review: passenger, alexandra bracken

Passenger
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Time Travel, Romance, Historical Fiction
Pub Date: January 5th 2016
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 496
Source: Purchased

passage, n.
i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes.
ii. A journey by water; a voyage.
iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time.

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are play­ing, treacherous forces threaten to sep­arate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home . . . forever.

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"this was the danger, the seduction of time travel, she realized—it was the opportunity, the freedom of a thousand possibilities of where to live and how to start over. it was the beauty open to you in your life if you only stopped for a moment to look." 

i'm going to start off by saying this: passenger is one of the most unique books i have ever read. and the cover is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE EVER SEEN.

passenger has some very unique aspects to it that i loved, the first being time travel. i've never read about time travel until now, and the way bracken described/created it in her book was incredible. i could immediately tell that a lot of research was put into writing passenger, and it surely paid off. bracken has such a beautiful writing style that draws you in and keeps you turning page after page. (this being said, i'm definitely going to check out her other books as well!)

my favorite part of passenger was the scavenger-hunt-through-time concept. in books, i generally like to be kept guessing what will happen next, and bracken did just this. i especially liked how there was a special way to decode clues, and how there was always some type of connection to etta's family wherever they went. this kind of thing is one of the things i absolutely love reading about!

however, it was a bit hard to get into. the pacing at the beginning, i felt, was a bit slow. it wasn't until about a third of the way through the book that it started to speed up and get interesting. there were also many points in the story where i found myself somewhat bored. (maybe its just me, though, because i'm not one for historical fiction) in some parts of the story there would be an abundance of information and other places only a small piece. though i am really glad that she took the time to explain the time travel concept in areas of the story so well, because it definitely isn't an easy topic to write about. (but of course, alex bracken absolutely NAILED it!)

i would have loved to see more of the side characters throughout this book, but etta and nicholas were some pretty dang good main characters. the only thing i didn't like was the fact that it was insta-love. it seemed like they barely even knew each other and then suddenly they're in love. this being said, their journey together is an epic one you won't want to miss! and the ending. holy crap. the last 40 pages or so i could not put the book down! and the cliffhanger! it was an incredible way to end passenger and leave the reader wanting wayfarer ASAP! 

overall, i enjoyed passenger, and i'll definitely be picking up wayfarer as soon as it hits shelves!

cover reveal & predictions: a court of mist and fury, sarah j. maas

alas! the much anticipated cover for a court of mist and fury by sarah j. maas! 
i love the fact that it matches the ACOTAR cover so well! there gonna look so pretty together omggg. and i love the fact that it is blue! its beautiful. *sheds tear*
i don't know if i like feyre's outfit. its a little much, but it looks great with the blue background! and what is that i see? could it be *gasps* the night court? i guess we'll have to wait and see!
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so i have a little prediction on what is going to happen in ACOMAF. *IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ACOTAR, STOP READING THIS*

first off, i'd just like to say that i'm team rhysand, so my predictions may seem a bit biased toward him. anyways, in ACOTAR, we were left with the fact that feyre solved the riddle, so she is safe (for the moment). BUT, she still must go and stay at the night court with rhysand to keep up her end of the deal. that being said, i think that even though feyre and rhysand didn't seem too fond of each other in ACOTAR, ACOMAF is where they're gonna hit it off. 
obviously, this doesn't seem likely to happen given that feyre and tamlin love each other like crazy, but i'm not giving up hope just yet!  


that wraps up my thoughts on ACOMAF! what are your thoughts on this cover? do you like the cover for ACOTAR or ACOMAF better? (but more importantly, are you team rhysand or team tamlin??) i'd love to hear what you think!

review: the infinite moment of us, lauren myracle

The Infinite Moment Of Us
Author: Lauren Myracle
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, 
Pub Date: August 27, 2013
Publisher: Amulet Books
Pages: 316
Source: Purchased 

For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now... not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?

Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.

And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them...

Sexy, romantic, and oh-so-true to life, this is an unforgettable look at first love from one of young adult fiction’s greatest writers. 


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“You're saying the mysteries are worth examining, even if they're too big to be understood. That maybe they're bound to be too big to understand, but that doesn't take anything away from them, and in fact just adds to their beauty.” 

hmph. i don't really know how i felt about this book.

after i read the synopsis, i was super excited to dive into this book and had high expectations. unfortunately, it didn't meet most of those expectations. 

lets start with our main characters, wren and charlie. started out friends, became more, and at first had a super cute relationship. however, i feel like it escalated a bit too quickly for my taste. it went from being your average cute high school relationship to lets-get-married-right-now. it seemed like soon enough all they had time for was each other, which meant ignoring their families. i personally did not enjoy this, because i believe family always comes first. 

based on the synopsis, i really liked the concept of this book, but i don't think it was executed well. the main characters went from being great, relatable people to just meh. don't get me wrong, their love story was cute, but it was just a bit too much. however. we have some great side characters! i really liked the relationships between the characters and their families, especially charlie's. his relationship with dev is absolutely adorable and is family goals!

on to the plot. i'm going to try to explain it in a way that (hopefully) makes sense: the plot was like the first hill on a roller coaster. slowly goes up, slowly develops, anticipation sets in, you hit the top, and then... downhill, with a few interesting twists and turns. for the most part, i enjoyed it. the beginning and the end had me hooked! 

the pacing was constant throughout the entire book, and thankfully this made it an easy read. i found myself being able to read nearly 80-90 pages in just an hour! lauren did a great job on making sure the plot never got boring. there was something happening at all times, and it kept the story moving and developing.

overall, i enjoyed this book. lauren did a really good job in making the reader feel like they were in the shoes of a high schooler heading to college! decisions, decisions! i'd recommend this to anyone looking for a cute, easy read! 

authors i'd like to meet someday

hey everyone! i've been seeing a lot of authors go on book tours going on lately, and i've been thinking, "why can't you come to ohio?" (because seriously, no authors have a stop in ohio. EVER.) so if one day, i get super lucky and get the chance to meet some authors, these are the ones i'd LOVE to meet! 

sarah j. maas 

sarah is the author of the throne of glass series and a court of thorns and roses series, both of which I read in 2015 and absolutely adored! sarah's writing is some of my favorite. she creates such unique, magical worlds in her books and they are incredible. and the characters are incredible. everything about these books is incredible and you should really read these books.

marissa meyer 

marissa is the author of the lunar chronicles series and the upcoming book heartless! the lunar chronicles are the best fairytale retellings i have EVER read. oh and THE CHARACTERS OMG. they are all so perfect and precious and i love them so much.

leigh bardugo 

leigh is the author of the grisha trilogy and six of crows (duology? trilogy? series?) the grisha world is one of my favorite fictional worlds. both stories are amazing and have a unique, dark style to them. i can't wait for crooked kingdoms! (SOC #2)

marie lu

marie is the author of the legend trilogy and the young elites trilogy. i have yet to read TYE, but i read legend and oh my goodness it was fabulous. the two main characters are such opposites but thats what makes them so perfect for each other and just YES i ship it. 

victoria aveyard

victoria is the author of red queen, and the sequel, glass sword, is out in february! (you can read my review of red queen here and my review of glass sword here!) red queen is another of my favorites, and its plot is very interesting! it also contains the biggest plot twist EVER, and it is lovely.

who are some authors you'd like to meet one day? let me know in the comments!

cover reveal: heartless. marissa meyer

hey guys! so today, the cover for marissa meter's new book, heartless, was revealed! i'm extremely excited to read heartless, because 1) it sounds really interesting, and 2) i loved her other books! (the lunar chronicles) 

so this is the cover. i gotta say, compared to TLC it isn't much. the cinder cover has a shoe, scarlet has a cape, cress has the hair, winter the apple. and this cover has a little crown, what looks to be a sword, and some (thorny vines. it seems like the crown and sword just don't stand out as much as the background of vines. 

i kinda expected a little more, but i kind of like how simple it is. the silver lettering looks amazing on the black and red background, and i think this theme is a perfect fit for the title! i love the cover and i think it will be a great fit for a great book! 


what do you guys think of the cover? i'd love to hear your opinion!

review: carry on, rainbow rowell

Carry On

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Magic

Pub Date: October 6th 2015

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Pages: 522

Source: Purchased

Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.

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"You have to pretend you get an endgame. You have to carry on like you will; otherwise, you can't carry on at all."

i really enjoyed the whole concept of carry on, and rainbow rowell managed to put a very unique twist on a magic-based story! i was excited to see how her first fantasy novel would turn out, and it certainly did not disappoint!

let's start off with the characters. in this story, they were all very different, and that is one of the main things i loved about this book. other than the "chosen one," there are no stereotypes (thank goodness!) and each character just seemed to fit into the story like a piece of a puzzle. and simon and baz didn't become friends right off the bat, which is rare (at least in the books i read) and i actually really liked the fact that they began as enemies and gradually became friends. penelope and agatha, although very different people, still managed to play their part in helping simon fight off trouble. i think this all added to the story and made it even better than it already was. 

i'll be completely honest, when i first started this book all i could do was think "this sounds an awful lot like harry potter..." and i found myself making connections between the two books. the school of magic, the "chosen one" et cetera. however, like i mentioned earlier, rainbow put a unique twist on this type of story. the type of magic in this book was different than anything i'd ever read and it definitely sparked my interests. there are also many points in the story where i was asking myself questions and trying to predict what was to come. like, are you ever reading a book, and suddenly you realize that this person is also that person, or suddenly everything just clicks into place in your mind, and you're like, AHA! example: figuring out that tom riddle is voldemort. this is how i felt during carry on. personally, i love when authors do this because i like to make predictions and feel accomplished if my guesses are correct!

my only complaint about this book is the pacing. it was very slow at the beginning, and just a bit too fast at the end. i felt like there was extra writing placed into the beginning just taking up space. the pace gradually got better as the story moved on, but i'm just not one for slow starts. 

overall, i really enjoyed carry on! i'm excited to read more of rainbow rowell's books in the future!

review & mini discussion: glass sword, by victoria aveyard

Title: Glass Sword
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Synopsis: (straight from the book)

Fragile as a sword made of glass... and as deadly.

Mare Barrow's blood is red- the color of common folk- but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince- the friend- who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

review - 5/5 stars

i don't know how she did it, but victoria managed to make glass sword even better than red queen, and it was by far one of the best books i've read so far in 2016! (well, i actually read this in december because i won an arc, but it released in 2016 so yea) i hope you all love it as much as i did!

one of the main things i loved about glass sword was all of the new characters we got to meet, and especially that most of them were the new red-silver recruits! i feel like they added a lot to the storyline and action throughout the book. we are also introduced to their fascinating abilities, and they're all so interesting and complex! we also get a few new ships in this book *wink wink*

whereas red queen had lots of plot development, glass sword is where we start to see some major character development. don't get me wrong, the plot develops well in this book, but it was more focused on the characters, especially the scarlet guard. it was well-paced throughout the entire book, and the action scenes were FABULOUS. we also get to see LOTS of new things within the scarlet guard, which was nice because we didn't get to see as much of them in red queen. 

i thought that the story was very well-written and paced, there was not one point in the book where i got bored! (which, for me, is saying a lot) the storyline flows really well, especially considering this book picked up right where red queen left off.

i honestly don't have very many complaints about this book, except i do wish these books had maps though. i started to get confused as there were more and more new territories introduced throughout the book. it would be easier to understand if it were narrowed down a bit.

THE ENDING.
the ending was not what i expected, and i don't know how i feel about it (i won't say what it is because spoilers). it ended on a HUGE cliffhanger! i need book three ASAP! i thought that the book was going to lead up to a spectacular ending, but then victoria was like "lol NOPE just gonna leave you hangin there till 2017." the ending was iffy for me, but i think it will set an amazing path for the third book, and there will be lots to build on, so i'm excited to see where it goes!

lets just say that i'm really glad this series isn't over yet, and that we still have TWO WHOLE books left. i can't wait!

mini discussion (spoilers ahead!)

PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE READING UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK!

*i'm only going to discuss certain points in the book that i either loved, found interesting, or hated & need to rant about, so it may be a bit choppy because it will skip from one part to another- i'm doing this to keep the discussion short, because i could go on forever!*

CAN WE TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE HOW CUTE SHADE AND FARLEY ARE? OTP OTP OTP. i loved them so much, they were perfect for each other, i ship it i ship it i ship it. oh, and we can't forget mare and cal! i've sort of been team cal since red queen, so i'm super pleased with this. 

shade's "jumping" ability is SO COOL, and it came in handy a lot throughout the story. in that case, all of the abilities came in handy. each new power was like a piece of a puzzle and once put together, would make the scarlet guard invincible, and i thought it was incredible. i loved how they got to travel around to find and train the new recruits! i think this was the main reason i loved glass sword more than red queen. cameron, nanny, gareth, nix, ketha, ada, harrick, all of them were amazing additions to the story. 

julian and sara are back! yaaayyy! im so happy, because julian is one of my favorite characters! i'm hoping he will play a main role in the next book. as for sara, even though she can't speak, i hope we will get some insight from her on coriane so that we can understand what exactly happened to her.

I'M SO MAD THAT SHADE DIED. HE DID NOT DESERVE THAT. shade was my favorite character throughout the book, he was always so caring and kind and brave and smart and sassy and everything i could ask for in a fictional character. i honestly think he could have done great things in the upcoming books, but i guess he won't ever get that chance. :( at least he went down fighting. buuuut thankfully, ELARA IS DEAD! muahahaha. 

so, that ending. what?? why?? they went through so much trouble, even creating their own army just to end up with mare back in maven's hands. it seems like it was all for nothing. don't get me wrong, i know this will be built upon in the next book, but i still wasn't happy with it. 

okay, so that was my first discussion. sorry it was mainly focused on the characters. in my defense, glass sword does seem a little more focused on characters than plot. anyways, have you read glass sword? if so, what did you think of it? comment, i'd love to hear what you thought!