Review; The Paladin by J.M Storin

Summary: Briana is a Hunter, or at least she used to be, and she carries a secret - a powerful, one-of-a-kind stone that makes her invincible.
When a ruthless and sinister Empire discovers her secret, they steal the stone away from her. This stone in the wrong hands could be the demise of Briana's world as she knows it and the rise of a much darker future.
Briana will stop at nothing to get back what belongs to her, and along the way she will meet friends, enemies, and discover a truth she never knew existed.

My Thoughts; 

First of all, thank you so much to the author J.M Storin for sending me a copy of The Paladin in exchange for an honest review! 

I was really surprised by how unique this book was, and how different it was than I thought it was going to be! I really enjoyed it. I was immediately intrigued just by the first chapter and it kept me hooked throughout the whole book! 

The would building in The Paladin was great! I absolutely loved the adventure aspect, how we traveled across the fantasy land because it allowed us to get a better feel for this world! I'm also a huge sucker for adventure like that.

I loved the main character Brianna! She felt so real and she was so easy to relate to, I liked that she was brave but she was also vulnerable and not immune to feeling emotion. She was so strong and I loved being able to follow her through this journey she went on in the book, both physical and emotional!

Overall, I give this book 4.5/5 stars! It completely hooked me and I cannot wait for the next book!

Review; The Uninvited by Cat Winters

Summary: Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains. For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked, unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918 she sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s older brother Billy in the Great War.

Horrified, she leaves home, to discover the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for the day, because they could be stricken by nightfall. But as her ‘uninvited guests’ begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once more, but Ivy has no inkling of the other-worldly revelations about to unfold.

My Thoughts:

Every time I read a book by Cat Winters, I go into it thinking 'yes, I'm sooo ready for a nice historical during World War I!' and I always come out with an emotional kick to my feels. She writes historical so realistic and she holds nothing back, she doesn't glorify what the world was like in 1918 and I so love that. 

This book had an amazing setting; America, 1918-racism, illness, jazz music. It's a time when young men are being sent to their deaths in war and everyone is also fighting against the epidemic of the Spanish Influenza. Death was everywhere.  

"The world's about to end. I can feel it in the marrow of my bones."

When Ivy's father and brother murder a German man, Ivy flees and tries to rid herself of the guilt she feels by approaching his brother, Daniel. From there, a relationship develops between them, where they both connect through their own pain and through the jazz music that plays across the street. 

The only thing is this book didn't have as much of a supernatural aspect as I was expecting. The synopsis leads you to believe the story is mostly about how Ivy can see dead spirits but that's really more in the background. The story is definitely more fixated on the war and the Spanish Influenza and how it impacted people but for me that wasn't a problem, although I wish her seeing spirits had been touched on a bit more!

This book was full of so many things. Cat Winter's writing is beautiful and I love the way she can describe the setting. It had me completely sucked in. This book was painfully eye opening and honest, but beautiful all at the same time. I will definitely be eagerly awaiting Cat Winters next books!

Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR!

I've recently discovered Top Ten Tuesday which is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish! I probably won't do Top Ten Tuesday every week, but I will definitely be posting more in the future! This weeks Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Books on my Fall TBR! Here's the 10 books I'm most looking forward to reading this fall, in no particular order;

1. The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson which is the sequel to The Kiss of Deception! This isn't  fall release, but I've been putting it off because I love reading fantasy novels in the colder months.

2. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray, sequel to The Diviners! This also isn't a fall release, it was released last month in August but I haven't had time to get to it yet so Fall is when I'll be reading this beauty!

3. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch. I'll be reading this in the Fall in preparation for Ice Like Fire which is released this October!

4. The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. This is the final book to The Heroes of Olympus series that I still haven't read! I don't want to see Percy go! This book was also on my Summer TBR but I'm hoping with Rick's new series coming out this October it'll push me to finally finish this series up! Speaking of his new series...

5. The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan! This one comes out in October and it's Rick's new Norse Mythology series about Annabeth's cousin, Magnus Chase! I'm super excited to read a new series by Rick.

6. Winter by Marissa Meyer. This is the last book in The Lunar Chronicles and one of my top 3 most anticipated releases of 2015! It's released in November, which I consider to be winter but is still technically Fall so it's on my Fall TBR!

7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This book is on the BBC Top 100 Books to read which I'm using as a challenge to read more books I wouldn't usually go for and it seems like the perfect book for the colder weather!

8. You by Caroline Kepnes. This is on my Fall/October TBR to read since it's a thriller/mystery novel! I've heard a lot about it lately, I'm really looking forward to picking this up for Halloween!

9. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Another book on my October TBR I'm hoping to read for Halloween! Obviously Frankenstein is the perfect read for Halloween!

10. Walk on Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson. This one is actually released on the first day of Fall, today! I loved Rae Carson's The Girl of Fire & Thorns trilogy so I'm really excited for her new series! Especially because it's historical and I've been loving historical this past year!


Share with me some of your top TBR books for this Fall below! :)

Review; Wild by Alex Mallory

Synopsis; In this action-packed and timely "Tarzan for the digital age," Cade, a teen raised in the wilderness, is brought into modern civilization.

The forest is full of secrets, and no one understands that better than Cade. Foraging, hunting, surviving-that's all he knows. Alone for years, Cade believes he's the sole survivor. At least, until he catches a glimpse of a beautiful stranger...

Dara expected to find natural wonders when she set off for a spring break camping trip. Instead, she discovers a primitive boy-he's stealthy and handsome and he might be following her. Intrigued, Dara seeks him out and sets a catastrophe in motion.

Thrust into society, Cade struggles with the realization that the life he knew was a lie. But he's not the only one. Trying to explain life in a normal town leaves Dara questioning it.

As the media swarm and the police close in, Dara and Cade risk everything to get closer. But will the truth about Cade's past tear them apart? 

My Thoughts;  

Wild is a retelling of Tarzan which of course immediately intrigued me as soon as I heard about it! I absolutely adore retellings and since I've never read a Tarzan one, I knew I had to get my hands on this one. 

I really loved the focus on Cade's life and seeing his reaction to so many new things. I loved that it was realistic, that when he was being introduced to the world he thought it was scary and unknown, he didn't like it. It was very realistic that being introduced to something so new and so vastly different to everything he knows that he'd be scared of it, especially the way people treated him in this town and the media. I really felt for him! His story really tore at my heart. 

The pacing in this book is pretty slow, it's not super action packed but pretty character driven. I really loved learning about Cade's past and seeing Dara introduce him to civilization. The plot does have a little romance, but it's very much in the background! I loved that the romance didn't overpower the main plot and that the romance felt really natural, Cade and Dara had great chemistry! 

Overall, Wild was a great modern retelling of Tarzan! If you love retellings and a good contemporary, I'd recommend you give this a try! 

Review; Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Synopsis: What if you'd been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, who she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her archnemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger). But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she's said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she caused irreparable damage to the people around her—and to the one person who matters most?

My Thoughts;  

First things first, I want to say that this book was very honest and real. It's very raw and very real, it doesn't gloss over anything or romanticize cancer or it's side effects. That being said, while I can appreciate that about the book, I did not like this book. 

My main problem with this book was the main character Alice. I did not like her at all. She's so mean, such a bully and so manipulative. She was just cold and heartless, not to mention so freakin' moody. With Harvey, she'd be clinging on to him one minute and then completely ignoring him and being a complete asshole to him the next.

Overall, this book had a lot of potential, it had a great plot but poor execution and I didn't like or connect with any of the characters, which made it very hard for me to enjoy the story. I would say if you're a fan of John Green or these kinds of stories, to still give it a shot! Hopefully you'll like it more than me! 

Rating; 2/5 stars.

Review; Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2) by Rachel Hawkins

Synopsis; Life is almost back to normal for Harper Price. The Ephors have been silent after their deadly attack at Cotillion months ago, and her best friend, Bee, has returned after a mysterious disappearance. Now Harper can focus on the important things in life: school, canoodling with David (her nemesis-turned-ward-slash-boyfie), and even competing in the Miss Pine Grove pageant.

Unfortunately, supernatural chores are never done. The Ephors have decided they’d rather train David than kill him. The catch: Harper has to come along for the ride, but she can’t stay David’s Paladin unless she undergoes an ancient trial that will either kill her . . . or make her more powerful than ever. 

My Thoughts:

Miss Mayhem is the sequel to Rebel Belle and what I loved most about the first book was that it was fast paced and fun! I'm happy to say this one maintained that same fast pace and fun quality to it! 

Unfortunately that's about all I can say when I think of this book. It was fun and fast paced, but the world development isn't the greatest, neither is the character development. I was hoping in the second book I'd be able to connect more to Harper, the main character, but unfortunately I still don't connect with her. 

This sequel was kind of centred around just one thing, but I feel like it was so dragged out and so anticlimactic in the end, and it could have been made to be so much more action packed instead of the pointless drama that kept being thrown in throughout the book. 

Overall, this sequel was fast paced and fun just like the first, but it was way too short for anything really interesting or exciting to happen. It was just one of those disappointing second novels in a series, but I'm hoping in the third will make up for this one!

Rating: 3/5 Stars.

Review: The Cage by Megan Shepherd

Synopsis;  The Maze Runner meets Scott Westerfeld in this gripping new series about teens held captive in a human zoo by an otherworldly race. From Megan Shepherd, the acclaimed author of The Madman's Daughter trilogy.

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone.

Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.

As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so . . . what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

My Thoughts;

I had really high hopes for this book since I loved The Madman's Daughter by Megan but unfortunately it was pretty disappointing for me. The premise sounded really promising but the execution and the characters I wasn't a huge fan of. 

This book could have been suspenseful and mysterious but instead it was kinda irritating and annoying. All the teenagers in this novel did was sit around doing basically nothing. The only character who didn't irritate me was Cora, I actually read her POV and kinda just skimmed everyone else's because I found the others to be very flat and boring. I also didn't mind Mali either, she was actually an interesting character but unfortunately she doesn't get many chapters. 

The Cage had so much potential-the world building wasn't so bad, a little confusing and a few things unanswered but I'm pretty sure this a series so that's not a huge issue but for me the characters in this just made it so boring for me. They were trapped in a cage on a planet that's not earth, and they didn't care? All they did was sit around, fighting and arguing with each other. 

The last 50 pages or so did capture my attention, I must admit. There was a plot twist I didn't really see coming and the book left off in a cliffhanger that does make me intrigued to read the sequel, just to see how it's resolved! 

Overall, this isn't a bad book. The series has promise and potential, and I'm intrigued to read the sequel just because of the way this one ended! 

Rating; 2.5/5 Stars