Reading round up (70)

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.

16th March

Read ... pages of Death Sworn by Leah Cypess and finished it. This book is a damn good fantasy, and I adore the assassins. Not enough magic for me personally but that's because Ileni is losing hers so it makes sense. Hoping for more when she finds a super-magic-ball-thing!

I also started Beauty and The Beast by Jenni James because 1) I need a small break between Death Sworn and my next book, 2) this book is pretty short, and 3) it counts towards my fairy tales challenge.

17th March

I finished Beauty and The Beast, and I actually really liked it. More than I expected to. It's a cute story, and even has a bit of danger and threat - unexpected!

18th March

Started Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder because I loved book one! Read 165 pages and I don't love this setting as much as book one. I really like Bains, or Bain, or whatever the stuffy old teacher is, though, and I see potential in Lief if only he'd stop being an aggressive douche.

In an effort to actually read The Arctic Code by Matthew. J. Kirby I read 13% today, bringing me to 53%. It's slow and boring, but I'm (optimistically) expecting it to pick up.

19th March

I read 123 pages of Magic Study, which got marginally better with the appearance of Valek (the bastard!) and 8% of The Arctic Code, which is actually never going to pick up. I'm so bored.

20th March

Read 14% of The Arctic Code and even though they've found the big secret (paleolithic aliens? which somehow manage to also be dull?) I'm still not feeling it. I feel like I've read 75% of nothing. Can't wait for it to be over tbh.

I also read 71 pages of Magic Study, which I'd hoped to finish but at well. These last 100 pages have been better than the entire rest of book... :|

21st March

Finished Magic Study, which was good but not amazing, and skimmed the last 25% of The Arctic Code, which was boring as hell. I also started Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter (33%) because I was feeling shitty and needed something PNR.

22nd March

I read 53% of Beauty Awakened, bringing me to 76% and I officially do not understand how the title fits. Neither characters' beauty has been awakened. Their self forgiveness, maybe, and their self-esteem definitely. Beauty? Nah. (Also where is Koldo's beard on the cover? That look nothing like him. Rude.)

Books finished this week: 4
Books DNF'd this week: 0

 

Hidden Huntress | Danielle. L. Jensen

Dragons Are People, Too | Sarah Nicolas

HIDDEN HUNTRESSSSSSSSSSSS!!! ALSO POC DRAGONSSSSSSS.

Death Sworn

Beauty and The Beast (Jenni James Fairy Tale Collection)

The Arctic Code (Scheduled for 24th March)

Magic Study (Scheduled for  26th March)

Beauty and The Beast (Faerie Tale Collection) (Review)

Faerie Tale Collection: Beauty and The Beast | Jenni James

Published: June 4th 2012

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Retellings, Shifters

Pages: 142

Format: Ebook

Source: Free on Amazon

A prince by day and a wolf by night—

Prince Alexander has been turned into a werewolf and has one year to find someone to love the beast and break the spell, or he will be a wolf forever. He has nearly given up achieving the impossible, knowing no girl would ever fall in love with such a monster.

Just when he is about to abdicate the throne to his cousin, he meets Cecelia Hammerstein-Smythe, while a wolf, and begins to hope for the first time in months. Can he balance both worlds as a human and beast, gaining the love and trust of a girl who has every reason to despise him?

Cecelia detests the prince. She only knows Alexander as the arrogant monarch—the tyrant who has made her life miserable—though perhaps he's changed right before her eyes. He's not as full of himself as he once was. The prince is gentle now... but then again, so is the beast.

I only really got this because it was free and counted towards my fairy tale challenge but I'm pretty glad I picked it up! 

Beauty and The Beast is a cute, traditional take on the fairy tale. Alexander is a prince forced to turn into a beast each night, while Cecealia is a typical village girl with a huge heart. I liked how Jenni James made the beastly aspect of the prince not his wolf form but his crappy personality as a human. He really wasn't that nice a guy, but by being trapped in beastly form he changed as a human. I liked that. I also liked the drama of Cecealia loving the beast but not the prince. I wasn't entirely sold on either character, but I did enjoy their romance and rooted for them towards the end.

Not a particularly outstanding or unique retelling, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. No world-building though!

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world building ★★☆☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

This book counts towards my Fairy Tale Challenge!

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