Page 174 of 427

BOOK REVIEW: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

August 16, 2018 / Arielle / 6 Comments

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet.

Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture - being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future.

The truth is, the world is a fucked up place sometimes.

Wow. I honestly am not sure what I even want to rate this book but I guess I’ll go with a four. Ever since I got hooked on Doctor Who quite a few years back, I have gotten my hands on any and all YA time travel books that I could. Of course they seem to be hit or miss. Basically, if the time travel ~makes sense~ I usually love it. If it doesn’t, or is just too convoluted, they’re usually just mehh in my opinion. This one, as far as the actual inner workings of time travel go, seemed pretty easy to understand. Yes, it can still sometimes be hard to wrap your mind around but..it’s time travel. Of course you’re going to have to think about it and all of the possibilities that are created by going forward and back in time.

Time travel isn’t a wonder; it’s an abomination.

Basically this story starts out on two timelines, one with a character named Em narrating and the other with a character named Melanie narrating. Em is in a prison cell with a boy she knows named Finn (you can’t tell if they’re best friends or something more than that at first) in the next cell over. They have been in there for some time and seem to have been tortured for some kind of important information that they won’t give up. In her cell is a drain with a grate over it. For some reason it really bothers her—like seriously freaks her out until she is able to open it with a plastic spoon. Inside is a sealed bag with a piece of paper covered in her own handwriting with a list of things crossed out. The very last thing on the list reads something along the lines of “You have to kill him.” Very ominous, I know. She and Finn then need to escape their cells and travel back in time to kill whoever “him” is to prevent this time traveling machine from ever being made.

Melanie is narrating a time four years previous to Em’s perspective and has a best friend named James that she’s in love with. James has another friend named Finn that Melanie happens to hate. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention but it took me what was probably longer than necessary to realize that those Finn’s were the same person lol. As you can probably tell, the two stories intersect in the most interesting of ways.

But progress is always dangerous, isn’t it? Most of the time, walls don’t get dismantled brick by brick. Someone has to crash through them.

I don’t know if I consider this next part a spoiler or not since you find all of this out relatively early on in the book so I guess if you really just want to go into it blind, skip over the next paragraph.

Eventually you find out that Melanie is actually Em from the past. James is the one who creates the time machine, and as I said earlier, Finn is the same Finn (and is in love with the Em of the present.) Like I said, it took me (looking back) what seemed like way too long to figure that all out, I will admit it. Once things get going we see what Em and Finn do to try and kill past James so that the machine will never have been invented while seeing how those actions affect past Melanie, Finn, and James in their own present. I might have totally butchered explaining that, who knows haha. While I thought all of those small little aspects were incredibly well thought out and while I really liked the ending, I wasn’t completely sold.

The one major thing that affected my rating was the fact that on numerous occasions Em and Finn had these flashbacks to their past while also making mention of previous timelines in which they have travelled back other times to try and stop James from making the machine. They know this because of the list that Em finds in the drain like I mentioned earlier. For me, those small mentions and flashbacks were not enough. I felt like I needed *more*. I needed more about Finn and Em’s relationship. I needed WAY more about those past timelines, the newly dystopian-ish state of the US, and specific things that Finn and Em went through together to turn them into this semi-hardened versions of themselves. I think that even just a little bit more information would have gone a long way in raising the stakes for us as readers wanting James to be taken down.

This next part I will put under a spoiler tag, just so I can talk things through without spoiling the ending for anyone:
View Spoiler »

I tell her she’s beautiful and perfect and she’s going to be okay. I tell her she doesn’t need to change herself to fit in with shallow girls or to matter to someone. I tell her everything I wish I had ever known. I tell her I love her, and I realize as I say it that I love me, too.

Overall, good example of time travel done right and I would definitely recommend!

BOOK REVIEW: War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard

August 15, 2018 / Chelsea / 4 Comments

War Storm (Red Queen #4)
by Victoria Aveyard
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Victory comes at a price.

Mare Barrow learned this all too well when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to protect her heart—and secure freedom for Reds and newbloods like her—Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta once and for all… starting with the crown on Maven’s head.

But no battle is won alone, and before the Reds may rise as one, Mare must side with the boy who broke her heart in order to defeat the boy who almost broke her. Cal’s powerful Silver allies, alongside Mare and the Scarlet Guard, prove a formidable force. But Maven is driven by an obsession so deep, he will stop at nothing to have Mare as his own again, even if it means demolishing everything—and everyone—in his path.

War is coming, and all Mare has fought for hangs in the balance. Will victory be enough to topple the Silver kingdoms? Or will the little lightning girl be forever silenced?

In the epic conclusion to Victoria Aveyard’s stunning series, Mare must embrace her fate and summon all her power… for all will be tested, but not all will survive.

A soldier with orders to answer to. Fitting. That’s who he thinks he is. Just another person under his father’s command, obeying the will of someone dead. Again we lock eyes, and something in both of us burns.
Despite everything, his presence feels like safety. No matter what, he chases away any fear I have for myself.
Of course, that only leaves fear for the people I love.
For Farley, for my family.
And still, always, for him.

I think it’s safe to say that, even though it breaks my heart, this series just was 50/50 for me. Whereas most people would say book one and two were horrendous while three and four flourished, I’d laugh in their face and claim the opposite. See, to me, a book isn’t about bragging rights. It isn’t about doing things for the sake of doing them, nor is it about only making a statement. And, somewhere along the line, this series became about making a statement rather than just being a good book.

I feel cut in two, torn in different directions. An obvious question hangs in my mind. Another choice that I might need to make. His life or our victory? I don’t know which side I might choose, if I ever have to. Which side I might betray. The knife of that knowledge cuts deep, and I bleed where no one else can see.

I’m all about the excitement. The romance. The Peril. I don’t need the MC to stomp on everyone at the expense of keeping things interesting. And, while I’m at it, I don’t need a series or book to be wholly original. If you take a tired, but true, concept and add even a little twist to it, I’m happy. I obviously like what I like, so if you master it and make new characters and a fun storyline seem fresh and new, I’m all for it. I just need to fall for the characters, enough to care what happens to them, in the end, and I am so so happy. But making me fall for a character I’d die for, then making him a shell of a man….Nah. I’m so not here for that, and that’s exactly what happened here.

I don’t care about Iris, still out in the harbor, making her escape. I can only look at him, even though I never want to see him like this. Each passing second is a ruin. I’ve been shot; I’ve been stabbed; I’ve been hollowed out. This is a thousand times worse.

And, to be fair, I’d say that happened more in KC than in WS. In WS we saw my man really do his thing…but, yet, he also seemed like a pussy. Sorry, but I feel like the author totally emasculated him-and I stand by that. Do you know how disheartening it is to fall in love with a character, to really, truly fall head over heels for him for two whole books where he’s protective, loyal, strong-seeing them fall in love slowly, then all at once, even though it’s forbidden-would do anything for the MC, would die for her, to then be demoted to a lovesick puppy dog in book three with his tail behind his legs (and really in book 4, as well) and every POV that isn’t his all of sudden talks crap about him 24/7? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THIS MIGHT RIP APART SOMEONE’S SOUL?!

I wonder which second put this in motion. Which choice. Was it Elara, looking into my head for an opportunity to strike the Scarlet Guard? Was it Evangeline, making me fall into the arena of Queenstrial? Was it Cal, his hand closing on mine when I was just a Red thief? Or Kilorn, his master dead, his fate decided, the doom of conscription looming before him?

And I think, over anything else, I have to ask why. WHY build someone up to then just cut him down? And don’t even get me started about Mare. Weak, pathetic, and really a total moron in book one and two (even though I really didn’t ever dislike her wholly), then made to be a badass (which is a good character arc, to be honest) along with every other woman in the series, yet all the other men fade to the back? Well, okay, except Maven who, frankly, I think was leading all the Maven fans on, so why stoke the fire? I just…this author. I don’t get it. Why???

Constructions of their parents. Cal is built from his father’s dreams, and Maven from his mother’s nightmares.

And sometimes I just need time to figure out what I really feel about a book, an end of series, whatever, before I can give a real rating. As I was reading this, in May, I really thought it was a 4 star or 5 star book…but that end. Give me a break. Yeah, I liked it, it was okay. But, say if it was by Leigh Bardugo (and that’s just ONE example, I have many), for instance-I’d have been all heart eyes and emojis because, as most of the world knows, this woman can write, and a HFN for Leigh is the equivalent to 1,000 parades celebrating a royal wedding-that is to say, you know those characters will be okay and they’ll be together. But, with this author, I find I have no such assurance by that end. And, the most telling for my rating of all-as time has passed, I forgot I even read this novel. Which, as many of you know, is NOT good. It’s not good at all.

Making us wait isn’t just rude; it’s politically stupid. And a waste of my own precious time.
He’s probably off arguing with Mare again, pretending not to look at her lips while he does it. The prince is terribly predictable, and I hope the pair of them will boil over into some not-so-secret secret relationship once more. Will I be expected to guard the door?I sneer to myself.

I won’t go on and on and diss on a series that I really adore-I do and I did. The first two books are so superior to me-I could NEVER forget them. And, frankly, I plan to re-read those two books until the end of time. They still excite me. I still go crazy when I think of them and my heartbeat goes crazy and I’d just defend them to the very end. But those last two books, to me, just weren’t what my heart wanted and they were, honestly, poorly executed (At least book three was). Playing the ‘unreliable narrator’ card for Mare for books one and two so she can demolish another character for the sake of the story is deplorable, to me. And I will NOT support it. However, I will always cherish those first two books with my whole heart. I’ll admit that doesn’t happen often…so kudos to the author for that. If I don’t like a series, in the end, I normally dismiss all the books. But not here-Cal and Mare were EVERYTHING, to me, and I’ll never forget it.

Don’t think about him.
I chant it to myself as I prepare for bed, repeating the words over and over.
Cal’s face seems burned against my eyelids, while Maven haunts even my fleeting, distant dreams. Those stupid boys. They never leave me alone.

And the children. Seriously. Wtf.

And, to be fair, I am extremely hard on series ends…but I truly don’t think I’m the problem here. Just saying. I think I’m just so hurt/betrayed/upset that this wasn’t made to be more. It just could have been so. much. MORE. I cry for what it had the potential to be. And, yet, here we sit.

********

I have waited and waited and waited to write this review-I had read this the first week it came out…but what do you say when your heart is broken? Frankly, this series started out SO strong for me. Cal is everything. Cal is my baby. Cal is [one of many] my husband. But, after book two, this series lost the sparkle, for me. It became about female empowerment at the cost of other characters’ development, and lost my interest in the process-Just because Mare was an ‘unreliable narrator’, as the author stated at her War Storm signing, does not mean the ‘I am female, hear me roar’ idea should overpower the integrity of the rest of the novels.

Now, I know this will be an unpopular, likely trolled, opinion, but I hope everyone will accept that, while it is not popular, it is my right to say what I feel, to speak with candor, and to not be ‘hated on’.

I will come back with a full review, but, for now, that was my largest problem with this series. Not Mare, the ‘lightening girl’, the repetitive phrasing, nor Camden (who I loathed) (and is that even her name??? Cameron, maybe?). It was this series and how it was handled. And it lost me at King’s Cage. I had hoped for a better, different outcome…but here we are.

Review to come.

View all my reviews

REVIEW & EXCERPT: The Prince by Jennifer L. Armentrout

August 14, 2018 / Jen / 2 Comments

The Prince (A Wicked Trilogy)
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
She’s everything he wants….

Cold. Heartless. Deadly. Whispers of his name alone bring fear to fae and mortals alike. The Prince. There is nothing in the mortal world more dangerous than him. Haunted by a past he couldn’t control, all Caden desires is revenge against those who’d wronged him, trapping him in never-ending nightmare. And there is one person he knows can help him.

She’s everything he can’t have…

Raised within the Order, Brighton Jussier knows just how dangerous the Prince is, reformed or not. She’d seen firsthand what atrocities he could be capable of. The last thing she wants to do is help him, but he leaves her little choice. Forced to work alongside him, she begins to see the man under the bitter ice. Yearning for him feels like the definition of insanity, but there’s no denying the heat in his touch and the wicked promise is his stare.

She’s everything he’ll take….

But there’s someone out there who wants to return the Prince to his former self. A walking, breathing nightmare that is hell bent on destroying the world and everyone close to him. The last thing either of them needs is a distraction, but with the attraction growing between them each now, the one thing he wants more than anything may be the one thing that will be his undoing.

She’s everything he’d die for….

**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.**

Review:

The Prince was everything I absolutely love about Jennifer L. Armentrout! It was a page turner, had a sigh worthy male, a heroine I loved, an addicting storyline, and by just that second chapter I found myself bawling my eyes out. Between the tears, smiles and laughter, my emotions were all over the place. JLA packed so much emotion and action into this book that I still can’t believe I was reading a novella. I absolutely loved The Prince and I was left feeling so excited to see what happens in the future with these characters!

Panic began to blossom, but I fought it down. I started to raise my leg, aiming for where it counted, but he pressed his hips in, trapping a large thigh between mine.
“Foolish. So very foolish,” he said. “Also kind of hot.”
Wait. What?

While The Prince can easily be read as a standalone, I definitely recommend reading The Wicked Trilogy too. Learning first hand about Ivy, Ren and Tink’s past was a fabulous and crazy ride, and they are also in this story. But The Prince does a wonderful job of getting you caught up on the past events, so you can easily follow along with this story without having any prior knowledge. Little clues to the past, or learning who was who, are sprinkled here and there. It’s all done without info dumps and is extremely easy to follow and understand. Just know that there are spoilers about The Wicked Trilogy in this book.

The contact was a shock to my system, and when I drew in a deep breath, he smelled like summer thunderstorms and reminded me of glistening beaches. My skin burned and tingled and the reaction was swift, potent. His hand slid to the center of my back, and the next breath I took caught in my throat.

This time we followed Brighton Jussier. She had an administrative job in The Order, and was not part of patrolling their city for fae. I already liked Brighton from the previous books, but in this book I came to love her! I loved watching her find not only herself but her confidence too. And I loved that she stood up for herself. Her life hadn’t always been easy and in this book she was dealt some hard hands. Hence the sobbing on my part. So I was grateful that Brighton wasn’t on the front lines. But she was there when everything went down in the final moments of The Wicked Trilogy. And because of that she got to meet both of the Summer Court’s Princes. But two years later, one of them started to appear everywhere she seemed to go.

“Because what you said about yourself is a lie.”
I stilled. “What do you mean?”
A long moment passed, so much so that I thought he wouldn’t answer, but then those thick lashes lifted and those eyes seemed to see straight through me once more. “You’re not a ghost. You never could be one, not when you burn as brilliant as the sun.”

If you adore tortured males, then you HAVE to meet Prince Caden! His past haunted him and my heart continually broke for the horrors he was put through. And while he could be cold and distant, he wasn’t always that way around Brighton. He could be seductive, playful and the way he was protective of her was sexy as hell! Caden was absolutely beautiful inside and out and he easily caught me in his web of seduction.

Something warm and confusing and consuming filled up my chest as I stared at this beautiful, complicated ***man*. And that’s what I saw when I stared at him. Not a fae. Not an Ancient. Not a Prince. Just a man.**

So like I was saying, Brighton kept finding herself in these random situations with the Prince. She had no problem putting such a powerful being in his place and their moments together always felt charged. There was this underlying tension between them that was sexy and smoldering and I always felt like I was on the edge of my seat waiting for them to explode. It was impossible to keep the smile off of my face when they were near each other! It was so much fun and also oh so hot!

He drew my head back and then I felt his lips press to my temple. He kissed me there, and I don’t know why, but that act squeezed at my chest like my heart was in a juice grinder. It was sweet and intimate and… It was everything.

That’s all I’m saying about where this story goes, but just know that I loved, loved, loved The Prince! And the best part is that we are going to get more Brighton and Caden! I can’t wait to pickup their next book and see where their story goes! I laughed, smiled, cried and was completely captivated reading The Prince! So yes, I definitely recommend this book!

PS Can I just say that I adore Tink and his cat Dixon?! They are so hilarious and cute together!

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, provided by the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers) & iBooks (click on titles)
The Prince #1 Review: Jen	The King #2 Review: Jen	The Queen #3 Review: Jen

Excerpt:

[scroll-box]

Did it make you a bad friend if you were completely, a hundred percent envious of that friend? Yes? No? Kind of?

I figured it was somewhere in between.

That’s what I was mulling over as I watched Ivy Morgan brush thick, red curls over her shoulder, laughing at something her boyfriend Ren Owens had said to her.

At least I wasn’t envious of that—their love. Okay, well, that wasn’t entirely true. Pretty sure anyone who was as single as me would be envious of all that warm and fuzzy that was passed back and forth with each long look or casual brush of skin. The two could barely tear their gazes away from one another to eat the dinner we’d grabbed at the cute little diner inside the shopping center on Prytania Street.

I honest to God couldn’t be happier for them. They’d been through so much—way more than two people should ever have to go through to be together, and here they were, stronger and more in love than ever, and they deserved that happiness.

But their epic love story wasn’t the source of a current case of the green-eye monster that was sitting on my shoulder.

Ivy was just such a… badass.

Even right now, relaxed in the chair, surrounded by twinkling Christmas lights with her hand in Ren’s and her belly full of a cheeseburger deluxe and crinkle fries and half of my tater tots, she could kick ass and take names along with addresses, telephone numbers, and social security numbers.

If the proverbial poo hit the fan, you called Ivy or Ren.

If you needed to know what streets Royal intersected with, you called… me. Or if you needed coffee or fresh beignets but were currently busy, you know, saving the world, you’d call me.

The three of us were all members of the Order, a widespread organization that was literally the only thing that stood between mankind and complete, utter enslavement and destruction by the fae. And not the super cute fae found in Disney movies or some crap like that. Humans thought they were on top of the food chain. They were wrong. The fae were.

The only thing pop culture got right about the fae was their slightly pointy ears. That was it. The fae were more than just beings from another world—the Otherworld—they were capable of glamouring their appearance to blend in with humans. But all Order members, even me, were warded at birth against the glamour. We saw through the human façade to the creature that lurked beneath.[/scroll-box]

Trailer:

About Jennifer L. Armentrout:

# 1 New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

BOOK REVIEW: The Chase (Briar U #1) by Elle Kennedy

August 13, 2018 / Arielle / 5 Comments

The Chase (Briar U #1)
by Elle Kennedy
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother.

And that his best friend has a crush on me.

And that I just moved in with them.

Oh, did I not mention we’re roommates?

I suppose it doesn’t matter. Fitzy has made it clear he’s not interested in me, even though the sparks between us are liable to burn our house down. I’m not the kind of girl who chases after a man, though, and I’m not about to start. I’ve got my hands full dealing with a new school, a sleazy professor, and an uncertain future. So if my sexy brooding roomie wises up and realizes what he’s missing?

He knows where to find me.

I’m gone for this girl. So gone.

Imagine my surprise as I was browsing GR the other day and saw that one of my friends had started reading this book. I’m not even kidding, the last time I looked it up (I would check pretty often, honestly) it didn’t even have a date for when it was going to be published. I went and bought it IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!! You see, ever since I stumbled upon The Deal a few years ago, Elle Kennedy has been my #1 favorite and go-to author when it comes to NA/sports/romance books. I can’t fathom why more people haven’t read these books… I watch her upcoming due dates like a freaking hawk, waiting to snatch up the newest book as soon as it hits the shelf. I finished this thing as soon as my busy work and four-month-old baby schedule would allow.

“Is he a good kisser? What’s our penis situation like? Did he go down on you? Did you sleep with him? Why did you do this? Is he annoying in bed? Do you regret it? Is he—”

First things first, I was really excited when I found out that this book was going to be about Summer. Her older brother, Dean, is the star of the third book in Kennedy’s other series based around Briarwood, called The Score (which was my second favorite of the four) and was friggen hilarious. I just knew that this book wouldn’t disappoint, and for the most part it didn’t! Summer’s character was a refreshing one. Her family may be filthy rich but you can tell that everyone in her family is a hard worker and doesn’t just coast by because they can. She is a great friend, has girl power written all over her, and even has ADHD which is a pretty major part of this book (which isn’t very common!). Even though she is clearly very intelligent, she has problems writing and has struggled all throughout school. Throughout this book you can see how this really has a serious impact on her sense of self-worth and it makes her incredibly self-conscious at different times.

And I’m still debating it when Fitz enters my bedroom without knocking and levels me with two husky words. “Don’t go.”

Luckily for her, her male counterpart in this book, Fitz, helps her to see that her learning disability doesn’t make her any less of a person and that she shouldn’t be ashamed just because she can’t write an essay. Colin Fitzgerald isn’t perfect either. The guy is incapable of sharing his emotions for about 70% of the book and BOY did it frustrate me until you find out why that is. I was actually pretty interested in seeing what his character was going to be like. He is mentioned all throughout the other series as he is on the hockey team with Garrett, Logan, Dean, and Tuck but for some reason I had this completely different perception of who he was (basically that he was just this quiet nerd- and I say that lovingly- because all we really hear about him is that he’s a great gamer). It was great getting to know him though and I think he was the perfect pairing to Summer because of his level headedness and how he built her up when she was feeling low about her learning disability and stuck up for her when she was being insulted.

“Nieces and nephews plural? How many kids you planning on having?”
“A lot!”
“You’re not allowed to get pregnant until you’re at least thirty. I’m not ready to be an uncle.”
“Oh my God. Life isn’t always about you!” They stand there bickering as if I’m not bent in half on the marble floor, gasping for air.
“I’m not having kids with you,” I wheeze at Summer. “I don’t want to be part of your insane family.”
“Oh hush, sweetie. It’s too late. I’ve become attached.”

Hm let’s see, what else did I like about this book? Well, probably my favorite thing was the bromance (girlmance?) between Summer and Coach Jensen’s daughter, Brenna. Good lord she was hilarious and tough and I CAN’T WAIT for her book. I swear she better end up with Connelly—how steamy would that book be?! I also loved the humor and pop culture references in this book (all her books). They make reading them all so enjoyable. Football players who watch project runway, Summer likening one of her professors to Gilderoy Lockhart, and numerous others.

Kennedy’s books are also great because they feature real, important things. This one in particular was full of them; learning disabilities, comments on rape culture (and how horrible/real it can be in college), body shaming, abuse in its many forms, and on and on. It’s not just all frivolous smut (though let’s be real, she write the best smutty scenes out there in my opinion lol) like some NA.

For the first time ever, I truly feel like I’m living life instead of hiding in the shadows.

Basically I am so happy to be in the sphere of people again and I seriously can’t wait for Brenna’s book. The only thing that had me a little unsatisfied was that this was a *serious* slow burn. Like the reader is basically left hanging until about 70%. Even though that is super sexy sometimes, in this book I started to become disconnected to the characters and started to get really pissed off with Fitz until he explained himself to Summer. Even then though I felt like I needed a little more from the both of them together and I ended up feeling super bummed for Hunter. I really hope he gets his own book, too! Despite all that though I HIGHLY recommend this book and her other series set at Briarwood if you love or even like sports centered NA.

BOOK REVIEW: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black

August 10, 2018 / Chelsea / 6 Comments

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
by Holly Black
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest, with black hair as iridescent as a raven’s wing and cheekbones sharp enough to cut out a girl’s heart. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

This book gave me life…for the second time around.

And it’s crazy, really, that sometimes it takes reading a book at a different time in your life (less busy, in my case) for it to really become something to obsess over. I’ll admit that, while I adored Cardan and Jude the first time around, it was a 4 star for me. It was wonderful, really, but that obsessive spark I find myself tapping into often didn’t quite appear. So, when my friend read it and didn’t quite fall hard for it, I felt a fierce need to defend it. Not because it doesn’t have 1,000,000 reviews and reviewers singing it’s praises, because it does. And it certainly doesn’t need my little review to defend it. However, sometimes the fangirl reviews are just that-fangirl reviews. And I like to bring a little reality to the table.

I cannot seem to contort myself back into the shape of a dutiful child.
I am coming unraveled. I am coming undone.

I’ll admit I’ve fallen prey to this many times, writing reviews from the bottom of my little fangirl heart. But a lot of times, random people who stumble onto a book’s page think that all the praise means it’s a sure thing. And, frankly, it’s not. Just because I love and obsess over a book doesn’t mean it is without it’s flaws. For instance, what’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander, ya know? So, even though I LOVE harsh, simplistic writing instead of a heavy poetic prose, that doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way. In fact, it might surprise people because they are expecting the best of the best….and, to many, it was, but to others they might wonder what the fuss was about because it was so understated and simple. But that’s why I am forever a fan of Holly black (I loved her White Cat series)-The subtle severity wrapped in beautiful, simplistic words.

I want to scream at him: Do you know how hard it is to always keep your head down? To swallow insults and endure outright threats? And yet I have done so. I thought it proved my toughness. I thought if you saw I could take whatever came at me and still smile, you would see that I was worthy.
You’re no killer.
He has no idea what I am.

For me, that was the beauty of this book. Mean, cruel, unrelenting fae and the humans who were swept away into a world where they have to adapt to be just as cunning and harsh as those that surround them, lest they be taken advantage of…or worse, die. The beauty was in the simplicity of the delivery of such nasty moments. It’s not as cruel if it’s not stretched into three descriptive, over the top sentences, right? Wrong. It’s almost worse-and that’s why I’m so so here for it.

Do not reveal your skill with a blade. Do not reveal your mastery over glamour. Do not reveal all that you can do.
Little did Prince Dain know that my real skill lies in pissing people off.

Jude was, I’m sorry, literally such a sly, devious bada**. She makes mistakes, clearly, but she meets Cardan’s worst moments head to head with nary a look of fear on her face…even though she’s shaking from the inside out. Now, that varies between anger and fear, I’ll admit-but keeping a calm, cool, and collected persona in the face of your nemesis is amazing, no matter the fluff on the inside.

What they don’t realize is this: Yes, they frighten me, but I have always been scared, since the day I got here. I was raised by the man who murdered my parents, reared in a land of monsters. I live with that fear, let it settle into my bones, and ignore it. If I didn’t pretend not to be scared, I would hide under my owl-down coverlets in Madoc’s estate forever. I would lie there and scream until there was nothing left of me. I refuse to do that. I will not do that.

And sweet, tortured, menacing Cardan. I loved him even more the second time around. How? I don’t know. But he is bae now. He is everything…I lapped everything up he did-and I have to wonder if it’s because I knew about all his layers beforehand, so I was already a goner, then I got to re-lap him up and drool over him some more. All the while knowing all his deepest, darkest secrets and his true intentions or the menace behind his words. It makes a difference, for me, to be honest. To know someone’s true face behind a mask-thus, I fell for him harder.

“So I am to sit here and feed you information,” Cardan says, leaning against a hickory tree. “And you’re to go charm royalty? That seems entirely backward.”
I fix him with a look. “I can be charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?”
He rolls his eyes. “Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes.”

And that’s why I waited SO LONG (I read this the day it came out in January) to write this review-I bided my time so I could refresh myself and write a review that was worthy of such an epic novel, so it could be fresh in my mind and so I could give it fair review. And here is where I will capitalize on what I mentioned earlier-I LOVE to fangirl-but many times we love a book so much we don’t tell people the whole story. We don’t give a circumspect view on an otherwise addicting story, so those who aren’t just all about this or that know better than to even give this a try. Like, okay, I trust a review a LOT more if someone does sour AND sweet, as opposed to just sweet. I may love a book, but I can see the flaws, too. Like, for this book, I loved everything about it-though, I do wish there was more school where they were all mean to Jude. Yeah yeah, I’m masochistic, okay? But, this time around that didn’t bother me as much. I saw how the story unfolded and wanted to just bask in every moment. And while I love the nastiness…some might find all the characters a bit unredeemable.

Whatever essential thing the other Jude has, whatever part that’s unbroken in her and broken in me, that thing might be unrecoverable. Vivi is right; it cost me something to be the way I am. But I do not know what. And I don’t know if I can get it back. I don’t even know if I want it.
But maybe I could try.

While many of us LIVE for unredeemable characters (and honestly, they ARE redeemable, but it’s hard to see that haha), lots of people want kindness or more to root for on the GOOD side, not just the revenge side, like all of us relentless, bloodthirsty, vicious fans 😉. And, honestly, if you didn’t like fae before, you’ll likely not like them here-this story is a great example of the worst side of fae, and therefore won’t win you over…unless you like lots of, as mentioned above, vicious, unrelenting bloodshed to get what you want lol.

Faerie might be beautiful, but its beauty is like a golden stag’s carcass, crawling with maggots beneath his hide, ready to burst.

So see? I don’t mind a little horrificness with my cereal, but many do. So that was my warning. Where I see depth and amazing character arcs, many would be affronted. Not I, though. And, the writing. I’m sorry, but the GD writing. Good LORD I loved it. So simplistic yet so beautiful! I can’t even hardly stand it!

Of course, Taryn is right about stories. Bad things happen to those princesses. They are pricked with thorns, poisoned by apples, married to their own fathers. They have their hands cut off and their brothers turned into swans, their lovers chopped up and planted in basil pots. They vomit up diamonds. When they walk, it feels as though they’re walking on knives.

So I guess I’ll leave you here. It’s all about what you like/want/need in a novel. For me, a little peril, a forbidden romance, some cruelty and smexy I-hate-you-but-let’s-make-out is all I really need-BAHA! I mean, what more could I possibly ask for? Do I think this is overhyped? Partially-it’s not fair to say it’s wholly overhyped because it is a truly wonderful book and it deserves so much praise for such subtle severity wrapped up into such a sexy little book package. And people deserve to love it how they want. However, I’ve read 5 other books I loved just as much that are hardly talked about at all. Ten, even. But that’s just how it goes, right? Some stand out above the rest. My biggest advice, if you live under a rock, that is, and haven’t read this yet, is to go in with the mindset that it’s overhyped and not to expect too much…and frankly you’ll adore it. And, come on, not only do I have a MASSIVE crush on my cruel prince, but I have a girl crush on the human, Jude-the girl who (view spoiler)[outsmarted them all (hide spoiler)]. But, to be honest, I had a crush on her long before that. What can I say? I love a girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty *shrug*. I’ll jump in on that hype.

*********************

Re-reading bc why not?? I LOVED this (Cardan) in January and I literally am in the mood for nothing. Plus I still owe this masterpiece a review. Let the blood bath begin…

You haven’t seen the least I can do >.<

Page 174 of 427

BOOK REVIEW: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Synopsis:

BOOK REVIEW: War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard

Synopsis: