Wednesday 30 December 2015

Anticipated releases of 2016 - I own the first book in the series or the first book is on my wishlist

Hi booklovers

This is part two of my most anticipated releases of 2016.

B) I already own the first book in the series:

#1 Victoria Aveyard: Cruel Crown - Jan 6th
                          Glass Sword - Feb 9th
#2 Claudia Gray: Firebird #3 - 2016 (the first book in this series is 'A Thousand Pieces of You')
There is no cover or exact release date yet.


c) I have the first book of the series on my wishlist: 

#1 Marie Rutkoski: The Winner's Kiss - March 29th 
#2 Rachel Hawkins: Lady Renegades - April 5th

#3 Maggie Stiefvater: The Raven King - April 26th 
#4 Renee Ahdieh: The Rose and the Dagger - May 3rd
#5 Morgan Rhodes: The Darkest Magic - June 28th
#6 Mary E. Pearson: The Beauty of Darkness - August 2nd

#7 Sabaa Tahir: A Torch Against the Night - Aug 30th

 This isn't the final cover
#8 Leigh Bardugo: Crooked Kingdom - Sept 22nd
There hasn't been a cover release yet.


Let me know if you are excited about any of these, or any other releases.

Bye for now

Annelies

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Anticipated releases of 2016 - Continuing series

Hi booklovers

2016 is fast approaching so I thought I'd show you the books I'm looking forward to being released next year. If you want to know more about the books, just click on the title.

I'm dividing this into different categories and splitting it up into different posts:

A) Books that will continue series I've already started:

#1 Marissa Meyer: Stars Above - Feb 2nd
This is a short story collection consisting of nine stories. What more can we ask for? :-)

#2 Katie McGarry: Walk the Edge - March 29th
This is the second one in the Thunder Road series and I'm really looking forward to reading Razor's story.

#3 Sarah J. Maas: A Court of Mist and Fury - May 3rd
This isn't the final cover
I've heard that this is a 'Hades and Persephone' retelling. I liked ACOTAR so I'm curious to see where the story goes.

#4 Morgan Matson: The Unexpected Everything - May 3rd 
I like that Morgan Matson's contemporary stories are cute but not all lovey-dovey.

#5 Marissa Meyer: Heartless - Nov 8th
 This isn't the final cover
An Alice in Wonderland retelling? Yes, please! Written from the Queen of Hearts' POV? Interesting!

#6 Erika Johansen: The Fate of the Tearling - Nov 29th
I enjoyed 'Queen of the Tearling', but I still need to read 'Invasion of the Tearling'. Seeing as this isn't released until the end of the year, I still have time to catch up!

#7 Krista & Becca Ritchie: Damaged Like Us - tentative release date: 2016
Since the 'Addicted and Calloway Sisters' series are my second favourite reads of 2015, it's more than natural that I'm excited to read anything this wonderful duo releases!

#8 Cora Carmack: All Closed Off - 2016
There is no cover or exact release date yet
I really liked the first three books in the 'Rusk University' series and I think this POV will be even more interesting!
#9 Sarah J. Maas: Throne of Glass #5 - 2016
There is no cover or exact release date yet
I know I haven't read 'Queen of Shadows' yet, but I will read it before the next one comes out.

#10 Morgan Rhodes: Falling Kingdoms #5 - 2016
 There is no cover or exact release date yet
Same as with TOG, I haven't read Frozen Tides yet, but I will. There's only the small detail of buying it first! And maybe I should read 'A Book of Spirits and Thieves' first.

#11 Sara Raash: Frost Like Night - 2016
There is no cover or exact release date yet
Even though I'm still reading 'Snow Like Ashes' and I'm not that far in, I think I will enjoy this book, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up by the time the last book in the trilogy is released.


Let me know in the comments what some of your most anticipated releases of 2016 are.

Bye for now

Annelies
 

Monday 28 December 2015

My top 10 favourite books of 2015

Hi booklovers

Another - reading - year gone by, another top 10 favourite books.

I would like to start by sharing my reading year according to Goodreads:
I've read 54 books. Again, Goodreads doesn't count rereads, so I read 58 books, which is 6 less than last year, but I'm totally okay with that :-)
 
I read a total number of 14 843 pages, averaging at 303 pages. The shortest book I read was 35 pages and the longest book 562 pages.
 
My ratings: 5*: 2
                4.5*: 9
                4*: 25
                3.75*: 3
                3.5: 11
                3: 7
with an average rating of 3.6*

Two sidenotes before I move on to my top 10:
1) The books I read weren't necessarily published in 2015.

2) It was really hard to rank these books, but since they made it to my top 10 I obviously love(d) them all.

#10: Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes
I've only read the first three books in the series so far, but I really enjoyed them. I gave each of them 4 stars. Since I'm a bit behind on reading the sequels in certain series, I haven't ordered Frozen Tides yet. I haven't read nor do I own 'A book of Spirits and Thieves', but I think I want to pick it up.










I only recently jumped on the bandwagon of the Saga graphic novels and I don't know why I waited so long to pick them up. I  gave them both 4 stars. I borrowed them from the library, but unfortunately they don't have the next volumes yet, so I might buy them for myself. These were the first graphic novels I ever read and because they are a bit 'different' it took some getting used to, but once I got into the story it kept me wanting to read more.
 
#8: Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
This is the third book in the 'His Fair Assassin's' trilogy and by far my favourite of the three. I gave it 4.5 stars. This one wasn't as political as the first two and I really loved Annith as a character.

#7: The Violet Blake novella series by Bre Faucheux

I've read a couple of Bre's books this year and I have to say the Violet Blake series was my favourite one, closely followed by The Keeper's Realm. I gave them all 4 stars, except for the first one which I gave 3.75 stars. I have read them as individual novella's but now they are sold as a boxset. This is a really good paranormal story with a lot of character development and some surprising plot twists.

#6: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

I couldn't not include a Katie McGarry book in my top 10. This is the first book in Katie's new Thunder Road series and I loved it - I gave it 4.5 stars. Rachel and Isaiah (Crash Into You) will always be my favourite Katie McGarry couple, but Oz and Emily come in a close second.

#5: Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

This was the first Morgan Matson book I read and I really loved it. I have a non-spoiler review of this on my blog. I gave it 4.5 stars.
 

#4: Assissin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
I discovered this book by watching Sam from NovelsAndNonsense rave about these books and this author in a lot of her videos and I'm very glad I picked it up. I also have a non-spoiler review of this book. I gave it 4 stars and I want to continue this series soon.

#3: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

This was my second 5 star read of this year and this book made me ugly cry so much. It was so emotional and well-written, I loved it - even more than Amy & Roger. I have Since You've Been Gone on my TBR pile and I want to pick it up during the spring of next year, because Morgan Matson has another book coming out in May 2016 and I want to read Since You've Been Gone first.

#2: The Addicted series and its spinoff series the Calloway sisters by Becca & Krista Ritchie

This is another series I've picked because of a BookTuber - Jillian of Bookishandnerdy. She was raving about the first book in the series and I decided to pick it up and I'm so happy that I did. I really had to pace myself to read this series because I've had some bad experiences with marathoning series and I wanted to make the series last as long as possible as well. I'm currently reading 'Fuel the Fire' which is the last but one of the Calloway Sisters series and I'm loving it.
I gave Addicted to you 4,5 stars (my first 4,5 stars of the year), Ricochet 4 stars, Addicted for Now 4.5 stars, Kiss the Sky 4,5 stars, Hothouse Flower 4,5 stars, Thrive 4 stars and Addicted After all 4 stars.

Can you tell I really, really like this series :-) I have a non-spoiler review of Addicted to you. Needless to say that Becca & Krista Ritchie have rapidly become my new auto-buy authors.

And now for the best book I've read this year - altough it was really hard to decide whether or not I would put this first or second on my list:


#1: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

This was the first 5 star book of this year and there are no words to explain how much I loved this book. I did a 'while I read' series of posts, but beware, they contain major spoilers! I desperatly want to carry on with the trilogy - I don't own them yet - and then move on to Six of Crows because I've heard a lot of great things about this one as well.

What were (some of) your favourite books of 2015? Tell me in the comments below.

By for now

Annelies

Saturday 26 December 2015

Talon by Julie Kagawa - non-spoiler review

Hi booklovers

When I went to FACTS convention, HarperCollinsHolland had a booth there and they were advertising that Julie Kagawa was going to be at the Antwerp Bookfair for a workshop on making dragons. (If you follow her on Twitter, she regularly posts picture of the dragons she makes.) I didn't really feel like taking the workshop, but I also found out that she was going to have a signing session.
I (almost) immediately decided I wanted to go, because here in Belgium we don't get to meet American authors that often, so it would be a unique opportunity. 
Unfortunately, I hadn't read a single book by her. I've heard mixed things about her Iron Fey series, so I decided to read the first book in her Talon Saga: Talon. I wasn't able to finish it before the bookfair, but I finished it soon after the fair, so here is my (long overdue) spoiler-free review.

Title: Talon
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: YA, fantasy
Publication date: 2014
Format: Paperback
 
 
*Story:
Talon is about Ember and Dante Hill, 'human' twins who are actually dragons hiding in human forms. Of course, the world is not aware of dragons living amongst them. Except for the Order of St. George, whose only mission is to track down and kill all the dragons.
Talon also tells the story of Garret, St. George's 'perfect soldier', who is sent on a mission to sniff out the possible dragon in Crescent Beach. Ember and Garret get to know each other. They both have their own mission: Ember needs to learn how to blend in with the humans but still maintain her training as a dragon and Garret has to find out who the hidden dragon is. As Garret gets more and more convinced about Ember possibly being the dragon, he also learns that there is more to dragons than meets the eye. Maybe all he has been taught about dragons isn't necesarily true.
Ember also starts to realise that Talon, the organisation responsible for the training of the dragons, isn't what it appears to be. There is Dante, who very much believes everything Talon says and does. And last but not least we have Riley, a rogue dragon who tries to convince Ember that Talon isn't the perfect organisation.


*Characters:
-Ember: She is the female dragon in human form. She has some difficulties fitting in with the young people in Crescent Beach, because this is the first time she has to live amongst humans. She adjusts rather quickly and is able to fit in. However she keeps struggling with all the human emotions that she isn't supposed to feel, both with Garret and Riley (although with Riley it's more her 'dragon' feelings stirring). At the same time she has to keep up her training as a dragon and deal with all the stuff she has to endure from her trainer.
 
-Garret: Garret is St. George's perfect soldier, who is determined to kill all the dragons there are. His motives are mostly based on revenge because both his parents were killed by a dragon. When he is sent to Crescent Beach to sniff out the sleeper dragon, he has to try and fit in with the young people there. As time goes by he starts to realise that dragons aren't necisarrily the bloodthirsty beings that St. George says they are.
 
-Riley: The rogue dragon. His mission in Crescent Beach is to convince Ember and Dante to leave Talon behind, because they are a manipulative bunch of dragons.
 
-Dante: He is Embers twin and he is the complete opposite of Ember. He always follows the rules and believes wholeheartedly in the goodness of Talon. He tries to convince Ember that Riley is bad for her and that he is lying to her.
 
*Plot:
I really liked the fact that dragons can shapeshift into humans in this story. I absolutely love dragons and if they would excist, I would definitely have one as a pet :-) So I really liked the idea of dragons secretly living among humans and trying to fit in. Of course, there will always be people who fear the unknown and so the organisation of St. George thinks they know all there is to know about dragons and wants them exterminated. This is the classic 'good' vs 'evil' part of the story.
The story unfortunately also has the typical YA love triangle - this isn't a spoiler, it's pretty obvious Ember will develop feelings for both boys! - which probably wasn't the best thing for the story. There were some typical YA tropes in this book.
 
*Overall rating:
I gave this book 3.5 stars, but now I'm actually leaning more towards 3 stars.
The book isn't bad. Like I said, I liked the idea of shapeshifting dragons living amongst people. What I didn't quite enjoy was the love triangle and Ember's personality. She's a bit too indecisive for my liking.
I do plan on continuing with the story, because I hope the story will become better, but I won't pick it up straight away. Maybe I'll pick up the first book in one of her other series first, I just don't know yet.

I have to admit that meeting Julie Kagawa was really nice, it's really cool to have an autographed book :-)

  















Have you read Talon or any other book by Julie Kagawa. What did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Bye for now

Annelies