Review: Before Midnight: Reilly's Story (After Midnight #1)

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:

Reilly is on top of the world. He's a major name in entertainment, especially in the eyes of most teenage girls. Still, when tour comes to an end, it's even more apparent that something's missing in his life. His holiday is filled with old friends and close family, yet he's still consumed with restless thoughts. He just needs a little change: A new friend, a new location, and new inspiration. At least, that's what he's hoping.

Pigeons and Carrots rocketed into fame and have just completed their longest tour so far. The band has now a few weeks of downtown before returning to the studios.

Review: The Colonel and the Bee

'' ''Ignorance weighs far more than knowledge.'' ''

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:

The Amazing Beatrix works as an acrobat in a 19th Century circus, no home or family to speak of. When a daring escape from her abusive ringleader crosses Beatrix's path with that of the daring adventurer Colonel James Bacchus, the unlikely pair team up, fly to safety aboard the Colonel’s miraculous four-story hot air balloon, and begin a grand quest to find the most precious gem in the world, The Blue Star Sphinx.

If the heroes can outmaneuver the deadly treasure hunters, escaped convicts, and double-crosses that await them, they may win the treasure they seek, or better yet, a sense of true belonging.

Witty banter, colorful characters, and exotic locations pack the fantastical, globe-trotting adventure that reads like Sherlock Holmes meets Around the World in Eighty Days.

Let's be honest, I could not get in this book. I tried and tried to get in, to truly love the book and its colourful writing. Maybe it was the way it was written, maybe I couldn't understand the characters. Whatever the reason may be, the further into the book I got the less I enjoyed it.

Review: Titus Fogg (The Wyrd #1)

'' ''This stuff, magic, isn't what you think it is. The word makes it sound whimsical, fantastical, like it's a fairytale, but there are things out there that would feed on your sanity, kill you in ways you couldn't possibly imagine, not because they're evil, but because of how insignificant we are as a species.'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

From Goodreads:
Titus Fogg hates magic, and with good reason. Born into a murderous family of cruel and powerful casters in modern Massachusetts, magic has contributed to every bad thing that has happened to him since birth. After finally managing to banish the most likely evil (but definitely dirty-minded) entity called Shade from his body to the sidelines as his shadow, Titus has the chance to have a normal, magic free, high school life. But, when Tess Roe, his classmate, neighbor and model of justice at their school realizes she can see the creatures Titus calls the Wyrd too, Titus must return to the world of the strange to help her. Soon Titus's dark past comes to light as he must prove that he isn't responsible for the death of one of Tess's friends, and the theft of a magical book that could lead to the destruction of Arkham.

Titus is tired of everything. He hasn't slept well for ages and every time his head hits the pillow he can't escape the Dreamlands.

Review: China Rich Girlfriend (Crazy Rich Asians #2)

'' '' You survived my mother -- I think everything else from here on out is a piece of cake,'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

From Goodreads:

It’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle.

Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich.

The private jets get bigger, the spending gets out of hand, and the drama is on fire. And this time there's no avoiding it.

Review: The World Breaks Everyone

'' ''Ah, my dear, everyone has secrets.'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

From Goodreads:

A Gripping Cat-and-Mouse Suspense Novel

Every day, I wake up certain of only three things:
I am responsible for my mother’s death.
My father has vanished.
Someone wants me dead.

 
I’m on the run. It’s me against the world.
I cannot let it break me.

When sixteen-year-old Olivia Jacobs and her celebrity chef father are brutally attacked after his French Quarter restaurant opening, the shell-shocked Olivia finds herself on the run on the streets of New Orleans.

Who wants her dead? And why?

Fasten your seatbelt and prepare yourself, this family has more secrets to hide than the eye can see. Olivia has carried blame from her mother's death on her shoulders of her own will, and just when her life has begun to normalize itself, an unknown attacker puts her life in shambles again. Now, she has no other option but to run if she wants to stay alive.

I was supposed to read only the first two chapters the night I started The World Breaks Everyone. The quick reading session turned out to be a little longer one, me having read a third of the book before taking my eyes off the first time. The plot will keep you in its grip tightly, and the book will just fly past. 

Review: Ice Cream Castles (Hot in the City #1)

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:

When uptight Eli crosses paths with world-weary Naomi, culture clash ensues. After a strained encounter, the pair later discovers that what they share in common outweighs their differences. ICE CREAM CASTLES is a May-December romance that explores grief, understanding, and acceptance, with a passionate twist. It will leave you wanting more.

The two characters are total opposites, never meant to work together. But opposites attract, right? 

This Novella is a quick read in between books. You'll spend an hour or two with it. The novella brings two unlikely people together from different phases of lives. The other trying to live in the aftermath of a bad divorce and the other grieving a great loss and a recent betrayal. 

Opposites attract might be the key to this book. But most of the time they were too much different to work at all. Like, if you're that different to start with, how is it possible that you can find a common frequency together. Eli is a neat-freak, so to say. Order and cleanliness are the cornerstones in his life, staying on schedule and deep in the middle of his comfort-zone are what he strives for. Naomi lives in the middle of chaos, in her apartment and in her social life. How can they work together when their living styles are so far from each other.

Ice Cream Castles is a quick read with less than a hundred pages. It's a nice read. I just couldn't connect with the story at all.

Review: A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3.1)

'' ''How do you keep creating, despite what you lost?'' ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

From Goodreads:
Hope warms the coldest night.

Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.

Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.

No one has survived the events of the war unscathed. Almost everyone lost someone or fought in the war themselves. The nightmares are an everyday occurrence and there's no running away when the monsters live inside your own head.

The Winter Solstice is just around the corner and the Night Court have their hands' full preparing for it. The memory of the war is still fresh in their minds. The preparations for the happiest festival of the year is the right distraction for the painful process that has begun; healing.

The novella doesn't bring any new twist into the series. It's just a bittersweet continuation for A Court of Wings and Ruin and the bridge between that and the next book. There are a few points where you get to know a bit more of the characters' backstories which give you a better understanding of their actions.

I don't know yet if A Court of Frost of Starlight is a must read before the next full book comes out since it's not out yet. But all fans of Maas' writing this is a must-read just for the feels only. This book really brings out the goosebumps, gives a glimpse of the dark, and most of all brings hope to the Void.

Review: Secrets of PEACE (Secrets of PEACE #1)

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
Nearly 30 years ago, the PEACE Project rose from the ruins of a global war to take power over a new America. Providing stability in exchange for absolute authority, the Project controls every aspect of citizens' lives through each of its five units:

Protect
Enforce
Advance
Control
Eliminate

Raised in the Project since infancy, eighteen-year-old Zira has been trained as an assassin under the stern guidance of unit E-2's Chairman Ryku. After she makes a careless mistake on an assignment, the chairman partners her with Jared, the best operative in her unit. Their partnership transforms into friendship as they work together and learn to rely on each other. But when misinformation causes a solo mission to backfire, Zira's deepest loyalties and strongest relationships are tested in a place where even a hint of doubt can be perceived as treason.

The life she knows is falling apart, and nothing will ever look the same again.

They are taught to follow the teachings and values of the PEACE Project blindly. Never question, only complete the tasks you are given. When you have never questioned anything in your life and are thrust into a situation where the only way to survive is to question everything.

Review: Chosen (The Last Guardian #1)

'' ''There was a war,'' Breahn said, ''a long bloody war between Dragons, Oluan, and humans.'' ''

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
Magic and Power... Dragons. These are the things of books and movies... of other worlds. They aren’t real. They can’t be real.

Mia wishes for the days when she truly believed that. Days when her biggest worry was whether or not she’d be accepted into the university of her choice. But that was before...

Before her reflection started playing tricks on her in store windows. Before she was unceremoniously ripped from her family and friends and dumped in a place she can’t escape from. A place where no one can reach her. Nethea,

Thrust into a world where Dragons exist and magic is Power, Mia must find a way to accept the role she’s been Chosen to fulfill. A role that seems more and more likely to claim her life as she uncovers the staggering odds stacked against her. If she can do it...if she can rise above the grief and anger that plague her heart and save Nethea from the dark fate waiting in the claws of a monster... Then maybe, just maybe she’ll get to go home again.

Can Mia find the will and the courage to defend and protect a world she doesn’t belong to? Will she take up the heavy mantle of the Guardians of Nethea?

She really didn't want to get pulled into this, but they didn't give her a choice. Now she must fight for them or the hope for the return becomes nigh.

Review: The Replacement (The Replacement #1)

'' It's been one year since I met Merrick. Six months since I knew I could not live without him. Three months since we started to run. Three days since they caught me. ''

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
Angelica was willing to do almost anything for Merrick, until they were caught. Her punishment for breaking Lymerian law is unthinkable, but at least she will live. In fact, she might live forever. This YA Sci-fi novel is the first in a series by debut author Bianca Sierra-Luebke.

The Lymerians have been living in secret on Earth for centuries. Angelica is their newest replacement, taken to ensure the survival of this long-lived race and to discourage falling in love with a human. Yet Angelica is not like the previous replacements. Even her Architect is unusual. Clara, commander of the Slayers and deadliest of the Lymerians, is chosen. When she steps forward, their fates are sealed. The Laws of Liturgy are binding. As Clara and two Guards descend into the dungeons with Angelica, the entire race wonders what kind of Lymerian will return when the transition is complete.

Full of deception, heartache, and despair, this dark novel is for readers that love a great twist. Bit by bit the story unfolds, changing everything you thought you knew the page before.

You have to read until the very last sentence to get the idea of what the book is about. So buckle up, be patient, and bring snacks.

Review: The Artisan Heart

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

From Goodreads:
Hayden Luschcombe is a brilliant paediatrician living in Adelaide with his wife Bernadette, an ambitious event planner. His life consists of soul-wrenching days at the hospital and tedious evenings attending the lavish parties organized by Bernadette.

When an act of betrayal coincides with a traumatic confrontation, Hayden flees Adelaide, his life in ruins. His destination is Walhalla, nestled in Australia’s southern mountains, where he finds his childhood home falling apart. With nothing to return to, he stays, and begins to pick up the pieces of his life by fixing up the house his parents left behind.

A chance encounter with a precocious and deaf young girl introduces Hayden to Isabelle Sampi, a struggling artisan baker. While single-handedly raising her daughter, and trying to resurrect a bakery, Isabelle has no time for matters of the heart. Yet the presence of the handsome doctor challenges her resolve. Likewise, Hayden, protective of his own fractured heart, finds something in Isabelle that awakens dormant feelings of his own.

As their attraction grows, and the past threatens their chance at happiness, both Hayden and Isabelle will have to confront long-buried truths if they are ever to embrace a future.

This is one of those books you know is going to have a happily ever after. Still, you are perched on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Review: Ewan Pendle and the Castle of Nightmares

'' The Wraith That Walks is cruel and cold, 

He lives among the skies of old.

In night he dwells, in blackness deep,

Outside your room to slowly creep.

He knows just what you've seen and done,

He'll nibble at your bones for fun.

So watch each move and step you make,

Lest next will be the last you take. ''

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
When Ewan Pendle began his second training year at Firedrake Lyceum, he thought it might at least be easier than the first. Now that he knew he was a Lenitnes, one of an ancient race of peoples who alone can see the real Creatures which inhabit the earth, he hoped things would maybe go a little downhill from here … How wrong he was.

Ewan is summoned by Alice Blazely, the would be assassin who he and his friends Mathilde and Enid helped capture last year, the cunning woman using her final wish after being sentenced to death for her crimes to request a private meeting with Ewan. Alone together in a deep and dank cell, Alice reveals a secret which could turn Ewan’s world upside down – again. Does she hold the answer to deciphering Ewan’s disturbing reoccurring dreams? Can he ever trust the woman who wanted to see him dead?

As if a shocking revelation from a new foe wasn’t enough to handle, Ewan must also tackle a sea monster in the Thames, deal with the evil Rosethorn twins, come face to face with a shadow troll in a London alleyway and bargain with a crafty dragon, and attempt to find a treasure lost for over a thousand years …

As the summer ends, Ewan’s year long initiation into the world of creatures and the Lenitnes is finally over. But it’s then when monsters of all shapes and sizes really do start leaping, clawing and flying at him thick and fast!
The adventure continues after Ewan has spent his summer at Firedrake. The new year brings around challenges for him as their studies as cadets advance into more clique-specific studies.

Review: The Helm of Darkness (War on the Gods #1)

'' 'When the world is taken back, and monsters rule the trees, blood of a demigod will spill. Two mortals will rise, two from the Before, reborn from sacrifice. And when the sky is black and green, and the heavens cry, they will lead a war. A war on the gods.' ''

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
Andy and Zoey are two normal teenagers living in the modern day—that is, until they’re knocked unconscious in a freak storm sweeping the United States.

When they wake up, the world they know has been tossed away. Their city is in ruins, strange creatures walk the earth, and worst of all, everyone is gone. They stumble across Diana and Spencer, two kids around their age who possess incredible magical abilities, and who claim to be the demigod children of Greek gods. Not only that, they also claim the year is 500 AS, five hundred years after the gods conjured a massive storm that destroyed most of humanity and helped them take the world as their own once again.

Andy and Zoey are soon handed an impossible task: To save humanity. To lead a war on the gods.

They’ll have to battle monsters, death, and their own inner demons to survive and to protect the people they love.

This middle-grade fantasy will begin by telling a story about the two most average mortals from the Before. The Before when the world was as we now know it, not the one where an apocalyptic storm killed almost entirely the population on earth. The Storm was caused by the Greek Gods, taking revenge on the humans who had forgotten all about the Greek Gods, causing them to fade away piece by piece.

Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1)

'' Why is it so hard to say no to him? Is this what it's like to be in love with somebody? ''

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

From Goodreads:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

Looking for the perfect beach read? The book to read on your commute home? The companion for rainy-days and cups of tea? You've found it. And the best part? It's a trilogy.

Review: The Unexpected Inlander

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
Agent Christopher Rockford has been the best assassin in the agency for eight years, and he loves his job. He loves his solitary lifestyle. He loves eliminating criminals. He loves his comfortable life as a member of society’s wealthy coastal upper class.

But in pursuit of a target, he meets Jenna, a mysterious civilian who belongs to society’s lowest and most shunned group. Being around her is fun and intriguing, but it forces him to see things through her eyes—causing him to reconsider the world around them and The Order he so obediently serves. As he falls in love with her, he fears telling her the truth about his profession may cause him to lose her.

But Jenna has her own secrets to keep.

I feel kind of betrayed by this book. It's a funny feeling, really. I went in with zero expectations like I try to do with each and every book I read from a new author. The synopsis promises the reader an assassin in love with his job. And that we get, but we also lose him quite shortly after the beginning.