Tag: Romance

Reviews, YA Fantasy, ya romance

Book Review: Winter & The Lunar Chronicles By Marissa Meyer

Liz Brooks

Goodreads summary:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

review:

Since this is a review of the last book in The Lunar Chronicles series. Short reviews for the first three books are first, followed by the review for Winter.

Cinder:

I liked the introduction to the main character Cinder. She does get on my nerves, but her family was so much worse. I love that she is a cyborg. Iko is so feisty. Oh Kai, what a dream boat! I love that she and Kai have a connection right away. Dr. Erland is mysterious. And I kept thinking Konn Torin worked for Queen Lavana.

3 OUT OF 5

SCARLET:

This is my favorite book of the series. I connected to Scarlet on a psychological level. She just wants to find her grand-mere and run her farm. And Wolf- ugh love him. Their chemistry is everything a relationship should be. We get a lot of Scarlet’s point of view, which is a nice break from Cinder. Captain Carswell Thorne- YUMMY! He can be my captain any day. Lots of character growth from all the characters- it was needed immensely. Except Cinder made alllllll the wrong decisions.

5 OUT OF 5

Cress:

I did enjoy Cress but not as much as I enjoyed Scarlet. I figured out who Cress was at the beginning and where she fit in with the group. She annoyed me a lot because all of her experiences were so “oh it’s so beautiful” or she was scared the whole time. I feel that some of the descriptions could’ve been taken out. I skipped some pages of Cress’ because it was too much. We got a lot of reading time with other characters which I loved! Also, how all the characters end up together is just too convenient. Cinder wasn’t as annoying as she was in Scarlet but her decisions, which have annoyed me from the beginning, don’t get any better.

4 OUT OF 5

WINTER:

It. Was. Too. Long. My ebook was 1,169 pages. Hard copy is about 800 pages. And the length wouldn’t bother me so much if there weren’t many scenes that felt unnecessary. I don’t need to be told that Winter is crazy. Over. And over. And over again. Yeah, I get that Levana wants to kill Cinder. How many times do we have to watch her try and fail? The constant dividing and bring back together of Scarlet, Kai, Iko, Wolf, Cinder, Cress, Thorne, Winter, and Jacin was just too much. Also the final scene between Cinder and Levana- it took too long. I was so excited to start this book but by the end I was just like “is this over yet?”. I will concede that there were moments where my heart hurt and I was worried about the love the author created- whether these couples would end up together or if someone would die.

It didn’t end how I pictured it. My ideal ending would have been Scarlet abdicating the throne, Winter getting an implant to help with her Lunar Gift and becoming Queen- the people loved her so much. Cinder would then have gone back to the Commonwealth and married Kai and become Empress. It. Just. Makes. Sense.

I liked Winter but it could have been better. Bright side- everyone get some kind of happy ending.

2.5 OUT OF 5

OVERALL:

It was a different take on Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. I love the futuristic and sci-fi elements. I want to be a cyborg now. I want hover-pods. I want to live on the moon. I want to find an alpha mate like Wolf. Scarlet was my favorite character. She didn’t make stupid decisions like Cinder. She wasn’t afraid all the time like Cress. And she wasn’t crazy like Winter. She was independent and a great leader. She thought about her actions before taking action.

3.5 OUT OF 5

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Reviews, YA Fantasy

Book Review: Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Liz Brooks

Written by Liz Brooks 

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Review:

Six of Crows is the latest installment in Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse. The first installment was her Grisha Trilogy: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising (all very good books).

“You don’t have to read the Grisha Trilogy to read Six of Crows. It was built for people new to the Grisha world. Yes, there are trilogy spoilers but there are also misdirects. (And if you’ve read the trilogy, lots of little Easter eggs.)”- Leigh Bardugo

Bardugo’s world building ability is probably one of my favorite things about this book (as well as the others). It’s full of thick descriptions of the different settings as well as each of the six main characters. Even the secondary characterizations are detailed. This is a pet peeve of mine. If authors are going to create a brand new world, I need details.

Six of Crows isn’t your typical single point of view narrative. The heist is told from six different POVs (Nina, Kaz, Inej, Wylan, Jesper, Matthias), which makes this book more intriguing. Bardugo shows us one situation in six different ways; each person showing the reader what they are feeling and thinking.

The characters themselves are very flawed and each goes through a transformation over the course of the book. There is also great POC and LGBTQ representation. You will learn their backgrounds. Why they came be apart of the heist group. Their relationship to one another. And what’s truly at stake. I will say that my favorite characters are Nina and Matthias. Their stories really stuck out for me. But that doesn’t mean that Kaz, Inej, Wylan, and Jesper aren’t fascinating themselves. Keep in mind those characters are not heroes.

My favorite place is the Ice Palace (when can I visit?). It’s so convoluted. It took a while to truly understand the intricacies that Bardugo was describing. And it’s not just the physical palace that is a labyrinthine but the inner-workings of the people of Fjerda (who we don’t get to know in the Grisha Trilogy).

If you like adventure, fantasy, and romance give this book a read.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Also keep an eye out for the follow-up post to this. I will be attending the Magic and Mayhem Tour for Leigh Bardugo/Six of Crows on November 17.

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NA Romance, Reviews, ya romance

Book Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Veronica Porras (TTB)

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I was given a ARC of Crash Into You by Katie McGarry through NetGalley from Harlequin Teen in exchange of a honest review

Goodreads Summary:

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that’s who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers…and she’s just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can’t get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they’ll go to save each other.

My Initial Thoughts:

I had read Pushing The Limits about a year ago and I know that I loved it. My expectations coming into this novel weren’t high because I had forgotten a lot of information and why I had loved this author’s writing so much. After Crash Into You, I quickly remembered why I love Ms. McGarry and why I didn’t hesitate to request this ARC a while ago.

Review:

I am going to start this review by gushing. I LOVED this book. I ab-so-lu-te-ly loved it. Ask Anjie, Ask Kayla, heck go on my twitter and see what I tweeted Ms. McGarry.

One of the reasons why I love this novel so much is the car talk. I love cars, so when you give me a well written book with a to-die for male protagonist and cars?! I’m speechless. If this were my tumblr I would insert here a gif saying that I ship myself with it all.

On a more serious note, I do want to mention one of the reasons why I loved this novel so much is because it is very well written. The story just sucks you in and it almost becomes your reality. In the moment you are reading the novel, you are experiencing what Isaiah and Rachel are feeling. You are in the driver’s seat, and it is one heck of a ride!

The characterization in the novel is fantastic. I feel like I will run out of adjectives soon, but I can’t stop gushing over this novel. I do want to say that this novel may not be a “everyone will automatically love” type of novel. Not everyone is into cars (like myself), and if you haven’t read Pushing The Limits, it might be a little hard to understand what’s going on and why characters act the way they do.

The pacing of the novel was perfect right up until the end where I did feel like it hiccuped a little. Knowing that the next novel is through abut a certain character (I wish I could say but I don’t want to spoil anyone), it makes sense why the end is how it is.

Overall, I find no fault in this novel and I can’t wait for future books written by Ms.McGarry.

Rating: 5/5

Book Blast from the Past, YA Historical

BBB/Book Review: Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney (Time Travel Quartet #1)

Veronica Porras (TTB)
Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney (#1 in the Time Travel Quartet)
Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney (#1 in the Time Travel Quartet)

Welcome to the TalkingBookworm’s first Book Blast from the Past!

I chose Both Sides of Time as the book that would debut Book Blast from the Past because it was one of the books that started the process into turning me into the full blown bookworm I am today. Reading it for the first time in 10 years, I was shocked to see this was the type of book I loved to read when I was 12! This book has love, time traveling, murder, almost everything you can imagine without there being anything supernatural (like vampires, werewolves, etc.)

GoodReads Summary:

Imagine changing centuries–and making things worse, not better, on both sides of time

Imagine being involved in two love triangles in two different centuries. What if, no matter which direction you travel in time, you must abandon someone you love?

Meet 15-year-old Annie Lockwood, a romantic living in the wrong century. When she travels back a hundred years and lands in 1895–a time when privileged young ladies wear magnificent gowns, attend elegant parties, and are courted by handsome gentlemen–Annie at last finds romance. But she is a trespasser in time. Will she choose to stay in the past? Will she be allowed to?

What I liked:

Time Travel. I wish more books had time traveling in them. I was surprised to find myself enjoying a book that is written in third person because I normally tend to shy away from books that are in third person. Cooney brought up the issue of women rights and what is really expected of a woman. I applaud her for educating tweens on how bad it was for women in the past, and how far we’ve come to remedy those incorrect notions that society had of women. This book is really 90’s down to the core. I think that’s another reason why I love it so much. It’s a book that can take me back to my childhood.

What I disliked:

The first 80 pages of the book had me questioning why I loved this book so much when I was a tween. I disliked the fact that it took almost half of the book to finally get to an exciting, intriguing part of it. I think the first book in a series always suffers from this syndrome, the “let’s set everything up so the reader knows what I’m talking about in the future” syndrome. I prefer stories that have flashbacks instead of being trapped in the past for ages. When I think ‘time travel’ I think ‘excitement’, and the first half of the book wasn’t giving me the excitement I was craving. Even though Cooney did a good job with the background of Annie and Strat, it was still hard at times for me to sympathize with the characters. I think part of it was because the book was set in third person. I lost some of the connection with the characters because I wasn’t in their heads all of the time. Towards the last third of the book the silliness left and a serious more modern tone set in. I really loved the turn of events and how the last third of the book progressed.

Overall, I still love this book even though I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did ten years ago. At the end, I felt for Devonny, Harriet, and Florinda. Strat proved to be a better gentleman than most gentlemen in his time, and Annie finally did what she was supposed to do from the beginning. This book is a book everyone should read. It teaches the reader history, educates them in a style of writing, and brings enjoyment at the same time. I recommend this book to everyone. Young and Old. You’ll understand my love for this book once you’ve read it.

Rating: 4/5

Rating System:

1/5: I hated it

2/5: It had some redeeming qualities but overall, not a good book

3/5: I liked it (A fun read)

4/5: I really like it, but something was missing

5/5: I love it! It’s as close to perfection as it can get!