I Wanted A Little More From Fairest

Title: Fairest

Author: Marissa Meyer
Release Date: January 27, 2015
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3.5
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana's story is finally told.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,Who is the fairest of them all?
Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her "glamour" to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story-a story that has never been told... until now.
Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

-what i liked-

• I loved that this gave the reader an in-depth look into the live of Queen Levana. I actually felt bad for her at times, which I never thought would happen. Then again, everyone loves a twisted and emotional villain. 
• The book made me understand why she is the way that she is now.
• I liked learning about Cinder's mother. Will Cinder ever actually learn about her mother though, because her mother was absolutely horrible??
• I liked that it was short because it was a novella. These books are literal beasts!

-what i didn't like-

• Okay, so I have a love/hate relationship with the ending. I mean, it made perfect sense and paved the way for Winter to take place, though like I really wanted a bit more at times. I felt like there was such a huge build-up and then the story ended on such a high without really going anywhere, though I guess that was probably the point of it all. I just felt like something was missing when I finished.
• Why was Cinder's mom so horrible??????

 

Scarlet Was An Awesome Retelling

Title: Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison-even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to truth this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Even though I didn't like Cinder as much the second time, I knew that I wanted to continue on with the series because the next book covered Red Riding Hood. I'm seriously so glad that I did.

what i liked

•RED RIDING HOOD RETELLING. What more can I say?

•The novel takes place in France for when the point of view is that of Scarlet. How awesome! I've been taking French for the longest time so I found that pretty awesome. Like this series is literally going all over the world and I can't wait to see where we go next in Cress.

•Wolf was so great. I really loved him. I found him to be a very interesting take on the big bad wolf from the classic story. I also really liked his romance with Scarlet. They were cute together and he was a bad boy which made it a little more interesting.

•For some reason, I thought that Scarlet would just have the point of view of her. However, it didn't. We were introduced to new characters and then we also got to read through the eyes of our good old friends, Kai and Cinder! LIKE HOW AWESOME IS THAT.

•Captain Thorne. He is legit my new love. I FREAKING LOVE HIM. He's the captain of the Rampion and he's American, though he's just so hilarious at times.

what i didn't like

•I honestly can't think of something I didn't like. THIS BOOK WAS FREAKING AMAZING. I just want to read Cress.

So, obviously this book was a five star read. The new addition of characters mixed with the awesomeness of the old characters led to an awesome book.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater | Review

Title: The Dream Thieves

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Edition: eBook (448 pages)

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

this review contains spoilers.

Even though I found The Raven Boys to be pretty slow, I decided that I'd continue on and give The Dream Thieves a try. I had heard a lot of people say that they liked this one even more, so I knew that I had to go on. Despite that, I was a little bit let down by it.

what i liked

•ALL THE RONAN. I hadn't really been the biggest fan of Ronan, though after hearing that so many people seriously loved him, I'm glad that I gave him another chance. He really grew on me in this book. He's such a complex character and he even has those super awesome powers that you find out about. 

•The whole idea of dream thievery. I thought that was so awesome, especially with the fact that Ronan found out his father was just like that. I found it super creepy that his mom was pulled from a dream though. 

•The Grey Man's story. I was a little wary about reading from a new character again, who I was really expecting to be the antagonist, but I ended up really liking him. I seriously ship him and Maura.

•Blue finally stuck up for herself against Adam. Adam really started pushing Blue to the side in this book and I'm glad that she told him that and ended things with him. Now hopefully she and Gansey can get together!! Seriously, their chemistry is unreal.

•I really liked learning more about Gansey's family. His sister was so great when she literally got a fake used car just to give to Adam. That was just the sweetest thing! I think its awesome to see how much his family cares for Adam.
•I seriously still loved the whole cast of characters. I got to read more about them and I was pretty excited.

what i didn't like

•THE BOOK WAS SLOW AGAIN. I really was hoping that it was just something with the first book, yet this one was slow too. I don't know why it's taking so long for things to happen. It's starting to get me a little frustrated. I'm hoping that book three is not as slow (yes, I'm still continuing on with the books). 

•Where the hell was Noah? He was such an awesome character from the first book, especially after you figure out that he's actually dead. I missed him so much. I mean, he was in the book a bit in the beginning in one of my favorite scenes, when he kissed Blue because he's a ghost which means he can't die again. I never really saw him that much more after that, which really upset me.

•I'm confused a bit about Ronan's mom being pulled from a dream that his father had. Doesn't that mean that Ronan is half-dream, which would make it kind of impossible for him to be alive right now? I hope that gets more explanation in the next book.

Even though I liked so much about this book, I missed Noah and really hated the fact that this book was still slow. I'm seriously hoping that things start to pick up more because there's only so much non-action that I can take. I also hope that we get more explanations in the next book, though then again there's still two books left!

Have you read The Dream Thieves? What were your thoughts?

Cinder by Marissa Meyer | Review

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl.
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

Since I've had the Lunar Chronicles series on my shelves for the longest time, I figured that it was time that I finally picked up and read the series. I read Cinder years ago when it was first released so this was a reread for me. The first time that I read it, I gave it five stars. That changed for me during the reread, and here's why.

what i liked

•It's a retelling of Cinderella! Cinderella is my all time favorite princess, so I was really looking forward to reading about her.

•There's a science fiction twist! I love sci-fi things, so that really made me like this book more.

•PRINCE KAI. He was so completely lovable and dreamy, probably because he's a prince. But also, he can look past everything about Cinder, which I really admired.

•Cinder was part cyborg! I've never read a book about cyborgs before.

•THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT LIVE ON THE MOON. If only that actually could happen and people could live on the moon now! Except the moon people in this world are called Lunars and they are horrible people, *cough cough* Queen Levana.

•The plague. I know that's a horrible thing to like, but I just find it very interesting, especially when you find out what brought the plague to the people in the first place.

what i disliked

•The book seemed a little slow at times. To be honest, it took me a little while to get into it. I started out listening to it on audiobook, though I found myself zoning out a bit and thinking about other stuff, so I decided to switch over to my physical copy which helped a little bit. I still found it a little meh at times though. 

Obviously I had way more pros than cons for this book. I give it a four star rating because I am definitely looking forward to moving on with the rest of the series!

Have you read Cinder? What were your thoughts?

Why I Liked The Raven Boys

Title: The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Edition: eBook (416 pages)

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them-not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Gansey is different. He has it all-family money, good looks, devoted friends-but he's looking for more. He is on a quest that has encompasses three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been told by her psychic family that she will kill her true love. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a massive fan of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater. So much so that I've read through the series three times. YES. It's literally that good. That's why I was really intrigued by The Raven Boys. I mean, that and the fact that so many people have loved this series so I just knew that I had to check it out.

what i liked

•There was a massive group of characters and I seriously loved each and every one of them. Except Adam. I didn't really like Adam because he got on my nerves.

•GANSEY. I literally love Gansey. My heart lies with him and I just want him and Blue together.

•Blue was a very different main character. I loved her uniqueness and also that her name is Blue. I mean, how much cooler can it get?

•All the psychic stuff. I am usually not a big fan of books with psychics, though I found this psychic book really interesting. I feel bad for Blue though because she has no psychic powers.

•That plot twist at the end.

•NOAH. I mean, yeah I seriously love Gansey, but Noah is one of my all time favorite characters now. Especially with that plot twist that happened. I'd talk about it more but I don't want to be spoilery!

•The multiple points of view. I seriously love reading from different perspectives regarding the same story.

what i didn't like

•This book was so slow. When I say that, I mean that it took me a ridiculously long amount of time to actually get into it. I didn't expect that from a Maggie Stiefvater book because I've read and loved four of her books and I didn't find them slow at all. Even though it was slow, I wanted to keep reading.

•The book is very character-driven. I don't think that's a bad thing, because I love all the characters. However, if you're a big fan of an action-packed plot, then this book may not suit your fancy. 

I gave this book a solid four stars because I really loved the characters and the world, though I found it a little hard to get into. Despite that, the ending made the book well worth the read.

Have you read The Raven Boys? What were your thoughts?