Monday, December 28, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux (#1.5)
Published date: 1st December, 2015
Published by: Entangled Teen
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal

Pages: 350
Format: Paperback


Rating: 5*
Synopsis: Experience the epic love story of OBSIDIAN as told by its hero, Daemon Black…



I knew the moment Katy Swartz moved in next door, there was going to be trouble. Lots of it. 



And trouble’s the last thing I need, since I’m not exactly from around here. My people arrived on Earth from Lux, a planet thirteen billion light years away. Plus, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that humans can’t be trusted. We scare them. We can do things they only dream about, and honestly, we make them look weak as hell. ‘Cuz they are. 



But Kat is getting to me in ways no one else has, and I can't stop myself from wanting her—or wanting to use my powers to protect her. She makes me weak, and I’m the strongest of our kind, tasked with protecting us all. So this one simple girl…she can mean the end for us. Because the Luxen have an even bigger enemy—the Arum, and I need to stay on my game. 



Falling for Katy—a human—won't just place her in danger. It could get us all killed, and that’s one thing I’ll never let happen..



Review:

Daemon is perfect.

Glad to write,
DomoMin (Brigida Afonso)



KIDDING!


Back to the review.

Even though we already got to read Daemon's POV in the last Lux Series book, an entire book with ONLY Daemon's POV is something completely different.


The Lux Series is one of my favorite book series (if not the favorite one!) and to be able to read once again something from this story but in a different perspective made me so freaking happy.

It is obvious how much I loved this book. As soon as I saw that the book was coming out, I made the pre-order of it and this was the first pre-order I've made in my entire life.
Everyone loves Daemon, it's a worldwide fact.

I don't have any complaints about this book, I loved everything about it and smiled through all of it and had the same (or even worse and bigger) feels as I did when I read Obsidian.
Now, for the second time, I've finished the Lux Series and I still want more of it. Jennifer L. Armentrout has powerful writing skills that makes you get hooked in the worlds she creates, at least for me. Although I've only read this series by J. L. Armentrout, I know the other books she has released are as awesome as the Lux Series and in this case Oblivion.
Reading this book made me want to re-read the entire series once again and roll on the floor while I cry because of the feels all this story brings.


To everyone who has read the Lux Series: READ THIS BOOK!

To everyone who still hasn't read the Lux Series: READ THE SERIES AND THIS BOOK.

Monday, December 21, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Published date: October 6th, 2015
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, LGBT
Pages: 513
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.5*
Sinopsis:
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.


Review:

I want to make this review as spoiler free as possible so I'm just pointing out some aspects that I loved.



Let's begin with why I didn't rate this book 5 stars. Well, the first chapters didn't quite get me hooked to the book (it doesn't mean I didn't liked them) and so for me it was a slow read but after a while the story started to make get so damn curious that I just couldn't let go of it. 


Rainbow Rowell does it once again. She wrote a damn well awesome book that thanks to it I'm having another existential crisis because of too many feelings brought by this amazing story.


Even though I read Fangirl during summer and had some idea of who Simon and Basilton (Baz) were, thanks to Cath's fanfiction, I loved them even more in this book. The thing that comes right away to mind if we speak of Baz is the moment that he appears in the book I started to smile so much and fangirl and he didn't even do anything! I was just so excited to get to know him even more and the other characters spoke so much of him that I just needed to read his POV or something where he was present at that moment.

I was so god damn curious to know how Rainbow Rowell developed Simon and Baz's romance and when everything started to get explained through the book I was like: ''OHHHHHH, this makes sense'', but I was mostly screaming, sobbing and fangirling in my mind although I spent most of this marvelous book smiling like a girl how's just fallen in love.


I'm so glad that I've read this book and got to be in the world of Mages once again but this time got to explore it and to see it throught the eyes of several characters. 

Everyone who wants to read Carry On should first read Fangirl to get the inicial glimpses at the world of Mages and then you can read this book.

Hope that everyone who reads it, loves it as much as I did.



Tuesday, December 15, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Sanctuary by Zainab T. Khan

Sanctuary by Zainab T. Khan
Release date: December 21st, 2015
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 115
Format: Ebook
Rating: 4*
Sinopsis:
Sanctuary
(n.) the protection that is provided by a safe place.


"And Sanctuary was the right word to describe our small town with its mouth-watering Pakistani fruits, Spain’s bullfighting, Italian pizzas, French artists, Indian spices, Korean kimchi, Turkish delights, and Russian dishes. To every single one of us–a Pakistani, Indian, French, Italian, Korean, Arab, Spanish, Russian, Australian, African, American and Turkish–it was a sanctuary. Our own safe haven. Our home with its different cultural styles and with a culture of its own."




Review:

If you're looking for a one-sit-read, this book is the one! 
I really enjoyed reading this book and I so badly wanted that Zainab explored the plot even more because I surely saw a great  potential for an awesome romance.
I loved this idea the author had with this novellette in which she packed several cultures and religions in one story, this Sanctuary, this world she created is a well thought and explored idea. A place where all cultures are welcomed and there's no racism or hate for something that is different or is considered by others as strange.


In this book you get to see the point of view of Adelaide and Ruelle who are twins (brother and sister) and originally from France. For me, they were both excelent characters but I got more attached with Adelaide (probably because I'm a girl *inserts stupid laugh*) and her extraordinary personality.



One thing that I liked but at the same time didn't like was the fact that the names of several characters were point out numerous times at it started to get a little repetitive but at the same time it was good so we could memorize all the different people and cultures presented in this story.



Overall, I enjoyed reading this short book but I SOOOOO want more of this, at least more Adelaide and Kinvac moments and also Ruelle and Raina moments!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: A Bucket full of Awesome by Zainab T. Khan

A Bucket full of Awesome by Zainab T. Khan
Genres: Young Adult
Published Date: February 14th, 2015
Pages: 208
Format: Ebook 
Rating: 5*
Synopsis:
"You know, Blake, even though we all know that cancer is a heartless dragon who wants to take everything and everyone into its fiery pit, we still fight with it. We still hope. And we clash again and again with its fire, and even though we get burned, we don't accept defeat. Humans are the most fragile yet the strongest beings on earth." 
"And they are the most stubborn." 
I laughed, "Right. They are stubborn." 



Summer Wallace is a wild, crazy girl who simply couldn't care less about her appearance. She strongly believe in the saying, "You Only Live Once", in teenage subculture also known as YOLO. She plays basketball like her life depends on it. Well, it sort of does, she loses one game and there's a dent in her ego, not a small one either. 


Meet Blake Walker, her best friend and her partner-in-crime. Although he is just like his childhood best friend in acting-like-a-kid department, he can be a bit saner than her. Though, at times, he can be crazier than her. But a day changes both of their lives which leads Summer to make a bucket list and complete it before her whole life takes a 180 degree. Whereas, Blake is determined to keep her as long as he can. And he is perfect for the job. After all, he knows her more than anyone else. And they have no room for regrets. As Summer Wallace says, "There shouldn’t be any space for regrets in our beautiful lives.” 




Review:

This book, oh this book... Where do I even start?
First of all, like my best friend said to me: ''Not all books are perfect and you have to stop getting so hyped and write a review where you point out the negative parts and what you didn't like''. And yes, it is very true what she said but (there is always a but), I actually don't have anything that I didn't like about this, except that it could be bigger because I loved it.


So... *composes herself into a professional person* The book is written in the first person and in the point of view of Summer Wallace, though almost at the end it changes into Blake Knight's POV and then again into Summer's POV.

Summer's almost 20 years old and getting to read her thoughts at that right moment, her actions, you get into her skin like if you were her. The writing was surprisingly simple in a way but also complex (in a positive way). Since it was Summer's mind that we were reading, the way she speaks/thinks is actually like a teenage girl from nowadays, for example when she says: ''make-out session with the concrete floor.''; ''Awesome. Please note the sarcasm.'' or ''Seriously, dude?'', these expressions that sound like something a girl of her age would say made me get even more attached to Summer and the story because even I speak like that so it made feel like I could relate to her. 



SPOILERS

The fact that right in the beginning she denied receiving treatment and why she did it sounded quite realistic. She feared death but feared more if she died while missing all the things in her life that she loved to do like playing basketball for indeterminate hours with Blake. I think that her strong personality made all the story even more interesting because she tried to show her strong side even though that in the inside she was actually scared and didn't want to make anyone suffer because of a stupid disease (Summer's words). 


Blake is a very important character here since besides being Summer's best friend, he's her pillar, the one who's beside her all the time and through all her life and obstacles that somehow she tries to avoid them like if they don't exist but Blake knows it, he knows how she feels even if she doesn't say a word about it.

If it wasn't for him, Summer wouldn't be doing the treatment and would probably die and then not truly enjoy her life.


There's a lot more that I can say about these two characters and the others like Luke, Lucinda or even Cameron. They all supported Summer and tried to make her see that with just a little effort everything would be okay and in the end she would be healthy and beside the ones she loves and cares for. 



For me it was obvious that Summer and Blake had feelings for each other but because they were best friends since always they didn't even think about that, but with time Summer started to get more scared about her condition and if she would survive and the talk she had with Cameron about why was she avoiding Blake made her see that avoiding him, so he didn't get hurt if she died, was actually hurting him more. Cameron opened her eyes to reality and so did Blake with a letter she wrote to him where she exposed her true feelings.



I think that the whole story was well structered and it's timeline was consistent. We got to see several stages of Summer's illness and all the learning she did while doing the things she had in her ''bucket full of awesome'' (bucket list). 

I did actually cried a couple of times and laughed a gazillion of times. If you read this book (I hope you do), count on a gazillion of funny moments.


The last thing that I want to point out is the inspirational side of the book.

You see Summer struggling with her disease but also you get to see what she learns with it and with all the adventures she has while trying to finish her bucket list. 
To finish, here are some parts that I thought were inspirational and beautiful:


''You are no princess. You are a warrior. You don't own a tiara or create peace and harmony. You wear spiky shoes and create caos. You, my darling friend, are a firecracker. A bomb which can explode anytime. You don't go for dresses, but jean shorts, leather belts, and spiky boots. Princesses are just too main stream whereas you, darling, are the only one of your kind. One and only.'' - Blake



''It's a given that we'll face difficulties and breaking points in our lives but with them we'll also have lots of positive moments. We only have to recognise them and let them be. We shouldn't burden those few positive moments with the negatives in our lives or we're going to just ruin them. Life is full of drama, competition, difficulties, and God knows what else. But that shouldn't rule out the love, happiness and joy we feel by being around the things we love and the people who love us. That's how life is. It's supposed to be bitter, but you have to sweeten it.'' - Summer