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Some Thoughts On: The Raven King

The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) Maggie Stiefvater April 26th 2016 Scholastic ******Will probably contain spoilers for this book and the whole series just as a heads up****** I'm not going to try and write a normal review for The Raven King, because quite frankly I don't even know if I'm capable of doing proper reviews any more, and this is not the book or the series where I want to figure that out. That, and my love for this series transcends that of something which I can properly review, as I am completely biased and I *will* fight people about these books. On that note, this is also won't even entirely be about The Raven King on its own. Rather, it's a chance for me to go on and on and on and on and on about how much I love these books and Blue and those darn boys. My biggest fear about The Raven King, as is always the case with final books in a beloved series, was that it wouldn't be a good or fitting ending. I did not need to be worried. Rather than reac...

The Secret

Book Review: The Circle by Sara Bergmark Elgren and Mats Strangberg

On a night after the apparent suicide of high school student Elias Malmgren, a blood-red moon fills the night sky. Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates—Vanessa, Linnéa, Anna-Karin, Rebecka, and Ida—arrive, compelled by the same force. A mystical being takes over Ida’s body and tells them they are fated to fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. As the weeks pass, each girl discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin exploring their powers. The six are wildly different and definitely not friends . . . but they are the Chosen Ones.

In this gripping first installment of The Engelsfors Trilogy, a parallel world emerges in which teenage dreams, insanely annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love collide with dangerous forces and ancient magic. An international sensation with rights sold in 26 countries, The Circle is razor-sharp and remarkable from start to finish.



Best Bits: The book opens in quite a gruesome way, which, while technically not a best bit, definitely started off by hooking me. It's clear right from the start that there's a supernatural entity at work, but the reader doesn't find out what it is for quite some time. There were quite a few twists and turns, I was wrong about who was aligned with whom on multiple occasions. The authors definitely know how to create a mood, and I definitely enjoyed being unsure of what was going to happen in the end. It's a dark book, so if that's something you enjoy during the fall, this might be a great time to grab it.

Nit Picks: I'm not one to shy away from long books, in fact, I usually enjoy the wealth of information that would have to be cut to keep it around 300 pages. Still, it dragged. At times I had to go back and re-read because I caught myself skimming. The twists were great, but they weren't enough to keep me fully engaged with the mystery and plot when nothing happened for chapter after chapter. There were too many characters, as well. Even though I enjoyed them, I never felt fully connected with them. There were a couple of them that I empathized with on a basic level, and one that I absolutely disliked from the start. It was different from a series like The Daughter of the Moon (shout out to my 12-year-old self!), where each book focused on an individual member of a group, but the story continued to progress. I'm wondering if that's the way this should have been broken down.

The Circle
By Sara Bergmark Elgren and Mats Strangberg
Published by Overlook Juvenile
608 Pages
Received for review

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The Madness Underneath review

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Book Review: Cress By Marissa Meyer & Giveaway

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can. Best Bits: My emotions! I really liked Cinder , and Scarlet was even better. That's a formula that usually means I...

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Fae by C.J. Abedi

--> Our education was a top priority for our parents and thus we were prohibited from watching a lot of television.  We spent a lot of time playing outdoors and a lot of time entertaining our minds with reading. It was easy to do because our father had a voracious appetite for nonfiction books and would sit in our family room every night often reading 500-600 page books within one or two nights.      Watching him so engulfed made sitting in a quiet room so easy. We had many favorite books growing up, but our favorites were also so different. Much like our personalities.  One of the shared loves we have is Pride and Prejudice.  We think if you talk to most authors of young adult fiction novels, this book will come up at some point. William Darcy epitomizes the “ultimate” man.  Even though he was a man of few words, he had a depth to him that has been mimicked throughout many love stories.  Devilyn Reilly shares a great...

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