Wintersong (Spoiler Free) Review

Title: Wintersong
Author: S. Jae-Jones
Series: Wintersong #1
My rating: 3/5 stars
Date Read: 1/20/17

I recently heard of Wintersong and when I read the synopsis I knew I had to read it. It sounded so good.

Wintersong follows a girl named Elisabeth also known as Lisel. She is very passionate about music and music continues to be very important to her throughout the story and I really liked that element. Lisel heard tales about the Goblin King and one day her sister is taken by him. Lisel decides to travel underground and save her sister. I heard this is a Labyrinth retelling and I have absolutely no idea what that is but people say they are similar so. . .

I did not like the beginning of the story. I felt like nothing happened and it was all background information that I did not really care about whether it was important or not. About 1/4 of the way through I was hooked and loved it. Then the middle hit and after that it was just meh. The first half was more action which is what I wanted and the second half was more of an emotional battle which I did appreciate as we don't see a lot of those in fantasy, however I was not expecting the journey to end so soon and was just kind of bored in the second half of the book. The second half also seemed more romance heavy and I did not care about the romance which is a big factor of why I did enjoy the first half more.

Even though I heard this is a Labyrinth retelling, Wintersong also felt like a Hades and Persephone retelling as well. Maybe I noticed that because I have no clue what Labyrinth is but I never heard anyone else make the Hades and Persephone connection although I am pretty sure there are reviews out there that say something about it and I just have not come across them yet.

Will I be continuing with this series or duology or whatever it is. At the moment no. I don't care about the characters that much and I am not really interested in seeing what happens next. This book was entertaining and I did enjoy it for what it was but it as ultimately disappointing as I though I would love it and give it at least a 4-star rating. This book is not for everyone but if you are interested I would suggest reading some other reviews that are more positive and some that are negative before reading this book before you decide whether or not it is for you.

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January Wrap-Up and February TBR(2018)

Hello and welcome to a new post. Today I will be sharing by January Wrap-Up and my February TBR. I will also like to mention I am so close to hitting 800 followers on my bookstagram and it would mean a lot if you gave me a follow. I am @andreasbookishthoughts.

So in the month of January I read a total of 7 books which is a lot more than I thought I would especially since I have midterms this month. One of the books was an audio book reread.

So the first book I read in 2018 is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolken which I gave 4/5 stars. Starting off the year strong. I really enjoyed this book. The Hobbit is the prequel to The Lord of The Rings trilogy which I have read before this book and to be honest I don't think it is necessary to read The Hobbit First but I think you should though. I would also like to say I did watch the movie first, but I still enjoyed the book more. The Hobbit follows Bilbo Baggins and his adventure with the Dwarves and Gandalf. We also learn how Bilbo discovered the ring. Definitely an enjoyable read and I am glad I finally read it.

The next book I read in the month of January is Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I really enjoyed this book as well. Poison Study is a back list book that is still pretty popular as I have seen it mentioned here and there. I finally picked it up after having it on my TBR shelf on Goodreads since 2015 and I can't believe it took me so long to pick it up and I did add the next two books to my TBR shelf on GR. Poison Study follows 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. I also shipped the two main characters a lot. That is all I am saying. Definitely recommend it.

Another book I read in the month of January is The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine which I gave  2.5/5 stars. I didn't hate it. I did enjoy the book but I was not impressed by it. To me it was just average. In fact I won't lie, I don't remember a lot about it. What I do remember is that it is a Snow White retelling and there are people who can shape shift into dragons. The main character is also trying to take back her throne. It was a generic fantasy. The Shadow Queen did remind me a lot of the earlier seasons of Once Upon A Time which I did like more than this book. I will repeat myself. It was not bad. I enjoyed the story and it was entertaining it just didn't wow me. 

The next book I read is also a 2.5 star read and that is The Circle by Dave Eggars. The Circle is my school's book club pick for the month of January. I did not hate it. Just nothing happened. At all. It over described things and I did not like the main character. The story was very eye opening though as we can see how our society could possibly become something like this in the future and it is kind of scary. The Circle follows a girl name Mae and she is hired to work at The Circle and we basically follow her work day and see how The Circle evolves and becomes more powerful in a way. If you want to read it I would say go for it because it shows you how technology is starting to take over our lives.



Another book I read was a reread and I listened to it on audio and that is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which I gave 5/5 stars. The Goblet of Fire is my favorite book in the Harry Potter series and I really enjoyed rereading it in a different format. I am not the biggest fan of audiobooks but the Harry Potter ones are amazing. This is the fourth book in the series and it follows Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. I am not saying much other than it is amazing and you should read the series. 

The last book I read in January is The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hopkins which I gave a 4/5 stars. I surprisingly really enjoyed this book. The reason why I picked it up is because The Becoming of Noah Shaw has been floating around and I wanted to know what the hype for this series was. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer follows a girl name Mara Dyer and she wakes up in the hospital not knowing what happened. She was apparently in an accident with a few of her friends and she is the only one that made it out alive and has no memory of it. This book has an unreliable narrator which made me enjoy the story more as I wanted to know what was true and what was not. Overall do recommend it however I am not sure whether or not I will be continuing with this series due to the fact I heard the third one and Noah Shaw isn't that great.

So those are all the books I read in the month of January and onto my February TBR

I have already read this book this month. I will give you my thoughts on it in my review and my February Wrap-Up. I did enjoy it. I liked the first book but it wasn't great but I heard that the series gets better so I wanted to give this book a chance and I thought I would enjoy it more and spoiler alert, I did enjoy this one a lot more than the second one.






The next book is the one I am currently reading and that is The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson. I think this book has to do with some sort of competition but I honestly have no idea what it is about. I just saw it at my local library and it looked like a fantasy and has a high rating on Goodreads so why not read it.






The next book I want to read is a reread and that is Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare which is the first book in The Infernal Devices trilogy. The reason why I want to reread it is because I want to reread all the shadowhunter books this year in preparation for the release of Queen of Air and Darkness at the end of the year. I love this series so much and am excited to give it a reread. Clockwork Angel is a historical paranormal book which has a love triangle, but it is done right so it doesn't bother me at all. I usually am not a fan of them so if I do like one, than it is probably done very well.


Another book on my TBR this month is Love Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmend. This is a contemporary own voices book following a Muslim teen whose parents want her to be the perfect Indian daughter but she wants to follow her own dreams instead and go to film school. I think (don't quote me) there was a terrorist attack and the attacker has the same last name as her and people treat her differently even though she is not related to him or knows him in any way. This book sounds so good and I heard great things about it so far and it is one of my 2018 most anticipated releases.



If I have time the final book I want to read this month is ACOWAR by Sarah J. Maas. I read the first two books in this trilogy (ish) last year and I thought the first one was okay, but really enjoyed the second one. I am excited to continue on and read the conclusion. I am aware of the problematic issues in this book and will keep and eye out for it as well. I am so excited to hopefully read the finale (ish) this month and finally say I have read ACOWAR.




So that is my February TBR. I hope you enjoyed this post. What was your favorite read in January and what are you most excited to read this month? Thank you for reading and I hope to see you soon!

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!