Reading round up (79)

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. 

8th June

I wanted to finish Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen today but it just didn't happen. I read 94 pages and I totally forgot about the guillotine scene!! I still think the book hit a peak in the tunnels and then dipped considerably, though. This ending feels more like a beginning of the next book...

9th June

I skim read the last 70 or so pages of Stolen Songbird and I still really think the ending is WAY less interesting that the labyrinth-almost-beheaded thing. 

I also started Ashes by Ilsa. J. Bick because I was in the mood for something post-apocalyptic. I've read 93 pages and I LOVE IT. So, so cool. Reminds me of The Darkest Minds and The Immortal Rules so far.

10th June

I read 74 pages of Ashes and it's SO GOOD. A love interest was introduced and it ... STRENGTHENED the story. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat. What is happening here???

11th June

Lost track of what I read today. Some pages of Ashes, I think.

12th June

Alright I spoiled myself accidentally with Ashes and now I have no interest in finishing it because that spoiler is the opposite of what I wanted. So I'm stalled at page 242 and sad about it. This was gonna be one of my faves ever, but that had to happen.

I read 16% of The Lying Game, though, and it's still fairly good. The mystery has dropped off a lot, though.

PLUS I started A Thousand Nights by E. J. Johnson. Which is really good so far - and has diverse main characters!!! So that's cheered up my reading list considerably.

13th June

I read 44% of A Thousand Nights, and it is so good. The setting is authentic and just, everything feels respectful of the culture. Thank you, E. K. Johnston.

14th June

Today I finished A Thousand Nights, and it was perfect. I also started A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas, and my galley is missing a bunch of letters that makes some paragraphs difficult to read but I am NOT abandoning this book. 

Books finished this week: 2
Books DNF'd this week: 1

For review:

I'm not listing these or linking them because I'm lazy/ Thanks to Harper Collins + imprints, and Angry Robot for these lovely, shiny galleys.

Amazon Freebies:

The Cure | Stephanie Erickson

Reading round up (78)

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. 

1st June

Today I read 43% of In The Air Tonight by Lori Handeland, finishing it, and it was really good at the end. I also read 47 pages of With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent, my fave.

2nd June

I read 74 pages of With All My Soul, and I'm continually shocked at how good these books are. Also the cover model looks SO much like Lindsy Fonseca!

3rd June

I finished With All my Soul (166 pages read!), and with it the entire Soul Screamers series, and it killed me. I've literally been brought back as a reaper to type this update from beyond the grave. Tod/Kaylee are too cute. Nash's character development is too important to me. And Sabine/Sophie being adoptive sisters IS SOMETHING ELSE. Thank you, Rachel Vincent, for this absolute gift.

4th June

Today I started my reread of Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen. I now own the pretty paperback, which I am very happy about. I read 57 pages and it's as awesome as I remembered.

I also impulse bought and immediately started reading The Lying Game by Sara Shepard, because I'm LOVING PLL being back and I've been waiting for a kindle sale on her books for ages. I've read 20% and colour me pretty darn interested. Don't go downhill from here, please!!

5th June

I read 89 pages of Stolen Songbird and hello Tristan my love *heart-eyes*. I also read another 9% of The Lying Game, and I think it's about to get cooler.

6th June

I have absolutely no idea what I read today. All my progress and page numbers got mixed up.

7th June

Today I read 16% of The Lying Game, bringing me to 45%, and I am actually really into the love interest. Well played, Sara Shepard, making him interested in astronomy. I also read 96 pages of Stolen Songbird, and my heart is in pain rn.

Books finished this week: 2
Books DNF'd this week: 0

For review:

NOTHING AGAIN!!!!

Hell yiss.

Bought:

The Lying Game | Sara Shepard

Rush | Eve Silver

As you see above, I've already started The Lying Game. It's pretty cool. And I've been wanting to read Rush for YEARS. It's one of those books I never got around to. But I hate the UK cover, and I've just realised it's a game-based sci-fi (I've read three of these and DNF'd all of them) so we'll see...

Chameleon Moon | RoAnna Sylver

Adamant | Emma L. Adams

These are two LONNNNG overdue purchases for me. Chameleon Moon sounds amazing and unique and has HELLA DIVERSITY. And Adamant will count towards my Saruuh Explores NA... project!!!

In The Air Tonight (3 STARS)

Stolen Songbird blog tour

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of Stolen Songbird. It's been getting amazing reviews, and rightly so. But what is it? you ask. Well, it's a high fantasy YA novel, and it has trolls, magic, and an under-mountain city in it! Not to mention a curse, kidnapping, and a heart-wrenching romance. It's thoroughly enchanting. If you need more reasons to read it, I direct you to my review.

Since I adore this book so much, I am extra honoured to feature the author Danielle. L. Jensen on my blog today! Here she is talking about the amazing setting of Stolen Songbird:

The Chicken or the Egg: Story or Setting?

The question of why Stolen Songbird takes place in a cave is probably best answered by my explanation of what inspired me to write the novel. Like so many authors before me (sparkly vampires!), and so many who will come after, the idea for my story came to me in a dream. “What a cliche!” you say, but it’s the honest truth. I had a dream about a beautiful city that had been buried, but not entirely destroyed, by rock. Even now, all these years later, I can still close my eyes and remember walking through collapsed corridors, with only the faintest bits of light coming through to illuminate fabulous paintings, sculptures, and fountains. In my dream, the only way to reach this city was by swimming under water, which might jog the memory of those of you who have already read Stolen Songbird. 

My vision of this place stuck in my head for days afterward, and I began to daydream a story to fit the place. I thought about how a city could be buried, I thought about what sort of magic would keep it from being destroyed completely, and I thought about why a race of people would choose to stay in such a place. They, in my mind, would only stay if they had no choice, and that was how the curse was born.  I then thought about what would happen to a people who are not naturally denizens of the dark if they were isolated from the world and kept from the sun. How would they change? What would they be like? How would they become little more than a myth to most of the outside world, and what would that myth be?  And most importantly: what would these creatures want more than anything else? The answer to that is obvious – to be free. And that was how the plot for my buried city was born.

There is, of course, a world outside of Trollus. You see a bit of it with Cécile, and there are certainly references to it throughout Stolen Songbird. A few readers have asked me why I provided so little information about the outside world. I have many, many reasons for that, but I’ll share the important ones. The first reason is that I thought limiting the information about the outside would compound the sense that Trollus is quite isolated, almost an entirely different world.  The second was that it would raise a lot of questions with readers – questions that I’ve every intention of answering in the subsequent two books. Hopefully reading Stolen Songbird will leave readers hungering to find out more about the world I’ve created for Cécile and Tristan. 

Thank you to Strange Chemistry and Danielle. L. Jensen for gracing me with this fabulous guest post!

Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy...

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

Reading round up (15)

Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress and my thoughts on each book as I read it. Next week is deadline week for me, so I'm hoping to read a lot of books this week because I won't be next week.

17th February

Currently reading: Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

Current page/percent: 88%

# of pages/percentage read today: 22%

Thoughts: I have no idea why that needed to happen but okay! Cecile doing magic! Cool!

18th February

Finished Stolen Songbird (22%) and started The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (31 pages) which I've been wanting to read for a while. Didn't enjoy the Iron Fey series but hoping to like this one.

19th February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 96

# of pages/percentage read today: 66 pages

Thoughts: Starting to like this.

20th February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 137

# of pages/percentage read today: 41 pages

Thoughts: Not much time to read but hoping to get through a lot of it tomorrow. This book is really good now.

21st February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 189

# of pages/percentage read today: 52 pages

Thoughts: I really REALLY like this. Again: no time to read.

22nd February

Currently reading: The Immortal Rules | Julie Kagawa

Current page/percent: page 237

# of pages/percentage read today: 48 pages

Thoughts: Hmmmm. I'm not sure where this is going but okay. Cute human boy. I miss Kanin.

23rd February

Ideally, I'd finish this today but that's not gonna happen. I have a tonne of other things to do. Also 100% not in the mood for vampires, so read 10% of The Blood List by Sarah Naughton.

Books finished this week: 1

Stolen Songbird (ARC Review)

The Malediction Trilogy: Stolen Songbird | Danielle. L. Jensen

Published by: Strange Chemistry, April 1st 2014

Genre: YA, High Fantasy

Pages: 436

Format: Ebook

Source: Strange Chemistry via Netgalley (thank you so much!!)

For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy...

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

Stolen Songbird tells the tale of Cecile, a girl kidnapped and forced to marry a troll. Along the way there's magic and hijinks and politics and romance. It's pretty awesome and I am pretty bad at summaries. This won't be a coherent review, my friends.

One of my favourite things about this book is how unique and beautifully vivid the setting is. It's a cave, by the way, buried under a fricking mountain, which is kept from collapsing by troll magic. Oh, and the trolls are cursed and can't leave the mountain. I LOVE TROLLUS. I've never read anything like it in my life. The world building is at once subtle and expansive. Jensen is a bona fide genius at world building.

And the characters! Cecile is gutsy and emotional, feminine and badass. Tristan is swoon-worthy and complicated, a treacherous little shit and an adorable little puppy when he's around Cecile. I'm pretty pissed at a few things he did but I just adore him. The only thing I'd change about him is I'd give him Marc's appearance and make Cecile love him despite his 'grotesque' look. I think that would be a million times awesome. (that doesn't even make sense, don't question me, I love this book.)

I've forgotten what I'm saying. What am I saying? Oh yeah, the lore! Danielle. L. Jensen has somehow found a way to craft an entirely new, refreshing troll species, while still staying true to the superstitions and stories that are familiar to us. I don't know how she does it. I think she must have a bit of magic herself.

My only major issue with the book is the ending. 1: YOU CAN'T LEAVE IT LIKE THAT!!! 2: I kinda felt the last 20% could maybe have been done without. I was just ambling on to the point Cecile left Trollus, not enjoying as much as I had before. But maybe that was just me. I am rather pernickety about endings. Either way the book is amazing.

To sum: Stolen Songbird is an enchanting reinvention of troll folklore packed full of lyrical passages, flawless world building, and wonderful characters, with an original and compelling plot.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★☆