My True Love Gave To Me [ Spoiler Free ] Review

Title: My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories
Edited by: Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 3/5 stars
Date read: 12/14/18

My True Love Gave to me is a collection of shot stories from many different YA authors and they are all holiday themed. The actual average rating when I typed it out on the calculator was 3.2 stars. I really enjoyed most of the stories and here are my ratings and thoughts:

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell- 4.5/5 stars
Really enjoyed this one. It was cute and I liked the characters and writing. I was also really surprised on how much I enjoyed it since Rainbow Rowell's books are not my favorite. This one takes place on New Years Eve over several years.

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link- 1/5 stars
I never heard of this author before and was glad to be reading something from an author that I probably would not pick up if it were not in a short story collection. I was sad that I did not like it at all. The writing style was not for me and I was very bored and confused. I think this one is about a guy who only comes when it is snowing. I skimmed it.

Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Pena- 4.5/5 stars
This is another author I never heard of before but I really enjoyed this short story and will probably pick up some of his other works. This one is about a boy cat sitting a cat during Christmas and plans to spend it alone since he cannot afford to go home for the holidays.

Polaris is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han- 3/5 stars
I really enjoyed this short story. It was cute but not my favorite. This one follows a girl who lives in the North Pole. She is not an elf though. It reminded me of the movie Elf a little based on the concept but it is NOTHING like Elf. The only thing that is similar is that the person came to the North Pole when they were a baby and they are a human living among elves.

It's a Yuletide Miracle Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins- 5/5 stars
This one is probably my favorite of all the stories. I really liked the writing and the characters. This is a cute Christmas story about a girl who goes out to buy a Christmas tree.

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan- 3/5 stars
I do not remember much about this one at all other than it was enjoyable but not the best. I do remember it has to do with a guy pretending to be Santa.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black - 2/5 stars
I sadly did not like this one that much. I really enjoyed the Holly Black books I read in the past but this short story is probably not for me. I was just very confused on what was going on and did not care much about the story.

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman- 3/5 stars
This was a fun read. I liked the writing which was expected since I enjoyed Gayle Forman's other works. It was enjoyable but not that memorable. It follows a girl name Sophie Roth who meets this guy at college I think. Do not remember much about it.

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire-2/5 stars
I did not like this one that much but it was not the worst. It is about a play at a church. I also never heard of this author before and am glad I read this short story since I would never would of picked up her works if it were not in this collection.

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White- 5/5 stars
My fist read by Kiersten White and I loved it so much. It was such a surprise read and I am so excited to pick up her other books now. It is about a Christmas Diner.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter- 3.5 stars
I never read anything by Ally Carter before but I have heard of her books and this was also a surprising read. It was very enjoyable and I will probably try her other books. This one is about a girl who changes plane tickets with this girl she meets at the airport.

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor- 2/5 stars
I wanted to love it but I was just so bored and not really into it. I will say though I did enjoy her book Daughter of Smoke and Bone. This one was not for me and I remember nothing about it.

Overall I did enjoy most of the short stories and am glad that I finally read it! If you love the holidays I would highly recommend that you pick this one up.

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Furyborn [ Spoiler Free] Review

Title: Furyborn
Author: Claire Legrand
Series: Emporium #1
My rating: 5/5 stars
Date Read: 10/30/18

Finishing October on a high note! Like one star reads, I rarely give out 5 stars but this is one of those books that as soon as I started reading it, I knew I would love it.

This is a fantasy story following two badass ladies, Rielle and Eliana. There stories are 1000 years apart. Both are prophesied queens. One is a sun queen and one is a blood queen. Rielle exposes herself as one of the queens when saving a friend and has to go through trials. Yes I love the trope of trials and it did not bother me at all although I do know some people really are tired of the trope. Well I am not. Eliana isa bounty hunter for the empire and when her mother vanishes, she joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she thought.

This book is told in alternating chapters. One chapter from Rielle's point of view and the next from Eliana's. I loved that part of the story because there were so many times that I just wanted to keep reading a chapter and it would end on a cliff hanger and then I would read the next one and that one would end on a cliff hanger. You get the point. It managed to keep me hooked and wanting to read more to find out what happens.

Which point of view did I prefer? Well in the beginning I did like Rielle's chapters more but it switched to Eliana about halfway through, but then I preferred Rielle's again. Basically both of them are great and I loved both of their story lines. I did find it very unique on how two people living during completely different time periods have their story connected and it added a nice unique touch to the story.

I loved the world and I really liked the magic system although I do wish that the magic system was explained a bit more because sometimes I would get confused. There is a table that helped a bit in the back of the book, or at least the one I have, so flip to the end and find the table if you are a bit confused with the magic system because it cleared a lot of thing up, at least for me.

I think the biggest let down, if I were to be honest is the ending. The epic part happened and then we had a few more chapters to say hey, everything is calm again, before ending. I wished the story ended a bit sooner because then it would of ended on an even bigger cliff hanger than it already did. It just felt more closed off the way the author ended it even though there are so many possible things that can happen in the next book, if you know what I mean.

Yes I will definitely be reading the next book. I loved this one so much and so glad to be ending the month of October on a high note. I do recommend it, especially if you are a fantasy lover who loves the trope of trials!

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24 Days of Book Recommendations

Welcome to the 24 days of book recommendations post. This will be updated every day from December 1-24. Each day I will be recommending a book to all of you till Christmas! Hope you enjoy!

Day 22: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Furyborn is a fantasy that follows two prophesied queens. One is a blood queen that would bring destruction to the kingdom, the other is the sun queen that would bring prosperity to the kingdom. We follow both of the queens and they live 1,000 years apart. I love both of their points of views although I did prefer Rielle's in the beginning. If you love fantasy you will probably really enjoy this one. It had some popular tropes in it but it also had a unique twist to it which I really enjoyed.

Day 21: George by Alex Gino

George is a middle grade book with a trans main character. Yes, this is a middle grade book featuring a trans main character. It is such a cute read and fast read that made my heart so happy. It is such an important read and especially since it is middle grade, it targets a younger audience teaching them to be more accepting from a younger age. This is one of my favorite under hyped reads and I think everyone should read it. It is the absolute perfect book to read if you need a quick read since I do remember reading it very fast.

Day 20: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Caraval is about a girl name Scarlett who lives with her father and sister Donatella known as Tella. Both of the sisters admired the The Caraval Master known as Legend and she and Tella always dreamed of going to Caraval. One day Scarlet gets an invitation inviting her to Caraval. With the help from a sailor both of them escape to Caraval. However Legend has decided on kidnapping Tella for the game. Suddenly the game becomes more personal to Scarlet and she now has to find her sister. I love this book so much and I really enjoy the world and the writing style.

Day 19: The Orphan Queen by Jodie Meadows

The Orphan Queen is a fantasy duology following Wilhelmina whose kingdom was conquered by the Indigo Kingdom. 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. This book is so good and it is a duology and a fantasy so if you want to read a fantasy and have a lot of commitment I would recommend this one. This is another one that I think is underrated and that I wish more people would read.

Day 18: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao

Forest of A Thousand Lanterns is an East Asian inspired retelling of the Evil Queen. We follow the main character Xi Feng and her journey to becoming the "Evil Queen". I really enjoyed this book and it is a recent read. I love how this is inspired by East Asian culture as I am East Asian and it was nice to see a diverse fantasy book. The main character is not likable so if you do not like reading books featuring an unlikable character this one may not be for you. I love reading from unlikable characters so it was not a problem for me. This is the perfect book for those looking for a diverse fantasy and love villain origin stories! 

Day 17: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea is a historical fiction novel that takes place during World War II about events that are not usually talked about. We follow several refugees whose paths paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. I fell in love with the writing, characters and story. It was a very informative story but it was also a gripping heartbreaking one as well. It was evident that the author did research before writing this book. I definitely think this book is under hyped. If you love historical fiction you will probably love this book.

Day 16: Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

TW: Child Abuse

Monday's Not Coming is about a girl name Claudia who seems to be the only one who notices and cares that her friend Monday is missing. Throughout the book, we are piecing what happened to Monday through the eyes of the character. I will also say this book has a lot of different timelines. We see Claudia when Monday was still there, her when she learns that Monday's missing, and present day. If you do not like books that have that sort of jumpy timeline you may not like it. I personally loved it and I really enjoyed learning about what happened to Monday.

Day 15: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End takes place in a world where people can now know when they are going to die. There is a company called Deathcast who calls people on the day they are going to die telling them that they are going to die that day. The main characters Rufus and Mateo both get the call. They use the app Last Friend, which lets people meet others who are also going to die that day, and they meet and spend their last day together. This is a sad book as you can tell by the title but I really did enjoy it. I know I lot of people cried while reading this book (I did not but I rarely cry while reading) so if you are looking for a book that would make you cry you may want to give this a try!

Day 14: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Rebel of the Sands is a fantasy book that follows a girl name Amani who is a who is a really good sharpshooter. She always wanted to escape the dustwalk and the perfect opportunity comes and she ends up on this amazing adventure. This book is really short and is a fantasy so it is a very quick read for fantasy lovers that need to catch up on their reading challenge. I will say that if you are a plot driven reader you may not like this book that much since the plot is not the strongest but still loved since the world is amazing and the characters are great!

Day 13: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Geekerella is the perfect book for fangirls and boys. This is a retelling of Cinderella following a girl name Elle who is a huge fangirl of a fandom called Starfield (which is sort of the Star Wars of that world). She is also the creator of a very popular blog about the fandom. One day there is a reboot movie of Starfield and the main character is going to be played by Darien who is someone that Elle and a bunch of other people of the fandom disapprove of but Darien is actually a a huge fan of Starfield and knows a lot about it. This book is so cute and has so many elements of Cinderella and is one of the best contemporaries and retellings that I have read.




Day 12: One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

We are halfway through! One of Us is Lying is about five students that went into detention and only four came out alive. It is a who done it sort of story. During the story, we follow the four currently alive characters to try to figure out who killed him. I loved the story even though I will admit, I did not like the ending at all. It was very interesting to see what was going on with each of the characters. I will say there is also not the best mental health representation in this book so please be aware of that. The story is amazing though and it kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened.

Day 11: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Looking for a high fantasy? I would highly recommend Falling Kingdoms. It is one of my all time favorite series and I plan on rereading the entire series before tackling the last book. Falling Kingdoms takes place in 3 separate kingdoms. Two kingdoms get in some sort of quarrel which causes one of them to visit their other fellow neighboring kingdom to ask for help. This book is action packed and filled with magic. In my opinion, the books get better and better as the series continues. The characters are great and if you are looking for a book similar to Game of Thrones, you will probably enjoy this.

Day 10: Warcross by Marie Lu

Warcross was my fourth favorite book of last year so of course I had to recommend it. I still need to read Wildcard. This year I have been terrible with new releases. This books follows a girl name Emika who is a bounty hunter, tracking down the people who use Warcross illegally. When money comes short she decides to hack into the Warcross opening games and accidentally glitches herself into the game and instead of being punished she is invited to Japan and offered a job by the creator of Warcross to track down the person who is trying to damage Warcross.

Day 9: Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

Love, Hate, and Other Filters is an own voices novel following a girl name Maya who is Indian American. Her parents want her to go to a local college near home and study something "practical", while Maya wants to attend film school in NYC. There is a terrorist attack that happened near where they live and the main suspects shares the last name as Maya. People start treating her differently even though she never met nor is related to this man. This book tackles the subject of Islamaphobia which is a very relevant topic in today's society. This was one of the most surprising reads I have read this year (in a good way).

Day 8: Invictus by Ryan Graudin

Invictus is a time travel book following a boy name Farway who was born outside of time. During the heist of the sinking Titanic he meets a girl who is always one step ahead of him and leads Far and his team to the frightening truth. I love the Invictus crew and there is also a red panda in this book who is adorable. The crew had such an amazing friendship and I did enjoy it so much more than I thought I would! If you are looking for a book with time travel and a great cast of characters you may enjoy this one.

Day 7: Renegade by Marissa Meyer

Renegades takes place in a world where there are heroes called the Renegades and villains called Anarchist. Both have powers. We follow two characters. Nova who is an Anarchist and absolutely hates the Renegades and Adrian who is a Renegade and believes in justice. So basically this is a superhero story and if you are a fan of Marvel I would highly recommend it. It is the only book I ever read that had a superhero and villain type of feel! Also one of my new all time favorites. (Still need to read book 2 but I have not been disappointed by a Marissa Meyer book yet and I have read all of them but the last Lunar Chronicle graphic novel!)

Day 6: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

TW: Murder, blood
Stalking Jack the Ripper follows a girl name Audrey Rose who is very interesting in forensic studies. She lives during a time where women are not really allowed to study it. She works with her uncle and Thomas Cresswell. Audrey Rose lives in London during the time of the Jack the Ripper killings and naturally gets very invested in the murders and tries to figure out who the murderer is. There is a mystery element in this book and also this book introduces one of the most swoon worthy love interests that I have read in awhile and I actually ship the two characters together! I would say if you are a Halloween lover you may want to save this read for next Halloween! (Have not read book 3 yet)

Day 5: American Panda by Gloria Chao

American Panda follows a Taiwanese American girl name Mei whose parents want her to be a doctor, but Mei is a germophobe. She is always trying to please her parents. She is attending MIT to become a doctor and along the way she finds herself falling for a Japanese boy name Darren who is not Taiwanese which means that her parents would never approve by him. She reconnects to her brother who was estranged from the family for dating an un family approved women and learns she needs to start making her own choices. This book is an own voices book.

Day 4: A List of Cages by Robin Roe

TW: Child abuse

A List of Cages is an under hyped book. It is about a boy name Adam who takes an elective to be serving aid to his school's physiologists. One day he is asked to find a child who keeps dodging her and he finds that that boy is Julian, his former foster brother. Adam is excited to see Julian again. As they get to know each other more once again, he learns that Julian is hiding something and he wants to help him. I really enjoyed this book even though it is a hard hitting story. The author seems very informed about the subject and it is clear research was done when writing it.

Day 3: Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

This book is about Alosa who is the daughter of the pirate king who is sent on a misson. She gets herself purposely captured to try to find the second piece of an ancient map that would lead them to find the legendary treasure. I love the banter between Alosa and the other character Riden so much and it made the books such a fun read. This is also a duology (still need to read book 2) so there is not a lot of commitment. I loved it so much and a perfect book to read when you are slumpy and not in the mood for contemporary.

Day 2: The Thousandth Floor by Katharine Mcgee

This book takes place in futuristic New York where people now live in a thousand floor building. The more wealthy you are, the higher up you live in the tower. We follow 5 different points of views and each person has their own secrets. I will admit this book is not for everyone but if you are looking for a book filled with drama you probably will enjoy it more. Very drama filled but also very addicting. All the books in the trilogy are released already and I have read all the books and I did enjoy them all1

Day 1: The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

TW: Depression, Suicide

The Astonishing Color of After is about a girl name Leigh and when her mother commits suicide she is convinced she turned into a bird. Leigh travels to Taiwan to visit her grandparents who she never met before trying to piece together why her mother died. Leigh is half Taiwanese and half white. This is a own voices book. Even though it deals with a heavy topic, I still really enjoyed it. I am a own voices reviewer for the Taiwanese representation as well. If you love books dealing with heavy topics you will probably really enjoy this one. 

24 Days of Book Recommendations Announcement

I am so excited to announce that I am doing 24 days of book recommendations! From December 1st to 24th, I will be recommending a new book every day! Each day I will sharing a book recommendation on my Twitter. There is also a blog post associated with it and it will be linked on my twitter as well.

All 24 books will be on the same post but each day I will be adding to it so on day one you will only see the book recommendation for day 1 and day 2 you will only see the book recommendation for days 1 and 2. This way all the recommendations will be in one place. The blog post will have a small description of the book, some of my thoughts, and if applicable any content / trigger warnings you should be aware of.

Hopefully this goes well and thank you so much for reading this announcement!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreahylau

An Enchantment of Ravens [ Spoiler Free ] Review

Title: An Enchantment of Ravens
Author: Margaret Rogerson
My rating: 2.5/5 stars
Date Read: 10/19/18


I first heard of this book around its release time and added it to my TBR because it seemed interesting but after a month or two after its release I have not heard that much about it. I was looking through by TBR list and found this book on it so I finally decided to request it from my local library and two my surprise the physical copy is a 300 page, including the acknowledgements, standalone fantasy. Meaning that the actual story itself is less then 300 pages. That is very short for a fantasy book and especially short for a standalone fantasy. This made my expectations for this book very low.

In this book, the fae cannot do anything related to the craft of art and they hire humans to do things for them such as painting. The main character Isobel is a painter and she one day is asked to paint a portrait of the Fae prince of the Autumn court. She makes a mistake by painting mortal sorrow in his eyes. Now she is taken into the fae realm to face a trial for her crime and they go through several obstacles among the way causing them to become closer.

It is very clear what direction this book goes in. I thought this book was very romance heavy and I wish it was not. I am not the biggest fan of most romances in books, although there are some that I love. This one happens to sadly be not one of them. I thought it felt forced, maybe because the book was so short it made a longer period of time feel shorter. The plot of the story is basically about their romance.

I think this book should of at least been a hundred pages longer. The world building was not that good and an easy way to help with the world building is having a map in the book. I think it would of helped me understand the book so much more. I also thought that the magic system was not well done. There are still a lot of things I do not really understand about the book. Maybe because about halfway through I got bored a little in the middle and kind of skimmed read. That is my fault if I missed something. But from what I remembered, I thought that there should of been more world building, and a better explained magic system. I also thought the character development could of been improved a little too.

Despite all that, the writing style was good, and the concept and ideas were very interesting. I never read a book about fae in which the fae cannot do any sort of art such as drawing, or cooking. It added a unique touch to the stereotypical fae book which I really appreciated.

Overall I thought this book was meh. I probably will forget what it is about in a few weeks and I do not plan on rereading it. I will probably pick up another one of the authors books when they are released.

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I Believe in a Thing Called Love [ Spoiler free ] Review

Title: I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Author: Maurene Goo
My rating: 3/5 stars
Date Read: 10/15/18

I Believe in a Thing called Love is a contemporary following a Korean American girl name Desi. Desi thinks that anything is possible when you have a plan. She is very smart academically and also on the schools varsity soccer team and has her eye on Stanford University. However, the one thing she is not good at is romance and is always embarrassing herself in front of her crushes. She then has an idea. Her father is obsessed with K-Dramas and the main characters always have a happy ending in love. She decides to watch them and come up with a plan on how to make someone fall for you.

Here is the thing, I found this book to be very cute but the main character can be annoying and does make dumb decisions here and there. You want to scream at the book at her not to do something, but she does it anyway even if it is clearly not a good idea since in a certain way it is completing a step in the K-Drama formula. Other than that I really liked it.

The main character, again is Korean American and it did have Korean culture integrated in the story, but not in a forceful way.

I personally do not care much about K Dramas but I am pretty sure if you like them then you will love this book. There is a K-Drama guide in the back as well if you are interested in watching one and you do not know where to start.

I love the father daughter relationship in the book and how important each of them is to each other and how they care for one another. I love how the parents are not mysteriously absent in this book like a lot of YA stories.

Overall I did like this book but it is not my favorite. It is very ridiculous at times, but it still made me smile a lot when reading and I would recommend it.

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Lucky in Love (Spoiler free) Review

Title: Lucky in Love
Author: Kasie West
My rating: 2/5 stars
Date Read: 2/28/18

I kind of read the whole book, but I did skip many pages to finish the book faster and did skim read the pages and scenes I did not skip.

This book was such a disappointment. It may be because I absolutely fell in love with Love, Life, and the List, Kaise West's other book and I did read this one quite soon after. I did have high expectations going into this book as well so part of the reason why I did not enjoy this book was partially my fault.

This book follows a girl name Maddie who one day wins the lottery. With the money comes her no longer stressing about college payment as well as people treating her differently and wanting to be her friend because she has the money. The only person who does not seem to know about her win is Seth, who also works at the local zoo with her. For some reason Maddie also does not want to share the news with her.

First off, I love the writing. It is simple and really easy to read. Kaise West's writing is one of the things I love most about her books. Because it is so simple, it helps me read a lot faster when I am in a slump or super busy. The other thing I usually love about her books is the characters and in this book, I did not like Maddie that much. I liked before lottery Maddie, but not after lottery Maddie. I felt like she was irresponsible at times and she changes quite a lot. At the end of the book though she did learn her lesson so that is a plus. I did like Seth throughout the book, though a lot less than I expected. If I like the characters in the book, my enjoyment of the book would be so much more.

I will not lie, Maddie was the main reason why I did not like the book if I were completely honest. I expected to like her a lot more than I did and I did not think she would annoy me. I understand how she could of changed because she won the lottery and she did change in a way that made perfect sens, but it frustrated me to read about which made me end up skimming and skipping pages. At least she learned her lesson at the end.

Am I glad I read this book? Yes for sure. I will be reading Kaise West's other books in the future too. Overall it was eh to me but if you decide to pick it up, I hope you enjoy it a lot more than I did.

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Literary Book Gifts

Today's post is an exciting one today. I have been asked to review the design of the products of the shop Literary Book Gifts. I have not used any of their products before so I will not be able to talk about the quality of the products but I will say the designs are amazing! This shop sells so many different designs of tote bags and T-shirts. Remember to add my code AndreasBookishThoughts20 before paying for 20% off anything in the store!

Here are some of my favorite designs that I wanted to highlight.

Literary Book Gifts Alice T-Shirt

The first one is my favorite and that is the Alice in Wonderland T-Shirt. I love Alice in Wonderland so it is kind of biased but I really do love the design of the shirt and the font of the words! The shirt also comes in many. The shirt does come in many different colors as well which you can see on the website.

Literary Book Gifts Emily Dickinson Tote

The next design is a Emily Dickinson inspired tote bag. I think this design is absolutely gorgeous. i love how the bag looks like she has written one of her poems on it and I love the bird which in my opinion adds a lot to the bag in a very good way. It is very simplistic which is my style and the type of designs I gravitate towards.

Literary Book Gifts Pride and Prejudice Tote

The final design that I am highlighting is the Pride and Prejudice tote bag.  I really like the color that it comes in I think it suites the design and theme of this bag. It does come only in one color. The one thing I really love about it though is how simple it is. It is not in your face but has enough going on in the design to draw your attention.

Thank you so much Literary Book Gifts for asking me to review the designs of your products. Remember to use AndreasBookishThoughts20 to get 20%!

Literary Book Gifts site: https://literarybookgifts.com/

To Kill a Kingdom (Spoiler Free) Review

Title: To Kill a Kingdom
Author: Alexandra Christo
Rating:  4 /5 stars
Date Read: 9/20/18

I knew going into this book I was going to love it or hate it. I heard so many mixed reviews and they were all love or hate. I am so glad I am part of the side that really did enjoy this book. Though it is not my favorite book that I read ever, it was a fun and entertaining read and I had to know what happened next even though it was predictable. The predictability did not affect my enjoyment of the book.

To Kill a Kingdom is a Little Mermaid retelling. This is partially the reason why it is predictable. We follow Lira who is a siren. She does something that causes her to be punished to the land as a human without her song and has to take the heart of (the organ not love) of prince Elian. Elian is a siren hunter and the heir to the most powerful kingdom.

We do follow both of their perspectives in this book. The chapters are labeled so it is easy to know who's perspective you are reading from.

I absolutely love retellings and I actually never read a Little Mermaid novel retelling. (I did read the Little Android which is part o the Lunar Chronicles short story collection Stars Above.)

I really enjoyed reading from both character's perspectives and for once I did not mind who's perspective I was reading from. I did not prefer one over the other.

I do wish we had better world building in this book. I felt like there were times in the book where I was confused on where they were and who was part of what kingdom and where the kingdoms lay. I also want a map because that would help so much. The world building was not bad though, it just could of been better. The character development in the book was much better than the world building. Both characters became stronger beings and Lira was a strong female character who made her own choices.

This is a fantasy standalone which was a lot shorter than I expected. I do recommend this book and it is perfect for those who love retellings!

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Daughter of the Burning City (spoiler free) Review

Title: Daughter of the Burning City
Author: Amanda Foody
My rating: 3/5 stars
Date Read: 9/08/18

This is a book that is hard for me to rate. There were times that I was so bored that I wanted to DNF the book and there were times that this book was so good that I could not put it down. I decided to settle with a 3 star rating because of this.

For me personally, I found the beginning of the book to be the most boring. DNF boring. After maybe 150 pages, the I found the story to be more interesting and entertaining but sprinkled in the entertaining parts were more boring parts. Does that make sense?

Daughter of the Burning City follow Sorina and she is an illusionist in the Gommorah Festival which is very similar to a traveling circus. As an illusionist, she can create things that people and see, feel, and touch and they all have different personalities. These illusions create the cast of the Freak show and also are Sorina's family. One day, one of the illusions is murdered. But it is an illusion, not a person, so how can a illusion be murdered?

Mystery plays a big part of this book. You are constantly thinking about who could of murdered and who would be capable of murdering an illusion. I did enjoy that aspect of the book and it kept me interested throughout the story because I had to know if my prediction was right. But there were some parts of the book that were just boring, like long conversations ish (I cannot really explain that much due to spoilers) that just took away from the story in my opinion.

The setting of the book is very unique. I always love when books take place in a world that is not like every single fantasy or made up world. I am terrible at explaining, I know. I am trying. But I did really enjoy the setting of the story.

I was not a fan of the main character Sorina. There is no real particular reason why. She is just not my favorite and I found her more on the I do not like you side than the I like you side. I wanted more character development for the main character and her illusions. There are 7 (I think) illusions and I kept forgetting some of them so when they were mentioned I was like who are you?

Overall I did enjoy this book. There were the I love this book so much moments and the this book is so boring moments but I am glad I read Daughter of the Burning city and I do plan on reading Amanda Foody's books in the future.

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Books I Need to Reread

Today I will be taking about some of the books I need to reread so I can continue on with the series. Sometimes I wait way to long before continuing on with a series or I just forget what happens in the previous book and I need to refresh my memory so I can enjoy the sequel more and other times, the last book is coming out and I just want to reread it. Sometimes I just love the first one so much that I want to binge read the series. These are just some of the books I want to reread since there are a lot more than I thought.

The first book I have to talk about is Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. I really enjoyed this book but once the sequel came out, I was not in the mood for fantasy and ended up putting off and now I remember barely anything other than I enjoyed it. This book follows a girl who is a truthwitch which means that she can tell whether people are lying or telling the truth. That is all I know. I am so excited to reread the book though because I really want to continue on with the series! I hope that is soon!


I am also in the middle of rereading all of the shadowhunter books in preparation for Queen of Air and Darkness, also known as my most anticipated book release of 2018. I am currently on City of Heavenly Fire which is my favorite TMI book so I am so excited to start it! I am a huge Cassandra Clare fan and I do not need to reread all of these books but I just want to because I miss the world so much and the ones that I did already reread I fell in love with the world and characters all over again especially the TID trilogy.



I also need to reread A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. I read and loved the fist two books but I want to reread them before jumping into A Conjuring of Light in hopes I will enjoy it more since I do not remember that many details. The first two books were so good and I really hope I enjoy it just as much the first time as I did the second time. Writing this is making me so excited to reread it now!



I really need to reread the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas since Kingdom of Ash is coming out. I still have not read Tower of Dawn (I will) but I do want to reread all the books before reading Kingdom of Ash and probably also Tower of Dawn. I am that type of person who likes to reread all the books in a series in preparation for the final book and same thing goes for movies. I do need a refresher on what happened in every book before Empire of Storms as well.



I am dying to reread Warcross by Marie Lu as well. Wildcard came out recently and I cannot wait to read it! Warcross ended up on my top 10 reads last year and I do remember what happened in book one, I just want to reread the book and dive into the world before reading the conclusion. Again, me and final books in series. This book was one of the books that pulled me out of a slump last year so it is going to be a quick fast reread and I will hopefully dive into Wildcard by the beginning of next year.



The final book (technically series) I want  to reread that I am sharing in this post is The Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes. The last book came out a few months ago and I still need to read it but I want a refresher on what happens in the previous books. This is one of my all time favorite series. The hardest part of rereading long series is finding the time to reread it since so many new books are also coming out. I might just dive into the last book and read a spoilery summery for Crystal Storms  (5th book) since school is currently limiting my reading time.

Those are just some of the books I want to reread and probably will do a part two since there are so many others that I can think of that I did not include in this post. Yes, most of these are multiple books since they are part of a series but again, I love rereading books in preparation for reading the last book. Thank you for reading this post and I hope to see you in the next  one!

Love, Life, and the List (Spoiler FREE) Review

Title: Love, Life, and the List
Author: Kasie West
My rating: 4 /5 stars
Date Read: 9/02/18

This book was exactly what I needed to read at the moment. Something cute, fluffy, but also has meaning. Love, Life, and the List is definitely my favorite Kaise West book I read so far and I am excited to read her other ones.

In this book we follow Abby Turner who is an artist. She loves to paint. Abby get's rejected from an art show because apparently her art has no heart. As a result she decides to create a summer to-do list to try to gain experiences like facing a fear.

The to-do list in a way sort of reminded me of Morgan Matson's book Since You've Been Gone except that the main character made the to-do list for herself in this book and in Since You've Been Gone it was given to her by a friend. Both books have similarities but they are both very different stories. However if you liked one of them you will probably like the other.

Abby also has an unrequited crush on her best friend Cooper so the trope friends to lovers takes place. It is not my favorite trope but I did really enjoy it in this one.

I did actually like almost every character in the book except for Iris. Lacey and Elliot are great side characters. I really liked Abby and Cooper as well. Abby goes though some character development throughout the story learning some lessons along the way.

I will say this is a summery read but I read it in September (still technically summer but brain says fall) and still really enjoyed it. I personally think this is an underhyped read and I am very glad I finally read it.

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Save the Date (Spoiler FREE) Review

Title: Save the Date
Author: Morgan Matson
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
Date Read: 8/21/18

Do I want to give this book 4 stars or 4.5 stars? I have no idea but I am rounding up for now since I really enjoyed it.

Save the Date has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year and Morgan Matson is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I finally read the book and I am so happy I did read it during the summer since it is the perfect summer read. In fact, all of Morgan Matson's books are perfect summer reads. Just a heads up, I would recommend reading her books in publication order because some characters from her previous books make cameos is her future books.

Save the Date follows Charlie Grant, the youngest child in the Grant family. Her older sister Linnie is getting married and Charlie could not of been happier. Her siblings would be coming home and all be together for the first time and Charlie is determined to make it the perfect weekend as the house that they grew up in has been sold and everything is about to change. The perfect weekend not so much. Leading up to the wedding there are lots of disasters and unlucky things that happen.

When I was reading this book I wished that something would go right because everything was going wrong and I felt so bad for the family. It was stressful at times to because you just want something to go right and gah. But I loved it and the book still made me smile.

I really like how in this book Charlie learns that change is okay and can be good. It is okay to want things to stay the same, but sometimes you have to accept that things cannot always be the same and it is not the end of the world because good things also come with change.

Jesse Foster is a completely unnecessary character in this book and if there is one character I could get rid of, it would be him. I felt like he did not need to be in the story and the story would work with or without him.

I NEVER say this because I rarely watch book to screen adaptations these days, but I feel like this would make the perfect movie. It would be a cute and funny and I feel like I would love it in the form of a movie as well. Who am I saying this because I rarely watch book to screen adaptations these days.

One thing I love about this book is the family aspect of the story and how family played the most important role in it.

Overall I would highly recommend this book. It was cute fluffy, not really romantic (I mean it is a little, someone is getting married) and funny and I loved it so much!

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5 Star Predictions

Today's post has to do with my 5 star predictions. Now, if you know me, I rarely rate books 5 stars. Most of the books I read are between 3-4.5 stars. So in a way I will call these my 5-4.5 star predictions. I have been seeing YouTube videos of others doing their 5 star predictions and it looks like so much fun. I have no idea who started this trend since so many people have done it. Also, I am not including books that are not released at the time I am writing this post. All these books have been released already and I have no idea why I have not read any of these books yet.

These are also in no particular order. I am also trying to avoid putting sequels on the list.



The first book is Strange the Dreamer by Lani Taylor. I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone earlier this year and I fell in love with the story and Lani Taylor's writing. Yes I still need to read the rest of the trilogy which in why I have not started Strange the dreamer yet but the concept of the book sounds so good and I have a feeling Lani Taylor's writing style is perfect for the concept of the book, at least of what I made out the book to be about, and I am so excited to read it and I have a feeling it will be 5 stars.




This book is super popular at the moment. Children of Blood and Bone has been getting so much hype recently and I really want to read it and for some reason have not. It was the Tonight's Shows summer book pick and it has been on the NYT's bestselling list forever. This is a fantasy book with a all black cast. Diversity (and it is a good thing)! I absolutely love fantasy books and the plot seems like something I will love which is why it is on this list.





I know I need to read The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I heard that he writes amazing fantasy books and here I am having read a grand total of zero of his books. I am such a fake fantasy fan, I know. Based on how much fantasy lover's love this book, I have a feeling I will become one of them. I actually have no idea what this book is about but I heard that it is perfect for fantasy lovers so it is on this list!





Because I have fallen in love with every V.E./Victoria Schwab book I have read so far the next book on my list is Vicious. The sequel to this book is coming out soon so naturally I am really excited to read this book. I absolutely love V.E. Schwab's writing style and I am so ready to dive into this book soon and I have a feeling this is a 5 star read obviously.






The final book on this list is Eliza and her monsters by Francesca Zappia. I heard such good things about this book and so many people love it. The main character in this book is the creator of a famous web comic that has over 1 million fans or views. Something like that and I find that so cool and unique in a story. I cannot wait to read this book and I am pretty sure I will love it.





Those are my 5 star or 4.5 star predictions since I rarely give books 5 stars. I really hope I love all these books and I hope to give all of them 5 stars. I will probably to a check in once I read all of these books.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you in my next post!

Daughter of the Pirate King (Spoiler Free) Review

Title: Daughter of the Pirate King
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Series: Daughter of the Pirate King #1
My rating: 4/5 stars
Date Read: 8/09/18

It has been forever since I read a book because I wanted to and not because school said I should and I think that is the reason why I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would originally.

I first heard about Daughter of the Pirate King around it's release date and nothing much after that. I do still see the book pop up on my Instagram feed once in awhile. Going into the book I knew nothing about it other than the main character was the daughter of the pirate king and was probably a pirate. When I started the book I was surprisingly hooked from very early on in the book.

In this story we follow Alosa who is the daughter of the pirate king and is sent to look for this legendary map and in order to do so she has to get herself captured by her enemies to get an opportunity to search their ship.

I really liked the main character Alosa and how strong she is physically and mentally. She is a character you do not want to mess with ever. I thought the author did a good job on the main characters character development. I also found myself liking some of the side characters in this book as well. As for the love interest, you immediately know who it is from the beginning and I did not hate him but he was not my favorite character. I will say this book is not instalovey as well.

I wanted a bit more world building in the story about the places outside the ship but we did get some world building to understand the world but I wanted more.

The writing was good and at times I would say the book is sort of funny but it was not laugh out loud funny but it still made me smile. The writing style went well with the story making my experience reading it a lot more enjoyable.

I will say that I did predict some things that happened in this book but it was also unique in the sense that it is a pirate book and I rarely read books with pirates in it. I will be continuing on with this duology. Overall this was a fun read. It had a lot of action and I was never really bored when reading. This book is also slightly over 300 pages making it the perfect book to read during a readathon. If you are in a reading slump I would also give this book a chance because it was just fun. I do recommend this book and it is definitely and under hyped read!

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August Wrap-Up 2018

It has been a while since I have done a wrap-up since I have not been reading a ton lately. This month I read 6 books which is the most I have read in awhile. I read one book for school, one audiobook, and 5 physical books. I also DNFed a book that was also required reading since I only was required to read up to chapter 14. That book is The Jungle and I hated it and I will not be talking about it later.

The book I read for school is All Souls: A Family Story from Southie by Michael Patrick Macdonald. I did not like this book that much which is very disappointing. Maybe it is because I was required to write a paper on it. I usually do not like required reading because I like to choose what I read. Onto the more fun books.

The first book I finished for fun in a long time is Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller. I love this book and gave it 4 stars. I think I enjoyed this book as much as I did because of the timing that I read it. I love the main character Alosa and how strong and smart she is. I did like the Romance in this book which is a rare thing I say. If you like pirates you will probably enjoy this book. I did predict some things that happen but it did not affect my enjoyment of the book. I will be reading the sequel and I am so happy I picked this one up and I wish I read it sooner. Highly recommend this story and it is an underhyped book.



The next book I read as the Hating Game by Sally Thorne which I gave 3/5 stars. I did enjoy this book but it was not my favorite book I read. This is an adult romance book which is a genre I usually will not reach for but I heard great things about it and I love a good hate to love romance. One thing I wished from this book was that we also got the character Josh's POV and not just Lucy's. I did like it and I would recommend the book. I just do not have that much to say. I did like the characters but they were not my favorite.



Another book I read is one of my most anticipated 2018 releases and that is Save the Date by Morgan Matson. I gave this book 4 stars. This was the perfect summer read and I absolutely love the characters and how important family was in the book. Charlie, the main character's, mom is a comic strip artist of the comic strip Grant's Central Station. I really wished we got to see more of the comic strips throughout the story. This book takes place within a few days and Charlie's older sister is getting married. Everything that could possibly go wrong goes wrong during the wedding. I honestly felt so bad for them but at the same time it made the story more entertaining.


I also reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio. I usually do not like audiobooks because I am so picky about the narrator but I actually really like the narrator for the Harry Potter books. As most of you know this is the seventh Harry Potter book and I highly recommend this series. Rereading it again was so much fun and brought back so many fun memories. Still not over some deaths though.




The final book I read in August was another reread and that is City of Glass by Cassandra Clare the third book in The Mortal Instruments series. I gave this book 4.5 stars. I did lower my rating by .5 stars since I did not enjoy this reread as much as the first time. Clary was more annoying in this book than I remember. The Mortal Instruments series is my least favorite out of the shadowhunter series and Clary has a lot to do with it. I still love Izzy, Alec, and Simon and they are my favorites in the series. I do hope to finish my reread of all the shadowhunter books before Queen of Air and Darkness comes out.


That is it for my August wrap-up! What is your favorite book you read this August? Thank you for reading and I will hopefully see you in my next post.