The Winner's Curse

Title: The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: BYR
Release Date: March 4, 2014

What I liked: Everything! I tip my hat to you Marie Rutkoski! This book was an amazing book in my opinion. In a world where slavery is common and the General's daughter Kestrel (I love that name), has bought herself a slave and things change whether for better or worse had yet to be seen. From the backstory of the Herrani being captured and enslaved in their own home country was quite interesting to see, along with how much of an oddity Kestrel is for having her old nurse set free, and the fact that she plays music which is considered to be something only the slaves do.

What else was about halfway through the novel when the tide of things change and Kestrel finds herself being a slave and one of the few survivors of something I didn't think would actually happen. I know for a fact I didn't see the ending happening and Kestrel swallowing her pride to save the one she loves along with an entire population. I think my overall love of this book has to do with Kestrel and what she does and how she does it. She is a suitable candidate for marriage and she has brilliant military knowledge which she puts to use.

What I didn't: There was pretty much nothing I didn't like about this book

Overall Rating: 5/5

Waiting on Wednesday 2

It's that time of the week again for Waiting on Wednesday hosted by Breaking the Spine, head over there to see the other blogs who participate and see what they're waiting on! 

My Waiting On Wednesday: 

That's right folks, I'm waiting on this beauty right here! Thanks to Sarah J. Mass and her wonderful tale of Celaena in Throne of Glass, I'm excited to see what she has in store with her new series, starting with ACOTAR.

Top Ten Tuesday

  Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Be sure to check them out!
This week's Top Ten is Top Ten Books I Read In 2014: 

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 

 Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (older title I know)

Winterspell by Claire Legrand 

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Something Strange by Susan Dennard

Cover Judgement

So I have decided to start a feature in which I call Cover Judgement. We've all heard never judge a book by its cover and I have no problems admitting that I do judge a book by its cover at times. So I thought I would start this so I could literally judge the books by their covers, and whether or not they are better than the contents of the book or vice versa or if they measure up to the actual story. Not an overly long post I know but its a thought of something that I think I could put to use.

Scarlet

Title: Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles book 2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: February 5, 2013

What I liked: I have to say that I enjoyed Scarlet more than I did Cinder. Scarlet is a loose retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and follows the adventures of the new characters Scarlet and Wolf, while still keeping us up to date with everyone from Cinder. Scarlet kept me turning the pages and I didn't see any of the major plots twists coming like I when I had read Cinder. There is a lot more action with this novel which I enjoyed and Scarlet is the type of girl who can handle her own when it came down to it. I also enjoyed Wolf just as much even with him being a silent kind of guy who despite his past does want to help Scarlet find her grandmother. 

What I didn't: There wasn't much I didn't enjoy about the book but one thing that I couldn't get into was Scarlet and Wolf and their relationship with acting how they wanted to be together and they would have but Wolf and his past kept getting in the way and I feel caused a bit of unnecessary drama between the two.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Top Ten Tuesday: New To Me Authors I Read in 2014

This week's TTT is New To Me Authors I Read in 2014: 

Hosted By the Broke and the Bookish and is a weekly meme

Now I read a lot of new to me authors this year but my Top 10 are:

Sarah J. Maas 

Throne of Glass Series

  

Susan Dennard

Something Strange and Deadly Trilogy

 

 Deborah Harkness

All Souls Trilogy

Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Minds Trilogy

 Anna Banks 

Syrena Legacy

Kady Cross

Steampunk Chronicles

Claire LeGrand

Winterspell

 

Marissa Meyer 

Lunar Chronicles

 Robin LaFevers 

His Fair Assassin Series

Elizabeth Richards 

Black City Series

The Gift of Charms

So I was sent a preview of the first few chapters of the Gift of Charms by Julia Suzuki and here is my honest review. It's a short review but that's because again only had a few chapters.

I received a preview of the first few chapters of the book, thanks for those few chapters Julia! I must say the book is one in which I feel will captivate the reader. The epigraph drew in my attention from the first page and kept me reading til I ran out of pages.

The main character Yoshiko has a tough road ahead of him but I feel that he will overcome the obstacles surrounding his unusual birth and his unusual coloring next to the rest of the dragons of his color. The fact also remains that the other dragons will both hinder and help him along the way.

Why I'm giving it a 4, is that the dragons seemed to humanized and not overly that much like dragons. I would have preferred them to be less human like because I feel that it would have made the story flow a bit better. The other thing that I wasn't too fond of was right away Yoshiko would be the odd one out, I just felt it jumped in a little fast into the plot. 

Overall I enjoyed what I read even if it seems a bit young for my tastes it was still a book I would recommend to younger readers and I will finish the book myself upon its release. 

Now the book isn't due to be released in the US until May 1, 2015 so its a waiting game to see how it ends.