Review: The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Summary; Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.

My Thoughts; 

I'm still not completely sure how I feel about this book. At times, I felt like I was really enjoying it and really getting into it but then other times I would feel like I'm not liking at all where the story is going. 

This is a fantasy, set in the world of the Indigo Kingdom. It felt like a fantasy world with a twist of superhero/vigilante type vibe going on. It was very interesting and very different, definitely a surprise! In the Indigo Kingdom magic is banned and illegal because it creates a wraith and is quickly destroying all the kingdoms. 

Black Knife was a very interesting character, very mysterious and I loved the vigilante part from him. Unfortunately I figured out the plot twist of who he was pretty early on. I liked Wilhelmina's character as well, although I didn't connect to her very much. I liked that she was brave and determined to do whatever she could to get her kingdom and people back. I wasn't a huge fan of many of the secondary characters; Patrick had seemed sketchy and pushy from the beginning and Melanie, Wil's best friend, also seemed sketchy and very suspicious. 

Overall, I'd say if you're a fan of fantasy and strong female characters, I think you'd enjoy this! The pacing isn't fast but it's got a very compelling plot and a mysterious superhero/vigilante! 

Review; An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Summary; Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
 
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
 
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
 
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
 
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. 

My Thoughts;

This book was pretty badass. Also, that cover? Totally gorgeous! So in love with it! There was a ton of hype surrounding this book before it had even been released, just from people who had received ARC copies so I was so stoked when I won a giveaway for an ARC copy, thank you Chapters Indigo for the giveaway!

Like I said, this book was pretty badass! It's told in a world inspired by ancient Rome called the Empire. The world is pretty brutal and harsh. Laia as a slave, she was subjected to so many harsh and cruel things, I really felt for her but I loved that it didn't break her, it only made her stronger and more determined to find her brother and get him out of wherever the hell he is. 

This book is told in dual perspectives, so we get to see the story told through both Laia and Elias! I really loved that we got to see this world from two sides, Elias as a solider to the Empire and Laia, a slave to the Empire, but both against it. I can't even say whose POV I enjoyed more because I really liked reading both! 

I absolutely loved Sabaa Tahir's writing. It was very beautiful and captivating. I wouldn't say this book was very fast paced, but the writing is just so beautiful it makes you want to read slower so you can fully immerse yourself into it and take it all in. The world she created was so fascinating and her writing just made it all the more real to me. 

One of the issues I had with this book was the complicated romance. I wasn't a huge fan of this love-square. I really don't like how many YA novels have love-triangles and the fact that this book had a love-square was slightly disappointing. I probably would have even been able to get past it if the romance hadn't been so overpowering. Plus, the kind of love-triangle in here is one of my absolute least favourites and it was the most overpowering so I really couldn't get past it and be fine with it. 

Overall Rating; 4.5/5

Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Arementrout

“History is on repeat, and things didn’t go so well the last time. “

Alexandria isn’t sure she’s going to make it to her eighteenth birthday–to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she’s a goner… and so is Aiden.

If that’s not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time “training”–which really is just Seth’s code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time–she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she’s caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed… and destroyed.

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate…

My Thoughts: *Contains spoilers from the previous books*

This series seriously only just gets better and better with each book I read. This one is most definitely my favorite of this series, and considering how much I loved the other books, you can imagine how good this one was.

The thing I loved the most about this book was there was a lot more Aiden! I love Aiden St.Delphi so much, my love for him just grows and grows with every book I read of him. This book was unputdownable, it was so fast-paced and action packed, there was always something happening, always something going on and I loved it! 

Alex has gone through a lot of character development and she has really come a long way since the first book, Half-Blood. She's still a super kick-ass heroine but she's matured a lot more and I find her to be a really admirable character. She's definitely one of my favorite heroins. She is such a strong character, especially with how much she's gone through and how much she has to go through every single day. 

We see a lot more of both Seth and Aiden in Deity. We get to see a softer side to Aiden and I loved finding out more about him and his backstory to how he chose to become a Sentinel. We get to see that Aiden is a more deeper and complex character than he seems to be, which of course, just made me love him even more than before. I am anxiously awaiting for him and Alex to get their happy ending, I want them both to be happy together so bad. I think they're perfect together and they both deserve their happy ending. 

Now, Seth pissed me off a lot in this book. Like, a lot. I think he's a great character, he's kick-ass and hilarious, but he was a huge douche in this book, to be honest. I understand why he was being one, and you'll see why in the book but he still frustrated me and got on my nerves a lot. I still don't think Alex and him would work well together because all they have together is desire and that's all. You do get to see more of Seth's backstory in Deity also. Even though Seth pissed me off in this book I still also want to see him get his happy ending. 

Things get seriously crazy in this book! So many things happened in this book and there were so many insane twists that I didn't see coming! Nobody is trustworthy in this book and no one is who they say are. 

Overall, Deity is my favorite of this series and it was fantastic! Things just get crazier and crazier, so much happens and there's so many twists. I couldn't put this book down, I stayed up until 2am finishing it, but it was completely worth it! If you haven't read this series yet, do it now!

Teardrop by Lauren Kate

Goodreads Summary:  Never, ever cry... Seventeen-year-old Eureka won't let anyone close enough to feel her pain. After her mother was killed in a freak accident, the things she used to love hold no meaning. She wants to escape, but one thing holds her back: Ander, the boy who is everywhere she goes, whose turquoise eyes are like the ocean. And then Eureka uncovers an ancient tale of romance and heartbreak, about a girl who cried an entire continent into the sea. Suddenly her mother's death and Ander's appearance seem connected, and her life takes on dark undercurrents that don't make sense. Can everything you love be washed away?

My Thoughts:

When I was growing up, I was a huge fan of Atlantis and the story of it! I used to watch the movie Atlantis all the time and was so excited to read this story because it's based off the tale of Atlantis. I'm also a fan of Lauren Kate's Fallen series, I know a lot of people didn't quite enjoy them but I really did like that series so was excited to read this one. This book just sounded like it was going to be so beautiful but I'm sad to say it didn't meet my expectations. 

At the beginning of this book I liked the main character, Eureka, and I thought as I got further into the book that I'd be able to connect with her, but somewhere along the way I just found myself getting annoyed and frustrated with her. I don't know what happened but she kept making impulsive decisions, then her decisions and the reason behind why she made them were never explained. 

I'm not a huge fan of love triangles in general but the love triangle in this book was just straight annoying and frustrating. It was really unrealistic and I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. We didn't learn too much about Ander, he honestly wasn't even in the book very often. He'd come in randomly every few pages then disappear again. I'm not even sure how I feel about him other than he's super sweet, but we didn't learn too much about him. 

Brooks, Eureka's best friend, was a total dick to her at many points in the book and she never stood up for herself which was also frustrating. He would be an asshole to her then give some half-ass stupid apology and she would instantly forgive him. Uhm, what? No, stick up for yourself! Please! I honestly couldn't really feel any chemistry between her and Ander or Brooks, the romance was rushed and came out of nowhere.

Overall, I did enjoy the first 150 pages or so, but somewhere after that the story just took a totally different turn and I started to dislike it. It was pretty slow and I found myself dragging through it. I think the plot is really interesting and had a lot of potential, but it just didn't work well for me. 

My Rating: 2.5/5