“Stars flickered around us, sweet darkness sweeping in. As if we were the only souls in a galaxy.”

Edit: After discussion with other ACOTAR fans, I realize I didn't actually like this novella all that much. Most of the opinions below still stand, but there are more issues that I have with the book than what is mentioned below.

Stars (Out of 10): 9.5/10 Stars

Favorite Character: Azriel

Spoiler Free: Picking up a new Maas book has started to feel like slipping back into my favorite pair of pajamas. It’s a comfy sort of feeling, a feeling of coming back home, being surrounded by familiar faces and places. ACOFAS has been no different.

While ACOFAS was different in the sense that it was a novella, and therefore really only introduced things that were detrimental for later books instead of actually solving any large problems, it still carried the same feel of the series that I’ve known and loved the past few years. And while it was super short (though longer than a normal novella), and I did feel like it was over way too fast, it was still just enough to hold me over until the next book, as well as get me excited for the continuation of the series again. Seeing an ending to the main trilogy in ACOWAR had somehow dulled the excitement for what comes after, leading my love to become more muted.

As I said above, this novella could have been considered an extended prologue for the next book, setting the scene for how the following books would come to fruition. In a sense, it also served as an extended epilogue to ACOWAR, both reinforcing its ending as well as revealing more hidden behind the ending, showing how the characters are left, broken and scarred, after the war. (It took quite a toll, and I love how real the characters felt due to it.)

There wasn’t much more to this novella, but overall I just want to say that I’m mostly happy with the direction Maas chose to go with both this novella and the rest of the story so far, as this book didn’t sugarcoat anything while still giving us cute and funny moments.

Careful! Spoilers beyond this point!

Spoilers:

Spoiler

Here, I’m just going to talk about the small things that bugged me (either at the time of occurring, or now after having finished.)

Firstly, Rhys’s first interaction with Tamlin really bugged me when I read it at first. This was not the Rhys we had grown to know and love, but rather the image he had taken to protect his court, that of someone spiteful and evil. However, this annoyance died down quickly, as this issue, and his actions towards Tamlin then, were discussed with many characters throughout the book.

However, I did like that Lucien brought up what Feyre did to the Spring Court. Yes I was cheering her on at the time, and yes she is totally free to do what she wants, especially in terms of revenge, and I personally feel she was just speeding up things that probably would have happened anyways, there is still the matter of the disastrous aftermath. An entire court is weakened and displaced within the power structure of Prythian. There are going to be problems with this, and things that Feyre/Rhys will have to do to make amends for the people that were wrongly hurt in those actions. And I love how this was not forgotten.

Lastly, I was angry with the path Maas is following in terms of Nesta. While the excerpt of the next book does change these feelings, as I am happy with how that seems to be going, I found myself constantly frustrated with Nesta and the entire situation. I want to love her strength and ferocity, but every since book 1, I have been unable to let go of my frustration with her selfishness in some situations. This never went away from first having met her as the sister who wasted Feyre’s hard-earned money. While Feyre is ready to reconcile, and put lots of work towards that throughout the entire series, I’ve never seen Nesta return the favor. And while I understand that her situation is horrendous, and she never asked for any of this, it still hurts me. That’s why ACOFAS killed me a little in that regard. When it came to ACOWAR, I thought we were starting to see positive change. Nesta was working towards victory with them, and seemed to be working towards a better relationship with Feyre again. However, ACOFAS completely went against that, and while I understand the events were extremely traumatic (and even that is an understatement), it seems so weird for Nesta to entirely shut everyone out, even Elain. It is the shutting out of Elain that actually hurts me most here. But the final excerpt gives me hope for reconciliation in the near future (as that is one of my main remaining wishes from the series.)

Removed a star cause Maas is a coward

“Everything dies,” he whispered back. “I’m afraid of so much more than dying.”

Stars (Out of 10): 10/10 Stars

Favorite Character: Torwin and Asha of course (although I loved a ton of the characters)

Spoiler Free: When I got this book in my Fairyloot box, I wasn’t actually all that interested since it wasn’t a book I’d heard much about/ever planned on buying. So it sat there on my shelf, from October until now, when a fateful Scrabble reading challenge made me pick this book up just because I could use it for the letter “I”.

Sometimes, it’s the books that we are the most cautious about that surprise us.

Looking back, I’m appalled that I ever let this book fly under my radar. Badass female main characters? Dragons? Why did I go so long without reading this!

Something snatched my heart from the very beginning of this story, and never let it go. That something was most likely the strong narrator that was still human, still afraid and trapped even with all her strength and power. The narrator that still cared about those around her, even though it made her weaker. The narrator who still had lessons to learn.

My love for this book was strengthened by the complex side characters, the well crafted world, and the gripping plot. I have no complaints about any part of this book, and for a debut, that is an amazing thing to say.

When it came to the characters, most of the main ones of focus had such depth. Even the villains we hated had more to them then their evil, had sets of morals and desires that they adhered to. But when it came to the allies, the characters we were meant to love, the amount of emotion that the author was able to draw out of me for those characters blew my mind. In this relatively quick moving book, my heart made space for not only Asha and Torwin, but Dax and Safire and Roa as well.

Additionally, the world itself was a beautiful thing to experience. We are told about this world both through experiencing it through Asha’s eyes as well as hearing about its history in the form of forbidden stories. This combination never got old, and I was sad when I read the last story contained within the book (since the gray pages stood out and I was able to see when each story was!) The world itself was also a highly interesting one, with conflicting histories told by different groups of people, much like our world is.

Lastly, that plot. THAT PLOT. I was only able to guess one of the twists, and all of the others elicited a gasp. It managed to keep me on my toes the entire time, not knowing what any of the characters were going to do next or what was actually the truth. The pacing of the story was fantastic as well, and I never felt that it dragged or lulled at any point in time. Every chapter was enjoyable, and each word made the end of this story that much more tragic.

Overall, this tale is tied for top book of 2018 with Graceling right now, and I can’t wait to see what books surprise me the rest of this year!

Not as good as The Last Namsara, but great in it's own way

First off I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this ARC. While the copy was provided for free, all opinions are honest and my own.

The Dead Queens Club is a modern high school retelling of Henry VIII and his wives. It’s got drama, romance, and strong female friendships, narrated by Annie “Cleves” Marck, Henry’s fourth girlfriend. She’s the only one that’s managed to survive dating Henry so far, and she’s starting to wonder why…

The first quarter of 2019 seemed to be ripe for a lot of Henry VIII retellings, and this novel was one of a few that caught my eye. I’ve been especially into murder mystery novels lately, trying to find more YA ones as the genre keeps growing, so this book was an instant add to my tbr. When I was accepted to review it before release, I was even more excited, and couldn’t wait to get started.

While in the end, I didn’t rate The Dead Queens Club all that highly, I did thoroughly enjoy the first half of the book. Cleves was a narrator that truly stuck out, whether it be due to her characterization as well as how the story itself was written, and I found myself speeding through the first half of the book. The insane amount of drama the book involves was also hilarious to read, and while some of it was a bit ridiculous, I can definitely see some people I was in high school with acting this exact way. Additionally, even though the book dealt with a decent amount of death for your average high school story, it still managed to be pretty lighthearted and funny, for the most part. Unfortunately, that latter trait had consequences later on.

I wish I could say I liked where the story ended up going, and went into the ending with the same zeal I had started with, I can’t. Somewhere along the line the book just lost me, and I blame that on a few reasons.

1. The book keeps switching who Cleves/we are supposed to trust. While this is common in mystery novels, the sheer amount and speed at which we are thrown back and forth between characters made me feel like a ping pong ball. I’ve never had a book give me quite this much whiplash, and honestly, I really hope I never do again.

2. We are given way too many different stories on what happened “that night.” I felt like I should’ve been taking notes on all these stories since the beginning since by the time everything started going down, so many different tales with so many different intricacies had been spelled out that I couldn’t even keep them straight anymore. I normally still think for myself as I’m reading, not necessarily taking everything the main character thinks as the truth, but in this case, I just had to trust Cleves because I couldn’t even remember everything anymore.

3. The writing style ends up adding to the confusion. I mentioned the writing style above, and while I did like it then, it’s lack of directness and it’s wishy-washy way of spelling things out just added to the confusion the first two points gave me. I had to reread a few parts to get what was really going on, and even then I’m still not sure if I interpreted the scene properly. While I almost always love unique writing styles, this one just ended up hurting the ending even more.

4. At some point, Cleves stops being suspicious of others. There were tons of moments later on where Cleves just kept on believing what her friends said, even after being shown multiple times that they’ve very frequently not been entirely honest with her. Normally this isn’t so annoying, but if I’m relying on Cleves as much as I mentioned above, and suddenly I feel I can’t trust her, I feel even more lost in the book.

5. In the end, I wasn’t able to actually like anyone. Now I get the point of the book wasn’t to make people likable, but the way this book went made it hard to actually enjoy and go along with some scenes and events in the final 20% of the book. I was at the point where I literally didn’t like nor trust anyone, but I had to go along with how it ended up being tied up anyways. I just wasn’t into it anymore.

I’m sure there are more little things that started bugging me the further along I got in the story, but these are the main issues that switched me from loving the book to just being annoyed by it. I feel like it has a lot of potential, and some of these issues may have been fixed enough for the final copy, so I do recommend just trying it. And I’ll definitely see what other books this author will release! However, The Dead Queens Club just wasn’t for me.

First off, I would like to thank the publisher and author for providing me this ARC to review. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition. While the copy was provided for free, all opinions are honest and my own.

FSOTUS Alex (First Son of the United States) and Prince Henry have always had strong feelings for each other. They have been arch-enemies since the first time they met, after all. But when their latest interaction goes horribly wrong, at a royal wedding no less, the two are forced to spend time together in order to convince the public they’re actually the best of friends. But will their fake friendship become real? Or maybe even something more?

I requested this ARC because it seemed like a super cute gay romance and we honestly need more of that in YA. What I got was exactly that, and so, so, much more. This book honestly has it all, but a cute yet healthy relationship to issues that are relevant to today’s society, all of it packaged in wonderful writing.

I honestly don’t even know if I can discuss my feelings for Alex and Henry, and all the other characters of this book, without devolving into incoherent screeching. From the very first chapter these characters were fantastic, and by the end, I loved them all deeply. The bond you make with these characters in this single novel is deeper than some bonds you make with characters you read 5+ books on, and there are some very good reasons for that. First off, all the characters feel utterly and extremely real, from Alex and Henry to the side characters, Nora, June, Pez, Bea, etc. They all have unique passions and dreams that play a large role in the story, as well as real and sometimes debilitating flaws. It allows McQuiston to fully real human experience on the page while making us care very deeply for the events and emotions of the characters. Then on top of all that technical stuff, all the characters were such pure wholesome people? Like yes, the book has quite a bit of smut but this book is far from a “sexy” book, the relationships and characters are all just so cute and lovely, and I am endlessly sad that this book is over and I’m not sure if I’ll get more of them. If you like supportive friendships and pure relationships, fully fleshed characters and relatable emotions, this book is already for you.

Then there’s also how McQuiston writes these characters, the style she uses to describe these people and events. I was honestly blown away. I can honestly say that the writing is this style is simply beautiful, that it goes above and beyond just telling you and showing you a story. While it isn’t lyrically beautiful, in the fairy tale style of authors like Laini Taylor and Naomi Novik, it is emotionally beautiful, the type of writing that seems to directly transfer emotion on to the page and allows the reader to experience the story alongside the characters. There are some moments where the emotions of the characters are written so beautifully that I wanted to stop and reread certain paragraphs over and over again. This book is the definition of an emotional rollercoaster, and Mcquiston’s writing makes sure you feel ever magical and magnificent part of it.

On top of all that, you’re getting more than just a wonderfully written gay romance story. You’re also getting commentary on American society, as well as a bit on British. This story does still partially follow the re-election campaign of the first female president, of characters that are struggling with their sexuality and identity while in the public sphere, of a mixed First Son and First Daughter of the United States. It manages to comment on all of this throughout the story, especially the American political sphere of today. Since this book is parallel to the recent election, playing out similar scenarios in the 2020 election that takes place in the book, there are moments that just plain hurt, that connect so strongly to emotions you, as a reader, have felt in terms of Trump and other terrible, horrendous things that have happened recently. It shows the fragility of the love and fame of a nation, as well as the love of a family, how that can hinge on you continuing to follow the path that they have set aside for you. It’s a book that will sucker punch you in the gut. But it’s also the book that shines a light on the beauty of the world, on the strength and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community and just how much love there is out in the world for each other. In this sense, the novel also perfectly represents our society, the combination of pain and fresh hurt that exists on a global, national, and local level to the hope that penetrates through it all.

If it’s not clear by now, I really, truly, deeply love this book. It’s a story that’ll stick with me for a long time to come, characters that will never truly leave my mind and my heart. It’s a book that is important now and will stay important for years to come. It’s a book I really think you all should preorder, read, listen to, any and all of it. I know it’s a book I’ll be ecstatic to have on my shelves.

First off I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this ARC. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition. While the copy was provided for free, all opinions are honest and my own.

Aurora Rising is the brand new space trilogy from the renowned Illuminae duo. It follows a new cast in a new world, a band of misfits put together on the same squad all led by Aurora Academy’s best student. It involves hidden government secrets, found family, and lots and lots of aliens.

I want to preface this review by noting very explicitly that I was not a fan at all of this book. While I absolutely adored Illuminae and Kristoff’s other works, this book felt like a huge miss for me. I know I will probably get a lot of hate for this, but I want everyone to know that I love Jay and Amie fiercely, and no one is more disappointed in my opinion of this book than me. I also have very valid and real reasons for my dislike, I’m not just hating on a hyped book for attention. With all that out of the way, if reading this review will make you hate me or irrationally angry, just do yourself a favor and click off of it now. (I also won’t go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, as this book is not yet out!)

Aurora Rising did not feel new and unique at all. This was due to the way the story itself was constructed as well as the writing style and personalities chosen for the characters. All of this felt old and uninspired, from the tropey characters to ‘normal’ writing style of the book. And I get that comparing authors’ books to their older ones isn’t always fair, but the comparisons with Illuminae are ones I can’t avoid here. Illuminae, for example, had a fresh and interesting writing style, even if you take away the interesting file aspects. The character’s voices all felt unique and real. Aurora Rising had seven characters that all sounded the same with very slight variations written in a style that most YA books nowadays have, a mainly factual way of storytelling with a lot of sarcasm or snark mixed in. Additionally, while this is not something I noticed myself, many of the people pointed out the extreme plot similarities with a popular tv show. I haven’t watched this show myself and therefore this did not really affect my own reading, but I feel this is just another part of the book that will make it feel unoriginal to a lot of other readers.

Throughout reading, I kept my distance from Aurora Rising, from its stories and characters. I was never truly drawn in, never made to care about the world, plot, characters, etc. When characters were hurt, I kept on reading as if nothing happened. When shocking revelations were made, I blinked twice and kept on going. Illuminae had me emotionally shutting my book, gasping out loud at the twists and turns, flipping the pages manically to find out what would happen next. There is a divide between the emotions these two books made me feel, and while the hype and hope I had for this book made the fall hurt even more, it does not erase that Aurora Rising felt like any ordinary YA novel.

Lastly, one of the most memorable parts of Illuminae are all the shocking, dark and honest moments of the book (most notably ones dealing with AIDAN). Aurora Rising attempts to mimic this, but fails horribly. There are many portions of the book that I know are meant to make me feel things, either deep and unending sorrow or utter fear. This book tried to do that using needless gore, repulsing me rather than shocking me. Only the final sequences seem to emulate the emotion Illuminae created in me, but even that was only a whisper as by then I had given up on the book.

I’m not going to tell you all to cancel your preorders (though that’s a whole new can of worms I’d really rather not get into here), and I’m not going to tell you to lower your high hopes. There are things in this book that a lot of readers may love, a story here that may somehow turn into something in later sequels. But if there is one thing I want potential readers to take away from this review, it’s that Aurora Rising is no Illuminae .

“If you knew what I went through to get into your home, that I messed up my back trying to know you, inside and out, you'd judge me for it.”

You is Kepnes's latest thriller, now a hit Netflix series. It follows Joe, a man endlessly obsessed with a girl, Beck, who walked into his bookstore one day. Curiousity turns to obsession as the progression of the tale turns dark and darker, revealing the lengths Joe is willing to go to make Beck his.

I expected a lot from You, from both the rave reviews from my friends and family about the show to just general internet reception. However, it just didn’t manage to blow me away. I didn’t dislike it, and the time I spent reading it wasn’t wasted, but it was an averagely thrilling book and nothing more.

In terms of plot, this book was actually pretty predictable and that’s one of the worst things for a thriller. The build-up and background of Joe in the beginning made it pretty clear what was probably going to happen later on, and when we finally actually got to it, I was already bored of the idea. Additionally, we know going in that Joe is a stalker, that he will go to great lengths to get to know every single part of Beck and to date her and love her. This makes what he does end up doing, which is extremely creepy if you think of it happening to yourself, feel almost normal, since he’s doing exactly what you expected him to do.

Additionally, the situation with the characters themselves is also an interesting choice. No one is actually all that likeable, so you never end up feeling for the people who suffer and for Beck, who is being ruthlessly stalked. They are all so petty and fake, revealed from all the “research” Joe is doing, and it leds to detachment from the event happening to the characters as well as lack of empathy for them. It removes the emotion and stakes from the book, as while you know what Joe is doing is bad and he definitely should not have done this or that, you end up not really caring since you don’t emotionally feel the consequences of his actions.

What is interesting about the book is the way is positions as the reader. The entire time you look through the eyes of Joe and are seeing things from his perspective only. It leads to a one-sideness, a belief in what Joe is doing even though every part of you knows it is extremely wrong. This is only aided by the fact that you don’t actually like his victims, so a part of you doesn’t really care about what he’s doing and still hopes he gets the girl.

All in all, I don’t regret reading this book and I’ll probably watch the series in order to see how this gets transferred to tv, but it’s not my favorite thriller out there by a long shot.

First off I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this ARC. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition. While the copy was provided for free, all opinions are honest and my own.

The Weight of the Stars is a lyrical story about two girls who reach for the stars, literally. Ryann dreams of eventually reaching them, continuing the legacy of her dead parents. Alexandria waits for news from the stars, from a mom that had to leave before Alexandria ever knew her. Both are struggling under the weight of loss, responsibility to those they have, and their large dreams. However, together, they may just find a way to carry the weight and bring their dreams to realization.

This is one of those books that sneaks up on you as you're reading and you don't realize how much it means to you until it’s over.

When I heard the description of this story, as well as some of the selling points of it (LGBTQ, slow burn romance, lyrical writing), I knew I had to request an ARC so I could read it ASAP. I will admit that at first this novel can be hard to get into, and I didn’t find myself liking it at first, but my love for the story was one that ended up growing slowly, and sneaking up on me in the end.

One of the hard parts of this book is the characters, as they are not easily likable characters. Ryann and her friend group, while known for their ability to befriend everyone and bring quiet misfits out of their shells, are often quite aggressive in their approach, to the point it’s practically bullying. It really puts you off of almost all the characters at first, and the victim of this behavior, Alexandria, is not someone you really easily pity either. However, slowly but surely, you end up accepting and liking these characters for all their flaws and bad behaviors, and the way their stories end up interweaving is quite beautiful.

The writing is also something I was originally disappointed in, but found a great love for later. I had expected something slightly different, and while the writing was definitely lyrical, the short chapters and formatting of the story worked to make the story more choppy. However, once again, as you keep reading you learn to love this style and how well it meshes with the story. The ending was especially beautiful, and the emotions it ended up invoking in me were what made me realize that this story actually got to me. I will definitely read Ancrum’s other novel just to see how the writing style is used in that story.

The plot itself was also one of growing intensity and size, starting from a small classroom to an even smaller trailer park to eventually spanning the stars above. As the story goes on, more and more players end up having a role in everything that’s happened to Ryann and Alexandria. The winding style of the plot matches up to the characters and writing style perfectly in this sense, and it leads to everything coming together in perfect melody.

(Also, as a note, there is a large range of diversity in this novel, especially in terms of sexuality. A few of the side characters are gay, along with a girlxgirl relationship in the forefront of the novel).

All in all, it’s hard to describe how I loved this book because even I am not entirely sure of how I ended up liking it and how I ended up having my heart broken at the end. It’s a unique story in this way, as not many manage to sneak up on me. In the end, I highly recommend this book for those who dream of space, those who wish to read more diverse books, and those who love tales that slowly increase in intensity and emotion. I will definitely be reading more novels from Ancrum!