Review of 100 Hours by Rachel Vincent

Title/Author: 100 Hours (100 Hours #1) by Rachel Vincent
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, March 28th 2017
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: A decadent spring break getaway on an exotic beach becomes a terrifying survival story when six Miami teens are kidnapped and ransomed.

Maddie is beyond done with her cousin Genesis’s entitled and shallow entourage. Genesis is so over Miami’s predictable social scene with its velvet ropes, petty power plays, and backstabbing boyfriends.

While Maddie craves family time for spring break, Genesis seeks novelty — like a last-minute getaway to an untouched beach in Colombia. And when Genesis wants something, it happens.

But paradise has its price. Dragged from their tents under the cover of dark, Genesis, Maddie, and their friends are kidnapped and held for ransom deep inside the jungle — with no diva left behind. It all feels so random to everyone except Genesis. She knows they were targeted for a reason. And that reason is her.

Now, as the hours count down, only one thing’s for certain: If the Miami hostages can’t set aside their personal problems, no one will make it out alive.

I used to devour thrillers when I was younger, but these days I gravitate more to other genres, but I've really enjoyed Rachel Vincent's writing style in the past and that combined with the summary made me pick up 100 Hours. Sadly, it didn't work so well for me.

I felt that it lacked something to make me care about what was going to happen to this group of teenagers before it started happening. We're thrown right into the story a little bit before the main events start to unroll and the rapid change in POV between Maddie and Genesis didn't make me connect to either of the characters. Especially because I didn't really like either of them. I mean, I sort of felt bad for Maddie, her father died and her brother's a recovering addict, but it was all so briefly mentioned that I felt like I was supposed to feel sorry for her, but it didn't fully register.
And then there's Genesis, who's supposed to be entitled and not a very nice person, but there's no depth to this character portrayal and she just randomly hooks up with guys who are not her boyfriend, which I can't really blame her for because her boyfriend is a douche, but he's RIGHT THERE, so that was a bit of a problem for me.

There was just a bit too much of random romance thrown in, I mean, why the heck are these people making out with each other when they're being held hostage? I mean, seriously? Why is everyone falling in love with each other in a matter of hours and willing to make sacrifices for said other person when they've known each other for all of 5 minutes and don't even know their real names??? I mean, SERIOUSLY?? Also priorities anyone? And I was just not shipping it. Because it was weird. And while I'm all for romance, it took away from the storyline in this case.

The ending left me going, WAIT WHAT? Because major dramatic events and CLIFFHANGER, but I still don't think I'll pick up the sequel, because while I think we'll finally get to some more interesting storylines, I'm not sure I want to read another full novel with these characters.

My rating: 1,5 stars

Review of If I Only Had a Duke by Lenora Bell

Title/Author: If I Only Had a Duke (The Disgraceful Dukes #2) by Lenora Bell
Publisher/Date published: Avon, August 30th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

Goodreads summary: After four failed seasons and a disastrous jilting, Lady Dorothea Beaumont has had more than enough of her family’s scheming. She won’t domesticate a duke, entangle an earl, or vie for a viscount. She will quietly exit to her aunt’s Irish estate for a life of blissful freedom. Until an arrogant, sinfully handsome duke singles her out for a waltz, making Thea the most popular belle of the season.

The duke ruined her plans and he’ll just have to fix them.

Dalton, Duke of Osborne, is far too heartless for debutantes or marriage—he uses dalliances and public spectacle to distract from his real purpose: finding the man who destroyed his family. When his search leads to Ireland, the last thing he needs is the determined, achingly innocent Thea, who arrives in the dead of night demanding he escort her to her aunt. His foolish agreement may prove his undoing. The road to the Emerald Isle is fraught with unforeseen dangers, but the greatest peril of all might just be discovering that he has a heart...and he’s losing it to Thea.

So I really enjoyed the first book in this series that features the basically identical looking half-sister of the heroine of this one, so I was excited to start this. And I liked it, just not as much as the first.

I liked the sassy correspondence between Thea and Dalton that starts of this story, it was witty and flirty and just lots of fun. And at first, the dialogue between the two is exactly that when they meet in real life. They challenge each other and have very nice chemistry and I was just really feeling it. But then the adoration started overflowing and it just sort of fizzled down a bit and I did still find myself hoping they'd find a way to be together, but it wasn't making me smile as much anymore as it did at the start.

I did very much enjoy Thea's antics, pretending to be an Italian opera singer and just getting up to all sorts of mischief. And the duke mainly just staring and dealing with it, while being a bit of a brooding hero with a not-so-servant-like man-servant. I did like the two of them together, they brought out a side of each other that was fun to watch.

The thing is, I was having a bit of trouble with the way that Thea thinks she 'knows him better than anyone' after having slept with him. I mean, seriously? You've known the man for what, two weeks, and because you've been intimate you know him better than ANYONE else? I can't help but roll my eyes when I read something like this, I mean, if you've actually known someone their whole lives and have deep conversations, then maybe you can say something like this, but having sex once or twice doesn't really do the trick. It's not a magic mind-reading experience.
But I could have gotten past this with just an eye roll or two, if I hadn't been disappointed by the way things concluded, which was a bit anticlimactic. ***SPOILER LIGHT UP TO READ*** Dalton walks away cause he's 'heartless' and then his brother ends up wanting a relationship with him and his brother and all of a sudden he's like YES I LOVE THEA and I'm like WHAT THE WHAT??? You left her like 5 minutes ago, I mean, SERIOUSLY??? What if his brother hadn't turn back around, then they would have been apart forever? And his mother magically learns to get over her fear of going outside that's kept her inside for 20 years because of said brother returning? I was seriously not into the ending at all. *** END OF SPOILER***

Aside from these issues, mainly with the ending, If I Only Had a Duke was an enjoyable read, it's just a shame that the ending left me not so much heaving a happy sigh at yet another happy ending, which is one of the things I love about reading historical romances.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of Once Was a Time by Leila Sales

Title/Author: Once Was a Time by Leila Sales
Publisher/Date published: Chronicle Books, April 5th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: In the war-ravaged England of 1940, Charlotte Bromley is sure of only one thing: Kitty McLaughlin is her best friend in the whole world. But when Charlotte's scientist father makes an astonishing discovery that the Germans will covet for themselves, Charlotte is faced with an impossible choice between danger and safety. Should she remain with her friend or journey to another time and place? Her split-second decision has huge consequences, and when she finds herself alone in the world, unsure of Kitty's fate, she knows that somehow, some way, she must find her way back to her friend. Written in the spirit of classic time-travel tales, this book is an imaginative and heartfelt tribute to the unbreakable ties of friendship.

I LOVE Leila Sales' writing, so there was a LOT of pressure on this book to be awesome. And while I did like it, it didn't blow me away.

I'm always intrigued by timetravel and was curious to see how it would work out in this MG novel. And it was a very interesting concept, the thing is that it never really gets explained how the timetravel works and why Charlotte is able to travel while her dad's been spending his whole life loooking for the answer and never really getting it. And I guess I just sorta needed that explanation, because at one point it seems like we're getting it, but then NOPE, sorry!

I was really feeling for Charlotte, she went through a very traumatic experience and then ends up in the future all by herself, trying to make sense of the world that is all of a sudden filled with internet and all of the electric appliances that we now have basically everywhere. All by herself without her best friend and her family, she totally rallies though! She finds her safe place: the library (AWESOME) and things start to happen from there.

Charlotte seems like a nice girl, but she sorta loses herself in the drama that's a mean girl phase at school. And the figuring out of the whole timetravel thing gets put on the backburner until she finds a clue and then we're back in business! I felt that the ending was a bit bittersweet, but I did like it. The thing is that I was never fully emerged in the story and while I did like the way Leila Sales wrapped it up, I still have so many questions!

It was cute though, just not the amazing that I've come to expect from Leila Sales.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows

Title/Author: The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen #2) by Jodi Meadows
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, April 5th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.

HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right.

HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith — destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.

HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE***

After the cliffhanger ending of The Orphan Queen, I'm SO happy that I already had the egalley for this one so I didn't have to wait in agony to find out what would happen next!

The Mirror King picks up right where we left everyone in The Orphan Queen and I just loved it! We dove right back into the epicness that is this world and Jodi Meadows' writing and also all of these characters and especially WIL and TOBIAH and JAMES. And also Melanie, but we don't see as much of her for the first part cause she went off with Patrick. Who is hateful and will not be mentioned much hereafter because of said hatefulness.

I loved Wil even more in this one, I felt for her in all of her doubts and insecurities and in the starcrossed love she's feeling for Tobiah. I mean, wow, these two have basically everything going against them. One of which happens in this book and was one of the most shocking things EVER. OMG, I still can't believe that happened! She was so strong through it all and really grew as a person and I love that even though everyone knows she's the heir to the throne of Aecor, she's not going to stop kicking ass.

The wraith is still creepy and I'm still not sure that I get it entirely, but in The Mirror King, they're looking for a way to stop it. Or at least keep it at bay. I loved seeing more of the wraith boy and the thing I also very much liked about the magic system is that Wil can animate things, but while they're animated, they keep costing her energy, so it's not just her powering them up and then the things just going off on their own, but it's actually a strain on her and therefore her magic is not limitless.

There are some hints about things that are explained in The Mirror King, but I was SO surprised at at least one of the big reveals! I really don't want to give anything away, but I had definitely not picked up on it, and it was both sad and awesome and plays a big part in the final scenes. Which also gave me some sads, because of reasons. I've gotten so attached to this world and these characters and there are only two books and I wished I could have just spent some more time with everyone and see how their lives turn out after the events in The Mirror King! It's what makes me realise how much I love a book, when I keep wondering what will happen after I've turned the last page.

I'm in awe of Jodi Meadows' storytelling and I really hope she'll be gifting us with more stories!

My rating: 5 stars

Review of The Wedding Date by Kelly

Title/Author: The Wedding Date by Kelly Eadon
Publisher/Date published: Forever Yours, April 5th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: A little fake relationship never hurt anyone...

Kate Massie has big dreams - they just haven't worked out. Yet. In the meantime, she spends her days clerking for a judge and her nights fantasizing about her tall, dark, and sexy gym crush. So when she runs into him one night, she's shocked to realize he was her shy, nerdy junior-prom date. But that isn't where the surprises end...

James Abell needs a date to his sister's wedding. So when Kate agrees, he's relieved... until one little lie turns their wedding date into a full-blown fake relationship. Only it doesn't feel fake - not the toe-curling kisses and definitely not the electricity. Neither of them is looking for something real... but they just might fall for their own little white lie.

So in between all of my fantasy reads lately I was definitely ready to get some contemporary romance action going! And I basically read The Wedding Date in no time at all, it was a nice little break from all the epic tales I'd been reading.

I liked that Kate and James sort of had a history. I mean, they're not just random stranger bumping into each other and starting a fake relationship, they've actually already met because Kate was James' last minute prom date way back when. There's some reminiscing about this going on, but not a lot of actual details about how their night went back then and why they didn't keep in touch except for him not daring to ask her number. And they did have one actual person in common, though she doesn't feature much except to facilitate their first meeting.

Basically James and Kate were pretty cute together, there are some obstacles in their way, James' decision to not get involved with anyone because he just broke up with his ex and is not ready to dive back into a relationship, Kate's issues with trusting someone not to break her heart. BUT they do work together and there were sparks between them, which I obviously supported.

The thing is, this was pretty short. So while I liked the overall idea of this, it was just a little short of being amazing because there was just not enough of everything. I mean, there's an I love you at some point that had me like HUH? Already?? I could have done with a little more moments where they were finding their footing and moments of doubt and the main fight was resolved pretty easily... I mean, I would just have liked it to be a little more. Because it had all the ingredients I like in a romance novel, but not fleshed out enough to have me shipping everything and having feelings all over it.

That said, it was a very nice, fun read and a good way to spend Easter Monday afternoon!

My rating: 3 stars

Review of The Skylighter by Becky Wallace

Title/Author: The Skylighter (The Keepers' Chronicles) by Becky Wallace
Publisher/Date published: Margaret K. McElderry Books, March 22nd 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks! And also bought myself a shiny finished copy.

Goodreads summary: As the last of the royal line, Johanna is the only person who can heal a magical breach in the wall that separates her kingdom of Santarem from the land of the Keepers, legendary men and women who wield elemental magic. The barrier protects Santarem from those Keepers who might try to take power over mere humans... Keepers who are determined to stop Johanna and seize the wall’s power for themselves.

And they’re not the only ones. As the duchys of Santarem descend into war over the throne, Johanna relies more than ever on the advice of her handsome companion, Lord Rafael DeSilva. But Rafi is a duke too, and his people come first. As their friendship progresses into the beginnings of a tender relationship, Johanna must wonder: is Rafi looking out for her happiness, or does he want the throne for himself?

With war on the horizon, Johanna and Rafi dodge treacherous dukes and Keeper assassins as they race to through the countryside, determined to strengthen the wall before it’s too late... even if it means sacrificing their happiness for the sake of their world.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES***

So I ADORED The Storyspinner and while I didn't love The Skylighter with the same passion, I did very much enjoy it and thought it was a solid ending to this series.

In The Skylighter, we continue the journey that Rafi and Johanna started to get to the wall and restore the power, they team up with Jacaré and there are several things going on all over Santarem, so my attention as a reader was a bit divided. There's a lot of switching back and forth between different points of view and while I liked not only seeing things from one side, it was at times a little too much for me, because some of the chapters were pretty short and I just wanted to get sucked into this person's side of the story and then it would switch already. But we did get to see what everyone was up to, and even with that, Becky Wallace still managed to surprise me with some of the twists.

While The Storyspinner was filled with my ship being shippy, in The Skyligher Rafi and Johanna are at a weird place and while I was still so much rooting for them to be together, it was slightly less swoony. They keep pulling together, pushing away and it's just a rollercoaster. I do very much love them together though, they're both awesome and manage to draw the best out of each other. And I also liked that they're doing everything they can to make sure they can actually be together, BUT there's a limit to what they will do to accomplish this, there are things that are more important.

I loved getting a little bit more of Johanna's parents' backstory and would have liked to see even more of this and to get a little bit more background for the Keeper's powers, cause I feel like there's a whole lot more left to explore in this world, so I'm kinda sad that it's only two books. But I've come across a Q&A that says that there might be more books set in Santarem, SO YAY FOR THAT, PLEASE WRITE MORE!

One thing that kinda bugged me: [Show][Hide]
There's all this mystery about the collars and how exactly they work and what's it's about the beryllium that's making them able to control people through them and it's never fully revealed what this is about and there's all this about not being able to get it off and then random people can just take them off someone else? I mean huh?? Did I miss something here?

But overall, I thought this was such a really incredible series that I very much enjoyed and would love to read back to back at some point, just to get fully in the feels without having to try to remember the details from the previous book because they're still fresh. Rafi and Johanna have a special place in my heart and I'd love to see what happens AFTER the events in The Skylighter, so please Becky Wallace, write me some more books?

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Title/Author: The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, March 10th 2015
How I got this book: bought the beautiful hardcover!

Goodreads summary: Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

OBVIOUSLY I needed this! I mean, I loved Incarnate (still need to finish that series...) and Jodi Meadow's writing style and just LOOK AT THAT COVER!! I mean, YES! So I went in and was very much not disappointed!

I LOVED Wilhelmina. She's strong and fierce and so loyal to those she loves, but not so much that she doesn't call them on the things she thinks aren't right. And she can also take someone not agreeing with her and still be their friend, that is a sign of maturity right there. I loved how skilled she is with forgery and can basically copy anyone's handwriting. And I really liked that she doesn't lose herself in a romance, obviously she would like for things to work out, but she's also realistic as to the chances of that happening and that there are more important things going on.

I'm very much intrigued by the world that Jodi Meadows has created for this series, I'm not really sure I really get the magic system just yet, but the wraith is both VERY creepy and VERY interesting and I'm very curious to see if things will be a little further explained in the second book.
What I also loved is that Wil and Melanie are truly friends, they may not always agree with each other, but they have each other's backs and I think they also passed the Bechdel test (which I only reference because it was featured on Jane the Virgin's last episode and it made me laugh), so that's a solid yay for friendship!

But now let's talk about the boy. Because the BOY. I had very swoony feelings about the boy and I applaud Wilhelmina for keeping her head straight, cause I'm not sure I could have. I could feel the struggle and them both trying to be sensible about all this and I KNOW that there are so many obstacles, but seriously, my ship better sail in the second book!
I figured out the identity of Black Knife pretty early on for obvious reasons, but it was totally fine, the only things I wasn't sure about is WHY Wilhelmina didn't figure it out before he flat out told her. I mean, super spy anyone?

But OMG YOU GUYS THAT ENDING!!! I cannot. I just cannot. That is seriously no way to end a novel and now I'm REALLY glad that I waited so long to start this, because the second book is almost out and YAY I WILL READ THIS SOON! I think waiting a year would have surely killed me. Go hurry and read this if you haven't already!

My rating: 5 stars

Review of The Hidden Twin by Adi Rule

Title/Author: The Hidden Twin by Adi Rule
Publisher/Date published: St. Martin's Press, March 22nd 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: For eighteen years, Redwing has lived in hiding in a city of hissing pipes and curving temples perched on the side of Mol, the great volcano. Her father hoped she would grow up to be a real human girl and not a wicked creature out of mythology, so he secretly spared her life as an infant.

But when two priests track her down and attack, she calls forth fire to protect herself, and her secret is out. Redwing soon catches the attention of a cult with a thousand year-old grudge, a group of underground rebels, and the son of the Empress. And when Redwing’s sister goes missing, she uncovers a greater plot to awaken Mol and bring his lava down upon them all.

Now, Redwing must draw a line between myth and history and prove herself more than a monster if she is to save both her sister and her home.

So before starting this I'd seen people LOVE it and also people who REALLY didn't like, so I was curious where I'd fall on this spectrum. And I'll have to say that I fall somewhere right in de middle.

There's not a lot explained about the world that The Hidden Twin is set in and things start happening before I really had a grip on the people and the places we were seeing. And I felt a bit like I was floundering about, not really seeming to catch myself and really get a sense of what was going on, which detracted from my enjoyment of the story a bit. But Adi Rule set the scene eventually and I was able to get into it then.

I'm thinking there's a LOT of backstory actually there for this world, but the sad thing is for me, that we're not really getting shown a lot of it. I mean, there's all this mythology and also the faith of the people that gets mentioned, but not fully explained and because of this, I just barely got a glimpse of the interesting things that Adi Rule's come up with and it could have just been so much more! I mean, the redwings and the Others are SO interesting, but I'm not really sure who or what they are and I've definitely read the whole thing. I found myself checking multiple times that yes, this really is a standalone and yes, it's also really just 242 pages. It felt more like the summary of a story than the whole story.

But that's not to say that it wasn't entertaining, I mean, the main character, who is nameless (seriously, WHAT IS UP with her family??), is feisty and while not interacting with people all that much before the events in The Hidden Twin get going, she manages to come up with all the snappy comebacks and I liked it. The only thing is, that it was a bit hard to believe that she could be so natural with all these people when mostly she's only been interacting with her father and sister, so it seemed a bit improbable. But she was funny, so I went with it.

I really liked the idea of redwings and the hints of the mythology and even the tiny romance part of it. But what kept bugging me was that it was just too much of a plot for the amount of pages, so it just lacked depth for me. It could have been so much more if there'd just been more room for the story to unfold and to really understand what was going on. I mean, the big finale takes less than 10 pages. I mean, what?

I still think that this story and the idea behind it has a lot of potential, I just wish it had been fleshed out a bit more, because now parts of it just fell flat.

My rating: 2,5 stars

Review of The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

Title/Author: The Great Hunt (Eurona Duology #1) by Wendy Higgins
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, March 8th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs revolt. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona — kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.

Princess Aerity knows her duty to the kingdom but cannot bear the idea of marrying a until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. There’s no denying the unspoken lure between them... or his mysterious resentment.

Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand — ridding the kingdom of the beast — but the princess continues to surprise him, and the perilous secrets he’s buried begin to surface.

So I haven't read anything by Wendy Higgins before, even though 3 of the 4 Sweet Trilogy books (which is weird cause there are 4 books) are on my shelf. I should get on that, because I really enjoyed The Great Hunt!

At the start I was a teensy bit concerned that this would be a case of insta-love and the romance being more important than the rest of the plot, but I'm glad to say that my worries were for nothing, because I fully supported this part of the story and the character themselves realise there's something more important than this romance.

Princess Aerity has always known that she's going to inherit the kingdom and there are certain responsibilities that come with this and with being the eldest sibling. And she doesn't fight this, she has a very mature sense of her duty and though obviously she isn't always happy about it, she really tries to do what's best for her kingdom. And I really admire this, a lot of times you see a character be whiny about the things that are expected of them and sometimes about things that have a lot less impact on your life than having to marry a the random person who slays the beast instead of someone you love like you've been told all your life. While it's obviously devastating, she takes it in stride and tries to make the best of it and I loved how she realised how far the risks and sacrifices of the hunters went and that she genuinely tried to get to know a bit about them.

There's a great deal of mystery about this beast that is terrorizing the land and one of the things about it was something that I figured out pretty early on, but one other twist that I'm not even going to hint at took me by surprise, but it made SO much sense looking back at some of the things that had happened earlier. I'm really curious to learn more about the magic system, but this fear and hatred of the Lashed is a bit horrifying. I mean, wow, I get that there's been a madman who was Lashed, but you can't just go around banning or killing anyone who happens to have the same powers! Imagine all the good they can do with it!

But let's talk about the ship for a bit. There's this instant attraction, but over time as they get to know each other, it grows into a little something more and I liked it. I also liked that there's staring at attractive and sometimes half naked men, because well, I'd also be staring if there were some physcially fit hunters running around flexing muscles and the like, so this seemed very healthy to me. But I really liked my ship together, and they knew that there was a big chance that he wouldn't be the one to slay the beast and she's have to marry someone else, but they just couldn't help it and I was like YES KISS!

With how Wendy Higgins left things, I really NEED the next book because holy wow, there are some things that definitely need to be fixed and there's a build up to even more trouble from a crazy woman and I just need closure. Very much.

My rating: 4 stars

Review of Lady Bridget's Diary by Maya Rodale

Title/Author: Lady Bridget's Diary (Cavendish #1) by Maya Rodale
Publisher/Date published: Avon, February 23rd 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: Lord Darcy is the quintessential Englishman: wealthy, titled, impossibly proper, and horrified that a pack of Americans has inherited one of England's most respected dukedoms. But his manners, his infamous self-restraint, and his better judgment fly out the window when he finds himself with the maddening American girl next door.

Lady Bridget Cavendish has grand — but thwarted — plans to become a Perfect Lady and take the haute ton by storm. In her diary, Bridget records her disastrous attempts to assimilate into London high society, her adoration of the handsome rogue next door, her disdain for the Dreadful Lord Darcy, and some truly scandalous secrets that could ruin them all.

It was loathing at first sight for Lady Bridget and Lord Darcy. But their paths keep crossing... and somehow involve kissing. When Lady Bridget's diary goes missing, both Darcy and Bridget must decide what matters most of all — a sterling reputation or a perfectly imperfect love.

Guys, I have lots of love for Bridget Jones' Diary, especially for the movies, they're is funny and they give me feels and it's just incredibly comforting. And obviously I love that it's loosely based on Pride and Prejudice, which is my all-time favourite novel. So I was majorly excited when I came across Lady Bridget's Diary, I mean, a historical romance version of Bridget Jones? YES PLEASE!

And you guys, I was very much not disappointed! I love when a romance author also brings the funny, cause that usually makes for the best reads and Maya Rodale accomplished that, it wasn't as laugh out loud funny as I've experienced in Tessa Dare's and Julia Quinn's books, but it did make me smile and I like that.

I really liked Bridget. She's a bit clumsy and awkward, but she does try very hard to fit in to society and that's not always the best recipe for great decisions, but I loved her for it anyway. She's trying to make a success of her family coming to England because her brother inherited a dukedom and I loved her loyalty to her sisters and her brother, while also experiencing things that brothers and sisters all over the world know: your sibling know how best to vex you. I liked that she knows what she wants and she's not willing to settle.

Darcy... How can I not love any man with this name and these qualities? I loved seeing him open up, both to himself and to Bridget and I love that he is trying to put his brother first, but it REALLY interferes with what he wants and I was just rooting for him to find a way to fix everything so he and Bridget could be together. He's a genuinely good man and I love how he also values family and goes around in his lordly way and fixes thing. I also loved that he had a fist fight with his brother a la Daniel and Mark in Bridget Jones' Diary, that's one of my favourite scenes in the movies :)

And the chemistry! Bridget and Darcy have amazing chemistry and it's a bit of a slow burn, but then it's BOOM SPARKS YES! And I had many feels and there was lots of rooting for the couple and lots of UGH for the person standing in their way. SO.
Also, I totally loved that there was a Mean Girls reference.

Basically what I'm saying is that I adored Lady Bridget's Diary! It was fun and full of feels and all my favourite things of both Bridget Jones' Diary and P&P! Including a scene in the rain and one in the lake and the fight and just lots of YES.

My rating: 5 stars

Review of The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Title/Author: The Girl From Everywhere (The Girl From Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig
Publisher/Date published: Greenwillow Books, February 16th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times - although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix's father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix's existence rather dangerously in question...

Nix has grown used to her father's obsession, but only because she's convinced it can't work. But then a map falls into her father's lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it's that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.

The mention of time travel always pulls me in, as do pirates (because I have a thing for pirates, I cannot help myself), so this seemed like a golden combination. And I did like The Girl From Everywhere, just not as much as I'd hoped to.

There's a set of very complicated characters and Nix is a decent main character, but I'm still not entirely sure about her, but that might be because she herself isn't sure what she wants and who she wants to be. There's a restlessness about her that I felt throughout the novel and it made me itchy a bit myself.
Aside from Nix, there's Kashmir, who was an obvious instant like for me, because hello suave thief with lots of banter! I also really wanted to push him and Nix together and be like 'ok, now kiss'. I loved some of the moments between them, but aside from their banter, there's such a lack of communication! OMG, I just wanted to scream at them to just TALK to each other instead of constantly skirting around the subject and UGH!

But this is basically one of my main issues with The Girl From Everywhere: nobody communicated. Seriously. Or maybe it was just that Nix doesn't really communicate with anybody. Not with Kashmir, and also not with her father, which leads to lots of unnecessary difficulties and I mean, I know that without some of it there wouldn't be much of a plot, but I very much dislike when the plot revolves around people not being sensible enough to just talk to each other.

The other thing that was a bit jarring was that sometimes there would be jumps in conversation or scene or a time lapse and it made me wonder if I'd skipped over some part or if there was a page missing in my egalley, but it usually did flow in the sentence, so I'm guessing it was how it was meant to be, but that pulled me out of my reading flow.

I did very much like the idea of being able to travel to places and times based on maps and I loved all the use of mythology! Some of the time-line logic towards the end made me go cross-eyed a bit because of all the loops, but the author made it work. The ending felt sort of abrupt, in that something happened that felt out of character to me, but it does make me wonder what will happen next! There's so much build up in this novel and there's also some action, but I'm guessing we'll see lots more of it in the next book.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Title/Author: Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart #1) by Sarah Ahiers
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, February 2nd 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible — and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct — and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

There's just something about books about assassins that always manages to draw my attention. I'm kinda wondering what this says about me...

I've been reading a lot of 'meh' books lately and have DNF-ed quite a bit, so I was REALLY hoping Assassin's Heart would not have the instant sigh factor that some of my recent reads have had. And it didn't! I was sucked in from the start and I totally love that!

We meet Lea just before the murder of her whole family (as described in the summary) and see how she operates and we also see a bit of her relationship with Val. And I really liked seeing this glimpse into what Lea's life was like before the plot of Assassin's Heart starts rolling. And knowing that it'll all go downhill very fast gives it a bittersweet vibe from the get-go.

I really liked Lea. I mean, she's definitely a kickass character in the literal sense of the word, but she's also smart and determined and even though I'm a bit like, girl shouldn't you think a bit more before running off and doing whatever, she makes it work. I did really want someone to shake some sense into her when she's all like 'I'll murder ALL the Da Via's for what they did' and there are like 50 of them and she's by herself. Yeah. Odds and all that. BUT she has a plan and is also open to adjusting it a bit, so I could work with this.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and I loved that Lea's views about how 'normal' the system is that they have in Lovera with it being legal to kill people for money are being challenged a bit. I mean, the whole idea behind this and the mythology is delightfully complicated and I loved getting a bit deeper into the how and why of things. I cannot imagine the whole Family before family thing, but it's maffia-esque and while I don't really understand it, I can accept it for what it is.

The plot is pretty fast paced and towards the end things start snowballing almost out of control, but OBVIOUSLY Lea has a plan and after the bomb that was dropped plotwise in the last couple of chapters, I'm REALLY wondering what will happen next! I felt like this was a very solid start to the series!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

Title/Author: The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin
Publisher/Date published: Simon Pulse, January 26th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: In the tradition of Sarah Dessen, this powerful debut novel is a compelling portrait of a young girl coping with her mother’s cancer as she figures out how to learn from — and fix — her past.

Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan.

Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different — he’s taller, stronger... more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis.

While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from.

As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all.

So I'm usually the person who avoids books dealing with illness, in the main character or one of the people they're close to. But every once in a while I do pick one up and usually end up loving it. And this is what happened with The Year We Fell Apart.

Obviously Harper is a flawed main character, she's made an enormous mess of everything and she seems determined to keep making self-destructive decisions. But what you also get from being inside her head in this novel is that she's struggling SO much to keep everything together, and sometimes it doesn't work and she falls apart and does things that she later regrets. And you know what, I get it. She's dealing with a LOT and it's not even remotely resembling easy and sometimes she just wants to feel good, only the things she does that aren't the best decisions, don't actually make her feel good. And she slowly starts to realise this, but it's hard to change this. Especially when a whole lot of people have already made up their minds about who you are.

I loved that she has an awesome friend in Cory, he's just an amazingly good guy and he sticks with Harper, even though it must be really hard for him to juggle his friendship with her and with Declan after what happened. I also really liked seeing Harper develop a healthy friendship with two girls who she meets in her photography class, as the only other female friendship she's got going on is definitely more of the frenemy type and HATE that. I mean, wow, way to be supportive.

The thing is, I was pretty much loving this, though it's a lot more dark and angsty than the cover lets on, but the last part of the book kinda ruined it a bit for me. I mean, I was rooting for the romance to develop because hello, Declan is a good guy and I liked how Harper was the best version of herself when she was around him. I always feel that you shouldn't need to change essentially to be with someone, but they should make you be the best version of yourself, so I was full on going YES. But then some stuff happened towards the end and that just popped my happy swoony bubble and it was just extremely not ok. I mean, WOW, REALLY? I can get why he jumped to conclusions, but the way he reacts after that is just so insanely way over the line that I just could not after that. Basically all my happy feelings were gone.

So while I think this is a strong debut that deals with the illness of a family member in a very realistic way and shows how it can affect someone, I still had some serious problems with the way things ended and that soured my opinion of The Year We Fell Apart a bit.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Title/Author: Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard
Publisher/Date published: Tor, January 14th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through Netgalley, thanks! I also bought a shiny finished copy :)

Goodreads summary: On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery”, a magical skill that sets them apart from others.

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble — as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her — but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Obviously there's a lot of hype surrounding Truthwitch. It's only been on pretty much everyone and their aunt's NEED THIS list for a LONG time and the extreme gorgeousness of the cover is definitely adding to this for me. So I was both very excited and a bit scared to pick this up, because what if I didn't like it??

But I'm glad to say that I did very much like it, though I'm not fangirling all over it like I've seen many people do over the past months. Which would have been awesome, but I'm ok with things as they are now.

I LOVED the frienship between Iseult and Safi, they are true sisters in the best sense of the word and I really feel like they would do anything for each other. And as Susan says in the acknowledgements: 'A friendship can be as epic as a romance'. This friendship is the kind that launches a thousand ships and it is a beautiful thing to see in a book. Especially with a lot of friendships in novels being more like frenemies, which always annoys me.

And as much as I liked the girls together, I also really like them for their own persons. They're both amazing in their own way and I have so many questions about their past! I hope we'll see more of this as the series continues. They are both badass and have a set of skills that awes me, but definitely something that was hard earned instead of just given to them.

I really liked the worldbuilding and the different types of witches are very interesting! I hope we'll get to explore this more, because I'm definitely curious about how everything ties together and what exactly makes a person be a witch and others not so much. And what makes you be a certain type of witch. The thing I'm still a bit confused about though, is why exactly a Truthwitch is so valuable. I mean, I get that it's handy to rulers to have one, you can't be lied to, but it seems that there'd be even more useful skills to have. I mean, basically every country hunting Safi because of this seemed a bit over much.

As much as I loved the friendship between Safi and Iseult, I wasn't really feeling the romance. I mean, it was okay, but I wasn't really shipping it. The part leading up to the kiss was pretty great, but other than that it fell a bit flat for me.

So yes, like most of the blogging world, I really liked Truthwitch and I'm very curious to see what will happen next!

My rating: 4 stars

Review of Burn by Elissa Sussman

Title/Author: Burn (Four Sisters #2) by Elissa Sussman
Publisher/Date published: Greenwillow Books, January 19th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: After helping to rescue Princess Aislynn, Elanor has finally rejoined the rebel camp she calls home. Stolen from her parents at a young age and forced into service by the Wicked Queen, Elanor now wants nothing more than to see the queen removed from power. But Elanor has secrets, mistakes she’s spent years trying to forget, and the closer the rebels get to the throne, the harder it is for Elanor to keep her past hidden away.

With fellow rebels on her side — including Princess Aislynn, Thackery, and the handsome and mysterious Matthias — it is time for Elanor to make a decision. Will she protect her secrets? Or risk everything to save the people she loves?

So I really enjoyed Stray when I read it last year, so I was excited to see Burn pop up on Edelweiss! I mean, I've been waiting for some answers for AGES, so yeah, obviously I wanted to read Burn.

Sadly, Burn didn't work as well for me as Stray did. I mean, I felt a little lost throughout the whole story and that's just not a very good feeling. I like to be fully immersed in a story and the characters and experience everything right along with them. And that never happened with Burn. I kept wondering where the storyline was going and why exactly we were being told all these things and basically just what was the point to it all. I'm still not entirely sure about all these things.

Eleanor is in theory a very kickass woman, she fights, she's not afraid to admit that she falls in love with a person and isn't inhibited by a gender in this. I love that not everyone is the standard straight in this series. But while Eleanor is interesting, there just wasn't enough of a plot to back it all up. People did things (major vagueness, I know) that I'm still confused about, I mean, it was just WEIRD and seemed out of character. That is based on the things we actually get to know about the characters, cause most of the ones we're introduced to in Burn aren't given a lot of depth, sadly.

I did like learning more about Eleanor's past and her relationship with the Queen, but I'm still not really sure why the Queen did what she did and that kinda bugs me. Also, I'm not entirely convinced by the romance and aside from a very cute fox that I just wanted to HUG, there wasn't much that I was very enthusiastic about. The fox totally stole the show.

My rating: 2 stars

Review of Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan

Title/Author: Sword and Verse (Sword and Verse #1) by Kathy MacMillan
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, January 19th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: Raisa was just a child when she was sold to work as a slave in the kingdom of Qilara. Despite her young age, her father was teaching her to read and write, grooming her to take his place as a Learned One. In Qilara, the Arnathim, like Raisa, are the lowest class, and literacy is a capital offense. What’s more, only the king, prince, tutor, and tutor-in-training are allowed to learn the very highest order language, the language of the gods. So when the tutor-in-training is executed for teaching slaves this sacred language, and Raisa is selected to replace her, Raisa knows any slipup on her part could mean death.

Keeping her secret is hard enough, but the romance that’s been growing between her and Prince Mati isn’t helping matters. Then Raisa is approached by the Resistance — an underground army of slave rebels — to help liberate Arnath slaves. She wants to free her people, but that would mean aiding a war against Mati. As Raisa struggles with what to do, she discovers a secret that the Qilarites have been hiding for centuries — one that, if uncovered, could bring the kingdom to its knees.

So Sword and Verse has been getting a lot of negative reviews and I have to say that I actually did really like this! My expectations were somewhat lowered by the not so glowing thing I'd heard, so that might have helped, but I genuinely liked this.

I really liked Raisa, she's been through a lot as a kid and she's part of a group of people that is being repressed by the nation she lives in. They're slaves to the Qilarites and the way they are treated is apalling and the dangers they put the children in, that's just.. awful. And Raisa has found a way to live a better life than most as she became Tutor in training. She's a little safer and is treated better than most of the Arnathim. And because you see the way that she interacts with the current Tutor and with Mati, the prince, I could understand her hesitancy to join the Resistance and risk her life and everything in it. I felt that it was a realistic struggle between her loyalties and I enjoyed seeing her grow as a person and find what's important to her.

One of the other things I really liked was the language, while science is more my thing, I loved learning languages in school as a teen and I'd still love to learn Spanish, Italian and Chinese if I ever find the time for it. So I was very interested in how the Qilarite language system works and especially once Raisa starts on trying to figure out the Arnathim language. There's a lot of technical stuff and details about the whole language and Raisa learning it, but that didn't bother me, though it slowed down the plot a bit at times. The thing that I did feel kinda iffy about is that I have zero idea as to how Raisa actually figured out the key to the Arnathim language. I mean, she had basically nothing to go on and then she just starts figuring it out because she hears her father's voice in her head? Who hadn't really started teaching her language before he was killed? I mean, huh? Je suis confused.

Also, I can get behind the romance, I'm not full on shipping it, but I do like that Mati and Raisa actually have a history together and have known each other for years before things start to happen. At times I wished Mati was a bit of a better man, cause I can't for the life of me figure out how he thought it was a good idea to keep certain things from Raisa, but I did like how she handled it. I mean, she doesn't forgive him out of hand and she definitely shows that she's the better person for it. I mean, that was just a big no.

So the ending leaves me very interested to see how things will go on, because certainly the events that lead up to it are gonna lead to a LOT of changes and I am definitely reading the sequel to find out what happens next!

My rating: 4 stars

Review of The Killing Jar by Jennifer Bosworth

Title/Author: The Killing Jar by Jennifer Bosworth
Publisher/Date published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, January 12th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: “I try not to think about it, what I did to that boy.”

Seventeen-year-old Kenna Marsden has a secret.

She’s haunted by a violent tragedy she can’t explain. Kenna’s past has kept people — even her own mother — at a distance for years. Just when she finds a friend who loves her and life begins to improve, she’s plunged into a new nightmare. Her mom and twin sister are attacked, and the dark powers Kenna has struggled to suppress awaken with a vengeance.

On the heels of the assault, Kenna is exiled to a nearby commune, known as Eclipse, to live with a relative she never knew she had. There, she discovers an extraordinary new way of life as she learns who she really is, and the wonders she’s capable of. For the first time, she starts to feel like she belongs somewhere. That her terrible secret makes her beautiful and strong, not dangerous. But the longer she stays at Eclipse, the more she senses there is something malignant lurking underneath it all. And she begins to suspect that her new family has sinister plans for her...

So I was pretty excited to start this because the summary hints at dark powers and a commune that could also be read as cult and I'm both fascinated and very scared by cults, so it's always interesting to me when they appear in a novel.

Sadly, I have to say that The Killing Jar didn't really work all that well for me. I mean, the plot was sort of interesting, but I kept getting annoyed by the characters. All of them. Most of all Kenna and her mother and also her grandmother and everyone in the commune. I mean, holy wow, can we just say people kept making REALLY bad decisions? And I'm not just talking about the teenagers, but mostly about the adults and I just cannot.

I mean, I'm sorry, but Kenna has done something awful and her mother KNOWS this and also knows what caused it and then she just sort of keeps Kenna at a distance and doesn't tell her about this? I mean, WHAT? And then all of a sudden something else happens and Kenna's mom decides to send her to this commune? I mean, WHAT THE WHAT? Without really explaining anything she just up and leaves Kenna there and OMG I got so angry at this! I mean, can we say bad parenting?

And Kenna herself... Well, I'm just not a fan. I felt like she was just completely ignoring what was right in front of her and why was she not questioning things more at the commune? I mean, maybe I'm just naturally suspicious, but something was OFF from the moment she got there and she's just like 'lalala, I'm just gonna sniff flowers and sing and dance and well, maybe the people here are weird and they don't tell me anything about anything, but I'm just gonna ignore that'. And the way she handled things with her twin sister was just not ok. I get that she's confused because of all the shiny things they did show her at Eclipse, but seriously, you have a brain, please use it.

The only reason I finished this because I wanted very badly to know what was behind everything at Eclipse. And we're sort of told about it, but my curiosity isn't really satisfied with the answers we're given. I think I just feel like this could have gone a lot deeper into things and now it felt very superficial and just not what I had expected.

My rating: 1,5 stars

Review of How To Rescue a Rake by Jayne Fresina

Title/Author: How To Rescue a Rake (Book Club Belles Society #3) by Jayne Fresina
Publisher/Date published: Sourcebooks Casablanca, January 5th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: HOW TO RESCUE A RAKE:

Reject his marriage proposal
Nathaniel Sherringham has returned to Hawcombe Prior a changed man. Gone is the reckless rake who went out on a limb to propose to Diana Makepiece three years ago. Now Nate's mysterious new wealth has the town's rumor mill spinning. To stir things up (and get Diana's attention), Nate boldly announces his plans to marry "any suitable girl" under the age of 25.

Run away
Diana, now 27 and still single, is acutely aware of Nate's return. When her mother suggests a trip to visit a cousin in Bath, Diana leaps at the chance to escape the heartbreak and regret she can't help but feel in Nate's presence... and avoid his irritating charade to find a bride.

But for Nate, Diana has always been the one. He might just have to follow her to Bath and once again lay his heart on the line to win her attention - and her heart.

It is no secret that I have lots of love for Jane Austen and will forever give retellings of her wonderful stories a chance. But I had not realised this would be a sort of retelling and it was a very pleasant surprise!

I really liked Diana, she's smart and she knows what she wants and while I would sometimes like her to be a little less sensible, cause it doesn't really lead to kissing usually, I did like her having a decent head on her shoulders. The thing I didn't like so much was that she was so easily influenced by other people into doing the 'proper' thing, like starting to wear a lace cap and everything, I mean, can you say horrendous? I did really appreciate seeing her grow and become her own person. It's kinda sad that she had to leave home and mostly her mother to accomplish this, but she did it and it was wonderful to see!

And Nate, Nate is my kind of hero, he's very alpha male, and he's also very loyal and caring and just YES. I loved how he would try and look foolish just to get Diana to smile and how he encourages her to share more of herself with the world because he likes her and watns to hear what she has to say.

And together these two were just *HAPPY SIGH*. I loved it. There were sparks and I had tears in my eyes at times and it was basically Jane Austen but with more kissing! Also, for a historical romance, How To Rescue a Rake was actually pretty clean up until the last couple of chapters. But there are LOOKS and banter and TENSION and it was just so, SO good!

My rating: 5 stars

Review of Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley

Title/Author: Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley
Publisher/Date published: Amulet Books, January 5th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley, thanks!

Goodreads summary: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. The Brontë siblings have always been inseparable. After all, nothing can bond four siblings quite like life in an isolated parsonage out on the moors. Their vivid imaginations lend them escape from their strict upbringing, actually transporting them into their created worlds: the glittering Verdopolis and the romantic and melancholy Gondal. But at what price? As Branwell begins to slip into madness and the sisters feel their real lives slipping away, they must weigh the cost of their powerful imaginations, even as their characters — the brooding Rogue and dashing Duke of Zamorna — refuse to let them go.

So I already knew that I loved Lena Coakley's writing, because I ADORED Witchlanders and as it had been over 4 years since I read that particular gem, I was beyond excited to get my hands on another one of her books, never mind that it's not the sequel to Witchlanders that my heart yearns for. I also feel very honored that Lena Coakley reached out to me to be a part of the blog tour for Worlds of Ink and Shadow, I'll have a guest post by this lovely lady up on Friday!

And guys, I totally loved Worlds of Ink and Shadow! It's not high fantasy goodness, but it is a crossover between historical fiction and fantasy and I was really feeling it! And it's definitely not a bad thing that it's centered around the Brontë siblings, I mean, Charlotte Brontë holds a special place in my heart for having written Jane Eyre, which is one of my favourite stories ever and very much due a reread. It was just so interesting! I love that it's based on things the siblings have written in their younger years, because now I can imagine things actually went down like they did in Worlds of Ink and Shadow and pretend the world is an even more magical place than it already is when I have all these stories to immerse myself in.

Characterwise, I have a soft spot for Emily. Which is kind of surprising to me, as I didn't really like Wuthering Heights, but it does make me reconsider rereading it. I loved how she's passionate and how she doesn't shy away from danger and by being herself makes this wonderful man fall in love with her.

And you know what, Lena Coakley perfectly captured my feeling of 'No they're not JUST characters in a book' in a much more refined way. She made these historical figures come to life, but she also had the characters in their stories literally come to life and it just resonates with me that characters and stories are not just there in the books, we carry them with us wherever we go and I now feel fully justified in my frustration when a series (mostly TV, TV shows getting cancelled is a sad, sad thing) is discontinued and then we'll NEVER KNOW what happens next for the characters! It's just not a very good option.

Basically, I found myself again loving Lena Coakley's writing style and the way she has with words. I'm wishing for a lot more books from her in the future!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Title/Author: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher/Date published: Sourcebooks Fire, January 5th 2016
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley,thanks!

Goodreads summary: 10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03
The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

I'm always excited to spotlight another Dutchy, but I basically never get the chance author-wise, so I'm very happy to say that I was impressed with Marieke Nijkamp's debut!

This is obviously a tough subject and it could have easily turned tasteless or a sort of slasher movie turned book, but in my opinion it didn't. Yes, it is harsh, but to me it really felt like this is how it could have happened and I think it shows that Marieke Nijkamp did her research in the subject of school shootings. I cannot even imagine what it must be like to live through something like this and am always horrified when I hear another tragedy has struck a school somewhere in the world. I don't think we've ever had a school shooting in Holland and it does make me question gun laws, but I'm not really looking to get into a political debate on my blog.

We see the events from different POVs and every one of them is terrifying and heartbreaking in their own right. I mean, what makes school shooting even more horrifying for me is that it's not some random person opening fire in a random place, but you actually know this person and he or she has gone to school with you and it might be your friend or part of your family or even someone that you used to date and that is just insanely terrifying. I mean, obviously any and all attacks made on people are awful, but something like this is also personal and that adds that extra layer of nightmare.

I could seriously not stop reading this and it really didn't do me any favours in terms of getting a good night's sleep. I found myself thinking about This is Where It Ends during the day and wanting to find time to read it because I needed to know what happened next because I was just very much invested in these people and the whole school and it was heartbreaking and horrible and all these lives that are destroyed, I still have no words.

I'd recommend reading this when you really have the time to read a chunk of it because you will want to keep reading and for me it really packed a punch.

My rating: 4,5 stars