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

The Hamilton book tag (part II)

I know, I'm really lazy and boring, but since I don't have anything exciting to post anyway, I'm just gonna answer the bonus questions of the actual Hamilton book tag, so this is gonna be a pretty short "tag", but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway!
(Click here to get to part I)

Helpless - A relationship you were pulling for from the very start

I rooted for Lara Jean and Peter from the To all the boys I've loved before series by Jenny Han from the very beginning, they're one of my OTPs and I just love them so much together. Is there anything more to say?

Ten duel commandments - Favorite fight scene

I actually really enjoyed the fight scenes in Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, mainly because of the pretty unique magic. The fight dynamics are because of that special magic system a bit different than what I'm ususally used to reading about, but I liked the fighting nonetheless.

Say no to this - Guilty pleasure read

Does The selection series by Kiera Cass count as a guilty pleasure read? To be honest, the books aren't that amazing, the writing is nothing special, the story is extremely predictable and the characters are mostly stereotypes, but I still enjoyed reading these books a lot and while I'm definitely not ashamed of having read them, I also don't mention them often when I talk about books.

What comes next - A series you wish had more books

The Six of crows series by Leigh Bardugo! I know, the series is not even finished yet, but I can already say that two books are just not enough. The first one is one of my most favorite books ever and I can barely wait for Crooked kingdom to be realeased, yet no matter how good or bad it is I want a third book. The world, the characters and the story just have so much potential and I don't want them "wasted" on just two books.

Right hand man - Favorite BROTP

Dunk and Egg's friendship in A knight of the seven kingdoms by George R.R. Martin may not be what you'd usually call an ordinary BROTP, but despite their age difference they're inseperable and a really good team. And let's be honest, they're just both so cute and I adore them so much.

What'd I miss - A book or series you were/still are late reading

I feel like everyone really loves The lunar chronicles by Marissa Meyer, but despite hearing so much praise for it, I still haven't picked it up. For some reason I'm not that interested in it at the moment and the books don't appeal to me much, yet I'm probably gonna read them since all the positive reviews are gonna pressure me into reading them sooner or later.

Wait for it -  most anticipated upcoming release

Is this even a question? Obviously The winds of winter by George R.R. Martin. The worst thing about waiting for it is not even having some sort of vague release date. It literally could be finished tomorrow and published in about three months or it could take until 2018 to finally have the book in bookstores. I'm in general a not really patient person, so this waiting drives me crazy. Just give me the book already!

Have a nice day!

Leah

The Hamilton book tag (part I)

Let's be honest, I'm probably the last person to join the Hamilton hype and I don't even know why the heck I didn't listen to it when I first heard of it, but better late than never, right? Anyway, I'm loving it and I can already feel I'm going to be obsessed with it, so now is the perfect time for me to do the Hamilton book tag.

The room where it happens - A book world you would put yourself in

Since I'm pretty sure I wouldn't survive longer than a week in any kind of dangerous world, I guess I'd be pretty safe living as an Erudite in the world of Divergent by Veronica Roth, but obviously prior to Tris' revolution, so as long as I wouldn't break any rules no harm would come to me. And honestly, there are certainly worse things than working as a scientist, doing the stuff I'm fascinated by and being surrounded by people with similar interest. Also, I guess my whole family would be sorted into Erudite, so I wouldn't even be seperated from them.

The Schuyler sisters - An underrated female character

I absolutely love Nehemia from the Throne of glass series by Sarah J. Maas and she certainly doesn't get the credit she deserves, since everyone's so focused on Celaena. Don't get me wrong, I love Celaena as well, but just because Nehemia is in a different way badass doesn't mean she's any less awesome, yet I think most readers don't really appreciate her that much.

My shot - A character that goes after what they want and doesn't let anyone stop them

Definitely Jay Gatsby from The great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He spends nearly his whole life trying to get together with Daisy, throws all these huge and incredibly expensive parties for her and does everything to make her happy, so she becomes his wife or at least his lover. I mean, that's basically the definition of determination and he's the last one to throw his shot away.

Stay alive - A character you wish was still alive

Since I want to keep this tag spoiler-free, I'm not going to go for a single character, but rather for a bunch of them, who all die in the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin. I guess it's common knowledge that a lot of characters get killed in these books, and I obviously was aware of it as well when I started reading, but it still hurt seeing most of my favorite characters die. So there are of course actually quite a lot of characters I wish were still alive.

Burn - The most heartbreaking end to a relationship you've ever read

I'll just go with the probably most mainstream answer, which is The fault in our stars by John Green. Honestly, there's nothing more to say than that this whole story is so freaking heartbreaking.

You'll be back - Sassiest villain

My most favorite villain ever is the Darkling from the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo and even though he's not actually that sassy, he's going to be my answer anyway because he's perfect and my precious little cinnamon roll and I love him.

The Reynolds pamphlet - A book with a twist that you didn't see coming

I definitely didn't see the twist in Red queen by Victoria Aveyard coming, and that's what made this book so good. I love shocking twists, especially since I often feel that the plot of many books is just so predictable and boring.

Non-stop - A series you marathoned

I think it took me less than two days to read the If I stay series by Gayle Forman, simply because I just couldn't stop reading. And crying. I had to cry constantly during reading this heartbreaking story, but it honestly was so worth it since the books are amazing.

Satiesfied - Favorite book with multiple POVs

I'm such a big fan of books with multiple POVs since I think it just adds so much more depth to the story, and even if I don't like one of the main characters, I don't have to suffer reading the whole book from his/her perspective. One of my all-time favorite books is Six of crows by Leigh Bardugo and the different POVs are definitely a reason why I love it so much.

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story - A book/series you feel like will be remembered throughout history

I guess everyone who does this tag chooses the same answer for this question, which is obviously the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I feel like it already is a classic and I can't really imagine a time where people wouldn't want to visit this fantastic world she created. The story can be read and enjoyed by everyone, no matter his/her age, gender, nationality and everything else. The series has been super popular for nearly twenty years now, and I'm sure the hype won't die anytime in the near future.

I hope you enjoyed this book tag, I'm sorry for not going into too much detail with my questions, but just like always life is stressing me out a bit, so I don't have that much time for writing posts.
(If you want to read the second part of this tag click here.)
Anyway, have a wonderful 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

The seven deadly sins book tag

1. Greed - What is your most inexpensive book? What is your most expensive book?

To be honest, I have no clue what the cheapest book, that I own in physical form, is, but I got Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout as an e-book on my phone for free.
The most expensive book I own is probably the German hardcover edition of Clockwork princess by Cassandra Clare, which cost around 30€, and the most expensive one I bought as a christmas present for my older brother is probably The world of ice and fire by George R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson with a price of nearly 45€.

2. Wrath - What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I don't hate any authors because I just know them as writers, not as human beings and I'm also way too grateful for their great works to have such strong dislikes against any of them. The only author that does annoy me a bit is George R.R. Martin since he just needs so much time to finish his books and I'm a not very patient person, but I do (or at least I try to) understand his situation and I guess in the end I'll be glad he took his time and didn't rush the last two books in the A song of ice and fire series.

3. Gluttony - What book have you devoured over and over again with no shame?

The book series I've reread the most is definitely the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. These books were literally my childhood and I'll love them forever. However, the series I'm most obsessed with is the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin because I just love it so freaking much.

4. Sloth - What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

I've wanted to read Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen for quite some time now, but I've always procrastinated it because it just takes me forever to get through books written in that time period and I didn't enjoy Pride and prejudice that much, so I'm also not very excited to start it.

5. Pride - What book do you talk about most in order to sound like an intellectual reader?

I really don't read to seem like a more intelligent person and I think that's a super stupid thing to do anyway. If you want to read, do it for your own enjoyment or the personal gain you might get, but don't do it just because you want other people to think you're smart. Anyway, the books I'm proudest of finishing are Great expectations and A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens since I think it's a pretty big accomplishment for me to have read them as a still pretty young person, which native tongue isn't English. Yet I'd never boast of reading these books to sound intellectual.

6. Lust - What attributes do you find attractive in male characters?

I think it always depends on the total package of attributes if I fall for a fictional character or not. What I do want them to be is clever and loyal in any way. And, let's be honest, a pretty face doesn't make them any less attractive.

7. Envy - What book would you most like to receive as a gift?

I'm happy about every book someone gives me as a gift, as long as books in a series match and I don't receive a second copy of a book I already own. Of course it'd be great to receive ARCs of books I look forward to reading, but it's not like I absolutely need them.

I hope you enjoyed this little book tag. Have an amazig day!

Leah