Tag: #Diana Rodriguez Wallach

March Wrap Up

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Hey guys! I hope you all had a great month. I have definitely had an amazing month, and when I look back through it, I feel like March has been extremely long. In amongst everything I managed to read, I also managed to binge watch Vampire Diaries up until about episode 8 in season 5. So… I’ve definitely gotten through a lot this month!

Read:

Started:

Bought/Acquired:

ARCs/Review Copies:

Beta:

  • Rock – A – Bye Baby by LRW Lee

Goodreads Monday:

 

Other posts:

Book of the Month:

TCP

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Published: January 2nd 2018 by LBBFYR

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

I hope you all had an amazing month like I did! Feel free to add your links to the comments so I can check them out!

Lies that Bind by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

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LTB

Lies that Bind by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Published: March 6th 2018 by Entangled Teen

The Italian Job meets Bourne Identity meets Spy Kids in this sequel to Proof of Lies.

What if saving yourself meant destroying everyone you love?

Still reeling from everything she learned while searching for her sister in Italy, Anastasia Phoenix is ready to call it quits with spies. Then she and her friends learn that Marcus’s—her kinda boyfriend—brother, Antonio, has also gone missing. Luckily, they track down Antonio in a fiery festival in England, only to learn he has been working for the enemy, Department D, the whole time. But Antonio wants out. And so does Anastasia.

But before any of them can leave espionage and their parents’ crimes behind them, a close friend turns up dead. No one is safe, not while Department D still exists. So Anastasia and her friends embark on a dangerous plan to bring down an entire criminal empire, using every Dresden Kid they can find.

As their world becomes surrounded by spies, and the children of spies, Anastasia starts to question who she can really trust. Including her best friends…

NOTE: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review. This in no way influences my opinion.

Lies that Bind is the sequel to Proof of Lies in the Anastasia Phoenix series. I read the first book a while back and really enjoyed it, so I was ecstatic when the publisher reached out and offered to send an ARC of this book ass well. However, for me, this book suffered from second book blues and I ultimately ended up DNFing it.

This book starts off where the previous on leaves off. Not a lot of time has elapsed between the two, so it was easy to keep track of what had happened in between books and where the characters are now. There were also plenty of reminders about what had happened in book one, so I didn’t need to struggle to remember what had happened previously, which I found to be a bonus.

However, I didn’t connect to this story as I had to the first book. There was no hook that really kept me interested and I often found myself putting the book down and doing something else. It felt extremely repetitive in the way in which the characters were acting and what they were saying and it really put me off wanting to read it because it felt like points kept being rehashed where they didn’t need to be.

Another issue I had with this book was that the plot was slow. I got up to about 25% of the way though and nothing had really happened. The plot itself was slow and it just appeared to be a lot of back and fourth arguments about what they were going to do next. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere and it failed to keep me only toes in the way in which book one did.

I also didn’t connect with Anastasia like I did in book 1. She came across as relatively whiny and it really felt like she had taken a step backward in the character development department. I struggled to care about what was going to happen to her in the long run, which impacted how I connected to the story as a whole. The way in which she started to call all the decisions and didn’t even stop to consider what anyone else had to say irritated me.

Anthony was also a dislikable character to me. His whole personality grated only nerves and I really just wanted to punch him every time he spoke. I struggled to even trust him and I didn’t really care about seeing things from his perspective because of the way in which he treated other characters.

All in all, I was disappointed with this book. It didn’t hold the same spark that hame hooked in book one and the plot and character development was sorely lacking. I gave this book 1/5 stars.

Proof of Lies by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

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proof-of-lies

Proof of Lies by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Expected Publication: March 7th 2017 by Entangled Teen

Some secrets are best kept hidden… 

Anastasia Phoenix has always been the odd girl out, whether moving from city to international city with her scientist parents or being the black belt who speaks four languages.

And most definitely as the orphan whose sister is missing, presumed dead.

She’s the only one who believes Keira is still alive, and when new evidence surfaces, Anastasia sets out to follow the trail—and lands in the middle of a massive conspiracy. Now she isn’t sure who she can trust. At her side is Marcus, the bad boy with a sexy accent who’s as secretive as she is. He may have followed her to Rome to help, but something about him seems too good to be true.

Nothing is as it appears, and when everything she’s ever known is revealed to be a lie, Anastasia has to believe in one impossibility.

She will find her sister.

Note: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

As soon as I saw the cover and the blurb of this on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it! It is a book that is right up my alley because I love trying to figure out who did what, who we can trust etc. This book most definitely did not let me down and I was left turning the pages trying to figure out everything!

I really liked Anastasia from the beginning.  She is definitely a character I felt like I could empathise with and she reacted in a complete human way when she lost her parents and then her sister. I got her not wanting to believe that her sister was dead – because that would have meant that she lost her entire family. I love the fact that she had unwavering faith throughout the book that her sister was alive. It was easy to understand why she felt guilty in the places and circumstances that she did!

I also really liked her sister, despite the fact that we didn’t get to see much of her – only hear what she is like through third person – and the fact that she made mistakes along the way. She was also really easy to empathise with and I actually felt really sorry for her! One minute she is enjoying life at pre med school and the next she is a guardian to her sister. I get that she wants to let loose in some form or another and I understand why she, in some respects, resented her sister. She is only human, after all!

The plot of this book was really different! At first we are following a very normal police investigation and the reader already thinks they know who took Kiera. However, the book very quickly becomes something out of conspiracy theories and it took a completely different twist! It kept me on my toes trying to figure things out! I will say that I didn’t trust the man who everyone trusted in the beginning and my spidey senses were correct!

I do feel like some of the plot was sometimes difficult to follow – I think maybe there was too many theories going on all at the same time and the information overload to my brain just didn’t go well… plus I was really tired but I also really wanted to know what was going to happen next! The plot was definitely something that you would only ever find in fiction… or the minds of the people who, in fact, create conspiracy theorists!

I also loved the fact that the author left a little section at the end with the actual truth of what happened. The author uses the assassination of an Italian Prime Minister within this book, but she changed it ever so slightly to fit the needs of the book – as it is full of conspiracy theories anyway! (If you are interested in more about this, the Prime Minister was Aldo Moro). She also provided the truth about Disinformation and D Departments.

All in all, I really enjoyed myself reading this book! It went in a complete different direction than I was expecting and the plot was really unique! It was sometimes difficult to keep up with the theories, so I gave this book 4/5 stars!

January Wrap – Up

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Hey guys!! I feel like January went really slowly… almost like it didn’t want to end AT ALL!!! Or is that just me? I have been ill for the most part of it, which is probably why it went so slowly for me! Anyway, because I was ill for the beginning of January (like couldn’t get out of bed ill), and I fell ill again, and my son was ill and my husband fell ill (with the man flu), I didn’t have such a great month reading. However, I did get through some books, and here they are…

Read:

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley – Doyle – 3/5 stars – This was my first read of 2017 and I was pretty disappointed…

Wanted by Betsy Schow – ARC , 5/5 Stars– This is by far one of my favourite series out there so far! This is the second book and I LOVED it

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare – 4/5 stars – This was my first time reading Clare and I had a ball!!

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare – 4/5 stars – Again, I had a great time reading this!

The Lost Girl by Candy Atkins – 5/5 Stars – I was sent a signed copy of both the first book in the series and this one as well… and ironically enough it got lost in the post. They had to send it again!!

Last Stand by Rachel. E. Carter, ARC – 5/5 stars – This was the final instalment in the series… and it was everything I wanted and so much more!!

Books Started:

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare – I did start this book, and then I stopped about 1/4 of the way through to beta read something. When I came back to it, I found I was no longer in the right mood for it. I didn’t want to force myself to read through it when I was enjoying it because I know I won’t like it if I do! I will come back to this when the mood takes me 😀

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess – I am currently reading this and, whilst I am enjoying myself, it hasn’t blown me away.

Book Haul:

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin – Illustrated Edition

The Lost Knight by Candy Atkins

The Lost Girl by Candy Atkins

Heir of Thunder by Karissa Laurel – The author actually approached me with a review request for this one 🙂

Last Stand by Rachel E. Carter

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Special Blog Posts:

Roseblood by A. G. Howard – Release Day Blitz

The Black Mage Series by Rachel E. Carter – Cover Reveals

Goodreads Monday:

This is a weekly meme that I host on my blog, so I am going to add this section to my monthly wrap up!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins – January 2nd

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin – January 9th

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven – January 16th

Proof of Lies by Diana Rodriguez Wallach – January 23rd

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth – January 30th

*phew* finally got to the end of this post!! Unfortunately I didn’t have a great reading month, but I am hoping the February will be better!!

How was January for you guys? Let me know in the comments!

Goodreads Monday

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Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted here. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off! Don’t forget to link back here and link me up so I can see what you guys picked.

Hey guys!!! Hope you all had a good weekend! I was at a wedding on Saturday, and I was recovering yesterday (because I had next to no sleep – I didn’t drink). So congratulations again to those two!! Anyway, this weeks pick for me is a book that actually hasn’t been released yet, but I do already have a copy of it on my Kindle, courtesy of Netgalley!

proof-of-lies

Proof of Lies by Diana Rodriguez Wallach 

Expected Publication: March 7th 2017 by Entangled Teen

Some secrets are best kept hidden… 

Anastasia Phoenix has always been the odd girl out, whether moving from city to international city with her scientist parents or being the black belt who speaks four languages.

And most definitely as the orphan whose sister is missing, presumed dead.

She’s the only one who believes Keira is still alive, and when new evidence surfaces, Anastasia sets out to follow the trail—and lands in the middle of a massive conspiracy. Now she isn’t sure who she can trust. At her side is Marcus, the bad boy with a sexy accent who’s as secretive as she is. He may have followed her to Rome to help, but something about him seems too good to be true.

Nothing is as it appears, and when everything she’s ever known is revealed to be a lie, Anastasia has to believe in one impossibility.

She will find her sister.

This sounds so awesome!!! I absolutely love books like these in which you have to figure out what is going on etc! So I absolutely cannot wait to get to it! 😀