Title: The Wrath and The Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Pages: 404
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Goodreads Rating: 4.18 stars
Published: May 12th, 2015
Source: Hardcover//Bought
Description:
One Life to One Dawn.
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
My Thoughts:
I'd seen this book floating around the blogsphere for a while, and then a few people had posted photos of the new covers on their Instagram pages. But the real push to get this book and read it was when I saw my bookish soulmate gave it a 5 star review on Goodreads. I've yet to read a book recommended by her that wasn't at least a 4 star read, and this did not disappoint.
Shahrzad is such a well written character - she has courage and guts; courage to do what she knows she needs to do and guts to actually get it done. Although, she learns after a while that what she thought needed to be done isn't actually the case anymore. She begins to have feelings for Khalid, and, while she doesn't let that blind her {well, not too much}, she does let it make her hesitate just enough {for what you'll have to read and find out!}.
There is so much to Khalid, and I feel like he didn't get much of the story he deserved. Yes, I realize he's a secondary character, but, as Ariel in The Little Mermaid says "I want more!" Maybe I'll get that in the second book; I guess I'll just have to wait and see. His character was well written, and we as readers do get a great insight into him and his struggle with what he's been cursed to do {as well as those around him who know of the curse and are trying to make sure the worse of it does not come to pass}.
The setting of a desert land in need of water to keep the people healthy and thriving is just perfect, and I love diving into a bit of a different culture {even if a good deal of it is fictional}. For her first novel, Renee Ahdieh did a subperb job bringing these characters to life and creating a world so alive you get sucked into it every time you open the pages! I'm excited to read the sequel and see what happens to my beloved Shazi and Khalid!
Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J Maas
Pages: 421
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Goodread Rating: 4.29 stars
Published: May 5, 2015
Source: Hardcover/bought
Description:
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.
My Thoughts:
I was a little reluctant picking up this book. Everyone was raving about how amazing it was {for quite a while now}. And while I'd read Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass when it was published about 5 years ago {and really loved it}, I was hesitant to pick this one up. I remember loving Maas' ToG, but for some reason I never actually picked up any of the others in that series, and that's kind of stuck with me as far as reading A Court of Thorns and Roses. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I got sucked into this book!
Maas gives us a pretty vivid description of Feyre's life, and it's rough. Her sisters act entitled, even though they are lucky to survive through each winter with whatever Feyre can find to provide for them. Her father, at best, is absent. After being forced to flee, they've settled outside a small town, where Feyre can hunt to provide for them and try to keep them safe from they faeries over the wall.
Hunting one day leads Feyre to be taken by over the wall to the world of faerie as retribution for killing a wolf in order to spare the lives of her family. But, instead of being treated as a prisoner, Feyre is taken in as more like a guest. She has a fae lady's maid, charming chambers and free roam of most the mansion and grounds, and tends to dine with two very interesting fae gentlemen, Tamlin and Lucien. Even though that means setting aside her hunting garb for dresses at times, Feyre still has her simmering wit and hunter's mind.
While Lucien seems to be more someone Feyre can converse with {only because he's as guarded as she is}, Tamlin sneaks into her thoughts more and more often, and after time Feyre discovers her curiosity of him has turned into interest in him {of course, like any good hate-to-love story it had to start out with the hate first!}.
While this book is advertised as young adult, it read more like New Adult with some of the steaminess and the gore. And the steaminess {oh, did I already mention that?}. I got back and forth between my like of books dealing with Fae, but this is definitely a book I like! Since I purchased this knowing full well there are two more books out in the series {and I believe plans for at least a few more!}, I was expecting a massive cliffhanger. Color me pink with pleasant surprise, because there wasn't! While I'm excited to see where this story goes, I'm happy I didn't feel like I was hanging on a ledge, desperate for the next book.
Title: Heartless
Author: Marissa Meyer
Page: 453
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Goodreads rating: 4.09 Stars
Published: November 8th, 2016
Source: Hardcover/Bought, Audiobook/Borrowed
Description:
Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.
At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.
Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.
My Thoughts
*THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS*
I. Should. Have. Known! You know how sometimes you pick up a book knowing it's a retelling, but you want to think its a retelling that twists the ending to be a "happily ever after"? That was my hope for this book. As a kid I had an extreme dislike for the Queen of Hearts, and while reading this I just knew there was absolutely no way Cath could ever be that horrid creature from Alice In Wonderland. No. Way. Marissa Meyer has a knack for taking things that have me going "there is just no way" and turning it so I'm saying that same phrase with a bit of awe in my voice. Because there is. And she always finds it.
Catherine {or Cath} is the daughter of one of the upperclass titled families, the only daughter of a Marquess and his wife. She is full of life and joy, loving to pour her heart and time into baking, dreaming of a day when her and her lady's maid. Her desire, passion and just joy made me look at her and say "there is just no way she's going to be the angry Queen of Hearts. No way." Oh, I should have known.
The secondary characters bring out so many different aspects of Cath, and, one by one, we see how each could bloom or shatter. Maryanne, Jest, The King, and even Hatta bring out the different sides to Cath - friend, lover, subject, and ruler {sorry if I'm spelling anything wrong, I listened to the audiobook}. I don't want to say too much, because it really could give the book away, but its amazing what actually happens - what Cath actively does and what she stands back and allows to happen.
Meyer takes this story and makes it so beautifully her own, but it's also apparant what inspired this story. Much like her Lunar Chronicles, Meyer doesn't really re-tell the story, but takes elements from it and makes it her own unique masterpiece. Any time I thought it was going to turn more towards the most recent Alice in Wonderland live-action film {you know, the one with Johnny Depp} or a little like the classic Disney film {honestly, one of my least favorite films}, it never did.
This book gave me a serious book hangover. When I finished I just couldn't gather the words to describe the feeling, over than heartbroken. This left me shattered and unable to really say anything other than "I should have known!!" My husband nonchalantly said that to me as well when he was wondering why I should have known what was going to happen. And, guys, I really should have known. I should have. But I still can't believe it.
