a to z challenge:: April Update

Anddddd I’m back in the game! Okay, so it’s not that impressive, but I managed to read two books this month! Hoorah! I know you all are probably laughing hysterically but this is a big deal because this is the most I’ve read in a month since January. Yes, the beginning of the year. Plus, my work load hasn’t decreased that much but I was determined to find more time to relax with a book and a big bottle of wine. Which actually helped me to fall asleep at nights quicker. No judging folks!

Plus a very happy birthday to moi in 48 hours!!

Here is my (happy and fuller) list thus far:

a:: RoseBlood – AG Howard

b::

c::

d::

e:: The Kiss of Deception – Mary E. Pearson

f::

g::

h:: H2O – Virginia Bergin

i::

j::

k::

l::

m::

n::

o:: One of the Guys – Lisa Aldin

p::

q:: The Star-Touched Queen – Roshani Chokshi

r::

s::

t::

u:: Uprooted – Naomi Novik

v::

w::

x:: Wayfarer – Alexandra Bracken

y::

z::

Happy reading! xoxo

a to z challenge:: back at it again!

It’s another year and another challenge. This was so fun and challenging last year that I thought I’d do it again. Since I expect to be very busy in the upcoming months so my Goodreads 2017 Book Challenge is a little light this year: 25 books to be exact. So by starting this simple challenge and since I’m super competitive, it’ll motivate me to finish and maybe exceed my reading challenge goals.

Here’s a refresh of the rules if you want to join along:

Rules:

1. You have 12 months to read 26 books. Duration: January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016.

2. You can read in any order you wish.

3. Either the first word in the title of the books or the author’s name (first or last) should correspond with a letter in the alphabet. You should omit “a” and “the” in the titles.

4. Letters Q, X and Z can be positioned anywhere in the titles or author names.

Here is my list thus far:

a::

b::

c::

d::

e:: The Kiss of Deception – Mary E. Pearson

f::

g::

h:: H2O – Virginia Bergin

i::

j::

k::

l::

m::

n::

o::

p::

q:: The Star-Touched Queen – Roshani Chokshi

r::

s::

t::

u::

v::

w::

x::

y::

z::

Happy reading! xoxo

Book Review:: The Star-Touched Queen – Roshani Chokshi

Date started: January 5, 2016

Date ended: January 28, 2017

Stars: ★★★

“He loved her. And she loved him. And in such bliss does devastation grow.”

So, I want to start this review by saying that I did enjoy this book but I feel like my review won’t read that way. I’m excited to see what else Chokshi will write in the future and I am planning on reading A Crown of Wishes which is a sequel to The Star-Touched Queen. But if I had to sum up this book in one word, I think the most fitting would be confusion. There were a few aspects that made this book so confusing and those items were some that I liked and some that I hated.

The first one and I think the largest problem is Chokshi’s writing style. Her writing is very poetic and beautiful, but it is so full of detail and creates great imagery that so much is thrown at the reader really fast. I got lost in the descriptions that when we would actually get back to the plot, I would still be in a stupor from the details. These details would add to the atmosphere but would not further the plot, so sometimes would cause things to seem stagnant and then the plot would accelerate too quickly. I think I ultimately ended up with whiplash and couldn’t keep up. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t familiar with mythology or I haven’t read enough poetry, but I don’t think that I’m alone in this thought process.

The other problem with this poetic writing is that 90 percent of the time I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if we were in a another world, another life, or during present day. It was a whirlwind of depiction but even with that I didn’t understand how the world worked, it was almost an oxymoron: there were so many details but there wasn’t enough specification. Even at the end when the truth was revealed, I don’t think I understood what happened leading up to the big reveal so I missed the significance. Unfortunately, the story never felt complete to me. In this case, the devil was the details.

Finally, the last problem that irked me with The Star-Touched Queen was the romance between Amar and Maya. It’s supposed to be a soulmate love that extends through past and present lives but the love seemed forced almost like a instalove. Half the time, they were never together. Then the rest of the time, he hardly spoke to her and when he did, it was scolding. So when she started having feelings towards him I had to roll my eyes. Yes, I love when my man treats me like a child or insignificant.

Like I said at the beginning, this review won’t read like I enjoyed the story but I really did! The poetic writing was one of the things I like and hated. Because it created a whimsical and magical atmosphere that fit with the overall story. I just wish it had been executed more precisely. I look forward to reading the sequel and how things will progress.

#currentlyreading

Book Review:: The Kiss of Deception – Mary E. Pearson

Date started: December 23, 2016

Date ended: January 25, 2017

Stars: ★★★★

“Until one comes who is mightier, The one sprung from misery, The one who was weak, The one who was hunted, The one marked with claw and vine, The one named in secret, The one called Jezelia.”

I thoroughly enjoyed The Kiss of Deception and look forward to reading the rest of the series especially with the twist at the end of this book. Well, the whole book had twists and turns, some easy to guess and others, not so much. But there were certain aspects of this book that niggled me, hence only 3 stars. I would recommend this book to friends who love strong female leads, romance, and fantasy.

Normally, I complain about the pacing of a novel, yeah, well, I’m ADHD so throw me a bone here. I need something to capture me and drag me in from the very first word. This was not a problem for this novel. From the very start, I was enchanted. It starts with a runaway princess. Not only that, she runs away on her wedding day because she is denying her arranged marriage. Not only that, she’s stolen secret scrolls from her kingdom which causes her father to send bounty hunters after her! BOOM! We have intrigue plus a bad ass lead female, I am happy.

Though this happiness was short lived. Yes, she starts as a bad ass I-don’t-need-no-man-screw-you-dad character, though as soon as she gets her freedom, two men show up (one is the betrothed prince and the other is an assassin sent to kill her) and she is all up in her feelings about both of them. We are given a typical YA love triangle. Ickkkk … though Lia does choose one over the other but has moments where she questions if she choose the right one. Insert eye roll here.

The boys are fun and mysterious, Pearson never lets on who is who (the prince or the assassin) of course, she presents both Rafe and Kaden in certain lights trying to sway the opinion of the readers, at the end of the book you ares till guessing who is who. There are likable things about both males, though I like Kaden more than Rafe, but I think that’s how you’re supposed to feel. Kaden is portrayed as the sweet boy next door and Rafe is the bad boy your mama warned you about. Though both are likable and have deplorable characteristics which make them more realistic. I really liked all of the characters in this novel. The atmosphere is picturesque and magical, from the first chapter to the last, I was transported to a far off kingdom and didn’t want to return. I can only see the series getting better from here. The Kiss of Deception was a great baseline for a stellar series.

#JanuaryOwlCrate # ClassicRemix

Book Review:: H2O (The Rain) – Virginia Bergin

Date started: December 16, 2016

Date ended: January 6, 2017

Stars: ★

I can’t. I literally can’t anymore. Maybe it’s just because I’m 24 years old and have reached that point in my life where I can’t take ignorant teenagers (even though I’m sure at some points I was one at that age) even if they’re only characters in a book. 

I think Ruby, our main heroine, is one of the real reasons I didn’t enjoy H2O. I was intrigued by the plot and was really interested to see where this story would go because again, as any of you might remember, I love putting myself into the situation and thinking of what I would do in their shoes. Well, I can guarantee you I wouldn’t be worrying about my makeup, hair, and nails when 99.73% of the population IS DEAD! Yes, I can understand her on the cellphone issue because it would be in the back of my mind, but I would’ve had higher priorities to deal with. 

Another thing that I didn’t like was the plot line. It was as stagnant as the water they couldn’t drink. I will admit that I didn’t finish H2O but I read about 200 pages of the 320 page novel before I’d almost lost all of my hair from pulling it out. At this point in the book, Ruby had finally just left home in search of her father. YES, JUST LEFT HOME AFTER 155 PAGES OF BEING HOME! Do you see the frustration? At first, the book started off at a good pace and I was engaged but then fell flat and bored me half-to-death after that. 

Overall, I would probably rate H2O as a 1.5 stars because I did enjoy the beginning of the book but then couldn’t take all the teenagerness that raged throughout the rest of the novel. I’m still intrigued by how the characters survived and how the story ends but from other reviewers, the story ends on another flat note. Maybe I’ll come back to this novel in a couple years, or maybe not. 

#currentlyreading

#happyoneyearanni #HNY

HAPPY 2017 Y’ALL!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe night, I know mine sure was eventful. I definitely did not spend the last hours of 2016 and beginning hours of 2017 as I thought I would but that’s the beauty of life. I was with the one person I wanted to spend the New Year, so that’s all that mattered to me. I also got to drink champagne, so life is good.

ALSO WANT TO SAY, HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO NOT ENOUGH BOOKS, NOT ENOUGH TIME!

I have never, in my life, been able to keep a blog or a journal/diary for over a year. Yes, in some months I was in and out, but overall, I was present and I’m very pleased with how my blog has grown. My goal is to be more diligent in the future.

I definitely want to give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to all of my followers! You are all amazing and I am so thankful that I have your support. If it weren’t for you I probably would’ve thrown in the towel. But thankfully, we’re all still here and I’m looking forward to all the new people who will join in 2017.

As always on January 1st, I love logging onto Goodreads and seeing the prompt:

how many books will you read in 2017? join the challenge.

My blood sings with joy. The funny story about that is I was thinking of being smart and doing some fancy-smancy math to see if I could find my average of books for the past two years. Well, it came out to be over 80 books and with my crazy hectic life at the moment, I knew this would set me up for failure (and I don’t like losing). So, I was lame, and just added 5 more books to my last year total.

To answer Goodreads question, I, Dana, will be reading 55 books (or more) in 2017! That’s a little more than a book a week, and with my other resolution to start reading at least 30 minutes a day, this is highly do-able. I’m psyched.

How many books will you read in 2017?

Any novels you cannot wait to get your hands on? I know I have a list overflowing with them.

xoxo

a to z challenge

Since it is a new year and I have decided to read so many books (50 to be exact) I also decided to participate in the a to z challenge so I thought I would share in case any of you are interested as well. Here are the rules!

Rules:

1. You have 12 months to read 26 books. Duration: January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016.

2. You can read in any order you wish.

3. Either the first word in the title of the books or the author’s name (first or last) should correspond with a letter in the alphabet. You should omit “a” and “the” in the titles.

4. Letters Q, X and Z can be positioned anywhere in the titles or author names.

Here is my list thus far:

a::

b::

c:: City of Lost Souls – Cassandra Clare

d::

e::

f::

g::

h::

i::

j::

k::

l::

m::

n::

o::

p:: Passion – Lauren Kate

q::

r:: Rapture – Lauren Kate

s::

t::

u::

v::

w::

x::

y::

z::

Happy reading! xoxo