Continuing series before the next book in the series comes out.

Hi booklovers

Today I want to take a look at some of the series that I have already started - or in the case of numbers 1, 3 and 4 own the first book of - but need to catch up on before the next book comes out.

I'm putting these in order of release date:

1) An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

Book 2 'A Torch Against the Night' comes out on the 30th of August.

2) Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas.

Book 5 'Empire of Storms' comes out on the 6th of September.

I started reading QoS during the Fantasy Favourites Readathon at the beginning of July, but put it down after 28 pages. I just couldn't get into the story. Although I had read summaries for all the previous books, I still felt like I couldn't remember enough to dive back into this world. I might reread the entire series, so I'm pretty sure I won't be able to catch up before the 6th of September.

3) Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

Book 2 in this duology 'Crooked Kingdom' comes out on the 27th of September.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to read SoC before then :-)

4) Illuminae by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

Book 2 'Gemina' comes out on the 18th of October.

I started Illuminae yesterday, so I've this one covered :-)

5) The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen.

Book 3 'The Fate of the Tearling' comes out on the 29th of November.

Again, I don't completely remeber what happened in 'The Queen of the Tearling', so I might reread that one first.

6) Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes.

Since 'Crystal Storms' (book 5) doesn't come out 'till the 13th of December I think I might even be able to reread the first three books so I remember how the story goes before continuing.

This may be a bit ambitious, but I'm hoping to at least catch up with a few of these series.

What do you do to catch up with series? Do you reread the previous books or do you use summaries? Let me know in the comments.

Also, I just noticed how stunning all these covers are. I like the Tearling and the Morgan Rhodes ones best! Do you judge books by their cover?

Bye for now

Annelies

July 2016 - Wrap Up.

Hi booklovers

This is what I read in July. I managed to finish 4 books, almost 5.

*Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson.

I gave this 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed it. I'll hopefully be posting my review very soon.

*The Selection by Kiera Cass.

I gave this 3 stars. I flew through this book. I have to admit that it isn't the best book out there, but it was addictive and so I kept reading. I also need to post my review of this one.

*The Elite by Kiera Cass.

Again 3 stars. I had a lot of problems with America and Prince Maxen, but it was still fast paced. I will continue with the series and maybe even buy the box set.

*ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas.

The first time I read this book, I gave it 4.5 stars, but now I'm lowering my rating to 4 stars. This time around Feyre got even more on my nerves. Yet another book I will post a review for.

I also read the majority of ACOMAR, but since I finished it on the 2nd of August I will include it in my August wrap-up.

All in all, a good reading month.

What did you read in July? Which was your favourite read of the month?

Bye for now

Annelies

Waiting on Wednesday #1 - August 3.

Hi booklovers

Today I'm participating in another new (to me) meme: Waiting on Wednesday. This was created by Breaking the Spine.

In Waiting on Wednesday we talk about new releases we are excited about.

A book I'm really looking forward to it being released is Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo.

I haven't read Six of Crows yet, but I adored the Grisha trilogy, so I'm pretty sure I will love this duology too. I'm really looking forward to going back to that world.

So, I definitely plan on reading SoC before Crooked Kingdom comes out, which is the 27th of September.

What book are you looking forward to being released? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Top 10 Tuesday #1 - Augst 2

Hi booklovers

I wanted to try out something new and I decided to take part in Top 10 Tuesday. This item was created by The Broke and the Bookish.

The topic for this week is: 10 Books You'd Buy Right This Second If Someone Handed You A Fully Loaded Gift Card.

I took a look at my wishlist and chose 10 books I want to buy right away. These are in no particular order, btw.

1. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.

2. Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes.

3. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson.

4. Truthwitch by Susan Dennard.

5. The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye.

6. Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake.

7. The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine.

8. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken.

9. Locke and Key (all the volumes starting with the second one).

10. Fables (again, all the volumes but starting with the third one).

Books 4 'till 8 are some of my anticipated 2016 releases.

Which books would you buy if someone handed you a fully loaded gift card? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

July 2016 Book Haul.

Hi booklovers

July was a great (or terrible, depending on how you look at it ;-p ) month for buying books.

These are the books I got:

* The first books are from the English bookshop, a secondhand bookshop in Ghent:

Everneath and Everbound by Brodi Ashton

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages by Brendon Sanderson

* The other books I got from The Bookdepository:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

What books did you get in July? Let me know in the comments.
 

Bye for now
 

Annelies

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - (mostly) spoiler free review.

Hi booklovers

Today I'm going to review Red Queen, which I read in February.

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Genre: YA, fantasy, dystopia
Format: Paperback
 

*Story:
Imagine living in a world where people are divided by the colour of their blood: Silver if you're high class, Red if you're low class.
The Silverbloods - Silvers - have different powers, the Redbloods - Reds - are the impoverished, working class.
Meet Mare, a Red girl with deadly powers. Once the Silvers discover that Mare has special powers, the royal family wants to convince the Silvers that she is one of them.
 

*Characters:
-Mare: a feisty Red about to be conscripted to go to war. She meets prince Cal - although she doesn't know he's the crown prince when they meet. Cal gets her a job as a serving girl in the palace. There, her powers manifest themselves and from there on the story unfolds.
I really like Mare as a charachter because she is a strong character. She tries to deal with all the stuff life has thrown at her. Even in her new situation she tries to fit in, even if it isn't in a way the Silvers - i.e. the Queen - want her to fit in.
 

-Prince Cal: he's the crown prince who is forced to choose his future queen during the Queen's Trial. Even though he doesn't like it, he still thinks this is what's best for his country. Cal is a very strategic person who wants to be a just leader one day. It quickly becomes apparent that he's falling in love with Mare. At one point I thought some of his actions might be a bit predictable, but it turned out I was mistaken.

-Prince Maven: he is the second son, born of the king and his second wife - and current queen. Being the second son, he doesn't have the same responsibilities as Cal, but on the other hand, he's also has the feeling he's being overlooked more often than not. I immediately felt sorry for him, because it seemed like he was destined for a life in his brother's shadows. But then stuff goes down and my whole opinion of him changed.

-Kilorn: He's Mare's lifelong friend. He was an apprentice to a fisherman, but when his mentor died, he was goint to be conscripted. He doesn't really know how he feels about Mare's new life, he's not really fond of Cal or any other Silver.

-Julian: He's Mare's teacher in the palace. He is one of the few people who actually knows that Mare is a Red with Silver powers. Julian is an interesting side-character who tries to keep Mare vigilant. He's constantly reminding her that 'Anyone can betray you'. He wants her to remain herself. He knows firsthand how vicious and deceitful Silvers and more specifically the Queen can be, so he wants Mare to understand that everything is done for a reason and that no one can be trusted.

*Plot:
The distinction between the Silvers and Reds was maybe not very original, but still well excecuted. Sure, it might have been a bit of a cliché, but I still liked the storyline very much. I have to admit that at one point I feared it might become predictable, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case. I know a lot of people saw the plot twist coming, but I didn't.
SPOILER:
The love triangle - or even love square - was tropy and it almost made me roll my eyes. But because prince Maven turns out to be this incredible douchebag, this is somewhat countered.
 

*World building:
The contrast between the cities of the Silvers and the slumps of the Reds is very well described. Again, this may be a bit of a cliché, but isn't this the case with most dystopian stories? I found myself transported into the world very quicly.
SPOILER:
I liked how the revolution was portrayed and how the contrast between the Silvers and Reds becomes more and more apparent as the story progresses.
 
*Overall rating:
I really enjoyed this book. Despite some clichés, the story did grip me really fast and I was very curious to see how the plot would unfold further - I have since read Cruel Crown and Glass Sword.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

Have you read this book and if so, what did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag

Hi booklovers

The first half of the year has flown by so fast and I thought it would be fun to do the Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag. 

 

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2016. 

See my Favourite books of 2016 so far post for this answer.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2016. 

Ice Like Fire by Sarah Raasch

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to. 

There are a few: Stars Above by Marissa Meyer, The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson, ACOMAF by Sarah J. Maas (which I'm currently reading), Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine, The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye. As you can see, I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

 

         Apart from the first three, I don't even own these new releases yet.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

Although I haven't read Six of Crows yet, I'm excited for Crooked Kingdom.

I'm also excited for Heartless by Marissa Meyer.

5. Biggest disappointment.

It wasn't a total disappointment, but I didn't enjoy Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard as much as I thought. I described why in my May & June wrap-up.

6. Biggest surprise. 

Fables Volume 1 and Locke & Key Volume 1. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy these as much as I did.

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Helena Hunting was a new to me author and I immediately fell in love with her Clipped Wings books.

 

8. Newest fictional crush.

Hayden Stryker, the male lead from Clipped Wings and Inked Armor by Helena Hunting.

9. Newest favourite character.

Breanna Miller from Walk The Edge by Katie McGarry. She is one of those characters that goes through so much growth throughout her story.

10. Book that made you cry.

No surprises here: Second Chance Summer.

11. Book that made you happy.

 Amy & Roger's Epic Detour.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard. I got this book as a New Year's gift from my boyfriend.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I don't really have a TBR, just a list of 20 books I would like to read this year. (You can find the blogpost here. I've also done an update.)

14. Favourite Book Community Member.

Bre Faucheux, Little Book Owl, ThoughtsonTomes and Sam's Nonsense are a few of my favourite BookTubers.

How's your reading year going so far? What are your answers to (some of) these questions? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies