Search Results for: this is what happy

Thursday, October 08, 2015

Audiobook Review: The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil #3) by Soman Chainani

Posted by 4 Comments

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

Audiobook Review: The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil #3) by Soman ChainaniThe Last Ever After by Soman Chainani
Series: The School for Good and Evil #3
Published by HarperCollins on July 21st 2015
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Middle-Grade
Source: HarperCollins
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

In the epic conclusion to Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling series, The School for Good and Evil, everything old is new again as Sophie and Agatha fight the past as well as the present to find the perfect end to their story.

As A World Without Princes closed, the end was written and former best friends Sophie and Agatha went their separate ways. Agatha was whisked back to Gavaldon with Tedros and Sophie stayed behind with the beautiful young School Master.

But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, and this time, theirs isn’t the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down.

Readers around the world are eagerly awaiting the third book in The School for Good and Evil series, The Last Ever After. This extraordinary conclusion delivers more action, adventure, laughter, romance and fairy tale twists and turns than you could ever dream of!

I am going to try to do this review with no spoilers for the previous books, but seeing as it’s the third and final book, no promises. You have been warned to continue at your own risk. I have to say that this series in general was fantastic and I was so excited for this last book. It totally lived up to my expectations! I have listened to the whole series on audio and it’s one of the best audiobook series. The narrator, Polly Lee, is the perfect voice for the story. She makes it very easy to tell between the characters, and brings a fantastic story to life. This book was full of all the build up off all the things that came before and all the new dangers and lessons that they need to learn. As with the ones before, it is great story that does have romance, but is ultimately about friendship and doing the right thing.

Agatha, though a rough character, is a character that I love. Originally seeming to be more the Evil type than the Good, she is so kind and wonderful. Of course she isn’t perfect. Anything but actually. She is not the beautiful princess type. In fact, she still can’t even think of herself as a princess. She just wants to be herself, but she also wants her Ever After. She wants it with both Tedros and Sophie. Only things aren’t that easy of course. While all things are tested, love, family, friendship, and right and wrong, Agatha needs to stay strong and figure it all out. If she fails, it’s not just her Ever After that will be lost, but it will affect all of Good and Evil. She grows into such a great person in this final book, and I loved her character so much!

Sophie who is Evil, wants so much to be good. She also wants love and her happy Ever After more than anything. She is now set to be queen of Evil, but is that what she really wants? Especially when it means that she can’t have Agatha too. Sophie is one of favorite characters because there is so much to her. She has so many layers. She comes across so assured and knowing what she wants, but you know that she is very insecure and vulnerable on the inside. She really wars with herself in this and I loved seeing all the sides of her. What she was willing to do for love. Mostly, what she would do for herself.

This was so fun to listen to. I loved learning about everyone’s past and how it all ties in to what is happening now. How they are destined to take the same paths as their parents, but are determined to change it. There is so much love and hate and confusion between all the characters. With a war between Good and Evil about to happen, tension is running high. Being so young, these characters are just starting to know themselves and being confused about who they are, and they are fighting a battle of love and hate. They are thinking about their Ever Afters and what life holds for them if only they survive. This story was so well crafted and wonderful. I absolutely adored it and it is just incredible on audiobook. I know that I will be reading this series with my daughter in a few years and hope that she loves it as much as I do!!

five-stars

5 Hot Espressos

Review: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Posted by on 10/02/2015 • 5 Comments

You know how I would describe “being speechless” by something? It’s when you’re overwhelmed with so much emotions that words escape you. Something made you happy so much that you could only cry. Something made you so sad that your throat tightens and you can croak nothing out. Something made you so angry that find it hard to mutter a single word because you’re just fuming inside. This is basically what happened to me after reading What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler. It rendered me completely speechless.

I honestly don’t know how to review this book, if I can even review this book and give it the justice it deserves. It’s the sort that you know everyone – and I mean, everyone – should read; the sort in which when people ask you why…

Review: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano

Posted by on 10/01/2015 • 2 Comments

This book was all sorts of fun to read. The characters were interesting and so was their story. What I love the most about middle grade books is that even if there is a bit of child romance, that is not the focus. Instead, the focus is more on what is happening or a building friendship. Initially I was thinking, “Oh boy, another ghost story.” but although it does have ghosts, it didn’t wear on me or feel like every other ghost book out there. There was a bit of creepiness to the story, and a lot of thrills. This is a great story for younger ones leading into Halloween season or anytime.

Pram is a very smart little girl who lives with her aunts. Her mother died when…

Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Posted by on 09/30/2015 • 8 Comments

When I went to BEA, there seemed to be quite a bit of buzz about this book. Since I am a big fan of contemporary and issue books, I knew I had to have this. I am so glad that I got this one too. It was seriously good. I was intrigued by the characters illness and how she lived her life. A lot about her actual illness was left out, but it was good enough that I didn’t feel there was lack of information. I mean, this book is really about her wanting to have a real life. As real and normal as it possibly can be with her condition anyways. There were a few little issues here and there, like her having to have books go through a…

Review: The Sleepwalker Tonic (Nightmares! #2) by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Review: The Sleepwalker Tonic (Nightmares! #2) by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Posted by on 09/14/2015 • 1 Comment

I really enjoyed the first book, so I was eager to get to this one right away. Just when Charlie is finally happy with his family and life, things start to get weird again. Him and his brother Jack have sealed the portal to the nightmare realm, but now he has discovered that Jack has been visiting, and with the odd stuff happening in the waking world his little brother may become the one they blame. Things aren’t going so well with Charlotte’s business either, and they may lose their house.The purple mansion with the portal that they must protect. Charlie starts to discover that the weird events, and the pending doom of Charlotte’s store are connected. Now it’s up to him and Jack to save the nightmare world again,…

Review: Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson and Various Authors

Review: Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson and Various Authors

Posted by on 08/19/2015 • 4 Comments

This book was really interesting. It’s about a school shooting, and told in twelve different POV’s ranging from friends, other classmates, people who knew people who went to the school it happened at, and even the gun that Kirby used. It was interesting to hear about Kirby from people who knew him in some way or another, or about the event from those who didn’t know him. It’s tragic what happened, and to see how things changed with Kirby. How premeditated it was at the end. It was something he thought about, planned, and was somewhat pushed to. In this day and age where this is a topic that people do worry about, it’s a very important book. I think how it was told was equally important too since we…

Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Posted by on 08/12/2015 • 11 Comments

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

WHOA. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!

I rarely flail with much vigor and enthusiasm, but oh my lanta, this book was made of amaze-balls and epic-sauce. I am just blown away by how much I enjoyed this and how much I was on my toes the entire time. From start to finish, I was engrossed 101%. This was sublime storytelling, characterization, and action, everyone. Top-notch. Boom, pow, period.

For days I have been struggling to read. I’d open a book and then get bored in the first 10 pages. I’ve started and ended at least 5 books without even getting past 10% because they just weren’t grabbing my attention. It seriously made me so sad that I wasn’t able to finish a book at a…

Review: George by Alex Gino

Review: George by Alex Gino

Posted by on 07/23/2015 • 2 Comments

What a wonderful book!! This is a MG book about a transgender girl and I can not give enough love to this. So many younger kids may know that they are not in fact the gender they are born, and this is the first book I have read that is targeted toward younger kids. George is 10 years old and she is a girl. She knows she is, but no one else does. I know from discussing with people that this may be a book that rubs some people the wrong way due to the targeted age, but I think it’s perfect. For people to say that it’s too young and that kids that age don’t know, I think that is ignorant. No one can tell someone what they feel…