Read This Month

October

1. Bombshells vol. 1 graphic novel
2. And I Darken REVIEW
3. Blue Lily, Lily Blue
4. Illuminae
5. This is Where it Ends
6. The Sun is Also a Star REVIEW

The Sun is Also a Star : review

Nicola Yoon

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*Book kindly provided by Penguin, the publisher, in exchange for an honest review!*

This is the newest book by Nicola Yoon, the author of Everything, Everything,
and there won't be any spoilers!

Goodreads' link to the book

It'll be published November 1st 2016, so next week!

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>I gave this book 4 stars

So as usual, I'll tell 4 things I liked about the book and 1 thing I didn't like.

So what did I think?


+1 | The language and writing style is absolutely gorgeous. Ms Yoon also uses lists and some abstract styles, which I just absolutely love.

+2 | The characters were so alive. My heart broke in the very beginning for Natasha even though I hardly even knew her at that point.
I also loved the contrast that was between the main characters: the poet and the analytical scientist.
Also the fact that all these nationalities bonding was portrayed really well.

+3 | The premise. There were so many layers to the characters and the problems of loss and hurt they were going through are not subjects that are written about, especially I think in the YA genre.

+ 0.5 | Science. I always got so engrossed in the story when Natasha was so excitedly explaining a scientific problem.

+/- 0.5 | So many narratives. I liked it in the fact that all the characters brought more depth to the book, but at times I felt that there were too many people to remember.
Also I loved the fact that everything depended on everything, and that every choise isn't always the smallest.

- 0.5 | Instantness. Usually I'm thrown back if there is instant love or some type of deep feelings, whether it be positive or negative, towards someone you don't know. The thing is though, I kind of love it when the characters get to know that someone and change their opinion, so here it was kind of nice, but at the same time still threw me back with that "instantness".

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Overall rounding everything up, I recommend this to those who read Everything, Everything (even if you didn't really love it), and to those who want a story of struggles that aren't too commonly written about with great characters and writing syle.

Read on lovelies,

Sally

Giveaway

End

First of all thanks to those who entered, and congrats to Shannon R. the winner!

I made it available to only a handful of countries in Europe, but even so more than a thousand of you entered! And had I expanded it to the USA and Canada, I know that thousand more would've entered - and for that I am so grateful.
Also since there were some problems with the entering, so if some of you weren't able to enter, maybe next time.

Thank you to Penguin for sponsoring the giveaway books.
(link to the giveaway post here)

And also make sure to check out their Penguin Pocket Classics and the Little Black Classics
(review of them here)

Read on lovelies,

Sally

Book Cover

Tag

I'm doing a mix of two tags today and those are the beutiful book covers tag and the book cover tag.
Also some were answered in the bookshelf tag so that is linked here

1. Opinion on morphed covers
I have loads of mismatched series and I am not going to buy new ones if them just to please the eye, but there are some that are just horrible (when considering both size and covers changes).
Which is worse though? Maybe different covers, and when regarding sizes I like them to be soft covers and so the heights match most.
For example I am not bothered at all by my Ice Like Fire books 1&2 of which the first is a hard cover and second not, but the hieghts match!

2. How important is the cover
I like aesthetically nice things and with an ugly cover I might not be even drawn to pick it up, but of course what's inside is more important.

3. What types draw you in
Simplistic and graphical - as in not a real life picture. And I prefer non-neon colors.

4. Book cover pet peeves
Movie cover and "real" people faces & people over all really...

5. Short descriptions or long ones
I prefer shorter ones, but as long as it doesn't spoil too much and makes you intrigued it's good.

6. Features your fave colour
Isla and the Happily Ever After with its greeny tinge

7. Features your least fave colour
I don't like orange so The Distance Between Us

8. Fave classic cover
I love the splinter watercolor covers, but don't own any. So from the ones I own maybe the Barnes&Noble leather editons and the penguin classic fabric ones, also I really love the classic penguin covers that are quite simplistic.

9. Fave childrens book cover
I really like my puffin chalk Editions of which I have Peter Pan

10. Do you buy based on cover
Only for it's cover no, but lots of the time I see a beautiful cover and then look up what it's about and then maybe end up getting it.

Read on lovelies

And I Darken : review

Kiersten White

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*Book kindly provided by Penguin, the publisher, in exchange for an honest review!*

This is the newest book, 1st in The Conquerors Saga. by Kiersten White author of the Mind Games duology (and the Paranormalcy series, which I haven't read),
and there won't be any spoilers until below the warning at the bottom!

Goodreads' link to the book

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No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwyla likes it that way.

Alternate history retelling of Vlad the Impaler. except this time as Lada, a brutal princess.

Also I'd like to emphasize that this is a darker take in the YA historical fiction genre!

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>I gave this book 4 stars

So as usual, I'll tell 4 things I liked about the book and 1 thing I didn't like.

So what did I think?
+1| The language and writing style. The language was so livid which made the whole story even more interesting.

+2| Historical. I really appreciate all the work that was put into this book. You could tell as a reader that every aspect was thought of, which is extermely important, especially when it comes to historical books (even though this was a reimagining).
Also it's set in the time where women are just expected to produce an heir, and so everything Lada does she does with purpose.

+3| The main character is very different: "starring the ultimate anti-princess who does not have a gentle heart".
I was immidietly intrigued after reading just that and I wasn't dissapointed when I read it. It was really refreshing reading a different type of book, genre and character.

+/- 0.5| The world and worldbuilding. It was a lot to take in in the beginning, with the whole world. And so it kind of started slow for me but it definitely picked up the pace!

+/- 0.5| Characters and their development. As usual there were some characters that I wasn't too invested in (like Bogdan and Radu?), but there were some really fun ones to read about (Lada and Mehmed? I'm not sure if I trust him...).
Both Lada and her brother really developed during the story, from children to people with responsibilites, through loads of obstacles.

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Overall rounding everything up, I recommend this to those who want a different, darker take on a story that you might've already heard about. And you don't need to really like historical books to like this one!

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SPOILERS !!!

Moments of emotion for the reader:

+Scene at the lake (Lada&Radu) >she really cares

+Class (Lada&Radu) >again she really does care, even if it doesn't seem like it

-/+ The ending! I liked it, but I would've wanted to see what was happening in the room from Lada's perspective not Radu's...

Read on lovelies,

Sally

Genres

& feels

I mentioned in a post that I don't really read non-fiction, but when searching those I saw that there are some genres that I read even less, if at all.
I have an excel for my books read/to/etc. and so I have some charts and is one on genres (I have a weird way of sectioning them though so keep that in mind!)
So this has the list of all the books I've read in their categories.

So here they are in order (prosentages are close-ish to actuality):

Fantasy 16%

Magic 13% (and yes magic is part of fantasy, but here the section above is only non-magic fantasy...)
Graphic Novel 12% (from classics to magic)
Classic-y 12%
Realistic Fiction 11%
Romance (only) 8%
Agents 6% (um, yep these are weirdly sorted)
Retelling 4%
Dystopia 4%
Sci-fi 3%
Non-fiction 3%
Crime 2%
Short-story 2%
Childrens 1%
Novella 1%
Plays 1%
Poems 1%
Survival <1%
Horror <1%
Historical <1%

Read on lovelies,
Sally

Furthermore : review

Tahereh Mafi
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*Book kindly provided by Penguin, the publisher, in exchange for an honest review!*

This is the newest book by Tahereh Mafi author of the Shatter Me series,
and there won't be any spoilers!

Goodreads' link to the book

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[Mafi] takes readers beyond the limits of their imagination in this captivating new middle grade adventure where color is currency, adventure is inevitable, and friendship is found in the most unexpected places.

I went to the book having only read the description above which I like doing. Initially I didn't have expectations, since for me the Shatter Me series' characters stayed quite flat, but nonetheless this one really intrigued me!

Also I'd like to emphasize that even though this is a whimsical Middle Grade book, it has depth to it!

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>I gave this book 4.5 stars

So as usual, I'll tell 4.5 things I liked about the book and 0.5 things I didn't like.

So what did I think?
+1| The language and writing style. The language was so livid which made the whole story even more interesting.
Mafi also wrote side notes as a second person addressing the reader and telling the story of Alice, giving us inside knowledge which was really refreshing.

+2| The world and worldbuilding was wonderfully planned from the magic system to the currency and flowers.
We met time, gave some dirt to the sky, made sure we had our ruler at all times, since how else would you measure time (and you really need to so you won't break the law), we saw the sky changing clothes and remember: it's rude to touch someone's pocket without asking!

+3| Continuing from point +2: if I were to summarize the book in one word I'd say whimsical. It has a fairytale-esc vibem which I really loved. It was like Alice in Wonderland crossed with the Wizard of Oz to the power of 10.
As you can tell it had a lot going on and that weirdness was the perfect setting to read about Alices troubles of being different, alienation, poverty and being used when she just simply wants to get her father back.

+0.75/-0.25| Characters and their development. I really enjoyed reading about Alice, and for some reason I was really drawn to Oliver. But there were some qualities in Alice that I strongly disliked, but while reading about these characters and their impulses though, we need to remember that they're only kids.

+0.75/-0.25| Different but at times hard to understand.
From the start I wasn't sure what was going on, but it definetly kept me intrigued. I doubt the land is meant to be fully understood, but inevitably you get slightly detatched in the progress when you don't understand something.

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Overall rounding everything up, I recommend this to those who want a fun adventure and a magical system that is very different in the evergrowing sea of books to read.

Read on lovelies,

Sally

*And all the problems regarding the giveaway have been solved,

so make sure to check that out in the top right corner!*