Reader Rayna

Month: July 2015

  • The Wrath and the Dawn Book Review

    thewrathandthedawn

    Title: The Wrath and the Dawn
    Author: Renee Ahdieh
    Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1
    Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books
    Publication Date: May 12, 2015
    Genre: Young Adult – Romance, Fantasy, Retellings
    Pages: 388
    Format: Purchased Hardcover

    “The Wrath and the Dawn” is a retelling of the classic tale of “A Thousand and One Nights” and in this story it tells about a young caliph – a king – who takes a new wife every day and kills her by the next dawn. No one knows why he does it, but they hate him for it. And it also tells about the brave young girl, Shahrzad, who volunteers to be this caliph’s next bride; but she’s determined to make it to the next sunset, and the one after that, and so on. But there’s some darker secrets that are lying behind this tale of romance, and it weaves an interesting story.

    I thought this book was both enjoyable and frustrating, but more so enjoyable than frustrating.

    Let me talk about the characters:

    Shahrzad (aka Shazi), our leading lady, is a stubborn, strong willed, fierce young woman of sixteen who has a silver-tongue and a quick mind. She’s very fiesty in many parts of the book and I really enjoyed that about her personality; that she wouldn’t just sit down and obey whatever was dished out to her. But I also felt like that was a flaw at some points because her stubborn head could possibly get her into trouble or even killed. I did think that her being on a warpath for revenge was kind of annoying at times, but that may be because I sort of knew how the book would progress? I did think that she gave in too easily at the end and that she lost some of her flare (like seriously, I wanted to slap her for just going along with the plan and not putting up more of a fight). She’s still a strong main heroine and I thought as she got to know Khalid more the more she opened up and her personality really started to shine.

    Khalid is the caliph of Khorazan, the King of Kings, in this book and I thought he was very… well, interesting. I thought because of his quiet demeanor that he’d be kind of boring, but I found that I was just as entranced by him as Shazi was throughout the book. He was fiercely protective and very quiet, but wise. I thought that he didn’t really overreact in any situation, but I was confused at the end as to what happened and whether or not he knew what was going to happen… I thought that the fact that the relationship between him and Shazi developed in such a strange and tense way was kind of refreshing. I also appreciate that he appreciates honesty above all else given his past.

    Despina was a fireball when we saw her and I was surprised she was able to say so much in free reign without being chastised for it. She was the kind of friend who wasn’t afraid to tell you the truth, but would still do anything to protect you from being hurt. I wish we had seen more of her, but I also know that the story was more about the relationship and romance.

    Jalal is Khalid’s smooth talking charmer of a cousin who is also Captain of the Guard for the palace. He’s kind of the bad boy of the story, but he’s not mean or anything, just teasing and joking all the time. He can be serious when he needs to be, but sometimes it can be hard to distinguish those moments.

    Tariq is Shazi’s first love, and as such I could understand why he wanted to save her and all of that, and I believe he had good intentions at the beginning. But as the story continued to progress and things just kind of escalated over time, I was extremely frustrated with him at the end because he was being a possessive idiot and not letting Shahrzad get in any words. I hope I’m not the only one who felt that way.

    Now we met some other characters who I’m sure will play a much larger role in the next book, but as of right now I’m not very fond of those characters because I know there are schemes behind them. Some characters I do like, but others, not so much.

    As for the plot, I enjoyed it. I really thought that it was interesting to see a girl go in with this plan for vengeance for her best friend, and discover that she is falling in love with a supposed monster. I couldn’t help but feel for Khalid and how things happened to him and why things are the way they are and just… Oh, he really isn’t that bad. I was annoyed at times with how things progressed or what was thought or said, but I think that was mostly because I knew the other side of the story.

    This book included multiple points of view from Shahrzad, Tariq, Khalid, Jahandar (Shazi’s dad), among a couple others. It wasn’t really hard to discern who was speaking because it was often told right from the first word or paragraph of that section.

    I enjoyed the progression of the romance and was so happy to see that even though all the hateful feelings Shazi had toward Khalid that she could really sympathize with him and to really just see the progression… well, it was lovely. I honestly don’t even know how it happened, but it did.

    I’m anticipating reading the next book because now I need to know a few things and what happens next.

    I gave this book a 4/5 stars and highly recommend it.

  • One Year Blogiversary!

    Wow, a whole year has come and gone since I started blogging and vlogging. In fact, my first post here wasn’t even an introductory post, but a review on the Divergent series and movie. It’s been a great ride and I am so happy to have been able to share it with all of you. Truly, it makes me happy to know that so many people have joined in conversation with me, have read my reviews and discussions, and have just overall been a great support.

    I’m still in awe over the great things that have happened since I became a Booktuber, and subsequently, became a blogger. Here are some fun statistics from the past year:

    • I’ve read and reviewed a total of 47 books over the past year! Wow! That’s a lot, in my opinion.
    • I’ve held 19 discussions about various topics floating around the book world, or just from my own thoughts.
    • I’ve participated in five or six readathons this summer alone. They’re a little stressful but still fun.
    • I’ve held eight different talks varying from a blog tour to talking about the cast of the Shadowhunters TV show.
    • I’ve done 9 book tags that have different themes to them.
    • I’ve participated in both Top Ten Tuesday and Top 5 Wednesday, as hosted by their respective party.
    • I started Rayna Recommends, a bi-monthly recommendation list on a certain topic or genre.
    • I’ve done 9 book hauls and 2 unhauls. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some.
    • I do talk about writing occasionally, but as this is primarily a book review blog, it doesn’t happen often. Though I have progressed a lot since I first started NaNoWriMo last November.
    • I’ve done four movie reviews; if there’s a book-to-movie adaptation that I’ve seen/will see, I might do a review on it!
    • As of this moment, I have a total of 156 followers for this blog. WOW! You guys are the best and are definitely part of what makes this such a fun experience. I’m glad I’ve been able to talk to some of you and had some conversations with you. Thank you for that!

    Suffice it to say, I’d call that a productive year. I have never read so many books before in such a short span of time, despite loving to read so much. I feel like this past year has been amazing for me, and it’ll only continue to get better.

    Now I don’t have any big celebration planned or anything, but I am considering doing a Q&A for anyone interested in knowing more about me, my reading habits, vlogging, and more! Let me know in the comments below if you’d be interested.

    You can also post your question here or tweet me your question with #AskReaderRayna

    Thank you to all of you who have followed, liked, commented, shared, chatted, and read anything on my blog! It’s been a great year and I hope to see much more in store in the years to come!

  • Themeathon Week 2 Wrap-Up & Week Three Beginning

    Hey, we made it through week two of Themeathon!

    Week Two Wrap-Up

    thewrathandthedawnThis week was a tough week for me and so I didn’t manage to finish the book I was reading, but I’ll keep reading it until I do and all that jazz. This will cut into the book I was planning on reading for week three as there is also another book I’ve been dying to read since I got it last week, so we’ll see if I actually get to this book.

    P.S. I’m also in a reading slump.

    The book I was supposed to finish reading was “The Wrath & the Dawn” by Renee Ahdieh, but I am only just over 25% of the way through as of this moment, and so I will continue to read it until I finish it.

    Dangerous Love: For this week’s theme this entire book’s plotline fits the bill because it’s about a girl who volunteer’s to become the next queen because the king has a new wife every night who is supposedly killed and then he takes a new one.

    I, unfortunately, do not have a poem for you because I haven’t finished the book and therefore I don’t know the love interest very well. I can gather a few things about him, but I don’t know enough to write a full out poem. Next week I’ll include a poem in my wrap-up for the week.

    Week Three: July 17-24

    harrypottergobletoffireIt’s all about the villains you love to hate in this week’s themeathon challenge, and so my pick for the week was to finish “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling. I am about 14% of the way through right now, which isn’t far, and it’s a really hefty book so I’m not sure that I’ll be reading it this week.

    We all know the villain(s) we love to hate in this series, right?

    Mini-Challenges:

    • Describe the book you chose with emojis on Twitter.
    • Write a haiku of the villain in the book you’re reading and share it on your blog/Twitter/wherever.
    • Watch a book-to-movie adaptation of said book, if there is one.

    If I’m able to, I will do my best to complete all of the mini-challenges, but I’m not sure that I’ll even get to this book this week. Fingers crossed I will!

    The Twitter reading sprint will be:

    • Wednesday, July 22nd @ 3:00PM EST until 6:00PM EST
    • I should actually be able to make it for this round.

    Let me know what you’re planning on reading this week, I’d love to hear!

  • Top 5 Wednesday: Anticipated Pre-Orders for the Rest of the Year

    Welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday as hosted by Lainey of gingerreadslainey. Today’s topic is all about the pre-orders that we are most anticipating for the rest of the year.

    Well, since I never pre-order books – or rather, rarely do – I’m going to count this as books I’m most anticipating the release of for the rest of the year.

    5. “Carry On” by Rainbow Rowell

    carryon

    I’m so excited to see the fanfiction story from “Fangirl” come to life in its own novel. I’m really curious to see how the characters develop and how close they may or may not be to what was written from Cath’s point of view in the other book.

    4. “Ice Like Fire” by Sara Raasch

    icelikefire

    I’m excited to see where the characters are now that they have their homeland back and how they’re going to access the magic in their land and when the villain is going to make a reappearance.

    3. “Their Fractured Light” by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

    theirfracturedlight

    I need this third installment in my life like right now. I love this trilogy so much, and it gets better with each book. Like, my heart is so happy just thinking about it. I’m getting all the feels right now.

    2. “Frozen Tides” by Morgan Rhodes

    frozentides

    I haven’t read the third book yet, but I am getting more into the series as it progresses and I am curious to see where the plot leads and who does and doesn’t die next and the magic in the world and all that jazz.

    1. “Queen of Shadows” by Sarah J. Maas

    queenofshadows

    I’m so excited for this booooook. I mean, I’m sure you all already know that, but I needed to put it on here because if it wasn’t, then I’d call shenanigans. Blasphemy. Mutiny. You get it.

    What books have you pre-ordered that you’re most excited for? If you’re like me and don’t really pre-order anything, what’s your number one book that you’re most anticipating by the end of this year? Let me know!

  • Top Ten Tuesday: Last Ten Books that Came Into My Possession

    Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday as hosted by the lovely people of The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is about the last ten books that have come into my possession, whether that be by purchase, library loan, audibook, whatever it might be. So, here’s my list (I’ll be listing these from most recent to least recent):

    1. “The Heart of Betrayal” by Mary E. Pearson. You have no idea how excited I was to get this. I literally went during my hour lunch break and drove like a maniac to get to my local Barnes and Noble and back to my workplace just so I could get this book.

    2. “Dreams of Gods & Monsters” by Laini Taylor. I also got the paperback version of this book at the same time as the book above. So excited to continue this trilogy!

    3. “The Wrath & the Dawn” by Renee Ahdieh. I’ve been hearing good things about this book and so I’m intrigued as to how it’s going to go. I bought it the same time I bought the book below.

    4. “The Witch Hunter” by Virginia Boecker. Again, another book that piqued my interest, but I started reading it and now I don’t know if I’ll be able to get through it…

    5. “A Thousand Pieces of You” by Claudia Gray. I’ve been wanting to read this book since it came out and I DON’T KNOW WHY I HAVEN’T YET. So I purchased it as an ebook for my nook when I saw that it was on sale for $1.99! Eee!

    6. “Words of Radiance” by Brandon Sanderson. I’m still on the first audiobook of this series as it’s over 45 hours long, but I got the second one so I could continue on with the story (and it’s three hours longer than the first…).

    7. “P.S. I Still Love You” by Jenny Han. I was excited for this sequel and it was just as cute as the first, but just a little less so. I purchased it at the very beginning of June and read and reviewed equally as fast.

    8. “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas. I’ve already read and reviewed this, but I haven’t bought a lot of books or come into possession of a lot of books these past couple months, so there’s this one…

    9. “The Heir” by Kiera Cass. And this one that I bought at the same time as ACOTAR and subsequently read and reviewed. Was very excited for both and was surprised by both.

    10. “Magonia” by Maria Dahvana Headley. This one is kind of like “The Witch Hunter” in that I was having a hard time getting into it, so I put it down for now.

    Yup, so those are the ten most recent books I’ve acquired, mostly through me buying them… Actually, through all of them being bought by me in some fashion.

    What books have you gotten recently? Have you read them yet? Let me know!