Review: The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily

 The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

 

SO FREAKING ADORABLE!!!! This is the sequel to Dash and Lily's Book of Dares and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I'm also completely and totally in love with Christmas, so it is even more amazing as it's a Christmas story!!!

Really interesting fact, this book was written by both Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, and apparently (I read this in an interview online) they wrote by sending chapters back and forth. So Rachel would write one, David would read it, then he'd write the next one, and send it over to Rachel, and so on and so forth. This book and the one that came before it, are the definition of adorable holiday stories.

Even if you aren't in the Christmas mood, you should read this book. If you are in the Christmas mood, this will reaffirm all of those lovely feelings. If you need to get into the Christmas mood, consider your problem solved after reading this book. Essentially, EVERYONE should read this book. (And Dash and Lily's Book of Dares :) because it is super adorable and Christmas-y too)

Thanks for reading!

View all my reviews

More Books Coming! Nov/Dec Edition

Anticipated Book Releases

November-December 2016

Looking through the anticipated books for the next two months, there aren't as many!!!! :o Ahhhh!!! At least the ones that ARE coming out look more than beyond fabulous.  
 
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
November 8

A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray
November 1

The Diabolic by SJ Kincaid
November 1

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
November 1

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill
December 27

Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes
December 13

Thanks for reading!

Empire of Storms Review WITH SPOILERS

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

Review WITH SPOILERS
4.2 Stars out of 5

I'm dead. Goodbye. Go read this. Now. This series is absolutely phenomenal and I am completely amazed with the complexities and intricacies that Sarah J Maas has put into this story and the overarching plot of all the books. Empire of Storms was not an exception to Sarah's beautifully crafted books. Please do not be fooled by the four stars. I would love to say that I could give it five, but then I feel like then I would be invalidating my review of Queen of Shadows because I did not enjoy these two books on the same level, so I don't think it'd be fair to give them the same rating. It is my absolute pleasure to give this book 4.2 stars though. As it is the fifth book in the series, I'm going to go into spoilers right away. 

SPOILERS AHEAD



 CHARACTERS:

As a general statement, I think it was actually because of the characters that I cannot give this book a full five stars. They are all still amazing and I love them! But there were so many and there were so many different POVs in the book that I felt distant from them. Because there was so much jumping around from character to character in each chapter, I couldn't connect to them as much as I did in Queen of Shadows. I totally understand why Sarah did it this way, because it was the format that the plot demanded it to be like this. It is really just an unfortunate side effect of this demand that we couldn't connect as much as in previous books.

Aelin: SO MANY FEELS!!! Aelin Galathynius is one of the best YA girls of all time and she is such an inspiration. I know that there are some mixed opinions about her personality and her character, but I really believe that she is incredibly strong, both person-ably and mentally. It killed me that she was so selfless that she made plans for everyone else to live out the rest of their lives in peace EXCEPT FOR HERSELF. My frustration with character disconnect was especially strong with her character. I would have loved to have had more scenes with her and have gotten to stay as close to her as we were in Queen of Shadows

Rowan: Holy hell, I love Rowan. I love how he was so supportive, but not overbearing and he let Aelin make her own decisions but also simultaneously making sure she wasn't making bat-shit crazy plans. He has one of my favorite lines in the entire book: "Where is my wife?" I will put on record that this is when I absolutely died. Again. There were so many moments in EoS when the feels were real. This was definitely one of the strongest, if not the strongest. **Dies again as I'm thinking about it**

Dorian: I may or may not have bumped Dorian up on my mental list of character favoritism. He was another character that I was like, holy shit. That whole semi-sex scene with Manon, I was expecting. Where the f*** did that come from??!?!!! Damn. Just.... damn.

If I were to go through each character separately, this post would be waaaaaayyyy too long. I'll post a EoS ship review later so that I can go into lots of details. >:)

WORLD:

Ok, I really want there to be a cross-over with Sarah's other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses Anyone else? Everyone else, yes? Good. Glad we're all on the same page. Seriously, I had already had thoughts about how awesome that would be, and then in an interview somewhere Sarah said that the two worlds exist in the same universe!!!! This gives me serious hope that the two could be merged, even if it's just in like a novella. I would buy that and frame it. (Lol, what if Amren is from the ToG world???)

Separating this world from ACOTAR, I really love the different levels that have been created in this world. The government systems and political history are all (finally) fully described and you can't just leave this world once you enter it. Really ingenious and sooooooo great to read.

WRITING:

In typical Sarah J Maas fashion, EoS had beautiful and powerful language. The plot IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER READ! Who else has created something so complicated and she had to have known all of this in advance too!!! There are things that are referenced in ToG that we only saw now in book 5! HOW!!?!??? Like I said earlier, the only thing I didn't really like was the distance between the reader and the characters. I think on some level it was unavoidable, but it's still unfortunate.

If you haven't read this one yet, I don't know how you've been able to wait, but I hope you're super excited because this is definitively an excitable book. For those of you who don't like the ships...... still read it. Enjoy it for the plot and the sass and the words. No matter who you are or why you're reading it, Empire of Storms has something in it for everyone to enjoy and like.

Thanks for reading!

Review: Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 4.2 of 5 stars

I'm dead. Goodbye. Go read this. Now. This series is absolutely phenomenal and I am completely amazed with the complexities and intricacies that Sarah J Maas has put into this story and the overarching plot of all the books. Empire of Storms was not an exception to Sarah's beautifully crafted books. Please do not be fooled by the four stars. I would love to say that I could give it five, but then I feel like then I would be invalidating my review of Queen of Shadows because I did not enjoy these two books on the same level, so I don't think it'd be fair to give them the same rating. It is my absolute pleasure to give this book 4.2 stars though.

[
CHARACTERS:
As a general statement, I think it was actually because of the characters that I cannot give this book a full five stars. They are all still amazing and I love them! But there were so many and there were so many different POVs in the book that I felt distant from them. Because there was so much jumping around from character to character in each chapter, I couldn't connect to them as much as I did in Queen of Shadows. I totally understand why Sarah did it this way, because it was the format that the plot demanded it to be like this. It is really just an unfortunate side effect of this demand that we couldn't connect as much as in previous books.
Aelin: SO MANY FEELS!!! Aelin Galathynius is one of the best YA girls of all time and she is such an inspiration. I know that there are some mixed opinions about her personality and her character, but I really believe that she is incredibly strong, both person-ably and mentally. It killed me that she was so selfless that she made plans for everyone else to live out the rest of their lives in peace EXCEPT FOR HERSELF. My frustration with character disconnect was especially strong with her character. I would have loved to have had more scenes with her and have gotten to stay as close to her as we were in Queen of Shadows
Rowan: Holy hell, I love Rowan. I love how he was so supportive, but not overbearing and he let Aelin make her own decisions but also simultaneously making sure she wasn't making bat-shit crazy plans. He has one of my favorite lines in the entire book: "Where is my wife?" I will put on record that this is when I absolutely died. Again. There were so many moments in EoS when the feels were real. This was definitely one of the strongest, if not the strongest. **Dies again as I'm thinking about it**
Dorian: I may or may not have bumped Dorian up on my mental list of character favoritism. He was another character that I was like, holy shit. That whole semi-sex scene with Manon, I was expecting. Where the f*** did that come from??!?!!! Damn. Just.... damn.
If I were to go through each character separately, this post would be waaaaaayyyy too long. I'll post a EoS ship review on my blog later. (link)
WORLD:
Ok, I really want there to be a cross-over with Sarah's other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses Anyone else? Everyone else, yes? Good. Glad we're all on the same page. Seriously, I had already had thoughts about how awesome that would be, and then in an interview somewhere Sarah said that the two worlds exist in the same universe!!!! This gives me serious hope that the two could be merged, even if it's just in like a novella. I would buy that and frame it. (Lol, what if Amren is from the ToG world???) Separating this world from ACOTAR, I really love the different levels that have been created in this world. The government systems and political history are all (finally) fully described and you can't just leave this world once you enter it. Really ingenious and sooooooo great to read.
WRITING
In typical Sarah J Maas fashion, EoS had beautiful and powerful language. The plot IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER READ! Who else has created something so complicated and she had to have known all of this in advance too!!! There are things that are referenced in ToG that we only saw now in book 5! HOW!!?!??? Like I said earlier, the only thing I didn't really like was the distance between the reader and the characters. I think on some level it was unavoidable, but it's still unfortunate.
(hide spoiler)]

If you haven't read this one yet, I don't know how you've been able to wait, but I hope you're super excited because this is definitively an excitable book. For those of you who don't like the ships...... still read it. Enjoy it for the plot and the sass and the words. No matter who you are or why you're reading it, Empire of Storms has something in it for everyone to enjoy and like.

Thanks for reading!

View all my reviews

Kings Cage Quote!!!

King's Cage (Victoria Aveyard)

Quote Art

Release Date: February 7, 2017

"Monsters are most dangerous when they're afraid."--- Victoria Aveyard

Hello! So I am beyond super excited for King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard to come out. It is the third book in the Red Queen series, and it is also probably one of the most emotional roller coaster rides that I have ever read. This quote from the third book came out a little while ago, but I'm trying to learn how to use Photoshop, so the quote turned into a prototype project for me. I can't wait for more King's Cage build up and I hope you can't wait either! Now is a great time to start reading the series if you haven't yet, or to catch up if you've only read book 1 so far. Enjoy reading!!! (***laughs evil-y***)

Thanks for reading!

Review: Sirensong by Jenna Black

Sirensong by Jenna Black

My rating: 3.7 of 5 stars
 

I still really liked this book, but I don't think it was as strong as the others. I absolutely loved the traveling and the the conflict that arose, but I am not sure that this was a suitable ending for the series. It's a situation where I feel like there could have been a forth book that tied things together better, even if it was just for the sake of the overall plot development of the series. It is slightly different for this series though because, not that the books aren't connected, but there isn't a major conflict that needs to be resolved throughout all three books. You definitely still need to read them in order, but it seems like each book has it's own separate issue.

[
CHARACTERS:
Dana: Despite her moments of extreme stupidity, I loved Dana. Some of my favorite moments from the series were when she challenged the fae and their archaic views or just was outright sassy as hell to them. It was spot-on fantastic. I still think that she shouldn't necessarily be with Ethan. He still isn't my favorite, but oddly enough, I don't have any ships for her either. I think this is the one time where not only do I think she could be on her own ('cause tbh, lots of YA heroines don't need somebody), but that she doesn't have any legitamite options at the moment. Sorry shippers, I can't agree with any of them for this series. :/ Oh well.
Erlking: This book was like a wake-up call when it came to the Erlking. I still stick by my standing that he isn't a horrible person. But I'm pretty sure he sees Dana as nothing more than interesting. So that's not a ship. I can't hate him though, he just doesn't seem that bad still.
Ethan: By the end of the series, I didn't mistrust Ethan as much as I originally did. I still don't completely trust him, and I still don't think he and Dana should be together, but I also don't think he means ill anymore and he's starting to try. It could also just be something that got lost in translation in the development of his character and his relationship with Dana. I still don't ship them though.
Keane: We lost Keane moments! Of all the characters in this book, I feel like we lost a lot of potential development for Keane's characters. Which sucked too because he is a really cool character, and he obviously developed somehow, because he ends up with Kimber. But we didn't really get to see that development, and I wish we had, because it would have rounded out the story so much more.
Side note of appreciation for Dana's dad. Of all YA parents, he's probably one of the best that I've read of, and I find that particularly strange because he's fae. Good for him though, because he was supportive, but not pushy, and he never tried to make Dana feel belittled or unheard.
WORLD
We got to go to Faerie in this book!! I really liked this part of the series too. It was like a combination of Alice in Wonderland and Outlander. I thought it was amazing and the descriptions of some of the creatures were incredible. We didn't just get a description of the physical world, but also of the creatures that lived there. We also had a description of the castle, and I looked up the picture of what it was supposedly based off of, and it's pretty cool. I think I will love the world that Jenna Black has created for quite some time to come. I'll say it again in this post: I would love to visit Avalon!! In general, but especially if there were actual fae :).
WRITING: One of the things that I really appreciated about this series is that Jenna Black's writing stayed consistent. All three books had the same awesome sense of humor running through them and they all kept the same light, fun, easy-going reading style. The one thing that confuses the HELL out of me though is why the third book is called SIRENsong. Yes she sings, but I don't think the word "siren" was ever used in any of the books. I might have just missed it I guess...?
(hide spoiler)]
I binge-read all three of the books in this series, Glimmerglass, Shadowspell, and Sirensong, within a week. I think this might be the best way to do it for these books. Read them one after the other. They were so much fun to read! I don't think I can emphasize that enough- they. were. FUN. Sit back, relax, and get lost in the books.

Thanks for reading!

View all my reviews

Sirensong by Jenna Black Review WITH SPOILERS

Sirensong by Jenna Black

Review WITH SPOILERS

3.7 out of 5 Stars

I still really liked this book, but I don't think it was as strong as the others. I absolutely loved the traveling and the the conflict that arose, but I am not sure that this was a suitable ending for the series. It's a situation where I feel like there could have been a forth book that tied things together better, even if it was just for the sake of the overall plot development of the series. It is slightly different for this series though because, not that the books aren't connected, but there isn't a major conflict that needs to be resolved throughout all three books. You definitely still need to read them in order, but it seems like each book has it's own separate issue.

SPOILERS AHEAD

CHARACTERS:

Dana: Despite her moments of extreme stupidity, I loved Dana. Some of my favorite moments from the series were when she challenged the fae and their archaic views or just was outright sassy as hell to them. It was spot-on fantastic. I still think that she shouldn't necessarily be with Ethan. He still isn't my favorite, but oddly enough, I don't have any ships for her either. I think this is the one time where not only do I think she could be on her own ('cause tbh, lots of YA heroines don't need somebody), but that she doesn't have any legitamite options at the moment. Sorry shippers, I can't agree with any of them for this series. :/ Oh well.

Erlking: This book was like a wake-up call when it came to the Erlking. I still stick by my standing that he isn't a horrible person. But I'm pretty sure he sees Dana as nothing more than interesting. So that's not a ship. I can't hate him though, he just doesn't seem that bad still.

Ethan: By the end of the series, I didn't mistrust Ethan as much as I originally did. I still don't completely trust him, and I still don't think he and Dana should be together, but I also don't think he means ill anymore and he's starting to try. It could also just be something that got lost in translation in the development of his character and his relationship with Dana. I still don't ship them though.

Keane: We lost Keane moments! Of all the characters in this book, I feel like we lost a lot of potential development for Keane's characters. Which sucked too because he is a really cool character, and he obviously developed somehow, because he ends up with Kimber. But we didn't really get to see that development, and I wish we had, because it would have rounded out the story so much more.

Side note of appreciation for Dana's dad. Of all YA parents, he's probably one of the best that I've read of, and I find that particularly strange because he's fae. Good for him though, because he was supportive, but not pushy, and he never tried to make Dana feel belittled or unheard.

WORLD:

We got to go to Faerie in this book!! I really liked this part of the series too. It was like a combination of Alice in Wonderland and Outlander. I thought it was amazing and the descriptions of some of the creatures were incredible. We didn't just get a description of the physical world, but also of the creatures that lived there. We also had a description of the castle, and I looked up the picture of what it was supposedly based off of, and it's pretty cool. I think I will love the world that Jenna Black has created for quite some time to come. I'll say it again in this post: I would love to visit Avalon!! In general, but especially if there were actual fae :).

WRITING:

One of the things that I really appreciated about this series is that Jenna Black's writing stayed consistent. All three books had the same awesome sense of humor running through them and they all kept the same light, fun, easy-going reading style. The one thing that confuses the HELL out of me though is why the third book is called SIRENsong. Yes she sings, but I don't think the word "siren" was ever used in any of the books. I might have just missed it I guess...?
  

I binge-read all three of the books in this series, Glimmerglass, Shadowspell, and Sirensong, within a week. I think this might be the best way to do it for these books. Read them one after the other. They were so much fun to read! I don't think I can emphasize that enough- they. were. FUN. Sit back, relax, and get lost in the books. And the beautiful covers of course- can't forget those.

Thanks for reading!