Sunday 29 May 2016

My Summer TBR

Summer is now almost upon us, which also means one signifcant thing (apart from ice cream; ice cream is important the whole year round): SCHOOOOL´S OUT
Where I live, school ends at the first of July. Still a couple of weeks away, but not as far as one might believe, since time tends to fly, especially at the end of the schoolyear. But even though the holidays are still more than a month away, all the final tests and such end at the beginning of June. This means I will have lots of free time to spend on reading (and ice cream, once again ice cream is important). So I thought it would be fun to share what my reading plans are for this summer, so that in September I will be able to really see, which of my reading goals I accomplished. All of these books are in no particular order, as I really hope to get to all of them in the next few months.
Before you get into this list, I just wanted to let you know, that in this List there are only books included, which I either already own or want to lend from my local library, as I don´t really have enough money to buy most of my Anticipated BookReleases for this Summer
I am going to use #SeriesSummer to participate in the project started by JBookLover13 (Shoutout by the way, your videos are awesome). It is her way of keeping on track with reading all of her unread series and as I have some on my shelves as well I thought it would be a cool idea to participate. The goal of #SeriesSummer is to keep you motivated to read series, with no particular goals, except your personal ones.

City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire, and the Infernal Devices Trilogy, all by Cassandra Clare

I finally decided to give The Mortal Instruments another shot, so I reread “City of Bones” and “City of Ashes”. Both of which I liked, but not really loved. But for the first time I continued and read “City of Glass”. And OH.MY.GOD. I get all the hype around these books now. It´s not as good of a series as for example the “Lunar Chronicles” in my opinion, but still really good. I found them to be more of a guilty pleasure series, that you need to be hooked on to love, but once I got into it, I was addicted. So now have to wait until Wednesday, because that´s when my package of the last three books will arrive. I also read that you are supposed to read Cassandra Clare´s books in order of publishing date, so that is exactly what I´m gonna do.

City of Fallen Angels



City of Lost Souls



City of Heavenly Fire



Clockwork Angel:


Clockwork Prince


Clockwork Princess


All of the Infernal Devices in a Boxed Set (I would recommend buying them book by book, for some reason it´s cheaper)



Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes

“Me Before You”, seems to have taken over every reader’s bookshelf, as I have seen it supposedly everywhere these last few months. And now that the movie is coming out soon, I decided I should probably finally read it. It is advertised as this great romance book, where Louise takes a job as a caretaker for Will, whom she is the first to treat like a normal person. They fall in love because it´s a Romance Novel and supposedly something sad happens and I am ready. Ready to cry.



The Percy Jackson Series, by Rick Riordan


This is the only reread I have on this list, since I don´t particularly like rereading things, but I figured I should reread at least one book/series. It has been about seven years since I have read the series for the first time, gosh time really flies by, so I don´t remember a lot of details, which is why I chose this series. We follow our main character Percy, who finds out he is a demi god so he goes to this camp over the summer, Camp Halfblood. Camp Halfblood is a camp particularly for the children of other greek gods, like Percy. I remember this series being tons of fun so I am really pumped about reliving all of Percy´s adventures with him once more.



Ruin and Rising and Six of Crows, both by Leigh Bardugo


As I have also mentioned in my post about My Top 10 Anticipated Summer Releases, I was surprised by how much I liked the first two books in this series. I was a big fan of the Russian setting and can´t wait to finally know how Bardugo is going to conclude this series. I can´t really talk about the plot, in fear of spoiling something, but just know that the Grisha Trilogy is set in a russsian inspired world, where there are people with magical abilities, called grishas. During the books we follow a girl called Alina, who finds out that she is the first grisha in thousands of years who can summon light. There is also this fold of darkness, and one of the best villains ever, but just know that you should read it.
 I also own “Six of Crows” which is the companion/follow up (?????) series set in the same universe as the Grisha Trilogy, after its events. All of the reviews I have read, were completely raving about how much better, than the Grisha Trilogy it is, so that makes me even more excited. This book basically follows a couple of different characters in pursuing a heist. And heist stories are my favourites so that´s that.

Ruin and Rising



Six of Crows



The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruis Zafón

This is the first book of the month in the Uncovered Book Club, which is hosted by Max from WellDoneBooks and Raeleen from Padfootandprongs07. Both of them are Booktubers, whose content I really enjoy watching and I have had this book on my shelves for quite some time. It also has been recommended to me, so all in all I thought this read along would be to perfect opportunity to finally read this book. It is set in Barcelona during 1945, after the Spanish Civil War. A boy named Daniel finds this books. After reading it he looks for more books by the same author to discover that someone is destroying all of the author´s books.



Since You´ve Been Gone, by Morgan Matson

This will be my first Morgan Matson book, but from what I have gathered all her books are the perfect light, but really fun, summer contemporary read. I can already picture myself laying in our garden, with some ice cream (hehehe) on a nice summer evening, reading this. The main character´s name is Emily and she is more of a wallflower, whose best friend Sloane suddenly disappears. But Sloane leaves her a list of tasks to complete, so Emily checks all of them of, during the course of summer in hope of finding Sloane in doing so. Have I mentioned that they are eating ice cream on the cover?



Y-The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra and José Marzán Jr.

The first and only graphic novel series on this list. I read the first volume a couple weeks ago and loved it, but haven´t been able to get to my local library since then to get the other volumes. The reason I picked it up, and damn am I happy I did that, is that the writer is the writer who also wrote Saga, which is my second favourite graphic novel series of all time. Even though it is not as great as “Saga”, which is mostly due to the artstyle. And my preference in fantasy, but mostly the art. But sill it is just as funny as “Saga”, if not even more. In “Y-The Last Man” all the man die. Just like *snap* all of them dead, on the floor. Except Yorrick and his pet monkey Ampersand. The story then follows, them finding out why they are still alive, while also fighting for survival.



Daughter Of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, by Laini Taylor

I got the box set from my mother for my birthday, and now it just sits on my shelf sits just waiting for summer holidays waiting to be marathoned. It has, as far as I know, only received praise, especially due to Taylor´s writing and is many people´s favourite series. I am not quite sure what it is about except that it is about this art student Karou, who draws monsters and collects teeth, I recall? It is also set in Prague and I have never read anything set there, but I think she will capture its essence just right.


The Well of Ascension, by Brandon Sanderson

So far, the first book in the Mistborn Trilogy, is one of my favourite books of this year. It was everything I didn´t know I wanted and so much more. Again I can´t really go into the plot of this book, because spoilers, but I don´t even want to really know what it is about anyway. Just know that “The Final Empire”, the first book, is something every fantasy lover should read. The bad guy has won and has already ruled the land for hundreds of years. There is also this awesome thing were a few people can burn metal to access powers. A small gang of those people, group together to take down the emperor in a nearly suicidal heist. Picture it as an Ocean 11 with magic, which sounds like everything you could need in life, doesn´t it? Believe me it is.


Rebel Belle, by Rachel Hawkins

I have owned this book for about six months now, which is quite a long time for not reading a book, which I am really excited for. But I am really scared of the sequels. From everything I gathered, most people loved the first book, but found the other two to be mediocre at best. So somehow in my head it seems like a rational decision to not read it, even though I want to!
The story basically follows this southern “Belle”, named Harper, who on her Prom Night becomes a Paladin. Now she has to protect her arch enemy David, whose fate could very well destroy earth. Sounds so ridiculous, but awesome indeed.



What did you guys think of my list? Have you read any books on it? And what are you guys reading this summer? Let me know in the comments down below together with what kind of ice cream is your favourite! ;P
Read on xx

Lena

Thursday 26 May 2016

A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas

*Disclaimer* If you haven´t read the first book yet please be aware of eventual spoilers. I would not advise reading on if you are interested in starting this series and are hugely repelled by spoilers. The spoilage is not very deep though, so if you don´t mind continue on, just be warned. However if you have read the first book and just haven´t continued on yet, this review will be Spoiler free until after the free space underneath.

Title: A Court of Mist and Fury
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 626
Published by: Bloomsbury UK
Rating: 5/5
A Court of Mist and Fury, or let´s just call it ACOMAF for short, starts only a couple months after the events of A Court of Thorns and Roses, ACOTAR. Feyre is back in the Spring Court about to get married to Tamlin, when Rhysand appears to call in his end of the bargain. Now Feyre has to spend one week each month at the Night Court, where she learns that not everything is not as black and white as it seems.

After I was not the biggest fan of ACOTAR, due to various problems I had with the story and the characters, I was quite hesitant to continue on with this series, let alone pre-order ACOMAF. But thankfully I did. A Court of Mist and Fury was everything I wanted and needed the first book to be and more. It had a fast moving story, plot twists, great character development, lots of snarky humour and so much more. Sarah J. Maas did an especially brilliant job in not only introducing us to the Night Court, but making me falling in love with it and lots of new characters as well. She transferred me right into this beautiful world, that I didn´t want to leave, which lead to me almost falling asleep, while reading at 2am numerous times, because I just couldn´t stop reading. If you need more proves to convince you to pick up this book I want to let you know that it is a big book. I was really shocked, when this monster of 600 and something pages turned up on my doorstep one day. But I finished it in three days. Not even on a weekend. It took me three normal school days. And I am not that fast of a reader, especially not during school. So needless to say I absolutely ADORED this book and everybody should pick this up, especially if you weren´t too keen about the first book.




Entering Spoilerland




LET´S TALK ABOUT RHYSAND! In the first book I wasn´t a big fan of neither Tamlin nor Rhysand, but I did have a preference for Rhys. I found the relationship between Tamlin and Feyre to be a bit uncomfortable and weird, mainly because some of the things he did in ACOTAR. And oh boy. He looked Feyre into his house! That´s like some serious dominance issue right there, and I just can´t fathom why he would do that? She is like one of the most powerful fae to live right now and she has all these powers, which she could use to defend herself, but that douchebag just treats her like a five year old, who doesn´t know what´s best for him. But not only that, but he also ignores her and her wishes, just to go off to hunt some moose or whatever he does. So of course, I was really happy when Rhys turned up at their wedding. He takes her in, teaches her how to read and build that wall and treats her like an equal, so by what? Page eighty or something I was already on team Rhys and stayed there for all of the remaining story. I found his character to be great as well, because not only does he treat Feyre like a person, no he is witty and snarky. It was amazing how much he gave up to protect his family and Velaris.  Velaris was another highlight in this story. Sarah J. Maas to make me fall just as much in love with it as Rhysand does. I felt like I was there, strolling around, watching the theatre performances and more. The worldbuilding in general was just done phenomenally.
One of my favourite scenes hands down, was when they went into the Court of Nightmares to get the orb. It was so steamy and just ugh! Give me more! Feyre was just so conflicted about her feelings and she didn´t even know why! And OMG they are mated! I´m so excited. Loads of people already guessed that Rhys and Feyre were mates at the end of ACOTAR, but I was pretty oblivious until somebody pointed it out to me on Goodreads. I was afraid that the suspicion would spoil my reading experience, but I completely forgot during all the other amazing stuff that went down. So when Feyre  found out that Rhys was her mate I still freaked out. I understood why she dealt with the situation the way she did, but found it really awkward when they were just having sex all the time. While I love how Maas writes the flirtatious, necking scenes, hence the scene in the Court of Nightmares being a standout, I am not the biggest fan of her sex scenes. I just find them weird and a bit uncomfortable to read.
A thing I didn´t see coming as well, was the twist at the end, when Lucian finds out Elain is his mate. Like, who saw THAT coming?! And Feyre being the High Lady of the Dream Court? You go girl! Show Tamlin what a girl can do. Reason 697 why I just love Rhysand. He treats her like an equal. But now that the deal is broken and Feyre is back at the Spring Court, urgh in between, Lucien needs her or else he won´t see Elain again. At least Rhys and Feyre can still communicate with each other, or else I would have a fear that we won´t have enough Rhysand in the next book.
All in all I completely unexpectedly fell in love with this book and can´t recommend it highly enough. It has, for sure, been one of the best books I´ve read this year and I can´t wait for May 2017 for the next book to come out. By the way, what do you guys think it will be called? My guess is on A Court of Spies and War.  And what will the cover look like? Maybe green with Feyre holding bow and arrow? Let me know your guesses down below, as well as what you thought of ACOMAF!
Read on xx
Lena


Sunday 22 May 2016

My Top 10 Anticipated Summer Releases of 2016

2016 has almost already reached ist halfway-point. (Ahhhhh who can believe that? It passed by so fast!) And as now summer is finally upon us, school is out. This means that there will also be more than enough time for friends, ice cream, summer adventures and the most important: lying in the grass on a nice summer day READING. So to get us ready, I decided to make my first real blog post about my Top 10 summer releases, just in case you are still hesitant which books you need to pick up to have the best Summer you could possibly have.
 As a disclaimer I want to add, that I personally define summer as the beginning of May until the end September, so not the “official” definition, but who cares? I also want to claim that, of course, dates can change. I am writing this post on May 22nd so maybe the date that a certain book is supposed to come out will change.

Number 10:

The Raven King, by Maggie Stiefvater
Yes, this is lower than most people would expect, especially because most of the books I read are YA and this is one HECK of a popular series. I have only read the first two books “The Raven Boys” and “The Dream Thieves” and honestly I just found them to be….Nice. I do want to continue on so I am happy all the books are out now, so I can read the last two books in a row if I desire to do so.
Published April 26th.



Number 9:

Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo
Have I read “Six of Crows”? No. Have I finished the Grisha Trilogy? No. Have I at least started the series? Yes! And I absolutely adored the first two books “Shadow and Bone” and “Siege and Storm”. I just ordered the last book “Ruin and Rising” and already own “Six of Crows” and since I am very excited to read those, I found it appropriate to make “Crooked Kingdom” my number nine.
Published September 27th



Number 8:

This Savage Song, by Victoria Schwab
I haven´t read something by Victoria Schwab (but I own “Vicious” though!) Still this book intrigues me. With Urban Fantasy, conflicted main characters and all the hype that is around Vicoria Schwab´s writing style this book sounds right up my alley.

I also talked about this book in my June Releases so if you would like to read more about it please click here. (coming Sunday)
Published July 5th



Number 7:

Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor
Two confessions: First, as it seems to be a trend, I haven´t read the “Daughter of Smoke and Bones” trilogy yet. Ugh, bad reader I know, but what can you do? Second, I don´t really know what this is about. Just something about a conflict between gods and mankind, alchemy and perhaps love? As I said, I don´t know what this is about, but that doesn´t mellow my excitement on bit.
Published September 27th


Number 6:

The Crown´s Game, by Evelyn Skye
Remember when I just told you about how much I liked the first two books in the Grisha Trilogy? Believe it or not I was quite hesitant to pick it up. The reviews I had heard were mixed and I wasn´t sure whether or not I would like the Russian inspired setting. At the end the Russian aspects turned out to be my favourite part, hence why I am excited about the crown´s game (and the author studied Russian History in collage, so she probably knows her stuff). The story takes place in 19th century Russia, where Nikolaj and Vika have to battle each other’s magic to see who will become the emperor’s enchanter. So not only has this book a Russian setting, it also has a love triangle, which I am a huge fan of, when done right, and magic. MAGIC!
Published May 17th


Number 5:

Summer Day and Summer Nights, edited by Stephanie Perkins
When I think of a perfect summer read, it either is a fun, fast paced fantasy story or a light, cute and fluffy contemporary. And Stephanie Perkins is surely the queen of the latter. The “Anna and the French Kiss” companions introduced me to her fabulous writing and since then I have been hooked and will read whatever the Queen of Contemporary chooses to publish. This is the second anthology she did, the first one set around Christmas, this one now takes place in the summer. There are 12 Love stories in this, including ones from authors like Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Leigh Bardugo (another reason to buy this!) and queen Perkins herself.
Published May 17th



Number 4:

The Unexpected Everything, by Morgan Matson
But behold Stephanie Perkins! There is another Queen of Contemproray: Morgan Matson. Ok, I haven´t particularly read anything by her yet, but believe me “Since You´ve Been Gone” is one of the top contenders on my Summer TBR this year. “The Unexpected Everything” is about this girl Andie, who has her whole life mapped out. But then stuff happens and all these plans fly out the window and it just sounds like a really fun book, with all the themes Matson is supposedly so good at (family, finding oneself, and a little bit of love in-between)
Published May 5th



Number 3:

Three Dark Crowns, by Kendare Blake
I haven´t really heard anything about this book until this week, when everybody came back from BEA.  This is about this island, on which every generation of the royal family there are triplets being born. So to determine, who becomes queen the three siblings have to fight each other. And the best part: They have MAGIC! (as by now it should´ve become clear that I really really like magic :P) It just sounds like a fun action packed YA Book, which is exactly the type of book I enjoy reading in the summertime.
Published September 20th



Number 2:

A Court Of Mist And Fury, by Sarah J. Maas
This one is the only book on this list, which I have already read (watch out for my review to come). This is the second book in the “A Court Of Thorns and Roses” Trilogy and I was not a big fan of the first book. I had a lot of issues with it, found it very slow moving, except for the last 150 pages or so, and found it just ok. So I was hesitant whether to to continue on with this series or not. But boy am I happy I did! I don´t want to take away too many things from my review, but just know that if you didn´t like ACOTAR, this is a much better book, as this was everything I wanted from the first book and more.
Published May 3rd



Number 1:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K.Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
How can this one not be at the top of anyone´s anticipated releases! It´s Harry Potter! I don´t even really know what this book is about, but do I care? Hell no! Harry Potter is my All-Time-Favourite of every category ever, so of course I am going to devour it as soon as I get my hands on it.
Published July 31st




So, that is my list. What about you guys? What summer releases are you excited about? Have you already read any of the books on my list, and if so what did you think of them? Let me know in the comments down below!
Read on

Lena