My 2019 4.5 star reads

Hi booklovers

It's time to share with you my 2019 4.5 star reads. 

These books were not necessarily published in 2019.

*Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5) by Brandon Sanderson

This was my favourite of the current three books of Mistborn Era 2.

*The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) by Brent Weeks

This one is filled with a lot of twists and turns and the ending is such a big cliffhanger.

*Skyward (Skyward #1) and Starsight (Skyward#2) by Brandon Sanderson

I really enjoyed both books (I have to admit that I actually read Skyward at the end of 2018 and then reread it before starting Starsight). Starsight didn't go where I thought it would go and I missed some of the characters from Skyward, but I found some new favourite characters as well. I'm very curious to see where book 3 will take us. Unfortunately, it won't be published until 2021 :-(

There is one sci-fi book on this list:

*One Word Kill (Impossible Times #1) by Mark Lawrence

This is Mark Lawrence's venture into YA sci-fi and I enjoyed this a lot. It takes place in the 80s and being an 80s kid myself some things were familiar. I actually listened to the audiobook of this one and the sequel and only recently got the physical copies. I also pre-ordered the final one on audio and I'll definitely be getting a physical copy as well.

The other 3 4.5 star reads were NA contemporary:

*The Risk (Briar U #2) and the Play (Briar U #3) by Elle Kennedy

Elle Kennedy is one of my favourite NA writers and I thoroughly enjoyed both these stories.

*Shacking Up (Shacking Up #1) and Hooking Up (Shacking Up #2) by Helena Hunting

I've read a couple of the books in the Shacking Up series, but these are still my favourite ones.

Btw, these NA covers are so cringe-worthy, it's one of the reasons I read these on my e-reader.

Have you read any of these? What were some of your 4.5 star reads of 2019? Do you use half stars in your rating? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Anticipated releases April - June 2019.

Hi booklovers

Just like at the beginning of the year I'm going to take a look at the books I'm looking forward to in the months of April, May and June.

April

*2nd: Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

I read Restore Me(#4) and Shadow Me(#4.5) for the O.W.L.s magical readathon and I'm curious to see how the story will continue.

May

*1st: One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence

This premise sounds really intriguing.

*7th: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I already know that these two write awesome space stories. Hopefully this one will be up there with the Illuminae Files.

*9th: Finale by Stephanie Garber

Very excited to see how the story ends. I might do a reread of the first two before reading this one. I'm going to preorder the hardcover edition so it has the secret cover like the other two.

June

*11th: Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I remember really enjoying The Dark Elements trilogy by Armentrout. This is apparently a spin-off series so I'm going to give the first book a go.

Are any of these books on your anticipated releases lists as well or are there other books you are excited about? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Favourite books of 2018.

Hi booklovers

It's the second day of the new year, so let's talk about the best books I've read in 2018.

But first, some statistics:

I'm not going to put these in any specific order, I'm just going to list them. I've divided them according to genre.

Favourite fantasy books

*The Well of Ascension - The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

*Strange the Dreamer - Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
 

*Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
 

*The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
 

*Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

*Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

*Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Favourite dystopian and sci-fi

*Scythe - Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

*Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

*Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

*Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Favourite New Adult contemporary

*Off-Campus series and The Chase (Briar U #1) by Elle Kennedy

*The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden by Jessica Sorensen
 

*Damaged Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie

I had a great reading year: I wanted to read 60 books and managed to read 64. This year, I'm lowering my goal to 30 books, so I don't feel pressured to read. I'm probably going to read more, but I mainly want to focus on those bigger fantasy books on my TBR, so those will take me longer to get through.

How was your reading year?

Bye for now

Annelies

Prodigy by Marie Lu - non-spoiler review.

Hi booklovers

After finishing and really enjoying Legend (click on the title to read my non-spoiler review), I decided to pick up Prodigy and Champion from Fnac when they were having a 'buy 3 books, pay for 2' sale - the third book was Passenger. (I read this book in October 2016, I know, I'm so behind on posting reviews :-$)

Beware this will contain spoilers for Legend.

Title: Prodigy

Author: Marie Lu

Genre: YA, sci-fi, dystopia

Format: paperback

*Story:

The story of Prodigy picks up where Legend left off. June helped Day escape and now they are on their way to meet up with the Patriots. We follow their journey to the Patriots and everything that happens when and after they find them.

*Characters:

-Day: I liked Day even more in this story, he seems so much more human. He goes through a lot of changes and he even needs to start trusting people he always considered to be enemies.

-June: Opposite to Day, I liked June a bit less in this book. To me, she seemed, not really whiny, but still not the strong girl she was in Legend. True, she has to sacrifice a lot, but still.

-Tess: I liked that we got to see more of Tess in this book. I thought she was a very strong character. Day still feels the need to protect her, even though she is more than capable of taking care of herself.

SPOILER:

I really felt for her when her feelings for Day remained unrequited.

-Kaede: Another character I was glad to see more of. I like how honest she is in admitting that at first she worked with the Patriots just for the money.

-Razor: I never quite fathomed that character.

-Anden: He is the new Elector who came to power after the death of his father. He is a figure rising to power, struggling to be different from his father, but most of all he's a young man dealing with a whole lot of emotions.

*Plot/worldbuilding/overall rating:

Because the story doesn't solely take place in the Republic, it was nice to see the worldbuilding of the Colonies and the underground tunnels too.

I enjoyed this book, but it's wasn't until the last part that it really grabbed my attention and it became a 4 star read.

SPOILER:

One thing I didn't like was the love triangle or even the love square. This has become so cliché and I know it's part of the story, but I still didn't like it. That's why I was leaning towards 3.5 stars. The square becomes a triangle again when Tess decides to stay with the Patriots.

What really got to me was how in the end Day discovers that he is dying. When he says goodbye to June, my heart got ripped out of my chest.

Because of the cliffhanger ending I was really, really happy that I could immediately pick up Champion.

Have you read this book? Did you like/dislike it?

Bye for now

Annelies