Title / Author: Regin of Shadows by Sophie Jordan
Published February 9th 2016 by Harper Teen
Pages: 304
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Retelling
Source: Bought, Barnes and Noble
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis
Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.
But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.
With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.
With lush writing and a star–crossed romance, Reign of Shadows is Sophie Jordan at her best.
MY REVIEW/THOUGHTS
Other than the obvious of it being a retelling of Rapunzel, it was a very fast paced book. I felt like I didn't have time to breathe. So I will give you the parts I did like. I liked that Luna, who is the main character, was not your average princess stuck in a tower. *SPOILER ALERT* She is blind and uses her other senses to go about her life and she is also smart. I also liked the dark theme to the story with a dark forest and dark creatures!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Ten Websites I Love That Aren't About Book.
Here are mine (Shon) top ten YouTube channel I (try to) visit every day. Beside my love for reading, I also love make-up, fashion, Marvel and cooking.
1. msroshposh - Makeup Artist from Canada.
2. Missy Lynn - Makeup Artist form Los Angeles.
3. sonjdradeluxe - Is a Makeup Artist based out of Vancouver, Canada
4. NikkieTutorials - Is a professional Hair & Makeup Artist from the Netherlands and Beauty Guru on YouTube
5. jeffreestar - Makeup Artist/Cosmetics Creator
6. Madeyewlook & Madeyewlook Twice - Lex is a 23 year old, self taught makeup artist and body painter.
7. MISS YANYI - Beauty and fashion vlogger
8. Marvel Entertainment - It's Marvel
9. Comicbook.com - Another channel where I can get more Marvel news.
10. Everyday Food - The YouTube channel for Everyday Food magazine.
Title / Author: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Published May 7th 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Children's
Page: 404
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Source: Bought, Amazon
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis
"Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin."
When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison.
Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.
And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she'd have again: a friend.
But something evil dwells in the castle—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.
MY REVIEW/THOUGHTS
So, to be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book only because I was quick to judge the book cover. Shame on me. But as I kept reading I got attached to some of the characters. (I will say though there are A LOT of names that I kept getting confused.) We have Celaena, who is obviously an assassin but deep inside she's a softy. Captain Chaol Westfall, who I adore and hope to read more about in book two. The prince Dorian, who I have a hate/love relationship with ( don't want to give any spoilers...). Nehemia, who I would want as a BFF. Lady Kaltain, whom I would want to stay away from....far...far...away, along with Duke Perrington. I can see the love triangle, but that's ok because it's two different types of relationships with two different definitions of love. Like a love/hate relationship :). I'm also intrested to see how magic is involved with the story. Overall I enjoyed the book and can't wait to begin the 2nd book!
Captive Prince Series by C.S. Pacat
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Dark, Adult
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Review by: Tina
Synopsis
Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the truthful heir to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.
Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.
For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else...
Review
This is such a drastically new genre for me. It seems a lot of readers are jumping on the bandwagon and I wanted to put in my two cents. Boy was I in for a ride.
Captive Prince Vol 1:
The story is a complex web of politics, strategies, and deceit. Underlying lays strong graphic content and violence that goes hand in hand with manipulation and power struggle. It has a slight Game of Thrones feel.
Captive Prince Vol 2:
The pace of the story is fast. Damen is an asset to Prince Laurent and the unstoppable team plans battle tactics and strategies to out-maneuver their enemies.
Captive Prince Vol 3:
The mind play is brilliant. An ambitious uncle manipulates the Council to drag his nephew's name through the dirt so he can ascend to the Throne. And the nephew thinks four steps ahead to out maneuver the uncle.
Then there's another country's illegitimate son who sold his younger brother into slavery and assassinates his father so he can take the Throne. And this brother finds his way home and does a lot of growing up and sees things through fresh eyes for the first time. Learns he needs to be a different kind of King instead of the head strong aggressive being his father wanted him to be.
Thoughts
Very clever. The writing is impeccable. I can do without the graphic oddities but nevertheless very enjoyable read. Each hardship is well thought out and exciting. I can't believe this series hasn't made on the top selling list.
Title / Author: Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
Published March 22nd 2016 by Dial Books
Page: 247
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Source: Bought Amazon
Rating: 2 stars
Synopsis
Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.
Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.
What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.
My Thoughts...
Because the story is told from 3 different POV it took me a minute to get into the story. Once I figure out who each person was the story moves along very fast and flows easily. I just had a hard time figuring out the plot of the story.
It's a very slow build up to what ever is going to happen.
After 100 pages I still don't not what plot of the story is about.
After 200 pages I think I see a story line.
Wait, what just happen!
The book end. And I still don't know what the story was about.
Hello Bookworms. It's that time again.
These are the books I'm planning to read this month.
Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.
Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.
What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.
Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas
She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.
Celaena Sardothien has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak—but at an unspeakable cost. Now she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth...a truth about her heritage that could change her life—and her future—forever.
Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. To defeat them, Celaena must find the strength to not only fight her inner demons but to battle the evil that is about to be unleashed.
The king's assassin takes on an even greater destiny and burns brighter than ever before in this follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Crown of Midnight.
The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Trilogy #3) by Marie Rutkoski
Some kisses come at a price.
War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.
At least, that’s what he thinks.
In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.
But no one gets what they want just by wishing.
As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?
Most Anticipated Releases!
The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey
We’re here, then we’re gone, and that was true before they came. That’s always been true. The Others didn’t invent death; they just perfected it. Gave death a face to put back in our face, because they knew that was the only way to crush us. It won’t end on any continent or ocean, no mountain or plain, jungle or desert. It will end where it began, where it had been from the beginning, on the battlefield of the last beating human heart.
Master storyteller Rick Yancey invokes triumph, loss, and unrelenting action as the fate of the planet is decided in the conclusion to this epic series.
The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game #1) by Evelyn Skye
Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.
And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.
Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?
For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.
And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love... or be killed himself.
As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear... the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.
The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan
How do you punish an immortal?
By making him human.
After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.
But Apollo has many enemies - gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire...
But Akaran has its own secrets -- thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most. . .including herself.
A lush and vivid story that is steeped in Indian folklore and mythology. The Star-Touched Queen is a novel that no reader will soon forget.
Hello Bookworms! Another month has come to an end and that means it's time for my wrap up! I read two book this month. Not the best, but a least it's a 100% better then last month.
April Wrap-Up
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas
"Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin."
When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison.
Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.
And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she'd have again: a friend.
But something evil dwells in the castle—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.
I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars. See full review here.
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas
"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.
It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.
Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. See full review here.
April Book Haul
This month I pick up a total of 10 books.
