Review: Fairest

Fairest by Marissa Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles #3.5
Publisher: Feiwei & Friends
Release Date: January 27th, 2015
Source: Bought
Date Read: 2/9/15 to 2/9/15
222 pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish there was more. More than 222 pages I mean. (I was actually wondering why my book was thicker, but that's because there's an excerpt of Winter in there that I don't want to read, because that is just a cruel teaser). Anyways.

This is a review of a novella from The Lunar Chronicles! The story itself contains no spoilers for the entire series, but in my opinion it would be more enjoyable to read after the third book, Cress.

As said in the blurb, the story is about Queen Levana's childhood, well mostly her messed up teen years. Seriously, what is wrong with this family? 

Truthfully, I felt no pity for Levana. Even though her older sister was the one that kind of made her into the person she is in the present, more of it was due to Levana's hopeless crush and obsession on a married soldier. 

It was really creepy stalkerish. 

But yeah, the motives and thoughts of Levana are definitely questionable, I mean she manipulates someone into loving her, and glamouring herself to look like his dead wife. NO. NO. YOU NEED TO STOP. gah.

IT IS TOTALLY WRONG. IT IS. HE DOESN'T LOVE YOU

And Levana really, really wants the throne. So much that there is just DEATH EVERYWHERE. Some of it isn't even her fault, but she probably did play a part in it somewhat. Pretty much all I got from this novella was that 1) Levana is crazy and 2) She needs to be stopped even though she's only doing what is right for Luna 3) GO CINDER GO I BELIEVE IN YOU.

The story itself was very fast paced. I really wanted it to slow down so it could expand on certain things, but then again it is still only a novella. It didn't succeed in changing my thoughts about Levana, I still want to see her go down. 

The Reader Problems Tag

I have been tagged by Nobody @ The Story Goes..., and apparently I'm supposed to answer all these questions that are hypothetical but still, stressful. I really hope none of these ever happen to me hahah....ha.

You have 20k books in your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

First off, I really hope this doesn't happen anytime soon, nope. And second, I guess I would just choose to read the newest release, or the most hyped up book. For example, on last last week's TTT, a lot of bloggers commented and said that I should read Vicious and Written in Red. So guess what I'll be getting from the library next? Yep, those two books.


You're halfway through a book and you're just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?

I quit. I'm done with reading books I hate and don't like. If it's not worth my time then I'm not going to read it. It'll give me an excuse to write a fun, ranty short review for it anyways, right? I enjoy writing those, does that make me a bad person?


The end of the year is coming, and you're so close but so far away from your Goodreads reading challenge? Do you try to catch up and how?

READ ALL THE NOVELLAS. And the short books that are less than 200 pages. I could do a book a day hahah.

No but honestly I think I would just leave it. Sadly.

The covers of the series you love do not match. How do you cope?

Cry and stalk The Book Depository. (Australians I'm looking at you, you with your nice Abhorsen covers)


Everyone and their mothers love a book you really don't like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

MYSELF AND MY IMAGINARY CAT. 

I think I would just rant about it in my review, and that's it. A lot of bloggers are really open to my opinions, so I'm glad that's the case. And this usually never happens anyways so HA. 


You're reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal with it?

This has already happened. I started crying in the school library while I was reading The Book Thief (because that ending man, you cannot not cry). And I had to take short breaks from the book to look around and clear my eyes. 

Still worth the read though 

A sequel of a book you love just came out, but you've forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book? Skip to the sequel? Try to find a synopsis in Goodreads? Cry in frustration?!

Just be confused. That's how I do it. 

Though I think reading other blogger reviews would really help.  

You do not want anyone borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?

Just never mention it and hope the other person forgets. Honestly I don't have this problem. I want people to borrow my books haha.

Reading ADD. You've picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

Force myself TO READ THEM ALL. I don't usually put down books because I really want to give every book a fair shot.

There are so many books coming out that you're dying to read! How many books do you buy?

ONLY ONE! Or maybe two. Or just as much as my credit card can buy, no big deal right? This year, I'm planning to buy one new release a month, just because I never buy books, and that needs to be fixed. Plus, there's always the library.

After you've bought the new books you can't wait to get to, how long do they sit in your shelf before you get to them?

A couple of days, weeks, months. For Throne of Glass, probably years.

Time to tag bloggers!

It seems that a lot of bloggers have already been tagged, so I'm just going to go for it and if you've already been tagged then oops?

Ebony @ Daring Damsels

Zoe @ Stories on Stage

Cynthia @ Afterwritten

Top Ten Tuesday #43

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish!

Top Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes to Romance In Books

Wow. I think this topic was MADE for me. Honestly. I'm not a huge fan of romance because I'm not that romantic of a person. When I was younger, I avoided books with romance or love interests because I was like "DUDE GIVE ME SOME PLOT" and I didn't view romance as a plot. And even now, I'm kind of iffy about it. Because with romance comes drama, and I do not do drama at all. 

But if I were to REALLY CONSIDER what I like and dislike about romance, welllll...

Slow burn - I love slow burn, just because there is actually TIME to develop the romance. And every time the couple is not together, I want them to be together. Also, usually when there's a slow burn romance, the plot is better, because there's more focus on the plot. So bam. Two birds with one stone.

Secrets, secrets, secrets - When MC has this HUGE secret that she has to keep hidden, and MC love interest finds out, which brings the both of them closer. Well, it has to be a good secret, like in Seraphina or Golden Son. 

Hate then love - When the main characters hate each other, but THEN BAM, they get closer and they realize that they can never live without each other. Like in This Shattered World.

Fake relationships - To be honest I've only read one book with a fake relationship, The Art of Lainey, but it was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it. 

The dark and forbidden relationship - Keyword dark here! Haha. I would love to read more of these, but I guess the closest I can come up with is Shadow and Bone, the relationship between The Darkling and Alina. I don't necessarily ship it, but I like the whole aspect behind it. I need to read more books where there's a relationship between the hero and the villain, IS THERE SUCH A THING OUT THERE? 

Not a fan of randomly placed love triangles - Or love squares for that matter. Like in this one book, The Winter People, I could not stand the fact that there was three guy interests that I could NOT differentiate between. No. That was not necessary.

Some good looking guy, who's typical - This also applies to the other gender, depending on the MC gender. Anyways, this counts as a romance thing right? Where the love interest is just good looking, and that's his only personality trait. There's nothing else going on for him or her. This was the case for Suspicion, which I recently read.

I'm going to get with this guy because he's here - Also applies the other way around. I really don't like it when two characters get together just because they can, and it's convenient because it fits some YA mold. NEWSFLASH. There does NOT have to be a relationship or a romance in YA. Contrary to popular belief, not all of us want a romance!

Instalove - Ah yes, the infamous instalove. Because. Honestly, why is this still a thing now? Why? Don't people know that relationships need to develop? Ahhh I can't blame anyone for this, I'm sure there are readers that love instalove. Also insta-attraction is a thing too. I'm not very good at telling the two apart.   

The fickle main character - I think this kind of goes with love triangles, but I'll put this here anyways. I'm not a fan of main characters that change their mind constantly about who they love. LIKE NO. Stick to one person please. Thanks

Hahah that was not hard for me at all. I'm definitely missing some, but I tried to limit it to what I've read and experienced for myself. 

How do you feel about these tropes?

ARC Review: We Should Hang Out Sometime

We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, A True Story by Josh Sundquist
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Release Date: December 23rd, 2014
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 2/4/15 to 2/8/15
336 pages
Rating: ✰✰✰

A bright, poignant, and deeply funny autobiographical account of coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor, from Josh Sundquist: Paralympic ski racer, YouTube star, and motivational speaker.


Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.

Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?

The results of Josh's semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love--or at least a girlfriend--in all the wrong places.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. All quotes were taken from an uncorrected proof that may not be accurate in the published work.

We Should Hang Out Sometime is a true story of an amputee cancer survivor, and his failures with girls. First off, I requested this without knowing anything about Josh Sundquist. I didn't know he was a YouTube star or that he was a Paralympic ski racer. Nevertheless, I did enjoy his story, but I did have a couple problems with it.

There's not much I have to say to summarize, other than Josh is this guy that tries really hard to find a girlfriend. Like really, really hard. So hard, that it results in a lot of random graphs and infographics throughout the book. 

One of the main problems I had with the book was that it was really repetitive. Basically what happens is that Josh finds a girl, tries to get with her, fails somehow, then years later contacts them through social media to meet with them, to find out what he did wrong all those years ago. But he does this with ALL THE GIRLS, and it just happens again and again.

I feel really bad, and I kind of pity him. Because he's just going for it, and going for it, and it just never works out. But that's life basically. 

Another problem, which kind of pissed me off, was the whole friendzoning thing. Ah yes, being friendzoned, the worst thing in the world. There's numerous mentions of being friendzoned and how Josh doesn't want to go down that path. He doesn't say outright that girls and women aren't allowed to just "friend" guys, but this whole novel kind of portrays that. 

It's also kind of weird, and stalker-ish, that Josh searches for these girls and calls them and asks them why they broke up with him. Okkk there. 

But other than that, the novel is pretty quirky. And pretty funny. Also it was a fast read. Sundquist did try to make his experiences into a life lesson, being an amputee and all. I did appreciate that though, since he came to terms with his obsession with having a girlfriend.

The truth is, I only thought of Stella as a stalker because I wasn't interested in dating her. If I had been attracted to her, I might have thought her tendency to plan her life around mine was cute. That's the thing about us human beings: If we have a crush on someone, that person's every behavior attracts us even more. But if we don't like that person, the very same behavior will annoy us.

Even though I did have some problems with We Should Hang Out Sometime, it's not the worst read. I wouldn't suggest reading this if the whole friendzoning thing and the whole "I must have a girlfriend" thing bothers you (as it did for me), because it WILL get on your nerves. Sadly.  

Review: Seraphina

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Seraphina #1
Publisher: Random House Books
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
Source: Library, Audiobook
Date Read: 12/20/15 to 1/28/15
512 Pages (11 discs)
Rating: ✰✰✰1/2

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

I feel so bad for saying this, but MAN I don't know if it was just me, but I thought I would absolutely love this book. It was literally screaming LOVE ME because of dragons, fantasy, DRAGONS, an awesome heroine, DRAGONS.

But I don't know. It was weirder than I thought. But also it's kind of my fault because I don't think it was a good choice for me to listen to the audiobook. I'm not good at paying attention to the story, especially when there's a confusing part, like a switch in POV or a flashback, just because I never get any warning when it happens.

END RANT ABOUT AUDIOBOOKS. I really need to lay off them. They do not work for me :/

Yes yes, ok but Seraphina, and DRAGONS. Basically, in a nutshell, there are these two kingdoms, the human kingdom of Goredd (Another bad thing about audiobooks? I have no idea how everything is spelled so I have to look everything up. Ok I'm done now for real) and the dragon kingdom of....ok there's a dragon kingdom too. There's a tense relationship between the two species since they came out of a way a couple decades ago, and both sides still kind of don't trust each other, but are working on it.

So there's that setting, but unfortunately it's discovered the a member of the royal family got his head eaten off during a hunting party, and since everyone assumes it's a rogue dragon, things are not okay. Luckily, we've got Seraphina! Our awesome brave and stubborn heroine! Who's a music mistress (assistant to the conductor of an orchestra), and she's involved with the entire royal court, and a certain prince.

Before I go on, and if you haven't noticed, this book goes through a lot of worldbuilding, and it's extremely detailed and well-down. Honestly, I could spend another 1000 words explaining how everything is, and STILL not be done with my review. So for now, I'll just go on with what I liked, and what I didn't like.

First off, SERAPHINA HAS A HUGE SECRET. And with that secret, comes many, many confusing things. Like how she has a mental garden in her head she has to take care of, and if she doesn't take care of it she gets headaches. And not only that, but she has people living in her mental garden. Yeah. It's really weird. I was very, VERY confused the first time this was explained. I remember driving to Boston at the time, and thinking "What am I listening to...."

Second, there are a lot of characters! Like, a lot a lot. It's easy to get lost sometimes, which is why I should've read the book rather than listening to the audio book. 

But other than that, I very much enjoyed the plot and the story AND THE TWIST in the end (which is also really weird to think about). The story itself was rather slow, and I kept wanting Seraphina's and Prince Lucien's relationship to develop faster because THAT TENSION and ALL THE WAITING. It really kills me hahah. I SHIP THEM.

Overall, Seraphina is a very solid start to a series (AND I HAVE THE SECOND BOOK YES), and I regret not reading a physical copy. I also have seen it on the summer reading shelf in the library so in other words it must be good because middle schoolers and high schoolers are reading it. Bam. Just kidding it probably doesn't mean much haha. BUT STILL. If you're looking for a good fantasy series to start that focuses on dragons, this is a good one! It really is an interesting take on dragons!

Top Ten Tuesday #42

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish!

Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read From The Fantasy Genre

If you haven't noticed by now, I absolutely love fantasy. It's the first genre that really got me into reading, well a branch of it at least. I really was into paranormal fantasy back in the day, and since then I've been looking for more and more fantasy books to read.

So I guess I'll just list all the books I haven't read yet from the fantasy genre!

Written in Red by Anne Bishop - So I JUST learned about this series, and it just sounds so freaking cool! 

Abhorsen by Garth Nix - I'm really not sure why I have not finished this trilogy. I'm kind of waiting til I buy the entire series, but I have no idea when that will happen. 

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken - This has been on my TBR for awhile, I've heard good things about it, AND it's about cool powers! Hopefully it lives up to my expectations!

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff - Yay for Japanese fantasy! And steampunk! I kind of view this series as similar to Eon just because they're both based on Asian culture, and since I already read that series, I have to start this one!

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo - I'm not sure why I keep putting this one off. I HAVE the this book! :P

Unhinged by A. G. Howard - I've already read Splintered, so I should probably read this sequel, yes? Especially since Ensnared JUST came out

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch - Came out last year, so I'm kind of late to the party but then again not really. I'm waiting for library to have this one, so whenever someone checks it back in...should be soon. 

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani - I think this is REALLY interesting and would be fun to read. Of course, it would most likely involve me going into the children's section to borrow this. 

Vicious by V. E. Schwab - BEEN WANTING TO READ THIS FOREVER. I'm preordering her A Darker Shade of Magic though, which I am VERY excited to read.  

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland... by Catherynne M. Valente - I AM TOO LAZY to write out that whole title! But it's the second Fairyland book. BECAUSE I LIKED THE FIRST. I'm waiting for it to go on sale or something. Maybe I'll just borrow it from the library. 

Yay I hope I get to these soon! What genre did you choose?

Review: After The End

After the End by Amy Plum
After the End #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: May 6th, 2014
Source: Library
Date Read: 1/26/15 to 1/28/15
322 Pages
Rating: ✰✰✰

"I have no idea what is truth and what is fiction. I'm all I've got now. I can't trust anyone."

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

This is seriously, maybe the weirdest book I've ever read. I honestly don't know. It was just all so random and if there was a fake-apocalyptic, science fiction genre, this would be the first to go in. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS A LIE. But seriously, fake-apocalyptic, that is just so weird.

Where do I even start, oh right, uh, main character, Juneau also known as the capital of Alaska, is part of this clan of survivors of WWIII. You know, that war where everything is blown up by nuclear weapons. But one day, she's out hunting on her own, and BAM her whole clan has been kidnapped and now she has to go rescue them. 

Yet once she goes past the restricted area, she discovers a thriving, 21st century city untouched by nuclear radiation or weapons. In fact, Juneau discovers that WWIII never happened! Oh well ok then. 

So a couple of things happen here. First off, Juneau taps into her NATURE POWERS aka she uses people as oracles so that they can guide her to her clan (do not ask me to explain this further because I know nothing). And second, MC guy named Miles tracks her down in order to turn her in to his father, but then ends up helping her find her clan. So that leads to the third, which is spontaneous road trip.

Miles is basically this stupid kid that messes up his life on purpose, because I don't know, to mess with his dad? He doesn't believe in whatever Juneau can do, aka her powers, because who would? She's basically this crazy girl walking around the city "possessing" random people and asking about where her clan is. So yeah. He's a non-believer.

Juneau, on the other hand, is taking everything pretty well? She adapts way, way too fast to all the modern technology though. And it's really surprising how much she knows, or how to act in front of people. I don't know. I kind of get a weird vibe of her being a courageous yet naive "Pocahontas" type of person, but then on the other hand she knows exactly what she's doing. It's like she was never part of some random clan in the middle of Alaska! 

I mean, I understand that this is pretty original. I've never read a fake-apocalyptic series before, but this was just weird and meh to me. I don't really care about Juneau and Miles, or their relationship, but I have to admit that this was interesting to read. 

But seriously, I don't think any of the things happening is plausible. For one, you can't just hide a group of people in the middle of Alaska, I'm sure you would be found by the government or just someone else. And second, HOW DO YOU CONVINCE A GROUP OF PEOPLE to come hide with you in the first place? For science? Yeah no. Highly doubt it. I'm likely skim the second book or reviews just to get some answers to these questions.

So yeah. Interesting book. Weird book. I don't regret reading it, it.....it was just weird. And slightly improbable. And random.