Books pt. 2 📚 June 2017

Welcome, welcome, friends. Here yet again with another installment of books that I have recently read and my thoughts on them! We've got a solid 6 books to discuss today, all of them being YA Fantasy so put your elf ears on and get ready for some magic. Let's dive right in.

First up! We have Seven Black Diamonds by Melissa Marr. Now, if you're a lover of YA Fantasy, you've certainly read the Wicked Lovely books (and if you haven't, get on it). If I'm totally honest, I couldn't quite get into the series. I read Wicked Lovely and liked it enough, but I only got halfway through Ink Exchange and kind of lost interest in the series. I'll get back to it at some point. BUT LET ME TELL YOU, I loved Seven Black Diamonds and am excited for more from this world. It's another book about fae in the modern world. This series revolves around the idea of people being partially fae and having fae abilities. I think maybe I just like the characters more in this book, but I really, really recommend it. Marr's writing is really great and the way she describes fae and their world is truly enchanting.

Next up is Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones. I'm pretty sure this book just came out? (Just checked, yep! February 2017) Another faerie-esque tale but this one is about the Goblin King and Liesl's sister been captured by him. Sounds familiar, right? coughLabirynthcough. Which honestly after reading the cover, the similarities to one of my favorite childhood movies is why I picked it up. But oh wow, this book actually really surprised me. Do you ever get halfway through a book and you think "Whoa there's so much left, but it feels like we're at the end? what could possibly happen now?". This was one of those for me. I really, really enjoyed the character arc and romantic feel. Prepare for a lot of German influence and classical music references, this book is truly a fantastical ride. I got it at the library, but I honestly think I'm going to go purchase it to have it as a part of my collection. I also really liked that this was just a one off story. No series, just this is the tale it told. It's refreshing.

Another good one book tale is Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves. Remember how I talked about how I really enjoyed the Cahill Witch Series because it was a period fantasy about witches? Well here's another one, but this one takes place in England (and other parts of Europe). This book also just came out, in March of this year. I felt a little lagged in the first half of this book if I'm honest but I think that was just the situation where I was reading it. This book creates a whole society of magic wielding elites and is a story about a flawed class system and seeking to destroy it. The main character is one I actually didn't hate (which seldom happens for me...) and I felt like I understood the choices she makes throughout the story. I definitely recommend it.

Yep, slowly but surely I'm making my way through this series! A part of me feels like I should wait until I read the next few books before talking about it but here we are. I am still very much enjoying it. It really does play into my younger teenage self a lot. But as usual in the second novel of a series, the stakes are rising and I can tell the next book is about to get intense. But I've noticed that this series is quite popular and I'm interested to see what the ~teens~ say about it. Because I definitely see another Gale vs Peeta or Edward vs Jacob rivalry that could happen in the fandom of this series. (Uh, I'm totally Team Maxon....fight me.)

UGH. I'm all caught up and have read both Glass Sword and Kings Cage by Victoria Aveyard. I just finished King's Cage a few hours ago and I'm so upset. I didn't realize it wasn't going to be the end of the series and now I have to WAIT to find out what happens. I haven't read an ongoing series in so long and this is why! I have really enjoyed this series, actually. Again, there are some points that are eerily similar to The Hunger Games and I get a little shifty eyed, but again again, I love The Hunger Games so whatever! I really want someone to talk to about this series because I have so many thoughts that I want to talk about but it's all spoilers. THANKFULLY, the love triangle of the series is abolished pretty early on in the second book and stops being a thing, which leaves you focus on the real meat and bones of the story and I really commend it for that. Thank youuuu for not making the driving force of the story "which guy will she end up with?!?!!!!!????" (even though it works on me, too...shhh!). I really recommend this series. It's compelling and I have enjoyed reading it.
Also I bought these books and the gradient of them on my self is so aesthetically pleasing. It makes me really happy.

And that's all we've got for this installment! Really no complaints on any of the books I read. I really, thoroughly enjoyed them all. Have you read any of these books yet? Are you going to now? Please let me know! I need people to talk to about them all. Pretty much all of these are really new books, so give them a go!

I hope you all have a great week!
Love & Stars,
Alex