February Wrap-Up | 2016

Another month of 2016 has passed! This part of the year always goes so quickly!

I have read nowhere near as much as last month, and have managed to finish only 3 books. But it’s been a very busy month in terms of workload and deadlines, so all things considered, I’m pretty happy with three. And I have managed to review each book too this month, which is probably a first!

So, without further ado, here are the books I read this month:

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
Rating: 4/5
Review
I really enjoyed Passenger, and I thought it was a truly beautiful book. The storyline was done very well, and I thought the relationships between characters were interesting to read.There was a genuine feel to the whole story. I did feel slightly detached from the characters at times though, and would have liked a little more detail on how the time travelling worked. But a beautiful story!

 

Night Study by Maria V. Snyder
Rating: 4.5/5
Review
This is the second book in Maria V. Snyder’s new addition to the Chronicles of Ixia (so technically book 8). I really enjoyed this addition to my favourite series! I gave it 4.5/5 stars (only because I have a real attachment to some of the other books that I gave the full 5 stars!). If you haven’t started this series already, you really need to read Poison Study!!

 

Confess by Colleen Hoover
Rating: 3/5
Review
I read this book for my bookclub (Bookaholic Alliance) February book of the month. If you read my review you will get a better picture of how I felt about this book – but it wasn’t a particularly good feeling! I did enjoy it as a whole, but I had some major issues. But I won’t let it stop me from picking up more CoHo, because I LOVED Slammed, and have heard amazing things about her other books!

 

Currently Reading: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.
I am half way through at the moment, and very much enjoying it. I have a feeling my heart is going to get broken though 😦

 

How did your reading go this month? What were some of your favourite reads of February? Let me know in the comments!

Totally Should’ve Book Tag

I’m getting back onto those tags! I’ve really missed doing them!

And what better way to start again, than with one of my current favourite book tags going around BookTube and Book blogs…

The Totally Should’ve Tag
(Originally created by Emma @ emmmabooks)

Thanks so much to Nikolieolieoh for tagging me!

1. Totally should’ve gotten a sequel.
– I would go for Vicious by V.E. Scwab, but apparently there is going to be a Book 2 now anyway, so YAY for book sequels to amazing books! On another note, where is book 3 of the Archived!!?? That needs to happen please!

2. Totally should’ve had a spin off series.
– I would love a spin off series for so many book series, but I think most of you will join me in dying for one for the Hunger Games. It could literally be about any other character… (*internally chants ‘Haymitch, Haymitch, Haymitch’*).

3. An author who totally should write more books.
– Laini Taylor. But she’s got a new one coming out this year, so I guess I’ll have to let her off! Erin Morgenstern (author of the Night Circus – my favourite standalone novel) on the other hand, is not yet off the hook! How long has it been since the Night Circus!? (The answer is too long!)

4. A character who totally should’ve ended up with someone else.
– Alina from the Grisha trilogy. I understand why she ended up with who she did, but I was really hoping for any other person to end up with her!

5. Totally should’ve ended differently.
– Confess by Colleen Hoover! That ending seriously aggravated me!

6. Totally should’ve had a movie franchise.
– The Archived (again)! That would make such a great movie series!!

7. Totally should’ve had a TV show.
– The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I think that series would make an amazing animated TV series! Also the Chronicles of Ixia by Maria V. Snyder, I think, would make an amazing TV series – the first book especially!

8. Totally should’ve had only one point of view.
–  Rook by Sharon Cameron. At least my memory tells me that book had multiple perspectives?

9. Totally should have a cover change.
–  The Under the Never Sky trilogy by Veronica Rossi deserves much more beautiful covers!

10. Totally should’ve kept the original covers.
– ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis. Those original covers were so beautiful and then the third book came out like this…

Luckily in the UK we got this…

So I think we lucked out a bit there!

11. Totally should’ve stopped at book one.
– Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I adored that book when I read it (so long ago now!). The second book I found okay, but unnecessary, and the final book I really didn’t like. It could have definitely finished after the first book, and I would have come away with a much better feeling about it!

I tag:

Jeannette @ thebookcubby

Jaymee @bookciology

Cristina @ tinyobsessions 

Demmi @ wordsandlyricss

 

 

NIGHT STUDY BLOG TOUR: Where did the idea for Night Study come from? + Review!

Welcome to the first stop of the UK Blog Tour for Night Study by Maria V. Snyder! For those of you who have been with me for a while, you will know just how much I LOVE the Study Series (aka The Chronicles of Ixia). Night Study is the 5th Study novel, and is released today (25th February 2016)! If you haven’t already, you really need to start this epic, amazing fantasy series, which begins with Poison Study. Keep reading for a feature from Maria V. Snyder on ‘Where did the idea for Night Study come from?’. 

Night Study 
Maria V. Snyder

Another book in The Chronicles of Ixia

Published by MIRA in paperback and eBook
25^th February 2016 – £7.99

 New York Times bestselling author Maria V. Snyder transports readers back to the realms of Sitia and Ixia in an exciting new novel from The Chronicles of Ixia Series full of magic, danger and intrigue.

“This is one of those rare books that will keep readers dreaming long after they’ve read it” — Publishers Weekly

“Books that fantasy fans everywhere should enjoy” – SciFi Now

“A compelling new fantasy series” – SFX Magazine

“The story… is peopled by convincing and well realised characters” – Total SciFi

About Night Study: Ever since being kidnapped from the Illiais Jungle as a child, Yelena Zaltana’s life has been fraught with peril. But the recent loss of her Soulfinding abilities has endangered her more than ever before. As she desperately searches for a way to reclaim her magic, her enemies are closing in, and neither Ixia nor Sitia are safe for her anymore. Especially since the growing discord between the two countries and the possibility of a war threatens everything Yelena holds dear. Valek is determined to protect Yelena, but he’s quickly running out of options. The Commander suspects that his loyalties are divided, and he’s been keeping secrets from Valek… secrets that put him, Yelena and all their friends in terrible danger. As they uncover the various layers of the Commander’s mysterious plans, they realise it’s far more sinister than they could have ever imagined.

Night Study is a powerful female-led epic fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones.

About Maria V. Synder: Meteorologist turned novelist, Maria’s been writing fantasy and science fiction since her son was born.Maria has won numerous prizes for her writing including the Golden Leap Hall of Fame, Wirral Paperback of the Year Award, Compton Crook Award and the Salt Lake County Library Reader’s Choice Award. She’s been on the New York Times bestseller list and earned her Master’s degree in Writing from Seton Hill University. Traveling is one of her biggest distractions from writing and Maria hasn’t said no to a trip yet. She has visited China, Dubai, Malaysia, Europe, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada — all provided wonderful fodder for her stories. Maria lives in Pennsylvania with her family.

For more information about Maria please visit www.mariavsnyder.com

My Review: For those of you who don’t know (which is probably hard because I talk about these books all the time) the Study series/Chronicles of Ixia by Maria V. Snyder is my favourite series. Poison Study is my favourite book, and I compare every book I read to it, in the back of my head. So yes, I’m probably more than a little biased when it comes to reviewing this book! First of all, let me just say, I would read a book all about Yelena and Valek doing their supermarket shopping if that was all I was allowed (that would probably be pretty funny actually!). I just LOVE this book couple so much. Maria is absolutely magnificent at developing their relationship with each new book. Even when you think there’s nowhere new for their story to go, there are more problems and obstacles to face. Their relationship is just one that you want to read about forever. And boy, are there some serious progressions in this book! If you read Shadow Study and know that killer cliff hanger – you will probably end up just like me, in fangirl-excitement mode, with the first chapter of Night Study!

My favourite thing about all of Maria V. Snyder’s books are the characters, and this book is certainly no exception! Yelena is just as strong, witty, practical and clever as ever. And Valek (winner of no.1 fictional boyfriend award at least 5 years running) reaches some major new dimensions in this book. I love that in these new books, we are able to see a new, emotional side to him. Janco’s sarcasm of course remains one of the joys of this series! There were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in this book, as per usual! The Commander becomes even more intriguing. Basically – the characters are great! And what I especially love about all of the characters, are their very logical minds. We see strong, brave, physically powerful characters all the time, but to see these attributes mixed with the intelligence and logical, practical processing of these characters is much rarer!

And Maria’s writing is as wonderful as ever! This book was especially quotable – my favourite was:

“Dark shadows of grief haunted his expression. More than any one person should be asked to bear. But that was the problem with grief. No one ever asked for it. It arrived with its bags packed for an extended stay. It settled into your best guest room and demanded to be waited on all day long, and when it finally shuffled out the door, it left behind permanent scratches on your furniture.”

Basically, if you have already read and enjoyed the previous Study books, you will love this book! (And if you haven’t, you need to get on this series already, like yesterday!). As an addition to my favourite series, it was very satisfying, and makes me VERY excited for what Maria has up her sleeve for the final book. I’m going to have to spend the rest of the year mentally preparing myself, if its going to have as many pivotal moments as this one!

Where did the idea for Night Study come from? Night Study is a continuation of the events that started in Shadow Study so the best answer would be how I came up with the idea for the new set of books in the Chronicles of Ixia J.  My readers have been emailing me for years about continuing Yelena and Valek’s story and, while I enjoyed writing about them, I thought Fire Study ended things quite nicely.  But the more I thought about it, I realized it ended things more for Yelena than Valek and my readers didn’t really know that much about him or his past.

So I sparked on the idea of bringing in a new hotshot assassin to challenge Valek’s job.  This would trigger his memories from his past, which I could layer into the story. That appealed to me more than doing a prequel about his life.  That would be fascinating, but Yelena wouldn’t be there and I like having romantic elements in my books.  I also needed current day problems to challenge them and there’s nothing like a secret Cartel that is plotting to take control to keep things interesting.  And since Yelena’s Soulfinding powers are rather powerful, it added lots of conflict and tension to block her magic and see how she copes.

I also wanted to show the story from Valek’s perspective as well.  In Night Study, he is put through the emotional wringer and has to decide where his loyalties lie. This is key in his character arc.

Be sure to keep up with the rest of the Blog Tour for Night Study…

BOOK REVIEW: Confess by Colleen Hoover

“There are people you meet that you get to know, and then there are people you meet that you already know.”

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis: (taken from Goodreads)
Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

It has taken me a while to actually formulate my opinions on this book. Usually I finish a book and I know if I liked it or not. I usually know what star rating it will get as soon as I close the book, and I know the kind of things I will say about it.

Not with this book!

Let’s start with the problems…

The characters…I didn’t like any of them!

It’s very rare for me to not like even one little side character, but I didn’t! The characters have been through a lot, and that of course affects their decisions and characteristics, and I appreciate their inner conflicts and their questionable decisions. But they just kept making these decisions, and they really began to annoy me. I won’t go into details and spoil anything, but there were so many times I was internally shouting at Auburn to either do something she didn’t, or not do something that she did. And some of the messages in this book put me off a lot. The prologue begins with 15 year old Auburn, saying goodbye to the absolute love of her life, who it is insisted (throughout the book) that she is whole-heartedly, madly, completely in love with. A fifteen year old that in love, I cannot get my head around, and it was an instant block in my connection to her character.

And as for Owen, I don’t think I have wanted to slap a fictional person as much as him. Some of what he said or thought about Auburn, I found a bit disturbing, and really didn’t sit well with me. I think he was supposed to come off as romantic, but I just found him creepy and a little obsessive. I didn’t like that he was still keeping secrets from Auburn even to the end.

I also really didn’t like the ending. I found it completely unsatisfying, and disappointing.

And yet I still enjoyed reading the book!

The artwork, for instance, is beautiful, and such a great addition to the story. As are the confessions. They work into the story so well, and the book would not have reached the level of emotional depth it did, I think, without that artwork and confessions.

I also enjoyed the reading experience of the story. I enjoyed going back to the book in my spare time, and I flew through the pages. Colleen Hoover’s writing is so attention-grabbing, that once I was reading it, I did not want anything else to distract me.

I also liked the themes that were explored. I thought that some very controversial or at least taboo topics were woven into the story very gently and considerately, but with a rawness that I am beginning to see is the key ingredient in CoHo novels.

So how do I rate that? A 3 star middle mark seems most appropriate, but with each part of the book I pick apart it could easily go up or down.

In summary: a good book, with quite a lot of issues, but still an enjoyable read.

BOOK REVIEW: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

“This was the danger, the seduction of time travel, she realized—it was the opportunity, the freedom of a thousand possibilities of where to live and how to start over. It was the beauty open to you in your life if you only stopped for a moment to look.”

Rating:4/5

Synopsis: Violin prodigy, Etta Spencer, loses everything she knows as she is carried across time, to a world not only miles, but years from her home. She discovers an inherited ability and legacy, which bring her into the clutches of the Ironwoods; a dangerous family who are searching for a stolen object. An object only Etta can find.

Nicholas Carter’s life at sea is one of freedom and escape from servitude. And he is reasonably content with his life. Until an unusual passenger arrives on his ship. He is pulled to her, as well as to a past he does not want to confront.

Together they set out to find the object the Ironwoods desire. But the closer they get to finding it, and the the more answers they discover, the more dangerous the truth becomes. 

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I had so much fun reading this book!

Passenger is a slow-paced, gradual-build-up kind of book, and it completely works with the story. I really appreciated a YA that took its time with description, character development and world-building. There is no rushing this story, and Alexandra Bracken writes so beautifully that I did not want to speed it up! It really was a beautiful story. And despite the few issues I had with the book, I can’t dismiss just how beautiful it was. Let me break it down…

I loved the historical elements to this story (being a history student, I obviously love books with some epic time-travel), and I loved how historical issues of race and gender were distinctly woven into the story. Following Etta, brought up in the modern day, and seeing the racial prejudice from her perspective was just as (if not more) heart-breaking as reading it from Nicholas’ perspective, who is experiencing it first hand. By giving us both perspectives and narratives: past and present, the book really does well in giving the reader an emotional connection to the events and topics brought up.

As for the dual-narrative of the book, I thought it was done very well. I’m usually not a big fan of multiple perspectives (apart from epic/high fantasy where its almost inescapable!) but Passenger manages to keep both characters interesting and intriguing. This may be, in part, because for the majority of the book, the two characters are together, and so we are seeing the same events and experiences from two perspectives together, which really brought another dimension to the reading experience. It’s just a beautifully structured and woven story.

However, I did still have a few issues. I really struggled to grasp how the time-travel practically worked. There was very little description of how or why it worked, which my logical mind did not appreciate! I’m hoping that perhaps book two will solve this problem, and get more into the details and intricacies of the practical workings of the travel, while this book remains a focused introduction to the characters and the setting up of the world and story.

And despite my love for the story and the characters, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of a disconnect to it all. Perhaps it was because of the lack of practicalities explained, or perhaps it was because both of the characters were reasonably closed books, but I felt as though I was watching the story unfold from a distance, rather than being fully immersed in it.

That said, it was a very enjoyable and beautiful read, and a much appreciated break from the volumes of fast-paced YA I have recently been reading. I cannot wait for book two, and am very intrigued to see where this story is going to go, after that very *shocked face* ending!

February TBR | 2016

I have a pretty busy month ahead – how dare life get in the way of my reading schedule!? – but I have a (hopefully) realistic goal of four books for my February TBR.

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Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
I have already finished this one (as of 2nd Feb), and I really liked it. I will go into it more in my review, but the slow-paced build up of the story was very nice, if a little inconsistent in places, and I loved the historical elements to it.

 

 
Night Study by Maria V. Snyder
I received an advanced copy of Night Study from Netgalley (the UK isn’t as lucky as the US, and it doesn’t come out here until the end of Feb), and I am SO SO SO excited to read it. Maria is my favourite author, and the Study series one of my all-time favourites. I can’t wait to read the latest instalment.

 

 

Confess by Colleen Hoover
This is going to be the Bookaholic Alliance February book of the month. If you don’t know, this is the bookclub that I co-moderate with some of my lovely bookstagram friends. This is going to be our first month of reading together, so if you want to join in with the fun and read along with us, please check out our goodreads group page! But after reading and loving Colleen Hoover’s book Slammed last month, I am very excited to read this one!

 

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
Obviously this book is on my list. I am so ridiculously excited for this book. I’m literally counting down the days for it to be released. It is one of my most anticipated releases of the year, although it has a lot to live up to if it’s going to be in the league of ADSOM!

 

 

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So that’s my TBR. What are you looking forward to reading most in February? Do we have any TBR books in common?