Book Recap: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado – taking you with it – you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can’t be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There’s still a yellow brick road – but even that’s crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm – and I’m the other girl from Kansas.

I’ve been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I’ve been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

★★★★★(5 stars)

What happened after the Scarecrow managed to have a brain? The Tin Woodman a heart? And the Lion his courage? Has Dorothy got her wish of returning home?

This book tells the story in an upside down manner of how Oz, a place of magic and wonders, turns when Dorothy, the girl from Kansas takes the throne and become her Royal Highness, the Princess of Oz. A beautifully twisted book that will make you believe that lies can truly be hidden in what you believe is true. And remember, you can never trust anyone.

• The novel is one hell of a book, crazy enough to be the least expected scenario after The Wizard of Oz. It is as twisted as it can be, making the novel super fun to read.

ARC Review: The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King

As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she’s an unlikely candidate for even a servant’s position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood’s mountain temple. But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda’s life.

Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home, set on a desert trek, and ordered to fight for her place among the rajah’s ninety-nine wives and numerous courtesans. Her only solace comes in the company of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik.

Faced with the danger of a tournament to the death—and her growing affection for Deven—Kalinda has only one hope for escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidden power buried within her.

In Emily R. King’s thrilling fantasy debut, an orphan girl blossoms into a warrior, summoning courage and confidence in her fearless quest to upend tradition, overthrow an empire, and reclaim her life as her own.

★★★(3 stars)

For Kalinda, a lifetime of peace in service to the Sisterhood is all she ask. Her recurring fevers has never made her a candidate for the Claiming, what more of becoming a wife.
But things changed when the Raja suddenly favors her to be his Hundredth and last rani.

With the rank tournaments fast approaching and a tempting love brewing, Kalinda has to face the truths that are slowly surfacing and embrace the person she is ought to become.

• It has a very intriguing plot. One of the reasons why I opt to finish the book is because of its very absorbing plot. Who wouldn’t be enthralled to read about a girl who suddenly became the raja’s one hundredth wife? That’s a lot of women to be competitive for, don’t you think? (Smiles)

Book Recap: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass–and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

★★★★(4 stars)

Celaena is one of the most notorious assasins in Endovier. When the crown prince summons her to be his champion in exchange of her freedom, she dutifully accepts.

But being a champion does not only involves physical battles but also tests her psychological strength. When another champion is found dead in the middle of the night, Celaena investigates before her corpse become the next one on the list.

As the search for clues progresses, Celaena finds something that is tied to her destiny that never before did she imagine into becoming.

• I love how the romantic triangle in the story is portrayed. It is not a matter of who Celaena will choose in the end since both of them has proven themselves worthy for me to not mind.

ARC Review: Now I Rise by Kiersten White

Lada Dracul has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she’s always had: herself. After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.

What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?

As nations fall around them, the Dracul siblings must decide: what will they sacrifice to fulfill their destinies? Empires will topple, thrones will be won . . . and souls will be lost.

★★★★★(5 stars)

---

First and for all, I would like to inform my dear readers the fact that I have included in my review of And I Darken some of the things that are quite general for the whole series. To make this review short and not redundant, I decided to just state only the things that I have observed in the second book of the series. If you want to read my review of the first book, click here.

I have received an advance readers copy of this novel from Netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.

Lada has abandoned everything for her persuit of the Wallachian throne including her brother, Radu and the love she has always pushed aside, Mehmed. But when getting the crown became a challenge Lada knew she couldn’t face alone, she bested her pride and asked Radu for help.

On the other side, Radu is torn between his love for Mehmed and his sister’s desperate request for aid. When his choice became clear and his mission to Constantinople was set, he starts to wonder if his decision was for the best. For everything comes with a price and sometimes, it is something one, is not willing to give.

• It is a historical fiction based on significant true life events. I have been dazed with this series ever since the beginning and I admit, the second book never failed to amaze me. You can see how meticulously researched this novel is and you can tell by the way that it is written that the information is not forced. All in all, I love how the author combined fiction with real events.

ARC review: Obsidian and Stars by Julie Eshbaugh

After surviving the chaotic battle that erupted after Lo and the Bosha clan attacked, now Mya is looking ahead to her future with Kol. All the things that once felt so uncertain are finally falling into place. But the same night as Kol and Mya’s betrothal announcement, Mya’s brother Chev reveals his plan to marry his youngest sister Lees to his friend Morsk. The only way to avoid this terrible turn of events, Morsk informs Mya when he corners her later, is for Mya to take Lees’ place and marry him herself. 

Refusing to marry anyone other than her beloved, and in an effort to protect her sister, Mya runs away to a secret island with Lees. And though it seems like the safest place to hide until things back home blow over, Mya soon realizes she’s been followed. Lurking deep in the recesses of this dangerous place are rivals from Mya’s past whose thirst for revenge exceeds all reason.

With the lives of her loved ones on the line, Mya must make a move before the enemies of her past become the undoing of her future.

★(1 star)

Mya and Kol has went through a lot including the conflict between them and Lo. Now that everything is put into place, a new delemma comes that will change everything.

• It has a very good intro that will make you cry rivers. I love how the author began the story with a very sensible and at the same time, heart breaking scene. It is one of the reasons why I am glued to this book from the start. Every emotion is real and it will make you sympathize with each of the characters in the book.

Cover Reveal: The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross

Hi everyone!

With gorgeous description and detailed rendering of a world where not everything and everyone are what they seem, Rebecca Ross weaves an intricate tale of revenge, loyalty, and, ultimately, self-discovery. Don’t miss the beautiful cover for Rebecca Ross’s debut young adult fantasy, THE QUEEN’S RISING, and pre-order your copy today!

Book Review: A Torch Againts the Night by Sabaa Tahir

Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

★★★★★(5 stars)

After the horrors of the trials and the seat of the newly crowned emperor, the Empire is bound to hunt Elias and Laia down after escaping the wraths of the traitor’s beheading.

With Helene as the newly assigned Blood Shrike, she must choose between her heart and her family while battleing with the crown and the Commandant who only greeds for power.

• Helene’s narrative. I was surprised when I saw Helene having her own narration in the second book. It makes me understand more of her character and the burden she is carrying while being Marcus’s Blood Shrike.

Book Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

★★★★★(5 stars)

Laia has been a free person until one day, her brother is arrested for treason. Wanting to bring her brother back, she seeks aid with the Resistance. But everything comes with a price.

Elias was finest solder but the most unwilling. When his plan to escape Blackcliff on the night of his graduation falters, he must decide what is best in order to obtain his true freedom.

As the two of them meet, their destinies intertwined, the two must survive the cruelty of the world and change the empire forever.

• The writing style is very direct to its point. It is not your typical fantasy dystopian novel where words are flowery and full of metaphor. It is straight to the point but still, very entertaining to read.

Book Review: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.

Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

★★★★★(5 stars)

It is Cath whom the King has chosen to be his bethrothed. With a heart as fluffy as a newly baked bread and skills being hailed in the whole of Wonderland, it is indeed a very smart choice for the King to marry her.

But her interest lies somewhere else.

When the court joker enters the scene, Cath became attracted into his talent and bravado, and with her dream of having a bakery of her own, everything seems so perfect.

Until, it isn’t.

• Wonderland. This whimsically bizarre place will enchant you to an idiosyncratic adventure that will leave your heart enthralled at the same time, broken into pieces with this tragic tale the Queen of Hearts has to tell.

Blog Collaboration Day 3: Character Aesthetics of Caraval

Hi guys!

Here we are today for this segment’s last day!

I am so thankful to those people who have been with us this past three days.

Today, I will be showcasing eye candies for our featured book, Caraval, while my best friend will be having an interview with the narrator of its audiobook.

So without further chit chat, here are my aesthetics!