Glimpses Of My Books

Prior to reading this series I have never even heard of this author. It is a wonderful thing to be involved in a community that shares their book experiences and are willing to recommend great stories to one another. I was recommended this series/author by a fellow bookstagrammer (Instagram: @rusticwolvesandpaperfoxes , blog: rusticwolvesandpaperfoxes.wordpress.com) and I will be grateful for a long long time. Lauren SeStefano's writing is beautiful. You are transported into the story! The characters are believable and their feelings and thoughts so well portrayed you almost believe they are real. There is so much pain in those books, the emotional connection is impossible to avoid. The story is complex, there are many sides to almost all characters and the pieces are not obvious to put together. It is, in many ways, not just an YA, but a great suspense. Can you imagine knowing exactly when you are going to die? That is the main theme behind the characters motivations. Due to...

Before I fall is the story about a popular teenage girl, Samantha, and her very popular friends. Sam dies at the end of her school's 'cupid day' in a car crush but keeps reliving the day. For seven  days she wakes up on the 12th of February and by reliving the day again and again she comes to realize how one life, her life, can have an effect on the live of those around her. Even the ones she does not speak with. Samantha and her girlfriends are malicious and mean. She may not instigate all the horrible things her friends do and say but she tags along and never stops them. The book is basically a story of re-rewriting wrongs. Samantha has, after her death, six days to change things, to change a few lives. As Samantha relives that day, and messes it all up again and again, we slowly get a better understanding of how she became that way. We also learn more about her friends and a few other secondary characters. We learn how one or two events in someone's past can f...

It has only been a few weeks since I discovered Holly Black, and although my tbr is absolutely huge, I just had to read another book of hers, so I got The Darkest Part of the Forest on my kindle. It did not disappoint. Holly Black is as amazing writer and can do in one book what takes many writers a whole series to succeed at. The world she created was overwhelmingly well written and it fascinated me from beginning to end. Her style of writing is almost poetic, I felt like reading it aloud to the world. It was so so beautiful. I want to live in a world of faeries and I don't care if they are dangerous provided it is the world Holly Black created! -seriously- I feel very confident in saying that since reading The Coldest Girl in Coldtown Holly Black has become my favorite stand alone writer! YA fantasy are my favorite kind of books and as far as stand alones go, no one writes better. Ben and Hazel are siblings leaving in Fairfold, a town were there is a very fragile line betwe...

Holding up the universe is about two teenage kids. A girl, Libby, who was once know as "American Fattest Teen" and is now trying to go back to school and once again have a 'normal' life. And a boy, Jack, who suffers from a disease that does not let his brain recognize faces, even his family are strangers to him. "Dear friend,  You are not a freak. You are wanted. You are necessary. You are the only one there is. Don't be afraid to leave the castle. It's a great big world out there.  Love, a fellow reader"- Jennifer Niver I had another reader (whose opinions I trust) give me some very harsh reviews on this book. She/he believes the book is offensive and criticized the author for not understanding 'fatness'. For body shamming and a lack of sensitivity. The author has also been criticized for mishandling a character with cognitive disorder.The list of horrible things this reader and many others (just have a 5 min look through GoodRead...

This was not a bad book, but it wasn't a great book either (Synopsis at the end of this post). The First half of the book is very slow! Britta, the main character, spends at least 80% of the book somewhere in a forest with Cohen at her side running from the King's guards.  The romance between the two is very frustrating. She loves him and thinks he doesn't love her (only an idiot wouldn't know that was untrue) and that goes on and on until almost the end of the book. I felt like I read the exact same thing again an again a million times. This was the single most annoying romance story I've read in a very long time. I hated it!  I don't really like Britta's character at all. She is rather daft and slow to process things that should be obvious. We, the reader, guess everything way ahead of her, and that in turn makes the character and the book rather predictable. Sadly, that is not always a good thing and certainly it wasn't here. Cohen's c...

If you have previously read my reviews (here and on instagram) you know I place great importance on the author's ability to make the reader feel completely and utterly emerged into the world he/she created regardless of how real it is or it is not. Victoria Schwab manages just that! I went to bed dreaming of a world of monsters, of brave and kind monsters that are more lovable than most humans. The main characters have an amazing dynamic! And considering there is little to no romance in this book I would say that shows the talent of the author. That is not something easily done. Think of your favorite YA fantasy books and tell me one that is both popular and has no romance in it. Done? Bet you didn't came out with much! The story was unique and intriguing. I don't really have any other book with even a similar story line. The book is set in a world were two forces are against each other and monsters are a real threat in between the two. What makes it unique is that it...

This book had me worried. I thought: "Another book about vampires, here goes the 'cheese'!..." I could not have been more wrong! There is nothing cliche about Holly's Black take on vampires.It is so cleverly written and so different than everything else out there. I was happily and gladly surprised! If you are looking for a romance book (twilight style), look away. There is a little romance here, but not much, just little snippets here and there. Enough to keep you wondering. The book is described as a  "wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing" (goodreads). The description could not be more accurate! The main character, Tana, lives in a world very much like ours. Except of-course, there are vampires. Unlike other books with vampires on it however, vampires are neither hidden or taking over the world. The vampires are contained in Coldtowns, modern cities that got infected by vampires and were therefor...

I read this book October last year and fell in love with it! The story, the writing, the futuristic world in which it is set, the book cover... Seriously, it is the prettiest glittery book there is! I started posting reviews on a blog (instead of only on my bookstagram) about a week after I finished reading The Thousandth Floor, so it never got here. But I love the book and I think it is worth more than just a few little lines on Instagram. How much I love it? Well... here is a little background story for you guys: I found out there would be a book fair about 3 1/2 hours away from me in the Twin Cities, MN and decided to check out the authors that would be there (not worth going for books you would never read right?!). I wasn't really familiar with many of the authors so I looked up the books and their synopsis instead to see if anything sounded interesting. The Thousandth Floor, although not my usual 'go to' style of book (I am rather a fan of fantasy) sounded really ...

I am very glad I still had The Sun is Also a Star in my mind when the year started. It would have been rather sad to start the year with a disappointing book. Sadly, that is the category The Night Circus occupies in my mind. Now, before I rant about all the things that were wrong with it (it will be a rather long rant) I shall make it plain that it wasn't all bad. Had that been the case I would never have manged to finish the book (please bare in mind I skimmed a lot of it). The twins are rather interesting, half of the time at least. Bailey has one scene I rather enjoyed reading (it involves the fortune teller for those who have read or are yet to read), the romance although short and very unrealistic had some sweet spots... Issue One:  I like a books with good and interesting plots that captivate from beginning to end. The world in which such plot is set and the imagery of that world and of the things around it should complement the story but never take over. The opposite is t...

I'm back! Sorry guys, I know it has been a while but Christmas Holidays tend to make time disappear! And fast. My last read of 2016 was The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. It was one of my best decisions to end the year with this book. It is an easy, adorable, sweet read. If you are a fan of Nicola's previous work, Everything Everything, you are certainly going to love this too. A very different story but the same style of writing. It gives you the same warm feelings, pain and joy! Within the very first pages I already knew I was going to love this book as much if not more than Everything Everything! Seventeen year old Natasha wants to stay in the US with her family and friends, but she is about to be deported. Most of the book takes place on that one day, the day she is to be deported with her family back to Jamaica. You can feel her pain and distress through out the book. Hers and Daniel's, the other main character in the book. He is the son of i...