Most Anticipated of 2015: Winter

I wanted to talk about the books I'm dying to have, but since I don't do the WoW weekly feature I don't really have somewhere to talk about those books. So these posts were born. It'll be a series of 6-10 posts, since I haven't decided how many I want to talk about, and they should be up every Friday as a temporary feature.

Today I'm going to talk about

Winter by Marissa Meyer

expected November 10th

Here is the stunning conclusion to the national bestselling Lunar Chronicles, inspired by Snow White.

When Princess Winter was thirteen, the rumor around the Lunar court was that her glamour would soon be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. In a fit of jealousy, Levana disfigured Winter. Four years later, Winter has sworn off the use of her glamour altogether. Despite her scars, Winter’s natural beauty, her grace, and her gentleness are winning admiration from the Lunar people that no amount of mind-control could achieve.

Winter despises her stepmother, but has never dreamed of standing up to her. That is, until she realizes that she may be the only one with the power to confront the queen.

Can Cinder, Prince Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Cress, Thorne, Princess Winter, and the palace guard Jacin find their happily ever afters? Fans will LOVE this amazing conclusion to the series. 

WHY WHY WHY IS NOVEMBER SO FAR AWAY???? I NEED ALL MY OTPS TO BE HAPPY, AND I NEED THEM TO BE HAPPY RIGHT NOW. NOT IN NOVEMBER. This is one of the best, most emotional and driven sci-fi series I've ever read. I need Winter yesterday.

Reading round up (53)

Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress, my thoughts on each book as I read it, and any books I've acquired during the week.

17th November

Read 106 pages of Cress by Marissa Meyer and I'm super into it. These books could go nowhere, have no plot, and I wouldn't care. The characters, relationships, and dialogue are enough to carry them.

18th November

I woke up crazy early, read 30 pages of Cress, then went back to sleep. The sign of a truly good book, folks, is when it lures me even more than sleep.

Currently Reading: Cress | Marissa Meyer
Current page/percent: page 323
Read today: 167 pages

Dear Marissa Meyer:

19th November

Currently Reading: Cress | Marissa Meyer
Current page/percent: page 550
Read today: 227 pages
Thoughts: WHERE IS THE REST OF THIS BOOK? I REQUIRE A THOUSAND MORE PAGES.

20th November

Currently Reading: Grave Mercy | Robin LaFevers
Current page/percent: 9%
Read today: 9%
Thoughts: This has been on my NEED-to-read list for about two years now. Don't let me down, Grave Mercy.

21st November

Currently Reading: Grave Mercy | Robin LaFevers
Current page/percent: 32%
Read today: 23%
Thoughts: I can see myself being super into Duval.

22nd November

Currently Reading: Grave Mercy | Robin LaFevers
Current page/percent: 62%
Read today: 30%
Thoughts: Yep. I am super into Duval. 

23rd November

Currently Reading: Grave Mercy | Robin LaFevers
Current page/percent: 100%
Read today: 38%
Thoughts: I need to own ALL these books right now. I thought they were high fantasy but they're historical and god bless.

Books finished this week: 2 gigantic books

The Arctic Code | Matthew J. Kirby

Crimson Bound | Rosamund Hodge

Illusionarium | Heather Dixon

HOLY CRAP CRIMSON BOUND. HELL YESS. Been waiting for this for SO LONG. 

I also got The Fog Diver by Joel Ross but it doesn't have a cover yet.

Cress
Grave Mercy (review to be posted on Wednesday!!)

Cress (Review)

The Lunar Chronicles: Cress | Marissa Meyer

Published by: Puffin, February 6th 2014

Genre: YA, Science fiction

Pages: 550

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has. 

Holy crap on a cracker, Cress. 

What am I supposed to do with all these emotions? I'm angry and scared and overjoyed and I want to scream. All my babies are canon and working together and being honest. Cress is a sweetheart and a welcome addition to the crew, and her relationship with Thorne just made me feel warm and happy. I love how they're equally dependent on each other and how they balance and how Cress blushes and Thorne charms and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. But oh God, the ending. This book has too much everything - too much romance, too much action, too much danger, too much feeeeeelings, too much friends bonding and spaceships and men brooding and ladies kicking ass - and my tiny heart can't handle it.

I need Winter NOW or I will literally, probably, die.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★

Reading round up (43)

Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress, my thoughts on each book as I read it, and any books I've acquired during the week. I am so tired this week.

8th September

Currently reading: Scarlet | Marissa Meyer

Current page/percent: page 242

Read today: 242 pages

Thoughts: This was pretty good at the beginning but now it's AWESOME. I am thoroughly in love with Wolf and I'm breezing through this book.

9th September

Currently reading: Scarlet | Marissa Meyer

Current page/percent: page 452

Read today: 210 pages

Thoughts: That was AWESOME. I love Wolf and Scarlet my babies.

10th September

I started The Fall by Bethany Griffin (42%) and while I like how the storytelling flips between years of the protag's life, this is pretty trippy and weird and confusing. I get that it's supposed to be like that but ... I don't know if I like it.

11th September

Currently reading: The Fall by Bethany Griffin

Current page/percent: 100%

Read today: 58%

Thoughts: I flew through this on Pure Determination. I was only about 40% interested in the story. I like the tone and atmosphere but the story and the characters ... nah.

12th September

Started Darkest Mercy, the last Wicked Lovely book because I think I'm finally emotionally ready. This book is so short, though, for a final book and it's making me nervy. And I've read 188 pages of it in one day. It's not long enough!!

13th September

Finished Darkest Mercy (139 pages) and there wasn't enough book for my liking. It felt like the second half of a book but without the build up. I also vaguely started Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (6%).

14th September

Currently reading: Snow Like Ashes | Sarah Raasch

Current page/percent: 21%

Read today: 16%

Thoughts: I literally can't get over the named. Oktuber. I MEAN!!!

Books finished this week: 3

(I'm reading too much and getting no work done. Dammit.)

The Lost Locket of Lahari | Various

I enjoyed Erica Crouch's Madly, Deeply and I've been meaning to read Ruth Silver's books for what feels like forever, so I of course jumped on this. Not sure about the cover, though. There's something squinty about that font and the acid yellow.

The Walled City | Ryan Graudin

I requested this AGES ago and I just got approved. I'm a little bitter (since I have a tonne to review next month) but still excited to read it.

I have three deadlines this week and I'm exhausted and I quit being an author.

Also I went to Skipton castle and it was huge and medieval and fancy. Here's a picture of me stood in the chapel, insulting my stupid phone camera for not working :)

And last but very much not least - REMEMBER MEEEE FOR CENTURIIIIES. I'm so excited about this new song. 

Scarlet (Review)

The Lunar Chronicles: Scarlet | Marissa Meyer

Published by: Puffin, February 7th 2013

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Pages: 452

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

This is not the fairytale you remember.

But it’s one you won’t forget.

Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.

Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.

As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .

I could easily sum up my experience reading this book in one photo:

But I wanna talk about my feeelings a little. 

For me Scarlet had everything Cinder lacked, that extra magic, the sparkle of chemistry between the two characters, the betrayal. Everything. It also did it much better, in my opinion. Or maybe I just love Scarlet and Wolf more than Cinder and Kai, who knows?

Scarlet's story hooked me in much quicker than Cinder's did, and I was warming to her within a couple pages which is extremely rare for me. One of the main things I liked was that we were introduced to the love interest in the first chapter. No building up to it, no waiting around wondering, nothing dragged out. It was awesome. I was so gripped by their story that I read it in two days. I liked Cinder and Thorne's parts too, and was happy to see the return of Iko, but there was something just gripping and enchanting about Scarlet and Wolf. Possibly it's because I LOVE little red cap.

I LOVE the characters in this book. I love Scarlet because she's so determined to find her grandmother and she will not back down for anything. I love Wolf because he's so timid yet vicious and I like how quickly he can flip between the two. Mood swings bro, I getchu. I also loved them together, from the first moment, even without the instalove, even when they were pretty wary of each other. This book is a miracle, basically.

And it broke my heart. Several times. And I'm on the rampage, so I need a tiny break before I read Cress and run out of this series for a whole fricking year. (That release date for Winter's gotta be wrong, right? right???) I am SO not ready for my bb Kai being manipulated, oh hell no.

To sum: HELL YES.

(I was so tempted to give this book the favourites badge, and I probably would had it been just Scarlet and Wolf, but Cinder kinda flattened this book the slightest bit.)

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

Cinder (Review)

The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder | Marissa Meyer

Published by: Puffin, January 5th 2012

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Pages: 387

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

You know those books that everyone loves, and you reaaaaally want to love but aren't sure if you will? This was one of those books for me, and I am extra happy after the mediocrity of Wither and Shadow & Bone to say that Cinder lives up to the hype.

It's a retelling of Cinderella like none you've read before, and I'm thoroughly in love with it. It was a slow burn, and took a while for me to fully appreciate its complexities but once I was proper drawn into it, I was reading at a rate of knots and devouring every last word. Marissa Meyer is a master storyteller. I don't know how she managed to take a lifeless tale such as Cinderella and inject so much excitement and life into it. Cinderella isn't one of my favourite fairy tales, not by a long shot, but Cinder manages to be completely unrecognisable while still retaining the original tale.

Cinder(ella) is a mechanic, is tortured and brave and badass. A mechanic. A cyborg. And the crap she's had to endure from her adopted family is on the top side of extreme. I admired her a lot. I didn't love her, though, which held back the rating on this. I adore Kai, and really did like Cinder but I didn't love them together. Maybe this will change with the next books.

I did love the story, though, and the world, and the villain. I especially loved the politics. I need more books like this and I can't wait to get a hold of the next two books.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆