A Court Of Mist And Fury (A Court Of Thorns And Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

My Rating: 4.3/5
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, New Adult

                                     * * *

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead (Spoiler Free)

Two races of vampires walk our world. One, the Moroi, are alive and wield elemental magical. The other, the Strigoi, are undead and evil-feeding on the innocent to survive. Rose Hathaway-a half-vampire with poor impulse control-is training to be a bodyguard for a Moroi princess. Learning to decapitate and stake is hard enough, but Rose's real danger may lie in an illicit romance with one of her instructors...

My Rating: 3.9/5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal (Vampires), Romance, Young Adult

Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert

In her award-winning novel, Mostert blends alchemy, the art of memory, high magic and murder to create a highly original psychological thriller. 

Gabriel Blackstone is a cool, hip, thoroughly twenty-first century Londoner with an unusual talent. A computer hacker by trade, he is also a remote viewer: able to 'slam a ride' through the minds of others. 

But he uses his gift only reluctantly ― until he is contacted by an ex-lover who begs him to find her step-son, last seen months earlier in the company of two sisters. 

And so Gabriel visits Monk House, a place where time seems to stand still, and where the rooms are dominated by the coded symbol of a cross and circle. 

As winter closes in, Gabriel becomes increasingly bewitched by the house, and by its owners, the beautiful and mysterious Monk sisters. But even as he falls in love, he knows that one of them is a killer.



My Rating: 4.1/5
Genre: Paranormal (Witches), Romance, Adult Fiction

Goodreads Link

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des Reves," and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway--a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. 

 True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.


My Rating: 2.0/5 
Genre: Fantasy, Adult, Contemporary


Hardcover, First Edition, 387 pages 
Published September 13th 2011 by Doubleday

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead. 

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins. 

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

My Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Horror, Paranormal (Zombies), Romance, Black Comedy, YA
Read on the 30th of November




Paperback, UK Edition, 240 pages 
First Published October 1st 2010 by Random House Vintage

The Grisha Trilogy: Ruin and Rising (Book #3) by Leigh Bardugo

The capital has fallen. 

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. 

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. 

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. 

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

My Rating: 1.0/5 
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA


I abandoned it on page: 111 of 417 - 27 %

Reading Progress:

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo: Siege and Storm (Book #2) Review

Darkness never dies. 

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long. 

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm. 




My Rating: 2.9/5
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal (Magic)
Read from November 9 to 24, 2014
Hardcover, 358 pages 
Published June 5th 2012 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare (Trilogy Review)

Step back in time with the Shadowhunters with this eBook collection of the New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices trilogy.

When 16-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld,where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos. Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own. Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by — and torn between — two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world… and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.”


Trilogy Rating: 5/5
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal (Angels), Young Adult, Romance

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. 

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. 

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart. 

 Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

My Rating: 3.8/5
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal (Magic)
Read from November 2 to 8, 2014



Hardcover, 358 pages 
Published June 5th 2012 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate with SPOILERS

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? 

17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross . . . only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart. 

 Get ready to fall . . .

My Rating: 1.5/5
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal (Angels)
Read sometime in 2010 



Hardcover, 1st Edition, 452 pages 
Published December 8th 2009 by Delacorte Press (first published 2009)

Poison Study (Study #1) by Maria V. Snyder

Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison... 

 About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. 

 And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison. 

 As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

My Rating: 4.4/5
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Read from September 30 to October 02, 2014


Paperback, 412 pages 
Published March 1st 2007 by Mira (first published June 1st 2004)

Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

Book Review:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

My Rating: 2.9/5
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia
Read from October 9 to 15, 2014


Paperback, 487 pages 
Published February 28th 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books (first published April 25th 2011)

Legacy of Lies (Dark Secrets #1) by Elizabeth Chandler

Something is haunting Meghan...

She has seen Scarborough house only in her dreams. Now Meghan was here, visiting the grandmother she'd never met and her new-found cousin Matt, too handsome by far, who wanted her to disappear. Grandmother was so cold, so distant. Why did she finally reach out to Meghan after all these years? And why was Matt so determined to call her his "almost" cousin? For all her prophetic dreams, nothing could have prepared her for Matt's astonishment when he first saw her... or the reaction of perfect strangers who looked at her with fascination - and fear.   

Meghan thought she knew who she was. Until she came to Grandmother's house. Until she met Matt, who angered and attracted her as no boy had ever done before. Then she began having dreams again, of a life she never lived, a love she never knew... a secret that threatened to drive her to the grave.

Paperback, 182 pages
First Published October 1st 2000 by Simon PulseMy Rating: 4.5/5
Genres: Young Adult-Paranormal
Read from September 1 to 2, 2014

Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

Then.

When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy and their love transformed from curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

Now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is a wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be hunted in one final, spectacular kill. 

Forever. 
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present and the future will all collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever. 

Paperback, 416 pages
First published July 12th 2011

My Rating: 2.5/5
Genres: Fantasy, Young-Adult
Read from 23 August to 26, 2014

Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

The longing.
Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing the future that is less and less certain. 

The loss. 
Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of a human. 

The linger. 
For Grace, Sam and Cole, life's a constant struggle between two forces - wolf and human - with love baring its two sides as well. It's harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?

Paperback, 384 pages
First Published January 1st, 2010 by Scholastic Inc.

My Rating:4.1/5
Genres: Fantasy, Young-Adult
Read from August 18 to 22, 2014

Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stifvater

For years, Grace has watched the wolves behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf -her wolf- is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human.. Until the cold makes him shift back again. 

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human - or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever. 


Paperback, 392 pages
First published 1 August 2009 by Scholastic



My Rating: 3.1/5
Genres: Fantasy, Young-Adult
Read from August 14 to 17, 2014
Order online in Alibris

The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey #2) by Julie Kagawa

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the winter faery queen. As war looms  between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey - ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's only fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor would be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.  

Paperback, 359 pages
First published January 1st by Harlequin Teen


My Rating: 3.8/5
Genres: Fantasy, Yound-Adult
Read from 2 August to 3, 2014
order online in Alibris

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between #1) by April Genevieve Tucholke

You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand... 

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White's sleepy, seaside town.. Until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet's Grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back. 

Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's just how River likes it. 

Blending faded decadance and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeous told as it is terrifying - a debut to watch. 

Hardcover, 360 Pages
Published August 15th 2013 by Dial

My Rating: 4.5/5
Genres: Young Adult/Paranormal
Read from 10 August to 13, 2014
Order Online in Alibris

Obsidian (Lux 1) by Jeniffer L. Armentrout

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things where looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like a Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

Paperback, 2nd Edition, 335 pages

Published May 8th 2012 by Entangled Teen (first published November 23rd 2011)

My Rating: 3.8/5

Genres: Young-Adult, Paranormal
Read from July 17 to 19, 2014
Get online in Alibris




THE REVIEW:



Well, it was ok. I had some problems at first with the fact that Daemon was acting quite like an asshole, and i was reluctant to see Kate's response to that. Plus, I LOVED the fact that this book had some small parts of trolling Twilight, i really ROFLEd when i came across them. 

“What are you? A vampire?”

He rolled his eyes “Are you serious?”

....

“Will you show me you what you really look like? You don’t sparkle, do you?”

Well, Daemon and Katie's relationship is really unique. It's obvious that beneath the surface they care for each other and more than that, there is something building up between them but they won't be in the same place without a quarrel at the least. I swear that after the hell of insults he gave her, i would burn the book if they ended up with a "happily ever after". I liked Kate's character and wits though, and the fact that she mistrusted his intensions in the end. Plus, she is a blogger!! She is a book lover!! How many times have you stumbled across a female character who has OTHER interests apart from her lovelife? [SPOILER] She has standards too, but that doesn't stop her from "heavily making out" with Daemon. [End of Spoiler] Plus, I am really bored stumbling across male characters who act like moral nuns strait from a monastery. Daemon? Yes, he is a "douchebag". Yes, he is an alien. And yes, he is a male who acts like a male and grabs any given chance to have fun. 

As about the other characters of the book there isn't much to say. I find Dee too naive for my tastes, though i  like that it's natural and not any kind of pretense. Ashe is bitchy tho the heart and annoying but we don't see her often - Katie, Daemon and Ashe shear a unique moment somewhere in the first chapters of the book [SPOILER] (Katie dumping her spaggeti on both of them in an act of annoyance and jealousy) [End of Spoiler] which made me laugh out loud for a long time. I really really REALLY like Lesa, her humor and straightforward-ness. Generally this book's characters act like normal teens, and they are alive down to the core.

What did cost this book the 4th star i would open handendly give to the raiting, is that for reasons that are still not overt to me it did not hold my interest to the end. So yes, it was not "thrilling". it was "ok".

The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; One she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses than everything she's known is about to change.

But she never could have guessed the truth - that she's the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn to a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Paperback, 363 pages

Published February 1st 2010 by Harlequin Teen (first published January 1st 2009) 
My Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Fantasy, Young-Adult
Read from July 25 to August 01, 2014
Order online in Alibris


THE REVIEW:

Overall, The Iron King by Julie Kagawa is a book i enjoyed reading. It has a very interesting storyline, that carried out well though it was based on the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. That alone made it a challenge, because.. ehm, Shakespeare is still Shakespeare and The Iron King is just another teen-arlekin-young-adult novel. Knowing that quality difference between the two i was not dissapointed. On the contrary, i admired the author who created a world i could not get enough of. That book made me wanna scream

[SPOILER]

What made me hesitant really, is the fact that there is a love triangle comprised by the main characters, Meghan, Ash and Puck/Robbie. And guess what? Love triangles are not my thing. What made me continue reading this is the fact that both boys have interesting story plot between them and the both have strong personalities which do make it difficult to choose between the two. None of the two is perfect (say hello, Twilight) without loosing the glamour of their faery nature.

Meghan was really getting on my nerves at first. Whiny, erratic and unable to get a hold on her daily problems - all being things i dislike. But as the book carried on, i got along with her because she changed to someone more focused, determined and mature.

[End of Spoiler]

Unfortunately the poor language Julie Kagawa used is what really let me down. My personal opinion is that a more... lyrical style of storytelling would be more fitting. It's based on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" after all. What kept me interested is the catching story, with its twists and turns that i wasn't expecting at all. Ashe, the brooding prince, Puck/Robin the prankster, Grimalkin the infuriating and lovable cat and Meghan made quite the team - I laughed, loved and cried with them and in the end i was caught in a bargain. I would go on with the second book of the series. And you know how unbreakable the faery bargains are! :) 

If you want to check out my reviews on the rest of the books in the series, click on the image below to be redirected: