My Bookish Review: Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Published: 7th August 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages, Format: 420, Paperback
Series: Throne of Glass #1

Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

Celaena Sardothien is officially my favourite assassin.  I wanted to read this because practically every time I saw someone's list of "YA Hardcore Heroines" or something similar she'd be on it. So I'd know every heroine on that list about from Celaena, and so I just had to read it. Obviously.

Let me just tell you that I love the cover. So much. It's quite different from the normal YA book covers I see with either something abstract on them or a photograph of some model posing as a character. Plus I'm  also in love with the title.

I don't know why, but I kind of thought Celaena was going to be a brunette. Maybe it'e because I'm so used to nearly every tough protagonist having brown hair. I don't know. I just had this preconceived image in my head of another brunette. So I was kind of surprised when I found out that "it was her golden hair that caught the attention of most". That was probably just me though.

As cliché as love triangles sometimes are, I have a thing for them. In Throne of Glass Maas introduces Prince Dorian (a.k.a Crown Prince of Adarlan) and Chaol (a.k.a Captain Westfall). I don't feel like telling you guys too much about either of them because I honestly don't want to ruin your thoughts on either of them, but I can say that I don't think I can pick one over the other. 

Even if you think Throne of Glass isn't your 'type', trust me, it's your 'type'.

4/5 stars - I can't wait to start the next one. 

Quote:

“Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back.” 

Amazon | Amazon UK | Goodreads | Author's Website 

Waiting on Wednesday (7)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine.
Ok, so this is a book series I love. Absolutely adore. 

The book I'm waiting for it...

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

This is the sequel to The Raven Boys, and I seriously can't wait to get my hands on it. I loved The Raven Boys so much because it was written so beautifully and it was overall so unique. 

I am so jealous of everyone who got to go to BEA 2013! Loads of people managed to get ARCs of The Dream Thieves. They don't have BEA in the UK though. Sigh. Maggie Stiefvater also held an art contest on her tumblr account to make anything art-related - the prize was an ARC of The Dream Thieves. 

I'm probably the least creative person you will ever meet so I didn't even try entering the contest. Just look at the name of my blog. I'm not creative.

So I'm waiting for The Dream Thieves. I realllllly hope there's going to be more romance between Blue and Gansey.

Oh, and you can read my review of The Raven Boys as well. 

Expected release: 17th September 2013 - at least it's this year.

What book are you waiting for?

I'd love it if you left a link to your Waiting on Wednesday, or a link to anything The Raven Boys/The Dream Thieves related. 

My Bookish Review: Lola and The Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Published: 29th September 2011, by Dutton Books
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #2
Pages: 338

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion...she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit--more sparkly, more fun, more wild--the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.
When Cricket--a gifted inventor--steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Don’t hate me, but I preferred this book to the first one.

Lola’s a 17-year-old girl who prefers to stand out from the crowd. Her fashion sense is really out there and she doesn’t like wearing the same outfit twice.  She used to know this guy who she’d always play and hang out with when they were young. This guy was Cricket Bell. When they were about 14 or 15, Lola realised she liked him, but then something happened between the two and Cricket moved away. Fast-forward two years and Lola is now 17, dating a guy who’s 22. She’s finally managed to forget about Cricket and her feelings for him, when she looks out her window and finds out that Cricket and his family have returned – something she’s been dreading for those past two years.

Lola isn’t someone I could imagine. She seems so ‘out there’ and unique, and quite frankly, I don’t really know anyone like that. Mostly in the YA section you get main characters who are are always like:

“I’m so shy. I only have like, one best friend, and this really hot guy keeps staring at me but I have no real personality so I don’t really know what to do. It’s dangerous but I’m falling for him.”

I am so tired of main characters who think like that. Luckily, Lola is seriously nothing like that. She’s the kind of person I’d want to be friends with because she’s the  complete opposite of me.

Then there’s Cricket Bell. Oh, Cricket. In Anna and the French Kiss I found it hard to really fall for St. Claire. Don’t judge me, but it was the whole him-being-kind-of-short thing. I don’t have anything against short people – I’m only 5 foot myself. Sigh. It’s just that I get completely turned off if a guy’s short. Sorry.

With Cricket I didn’t have a problem. You know how I just said I can’t fall for a short guy? Well I love tall ones. And Cricket’s tall. He’s very tall.

(:

I always love it when an author brings back characters from previous books – and that’s what Stephanie Perkins does in Lola and the Boy Next Door. So all of you readers who ship Anna and Étienne won’t be disappointed. All of you will probably be jumping around inside whilst trying to maintain a calm facial expression for the outside world.
I just generally recommend this book to anyone. The Anna and the French Kiss books are both so feel-good and romantic. They're also very fit for fangirling over.

5/5 stars – it’s one of those contemporaries that you don’t really forget easily. The ones that are hard to come by.

Teaser quote:

“I know you aren't perfect. But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else.”

Amazon | Amazon UK | Goodreads | Author’s Website

Book Haul #6

I actually haven’t got that many books this week. It’s the half-term holidays here in the UK (Yay!) and so now we all have to go back to school on Monday. I just basically spent the whole week revising and reading. I have so many exams coming up. Wish me luck – I need it.

• Goddess (Starcrossed #3) by Josephine Angelini – Bought:

This is the last one in the Starcrossed trilogy. Sigh. I’m reading it right now and it’s living up to my (high) expectation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The Selection by Kiera Cass (eBook):

I’ve heard so much about this one – mostly about its cover. I heard that it was going to be a TV show on the CW but it didn’t get picked up. Sad face. I would’ve loved to seen it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Storm by Brigid Kemmerer (eBook):

Can’t wait to start this! It seems like a book I’d love and quite a lot of people have recommended it to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it. Those are all the books I got this week. Sigh.

After I finished Sweet Peril I really didn’t know which book to start next – they all seemed so good! I decided to start The Selection, but then when I was like a few pages in I decided to start Storm. Then when I had read a few pages of that I was like: “Maybe I should read Goddess.” So then I started that. Then went back to The Selection. In the end I decided to just read Goddess because it’s a conclusion to a series whereas the others are beginnings.

See, its times like these that I wish my older sister or any of my friends would read. That way I could’ve just asked one of them.

So how was your week? What books did you get?

Basma

Waiting on Wednesday (6)

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine.

I know I haven’t blogged in, like, aaaaages, but I’m back now.

This week I’m waiting for:

                     

Allegiant by Veronica Roth 

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth’s #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

*****

I don’t think that’s Allegiant’s full blurb – it’s probably not out yet. But I don’t care! I am soooo excited for this book! I absolutely love  Divergent and I seriously can’t wait to start reading Allegiant.

I love the cover on the left, but I think the one on the right’s going to end up being the UK version. It better be, because all the other UK ones have been set out like that and I don’t want to ruin my collection.

Expected release: October 22nd 2013

Ahhhhh. That’s this year! YAY!

Babro

My Bookish Review: Zed's Story

Zed's Story by Joss Stirling 

Publication Date: 14th February 2013
Format: Short story, eBook

Zed's Story is a short story from the Benedict series. It's written in the perspective of Zed Benedict, the youngest Benedict brother, and soulfinder of Sky Bright. It contains scenes from before he met Sky, a flashback to when he was nine, when he met Sky, and when he found out they were soulfinders. If you haven't read any of the books in Joss Stirling's series, I highly recommend you do - it's quite high on my list of favourites. 

Zed's Story starts off by showing us a glimpse into Zed's life before he met Sky. For those of us readers who've read Finding Sky, you can imagine what he was like back then. However for those of you who haven't, allow me to explain the fact that he was quite a 'bad boy'. His supernatural powers have given him the ability to not only solve crime, but the ability to see the darker side of people straight away - and he hasn't been coping well.   

During the story, Stirling gives us an insight into Zed's life when he was nine. So that means that his oldest brothers were probably in their late-teens or early-twenties... it was very entertaining. The reader gets to see their more playful and caring sides, making girls - like me - swoon. I'm so grateful that this flashback was included, and I learned somethings that I never knew about the Benedict household (they used to have a family pet! You'll have to read it to find out what animal it was. Hehe.)

This short story answered a lot of questions that I had about when Zed and Sky first met, like Did he find her as attractive as she found him? Reading Zed's Story helped me figure out Zed's character more, and I admit that Zed's never been a favourite for me. Although after reading this, I think I'll reconsider. 

Zed's Story will be available as a free download on Valentines Day 2013. I loved reading it and seeing for myself all the different versions of Zed and I think you will, too.

You can also read my review for Joss Stirling's Seeking Crystal.

A huge thank you to Joss Stirling for making me one of the winners to the 'Zed's Story Competition' and giving me and two others a manuscript - thank you!

5/5 stars - You MUST read this series!

Quote:

"The girl was still at the piano, stroking the keys. The thought edged in that he wanted to go lie down on it and let her run her fingers over him."

Goodreads | Author's Website

Book Haul (#5)

Hi, guys!

How was your week? So, I had that Chemistry exam I've been going on about. It was OK at the beginning, but by the end I was practically weeping. 

There's some good news, though - over here in the UK, it's SNOWING! :D School ended earlier on Friday and I was in English when we all find out and my English teacher looked so happy. 

Annnnywaaaays... this week I've only gotten eBooks.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (eBook) 
I'm still in my dystopian-genre mode, so I hope this will be good. Looks good. I just can't get over the fact that the guy in it is called Perry (Phineas and Ferb, anyone? Childish, I know.) I've heard of Rossi quite a lot, actually.

Switched by Amanda Hocking (eBook)

It's been on my TBR pile for quite a while and I know this girl who's been going CRAZY over it. It's time I give it a go.

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks (eBook)
Can't wait to start this! Looks so good and so many people have said good things about it.

The Rogue's Princess by Eve Edwards (eBook)

Just recently finished this and enjoyed it. This is the first Historical Romance series I've read, and now I think I'm going to try some more.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (eBook)
I've had my eye of this for sooo long. Not normally the type I'd read, but a lot of people have and they've loved it.



















That's it for this week. What do you think of my Book Haul? Read any of these?

Leave a comment - I'd love to read it.

The Teen Reader
:)