Yearly Archives:: 2015

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Review: Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

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I received this book for free from NAL in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: Ink and Bone by Rachel CaineInk and Bone by Rachel Caine
Series: The Great Library #1
Published by NAL on July 7th, 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Historical, YA
Source: NAL
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four-stars

In an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…

I am a bookworm (hopefully there are no doubts about that) so a book that featured an evil library definitely got my attention. Ink and Bone also had a lot of hype surrounding it and some of my most-trusted peeps loved it. When I finally dove in, I was expecting my mind to be blown and it wasn’t necessarily blown but there is just something about this book. It’s really really slow but it is also really fucking amazing.

If you love fascinating villains, this book is for you. The Library is the villain here. The library essentially controls the world so there is definite dystopic quality to this book but don’t be turned off by that if dystopias aren’t your thing. The library isn’t some mindlessly evil villain. The library is proof of what happens when fantastic ideas go down the gutter because of corruption. It isn’t the library that is bad but the corrupt officials who don’t want change. Who enjoy the power and love the control. They are what has changed the library from the great idea it was to something more evil. the point of all my rambling is that this book isn’t black and white about it’s bad guys. Everything is complex and intricately developed. Also, I totally got 1984 vibes from the library because they are so aware of everything you do. Nothing is a secret. Not even your innermost thoughts. It’s creepy.

The characters are also pretty great. Jess was such an adorable and relatable MC and his love for books called out to me. I loved Khalifa for being such a smarty-pants and Wolfe was my one true love. ALSO lots of shippy-feels in this one. Not going to disclose my fav ship because they don’t come up until later but they made me want to curl up in a ball because they were so cute.

There is *some* diversity in this book but I am actually really sad about the lack of people of color in this one. Khalifa is a POC and Dario is Spanish but this book is set in Alexandria so I wanted there to be more POC. And maybe the setting to be explored a little bit more? I LOVE how the library is set up and this book is about introducing us to the system, but it would have been so cool if we got to step outside and experience Alexandria and Egypt (I really want to go to Egypt someday so I would have loved to live vicariously through the characters.)

My other qualm was the general slowness of the book. I am a fairly quick reader and this book isn’t very long but it is SLOW. Not slow in the sense that nothing is happening  either, the book just drags for some reason I am not sure about. I wanted to devour this book in one go but ended up taking 3 days to read it! THAT IS INSANE for me. If it hadn’t taken me so long to read the book, I might have loved it even more than I do right now.

This is an amazing book, but one I would recommend with caution because it isn’t just a book you can pick up and breeze through. You have to be in the mood to read this book and willing to put in the effort to read it. It is amazing and worth it in the end, though, so you should definitely check it out if evil libraries that have secret depths are your thing.

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Review: My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories Edited by Stephanie Perkins

Posted by on 12/22/2015 • 6 Comments

I love the holidays, so when I was approached about reviewing this book I couldn’t pass it up. I also always love “feel good” stories and knew this would be filled with them. It didn’t disappoint. It has twelve different stories having to do with the holidays written by an amazing variety of authors. No matter what holiday you celebrate, this book will make you smile. Some even had me tearing up with happy tears. I always really have a hard time reviewing anthologies because I don’t want to have a review that is super long or too short, but I am going to try to do it as good as I can, but be assured, this is a book you want to read around the holidays or any time…

YA Recommendations based on Jane Austen’s Works

Posted by on 12/21/2015 • 15 Comments

Are you a fan of Jane Austen? Do you love re-tellings of her works? I DO. I am always on the lookout for them since her books feature some of my favorite romance tropes so I decided to put together a post featuring some re-tellings I’ve read and some that I hope to get around to reading!

 

Have you read any of these? Do you have any recommendations of your own? Let us converse about the amazingness of  Mr. Darcy books.

 

Review: A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachmann

Posted by on 12/20/2015 • 5 Comments

A Drop of Night actually proved to be a pretty interesting book.

If you like a bit of everything in speculative fiction, then this book might just strike your fancy. It definitely has some drama, history, mystery, and a whole lot of science fiction and thriller, and I daresay that the book was able to mesh them well. Even though there were so many elements altogether, it never felt muddled or out of place or all over the place. And to be honest with you, for a book of this kind, that’s rare.

Do take note – it’s not perfect. But it did try and it tried really well.

What are you to do when you receive a letter – out of nowhere – inviting you to help a team…

Fresh Batch (December 20th – January 2nd)

Fresh Batch (December 20th – January 2nd)

Posted by on 12/19/2015 • 6 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

This Raging Light Estelle Laure Publication date: December 22nd 2015by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Purchase

Can the best thing happen at the worst time?

Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother. With blazing longing that builds to a fever pitch, Estelle Laure’s soulful debut will keep readers hooked and hoping until the very last page.

 

Review: I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest

Posted by on 12/17/2015 • 8 Comments

Reasons to read I Am Princess X

1. All about the friendship. Seriously, who doesn’t love a book that focuses on friendships of all relationships. Friends are important!

2. If you like books involving scavenger hunts, this book is for you. In the book, May has to put together a bunch of clues to find out what happened to her friend and how she might be able to find her. YAAAS.

3. The mystery. It comes with the scavenger hunt aspect of the novel but the book kept me on my toes. At one point while I was reading, my phone buzzed and I almost jumped out of my skin because I was so absorbed by the novel and the mystery.

4. The images. The comic strips with Princess X are…

On Happy Endings

Posted by on 12/14/2015 • 15 Comments

If you know me, you know that I LIVE for my Happily Ever Afters but I realize that many people don’t like them (which is 100% okay because to each and their own.) Today I just wanted to sit down and talk about why they are important to me.

So ideal endings. We all want them and chances are, we hardly ever get them. For me the perfect ending is happy but is also open in ways that allows me to continue interacting with the text. So in the case of a romance: they get together… but preferably not the whole we are married now and have 100 babies epilogue because that’s cheesy (at least in my opinion.) I don’t just think of HEAs in terms of romance though, in…

Fresh Batch (December 13th – 19th)

Fresh Batch (December 13th – 19th)

Posted by on 12/12/2015 • 5 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Frozen Tides Morgan Rhodes Series: Falling Kingdoms #4 Publication date: December 15th 2015by Razorbill

Goodreads Purchase

Rebels, royals, and monsters wage war over the Mytican throne in the shocking fourth book of the Falling Kingdoms series, from New York Times bestselling author Morgan Rhodes.

CLEO: Reeling after a bloody showdown in Limeros ending with Amara’s abduction of the water crystal, and a vacancy in the Mytican throne, Princess Cleo must cast aside her feelings and look toward her kingdom with the eyes of a Queen.

MAGNUS: With the kingdom in chaos, Princess Lucia still missing and quite possibly in danger, and a shocking…