Review: Carry On

Read if you like: chosen one plots that subvert EVERYTHING, romance that makes you cry (and smile at the same time?), and awesome side characters you want to be besties with.

Carry On | Rainbow Rowell

Genre: YA Fantasy
Released: February 25th 2016
Pages: 518
Format: Paperback
Source: Gift

A #1 New York Times-bestseller
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 starts 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 - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.

Oh my gods, THIS BOOK.

I didn't even know if I would LIKE this and it has somehow become tied with ACOWAR for my favourite book of this year. This book is real magic. I will read it again and again.

5 stars

Review: The Star-Touched Queen

The Star-Touched Queen  | Roshani Chokshi

Published by: St Martin's Griffin, April 26th 2016

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Mythology, Diverse

Pages: 342

Format: Ebook

Source: Purchased

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you’re only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…

But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.

A beautiful story of love, self-discovery, and magic. This book is so good at showing the beauty and wonder in even the darkest hells and monsters, and I just fell in love with it for that - and for the main chararcters. The Star-Touched Queen is everything I wanted it to be - romantic, detailed, immersive - and full of so much more mythology, legends, and creatures. I was ensnared from page one.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★