Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1) by Sara Raasch

Published by: Balzer + Bray

Genre: YA Fantasy, YA, Magic

Rating: *****

This has got to be a book that has gathered dust on my shelf for over four months. I never touched it except to move over books around, it just stayed there looking rather wistfully at me as I chose other books. However, this has changed!

Snow Like Ashes is the first book in an exciting series about a fantastical world that follows the life of orphaned Meira. Meira has always known her status as an orphan to mean she is nothing, she desperately tries to prove her worth by becoming a soldier and anything she can to help her longtime love, and King, Mather.

Yet there's a twist. As always there's a bloody twist. Meira's world is based on the seasons. Her race is Winter, a place that has been destroyed and taken over in a war that has cost their population to decrease severely. But there's a tonne of secrets that if I even tried hinting at, I would definitely spoil this for everyone, therefore, I will remain silent.

It's an exciting book that echoes Game of Thrones and Throne of Glass (seriously it does!). I was swept away in the way that Raasch writes. Completely blew me away this book, and now I've just got to finish the second in hopes that it'll be just as good, or even better.

You can buy Snow Like Ashes from Amazon

Unrivaled (Beautiful Idols #1) by Alyson Noel

Unrivaled (Beautiful Idols #1) by Alyson Noel

Published by: Katherine Tegen

Genre: Young Adult Romance, Young Adult Contemporary

Tagline: Welcome to the party

Rating:****

The book follows a few characters on their endeavour to win a competition. Through this, the reader encounters the mean ad celebrity filled streets of Los Angeles and there's a mystery/thriller as a famous actress goes missing.

So my main thoughts of this book was how much I wasn't sure if I didn't like it or not. Torn between wanting to stop reading it for fear of losing my sanity - it got to the point I was contemplating trying it later, or continuing it so I might just discover what the hell was going on.

However things did pick up. Thank god for that! But the sad news was that it picked up too late. For me, I became interested as the novel ended because that was when the true thriller/mystery aspect kicked in.

(A free copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.)


Unrivalled can be purchased from all retailers, or on Amazon UK now.

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Published by: Balzar + Bray

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Rating:****

Dumplin' is the book every teen should read. Heck I think most adults should give it a read! Willowdean Dickson is a self-proclaimed fat girl. She knows she's fat and she's okay with it. (Hurrah for a book about a character who is comfortable with their body). Her mother on the otherhand isn't okay with it. She's an ex pageant winner and now judge of the yearly small-town pagaent. Willow then decides to enter it after lots and lots of debating it.

Add in a lot of general fallouts with the best friend  and boy problems mixed with a large dash of the outsiders grouping together and you've got a fantastic book. I really really loved it and it made me feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin because the characters were truly something.

The book has got to be one of my favourite ones ever. I was amazed by how Murphy created this character who was quirky, funny and overall someone I wish I knew or met during my own awkward high school years. 

Dumplin' can be bought at Amazon UK or Amazon US.

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

Published by: Simon Pulse

Genre: Young Adult, romance

Rating:****

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids follows troubled protagonist Elyse D'abreau after a tragic accident that has left her incapable to speak.

In the seaside resort of Atargis Cove, she writes poems on paper and ships until one day she writes on the wrong person's ship. Meeting the famed summer resident Christian, Elyse slowly begins to exit her shell.

The book itself is quick read. I managed to read it on my way home from Chester which is about an hour max. I was bored though. There was something about this that didn't read as easy as Ocklers other novels. I just wasn't a fan and this is probably why I have so little to say about this.

The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows

The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows

Published by: Katherine Tegan Books (yay!)

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating:****1/2

Wilhelmina is a princess of a fallen kingdom. It fell during an invasion by the Indigo kingdom where Wil lost her parents and ran away to watch and plot from afar, her climb back to the throne. Hiding away in the Indigo kingdom, Wil is leader of a pack of thieves and orphans who she cares for and asks to aid her.

At a chance opportunity, Wil and best friend/fellow thief Melanie hide away in the castle under the guise of migrants seeking aid. Using the time to map out the kingdom and to work out a plan to get her kingdom back, Wil is literally on her own and becomes half the princess she is. Truly in the moment she is dressed as she should have been, she becomes this wise and strong leader that gives the reader faith that the sequel will be strong and amazing.

I'd write more but I'd probably drop more spoilers than describing the book. However one thing I have always stood by is that if  a book was published by Kathering Tegan, then it is amazing. Her imprint is almost always publishing captivating and thrilling books that make readers stop and think a little whilst sending them away to other worlds to be blown away.

The Orphan Queen is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

Published by: Harpercollins

Genre: YA, YA Retellings, Fantasy

A magical return to Oz with a twist.

Amy Gumm is just another trailer park girl from Kansas. She's wears charity shop clothes, her mother steals money from her and she's basically friendless. But a tornado comes and takes her from present day Kansas and into the magical world of Oz that isn't so magical anymore. 

Oz nowadays is very different from the sunshine and rainbows when Dorothy went there. Now Dorothy has become a malevolent force, she's sucking the land dry of it's magic.

So you might ask what Amy has to do with this?

Well the title says it all...

--

I found the book on a first read to be a disaster. I didn't get past the first three chapters and just couldn't bring myself to like it. However I recently reread the book and loved it.

Just goes to show that if you dislike a book at first, you might like it months later because we're constantly shifting our likes and dislikes. I'm a strong believer in giving some books a second read and this was a perfect example of this.

Amy Gumm is a bit annoying at first, you don't pity her which is fantastic. Most authors want you to pity their protag but Paige made Amy stand out more this way. I loved how the story developed and became more and more thrilling. I just ended up devouring the book on my way home, and then rushing out the next day for the sequel.

Dorothy Must Die can be bought from Amazon UK and Amazon US now.

The Fixer (The Fixer #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Fixer (The Fixer #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Published by: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Genre: Young adult thriller, contemporary, crime (almost)

Tagline: Any problem can be fixed for a price.

Sold as Scandal meets Veronica Mars, I was immediately intrigued by this book. And I have to say it was absolutely amazing! I'm a huge Scandal fan so reading this felt like one of those episodes and left me wanting absolutely more.

The Fixer focuses on teenage protagonist Tess Kendrick whose parents are dead. She lives with her grandfather on a ranch away from the hustle and bustle of Washington D.C. However this all changes when her sister manages to get her to move into the city and places her into a new world of politics and typical rich people problems as Scandal does. Yet as she starts at the fancy school for children of the higher up, she discovers she has a gift just like her sister.

Ivy Kendrick is a fixer. She finds and solves problems for the politicians, royals etc. She's a younger Olivia Pope in all simpleness. Tess and Ivy are typical sisters who have grown apart. There's a lot of tension between the two as expected but Jennifer Lynn Barnes makes it work. Okay so she makes it very natural and not at all over the top as some authors do.

But then there's that little problem. There's a theory that a death wasn't just a death and Tess copies her sister and delves into it headfirst whilst tackling school, family secrets and possible romance. She's not just any schoolgirl, she's a fixer like Ivy.

------
My overall opinion?

I absolutely bloody loved this book. Devoured in less than two days,  I found myself hooked on every word as the storyline developed into a fascinating and amazing storyline. I gasped and gripped my kindle throughout the shocking moments, the parts where I wanted to scream at the book and even when I was super happy about everything and nothing.

Tess Kendrick is an amazing protagonist. A strong female lead that we need more of in books targetted for young audiences!

***

The Fixer is available in hardback via Amazon UK with the paperback available from May 2016 but in the states it is available now.

Recent News and Coming Soons

Okay so I've been a little AWOL but I have my reasons.

March is a mad month for me as it's my mother's birthday, my godsisters and then my own so I have down time to spend with my family which is good but add the pressures of university and it's pretty intense. However I think May might be the same as I have a lot of assignments due in the same time AND I'll be going on a writing holiday with some friends off of my course. Therefore I'll let you guys know now that May I might be posting reviews that are written in advance so there might be no fresh unless you follow my Goodreads account (Probably the website that all my first impressions are posted - especially no filtered ones).

But as you might note, my title says coming soon and you might wonder what on earth could this be...

Well I have a few new arcs/books that will be released sometime this year or have been and the top five are:

1. Alice in Zombieland series (so far) by Gena Showwalter
2. The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent Publish July 18th UK
3. Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry Publishing June 4th UK
4. Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios
5. Sweep Series by Cate Tiernan

Inland by Kat Rosenfield

Inland by Kat Rosenfield

This book was greatly confusing but not. I loved Rosenfield's style of writing. It was eery and beautiful all at once. The book follows Callie aka Callypso and her life after her mother drowned and the medical condition she has from that incident (she has bad lungs and panic attacks). Her father is the stern professor who buries himself in work only stopping to tell Callie off. It's a bit of a weird book this. I loved the cover, the blurb and the characters. 

"The Ocean doesn't give it's dead back"

Yeah so quotes like this made me understand and become more interested into this tale and what on earth was going on. I love the power behind them but at the same time needed more. The big mystery in the book was mermaids. I  caught patches and few words that when I'd finished the novel finally clicked into place but I honestly thought the mother was a little insane and she was slightly too. Parts of me did think there was some sort of mythological meaning behind the book but I shrugged that off as no review I'd read said mermaids.

Who knows? All I know is that I LOVE Rosenfield's style and hope maybe I can write like this one day.

If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I read If I Stay a few years back and I honestly didn't like it. But now reading it as a person who has grown up a bit more and now having a better grip on reality, I love it. 

The story follows Mia and her journey on decided whether or not if she will stay in the human world or passover. It's a beautifully spiritual book that makes you love what you have in life because if you don't then you're clearly delusional. It's a tale of love, loss and shows that family isn't just blood, it's those who know you dearly and shows that a disastorous event can flock people to your side instantaneously. Oh god I'm tearing up just writing this review. That's how much this book affected me and okay so I tear up at books a lot but only Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go made me this level of emotional so just read this book and then tell me how you kept a dry eye.

The Lunar Chronicles...

So after my recent trip to Barrow-In-Furness, I was lent a pile of books and in that pile was Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I've always expressed a hesitation of reading this series because a cyborg cinderella retelling was never something that appealed to me. I normally hate retellings of storys I love but somehow I managed to fall for this book. It was just wonderful to read and I was quite attached to the characters.

The second novel Scarlet is based upon Red Riding Hood and I REALLY loved this one!! This was the book where the reader really falls for the main guy. And Wolf really is to die for. He's a man of mixed reviews though so if a badboy-slash-rugged and handsome man is your thing, then Wolf is beautiful. Him and Scarlet continue the first book, though they flicker back and forth to Cinder which is done quite wonderfully. Most authors do this a bit good-bad, mainly bad but I was happy that it was something that still appealed to me.

Cress, the third book in the series wasn't the best book. I admit I enjoyed it but I found her a raher babyish character, something you'll discover why in the book. But again the series remained strong and good things happened!

So this is why you should all go read this series

New Additions!

New Additions to the library!

 R.L.Stine's Red Rain, Veronica Roth's Four: A Divergent Collection and Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen.

Above is most of the books that Louise of Hallelujah Chorus leant me when I was at her house. Up until Brisingr is what she leant me. The hardback book that you can't see the spine of is Delirium, a book I've tried so many times to read and gave up because it's quite annoying to stop and pickup at random times. But anyway hopefully these will bring my reading challenge up! 

ARC Replies and possible insight into the Writing industry

As an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) reviewer, I generally get sent books and I choose which ones I want to read and I selected Appaloosa Summer which was a fairly lovely and simple summer read. (My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/971715104?book_show_action=false)

But what I didn't expect was to recieve such a lovely email back from the author herself. Sometime soon I will be starting to contact and post interviews, advice and more from published (Contracted, self pulished and one day the bigger housed) authors in the world.

Queen of the Tearling (Queen of the Tearling #1) by Erika Johansen

So I recently read a fairly newly published book named The Queen of the Tearling by Eria Johansen. It was a book that Goodreads kept pushing me towards for over a year. All I had from the blurb and some reviews was "Game of Thrones for girls", "An action-packed book for the ladies" but there was a problem.
The book hadn't been completed so how had these people said all these things about it? Well that's the industry for you. From my year of studying media and film pitches in detail, I can reveal that when pitching a story, the writer and production team often say it's blah meets blah and in this case that's what happened.

It's a tragedy though because a reader shouldn't have to be reminded who the main character is throughout the entire book every chapter. I personally couldn't get over the way "I am the queen" or her full title was supposedly dropped every chapter. I already knew who she was and btw this was not a Game of Thrones for girls. Sarah J Maas (Author of Throne of Glass) creates a rivetting world very similar to the Game of Thrones but not completely. Heck why are we even comparing books to George RR Martin's bestselling series? Oh yeah because that's one of the most talked about adaptations of the moment. Eugh. Honestly I hated that they made it sound like GOT is for guys, it's like no. Authors and publicity people should not narrow down the market, that's how one loses sales.

But back to the book I go. The book itself I ended up splitting in half. I got bored easily, maybe because I was on a 3hour train journey and on my last stretch of it or because the lead was fairly naive and rather silly at first, how Emma Watson is signed on for this, I don't know. She's way too badass for this role. But nonetheless I carried on with the book, complaining to my best friend and sending her pictures of the repeated queen quotes/lines. But as a reader of high fantasy (maybe, maybe not) or just someone who enjoys that fantastical world, I found the book rather basic. It just needed a little umph and less about some stuff.

Altogether though it did take me about an hour to read and there were some good moments. Maybe I'll read the sequel, who knows.

So I read a really good book the other day and I wholly recommed it to everyone

A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

It was a fine night to die.

Okay so this book was something I had had my eye on for a few months. The blurb makes it sound so Book Thief-esque (A book I truly loved) and so I waited for it to be published. 

The reading started on my lunch break at work, just after I finished the Grisha trilogy (FANTASTIC SERIES!) and I needed something to read which made me chance upon this on my ebook. Oh was I glad to find this, I was instantly hooked and even guessed a few possible plot twists (which some came true). But I had it finished by the middle of my train journey home, it was that good! 

However I would push this as a book for historical fiction fans or fans of similar books like Michael Morpurgo's War Horse or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas etc. That pre/post ww1 and ww2 theme is quite a strong link between these books but I do strongly suggest you read these!

Pretending by Shanna Clayton

Pretending by Shanna Clayton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

it started so-so and got worse

View all my reviews

The Year We Fell Down (The Ivy Years #1) by Sarina Bowen

The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

it was quite good

View all my reviews

The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

it's between 3.5-4 star mainly because I don't actually know how to describe how I feel after reading this book

View all my reviews

The One (Selection #3) by Kiera Cass

The One by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After Amazon fudged my order up, I've only just got this. What a book! I'm a bit annoyed that some parts don't add up and the quick character growth (more like bipolar behavior) but yeah totally called that ending

View all my reviews

The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray

The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

incredibly silly and dull and unimaginative

View all my reviews