The Circle (Spoiler Free) Review

Title: The Circle
Author: Dave Eggers
My rating: 2.5/5 stars
Date Read: 1/15/17

Schools book club pick of the month

I thought The Circle was just okay. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. I had problems with it but at the same time this book is also very eye opening.

This book follows a girl name Mae Holland who is hired to work in The Circle, the worlds most powerful and most influential internet company. She is very excited to work there and we basically follow her and see The Circle grow through her eyes. The age of transparency is beginning and people's lives are becoming more public.

The one thing I really liked about the circle was that it shows us what could potentially happen in the future. How influential technology is on our everyday lives. I really liked seeing that we need to know the boundaries of how far we should share our lives to the public because everyone deserves some privacy in their lives.

My biggest complaint about this book was that there was no chapters. Maybe it was the edition I read but there were no chapters. Not having chapters made the books seem longer than it actually was and it had a influence on how much I enjoyed the book. I also want to say that The Circle was a bit over descriptive and could be shorter.

The ending was not what I expected it to be. It was all this build up for one or two pages of conclusion. I feel like if they shortened parts of the book before the ending and extended the end the book could of been so much better.

As for the characters. I was not very attached to them. I didn't care about them ad I didn't like Mae especially in the second half of the book. I could really see how working in the Circle changed her and not in a good way. At least based on the events that happened the change in her personality was realistic. Still very confused based on that ending.

The concept of this book was very cool and unique especially with all these new technologies today. I feel like this book could of been better if it was written differently but I did still enjoy it. Overall a meh read but I still think that it was an important read and that if you want to pick it up I would say go for it.

There is also a movie and it stars Emma Watson so I will be watching it.

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The Shadow Queen (Spoiler Free Review)

Title: The Shadow Queen
Author: C.J. Redwine
Series: Ravenspire #1
My rating: 2.5/5 stars
Date Read: 1/9/17


The Shadow Queen by C.J Redwine is a retelling of Snow White. I will say that I did not hate it. I enjoyed some parts of it however it did not stand out in any way and I had a few problems with it.

This book follows a girl name Lorelai and she is a fugitive who is trying to claim the throne that is rightfully hers. The Evil queen has currently sits on the throne and has killed her father. In order to succeed, she must master a weapon that they both have in common which is magic. See tropes.

The Shadow Queen is not the most original book in the world. Person tries to get back throne and is one of the special people who has magic. Also Instalove. I did not care for the romance one bit, but I did understand that it was a retelling of Snow White and it did need a romance element in the story in order for it be follow among the lines of the story.

I wish we got more of Irina's perspective in the book. Yes we did see what she was thinking here and there throughout the story but I wanted more. I found her story line more interesting than the other two characters. The other one being Kol, newly King of a neighboring kingdom and need help defeating ogres also known as huntsman/prince.

Here is the part that bothered me the most. This book reminded me to much of the TV show Once Upon A Time (at least the early seasons) because of something that the evil queen does.

There were some interesting parts of the story despite the negatives. Some people can shape shift into dragons. I mean that is cool and definitely was one of my favourite elements in the story.

Overall the Shadow Queen was another generic fantasy retelling but I did like it but I know that those people who hate generic fantasies that are predictable will probably not like this. Yes I did predict a lot of things that happened in this book but I always try to predict things that happen in books. It is a bad habit. This book is hard to recommend but if you want to give it a shot I would say go for it.


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Poison Study (Spoiler Free) Review

Title: Poison Study
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Series: Study #1
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
Date Read: 1/6/17


I first heard of Poison Study a few years ago and it sounded very interesting, however I never had the motivation to pick it up. Last year I started hearing more things about this book and they were all positive and I finally decided to pick it up. I wish I read it sooner because I really enjoyed it.

Poison Study was released in 2005 (I think if not around that time) and it still is amazing. We follow a girl name Yelena who murdered someone and is next in line to be executed. Instead of being executed she is offered a position to become the Commander's poison tester. She takes the position and things happen. I won't say too much because going into the book only knowing the bare minimum about it helped me enjoy this book more.

Yelena is a strong character. Throughout the book she becomes even stronger and smarter. I liked her as a character and am excited to see what happens in her story next.

I also really liked Ari and Janco and they are probably my favorite characters in the entire book. Both of them had a sense a humor while knowing when it was time to be serious and not be funny.

The story line and plot of the book was interesting as the story kept me interested from the beginning. It took me about two or three chapters to get into the book but once I a passed that mark I was hooked. Things kept happening throughout the story making me want to continue reading and kept me wanting to know what happens next which is a good thing when reading a book.

I really want to continue this series soon and I hopefully will. It was originally a trilogy I hear but now it is not. If I don't finish the entire trilogy I do hope to finish the original trilogy.

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Before She Ignites Review

Title: Before She Ignites
Author: Jodi Meadows
Series: Fallen Isles Trilogy #1
My rating: 3.5/5 stars
Date Read: 12/26/17


When I first heard of Before She Ignites I knew had to read this book. A fantasy book with dragons and a main character with anxiety sign me up. One thing I did like about this book is that the main character Mira's anxiety was present throughout the entire book. It didn't just go away. She also takes medication to help with her anxiety with is also mentioned though out the story.

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer and she knows she is special. Very unoriginal I know but the story is still good trust me the pros outweigh the cons. When Mira discovered a secret that challenges the things that the treaty she was named after stands for, she is thrust into the pit as a prisoner.

I will admit the first half of the book is very slow and boring. Nothing happened. It was constant talk and it was very boring but the second half of the book was so good which is why I rated it 3.5 stars and not 4.5 like I would of if the beginning was good. This book is very political heavy as well so if you like political fantasy's you will probably love this book.

I wish dragons played a bigger role in this book. Yes they are important but there were not a lot of dragons in the book. I think we will see the dragons more in the future books and I am excited to see what happens next. Overall I do recommend this book. Just remember to push through the first half because it is very slow.

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Top 10 Books I want to read in 2018

I have so many books I want to read in 2018 so I thought I would make a TBR of the books I want to read the most. These books are not including 2018 releases and all of these books have already came out. These are in no particular order. Books in a series will be grouped together as one.

1) A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas











2) Empire of Storms / Tower of Down by Sarah J. Maas




3) Renegades by Marissa Meyer











4) A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab











5) The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson











6) Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor












7) In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeomi Park












8) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling













9) Moxie by Jennifer Mothieu











10) Dumplin' by Julie Murphy










So those are the top ten books I want to read this year. I didn't go into a lot of detail but most of the reasons are the same. Either the books have been on my TBR for a long time, I want to catch up or finish the series, or it was a 2017 anticipated release that I didn't get to. Hopefully writing this list down would motivate me to read the book. Thanks for reading!