rating this book 3.5 stars. What is a place you want to visit most in the world? Does Paris make your list? What are some of your favourite #loveozya titles and authors? Chat with me in the comments below! Until next time Happy watching and reading! 

Review: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Title: It Ends with Us

Author: Colleen Hoover

Genre: Adult Contemporary

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Publication date: August 2016

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

SOMETIMES THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU IS THE ONE WHO HURTS YOU THE MOST

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up – she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan – her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

This book contains graphic scenes and very sensitive subject matter..

Firstly, I want to mention the blurb of this book and give credit to Goodreads for their synopsis. My version of the book does not include the line “This book contains graphic scenes and very sensitive subject matter.”  And I think it very smart and considerate of Goodreads for including it now. Going into this read as my book didn’t mention this I was expecting a love triangle with a little drama and a lot of romance! 

Let me tell you this book was so much more and really does cover some pretty heavy and sensitive subject matter! Through the first few chapters I thought this book was exactly what I expected a grown-up romance, love triangle with a touch on the serious topic of homelessness and domestic violence via the main characters parents. I found myself getting emotionally invested, picking a “team” and hoping they would be OTP.  This book is so well written in the way that you feel without meaning to the main characters emotions completely. Being an empath and an emotional person, this was great at first. I mean it was hard to read about the struggle of the MC’s childhood, but I was so happy and excited and feeling the love with the romance developing. I was falling hard as she was. So, I was very emotionally invested when things took a much darker turn then I was expecting. 

The MC experiences domestic violence of her own. And it is not glossed over, and it is graphic and intense. Because of the way the book is written I was already invested in her life and in the relationship. So, as I wasn’t expecting this it hit me hard in the feels. And because of the empathetic emotional person I am this meant I was in this for the long haul. I stayed up until 2 am reading trying to work through these feelings with the MC, struggling as she was going through emotional turmoil, I laughed, I stressed and I bawled my god damned eyes out, but I had to see how this story ended. 

For days after I felt emotionally raw and I could not stop thinking about the story and it definitely made me think and question things I had never thought about before. On the one hand I think this means the book was incredibly written. Anything that can make you feel so much is not a badly written piece. So, I knew I would rate this book highly. But I also knew I couldn’t give this book a full 5 star review. And not just for the handful of grammatical errors/ typos. But because my version of the book had no content and or trigger warnings at all. And sure, maybe with them this book may not have caused me to feel so much emotion. But the fact that it doesn’t have any warning and me as a person who has been fortunate enough not to experience any of these issues in her own life was this emotionally wrecked by it. I can only imagine what it might emote in someone who has if they were to read this unsuspectingly. And I do not think that is fair at all. At the very least all versions of this book should have the warning the Goodreads synopsis does, but it’s clearly a little late for that now. Therefore, I gave this read 4 out of 5 stars. 

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Do you think all books should have trigger and or content warnings? Until next time Happy watching and reading! 

Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

Title: Heir of Fire

Author: Sarah J Maas

Genre: YA fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication date: September 2014

Rating: 5/5

Warning the synopsis contains spoilers if you have not read the previous books in this series! Read at your own risk! 

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Consumed by guilt and rage, Celaena can’t bring herself to spill blood for the King of Adarlan. She must fight back…

The Immortal Queen will help her destroy the king – for a price. But as Celaena battles with her darkest memories and her heart breaks for a love that could never last, can she fulfil the bargain and head the almighty court of Terrasen? And who will stand with her?

Continuing on with my reread in preparation for Kingdom of Ash was one of my favourites from this series, Heir of Fire. If you missed them I also reviewed Assassins Blade, Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight.

If I was going to give the most basic review of this book without my usual rambling I would simply say: Amazing new characters are introduced! CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!! Character development everywhere!!

But what fun would one of my reviews be without my rambling, fangirling nonsense? Not very fun at all! So, buckle up kids and grab a snack why we both try to sort through all my feelings about this brilliant book!

This book is one of my favourites of the entire series so far. One of the biggest contributing factors to this is the new characters that are introduced! Firstly Manon Blackbeak and we might as well throw in the whole 13! I absolutely loved Manon from the first moment she was introduced to me and upon rereading my love for her has only grown! She is beautiful and fierce and skilled. But she also isn’t perfect and has a lot of growing and developing to do. I believe little bits of this growth starts to occur in this book. The second character introduced in this book that I love is Rowan. Hot, skilled, tattooed fae male! Must I say anymore? Can he be an Ass? Yes! Does he also grow a shit tone throughout the story? Also yes! Honourable mention goes to Aedion as I don’t mind him in this book but I know he grows on me a hell of a lot in the next book!

I think this book takes the series in a new and exciting direction. We gain so much information about the world, certain characters pasts, the king and his plans. Is it a lot of information to take in? Yes, but I believe it is done in such a way, evenly throughout the book, that it only made me enjoy the reading experience more while getting excited about where the story could go from here.

I can’t really touch on the character development side of things more than I already have without spoilers. However, I will say almost every main character goes through events that allows us to learn more about them and for them to learn more about themselves. There are also many interactions between the main characters that play a part in the way they grow or go backwards. And we see how their personalities and wants etc change over time. I love this and especially like the journey Celaena goes through. Her development is by far my favourite of the book.

Lastly the other reason I adore this book is for the spectrum of feelings it forces me to go through and feel. Every time I read it. This book is all the feelings! ALL OF THEM! From heart ache to joy, despair, anger, love, triumph, surprises, shocks and everything in between! Basically, be prepared for an emotional roller coaster! Who am I kidding? You can not be prepared. Just feel it all, it’s easier that way! Haha!

In conclusion I love pretty much everything about this book! The characters, the plot, the feelings it’s all great. I really don’t think I can fault it. Other than for me personally Chaol’s chapters are a little boring. So, since I am pretty much grasping at straws for things I don’t like and overwhelmed by the things I loved this book is a 5/5 read for me! What did you think of this book? Who is your favourite character in it? What is your favourite Maas book? Let’s chat in the comments below! As always, happy watching and reading!