The midnight star (Marie Lu)

To keep this review spoiler-free I've tried to write the summary as vaguely as possible, so if you're interested in a more detailed summary of the series, check out my review for the first two books here.

 A year after the events of The rose society Adelina Amouteru is faced with the hardest decision she had to make so far: either to pursue her mission of seeking revenge or to ally herself with those who have betrayed her once again in order to save the only two people she cares about. 

"You cannot harden your heart to the future just because of your past. You cannot use cruelty against yourself to justify cruelty to others." 

I absolutely loved this book. I think it's the perfect ending to a fantastic series and there's barely anything I'd change if I could. Just like the first two books in the series, the tone of The midnight star is very dark and a bit melancholic and unlike anything I've encountered in a YA novel so far. An aspect that is a lot more prominent in this book than it is in the previous two is mythology, which I really enjoyed. I loved learning about these gods and their tales and I feel like this just adds another dimension to the story. My most favorite part however is definitely the ending. It's so beautiful and bittersweet, so once I started crying, I literally couldn't stop. It rounds up the story really well and leaves (most) readers quite satisfied. To be honest, it's quite predictable, but the point of the ending isn't to be extremely shocking. It's supposed to be the light at the end of this very dark tunnel, that The young elites series is, and end the story with a feeling of hope and the promise of a better future, and the ending of The midnight star does that perfectly. I also adored the short folktale at the very end of the book, that once again shows how different a story can be told depending on the different point of views and that a reader should be aware of all of them to fully understand the story and its characters. The only part I didn't like about this novel (and honestly the series in general) is how short it is. It has so much potential and a lot of that is just wasted by the books being only a bit longer than 300 pages. Another amazing thing about this book however is definitely Marie Lu's beautiful writing. It's so engaging and just doesn't let you go, so The midnight star was a pretty fast read for me. There isn't that much worldbuilding in this book, but since the first two already did a fantastic job at establishing this stunning world, I honestly didn't mind that the story focuses a lot more on the characters and their interactions with each other.
The characters are so amazing. All of them are extremely interesting in their own ways, and there is no character that I found boring, annoying or unnecessary. They are also really diverse, not just from their ethnicity, but also from their social background, which ranges from an escaped slave up to a queen. There are also LGBT characters in there, and I especially liked that two characters are lesbian since I don't think I've ever read a YA novel with queer female characters. I certainly would've wished to see more of their relationship play out in their own point of views, but I obviously enjoyed reading about a queer relationship nonetheless. In general I liked how the relationships are handled, since they are quite subtle and don't distract from the main plot. It's interesting to see a bit more of the character's backgrounds, especially of those we know barely anything about. I don't even want to go into too much detail regarding the characters because of spoilers, but I can definitely tell you that I love all of them and that they are some of the most complex and interesting characters I've ever read about.
I honestly can't recommend you enough to read the amazing The young elites series, simply because it's just so different from the typical YA fantasy novel and I'm sure a lot of you will love it as much as I do.

Rating: 4.5/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review! I'm sorry if there are any grammar/spelling mistakes, but due to studying I just don't have as much time as I usually do to write a review, which results in me making a lot of stupid mistakes. Anyway, have a great day!

Leah

Amy & Roger's epic detour (Morgan Matson)

After Amy's father's death, her mother moved across the country and now wants Amy to join her and bring the car from their old home in California to the new house in Connecticut. The only problem: Amy hasn't been able to drive since the car accident that killed her father, so an old family friend named Roger joins Amy on her road trip across the country for his own reasons.

"The best discoveries always happened to the people who weren't looking for them." 

I know that summer is over again but I still need to catch up on reviewing the books I've read over the summer break and this book is perfect for the holidays. This year I've done a road trip (through Iceland) with my family, so this novel was especially fitting since that's the setting of the story. I absolutely loved the road trip aspect (come on, who doesn't love road trips?) and how the story tells you to take risks once in a while, because their epic road trip only happens due to Amy not listening to her mom and instead starting to plan their own route with Roger. I just think it's quite important to be dared to take a risk once in a while, especially for me, since I usually just take the safe route, and this story does a good in encouraging the reader to do something outside their comfort zone. It is so amazing that each stop is illustrated by the main character's travel diary, which is filled with photos, receipts and little doodles and playlists. These illustrated pages just help make the book a lot more exciting and special because, let's be honest, apart from that, the novel isn't that unique and is basically just like a lot of other YA contemporary books. I enjoy Morgan Matson's writing, but once again, it's nothing special. Nevertheless it's a fun and quick read that gives you such positive vibes and awakens your inner wanderlust.

I like how the romance is handled at the beginning and the middle part of the book, because it's not super dominant and plays out rather in the background than being the biggest plot of the story and it also doesn't distract the reader from the main part, which is the amazing character development of the main character. However, towards the very end the romance suddenly develops instantly and is just way too cheesy and stereotypical for my liking. Since that issue only concerns the last couple of pages, I overall suprisingly enjoyed the romance of this book a lot more than I anticipated to.
I liked the two main characters as well as most of the other characters a lot, but I couldn't really relate to any of them too much. Roger is just a way too perfect person to exist in real life and even though I feel super mean I just have to admit I often found Amy a pathetic character, who makes her problems seem so much bigger than they actually are. Both of them however, especially Amy, go through a big character development during their road trip and it's just so nice to see both of them grow into better people. Also, I genuinly really like the idea of wrapping this development into the concept of a road trip.
Over the summer I've read all of Morgan Matson's books and I can say that I enjoyed all of them a lot, so if you're in need of a summer read or in general just a cute contemporary novel, definitely pick up one of her books!

Rating: 4/5 ✹

I'm genuinly so sorry for not uploading these past few months. I've been lacking both motivation and inspiration as well as time, since the amount of work I suddenly have to do for school is ridiculously high. I hope that I can somehow still find the time to post at least two times a month, but I can't promise you anything, especially because all of my exams are coming up soon. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this review, I know it's not really fitting the current season, but I started it about a month and a half ago and just wanted to finish it. Have a lovely day!

Leah

The unexpected everything (Morgan Matson)

Andie has planned her whole summer perfectly months beforehand, but right at the beginning of the holidays all her arrangements get destroyed because of her father's scandal. Suddenly Andie finds herself completely unprepared and has to make the best out of her pretty limited situation. Andie soon realizes that it's impossible to find the unexpected when everything's always mapped out and, for the first time in her life, dares to take risks instead of taking the safe route.

"I could do this. If whole galaxies could change, so could I."

I had really high expectations for this book since I've only heard very good things about this novel, but it still managed to surprise me with how amazing it actually is. It's everything you can ask for in a good contemporary read and even more. Due to the fact that a lot of the story is told through text messages and also due to the writing, which is really good, the book is very fast-paced and quick to read and you barely notice it's actually pretty long for a contemporary novel with a bit more than 500 pages. I liked how the story doesn't only focus on just the romance part but is also about friendship and family and even manages to connect these three aspects by having the main character's romantic interest interact a lot with her friends as well as her father. It's also quite nice that the main character is only kind of involved in a love triangle and the reader doesn't have to deal with the pathetic and constant struggle of the main character whether she should choose the first or second boy. Another thing I liked is that it's quite realistic in the way it portrays friendship and also shows that not every friendship is meant to last and if you've lost someone as a close friend, it can be better for both of you and there's most of the time a positive way to see the loss of a friend. I personally quite liked the plot because it wasn't too extraordinary, but still eventful enough for the book to not be dull. Especially interesting and unique is the political aspect that the main character's father brings to the story, as well as the excerpts out of a fantasy novel written by a certain character in the book. Now to be honest, I don't know exactly if the "plot twist" is meant to be shocking or at least suprising or not, because it is just that predictable. On the one side, the many (and quite obvious) hints make the whole thing seem pretty realistic, but on the other side, it just makes the other characters look so incredibly stupid for not figuring it out or at any rate suspecting anything. Also, I believe the main character Andie deserves a trophy for giving the dumbest advice in regard to the "plot twist". Anyway, the message of the book to be more spontaneous, to embrace the unexpected and to try new things is in my opinion great and the story definitely managed to motivate me to try to be a bit more adventurous this summer and to stop being scared of new stuff and it shows that sometimes not being in control isn't the worst thing.
For the most part I really liked the characters and they are, except for the annoying times (like I mentioned before) when they seem so stupid, pretty likeable. I'm not gonna go into any detail about the characters because even though there are quite a lot of them, which I enjoyed, none of them really stands out as a very special character or a new favorite of mine. However, all of them are relatable and they do create a nice mix of different personalities and interests. I especially liked the dynamics between Andie and her best friends Palmer, Bri and Toby and the development of the relationship between Andie and her father. I'm not gonna lie, the romance is quite sweet in this book, but not something special or outstanding.
Anyway, this is the second book by Morgan Matson I've read so far and after finishing The unexpected everything I bought her other two books instantly because I loved everything I've read by her so far. I have to say that I prefer her other novel Since you've been gone a bit over The unexpected everything because I personally just like the storyline and the characters a little bit more, so if you've enjoyed The unexpected everything I can't recommend it enough to pick up Since you've been gone and obviously the other way round.

Rating:  4.5/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review. Have a lovely day!

Leah

The young elites (Marie Lu)

Adelina Amouteru is one of the survivors of a terrible disease called the blood fever that killed every adult who got infected and marked the few surviving children, making them malfettos. Malfettos like Adelina are despised and excluded from society, sometimes even hunted. Adelina soon discovers that the blood fever hasn't just brought her suffering, but also a gift: a magical and strong power, which makes her one of the Young elites and gives her the opportunity to seek revenge against all those who've wronged her.

"I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside. It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt."

When I started The young elites I had literally no idea what's it about and only picked it up because so many people said how amazing and unique this series is. Because of my high expectations I was a bit disappointed since the book is for the first half basically like every other YA fantasy novel and while that definitely doesn't mean it's bad, it just wasn't what I've expected and what I've wanted to read. But towards the ending, The young elites gets suddenly very dark very quickly, which I honestly absolutely loved. The concept of having the main character start out as a hero and turn more and more into a villain is just super intriguing. Since you tend to get attached to the main character in general as a reader, you are constantly questioning yourself during this series whether you really should support and root for the main character. It brings you in a bit of a moral dilemma and kind of forces you to think a lot about your idea of ethics. The plot in general is quite fast-paced and I felt at no point in any way bored. I liked the writing as well as the worldbuilding, even though I was a bit confused where exactly which character was at some points during the story (but that's probaly just because I was too stupid to understand the map at the beginning of both books). One thing I really didn't like however is how short both books are. The first one is about 350 pages, the second only slightly longer and at least in my opinion, that's just a bit too short for a fantasy novel, especially because I'm used to reading fantasy books with at least 500 pages. I usually wouldn't mind that much, but The young elites series has so much potential and it'd be simply great to have a longer story and to explore it inmore depth.
The best thing by far about this series are definitely the characters. All of them are super interesting and intriguing and actually feel like realistic characters since they all have some kind of backstory and none of them is completely good or evil. The main character Adelina Amouteru is a fantastic character. She's completely different and incredbly complex and something that makes her so special and interesting is her internal dialogue, that becomes even more present in the second book. What I really admire about Adelina is how she manages to turn horrible experiences into advantages. The abusive childhood she had to suffer through didn't break her, but only helped to make her stronger. Despite being sometimes afraid of the darkness inside her, she uses it for her power rather than pretending it's not there. I think these examples just show how much of a strong character Adelina is and honestly, I was in equal parts slightly terrified of her and also sympathised with her a lot. I won't go into any detail about the other characters to avoid spoilers, but I can definitely tell you that they're amazing and reading about them is truly phenomenal.
I am genuinely so excited for the third and last book in the series called The midnight star and can barely wait for October to get my hands on it. Hopefully I've motivated you to pick up this series and you'll enjoy it as much as I have!

Rating:
The young elites:  4/5 ✹
The rose society: 4.5/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review. Have a fantastic day!

Leah

The moon and more (Sarah Dessen)

Emaline seems to have her life perfectly figured out with her long-term boyfriend Luke, a decent job and a good relationship with both her family members and close friends. But then she meets in the idyllic beach town she's lived in for her whole life a young and ambitious man from New York called Theo, who challenges her to reach for bigger things. To make her last summer before she has to leave for college count, Emalin decides to be more adventurous and open for new challenges as well as relationships, and tries to find the balance between where she comes from and where she's going.

"Life is long. Just because you don't get your chance right when you want or expect it, doesn't mean it won't come. Fate doesn't punch a time clock or consult a schedule."

This is the first book by Sarah Dessen I've read, so I didn't have any expectations and I also can't compare this to any of her other novels, but I enjoyed it. It's exactly what I wanted and hoped it to be, which is just a light and fun summer read, that makes me excited for the season and appreciate the good weather instead of complaining all the time that it's way too hot. Anyway, it definitely did inspire and motivate me to go out and do fun activities this summer rather than binging TV shows for the whole summer break (let's be honest, I'm still gonna do that, but hopefully just not as excessively as last year). Honestly, this book isn't anything special or unique and it's basically the definition of a YA contemporary novel including aspects like a love triangle, family drama and friendship, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing at all. In the end, we all read because it brings us enjoyment and The moon and more definitely doesn't disappoint in that point. This novel is also great for a variety of different kinds of readers: picky readers know pretty much exactly what to expect, it's obviously amazing for people who are really into YA contemporary literature and it's also safe to pick up for young people who don't read a lot. The plot is okay, it's not that dramatic or thrilling, but again, that's not really the reason you read those kind of books. What I especially liked about this one are the different family dynamics and the fact that the main character doesn't have these stereotype friends. Something that confused me a lot are these moments at the end of some chapters where some bad event gets kind of teased, but then at the beginning of the new chapter you find out that literally nothing happened. I mean, why tell the reader that the main character is hanging out in a neighborhood with this really bad reputation and it's dark and someone is approaching her, and then just start a new chapter back in her house and just ignoring the previous few pages. I was a bit disappointed with the romance because I had my problems with both boys the main character has a romantic relationship with, it is however quite nice that the focus doesn't solely lies on the romantic aspects of the story. The writing is okay, it's not fantastic, but it's not bad or cringe-worthy either and it allows the reader to basically fly through the book, since it's so easy and fast to read. The novel has with about 435 pages in my opinion the pretty much perfect length for a YA contemporary book and gives the reader enough time to really get to know the characters as well as the places where the story takes place.
I liked most of the characters and I think pretty much all of them are in some way relatable, something that's at least for me very important in contemporary and coming-of-age novels. I think that's why it's great to read a book like that sometimes, even though you're like me and enjoy fantasy books a lot more. These characters aren't like somebody who we want to be, like the ones in genres like fantasy or sci-fi, but similar to the person we actually are. These realistic characters who share certain character traits with me help me gain at least a bit more confidence and also boost my self-esteem by showing me that I'm fine the way I am and that there's wrong with me.
 I'm pretty sure I'll pick up another book by Sarah Dessen, since I feel like after reading The moon and more, you can't really go wrong with any novel written by her in case you're searching for a light contemporary read and I'm just in the mood for fun summer books right now.

Rating:  3/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review, have a lovely day!

Leah

The rose and the dagger (Renée Ahdieh)

Just like always, since this is a sequel, the summary is for the first book in the series called The wrath and the dawn.

The ruler of Khorasan, a boy-king, takes a new bride every evening, just to have her end up dead by the time the sun rises again. When Shahrzad's best friend Shiva is forced to marry him and gets murdered by him, Shahrzad wants vengeance and volunteers to be the king's next wife. She achieves something none of the girls did before her: She manages to live until dawn.

"No. He was not here to wreak revenge. For revenge was trifling and hollow.

No. He was not here to retrieve his wife. For his wife was not a thing to be retrieved.

No. He was not here to negotiate a truce. For a truce suggested he wished to compromise.

He was here to burn something to the ground." 

The thing I love most about these two books is definitely the setting. Renée Ahdieh manages to create such a beautiful and unique atmosphere with her descriptions about the clothing, buildings, nature and food and by adding a few Persian words and phrases the world feels pretty realistic. The storyline is good, it's certainly gripping, but nothing too special. To be honest, I could've gladly passed the whole love triangle up and I definitely didn't need that many quarrels between Khalid and Tariq. Their small "battles" just seem like pissing contests between two premature teenagers and that's exactly the way they acted around each other, which I thought is simply stupid and annoying. The romance in this book was definitely bearable and quite cute and even though it is one of the biggest main aspects in this story, there isn't too much of it. For some reason I assumed that this series is a trilogy when it actually consists of only two books so the ending really caught me off-guard and I wasn't expecting it, since it's in general pretty short and feels rather rushed. I also can't see the point of the last kind of climax in the story, since the event is undone anyway, so why is it really necessary?
Shahrzad is in my opinion a completely average main character, I did enjoy reading from her perspective and I do like her, but she's not gonna become one of my favorites since I just didn't have any kind of "connection" to her. However, I really liked the big role Shahrzad's little sister Irsa played in the second book in the series and honestly prefer her over Shahrzad. I can relate to her a lot, she's pretty much the opposite of Shahrzad, since she's rather calm, shy and quite insecure. Because I often experience feelings similar to hers it was amazing and empowering to see Irsa overcome her fears and develope into an independant and strong character. The relationship between Shahrzad and Irsa is just beautiful and made me realize once more how lucky I am to have siblings. The only character I thought was pretty much unnecessary and didn't "deserve" the big role he plays is Shahrzad's and Irsa's father Jahandar. Of course it was nice to have him add a bit more magic to the story, but I couldn't care less about him. He annoyed me (actually not just me but all the other characters as well) the whole time and I didn't care one bit whether he survived or is happy or is gonna suceed or not, and at some points I even hoped he would finally die, not because he's a horrible or cruel character that I hate, but simply because he bothered me so much. What I enjoyed a lot however is how strong and independant women are portrayed in these books and it's so satisfying to see them achieve so much despite their, in comparison with men, rather low social position and their "lack" of physical strength.

Rating: 4.5/5 ✹

I'll be really busy with studying for exams for the next three weeks so I probably won't be able to write any reviews, but I'll still try my best to at least post a book tag once a week. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this review. Have a wonderful day!

Leah

A court of mist and fury (Sarah J. Maas)

To keep this review spoiler-free the summary is for the first book in the series called A court of thornes and roses.

Feyre lives near the wall that seperates the mortal lands from the faerie realm. To keep her family from starving, she needs to hunt and ends up killing a magical creature. To pay for the life she took, she gets imprisoned in a faerie court and slowly but surely falls for her captor, a creature she's been taught to hate for her whole life.

"There are good days and hard days for me - even now. Don't let the hard days win."

This book is phenomenal. Honestly, I don't even know where to start. I had super high expectations when I started it since the sequel was one of my most favorite books in 2015 and it took me a while until I could finally start reading, so I already heard of all the positive reactions and reviews. Still, this novel managed to suprise me because I didn't expect it to be that amazing. I'm really mad at myself for having trouble getting into the story at the beginning since I feel like I could've enjoyed it even more if I was able to dive right into it, but to be fair that was completely my fault because sometimes I just get distracted super easily. Anyway, basically everything about this novel is fantastic. The plot is fast paced, thrilling and varied, there are a lot of small (or bigger) plot twists you don't necessarily see coming and it's pretty much impossible to stop reading. It is certainly very interesting to see how PTSD and trauma plays a big role in this book and I think it's important to have these aspects in a novel like A court of mist and fury, not only beacuse it makes the story and its characters so much more realistic, but also because it's necessary to talk about these things a lot more. I really liked the ending and while it isn't truly a cliff hanger, Sarah J. Maas knows exactly how to end a book, so her readers will definitely pick up the sequel as well and I'm already so looking forward to reading the third book in the series. Her writing is, as always, absolutely beautiful, compelling and especially vivid, so I instantly had pictures of all the characters and places in my mind and had no trouble at all imagining the story in my head. A skill Sarah J. Maas has certainly mastered is world-building. She introduced so many new places and each and every one was absoultely stunning. Honestly, if I had the chance to travel to Prythian, I'd take it instantly and never come back. And that's exactly what I want in a high fantasy book: I want to read about a world that's very different from our own, with buildings that seem over the top and beautiful nature and that's exactly what I got in this book. The only thing I didn't enjoy in this book are the sex scenes. It's not that I think they're disgusting or anything, they're just so cringeworthy and, at least for me, extremely uncomfortable to read. I just feel like a creep staring into someone else's bedroom window while reading these scenes. I totally don't mind one or two of these scenes in a novel, but in A court of mist and fury are at least half a dozen of them. I honestly wished there was less focus on the romance, but to be fair I have to say the book definitely improved in this aspect since in comparison to the prequel A court of thornes and roses the romance is certainly less primary and the focus lies on the plot line.
To be honest, I'm in a bit of a conflict regarding Feyre as a character. At the beginning of A court of thornes and roses I couldn't stand her because she made stupid choices and just did the opposite of what experienced characters advised her to do and as a result got everyone into trouble, but as the story continued she developed and I ended up liking her quite a lot by the end of the first book. For the second book, it was the exact other way round: I began with liking her, but sadly started disliking her more towards the end. It's not like I absolutely hate her, but she's just not one of my favorite characters either. Apart from, like I mentioned before, still sometimes making stupid decisions and ignoring advise she tends to be quite arrogant and just starts randomly villainizing people. She's sometimes a bit annoying and frustrating as well since when she wants something for quite some time and then actually ends up getting it, she suddenly doesn't want it anymore. I also don't understand her morality: killing your rival's family is (obviously) evil, but killing his family in return as revenge is totally fine? Okay. Aside from my personal opinion about her I definitely have to admit that she goes through huge character development and is, especially in the second book, a really strong and independant character. I loved how many new characters are introduced, but at the same time I was a tiny bit sad the characters who appeared in the first book didn't get that much "screen-time". To be honest, I don't really care about Tamlin, but I did miss Lucien a bit. Learning about a lot of characters' backstories was super interesting and adds a lot to the complexity and dimension of the characters. While I really enjoyed how basically all the good characters are very complex and "gray" characters, I was quite disappointed to realize all the villains are very one-dimensional and just completely evil. None of the truly bad guys has any other motivation than the usual thirst for power and all of them are basically 100% evil without any part that's at least remotely good. Because of this, I wasn't very impressed with any of the villains and thought they're quite boring. Anyway, I fell in love with all the new characters, but if I had to choose my favorites, I'll probably go with Rhys and Mor. I'm not gonna lie, I'm definitely looking forward to meeting even more new characters in the third book.
Even though this review may sound a bit negative it certainly isn't meant to be. Sarah J. Maas showed with this book again how brilliant she is and I'm everytime suprised to see how she manages to get better and better. I can't encourage you enough to pick up A court of thornes and roses and A court of mist and fury and if (in the unlikely case) you haven't read Maas' other series, The throne of glass series, go do that now. You definitely won't regret it.

Rating: 5/5 ✹

Can I just say how incredibly cute this little Feyre bookmark is? I just had to show it off in another picture, so have a look at my adorable bookmark (and the beautiful spines of course).
I genuinly didn't want this review to become that long, so thanks for reading it anyway. I hope you enjoyed it, and have a fantastic day!

Leah

The winner's kiss (Marie Rutkoski)

To keep this review spoiler-free the summary is for the first book in the series called The winner's curse.

The rich daughter of a general named Kestrel lives in the Valorian colony Herran, whose original population was made into slaves. Kestrel decides at an auction to buy a slave called Arin without her father's approval and ends up falling in love with him. Both of them are faced with a nearly impossible decision: whether to betray their people or each other.

"You don't need to be gifted with a blade. You are your own best weapon."

This book is everything I possibly could've asked for and the perfect ending to a fantastic series. I absolutely loved it and couldn't help but tear through it. To be honest, this is definitely one of the best last books in a series I've ever read and it's my favorite out of the series, which says a lot since I loved The winner's curse and The winner's crime a lot. The story is super fast-paced and filled with action, schemes, betrayal, gambles and just the right amount of romance. The plot is amazing, it's full of little twists and really intense, so it's most of the time literally impossible to stop reading. There's just honestly not a single thing I would change in this novel, so if you haven't read the series yet, go and pick it up. Now. An especially amazing part of the novel is definitely the ending that completed the story in such a beautiful way. I liked how it isn't an completely happy ending, but still positive enough to make you feel satiesfied. There's not really a lot to say about the writing except that it's fantastic and beautiful and perfect. The alternation between the two POVs is very balanced and especially in the fight scenes, which are extremely epic by the way, done perfectly. I enjoyed the romance a lot more than in the first book because it isn't as prominent and way more mature.
I really loved the characters, especially due to their huge character developments. My favorite thing about Kestrel is that she fights a lot more and a lot better with her brain and wits instead of her fists. Seeing her scheme and planning battles is so interesting and intriguing, definitely also because of the high stakes that are constantly there. I loved the little "duel" she has with her father throughout the book and in general how the story doesn't only focus on the relationship between Kestrel and Arin (what's their shipname by the way?), but also on Kestrel and her father. Arin is a compelling character as well, since he's so ruthless, calculating and cold-blooded, but at the same time he's extremely caring and tender with Kestrel. It's one of my favorite things about Arin's and Kestrel's relationship that both of them bring out a completely different facet in the other person. I also loved the pretty big focus on minor characters like Sarsine and Roshar. I enjoyed both of them so much, Sarsine probably because she's the most relateable character for me and Roshar because he's just such a funny, sassy and sarcastic character. Honestly, I don't even think it's possible to dislike those two.
Anyway, I can't recommend this series enough and even if you don't enjoy the first book that much, definitely keep reading because they just get better. I'm quite sad the series is over now, but I'll definitely pick up any future books written by Marie Rutkoski since they're hopefully as fantastic as The winner's trilogy is. Honestly, just go and pick it up.

Rating: 5/5 ✹

Sorry for rambling so much, I hope you enjoyed this (sadly rather short) review anyway. Have a lovely day!

Leah

The crown (Kiera Cass)

Since The crown is the fifth book in the Selection series, the summary will be for the prequel called The heir.

The crown princess Eadlyn is forced to hold a competition for her heart in order to calm down riots and entertain the population. Even though her parents met and learned to love each other through a similar contest, she doesn't want to even embrace the possibility of finding her soul mate in a group of random suitors and just hopes to end her selection as soon as possible. But as the competition begins, she realizes finding her true love might not be as unlikely and impossible as she thought.

"You have to embrace the idea of imperfection, even in the thing that is most perfect for you."

To be honest, I didn't have anything close to high expectations for this, mostly because I didn't enjoy The heir even nearly as much as I did the three prequels with America as main character. However, while The crown isn't necessarily what I'd call a phenomenal book, it didn't disappoint either. It definitely is a solid ending to a series with a lot of up and downs.The biggest problem with this novel is probably that it's so short. I mean, it's not even 300 pages long. Because of this, everything felt rushed, from the plot to the relationships between characters. The plot in general is so predictable and none of the little plot twists managed to suprise me even in the slightest. But let's be honest, noone reads this series in hope for an incredibly intense storyline, but rather for the romance. And it was, despite being so cheesy a lot of the time, pretty cute. I'm not gonna lie, what I liked most about this book was seeing all the characters from the first three novels in the series all grown up and didn't care that much for any of the new ones, but it's not like they bothered me. The writing is okay, I'm honestly not the biggest fan of Kiera Cass' writing and it often felt over the top. I understand she's trying to create a romantic atmosphere, but some quotes are just too much, like sunshine having a melody. Seriously? I might just lack the experience of having a love life, but I can't imagine ever hearing the melody of sunlight. Anyway, all in all it is a very enjoyable, easy and quick read and the perfect one to get you out of a reading slump or just to motivate you to start reading more.
The characters are mostly alright, but Eadlyn as a main character still annoyed me so much. Seriously, how can two awesome characters produce such a shitty one? I don't even know if Eadlyn is such a brat just because of her upbringing, which apparently went completely wrong, or if that's what her personality is like. At least she wasn't as horrible as she was in the prequel, but I also don't feel like her development worked the way Cass wanted it to because honestly, at the end I still couldn't stand her. I wanted to punch her so badly at several scenes, but especially when she explained how she doesn't like bowling since she has to put on used shoes to do it. Honestly, can somebody please dump her in a huge trash can? Her suitors however, despite seeming really stupid and one-dimensional sometimes, are quite likeable and their interactions with Eadlyn are mostly pretty fun to read about. Like I mentioned before, I loved seeing all the characters from the first three books again and I was suprised to see how many appearances they made and obviously quite happy when I realized that they still play a quite important role. One last thing about the characters: why do all of them have such weird names? Is it so hard to come up with names that an ordinary human being can pronounce properly?


Rating: 3/5 ✹

I'm really sorry this review turned out being so confusing and all over the place. I guess I need some time to get into writing reviews again after my longer hiatus. However, I'll do my best to read more and hopefully I'll find enough time to review most of the books I read. Anyway, have a fantastic day!

Leah

Dead poets society (N.H. Kleinbaum)

Welton Academy is a strict private school rich fathers send their sons to in order to prepare them for their following education as doctors and lawyers. Their daily routine is dictated by the school's four pillars tradition, honor, discipline and excellence and everything nonacademic is deemed as unnecessary and is punished severely. Mr Keating, the new English teacher, however challenges them to life their lifes as fully as possible and inspires a group of boys to resurrect the Dead poets society, a club with its origin during the time Mr Keating went to Welton Academy. The boys have to realize the tragic consequences their new-found freedom and individuality will have soon or their hopes and dreams will be brutally destroyed by the authorities.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering... these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love... these are what we stay alive for."

I read this book with my English class in school, which led to a few reasons that caused me to enjoy this novel a lot less than I would've enjoyed it if I just read it by myself. First of all, it took us over a month to finally finish it and because of that the whole reading process felt super unsatisfying for me since I literally could've read it in two hours. Also, some of my lovely class mates spoiled the only kind of shocking event for me thereby making the book even more boring and predictable than it already was. Obviously I wasn't expecting a really intense and exciting story when I started this book, but I wasn't even close to being prepared for such a dull and dreary storyline. Nothing happens for the first 70 pages and, considering that the novel only has a bit less than 170 pages in total, that's a pretty big part of the book. When the story finally picks up the pace, it just gets weirder. Suddenly the book is going into a completely different direction for the next 20 pages and after that it goes back to normal as if nothing ever happened. The story in general felt kind of unbalanced to me since the different plot lines don't really affect each other and the book tends to focus on one character's point of view for way too long. Most of the time when the POV changes, it's so sudden and abrupt, which confused me a lot. Something that completely perplexed me as well are these random and unnecessary remarks that are everywhere in this novel. Even worse, some of them are unintentionally hilarious, which just makes the book seem pretty ridiculous. The only thing I really enjoyed about the plot is the ending because it does complete the story in a lovely, even moving way, especially by bringing up a scene from the very beginning of the book again. Another aspect I quite liked is the big role that poetry plays in the story and even though I did skim through most of the poems or even skipped some completely, the few I read, mainly the ones the main characters came up with, actually managed to inspire me and I ended up really enjoying them. The writing is quite good, you can obviously see that it was written about 25 years ago but that honestly didn't bother me at all. However, one thing that I got a little bit mad about when I found out, is the fact that the book is based on the movie and not the other way around like it usually is (and supposed to be), so I definitely lost some respect for the author as well as the novel.
I had a lot of issues with the characters as well. None of them, except for Todd, Mr Keating and maybe Neil, really stood out to me, so at the end of the novel I still had no clue who the hell Meeks is and didn't even realize there is someone called Cameron in it until everybody started hating on him. Whoops. All the characters are either really boring, for example Neil and Meeks, or really annoying, like Knox and Charlie. For me the most interesting character is Todd because he's seriously the only one to go through some sort of development, which I actually quite enjoyed, and I also feel like I understand his struggles as a shy and introverted character pretty good. The friendships between the boys are decent, they're nothing special, but they add a nice atmosphere to the book. Even though it seemed a bit unusual for me at first, simply because we have a completely different contact with our teachers, the bond between Mr Keating and the boys is lovely and in very few scenes even empowering. The big romantic relationship in this book however is just horrible and so cringeworthy. Everything about it just feels forced and wrong since they don't fit together in my opinion.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but we'll definitely watch it in class soon and even though it's quite old, I'm still looking forward to it and I'm quite hopeful it'll be more enjoyable than the book.

Rating: 2/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review. Have a wonderful day!

Leah

Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)

So I've read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell a few weeks ago and I didn't feel like writing a review. But since I now feel like doing it, I'm gonna do it ;) I guess I won't remember everything in detail but I hope you don't mind. I always fail with taking bookstagram pics as well bc I forget to take them when I have the copy I've borrowed and afterwards it's too embarrassing to lend it another time just to take that picture (I will post a pic of the next few books I'll be reviewing bc they are all mine). And now, let's get started!

Cath Avery and her twin Wren did everything together. But not anymore, because Wren had decided that she wants to go to college alone to meet new people. Therefore Cath has to deal alone with her new and kind of strange roommate Reagan, Reagan's cute ex-boyfriend Levi and all the other problems she has while being in college. The only thing she is really interested in is writing, or more precisely, writing Simon Snow fanfiction. At first Cath hates college bc of her fear of talking to strangers (actually people in general) and she's only caring about her fictional-writing class. There she meets Nick, another nice boy who seems to understand her, and her boring life gets a little more exciting...

 “Sometimes writing is running downhill, your fingers jerking behind you on the keyboard the way your legs do when they can’t quite keep up with gravity.”

So I've enjoyed reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell so much. I guess a main reason besides the good story is that I can see parts of myself in Cath. Like she loves reading (just like me), she loves staying up all night alone in her bedroom (like me), she is really shy when she has to talk to strangers (well, again just like me) and the most obvious point is that we are both fangirls. Because of that I was able to understand her feelings pretty good (at least I think so). I also liked the parts when I could read her fanfic about Simon Snow and I'm really looking forward to reading Carry on as soon as I can. (By the way, Leah did a review of it and you can read it *here* )
Some chapters were a bit boring when Cath did the same stuff all over again but bc of the interesting characters like Reagan and Levi I didn't mind that much. I just wanted to go on reading and to learn more about Cath's life.

Rating: 5/5 *

That's it for today. I hope you guys liked it.

Have a nice day!

Vicky

Me before you (Jojo Moyes)

Okay, I've just finished Me before you by Jojo Moyes and I really need to talk about it. And I'm sorry that I don't have a pic of it but I only have a crappy German version and you can't take a cute pic with it.

Louisa Clark has everything she needs: a job that she likes, a boyfriend and a lovely family. But after losing her job her whole life changes. Because then she meets Will.
Will Traynor, a once successful business man, had everything he wanted until the day of the accident. Now he has quadriplegia and is forced to live in a wheel chair, unable to move his arms and legs.
Two years after the tragedy, Louisa starts her new job as Will's personal assistant. Instead of serving people in the small bakery like only a few weeks before, she now has to take care of the disabled young man who is always grumpy and mean. But Louisa doesn't know the whole story behind her six month contract and when she's discovered it, a race against time begins...

“You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.”

Firstly, the topic of this book is really serious and difficult and in my opinion Jojo Moyes dealt with it in a fantastic way. Secondly, it's not only a romantic book about love but also about the point of living and the question what a happy and wonderful life looks like. Thirdly, I'm actually destroyed right now bc the story was beautiful and cruel at the same time.
So I loved that you could see the difference between the two families. On one side there was Will's, a noble family, rich, but not that warm and loving towards each other (at least that's what I think). They cared about Will but they didn't let him make his own decisions. On the other side we had the Clark family. Although they are poor and in constant fear of losing everything, they look out for each other. They were always there to help each other (e.g. with Thomas, the son of Lou's younger sister). I mean, they are obviously chaotic and people may see them as weird but I personally really like them.
The plot was really heart-braking but in general it was a good story to read (maybe not the most unique story I've ever read but still not as boring as some other romance books).
The writing was fantastic bc you were taken with emotionally but you also started to make an own opinion about the topic assisted suicide. I could see their character development (especially concerning Lou and Will) as well and I guess that's part of why the book is so good.
Jojo Moyes wrote a sequel called After you and I'm really looking forward to reading it even though I'm not quite convinced that it's gonna be as good as Me before you. Anyways, as soon as I bought and read it, I will let you know what I think about it.
All in all, I totally recommend this book to everybody who enjoys reading dramatic love stories. But be prepared for a lot of crying, heart-breaking moments and laughing in tears.

Rating: 5/5 *

I'm really sorry for not posting for such a long time but I was on a reading break bc I had no motivation for reading or doing anything but laying on my bed all day (it was pretty stressful at school and a lot of other stuff had to be done). But now I'm back and I found my motivation again. I hope that I can at least post one review/tag per week and you also get something from Leah weekly.

I hope you have a nice day!

Vicky

Glass sword (Victoria Aveyard)

To keep this review completely spoiler-free, the summary won't be for Glass sword, but for the first book in the series called Red queen and the quote is from Red queen as well.

Mare Barrow lives in a world where people are divided by the color of their blood - the silvers are the elite of the society because of the supernatural abilities they have, while the poor and ordinary reds are the workers and soldiers. Her blood is red, yet she has powers only a silver can have. To cover this up, Mare is forced to live at the palace as a lost silver princess and betrothed to one of the crown princes. As she learns more about life with the silver nobility, she decides to join a red rebellion - and risks everything she's gained and more.

"The truth is what I make it. I could set the world on fire and call it rain."

I've read the first book pretty exactly a year ago and usually I still remember a lot after that time span, but weirdly this wasn't the case for Red queen at all, even though I really loved it. I couldn't even recall any names other than the main character's and while I did know there is a huge plot twist at the end, I apparently forgot everything else about it. Since the second book picks up right where the first one ended, I'm sure that's amazing if you read them back-to-back, but if you don't, it's confusing. Really confusing. I needed at least 50 pages to figure out who each character is and in what way they're even relevant to the story and the main character. I just couldn't get into the story at all, so reading it was frustrating and tiring and it even caused a small reading slump, since it took me so long to finish it. The plot is okay, it's mostly the same thing over and over so it gets boring pretty quickly, but it gets at least better towards the ending. The aspect that's so special about the first book, which is the shocking plot twist, is just completely gone from the second one. You're constantly being reminded of the possibility of betrayal, so when it's actually happening, you've already been expecting it for the last 20 pages, which just takes away all the tension and results in a pretty boring plotline despite the mostly action-filled events. The ending is completely predictable, because the plot twist or betrayal or whatever is placed at the pretty exact time where it is in Red queen as well, so I was already expecting it and it isn't shocking at all. The writing is good, even though it definitely was a bit too dramatic and over-the-top for me and not only the planned repeats of certain phrases got quite annoying after a time, but the writing in general, which seemed repetitiv and unvaried in the use of words and metaphors. Obviously, since this is a sequel, there isn't too much worldbuilding and the little bit that's in it was okay, but to be honest I don't really like the world a lot. I'm just not into that mix of a dystopian novel with magic in it. I prefer the "traditional" kind of high fantasy that takes place in a medieval inspired fictional realm without any highly developed technology like planes and computers. Apart from that, the fantasy elements in this book were quite good and I actually enjoyed them, even though I don't like the superhero-like powers that much.
And don't even get me started on the characters. A lot of new characters are introduced, but seriously every one of them is one-dimensional, flat and in the best case, if we get to see a tiny bit personality, it's a stereotypical character. Everything is so focused on the main character Mare Barrow, it's obnoxious, especially since she's one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever read about. Don't get me wrong, I hate a lot of characters, but I can at least see reasons why other people would like most of them. In this case, I just can't get how anyone can stand Mare, let alone love her? She's so obsessed with herself, extremely arrogant, selfish but thinks she's so selfless and often just plainly stupid. She's so busy pitying herself she's apparently no longer capable of seeing what's going on around her or empathizing with people so she ends up treating them really badly. I can see that Victoria Aveyard wanted to create a gray character, somebody with good intensions but also a lot of flaws, or some kind of anti-heroine who demands your sympathy anyway, but Mare clearly turned out as neither of those, since I can't see a freaking way how you could actually like her. The few minor characters I genuinly liked and remebered, since nearly none of them are in any way memorable, were not likeable for me because of their personality, but rather because of their ability to annoy and make Mare suffer the most. I enjoyed the villain for example a lot, not because he's a good villain, since he's not, but because he fights Mare and hopefully kills her soon so I won't have to suffer anymore reading from her point of view.
All in all, this novel certainly isn't in any way horrible, even though my review kind of makes it look like it is, but I definitely was dissappointed since I enjoyed the first one so much more. I'm not sure why I couldn't love Glass sword as much as I did Red queen, I don't even think neither I nor my taste in books has changed that dramatically. Anyway, I guess I'd still recommend it to everyone who's into fantasy and dystopian YA books, because I feel like I'm basically the only one who didn't absolutely love it, judging from the high ratings on goodreads.

Rating: 2/5 ✹


I'm not going to post a lot of reviews over the next month or so, since I've just started my reread of the A song of ice and fire series, which means I won't come around to reading any new books I could review, but I'm still gonna be trying to post a tag weekly. I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having a nice day!

Leah

Lady midnight (Cassandra Clare)

The orphans Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn are shadowhunters living in Los Angeles, warriors who have to defend ordinary humans from demons and supernatural creatures, so when dead humans as well as faeries are found they need to investigate. But this case is special for the both of them since it's Emma's chance to get revenge for her parents, who were murdered in the same way five years ago, and the opportunity for Julian to get his brother Mark back. They only have two weeks to solve the mystery and they're yet to realize the great importance of their investment in this case.

"When you love someone, they become a part of who you are. They're in everything you do. They're in the air you breathe and the water you drink and the blood in your veins. Their touch stays on your skin and their voice stays in your ears and their thoughts stay in your mind. You know their dreams because their nightmares pierce your heart and their good dreams are your dreams too. And you don't think they're perfect, but you know their flaws, the deep-down truth of them, and the shadows of all their secrets, and they don't frighten you away; in fact you love them more for it, because you don't want perfect. You want them."

Wow. This blew my mind. It's been over two years since I've last read a book by Cassandra Clare and apperently I kind of forgot how amazing her books are. I did expect to have a good time reading Lady midnight, but I definitely wasn't prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions it triggered in me. I honestly loved everything about this story, I'd even say this is her best work so far, which is a huge statement for me because of the great impact The mortal instruments as well as The invernal devices had on my life. The writing is fantastic and Cassandra Clare just makes it with each of her novels impossible for me to put them down and to not devour them. Something that I noticed, but it certainly didn't bother me in any way, is the weird point of view. I couldn't quite identify wether it's supposed to be a third person limited narrator or a third person omniscient narrator, so I guess it's a mix between the two of them, which is definitely pretty unique. The worldbuilding is a bit different from her previous books, since there is no need to introduce the shadow world to the main character as well as the reader, but only to the reader, because all the characters are already familiar with it (and let's be honest, most of the readers as well). Anyway, she managed to explain everything important without making the story slower or boring the readers, who know that stuff already. The plot in general is very fast-paced and even though there are a few chapters that aren't action-filled at all, none of them are boring. I'm actually really suprised at how much I adored this book since I'm not the biggest fan of crime stories, but I guess the fact that it gets combined with the supernatural world makes it a lot more exciting and I loved how the investigation is written, because even though they experience failure and even helplessness, little hints towards the solution of the mysteries are always given to keep it from becoming frustrating and drab. Usually, the amount of romance in this book would've been way too much, but Cassandra Clare just knows how to write romance without making it annoying and stupid. Her love triangle in The invernal devices for example is one of the few I don't absolutely despise and I usually don't like this whole forbidden romance thing either, but it's just too good in Lady midnight to not love it and it at least has a genuine reason why it actually is not allowed. Another thing I loved about this novel is how diverse it is without making a big deal about it, which is just what we need to show young people how normal the equality between races, genders, sexual orientations and so on should be. Another great aspect is that autism and mental illness are a big topic since even though it's more talked about, authors still don't write about characters with these conditions a lot.
The characters are amazing and I honestly fell in love with them instantly. Emma Carstairs is such a strong and badass warrior, but still so funny and sassy as well as caring about those she loves. I adored her from the first time she appeared in the prologue of City of heavenly fire and I love her even more after this fantastic journey with her. Julian Blackthorn is just as amazing and a character I genuinly respect and admire. He's so fiercely protective and willing to give up everything for the ones he loves and one of the few characters I believe to actually be selfless instead of just pretending to be. Their relationship is so beautiful and powerful and while I obviously love them as friends and parabatai, I can't help but to ship them. A lot. Another character I liked a lot is Cristina Rosales, because she's a pretty interesting character with a lot of secrets and also because of her positive and upbeat as well as loyal nature. I was also able to relate to her since English isn't her native language either, but she tries her best to perfect it. Her friendship with Emma is great and, at least for me, so relatable and seeing how close she got with all the Blackthornes in such a short time was heart-warming. And since I want to keep this review spoiler-free, I can't write much about him, but how can you not love Mark Blackthorn? I enjoyed all the Blackthorn kids as supporting characters so much since each of them added with their personalities something unique to the story and they appear for the exact right amount of time to make the reader care about them, but to still have the focus of the story on Emma, Jules and co.
I don't think there are a lot of YA readers who haven't picked up any of the Shadowhunters novels, but in case you haven't, I'd still recommend you to read them in the order they were released (The mortal instruments - The invernal devices - The dark artifices) even though you technically could start with Lady midnight, but you would miss a lot of the references that make this book even better. Also, can I just say how perfect the short story at the end of the book is and how happy it made me?

Rating:  5/5 ✹

Since you can't really see the cover on the picture above that well, I added a close-up because it's just so beautiful, it might even be my favorite cover out of all the Shadowhunters books. I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having an amazing day!

Leah

A thousand pieces of you (Claudia Gray)

Marguerite's parents, two genial scientists, have figured out the existence of alternate dimensions and how to travel between them. After her Dad gets murdered and the suspect, her parent's favorite student Paul, leaps into another dimension, Marguerite follows him with the help of another student called Theo to avenge her father's death.

"Every form of art is another way of seeing the world. Another perspective, another window. And science - that's the most spectacular window of all. You can see the entire universe from there."

I'm not the biggest fan of dystopian / sci-fi novels right now, so I was rather skeptical when I started reading this book, but it didn't dissappoint and I actually liked it quite a bit. It's a solid story and I can't say I didn't enjoy reading it, even though it does have a lot of these typical dystopian YA novels aspects in it. Since I haven't read a lot of these in the past few months, this was an rather painful reminder of how much f*cking love triangles s*ck. Seriously, why are they in basically every YA book? They're just so horrible and frustrating and I can't see how anyone could possibly enjoy them. If it wasn't for that crap, this novel would've been so much better, since I actually like the principle of the story. I think it's very interesting to think about the existence of alternate dimensions and wonder about how you would've turned out if a certain event that shaped you a lot never happened or you made a different decision at some point. I loved not only seeing how the main character's situation and surroundings, but also the whole world changed every time a new dimension is introduced. The world building is good, so exploring each new dimension was one of my favorite parts of this book for sure. I was pretty suprised to see that everything added up and the author didn't make a mistake with the timelines and different dimensions since that's what usually happens if characters in a book jump through time and space. The writing is okay, to be honest I didn't like it a lot, but I can't really determine exactly what bothered me about it, I guess I'm just used to a superior writing style because of the books I've recently been reading. It's pretty fast-paced and while it's not that suspense-packed it's definitely not boring and overall quite enjoyable.
I sadly had my problems with the characters since I couldn't identify with them a lot which leads to me just not caring about them. I'm sure the main character Marguerite is a lovely and nice girl, but it's fairly difficult to actually concentrate on learning more about her character because the stupid love triangle is bothering you all the freaking time. Is it really that hard to choose between two evenly great guys? Once she settled on one of them, she wasn't even capable of deciding which of the different versions of him in the different dimensions she wanted. I mean, it's totally not like they're basically the same person anyway. This whole dilemma makes her too annyoing at times to truly like her for me. The other two main characters Paul and Theo are okay, they're not really original or special and I'm sure I'll forget all about them in a few weeks, but at least it wasn't super frustrating to read about them. Who I did like are the minor characters like Marguerite's family and meeting them (or sometimes not meeting them) in the different dimensions is amazing and I was alsways happy to have one of them appear. By the way, is it weird I shipped Marguerite's parents more than I shipped her with either of her love interests?
Anyway, if you're looking for a light and quick read or you maybe even need something to get out of a reading slump, definitely check this book out. Also, the cover is unbelievably gorgeous so it's gonna look amazing on your book shelf, it sure does on mine.

Rating: 3/5 ✹

I'm sorry I'm not able to post more often than once a week at the moment since there's a lot going on regarding my last two years of school right now. I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having an amazing day!

Leah

The goldfinch (Donna Tartt)

The goldfinch follows Theo Decker from the day on his mother was killed in a terrorist attack when he's thirteen years old. Theo miraculously survives the explosions and manages to steal his mother's favorite painting and as he learnes of her death, his only reminder of her. Because of that picture he's slowly drawn into the criminal underworld over the next ten years but he ultimately can't let go of this piece of art since it would mean letting go of his mother as well.

 "A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don't get to choose our own hearts. We can't make ourselves want what's good for us or what's good for other people. We don't get to choose the people we are."

I was so intimidated by this huge book, not just because of its length of 864 pages, but also because I usually rarely read adult fiction and was kind of worried I wouldn't enjoy it at all. Anyway, after putting a lot time and effort into reading it, I feel so accomplished and glad, since this is probably one of those books that stay in your heart for your whole life and in some way even change you. The writing is fantastic and I didn't even care that there are a lot of detailed desciptions, which of course slowed the book down a bit, so I'd only advise you to read it if you have enough time to devote yourself to the book or else it's gonna be super frustrating and boring and might even cause a huge reading slump. I absolutely loved the plot although there aren't many extremely exciting moments in it, and especially enjoyed seeing not only the main character Theo, but also various minor characters grow up. It was in a way very bittersweet for me to read about this process since I love coming-of-age stories and seeing how Theo's life changes for the better made me so happy, but at the same time it did make me feel a bit worried and unhopeful for my own future because of how much also goes very wrong in his life and how easy all your potential, hope and dreams can be destroyed. To make a long story short, this book made me think and deliberate a lot (actually, it still does) and that's what's at least in my opinion important for the book to have genuine lasting effect. The whole novel is amazing and I loved it so much, but if I had to choose my most favorite part, I'd definitely go with the ending because it's just spectacular. It doesn't only bring together all the different story lines perfectly, but also kind of summarized what the story, what life really is about in such a touching and beautiful way. Even though I have basically no idea about art and I'm usually not even particularly interested in it, I still enjoyed how art and antique furniture are incorporated into the story and play actually a quite important role all through the book and to be honest, reading this book made me want to visit an art gallery so badly. I don't think I've ever read a book that deals so much with drugs and addiction, which is actually quite upsetting because this story shows with way more effect than the projects I did in school on drugs and alcohol why you should stay the hell away from drugs, so I think it's super important to have more books, especially in the YA genre that deal with this topic as intensely as The goldfinch does.
I loved the variety of characters and seeing them grow over a long time span is truly amazing. I really liked the main character Theo and it's heartbreaking to read about his tragic story and his development from an innocent child to this broken man who had to deal with too many losses. To be honest, reading from his point of view was sometimes pretty frustrating since he does make a lot of stupid mistakes, but you can't blame him because of the situation he's in. For me, it was actually pretty difficult to form my opinion of Pippa since we only get to see her trough Theo's extremely biased point of view, but she is definitely different than the usual love interests of the main character and quite refreshing. My favorite character though is Hobie. He's such a nice and supportive guy and his personality is simply beautiful. I love how he never judges anyone and just spends his time doing stuff that's important to him.
Anyway, I can't even stress enough how fantastic this book is and how much I loved it, so you should check it out. I'm certainly gonna pick up another one of Donna Tartt's novels.

Rating: 5/5  ✹

I hope I didn't ramble too much and you still enjoyed this review. Have a great day!

Leah

The martian (Andy Weir)

The astronaut Mark Watney is left behind by his crew during a dangerous storm on Mars because they think he died while he is actually still alive, so he is stuck alone on the whole planet without a way to communicate with Earth. Instead of giving up by killing himself he decides to try his best to survive in this extremely deadly environmen.

"Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be "in command" if I were the only remaining person. What do you know? I'm in command."

To be honest, this isn't really the kind of book I usually read and I've only picked it up because my Dad bought it, but I'm glad I did, since it's so enjoyable. The writing is pretty good and I liked the idea of using log entries as well as the normal way to write a story, which means in running texts.  On the one hand I was very fascinated with the detailed descriptions of the science and quite suprised at how much I understood but on the other hand the huge focus on it definitely makes the whole story a lot less exciting and during some parts even boring, so you probably won't enjoy this novel that much if you're not into science at all. The story in general isn't that suspensful, the only part that at least in my opinion is kind of intense is the ending, so I wouldn't even necessarily call this book a thriller. The aspect that makes this book so unique and outstanding is definitely the humorous way the story is told. When I was told how funny this novel is, I couldn't see how the concept of being all alone and trying to survive can possible be combined with something comical, but once I started reading and realized how fantastic these two aspects work together, I honestly couldn't get enough. In spite of the extremely dangerous and deadly situations I laughed so much while reading. While probably a few people don't like the kind of humor in this book, I thought it's amazing and definitely the reason why this novel is special and not like any other sci-fi/thriller survival story. I did quite like the plot, but after a while I kind of got the feeling that events are repeated and the main character fell into this pattern of everything's fine, then something bad happens, then he fixes it and everything's fine again until the next disaster happens, so the plot ends up being quite predictable. I also would've loved to have a longer ending because even though I enjoyed it, it did feel a bit flat and unfinished to me.
I absolutely loved the main character Mark Watney since he's such a funny and smart guy who still feels very human because he does make sometimes stupid mistakes and there's quite a big focus on trivial problems like using the bathroom, having minor complaints like headaches that aren't included in a lot of books. However, something that's in my opinion really unrealistic is the fact that he, despite being in a hopeless situation all on his own, despite not speaking or communicating with another human being for so long, never has any kind of depressed or suicidal thoughts. Of course are only extremely mentally stable people sent into space, but I think it is very unlikely the astronauts on their way back to Earth are in a worse mental state than the one who's been left to die on Mars. Anyway, I liked the other members of his crew nearly as much as him and seeing their point of view as well as a bit of their backstories is pretty interesting and enjoyable. I honestly was a bit confused with all the different NASA employees since I had no clue who is actually responsible for what kind of work, but I did enjoy their point of view anyway.
I haven't watched the movie yet but definitely plan on doing so in the near future. Apparently it's supposed to be more serious, though it still has some funny scenes. Maybe I'll write a post in which I'll compare the movie to the book but I can't promise anything yet and to be honest, it's probably gonna take me a few months until I finally come around to watching it, simply because I'm not the biggest fan of movies due to their length.

Rating: 4/5 ✹

I'm really sorry for being so inactive here lately but at least I'm motivated to write posts again and hopefully I'll be able to post once and sometimes even twice a week. I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having an amazing day!

Leah

The iron trial (Holly Black and Cassandra Clare)

Call's father told him all his life to never trust a magician and instructs him to fail the Iron trial, a test you need to pass in order to start your education to become a proper magician, so Call tries his best to mess up, yet he's chosen as a student anyway. He finds himself in the Magisterium, where he not only learns the truth about magic, but also about his past.

"Fire wants to burn, water wants to flow, air wants to rise, earth wants to bind, chaos wants to devour, Call wants to live."

Usually I'm not a big fan of middle grade books, mostly due to the typical writing, for example in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, that just makes me feel like this book is actually written for primary school kids and I'm a super immature teenager who still reads that stuff, but I honestly have to say that the writing in The iron trial and the sequel The copper gauntlet is very good and genuinly suprised me since it is very similiar to the average writing in Young adult books, so I definitely enjoyed it. Apart from that, the only differences from the Young adult genre is that there's way less romance in it and it's rather focused on friendship, which I honestly liked quite a lot because too much romance can get cheesy and boring very very quickly and can ruin the story for me, and the plot isn't as dramatic, too. Sadly, this resulted in the first part of both books, especially the second one, being kind of slow and nearly boring, but the pace picks up towards the middle of the novel and the story becomes definitely exciting and kind of amazing. Although I did like both books and I'm gonna pick up the third one when it comes out in September, I think because they have a lot of potential, they certainly could've been better. Anyway, the worldbuilding is good and even though the Magisterium sounds like a rather cold and uncomfortable place, I'd still love to be able to explore all the caves. I also quite like the magic system and even though it's not extremely unique, it does have some special aspects, my personal favorite of them are probably the chaos-ridden beings.
This series gets compared a lot to the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and there are of course a lot of similarities, but once you dive deeper in the story you'll soon realize it takes a completely different turn and, as far as I can tell now, it'll become even more dissimilar as the Magisterium series progresses. A very unique aspect are the mostly small, but sometimes even pretty big plot twists, that are super enjoyable, as well as the humorous and funny way it's written and I'm not gonna lie, I did laugh out loud quite a few times while reading.
Nearly all of the characters are really adorabable and you can't help but adore them, especially the main character Cal and his chaos-ridden pet wolf Havoc. I loved Cal's sassy and funny remarks and thoughts and in general just enjoyed reading from his point of view. It's also kind of refreshing to not have Cal as the "hero" of the story with these awesome and special powers but instead only have him as friend of that "savior", which in this story is Aaron, who I liked quite a lot because of his rather calm and responsible personality and his patience, that's really important if you're friends with someone as chaotic as Call. Tamara is probably my favorite out of the three since she is - like Hermione, with whom she gets often compared with - extremely smart, but unlike her way more relaxed and not super focused on sticking to the rules all the time.
Anyway, if you like reading about magic and enjoy humorous books, I don't think you can go wrong with the Magisterium series, so it's definitely worth checking it out.

Rating:
The iron trial: 3.5/5 ✹
The copper gauntlet: 3/5 ✹

Sadly I couldn't find the matching cover for the second book and got instead this extremely ugly one, and I didn't want to include it in the picture at the top of this post, so here's a small picture of it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having a happy day!

Leah

The queen of the tearling (Erika Johansen)

I just want to warn you that this review is probably going to be a huge rant and even though I'll try to write as objective as possible, I don't think I'll succeed. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

On her 19th birthday Kelsea Glynn must begin her journey to take her throne from her uncle, who ruled as regent while she was underage, and to rule the Tearling, yet she is being hunted during her journey to the castle and even as she gets crowned, the danger is greater than ever, not just for Kelsea, but for her whole kingdom.

"The future was only disasters of the past, waiting to happen anew."

I had high expectations when I started this book and only heard fantastic things about it, so obviously I thought this was gonna be this amazing and epic fantasy story. Well, guess what? It's not. It's soo freaking boring. I basically had to force myself to pick it up so I could finally finish it. What makes it even more tiring is the fact that the chapters are about 40 pages each, which is at least for me way too long. I didn't like the plot because nothing is really happening or repeating all the time, yet this book is still 488 f*cking pages long. Why? Definitely partly because of the writing, which would be actually okay, if it wasn't for all the unnecessary and stupid descriptions. So. Many. F*cking. Descriptions. Also, why do I have to read 5 times about how the main character is nearly getting killed? Once or twice is completely sufficient. Erika Johansen also tried to add in some mystery by not revealing details about her mother or who her father is to the main character, but rather letting here find out one by one. Anyway, it didn't work because I just didn't care and didn't mind at all if the answers to these mysteries are revealed or not. The worldbuilding is even worse, it just doesn't make any f*cking sense. First of all, this isn't even a fantasy world, but actually a dystopian version of earth. At least I think so? Apparently some dude wanted to create an utopia, but their ships crashed so they don't have any kind of technology any more. This is basically everything we're told about the history of the country. And this happened at least half a century from now, since people only used e-books, so the technology was highly developed, yet their ships crashed? How? Why didn't they use a plane? Did he only take extremely dumb people with him, instead of doctors and scientists, or how does it come they weren't able to invent anything again? Jeez, even the medieval Europeans had more inventions, since they were at least able to print books. And which moron saved birth control pills instead of something that'd help them figure out how to invent electricity again or at least antibiotics? Usually a big part of a fantasy novel should be some kind of magic, but the only magical elements were a queen who couldn't be bothered to use her powers, a completely useless seer and a stone that only does something if it serves the plot. Again, this doesn't make any sense. Another thing that bothered me so much was this ridiculously high focus on looks. Who cares how someone who appears for five pages looks like? At first I actually really liked that the main character wasn't extremely gorgeous, but only rather plain and isn't that skinny either, until she started to complain all the damn time. What the f*ck is wrong with looking plain? What is wrong with not looking super skinny? What is wrong with having curves? She is even jealous of a woman's beauty, yet only because of that beautiful face and body she's been raped and abused for years. How can you envy the reason for something so horrible? In general, why are people judged so much based on what they look like in this book? Why is being "ugly" seen as such a bad crime by the main character?
The characters in general are okay, but in no way good or even extraordinary. While I did dislike, sometimes even loathe the main character, I just couldn't find the motivation to even care about the others or their fates. Kelsea Glynn, the main character, just made me so mad. How can somebody be so arrogant and incompetent at the same time? So confident yet so bad at commanding or gaining respect? She's been prepared her whole life for ruling, but the very first freaking decision she makes dooms her whole country. She's so stupid and acts like a child all the time despite being 19 years old, and even thinks her behavior is mature, when all she does is based on emotions like anger instead of thinking. I mean, she rather saves books than does anything for the defense of her country and people. Sure, I love books as well, but I'd never sacrifice people's lives for it, especially not as their queen. She doesn't understand betrayal and just trusts the very first dude she meets and depends way too much on him. She also just falls in love with the first handsome guy who seems to be about her age, even though he's an a**hole and harms her kingdom. Another thing that bothered me so much is how rude she is to everybody who disagrees with her and actually thinks this is the fitting behavior for a queen. I genuinely can't even be bothered right now to write more about some minor characters, and honestly, there's not even much to say anyway because there's a huge focus on Kelsea and on Kelsea only. However, that little bit of what we see of the Queensguard just shows how completely incompetent its members are. They're supposed to bring her to the castle, she gets kidnapped; they're supposed to protect her, she nearly gets killed several times; they're supposed to be trusted, one of them betrays her; they're supposed to obey, they don't; what's even the point if they're just failing all the time?
On the back of the book, it gets compared to The hunger games and A song of ice and fire and that just makes me even angrier, because it's an insult for two fantastic book series, since not just their plots, but also the worldbuilding, writing and the characters are infinite times better. I probably will watch the movie adaptation anyway, because Emma Watson is going to star in it and she's amazing (let's just ignore the fact that the incredibly beautiful Emma Watson is gonna portray the plain, nearly ugly Kelsea Glynn), but I hope they'll change as much as possible from the book.

Rating: 2/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review even though I did get a bit angry writing this and swore more than I wanted to. Have a lovely day!

Leah