Reading round up (46)

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. Finally it's Halloween, the month long spooptacular.

29th September

The Walled City is not as good as I thought it'd be. I'm kinda mad that I was excited for this and it's shitty. The world isn't explained AT ALL. Is it a walled city in our world, a fantasy world, a sci-fi world???? No world building whatsoever. Anyway I read another 8% and it was like pulling teeth so I'm gonna DNF because I'm not enjoying it one bit and I don't think I ever will.

SO I started Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan (93 pages) because fuck you that's why.

30th September

Currently reading: Unmade | Sarah Rees Brennan

Current page/percent: page 278

Read today: 185 pages

Thoughts: My heart has already been broken TWICE and now my bb Rusty is doing the dumb thing.

1st November

I finished Unmade (90 pages read) and I want to stop existing until the next Lynburn Legacy book comes out OH RIGHT THIS IS THE LAST ONE LET ME DIE.

I also started My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent  (52 pages) because I know for a fact I will hate anything else I read RN because I am SO hungover and hurt and aching from Unmade.

2nd November

Currently reading: My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent 

Current page/percent: page 275

Read today: 223 pages

Thoughts: Kaylee doesn't seem to care much about Nash being held prisoner in the Netherworld. I mean he's a dick and all but ... she loves him and doesn't sound worried AT ALL. I'm pretty worked up about it though. I will rescue Nash.

3rd November

I finished My Soul to Keep (103 pages read) and the ending wasn't as great as I'd expected. I like the glowing girls though and hope we see more of them in the future. I also started Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast (57 pages) which I'm regretting because all it's got me so far is people telling me I'll regret it. And now that negativity is muddling whatever enjoyment I'd have got from it.

4th November

Marked is AWFUL (DNF at page 61). Casual and often use of the word retard, sarcastic insults at people with eating disorders with no second thought about how insensitive and disgusting they're being. If you can't write a teenage voice without causing mass offense, maybe you shouldn't be writing about teenagers.

5th November

I started Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine because I have no idea what to read and it was the first book I clicked on my kindle. I've read 32% and I'm pretty into it. I don't tend to read this era if I do read historical so it's pretty new to me. Romeo still makes me wanna punch him which I enjoy too.

Books finished this week: 2

 The Unhappening of Genesis Lee | Shallee McArthur

Sooooo ... I got super judgy with this book on twitter. I said it was a total rip off of Mara Dyer, and with that title can you blame me? BUT I have since found out it's sci-fi, despite the contemp-amnesia suggestive blurb on EW, and that people's memories are stored in physical objects that are being stolen. HELL YES. GIMME.

MY HALLOWEEN BINGO STARTED. And I am pretty excited about it already. Nobody else signed up, which I thought would bother me, but I'm happy to find out I don't give a fuck.

Reviewed this week: My Soul to Save // Exquisite Captive // The Walled City (DNF) // Unmade

My Soul to Keep (Review)

Soul Screamers: My Soul to Keep | Rachel Vincent

Published by: Mira Ink, April 15th 2011

Genre: YA, Paranormal, Mythology

Pages: 378

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

WHEN KAYLEE CAVANAUGH SCREAMS, SOMEONE DIES 
AND KAYLEE IS ABOUT TO SCREAM HER HEAD OFF... 

Kaylee has one addiction: her very hot, very popular boyfriend, Nash. A banshee like Kaylee, Nash understands her like no one else. Nothing can come between them. 

Until something does. 

Demon’s breath. No, not the toothpaste-challenged kind. The Netherworld kind. The kind that really can kill you. Somehow, the super-addictive substance has made its way to the human world. But how? Kaylee and Nash have to cut off the source and protect their friends—one of whom is already hooked. 

And when the epidemic hits too close to home, Kaylee will have to risk everything to save those she loves.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than the second in series. I like how Rachel Vincent draws real life issues into her paranormal stories - substance abuse and drug addiction for example in this one, and the price and consequence of fame in the second book. 

I was much more connected to the story and characters in My Soul to Keep, because I knew the main problem was connected to Nash (because the UK blurb is SUPER spoilery) and I love Nash. Though I must say my love of him took a serious hit in this book. He turned into an asshole, and while I get why he did, I was still pretty appalled at what he did and impressed with Kaylee for not instantly forgiving him like countless other YA protags would have.

My favourite thing about this book by far was Tod. I love that he's getting a bigger part of the series with each book and I am SO ticked off that I can't find the Tod novella ANYWHERE over here. What the heck, Amazon?? Anyway that's beside the point - this book was a big improvement on the last one, and though I still didn't love it as much as the first, I enjoyed it a lot. This series is fast becoming one of my faves.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

Unmade (Review-ish)

The Lynburn Legacy: Unmade | Sarah Rees Brennan

Published by: Simon & Schuster, September 25th 2014

Genre: YA, Gothic, Urban Fantasy

Pages: 370

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.

This final book in the Lynburn Legacy is a wild, entertaining ride from beginning to shocking end.

I had hoped to gif review this book, as I did the others, but it's just too hopeless. I finished it days ago and I still don't know what my feelings are doing. This book was wonderful and awful, it made me laugh and sob and shout at these dumbass characters. I can't review it in gifs because that would require me to be sarcastic and humourous and I feel numb and hollow. I can barely review it in words. I love this series. *lays on the floor to contemplate an existence with no more Lynburn Legacy books*

If I had to pick one gif though...

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★★

The Walled City (DNF Review)

The Walled City | Ryan Graudin

Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, November 4th 2014

Genre: YA, ??????? I honestly don't know, man. Other?

Pages: 432

Format: Ebook

Source: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, via Netgalley

There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Right now, my life depends completely on the first. Run, run, run. 

Jin, Mei Yee, and Dai all live in the Walled City, a lawless labyrinth run by crime lords and overrun by street gangs. Teens there run drugs or work in brothels—or, like Jin, hide under the radar. But when Dai offers Jin a chance to find her lost sister, Mei Yee, she begins a breathtaking race against the clock to escape the Walled City itself.

This book had a LOT of hype around it. Practically everyone I follow has read, received, or reviewed it, and I was excited for the chance to read it too. Sadly I have no idea what I actually read. I went into this expecting elements of science fiction OR fantasy. HOWEVER it turns out, after a bit of internet research during the middle of reading when I got hella confused, that this book is based on a real life place in our world. So it's neither sci-fi or fantasy, but a contemporary thriller. Kinda. I think? Mostly it assumes everyone knows about the walled city the book is based on, and I think very few people will have heard of it.

I was confused for most of this book, bored for parts, though Mei Yee's parts did remind me a bit of Lauren DeStefano's Wither, and I didn't mind those. But the other two POV characters I didn't care for. I liked that the world was set somewhere that wasn't america, but I didn't enjoy what I read of The Walled City. Setting and world building are major components of a book for me, personally, and I can't take worlds on face value, without explanation of how they came about.  This book didn't have that explanation.

DNF at 33%.

Exquisite Captive (ARC Review)

Dark Caravan Cycle: Exquisite Captive | Heather Demetrios

Published by: Balzer+Bray, October 7th 2014

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Pages: 480

Format: Ebook

Source: Balzer+Bray, via Edelweiss

Forced to obey her master.
Compelled to help her enemy.
Determined to free herself. 

Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.

Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?

Inspired by Arabian Nights, EXQUISITE CAPTIVE brings to life a deliciously seductive world where a wish can be a curse and shadows are sometimes safer than the light.

Exquisite Captive of one of those books where I've finished it and I'm not sure if I actually liked it. There were parts I enjoyed, sure, but overall? I literally can't tell.

The book is about Nalia, a wish granting Jinni held captive by a master - Malek  - but Nalia's secretly the last in a line of royal Jinnis and she gets dragged into a rebellion led by the 'enigmatic' Raif, all the while being hunted for being royal.

Okay so, at first I was like okay. The jinni part was cool and I hadn't read about it in a YA, the world Nalia kept thinking about was also intriguing. But it began to lose me at Hollywood. I just ... there's something about Hollywood that doesn't interest me at all. California, too. And the way everything was described, positively mind you, did nothing to make me enjoy the setting. So that was one mark down against Exquisite Captive.

The characters were alright. I didn't mind Nalia but I somehow got wound up in loving Malek, which is really screwed up. Malek is abusive, problematic, and downright awful, but he managed to grab my heart. And I'm pretty pissed about it. I know everything he's doing is wrong, but still I'm rooting for him, wanting Nalia/Malek to be real. Malek's behaviour is portrayed in a grey light, excused by him being [spoilers] part Ifrit which I HATED. You can't make abuse acceptable, no matter what. Don't even try. So that was pretty icky, and my love for him was even ickier.

But Raif ... I didn't feel a single thing for. No attachment. I wished he hadn't been a part of the book so many times, especially near the end. Just let Nalia save herself for Christ's sake! So yeah ... could've done without that guy. But lo and behold, he's the guy, the one, the love interest. (he's dishwater dull and Nalia fell instantly in love with him for next to no reason.) Their kisses made me nauseous.

Anyway, I'm still pretty conflicted about this book. I liked some of the characters, enjoyed the premise and the fantasy world, but hated the real world and other characters. I don't know if I'll read the next book, but you can be sure if I do it'll be to find out more about Malek. Because I am horribly invested in him now.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world building ★★☆☆☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

(3 stars is very generous, but I did like some parts of it)

---

(from galley:)

"Blood, bone, and breath to a master bound."

"His was a magic of mismatched patches, sewn together with hope and desperation."