I loved this book!

It totally shows you a whole other side to Mindy Kaling, from what you see on The Office. She's a writer on the show! I didn't know that! Some of my favorite episodes, she wrote!! She's also very funny. This book goes through a lot of her past and her present.

One of my favorite chapters is when she's going on about how long it takes for guys to tie their shoes! I laughed so hard, I started crying. Chris was sitting there and I was having a hard time explaining it without dying laughing. We have this conversation all the time! He always has to sit down to tie his shoes and I joke that it takes him 20 minutes to put on his shoes! So if we are planning on going somewhere when I get off work, I call ahead to tell him to put on his shoes! haha.

This is a fun, short read! I'm glad I read it. Now, I know to look for her books because I will enjoy them!

What can I say? It's Tina Fey! Tina's book is more of a tell-all about her childhood and how she grew up and how she got to where she is now. she is hilarious! It was definitely a book I really enjoyed. It's definitely funny.

I really want to give this 2 stars but I thought I would be generous because I liked the original books so much. This book was just such a disappointment. The Heir wasn’t too bad and I figured that maybe this one would be better. Nope, it was worse. The biggest problem I have with this book is that it is SO unrealistic. There’s several things that make it so.

For example, there is no way in heck that Maxon would give up his crown and make his daughter queen, to be with his wife. I get she’s a bit sickly now but his DUTY is to be a KING. He’s still of sound mind and there’s no way, after 20 years, he’s going to give up and put his daughter that has no experience on the throne. Secondly, how in the world did she just decide to change the whole entire way the country is run on a whim? Oh, I’m on an emotional high because my “all the sudden” love of my life, loves me back. Let’s get rid of everything that the people are unhappy about with a snap of my fingers. It’s just not realistic.

The worst thing to me was the love story or lack thereof. I get that her and Erik had some moments but they never really had much of a way to REALLY fall in love. It just doesn’t happen like that. Cass did not give us a love story and something for us to root for. It was just out of the blue, “Oh, I love him.” It felt forced and I just couldn’t buy it. I found myself really rolling my eyes throughout this book. It’s so sad because I did like the original story.

Maybe I have just grown as a reader, not sure.

The writing in this book just really fell flat for me. Not only was it a short book to really end the duology, it was really rushed. I kind of felt like Cass was tired of the series or something. The ending just wrapped up so quickly. She proposes to her “love” and makes a huge change in the country and it’s all happy ever after, in a few pages.


I’m just was expecting so much more. Definitely more of a romance, like Maxon and America’s story.

I want to thank Goodreads First Reads and the publisher, for providing me with a copy of this book. This review/thoughts/opinions are my own.

Blurb from goodreads:
“Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia's life, her erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny.”

Okay, I will admit that I did not read the 1st book. Honestly, I did not know this was part of a trilogy, when I requested it on goodreads. I started reading this book and kept thinking that I was missing something. Sure enough, it is a sequel. I went ahead and continued reading it because I could not get my hands on the first book. I figured that I would be okay because they usually will summarize big moments in a previous book. I was not wrong.

Anyways, I really liked this book. It was fast paced and I was just sucked into this book. I spent the rest of the day reading because I just had to know what was happening.

I loved all these characters. Wow, the scheming and plot twists were pretty great. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Towards the end of the book, I was starting to get really nervous! I really liked Lia. I really liked how independent and brash she could be. She wouldn’t take anything from anyone. She always knew how to push just far enough, without actually crossing the line. I enjoyed that and I will admit, sometimes it made me nervous.

I definitely was torn between the boys. There is clearly no love triangle here but I really like Kaden. I actually like him more than the Prince. He’s (Prince) a bit arrogant and all about being a hero. He didn’t really end up being the Hero to me. Lia doesn’t need a hero at all. I just really liked Kaden and we learn so much about him in this book. I will definitely go back and read the first book though.

The ending is definitely a surprise. It does take us some time to get there but it’s not boring. You fly through this book but we do get a lot of background and history of Venda.

I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book to see how this ends!

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this book. This review/opinions are my own.

This really does break my heart. I loved both of his previous books: A Man Called Ove & My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. I loved them both! I know that his books can start off slow and then it’s just amazing after about 1/3 of the book. I really tried. I am about 55% of the way and I just can’t get into this book. It’s definitely going to be one of the rare DNF-Did not finish- books. I am so sad about it. I know that I’ll be in the minority here. If someone can tell me that it gets so much better, please do so. I just can’t get attached to any of the characters or the plot.

Let me explain myself, the characters. Ugh, I cannot stand the way he’s chosen to describe these characters. Actually, most of them don’t even have real names. How is “Somebody” a name?! I get that’s what she makes up. It still just makes everything confusing. There’s so much strange dialogue between the characters that it makes it awkward. I know it’s totally the point. Britt-Marie is an awkward OCD soul. I get it but you have to engage me into these conversations. Most of this book is just boring and it goes nowhere. I’m 55% of the way through and NOTHING has really happened. I also did not laugh at all. I didn’t think it was funny and she kept saying “ha ha” and I was getting really annoyed with it.

This book had so much potential but it just completely fell flat for me. I couldn’t get pulled in by any character. I did try though. I picked this up and read a few chapters over the course of a month! I just had to stop every time. I told myself that this would be the time I got sucked in and it never happened. There’s so much I want to read and I just can’t keep trying to get this one finished. I gave it a valiant effort, I swear.

I have seen this book everywhere. It’s been on my list for a while and the hold list at the library was so long. I finally got it in and started reading it on my lunch break. After the second day, I took it home and finished it that night. I just got so caught up with the story, I couldn’t just read it at lunch time anymore. I really liked this book but there are some reasons that I gave it only 4 stars.
First, I would like to say that this is such a unique take on a dystopian world. I was really intrigued with the different classes being the blood type, Reds vs. Silvers.

Mare is a red and she is from the other end of the class spectrum. She is supposed to work hard or enlist in the army. If you are not blessed with any special skill, the army is your future. This is what Mare is looking at when we first meet her. She’s trying to find a way to save herself and a friend from the war front. I liked her character enough; I want to see her evolve a little more. Her love quadrangle is just annoying. Ugh. I hate love triangles and this is just the worst! I also find it hard to believe that she had NO signs of her GREAT power for 17 years. It just doesn’t seem that there would be no little signs or anything.

I really liked Cal too. I think that we will see some great things from him. We don’t get a lot of him in this book, just touches here and there. You can see him fighting a battle with himself. He’s torn between a better world and following his father’s footsteps. I can’t wait to see how he develops as a character.

There are some things in this book that are very predictable. I actually, saw everything happening, way before Mare. It was quite obvious but that’s okay. I am very surprised when a YA book is able to shock and awe me. Aveyard, did a good job keeping this book flowing and interesting. I just couldn’t put it down. I’m really excited to see what happens in the future. I have heard horrible things about book 2. I think I’m going to take a break and wait until closer to the release of book 3. If book 2 is horrible, I may never pick up book 3 later on.

I decided to start this and see what all the fuss was about. I started this book when I got home from work and finished it the next morning.

This is loosely based on beauty and the beast. I didn't know that before I started. I totally got the Beauty and the Beast vibes when I was reading it. There are a lot of similarities but in a faerie world. I love Beauty and the Beast and fairies!

I liked this story but I didn't really care for the main "beast" character that much, Tamlin. I actually liked his friend, Lucien, much better. It might be because we get more of a dialogue between he and Feyre. I felt like this story lost a lot in the middle. We started off good and interesting but then lost something in the middle. I think it was just way too long. The ending is where all the action happens.

Feyre was okay as a character. I really feel like she should have asked more questions or should have tried harder to find out what was going on. She just kind of took everything as it came. She lost so much of what she was in the beginning of the book. She was strong and took care of her family. Then she just kind of is blah in the middle. Towards the end, that's when she becomes more like the beginning of the book. So, I wasn't in love with her character in this one.

I feel like this book was just basically a love story. It felt really romanticized and I didn't really get any of the bigger issues going on. At the end of this book, I was like.... what really could be next but a messy love triangle? I didn't get anything about the world or the problems/oppression. I felt like this book was really just a stand alone book.

I did like all the supporting characters and Rhysand. The last 1/3 of this story is what makes this book. I love how she had to fight for what she wanted. All the tests. where brutal but I loved her dedication. I really liked how it all came together.

I'm in the next book now and I'm not sure how I feel about it about 200 pages in. We will see.