Tag Archives: series

August 2015 Book Haul

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Another month, another haul! This month has been great for this kind of thing because I had my birthday earlier in the month and so my husband spoiled me with books and bookish things. So today let me tell you all of the books I got:

Physical Books

  • “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. I’ve been wanting to get this book for years, but as it’s an adult book, it’s more expensive than YA books, so I always put off getting it. But I couldn’t resist anymore and so I went ahead and got it. I’m really excited to see what it’s about and how I’ll like it.
  • “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell. My Rainbow collection just keeps growing! This is her first novel and it’s well loved by others, and from what I hear it’s kind of like a rom-com (romantic comedy) in book form, so I’m excited to get into it more! I did start it, but I haven’t continued yet.
  • The Kate Daniels series, books 1-7, by Ilona Andrews. My husband spoiled me and got me all of the books that are out so far, except for the eighth book, which is in hardcover and I want all of my books to match. I started this series already and did a review on the first book, and so far I’m enjoying it. I really want to see what happens next.
  • “Ruin and Rising” by Leigh Bardugo. Again, my husband spoiled me and got me the third book in the Grisha trilogy in paperback. I haven’t even started the trilogy yet, but I know I’ll enjoy it. Magic, power, romance… I mean, yes please!

E-books

  • “Forbidden” by Kimberley Griffiths Little. I started this book for the Bout of Books readathon but I haven’t completed it yet. I am interested to see where the story goes and how the romance blossoms and all of that, plus I love the fact that this takes place in ancient Mesopotamia.

Well, I got eleven books this month! Not too shabby, if you ask me. I’m definitely excited to continue reading everything, it’s just going to take me a while because I’m kind of in a slump still. No energy after work and all of that, you know?

Let me know if you’ve gotten any of these books and which you’d recommend to me to read sooner rather than later! I do plan on marathoning the Grisha trilogy soon, but for now let me know what you think! What books have you acquired this month?

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for one book up to $15USD from Book Depository! Be sure to get your entry in by midnight! The winner will be announced in my wrap-up post tomorrow, as well as contacted via email!

How I Organize My Bookshelves

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There’s a bunch of ways people organize their bookshelves. Some do it by color, some by author, some by series or genre. I find that it can be relaxing and kind of fun to organize your shelves.

The way I organize them changed recently, but I did keep some of it the same way as before, just in a new location.

So, here are my shelves for reference!

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Okay, these first three pictures are all of just one bookcase.

First shelf (top left): It consists of tall story books and fantasy books (a few dystopian, too).

Second shelf: It consists of some of my favorite series/authors: The Mortal Instruments/Cassandra Clare, Throne of Glass/Sarah J Maas, and The Remnant Chronicles.

Third shelf (top right): It’s adult fantasy with some horror-esque/spooky novels and a few YA fantasy.

Fourth shelf: Science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, and some of the books I won from giveaways! (Because I had no where else to put them.)

Fifth (bottom) shelf: Some of my religious books, including my gigantic study bible, and the Harry Potter series trunk.

This large bookcase is one in which I put my primary books, aka the ones I want to get to ASAP. Mostly.

Next, I have two smaller bookcases with three shelves each and I arranged them a little differently.

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Shelf one (top left): Hardcover contemporary and non-fiction, including some favorites.

Shelf two: Adult fiction, YA dystopian, and YA contemporary.

Shelf three (top right): Classics, classics, and more classics. And some DVDs we borrowed from a friend.

Shelf four (bottom left): Vampires, Narnia, unicorns. You know, because those go together.

Shelf five: Manga! And the Divergent series.

The shelf below that one is books I still have to donate, I just haven’t done it yet. (Attachments, man. I can’t help it.)

So really it’s up to you on how you want to organize your bookshelf. Maybe I’ll do a tutorial type of post soon about how to organize it in different styles, but I just wanted to show you the way I do them.

Rebel Spring Book Review

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rebelspring

Title: Rebel Spring
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Series: Book #2 in the Falling Kingdoms series
Publisher: Razor Bill
Publication Date: December 3, 2013
Genre: Young Adult – Fantasy
Pages: 401
Format: Purchased Paperback

The second book in the Falling Kingdom series was full of more action, adventure, danger, blood, and romance as the story continued to follow our four main characters: Princess Cleiona Bellos, Prince Magnus Damora, Princess Lucia Damora, and Jonas Agallon. In this sequel we find our main four dealing with their own trials and tribulations (mostly trials) as King Gaius becomes more dangerous and things start to become strange in the land of Mytica with strange weather storms and natural disasters.

From Goodreads:

Cleo is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people.
Magnus stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia.
Lucia is haunted by the outcome of the breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms.
Jonas watched at the palace gates a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius.

As this is a sequel there may be spoilers! Read ahead if you’ve read the book!

This book definitely followed through on the story line as it continued into the book. We got to see what it was like for Cleo after her kingdom had been conquered, her father murdered, and her sister dead. (A lot of blows for Cleo.) We got to see Magnus and how he’s dealing with his father’s plans, as well as his own grief for Lucia and later on his mother. Lucia was asleep for a large portion of this book, and we also got to see how her elementia was starting to control her. And we got to see Jonas lead the rebels in one defeat after another.

It was a sequel with loss and heartbreak, with very little triumphs, but for the setting it was in I saw why everything happened the way it did.

There were a few pieces of light in the book, such as Cleo discovering the secret behind the ring her father gave her, or how we meet some side characters that are strong in their own regard, for sure, like Lysandra.

Let me talk about the characters:

Cleo is probably my favorite character in this book, where Lucia was my favorite in the last. She has endured so much heartbreak in such a short period of time (from Theon to her family to her friend, Mira) that I’m amazed she didn’t grieve and drown in her sorrows for more of the book. I thought she was very quick to let go of that grief, which made me think if she cared as much as she said, but I think it was to help forward the plot that we didn’t see as much grief as action. She had false hope several times in this book, which lead to heartbreak, but she tried to keep a strong face throughout it, which showed a strong character, in my opinion.

Magnus was still kind of cold and calculating in this book. I didn’t really feel a certain attachment to him until the last third of the book when he and Cleo went on their wedding tour. I thought the fact that he kept his mask up throughout the book was true to his character, but I wish he’d crack more, show more of himself to the world. I am glad to say that he isn’t like his father like he thought he was: where his father is cruel, he is merciful; where his father won’t listen before acting, he takes the time to gather as much information as possible before acting on a whim. I’m interested to see where he is in the third book.

Lucia was so different in this book compared to the last. She fell in love, she became hateful, and her magic is starting to take control. I thought she was kind of really bitchy in this one, to be honest. I didn’t understand where her sudden desire to kill came from, but once we dove further into the story I got that it was her elementia that was starting to control her. I feel bad in a way, but at the same time I wish she’d get a better grip on her actions. Maybe she’ll lose control in the next book? We’ll see.

Jonas was really reckless in this book. He didn’t really listen to reason when he was given damn good reason as to why they shouldn’t go through an attack, but he did it anything, thinking things could be done easily and smoothly. I thought he was very impulsive and I did wonder where his hatred for Cleo went… I don’t remember him suddenly sobering up to her in the first book, but maybe he did? Anyway, I thought he was trying to act brave, but really he was being reckless.

And then we had some side characters who had their own chapters, like Alexius, a Watcher; King Gaius; Nic; Lysandra. It was cool to see from their perspectives and where the story was going from their points of view.

As for the plot, I did see progression and further questions for the later books to come about. I’m intrigued to see just where these questions go and if they’re answered in ways that I hope: where is the Kindred? What’s going to happen between Nic and Prince Ashur? Will Prince Ashur find the answers he’s looking for to advance his kingdom? Will Melenia conquer? What happened to Alexius? And many more questions. Though I will say that there are still many variables that are unaccounted for and I think that they can go in many different directions. I am definitely interested in the story now than I was before and I think I’m becoming more invested in the series.

Overall I rate this book 4/5 stars and recommend it if you’ve read the first book.

City of Fallen Angels Book Review

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cityoffallenangels

Title: City of Fallen Angels
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: Book #4 in The Mortal Instruments
Publisher: McElderry Books
Publication Date: April 5, 2011
Genre: Young Adult – Urban Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 424
Format: Purchased Paperback

Okay, so I was going to wait until I finished the next three books in the series before putting up this review, but I don’t want to wait that long, so here is my review for book four in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: “City of Fallen Angels.”

As this is the fourth book, there will most likely be spoilers. I finished this in early May, so some of this might be fuzzy.

As this book was a continuation of about two weeks or so after the third book’s ending, we got to see more of Clary, Jace, and the gang on their next set of adventures. I felt that this story was mostly proved to be filler, but it definitely laid the groundwork for what is most likely to come in the last two books. It was full of a lot of information and, as such, was probably the least exciting book of the series next to the first one, in my opinion. But let me jump into the characters.

Clary was kind of annoying in this book. She didn’t seem to know how to act around Jace and she seemed really whiny at times. I mean, she was okay at some parts, but other times I just wanted to slap her upside the head and tell her to stop acting like such a brat. I dunno, maybe it was just the way she came off, but she seemed more concerned about her relationship with Jace more than anything, but I understand that that’s a big plot of the story. She did show concern for her friends and all that, but it seemed really focused on Jace rather than the situation at hand.

Jace was also an idiot in this book. He kind of acted impulsively throughout most of it by not sleeping, by acting like the world was kind of ending because he and Clary were growing distant… He feels he’s a danger, a threat, to Clary. But I think that was mostly because he believed so much in the words of others rather than listening to his own heart and mind. I thought he did do well in the battle aspects, like usual, but he made mistakes and I thought that was good of him. He just kind of annoyed me as well, but hopefully he’ll get better in the next books.

There was so much of Simon in this book! We got to see a lot from his perspective and how his life as a vampire has really changed almost everything about him. His powers are developing more and he’s learning to control urges – but he makes a major mistake when he ends up sucking a human’s blood from their body. He’s horrified at it, but it makes him feel that much more alive. It was interesting to see so much of the story through him, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. I felt like a good chunk, maybe around half, if not more, of the story revolved around his point of view. I enjoyed reading about it and everything, but I thought we may have missed some things because of it. I do think he’s growing as a character, though, and I’m glad to have gotten to see so much into his head.

Isabelle was starting to make more appearances in this novel, and though I’m still on the fence about her, she does seem to be developing feelings for Simon. She’s a bit more protective of him and I think she’s also learning she doesn’t need to be as cold and shut out to the world as she once was.

Alec and Magnus made very few appearances in this book and when we did see them we saw Alec being whiny and Magnus trying to deal with him. I thought the interactions could have been better and I wish Alec wasn’t so jealous of a past lover of Magnus’s.

As I mentioned, there was a lot of information dumped into this book, from who was possibly killing Shadowhunters to who could be an enemy to new enemies to what happened with Maia and her ex-boyfriend. It’s a lot to take in, and even though this book was short it still held some good qualities that I can see potential for in upcoming books.

The plot of the book itself was interesting and I wanted to know more about who was killing the Shadowhunters and why. I do think we were told who and why, but I wished that more could have happened or something… I feel like an element was missing to this book in a way. I also wonder about the upcoming wedding, about what happened Jace and Sebastian, about what’s going to happen next with the characters. I mean, it was a good book, but I definitely think there was something missing from it that the last three books held.

In a way this book follows a whole new plotline with the same characters and all of that, but I’m not sure how I feel about this continuation. I loved the wrap-up to the first three books, but this one just feels a little off to me. But at the same time I’m also intrigued to see just where this new plot with Sebastian and Camille and everyone else takes us.

Overall, I do recommend giving this book a go if you’re reading the Mortal Instruments and just to enjoy what you can.

I give this book a 3.75/5 stars.

Unravel Me Book Review

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Title: Unravel Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Series: Book #2 in the Shatter Me trilogy Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Genre: Young Adult – Dystopian, Romance
Pages: 461
Format: Purchased Paperback

“Unravel Me” by Tahereh Mafi is the sequel to “Shatter Me” and it follows Juliette, a girl with a touch that can kill – literally – and a super strong power unknown to her. This second book deals mostly with her after she has escaped from the grasps of Warner, a nineteen year old soldier who is as cruel as he is ruthless, and winds up at a place called Omega Point that houses many more people with powers like her.

Now, this review will contain some spoilers given that it’s the second book, so if you haven’t read it yet, then please do.

Okay, so in the first book I thought Juliette was a really weak character. She was scared and afraid, sure, but she was also just kind of… pathetic, really. In this second book she does grow more of a backbone, but not for at least half of the book. She still relies heavily on Adam to be her rock and comforter and the one thing to give her strength, but she has so much potential and spark in her that she doesn’t need anyone to really make her stand out. I still found her to be annoying and complicated at times, and I thought that she could have done so much more than she actually did, but I did see a change in her, even if it was subtle, and I’m interested to see how much she may or may not grow in the third book.

Adam was kind of a non-existent character unless he was around Juliette. We learned that he has his own ability and that’s why he’s actually able to touch Juliette. But his ability isn’t without its faults or flaws as he’s unable to cope with touching her for long periods of time or when he’s not focusing on deflecting her ability – or Energy, as they refer to it in the book. He’s a lot angrier in this book for various reasons, and I thought they were all viable. I just wished we could have seen more of him and a deeper look into his personality than what was given.

Warner. Oh my gosh, Warner. What an awesome and interesting and complex character he is. Okay, so when I read this first book I thought he was the creepiest person and was super stalkerish and just.. he creeped me out. In this book, though, we got a more in depth, human look at Warner and it made me like him all the better. He has his dark side, don’t get me wrong, but the fact that he’s got secrets and his own ability (which is a really cool one and I want it) and how interesting he is just in general made me love him. I thought, yes, some of the the things he said or did initially were kind of weird or out of place, but as he made more and more appearances and we learned a little more about him, it felt like we were getting a glimpse into what made Warner the way he is. I’m interested to see how he acts in the third book.

Kenji is like, my best bro friend. I want him to be my friend in real life. He’s sassy and funny and witty, but super smart and independent and everyone looks up to him. I think he’s a great asset to the story and brings a lot of needed comic relief and “tell-it-like-it-is” to the story.

As for the plot, I thought it was really centered around Juliette’s feelings for Adam and the combating feelings she begins to develop for Warner, and how she isn’t strong enough and blah blah blah. I was annoyed with her for the first half of the book, really. I wanted the plot to be more focused on her training at Omega Point and the others with their own cool abilities. I think that would have been much better and beneficial to the development of the story. But, I also did enjoy the back and forth aspect because of how polar opposite the boys are. It made it kind of spicy.

I wanted to learn more about the war, the outside world, the Reestablishment, Anderson (I really don’t like him), and other things that were briefly touched upon. But I also understand that as it was from Juliette’s conscious stream of thought we may have not been able to get it all because she was dealing with other things mentally and emotionally.

Overall, I thought this book was better than the first and I do recommend continuing on with the series if you’ve read the first book.

I rated this book 4/5 stars.