Genre: Fantasy & Magic

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater | Review

Posted February 1, 2016 in Reviews / 10 Comments

“You can be just friends with people, you know,” Orla said. “I think it’s crazy how you’re in love with all those raven boys.” I think I am about as short as Blue and this makes me identify with her on a spiritual level (no pun intended). That’s the beauty of this series: Maggie makes you feel so intricately connected to the characters in small, intimate ways, and sometimes silly ways, whether it’s through a Ronan’s cynicism and snarky remarks, Gansey’s obsessive behavior and paralyzing fear of bees, or Adam’s deep and dark desire to be better, stronger, to matter. While […]

An Unpopular Opinion on Winter by Marissa Meyer | Review

Posted December 21, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 30 Comments

I am an outlier. A black sheep. The reader who seemed to have missed the memo that this was an amazing, flawless, work of utter perfection. So I’m going to start with a disclaimer: I love Marissa Meyer. I’ve met her twice. I think her skill at writing fairy tale retellings is magnificent. Her characters have depth and feel like my own friends. I coveted the release of Winter. I dragged myself to Barnes & Noble after an eleven hour work day to buy it in person to ensure that I received a copy that was in pristine condition. And […]

The Book We’ve All Been Waiting For: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | ARC Review

Posted September 28, 2015 in Reviews / 7 Comments

My Review “Greed may do your bidding, but death serves no man.” Have you ever read a book that totally and completely changes your opinion of an author? For me, Six of Crows was that book. Sure, I enjoyed the Grisha Trilogy well enough. It had some elements I liked, but it didn’t set itself apart, didn’t situate itself as an out-liar in my mind among the copious amounts of other YA fantasy that I read. So I admit to being nervous and more than a bit skeptical when I started Six of Crows (although my excitement was peaked after […]

Firewalker (Worldwalker Trilogy #2) by Josephine Angelini | ARC Review

Posted September 1, 2015 in Reviews / 4 Comments

My Review It’s no secret that Firewalker was my most anticipated ARC of the year. I raved about Trial By Fire this January, and I adored the unique world that Angelini created that was a mixture of paranormal and science, with a dash of steam punk thrown in for good measure. It was different and complex and featured one of my favorite, and seemingly underrepresented, paranormal creatures: witches. You can imagine my immense emotional upheaval upon finishing this book and not deeming it worthy of 5 stars, or even 4 stars, but rather relegating it to the rather mediocre side […]

End of Days by Susan Ee | Review

Posted June 10, 2015 in Reviews / 8 Comments

“Power is best held by the ones who don’t want it.” I’ve been meaning to write this review for weeks, but for some reason have been unable to fully form my thoughts about this book into coherent sentences (a strange occurrence for me, as it’s common for my reviews to easily be 1000+ words). I think the dilemma of being able to form a concrete opinion about this book stems from the fact that I was equal parts satisfied and disappointed by the way that Penryn and Raffe’s story ended, an odd juxtaposition of individual scenes I really enjoyed that […]

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler | ARC Review

Posted May 28, 2015 in Reviews / 10 Comments

*Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy! I love fairytale retellings and adaptations, so when I discovered that The Summer of Chasing Mermaids was a contemporary story influenced by The Little Mermaid, I knew I had to read it. Contemporary novels that take influence from myths and legends are often so creative, and I deeply admire Sarah Ockler’s talent at weaving in influences of the famous tale into a beautiful and emotional contemporary novel. This book had a lot more depth than I was expecting. At first glance it may seem like a fluffy, beach read but […]

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas | Review

Posted May 13, 2015 in Reviews / 24 Comments

“I threw myself into that fire, threw myself into it, into him, and let myself burn.” How do I possibly count the ways in which I ADORED this book? I finished it about 24 hours ago, and I have been unable to do anything productive. I have picked up the book again at least 3 times since then to flip through it and reread my favorite parts. I am a book-hangover mess. Once in a while I’ll claim in a review that a book was “My favorite in X genre for this year” or “The best at dealing with X […]

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas | A Review of Redemption

Posted March 25, 2015 in Books, Five Star Reads, Reviews / 20 Comments

“Then Celaena and the King of Adarlan smiled at each other, and it was the most terrifying thing Dorian had ever seen.” I’ll admit, I was a skeptic. Going in, I was NOT expecting this to be a five star, or even a four star read. I was really underwhelmed by Throne of Glass, and I felt like a total outlier because of it. Everyone raved about the series, so when I was at the bookstore the other day looking for a new paperback, I decided to give the series another shot. And I am SO glad I did, […]

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski | Review

Posted March 19, 2015 in Books, Five Star Reads, Reviews / 27 Comments

“People in brightly lit places cannot see into the dark.” How did I not read this book sooner? Sure I’d heard about it enough. I just went about my business, thinking this was nothing more than the usual and currently popular fantasy/dystopian YA love story. I am so delighted to have been proven wrong. I loved everything about this book, from the plot to the characters to the beautiful writing to the Greco-Roman inspired society. I don’t think I’ve been so passionate about a book since I finished Trial By Fire in January. The Winner’s Curse is the book […]

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard | Review

Posted March 6, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 10 Comments

“I see a world on the edge of a blade. Without balance, it will fall.” There seem to be two kinds of readers when it comes to Red Queen: Those who unabashedly love the novel in all of its dystopian glory, and those who were severely disappointed, after such a hyped up marketing campaign, and found it to be laden with tropes from other popular YA series. Despite knowing how polarized readers are on this title, I couldn’t help but order it (I succumbed to the cover, let’s be honest) and after having a few days to digest it, […]