I Finished FIVE Books in THREE Days!

Guys, I finished FIVE books in THREE days! When quarantine first started I was reading Sarah J Maas' new book House of Earth and Blood which is part of her Crescent City series. I have loved everything that I've read by Sarah. Some of my favorites books have been a part of her A Court of Thorns and Roses series and I also loved the Throne of Glass series. 

This series started off slow. I mean there was action at the very beginning but then it seemed like a million pages to set the whole world up. The world of Crescent City is very complicated and there are a ton of characters and different kinds of creatures so I understand why she had to set the scene on so many pages but I moved at a snails pace through the first part. Then three days ago I was motivated to finish it and flew through the rest!

Overall I liked this book but it definitely isn't on the same level as the TOG and ACOTAR series. It was definitely a great story and took some turns that I didn't see coming but I wasn't in love with the main characters, so that made it not as fun for me to read. This is a looooooooong book. So enter  at your own risk! 

Next up, I read an entire four book series.....

These books are the Stella and Sol series by Kimberly Loth. I had heard about these from Elle Fowler on YouTube and I was excited to read them (especially since each one is only $4.99 on Kindle- not a bad price!)

Now this series is about two cities, Stella and Sol. In Stella there is never any daylight. It is nighttime all the time and magic exists. In Sol it is daytime all the time and it's a conservative city where everyone follows the rules. 

I thought the concept of the story was great. I really enjoyed the main character and her struggle between her home life in Sol and learning about Stella and the way they live life there. I loved the city of Stella and all the different types of magic they use there. I loved the relationships in the royal family of Stella.

However, there were things that I didn't love.

Things happened almost TOO quickly. Zwaantie (the main character) would think about doing something, go to do it and it would be done. There was no anticipation. She also flip flopped about decisions over and over again. Changing who she loved or who she was trying to fall in love with. 

Overall, I loved the story as a whole I just wish there had been a little more. I would recommend the series if you are looking for a quick series that you can get through quickly but don't expect a ton of substance.

What have you been reading lately? 

Recent Reads: June 2019

Happy Monday everyone! 

Today I want to share a bit about the books I read in the last month. Basically all I did was complete the Throne of Glass series! I absolutely loved this series. The main character is a strong female lead and she makes the entire series enjoyable. 

I shared about the first three books in the series here. I felt like the following four books were equally as good with the exception of Tower of Dawn being a bit boring. I don't want to give much away since you will need to read books 1-3 before reading these four but I disliked that the characters separated and you didn't get any further story about the main character in book six. 

Overall I highly recommend this entire series! If you like fantasy novels then definitely check them out.

What's on my to read list next? So far I plan on reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Rest of The Story by Sarah Dessen.

What do you plan on reading this month?

Two By Two

The first Nicholas Sparks book I ever read was in seventh grade. As someone who has always been a hopeless romantic I absolutely loved devouring every book he had previously released. Throughout the years I've kept up with his novels reading them immediately once they are released. Nicholas Sparks most recent book was released earlier this month and only took me two days to complete.

Two By Two I found to be pretty different from all previous Nicholas Sparks novels. The story involves Russell, his wife Vivian, and their daughter London who live in North Carolina. Their world is turned upside down when Russell decides to leave his job and start working at home for himself. Vivian decides to head back to work which involves a complete change of roles in their household. 

Russell finds himself home most days with his daughter taking on the sole responsibility of carting her to and from her activities and caring for her. London and Russell develop an amazing bond while Vivian seems to be drifting further and further from her family.

I won't spoil the book for you, but throughout the majority of it I really hated Vivian. She was a deplorable character who was extremely controlling and I couldn't see a single good quality that Russell seemed to find in her. However, their relationship is not the only one this novel focuses on. Russell's relationships with his parents and sister are explored as well.

Overall, this is a book I would highly recommend if you love a good, easy read. There is plenty of drama but also many heart-warming moments that left me tearing up.

What books have you been reading lately?

The Girl On The Train

My mom recommend The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins to me several times before I actually read it. She told me that it reminded her of Gone Girl and she thought I would love it.

The Girl On The Train is told from the perspective of Rachel. Rachel rides the train every day into London and we quickly learn that she is an alcoholic, recently divorced and is in every way an unreliable narrator. Soon into the novel we learn that she watches a particular couple every day during her train ride and makes up a story about them. Then one day, she finds that the information she has about the couple is pertinent to a crime that has been committed. 

As readers we have to figure out who is telling the truth and if we can trust Rachel in anything that she says. In that sense, The Girl On The Train is very similar to Gone Girl- we never know as readers who we can trust!

I would 100% recommend this novel to anyone looking for something great to read. I have also heard that this is going to be turned into a movie so get reading it before the movie comes out!

What books have you read recently?

The Siren by Kiera Cass

Last week I was obsessed with reading The Siren by Kiera Cass. I started it while I was waiting for my car to get serviced, and then ended up staying up until two in the morning in order to find out what happened. Books and I have such a love/hate relationship. I love to read, but I hate loosing sleep =)

The Siren by Kiera Cass is an amazing novel and after a slow beginning, it had me hooked. The novel is centered around a girl named Kahlen. Kahlen is a siren and lives and works for the Ocean, she is one of a few girls who has the task of bringing down ships in order to curb the Ocean's appetite. Kahlen (along with her sisters) is deadly to humans and cannot speak in front of humans or else will lure them to their death. Kahlen is discontent but willing to serve her 100 years in order to be granted a real life once she is done. That is, until she meets Akinli.

I found the beginning of the book a little slow as Kahlen shared the experiences she had with her sisters, however once she met Akinli and a love story began I was hooked. I love a good love story =)

The ending was just as I wanted it to be, I was content and thrilled that everything turned out just the way I wanted it to. Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. If you love a good love story and you love novels that allow crazy things to be happening in our normal, boring world- I would definitely recommend it to you.

I do have to say though, that it was a little difficult to get started reading since there is so much going on, trying to figure out why Kahlen is in this position and what her relationship with the Ocean is. There's also quite a long time line from the beginning to the end of the book, which at first makes it difficult to follow, but once things slow down at the end, everything falls into place.

Today, it's only $3.03 as a Kindle download! Find it here.

Have you read any good books lately?

Book Reviews!

I recently finished an amazing book by one of my favorite authors, Kristin Hannah. If you haven't read anything by her yet- I recommend you get on it immediately!

I absolutely love her writing and this book, Magic Hour, was absolutely no exception. This novel is based around the lives of sisters, Julia and Ellie. They find a girl who is unable to speak and has clearly been through a traumatic experience. Julia, being a psychologist who recently has a horrible situation following her around, is called in to work with the girl, who she names Alice.

The novel has so many twists and turns and when I picked it up I had a hard time putting it back down!  As horrible as the situation with Alice is, I wanted to find out her story as the story continued- I wanted to know why she was unable to speak, or why she didn't want to speak. I was mentally cheering as she said her first words and as Julia was able to teach her new skills such as using the bathroom or not being afraid of the doorknob.

I don't want to spoil the end of the story for anyone- but at one point I began crying and didn't understand how the author could let what was happening happen- and then everything changed for the better and I had to wipe away my tears while I smiled away!

I really recommend this novel to everyone- it definitely was a great book. I do prefer some of the other Kristin Hannah books to this one however. If you are just starting off reading a Kristin Hannah novel- I would definitely recommend Night Road and Firefly Lane, but so far I've liked nearly every book of hers that I have read.

Another book, that I recently finished is Entwined by Heather Dixon.

This novel was based on the children's book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It mostly follows the story of Azeala whos mother just passed away and who has a father that is very much not present in his daughters lives. Azeala is the oldest of 12 girls, all of whom share one bedroom in a magical castle. They find some magic one night after their father has banned dancing from the castle- they manage to escape every night and dance at a magical land. Things soon turn scary when the magic isn't always as it seems.

Before reading this novel I read some reviews and everyone that recommended it says it was amazing novel and they highly recommended it. I thought it was pretty good- but it definitely wasn't my favorite story of all time. I liked the concept of it, but it was a little slow and a little long. I definitely won't be re-reading it anytime soon, but I'm glad that I gave it a chance. I wouldn't entirely recommend it but I wouldn't say that you shouldn't read it either!

During the snowstorm last week i spent a lot of time reading...I actually re-read the Twilight series. Do you have books that you constantly re-read because you love them so much? The only books that are really like that for me are the Twilight Series and the Harry Potter Series. When I was younger I used to re-read books all the time. Soon I will do a post about my favorite books/series growing up because I love to share my love of books =)