Off to celebrate carnaval!

I'm just popping in to say hi and have a great weekend! In Holland we have this thing called carnaval, it's basically people wearing costumes and really bad music and parades and everything and it's just a whole lot of fun, so that's what I'm doing this weekend :) I got an owl onesie, and it's SO comfy!

But I'm off, this is me today:

Hope you're all having a great weekend as well!

Mini-Reviews (3): Snow Like Ashes, A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin, I Adored a Lord

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1) by Sara Raasch
Publisher/Date published: Balzer + Bray, October 14th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: The Kingdom of Winter's magic has been stolen and Meira and a smal group of remaining Winterians are trying to get it and the kingdom back.

This is one of those times that I kick myself for not reviewing a book right after I finish reading it, because I loved Snow Like Ashes, but as it's been 4 months, I can't seem to find the right words to convey to you just how much. It could also be the effect of having just worked out for the second time this week after ages of vegging on the couch.

Anyway: I did really enjoy Snow Like Ashes, I felt it was a very strong start to this series and I'm hoping to see even more action in the sequel! I liked Meira, our main character. She struggles with the boundaries the leader of her group places on her, because she's just so ready to fight for her kingdom. She's fierce and determined and I liked it.
I also really liked the worldbuilding with the different traits for different kingdoms and OMG, the bad guys from Spring were scary! I mean, seriously, they totally gave me the creeps.

There's a love triangle, but it didn't really bother me, as one part of the love triangle didn't really feel like he was competing and yeah, I like Theron better. I could see the twist coming, but I didn't mind and I could see how Meira didn't see it.
There are a lot of complicated relationships and high stakes and I'm still trying to figure out the magic system, but Ice Like Fire, the second book in this series is definitely one of my most wanted books for this year!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Title/Author: A Good Debutante's Guide To Ruin (The Debutante File #1) by Sophie Jordan
Publisher/Date published: Avon, July 29th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley and bought my own copy
Plot in one sentence:: A duke gets his step-sister that he hasn't seen for 10 years dumped on him and things the best way to get rid of her is to marry her off, obviously sparks fly between them.

So Sophie Jordan is one of my favourite historical romance authors. I LOVE her books and always know that she'll bring the tension and the sexy. I enjoyed A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin a bit less than her other books, but that still amounts to a whole lot of liking it!

I liked Rosalie, obviously she is a bit naive, but I mean, in that time period I think they kept the girls naive on purpose. I liked that she's not just taking everything Declan tries to arrange and goes along with it, she's all about discovering for herself what she wants out of love. Going to Sodom, a private club where people go to live out sexual fantasies might not really be the best place to find it, but in the name of educating oneself it's not the worst choice she could have made. And of course the gentleman that gets picked by the hostess of said private club to share her first kiss is Declan.
And I have to say that I also really liked Declan, he's got a sense of responsibility and is just fully male and I can't help myself over that. The fact that they're stepbrother and -sister never bothered me, because they're not actually related by blood and haven't grown up together, so it's not like they're truly siblings.

I do very much dislike Rosalie's mother, she's hateful and selfish and just plain nasty. I really think people like that should be forbidden from ever having children. Seriously.
But overall, I did very much enjoy A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin, but it wasn't edge of my seat reading like I normally get from Sophie Jordan.

My rating: 4,5 stars

Title/Author: I Adored a Lord (The Prince Catchers #2) by Katharine Ashe
Publisher/Date published: Avon, July 29th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Plot in one sentence: Lots of scheming in order to get a prince's hand in marriage, only what if you fall for his half-brother instead?

A lot of times I don't really care for the plot that revolves around figuring out who murdered someone, I do like playing Clue, but I like my romance a little less tempered by large amounts of blood and corpses. But Katharine Ashe really managed to fit both in and make me enjoy it! I really enjoy her writing style and have only once not enjoyed one of her novels, which as it happens was the first book in this series, so I was really happy that I Adored a Lord worked for me!

Ravenna and Vitor (what even are those names) are both very likable main characters, they work together, they have great chemistry and I just lol-ed at the way they met in the barn for the first time. I loved that Ravenna has such a love of animals and her relationship with her employers was heart-warming.
Basically, this was just cute, fun and full of that tension I love, so I'd recommend picking it up if you like the genre!

My rating: 4 stars

Review of The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Title/Author: The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand
Publisher/Date published: Harper Teen, February 10th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: There's death all around us.
We just don't pay attention.
Until we do.

The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.

Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be.

As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.

Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn't have to be real to keep you from moving on.

Guys, I don't read a lot of books primarily dealing with death, suicide or illness. I get a lot of that in the field I work in and when I read, I mostly just want to get lost in a world that is nothing like the things I see every day. But because Cynthia Hand is amazing and I absolutely loved her Unearthly series, I was intrigued and picked up The Last Time We Say Goodbye. And I remembered why I love Cynthia Hand's writing so much!

Yes, The Last Time We Say Goodbye deals with the aftermath of a suicide. Lex's brother Ty killed himself and we see her dealing and everyone around her dealing (or not dealing) with it. Suicide is a hard subject to write about in my opinion and I just want to give kudos to Cynthia Hand for letting me truly feel everything without it being only dark and angsty. Am I making sense? Obviously this is not a book full of bright and shiny things, and there's so much sadness, but it's not depressing. And in the end there's also a sense of hope for the future. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to write this book when you've actually lost a brother because he committed suicide and while this isn't autobiographical, I'm guessing it wasn't easy to relive that period in her life.

The way every person deals with Ty's suicide is different, but it felt so real to me. So Lex can't cry anymore, there's something blocking her and she has these moments when she feels a big gaping hole in her chest and I could imagine it being like this. But there's also guilt and blaming of other people and also anger towards Ty. And while anger towards a person who is deceased isn't the way society likes us to deal with things, it's just as valid an emotion as all the others. I mean, I get it, I get Lex at one point telling him he's selfish for killing himself.

I think Cynthia Hand showed the full extent of what a family member committing suicide does to you, it's not just family life, but relationships with friends and just the way people see you that changes cause Lex is suddenly 'the girl who's brother killed himself'. I would have loved for her to be able to rely on her parents while she was grieving, but her dad was barely there before it happened and she's actually more of a grown up at the moment than her mom, so there's not a lot of help from that department. I'm actually still really worried about Lex's mom and how she'll cope in the future.

So no, this is not one of my comfortable, fluffy reads, it's hard and sad and also really beautiful because Cynthia Hand knows how to write about this subject and make me feel all of it witout it getting that depressing feeling that I dread when picking up this type of book. There's just a beautiful sadness and an ending that left me feeling hopeful for Lex and I'd love to check back in in a couple of years and find out how she's doing. The Last Time We Say Goodbye also makes me want to hug my brother extra hard.

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin

Title/Author: One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin
Publisher/Date published: Spencer Hill Press, February 10th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Tomboy to the core, Toni Valentine understands guys. She'll take horror movies, monster hunts and burping contests over manicures. So Toni is horrified when she's sent to the Winston Academy for Girls, where she has to wear a skirt and learn to be a lady while the guys move on without her.

Then Toni meets Emma Elizabeth, a girl at school with boy troubles, and she volunteers one of her friends as a pretend date. Word spreads of Toni’s connections with boys, and she discovers that her new wealthy female classmates will pay big money for fake dates. Looking for a way to connect her old best friends with her new life at school, Toni and Emma start up Toni Valentine’s Rent-A-Gent Service.

But the business meets a scandal when Toni falls for one of her friends - the same guy who happens to be the most sought-after date. With everything she's built on the line, Toni has to decide if she wants to save the business and her old life, or let go of being one of the guys for a chance at love.

So I was totally ready for some a fun contemporary with fluffy romance and that's EXACTLY what I got!

As a kid, I used to be a bit of a tomboy, my best friend was a boy and I didn't get why other girls weren't interested in climbing trees. So I could identify with Toni, even if I turned into a girly girl somewhere during high school. I think One of the Guys was awfully cute, but it also had themes that are so important: friendship, dealing with the loss of a parent and changing relationships. I could so feel for Toni because she sees her friendship with the boys changing and she's desperately trying to recapture the feeling of the summer when they first became friends. She's just trying to keep this friendship that's helped her through grieving for her father the same and I absolutely understood her fear of seeing it slip through her fingers even with all of her efforts. And I think that it's only after you can see that childhood friendhips need to either grow (and change) with you, or they usually die a silent death. So yeah, this is pretty much a subject close to my heart.

I loved seeing Toni make a new female friend at Winston Academy and the birth of their business and the handling of it was pretty fun. I'm not sure about how feasible it is that so many girls were in need of a fake date at this one school, but hey, it makes for an entertaining story. I also liked seeing how Toni gets more in touch with her girly side while still firmly being herself. I loved that she's this brave, loyal girl who truly cares for her mom and her friends and just tries to hold them close.

I also really liked the boys, Loch is just plain awesome and I'd want him for my friend (or more) as well. He's just a caring, reliable, good guy who has swoony moments. VERY swoony moments. Cowboy is this shy, intelligent guy who could also probably win my heart with his boyishness. I have to admit that I wasn't really a fan of Ollie. He's a bit mean at times and he's blaming Toni for something that wasn't entirely her fault and I just felt that he was throwing their friendship away over pretty much nothing. But he sorta redeems himself in the end.

So this is the background to which my cute romance is set and it was AWESOME. OMG, I shipped it so hard! I just wanted to pinch them and scream OMG YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE, BUT KISS ALREADY!!! They were both so insecure about taking action and that last scene hit me right in the feels and I totally had tears in my eyes and I don't know, this best friend turns love interest thing just works for me! Or maybe this particular ship just worked for me, cause they were just perfect! I love that they had a real basis for their romance as they've been friends for years and they really KNOW each other. There's no insta-love, but lots of awkwardness and glances and cluelessness and I JUST SHIP IT OK?

So bottom line: I totally loved One of the Guys, it was SO cute and it deals with important friendship themes. You definitely add it to your TBR list if it isn't on there already! I stayed up till 2AM to finish this, it was THAT good.

My rating: 5 stars

Daisy Update (57)

Hi guys!

I hope you're all having a nice and relaxing weekend filled with things you love!

So I surived my work-week from hell, I worked 6 days that week, including 3 night shifts and it added up to about 67 hours of work, which is a LOT, but in the end wasn't so bad. The people I shared my night shifts with are great and when we weren't treating a lot of (very) drunk people, we watched movies together, which is how I've seen most of The Godfather for the first time in my life and the first half of Goodfellas. I should mention that everyone else working the night shift was male and so I've been watching manly movies.

The ER continues to give me lots of crazy, but it's also REALLY interesting and I kinda love that it can be hectic and one evening I put 16 stitches in one guys head and then someone else came in with a crazy big headwound and I put 19 stitches in his head and just holy wow. It was pretty awesome. I also see a lot of really awful things, last Friday something particularly devastating happened and I had a hard time sleeping after that and I could feel the afereffects of it yesterday, so I just snuggled on the couch with the kitty and a blanket.

Yesterday the boyfriend and I went to visit two of our friends who had a baby last week and OMG, he was SO, SO cute! I love babies and he's extra adorable because he's the combination of two of our close friends and they made this beautiful baby boy and I'm just so happy for them! And also, they told us he basically doesn't open his eyes for visitors, but for us he did ;) I got to cuddle with him for a while and yeah, babies just make me happy. Funny thing is that we thought from the hints his parents had given us that he was going to be a girl, so my mom knitted a doll for him with a pink outfit. He's still getting that obviously.

I love cooking and trying new recipees and I've been watching a LOT of 24 Kitchen when I'm home, it's just relaxing to have it on in the background, but it seriously messes with my ability to focus on reading. BUT it has given me lots of inspiration and two weeks ago we made tapas for friends who came over for dinner and have already tried one or two recipees from the various chefs that are on. I'm trying two more this week, I hope they taste as good as they looked on tv!

We're going over to the boyfriend's grandparents in a couple of hours for his grandmother's birthday, we're going to a Chinese restaurant with the whole family this evening, so I'm already looking forward to yummy food tonight!

Review of All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Title/Author: All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1) by Ally Carter
Publisher/Date published: Orchard Books, February 5th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Ok, so confession time: I've never read one of Ally Carter's before this one. I know. So many people keep raving about her Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series and they do sound really good, I've just never gotten around to actually picking one up. Which is why I was excited when I got approved for All Fall Down, because a mystery with political intrigue is just my kind of thing!

And I did like All Fall Down, Ally Carter's writing style is very engaging and it made me want good things for Grace and just find out what exactly had happened and what the heck was going on with the Scarred Man. I mean, one girl investigating her mother's death is fascinating, especially when it comes with a side of embassy politics and running through tunnels and quirky new friends!

I liked Grace, and I also liked that the way Ally Carter has written this story, you can't really tell if Grace is right or if she's actually imagining things, like everyone keeps telling her. There was constantly this doubt at the back of my mind, wondering if she really was chasing a ghost based on nothing. It kept things interesting. Grace was definitely not ok with her mom dying and there were so many secrets surrounding her death and I had really not expected the twist at the end of All Fall Down. I really hadn't. It was kinda out of the blue and I'm not even sure what just happened and honestly, the ending felt a bit rushed, but maybe that was how it was supposed to feel? To build up anticipation for the next book? I'm not sure.

I LOVED Noah. Noah is awesome. He just comes into Grace's room and announces they're best friends and then he behaves like a best friend and is just extremely lovable. He is just adorable. I'd love to see more of him and get to know more about him in the next book! I also really liked Rosie, who is a little girl ninja and up for the challenge of finding out what the Scarred Man is up to.
And I see some much approved of romantic potential with Alexei, who is pretty swoony and the brother's best friend angle always works for me.
Two people who were very present in All Fall Down without actually making an appearance were Grace's father and her brother Jamie. I'm really hoping we'll actually get to see them in the next book, because Jamie sounds awesome and I need some family members for Grace.

All Fall Down was an interesting start to this series and I did like it, it just wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be. I didn't fully connect to the story and I'm still looking for answers, but maybe that's just the way it is with series sometimes. I'm probably picking up the next book in the series, because I want to know WHY and HOW and WHO and just all of it.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

Title/Author: Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen
Publisher/Date published: Henry Holt and Co, February 3rd 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn’t know that it’s magic her parents are running from.

When Sarah’s mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents — people she has never met, didn’t even know were still alive.

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast... unless
she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.

I just love discovering a new-to-me author who manages to suck me into a story! This is one of my favourite things about reading! And Cat Hellisen managed to do just that.
One thing that diminished the experience of reading Beastkeeper for me has nothing to do with Cat Hellisen's writing, but with me working 36 hours in 3 days and not having any time or the ability to focus on a book. So I read some of it in bits and pieces and I didn't get as lost in it as I would have wanted, but that's all me, cause once I settled down with it for a longer period of time, I did connect with the story.

I picked this up because it sounded like a really cute MG, but with a little dark undertone. And guys, it's exactly that! It reminds me of the original Grimm fairytales, as in it's not all sparkly and bubbly and actually a little gritty and not the kind of happily ever after you'd expect. And I really liked that! Sarah has a LOT to deal with in Beastkeeper and she's just a girl! She just lost both of her parents and got dumped with her grandmother and OMG, I really don't think I would have handled everything as she did. That's one strong girl with a big heart!

I totally loved the concept of Beauty and the Beast but with a little added something AND with the girl as a beast! It's all so intricate and pretty harsh in the end and I just felt for Sarah as she was trying to figure it out and save everyone, including herself. And I really liked Alan, the boy in the forest who is more than he seems. I liked seeing him and Sarah form a friendship.
Towards the end I was like, surely my e-ARC is missing some pages cause how are they going to figure things out with so few time left?? There were shocking twists and turns and the ending was satisfying, but it did feel a bit rushed. I could have done with a bit more of an explanation and I just want to know what happens with Sarah after The End!

My rating: 4 stars