The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas

Celaena Sardothien owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel. He gave her a home at the Assassins' Guild and taught her the skills she needed to survive.

Arobynn's enemies stretch far and wide - from Adarlan's rooftops and its filthy dens, to remote islands and hostile deserts. Celaena is duty-bound to hunt them down. But behind her assignments lies a dark truth that will seal her fate - and cut her heart in two forever...

Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine and find out how the legend begins in the five page-turning prequel novellas to the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series.

Bringing together all five short stories set before Throne of Glass, what I especially wanted and loved about this book was the insight into Celaena's background.

Celaena has always been a fascinating character but seeing where she came from, her relationship with Arobynn and the rest of the assassins, built up her character and also explained a lot of her actions in the main series. Especially her relationship with Sam; complex to say the least, the way things were handled and how they were perceived by Celaena made her who she is in the main books. It also completely broke my heart - I knew what was coming by the end but it didn't make it any easier to read!

The other big thing I noticed in these stories was Celaena's relationship with Arobynn; we've always known they were close, she idolised him and he literally saved her life. But seeing them in action, in conversation, before all the nastiness broke things between them, was unnerving. It was then that I was even more glad to know what happens to him in Queen of Shadows! 

Published 13th March 2014 by Bloomsbury Childrens Books.

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

Second in The Diviners series, we learn more about Evie's story alongside many other characters. At over 600 pages, book two is as much as a beast to read as the first one but luckily just as easy to get into. Yeah, all the flitting between characters and story lines was still confusing but more of them tied together which is satisfying. 

So we still follow Evie and her cohorts around, but not so much from Jericho this time, which is sad because I like him, more Sam, more Henry, plus new character Ling. As Memphis has started dating Theta, we hear more from them too, as well as both of their background. All these characters should feel completely random but as it turns out they are all connected through this unknown Diviner power, and learned how and to what degree was like solving a mystery.

Speaking of Diviner power, there is a dangerous new ghost on the loose, spreading dreams that suck you in and don't let you wake up. This so-called sleeping sickness is claiming lives and apparently started in Chinatown. Bray does another great job of showing the era, along with another side of New York City's underbelly, this time in the form of racism. With all the fear, people was scared and taking it out on the city's immigrants. 

Maybe not as enthralling as book one but still a mighty read with grit, romance and danger. Some secrets are still unsolved and I know that Bray can deliver a great story and hopefully some answers with book three.

Published 25th August 2015 by Atom.

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. 

Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

I love a good forbidden romance! And while this was romantic and gripping and very easy to read, it didn't quite sweep me off my feet.

I wasn't all too sure about Brittany. She obviously took after her mother in her need to protect her image; Brittany doesn't want anyone at school to know about her slightly-psychotic mother or her disabled sister. But I spend a lot of the book unable to see why she would care beyond vanity and that kind of made me not like her. Just at times; when she opens up to Alex, she was lovely because she was more real. Alex was pretty cool though. Terrifying but inside his head, seeing his family and his heart, it was clear he was doing the best he could with what he had. As part of the local gang, he was violent and threatening, and it was interesting to see the inner workings of a street gang. 

As they get closer, they break down the stereotypes and get to know each other as real people. It was sweet and dramatic, although parts could have been written better. Maybe it's because it reminded me of Pushing The Limits, which is one of my favourite books, and it didn't quite meet that high expectation.

Published 29th April 2010 by Simon and Schuster.

The Winner's Curse and The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love.

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. 

Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. 

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

Kestrel is the general's daughter and she definitely inherited his strategic mind! She doesn't however have the stomach for bloodshed and so is trying to avoid joining the army. Arin was a pretty interesting character, especially opposite Kestrel. From the other side of the social world, he's Herrani, one of the conquered people and so has been sold into slavery. But not all is at it seems and it turns out Arin also has a pretty clever mind and is part of the underground revolution.

While I did really like the story and the characters, I didn't believe Kestrel and Arin's love. I'm not sure what it was, I just didn't see them together. There was a great world set up, with social difficulties and class systems, and a lovely slow build up that let you explore the characters motivations, but the romance was meh. 

Lady Kestrel's engagement to Valoria's crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust ...

While Arin fights to keep his country's freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.

Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner's trilogy.

In book two, there are lots more secrets and political moves, as well as more detail about the development of the world and the war. There was also a different dynamic between Kestrel and Arin, as they have been forced apart.

Both Kestrel and Arin are confused over how things have ended up - even though Kestrel chose to save Arin at the end of the first book, she did it through lying and manipulation. Plus she didn't actually tell Arin her plan so he thinks she has rejected him! Seriously, the lengths Kestrel goes to in order to protect him, even though it hurts him, is frustrating and sweet.

There was also added drama and intrigue with Kestrel's new place in the palace; getting to know the prince and the emperor up close with a little bit terrifying! The emperor really lived up to his reputation of being manipulative and scary!

Weekly Highlights: the 'Birthday' edition

Weekly Highlights is a feature borrowed from Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts, where I get to highlight my posts of the week, show you my new books and talk about bookish things!

It's my birthday! Well, it was on Friday and while I am getting older, I'm getting more sensible presents like baking equipment but I did get a few books and DVD's and money to buy more books and DVD's! 

On The Blog

Review of The Secret Fire by CJ Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld (4 stars)

Review of Red Queen by Victorian Aveyard (4.5 stars)

Review of Undone by Cat Clarke (4 stars)

Review of PS I Still Love You by Jenny Han (3 stars)

Review of Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman (3 stars)

Currently Reading

Just started The Assassin's Blade and I am so excited to learn more about Celaena! Details below.

On My Bookshelf

Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robin Schneider

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them - a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His own tragedy waited until he had everything to lose - in one night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra's knee, his athletic career, and his perfect life.

No longer part of the popular crowd, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters Cassidy Thorpe. Intelligent, effortless and wonderfully weird, she is unlike anyone Ezra's ever met before. Together they discover flash mobs, buried treasure, secret movie screenings and a poodle with a questionable history.

But as Ezra dives into new friendships and new love, he is forced to ask: if you've managed to survive disaster, what happens when it strikes again?

A bit of an impulse buy, it was just 99p on kindle ebooks and I wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard
I was brave
She was reckless
We were trouble

Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realises, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own. 

This sounds brilliant and it's already got a lot of buzz online. Thank you Netgalley!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Simon Snow just wants to relax and savour his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he'll be safe. Simon can't even enjoy the fact that his room-mate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can't stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you're the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savour anything.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.

A birthday present to myself! No explanation needed, really.

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas
Celaena Sardothien owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel. He gave her a home at the Assassins' Guild and taught her the skills she needed to survive.

Arobynn's enemies stretch far and wide - from Adarlan's rooftops and its filthy dens, to remote islands and hostile deserts. Celaena is duty-bound to hunt them down. But behind her assignments lies a dark truth that will seal her fate - and cut her heart in two forever...

Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine and find out how the legend begins in the five page-turning prequel novellas to the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series.


The Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price.

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

And finally, I have the best fiancé ever! He got me Sarah J Maas books to complete my collection along with two Disney DVD's.

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

Something is wrong in Aquae Sulis, Bath’s secret mirror city.
The new season is starting and the Master of Ceremonies is missing. Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is assigned with the task of finding him with no one to help but a dislocated soul and a mad sorcerer.

There is a witness but his memories have been bound by magical chains only the enemy can break. A rebellious woman trying to escape her family may prove to be the ally Max needs.

But can she be trusted? And why does she want to give up eternal youth and the life of privilege she’s been born into?

First in the series, sets everything up but leaves just enough untied for me to wonder what happens next. It was set on the premise that there is a magic underworld, mirrored on the normal world - much like in The Name of the Blade series by the way. There were gargoyles, fairies, curses, fancy parties and all that. The fairies of this world were proper Fae, which I loved. It gave it a darker undertone and a dangerous threat.

There were a lot of characters at play: Max is one of the law-keepers and attempting to find the reason for the Master's disappearance; Sam is a Mundane caught in the middle; Will is part of another prominent family trying to keep their power. Most of all, I adored Cathy. By getting to know her as she gets kidnapped back into the Nether, we see the old-fashioned underworld for what it is: magical, yes, but so unfair. It was like it was stuck in the Victorian period, where women like Cathy were married off to broker contracts, where they had no power, tied into corsets and mind-numbing social functions. I completely empathised with Cathy, to say the least. 

I liked the general set up but it was surprisingly complicated, with several story lines to follow, not to mention an entire world's history and politics to learn. Good story but very long-winded and complex.

Published 5th March 2013 by Angry Robot. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

P.S I Still Love You by Jenny Han

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

This is the sequel to To All The Boys I Loved Before, which I really enjoyed. This one: not so much. Which is a shame because I was really looking forward to it. I'm not entirely sure it was one thing, more like a few little niggles that added up.

We pick up where we left off after the first book, with Lara Jean and Peter deciding to try dating for real. But things are more complicated with real feelings involved, plus Peter's ex-girlfriend isn't keeping her distance. All of this is making Lara Jean nervous and paranoid.

About half way through, Lara Jean really began to annoy me. Not entirely sure why but once the thought was in my head, I couldn't get rid of it. Maybe it was her paranoia, her fake-chirpy attitude, I don't know but I couldn't shake it. More to the point, why is the synopsis talking about a boy from her past returning when he doesn't actually turn up until the last 100 or so pages? And even then, not much drama comes up, not more than there already was anyway. It felt really badly paced because of this and the ending seemed quite rushed.

I did still like this, it was pure fluffy romance but little niggles stopped me from enjoying it like the first book. The pace and the sudden annoyance of the protagonist was most of it but I did like the slow development of Lara Jean and Peter's relationship and the work they had to do towards it. I also liked to see more of the family's Korean background and the relationship between the three sisters. All in all, a bit of disappointment but good portrayal of the work needed for a healthy relationship.

Published 26th May 2015 by Scholastic Press.