Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Series: The Nevernight Chronicles, #1

Publication:August 9th 2016 by St. Martin's Press

Goodreads Description:

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge? 

My thoughts:

Nevernight is an incredible read and a new all time favourite for me. I had the best time reading this fantasy book and could not recommend it enough! I couldn't put it down it was so good. 

One of the biggest reasons why I loved this book was the main character, Mia. I loved how morally grey she was, she is an assassin in training and she does do some things and make some decisions that aren't what I'd consider right but I loved her for it. She's was also super badass with her her 'magic'- she has the ability to control shadows and it is so cool! I don't think I've ever read a character like that before and it was fascinating seeing how she used her ability to her advantage. She also has a shadowcat who follows her around and they have the best banter which is also a big reason I loved her; animal companions are my favourite thing! I was rooting for her from the moment I met her, I wanted her to become an assassin and kill the men who executed her family. She was such a fun character to read about!

The plot of Nevernight is one full of action and Chase scenes and suspense and mystery and I loved it! It does take a few chapters before the all gets rolling but I promise if you push through it's worth it! The beginning is a bit slow because the writing is a bit heavy on the world building.

The main setting of Nevernight is the school in which Mia is being trained to be an assassin. The school is very reminiscent of Hogwarts (of Hogwarts was a more dangerous and had ruthless teachers who didn't care about killing the pupils and more) which I loved! The school was so mysterious and had some really cool rooms and stuff.

Jay Kristoff managed to develop some lovely relationships between the characters which I loved. There was some amazing friendships built between Mia and her shadow cat and the other students at the school. There was so much banter and witty dialogue I was here for it!

I've never read a book solely by Jay Kristoff so going in I wasn't if the writing was for me but I loved it. He uses lots of flashbacks, but places them in such a way that they don't drag on and pull the reader out of the present day plot. I particularly loved the first chapter and how he used flashbacks and present day back to back. Along with these flashbacks there is footnotes. I loved the footnotes and thought they were a very clever way to build the world and the narrator was very snarky in them. In the beginning I thought reading them would take me out of the story but it didn't- if I was really into what was happening I'd just keep reading and then at the end of the chapter go back and read the footnotes. I found it's not always necessary to read them to understand what was going on which means you could probably skip them altogether. They were a very clever way to world build though.

I loved the narration style. The story is told in third person. We don't know who the narrator is (though I have theories) but they have such a strong voice and personality it makes the story so much fun to read. They are so snarky and even address the reader which is cool.

The world building is very cleverly done through footnotes. Through them we get information on religion, places, politicians, magic and more. It is a bit dense in the beginning but it drops off as the story gets going. 

*it is important to note that this is not a YA book like Jay Kristoffs other books like the Illuminae Files- Nevernight contains mature content so please be aware of that before going in. There is graphic violence and sex scenes as well as a lot of swear words*

I had a blast reading Nevernight and am dying to pick up Godsgrave after that ending the had me on the edge of my seat and left me with a million questions!

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Series: Empirium, #1

Publication: May 22nd 2018 by Sourcebooks Fire

Goodreads Description:

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other. 

My thoughts: 

Furyborn was very hard for me to get through. I really had to push myself to finish it and considered DNFing it multiple times. I ended up skimming a lot of the second half of the book I was so uninterested. The premise of two young women separated by a 1000 years who are connect sounded so good and it had so much potential but it ended up falling very flat.

The story is told in dual POV with a thousand year time difference. I found myself preferring Rielle's chapters much more over Eliana's. I hadn't a clue what was happening a lot of the time in Eliana's story and really struggled through her chapters. Rielle's was much more interesting as the author really explored the world and magic system in her parts of the book. 

The plot was so boring to me. It wasn't even that nothing was happening, there was a good bit of action, but I just wasn't emotionally connected to the characters enough to care what happened them. There were no stakes, I knew so and so would do the right thing and that so and so would win. The lack of tension made it lack any excitement I usually get when reading.

The romance was also very dull. The two main male characters could not have been underdeveloped more. They were so flat and had zero personality.

There was also a lot of tropes which turned me off; such as the useless sibling, the chosen one, trials/tests and more.

The world was very confusing. There's elemental magic and angels and kingdoms at war and I was so confused. I felt like when anything was explained it was brushed over or the author went off on a tangent and I got lost. This left me with very little knowledge about how the magic and society worked in the world.

I also want to let reads know that while this book was being hyped for the past few months a number of authors promoting the book said it has bi rep and I am here to say it doesn't really. The only 'rep' in this book is Rielle implying in one sentence that she flirted with a friend of hers who was a girl and Eliana mentioning she had sex with a woman. There was no evidence in the book that either main character was attracted to both men and women, it was all about the boys for them. I felt like these two passing comments where just thrown in to make the book appeal to those looking for a more diverse read.

Furyborn was not the book for me, I did not enjoy my time read it and I definitely won't be continuing on with this series.

Thanks for reading,

A :)

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Publication: June 5th 2018 by Berkley (first published May 30th 2018

Goodreads Description:

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic... 

My thoughts:

I was pleasantly surprised by The Kiss Quotient but it also was not what I was expecting. It was my own fault, the only thing I knew about The Kiss Quotient before going into it was that if you liked The Hating Game you'd like it. So I want in expecting it to be similar enough but it wasn't. 

Stella was such a fun main character. I loved reading about! Her personality really comes off the page and she was so well developed she was a joy to read! I really liked her. Stella also has  autism which is a big part of her character, I can't speak on the rep but she's an ownvoices character as the author also has autism. I found it very interesting learning about how Stella deals with her autism as I've studied it in college briefly and have always been interested in learning more. Of course Stella is fictional and only one persons experience it was nice learning more about autism.

While I really liked Stella I wasn't a huge fan of Michael. One aspect of his character was cool but I can't say what because of spoilers but mostly he just felt very one dimensional. I didn't feel for him at all.

The romance was alright but I wasn't super invested in it or rooting for them. I felt like there was hardly any time spent getting to know each other. A bit of an insta-love situation. It's steamy but not romantic.

The thing I didn't like was kind of my own fault. I really should have read the description first because this is not my kind of book based on the description. It was a lot steamier than I expected which threw me off. I wish they'd toned it down a bit, as it got a bit repetitive and I wasn't a fan of how much smut there was, I ended up skimming a lot of it. I know now after reading the description that I should have expected that but I was silly and went in blind.

The Kiss Quotient wasn't what I expected but had fun reading for the most part. 

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Scythe by Neal Schusterman

Series: Arc of a Scythe, #1

Publication: November 22nd 2016 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Description:

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own. 

My thoughts:

Scythe was such a let down for me. I went in with very high expectations because of all the hype surrounding it and I was very disappointed. 

Firstly it took me forever to get through. I would be reading for what felt like hours only to trackside I'd only read a few chapters. I found it so hard to focus while reading because I just wasn't interested in the story. 

The characters felt very flat to me and I was not emotionally invested in any of them at all. I couldn't relate to them so I felt no empathy or sympathy for them. I was annoyed at both, Citra and Rowan, for the majority of the book. I felt like they had no chemistry whatsoever so I wasn't rooting for them or their relationships. 

The plot was so slow. The story just dragged on and on and I felt like I was making no progress. I couldn't get into it. I didn't care who lived or died so the plot twists didn't shock me or anything (a lot of them were predictable anyway).

The idea was brilliant with the whole no one dying and how society works. It really made me thing about morality and mortality but the execution of the story was very weak.

I think Neal Shusterman's writing just isn't for me. It feels so straight forward and it doesn't have any emotion behind it or something. 

A bit bummed I didn't enjoy scythe because it's such a hyped series. I think this is the end of Neal Shusterman for me, I've tried Unwind too and wasn't a fan so I think I'll just stop wasting my time on his books.

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Favourite Books I Read in 2018

2018 is coming to a close so it only makes sense to go back and look at all the books I've read this year. I read over 95 books 2018 (including lots of rereads). There were so many amazing releases in 2018 and I discovered some great backlist books too. This is a list of my top 10 books of 2018; some were released this year and some weren't. I tried to put them in order but it was too hard. 

1.Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas

Read my review here!

2.Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

Review to come!

3.The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Read my review here!

4.Nevernight/ Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Review to come!

5.Stormcaster by Cinda Williams Chima

Read my review here!

6.Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Cristina Lauren

Review to come!

7.The Diviners/Lair of Dreams/Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

Read my review here!

8.City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Review to come!

9.And I Darken/Now I Rise/Bright We Burn by Kiersten White

Review to come!

10.What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard

Read my review here!

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Publication: July 2nd 2013 by HarperTeen

Goodreads Description:

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about. 

My thoughts:

The Distance Between Us is a great light easy quick read that's perfect for summer. I flew through it in one sitting in a handful of hours. This was my second West book and I have to say her books are great filler books to pick up when you've finished a big series or a dark fantasy and need a quick break. They are super easy and cute to read but i will say they don't leave much of an impression when you're done. I had fun while reading The Distance Between Us but since finishing I haven't really thought about it.

I felt like the characters were very surface level but I wasn't looking for overly complex layered characters when I picked up The Distance Between Us. I liked Caymen; she had a very dry sense of humour and her sarcastic dialogue was fun to read. I liked Xander too, he was very respectful and I liked how he challenged Caymen's prejudices she had about rich people.  

This is a YA romance so of course it was a big part of the plot. There were a good few cute moments but I wasn't necessarily shipping it. It was cute at time and their banter was fun but nothing to get invested in.

The plot was very predicable and very convenient but because I read it so quick I didn't mind and I didn't pick this book up for a complex plot that had me on the edge of my seat or anything.

It was interesting reading a book where money was a big issue for the characters because it's not something I come across a lot in my reading. I liked how the book explored prejudices and biases and stuff in relation to finances.

There was nothing noteworthy about the writing. It was nice and easy to read.

I've read 2 Kasie West books now, this one and On the Fence, and I think  I liked On the Fence better. I will definitely be picking up more of her books in the future when I want a quick light read!

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

Publication:June 5th 2018 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Goodreads Description:

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.

There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.

There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo.

Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.

Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.

My thoughts:

Save the Date was a lighthearted, family orientated story with lots of hijinks but it just didn't live up to my expectations of a Morgan Matson book. I had fun reading for the most part but it is definitely my least favourite Morgan Matson book; it was just missing something.

This book was so funny with everything falling apart. It was actually ridiculous how everything that could go wrong went wrong. It was hilarious to me at the start but towards the end I was over it, it was too unrealistic and I knew what was going to happen. The hectic mess of everything falling apart was stressing me out too at times.

I also didn't like the main character Charlie. I usually love Morgan Matson's protagonists because I can see myself in them and they few real but Charlie was so annoying. She felt very young and naive and I could relate to her at all. Her obsession with her brother's friend, Jesse, drove me mad. She was so blinded by her childhood crush. Her attitude towards her brother's girlfriend threw me off too; she was very cold to her. And Charlie was such a bad friend to her best friend. I felt like I was reading about a 13 year old.

While Save the Date is about a wedding it is not romance heavy at all. The blurb was misleading- I expected more of a focus on Jesse and the wedding planners nephew and was sitting around waiting for something to happen. I love Morgan Matson's books for their cute romances and love interests but the 'romance' was a tiny sub plot in this book. I was a bit disappointed about it.

I loved the focus on familial relationships though! The Grants are a big family and it was so much fun reading all the different dynamics between brother's and sisters and parents. I loved all the siblings interactions; they were so much fun and full of banter and bickering which is exactly like me and my siblings.

The plot felt a bit like this was the 'before' of the real story, of that makes sense. I felt like this was all leading up to the actual story. The plot was also very predictable because of everything going wrong I just started assuming it would go wrong. 

I really liked the message about putting people on a pedestal and building them up into something they're not in our minds and how that stops us from seeing them as just people like everyone else. 

I loved the little cameo of characters from The Unexpected Everything! 

Save the Date is long but fast to get through. It has some very sweet family moments but it's not a cute contemporary romance like Morgan Matson's other books. It ended up being my least favourite book from her.

Thanks for reading,

A :)