Lies that Bind by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

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.

#Prettyboy Must Die by Kimberly Reid

#Prettyboy Must Die by Kimberly Reid

Published: February 13th 2018 by Tor Teen

A CIA prodigy’s cover is blown when he accidentally becomes an internet sensation in #Prettyboy Must Die, inspired by the #Alexfromtarget story.

When Peter Smith’s classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo–along with the caption, “See the Pretty Boy Run,”–Peter knows he’s in trouble. But when hostiles drop through the ceiling of his 6th period Chem Class, Peter’s pretty sure his trouble just became a national emergency.

Because he’s not really Peter Smith. He’s Jake Morrow, former foster-kid turned CIA operative. After a massive screw-up on his first mission, he’s on a pity assignment, a dozen hit lists and now, social media, apparently. As #Prettyboy, of all freaking things.

His cover’s blown, his school’s under siege, and if he screws up now, #Prettyboy will become #Deadboy faster than you can say, ‘fifteen minutes of fame.’ Trapped in a high school with rabid killers and rabid fans, he’ll need all his training and then some to save his job, his school and, oh yeah, his life.

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

When I first saw this on Netgalley, I decided to request it because it looked like a quick, fun, cheesy read – something that would just cheer you up and let you escape for a couple go hours. However, this book did not cheer me up, and I actually ended up DNFing it. The characters, the descriptions and some of the ideas that the author had left me eye rolling pretty hard – to the point where I’m pretty sure that my eyes got stuck in the back of my head.

I’m going to start off with the MC. I struggled to really engage in this story because I found Peter/Jake to be extremely unlikeable. He was constantly complaining and whining and was pretty condescending toward others – whether it was just his thoughts and the way in which he saw people or whether it was things he said to other characters. He was horrible the person who was supposed to be his best friend within this book and it just grated on my nerves. I physically couldn’t connect to him as a character because I found no relatable qualities in him whatsoever. Despite his many mistakes etc. he still acted like he was better than everyone else and it really drew me out of the story.

His best friend’s back story (Bunker) also seemed completely out there and extremely unlikely. His dad took him underground (for reasons I have forgotten) and he doesn’t resurface for 15 years. It then seems unlikely to me that he is able to get into a relatively prestigious school on a scholarship and that he would be relatively sane of mind and pretty current with the times when he has been underground for the past 15 years. Surely he would have various psychological, if not also physical, issues that would confine him to a hospital/unit until he has be rehabilitated into the real world?

I think the biggest issue for me, and ultimately what led me to putting the book down, is the way in which Peter (the author) dismissed the possibility of a character being the hacker he’s looking for because: She’s English and beautiful and she has an amazing English accent and her hair smells English (Strawberries and Vanilla, who knew? Pretty sure my hair currently smells like coconut, so does this make me not English?), and she kisses super amazing and she’s English and Rich as hell… Did I mention that she’s English? This is what the book basically read like for me and to dismiss a female character because of these relatively shallow things got on my goat. It made me angry and I actually put the book down because I just couldn’t face reading anymore.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed, and irritated, with this book. I was expecting something fun and cheesy and got quite the opposite. I gave this book 1/5 stars.

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Lullaby by L R W Lee

Lullaby by L. R. W. Lee

Published: January 15th 2018 by Woodgate Publishing

You’ve heard of the Sand Man. Meet his counterpart, the Sand Maiden.

Alissandra thrills to help her human charges make sense of thoughts that need refinement, problems that need solutions, worries that beg for action, and things they should or shouldn’t have said, as she weaves their dreams. She’s been doing it her entire immortal existence. But when the most powerful king in Dream realm sets his sights on her current charge, Prince Kovis Altairn, to exploit him in his quest to conquer Wake realm, Ali has no choice but to flee and pray the sovereign doesn’t hunt her down.

Prince Kovis Altairn, crown prince and the most powerful sorcerer in the Altairn Empire, knows nothing about Dream realm, let alone his sand maiden. So when Ali is discovered naked in his bedroom, how will she convince him of her intentions, as well as the danger?

Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the author. This in no way influences my opinion.

I was a bit on the fence about reading this book. I wasn’t entirely sure if it sounded like it was going to be my kind of thing, but after discussing it over with a friend, I decided to go for it and applied for ARC when they opened up. Unfortunately, this turned out to be not really my cup of tea and I ended up DNFing it about 30 percent of the way through. I found it to be confusing and slow, as well as problematic in certain areas. I will mention that I absolutely love the cover, however. The cover art was done by Charlie Bowater and it is absolutely stunning!

The problems with this book really start from the very beginning. From the very first page of the book, we are thrust into a commotion, without any real explanation of what is happening or why. The first few pages of the book are extremely confusing and it really set the tone, for me, up until the point that I DNFed. Whilst I usually wouldn’t mind being thrown into action from page 1, I expect some form of world building and explanation to follow up so that I have a full understanding of what is really happening and why; and unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with this book. The book carried on from the events at page 1, but without any real explanation as to what was going on and why. The world building and character development was lacking and it really had a negative impact on me as a reader.

The world building itself (the environment, dream realm, wake realm etc.) was really lacking as well. I couldn’t physically picture the places we were supposed to be because there wasn’t enough description for me. Dream Realm and Wake Realm are mentioned, as well as other places that are pretty far off and not where the characters currently are (but are places with rebellion etc.), but I personally had no real idea where any of these places were in regards to where the characters were and what was really going on and why there was rebellion etc. We know it is happening, but we don’t know why and we don’t really find out, even though we have the POV of one of the Princes. I would have liked to have seen more world building itself, along with more of an idea of what is actually going on as opposed to knowing about it and not knowing why.

Another issue I had with this book was the lack of character development. I never really felt connected to any of the characters because they were never developed further from the confusing beginning. Ali was extremely naive and a complete push over. She never exhibited any signs that she was a princess from the dream realm. From the vague snippets that we get about her dad and the kind of person he was, I was expecting her to be tougher mentally, but was left pretty disappointed on that front. She let herself be pushed around in the Wake Realm as well, even after the events of the beginning of the book.

Prince Kovis was a pretty unlikeable character. He often spoke down to and was relatively condescending toward Ali, despite the way she treated him. He often looked the other way and encouraged torture, and only really got involved when it started to affect him. He never really developed from this point on and stayed a relatively unlikeable character throughout. Personality wise, he fell relatively flat and there wasn’t a particular character trait that made him really stand out in a unique way.

I also found this book to be relatively problematic. This book has sexual assault at the beginning of the book. Usually, I don’t mind books featuring sexual assault, when it is written in the right way, because it’s an issue that is extremely relevant within society today. However, I feel that the way in which the author tackled and represented sexual assault actually perpetuates it, rather than shows it to be what it is – an issue that needs to be dealt with and resolved. There was no real consequences for the people who committed the assault and the psychological issues that victims often face in the aftermath weren’t properly represented either. I felt that Ali brushed it off and seemed to completely forget about it afterward. I will add a spoiler paragraph at the bottom so that I can talk about it openly without spoiling anyone.

Unfortunately, this book was lacking in a lot of different areas and left me with more questions than answers. For me, it was relatively problematic and I was disappointed with the way in which Lee represented sexual assault. I gave this book 1/5 stars

SPOILER PARAGRAPH:

As mentioned above, the way in which Lee represented sexual assault was relatively problematic. The prince himself (not Kovis, his brother) allowed his guards to assault Ali, whilst he stood and looked away. There were no repercussions for Prince Kovis’ brother or the guards themselves. It’s also later revealed in the book that their sister was sexually assaulted, and prince Kovis’ brother claims he would never do/allow that to happen to anyone else… except clearly Ali because she’s an exception? Prince Kovis himself doesn’t even do anything about his brother or his brothers guards because “they’re his brothers’ men”. He claimed to have said to his brother that he should get rid of some guards because of questionable morals, but that he couldn’t force him.

My issue with this situations is that there is no accountability in either the guards, the prince or even Prince Kovis, who finds out about it and does nothing. Sexual assault is a societal issue that is extremely relevant, especially with victim shaming and the celebrities who are coming forward to share their stories. I feel that it is ok to have sexual assault represented within any book, as long as it does the subject justice and is dealt with in the right way. I felt that Lee never really had a reason for using it, and never did the subject and the severity of it justice. As already mentioned, nobody was held accountable and Ali herself brushed it off as of nothing ever happened. A lot of the focus for the beginning of the book was Ali either being sexually assaulted or being forced to strip her clothing. It wasn’t used in a way that brought something to the story, or even as a learning device as it should be, but rather as a filler for something to happen. I personally found it to be problematic and it didn’t sit well with me.

January Wrap Up

Hey guys! I hope you have all had a great January and start to the year. My start has been absolutely terrible reading wise. I really lost my motivation to read and take pictures for my instagram – and even blog, which I am sure you gathered from the sparse posting throughout the month! I am currently 5 book behind schedule on my goodreads goal… I really felt that January just kind of dragged on, and I am so glad that it is finally coming to a close. However, having said that, I finally feel my mojo coming back, so I am hoping to really start getting back into everything and be back more regularly and finally be in the mood for doing what I enjoy the most! Sorry that this post is so short – hopefully next month will be better!

Read: 

• Dirty Uncle by Alexa Riley and Jesse Kane – Adult, Reviewed on Goodreads, 4/5 stars
• Lullaby by L R W Lee – Arc received from the author, DNF, 1 star. Full review still to come!

Started:

• Blood and Sand by C. V. Wyk – ARC received through Netgalley. I’m currently about 72 percent of the way through this and I am LOVING it! I highly recommend it.
• Rock Hard Bodyguard by Alexis Abbott – Adult book, will only review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Bought: 

• Red Queen: Collectors Edition by Victoria Aveyard (Link leads to normal version on Goodreads)
• Golden Son by Pierce Brown
• Morning Star by Pierce Brown
• Introductions: Collectors Edition by C. L. Stone
• First Days: Collectors Edition by C. L. Stone
• Iron Gold by Pierce Brown
• The Extinction Trials by S. M. Wilson

ARCS Acquired:

• Blood and Sand by C. V. Wyk – Netgalley.
• The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton – Netgalley

Goodreads Monday: 

• 8th Jan – Everless by Sara Holland
• 22nd Jan – The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart
• 29th Jan – Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

Book of the Month:

Blood and Sand by C. V. Wyk

 

Published January 16th by Tor Teen

FORGED IN BATTLE…
FROM THE DUST OF THE ARENA…
A LEGEND WILL RISE

The action-packed tale of a 17-year-old warrior princess and a handsome gladiator who dared take on the Roman Republic―and gave rise to the legend of Spartacus…

For teens who love strong female protagonists in their fantasy and historical fiction, Blood and Sand is a stirring, yet poignant tale of two slaves who dared take on an empire by talented debut author C. V. Wyk.

Roma Victrix. The Republic of Rome is on a relentless march to create an empire―an empire built on the backs of the conquered, brought back to Rome as slaves.

Attia was once destined to rule as the queen and swordmaiden of Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world had seen since Sparta. Now she is a slave, given to Xanthus, the Champion of Rome, as a sign of his master’s favor. Enslaved as a child, Xanthus is the preeminent gladiator of his generation.

Against all odds, Attia and Xanthus form a tentative bond. A bond that will spark a rebellion. A rebellion that threatens to bring the Roman Republic to its end―and gives rise to the legend of Spartacus…

I know I mentioned above that I am not yet finished with this book, however, it is so good, I KNOW that I want to feature it as this months book of the month! It is a Spartacus retelling and has had me hooked throughout. I am hoping to have this done within the next couple of days.

That is it for me. As you can see, my month was pretty terrible, so here is to having a better February! I have a bundle of ARCs to get through and a whole bunch of new releases that I really want to pick up as well 😀

Feel free to add your links to your Wrap up posts so I can see how your month has been.

 

The Switch by A. W. Hill and Nathaniel Hill

The Switch by A. W. Hill and Nathaniel Hill

Published: August 28th 2017 by Curiosity Quills Press

IMAGINE THAT you could change your world with the flip of a switch. You might be prettier, more athletic, more popular, or even living on an exotic island, because your history—your world line—would be different. But here’s the catch: you have no way of knowing if the reality on the other side of that switch will be better… or much worse.

JACOBUS ROSE is a fifteen year-old who believes—as many fifteen year-olds do—that his life could use improvement. School is a numbing routine, and his parents’ marriage seems to be imploding before his eyes. ‘Maybe I was born into the wrong world,’ he thinks. Lured by his best friend, CONNOR, into a strange little house containing nothing but empty rooms and an oversized circuit breaker, he’ll discover that reality comes in a plural form, and that our choices create a continuous web of branching worlds, any of which is as ‘real’ as another.

A solo odyssey becomes a duo, a trio, and then a quartet, as Jacobus befriends other interdimensional travelers along the way: GORDON NIGHTSHADE, the veteran pilgrim and chief theorist; MOSES DeWITT, the alley cat with an old soul; JEMMA DOONE, a girl of many-worlds who becomes the main river home for Jacobus and his crew; and finally, his lost friend Connor, who just may have preferred an alternate universe to his own.

THE SWITCH is the story of their journey home. The question is: if they get there, will it be the same place they left behind?

Note: I received a review copy of this book via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I first discovered this book on Netgalley. The cover is eye catching and the premise sounded extremely promising – so of course, I had to request it! However, for me, this book fell flat and didn’t live up to its promise – I ended up DNFing.

I think my biggest issue with this book was the writing style itself. Whilst I don’t mind the author breaking the fourth wall and having the characters’ speak directly to the reader, it has to be done right for it be successful. For me, it wasn’t done right and was written more as if the character was stood with me talking to me, rather than hooking me into the story itself. The writing was very much “and then this happened, and then that happened…” which irritated and bored me. The writing style itself affected the execution and it just didn’t work for me.

Another issue I had with this book was the plot. Whilst the premise sounded extremely promising, I don’t feel that the plot lived up to my expectations. It was relatively repetitive, which made me want to put the book down and do something else. I loved the idea of multiple realities and all of them being different, but I would have liked to have seen more of the reality that he switched to before he switched again. The multiple switches in such a short space of time meant that we didn’t really get to see a lot from the other characters and how they changed etc.

Which brings us to the next issue, which was the characters. They fell mostly flat for me, but I think that was because the authors didn’t give us enough time to really get to know and care about the characters before switching them out for another reality and a new set of personalities. I didn’t have that reader/character connection because I felt that I wasn’t given the opportunity to really get to know anyone other than Jacobus

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this book. Whilst the premise itself was extremely promising, I don’t feel that it lived up to that promise. I gave this 1/5 stars.

Find me Here:

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First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirrowy

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirrowy

Published: July 25th 2017 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

Amazon: First We Were IV

It started for pranks, fun, and forever memories.
A secret society – for the four of us.
The rules: Never lie. Never tell. Love each other.
We made the pledge and danced under the blood moon on the meteorite in the orchard. In the spot we found the dead girl five years earlier. And discovered the ancient drawings way before that.
Nothing could break the four of us apart – I thought.
But then, others wanted in. Our seaside town had secrets. History.
We wanted revenge.
We broke the rules. We lied. We told. We loved each other too much, not enough, and in ways we weren’t supposed to.
Our invention ratcheted out of control.
What started as a secret society, ended as justice. Revenge. Death. Rebellion.

I added this book to my TBR a while back, before its release, because it looked like something that would be right up my alley. I loved the premise and this was a highly anticipated read for me. Unfortunately, this book fell flat in a lot of ways for me and I ended up DNfing.

I loved the beginning of this book! It started out at the end, with one of them dead – we don’t know which one and we don’t know why or how it happened, just that it did. This immediately created an air of mystery and I just wanted to know what happened and how they got to that point. We find out about the dead girl not long after that and it added even more mystery because we never find out what happened to her at the time of her death. I was looking forward to seeing what had happened to the girl and why she ended up where she did.

However, this book fell off into a tangent it didn’t need to go in. It felt extremely long winded after that and it didn’t focus on the main points of the story – namely the murder. The creating of the secret society and what they were there to do etc. took too long and it felt like not even the characters really knew what direction they wanted to take with it.

I feel that, because the plot itself went off on a bit of a tangent, I struggled to pick this book up and really get into it. I often found myself putting it back down and doing other things because I didn’t feel like the book was going anywhere all that fast. The pacing of the book itself needed to be speeded up a little and something interesting needed to happen plot wise for me, as a reader, to remain invested in the story.

I also didn’t feel a connection to or between the characters. Whilst they were supposed to be best friends (and outsiders), I didn’t get the feeling that they were as close as they thought they were and the friendship between them often felt forced rather than natural. I personally didn’t feel a connection the characters, either, so it didn’t really bother me when things happened to them. I wasn’t emotionally invested in the characters themselves and, at the point of DNF, I didn’t really care which one of them died.

Whilst this book had a promising beginning, it definitely went off on a tangent and lost its way a bit – which is a shame because this was a highly anticipated read of mine! I gave this book 1.5/5 stars.

Find Me Here:

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The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Published: July 8th 2014 by Henry Holt

Amazon: The Kiss of Deception: The Remnant Chronicles 01

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

I have had this on my TBR for years now. I have always heard amazing things about this book and this series as a whole and I was extremely excited when I picked this up. However, this book turned into a complete DNF for me and I just don’t understand the hype surrounding this book.

I think my biggest issue with this book was that I had absolutely no connection to the characters whatsoever. I didn’t feel anything toward any of them and therefore didn’t really care if they lived or not. I didn’t really feel any connection between Lia and either Rafe or Kaden. I struggled to really like these characters, but their personalities fell completely flat for me and I didn’t really feel like there was any defining personality trait for any one of the characters.

The plot was definitely lacking throughout this book. Lia runs away and doesn’t really do anything else throughout this book (or at least to where I read up to). I struggled to keep focused on the book and often found myself putting the book down to go and do something different. The assassin wasn’t doing much assassinating; the prince wasn’t exactly jilted considering his own feelings about the wedding and, honestly, the plot is basically Lia working in a pub instead of doing her actual duties as a royal/first daughter.  The plot definitely needed a kick start to life with something interesting and it just didn’t happen.

I also wasn’t really feeling a connection between any of the characters. I feel like a lot of what was happening was insta love, with some “romantic” drama in between that didn’t really add much to the story itself. The emotions themselves weren’t actually there for me, which made the book even harder to get through.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this book and I don’t really understand the hype surrounding this. I struggled to pick this book up and often found myself going and doing other things. I gave this book 1/5 stars

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Published: March 10th 2015 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Amazon: Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles, Band 1)

On the floating city, you can be anything you dream – a novelist or a singer, a florist or a factory worker… Your life is yours to embrace or to squander. There’s only one rule: you don’t approach THE EDGE. If you do, it’s already over.

Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. There’s too much for her at home: her parents, best friend Pen, and her betrothed, Basil. Her life is ordinary and safe, even if she sometimes does wonder about the ground and why it’s forbidden.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, Judas is being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.

I added this to my TBR a while back (I think some time after I read Wither, which was a few years back). I really enjoyed Wither and I was definitely excited to check out more of this author’s work. However, this book fell flat for me and I ended up DNfing it about half way through.

Whilst the plot itself had a lot of potential, I feel like the execution of it left a lot to be desired. I often found myself putting the book down to go an do something else and I really had to force myself to sit and read it for the amount of time that I did. The plot itself was relatively repetitive, as well as the writing, and I didn’t feel like it was going anywhere in particular.

Another issue I had with this book was the fact that I didn’t feel any connection with the characters themselves and, so, I didn’t really care what happened to them or what was going to happen to them throughout the series. I struggled to pick this book back up when I put it down because I didn’t feel that connection that I feel is necessary for a reader to have in order to enjoy the book.

I feel like the world building lacked a little as well. I liked the idea of the floating city and the edge and what could happen to you if you get to close to the edge etc. but I don’t feel like it was executed well. We weren’t given enough information as to why the city is floating and why the things that happened to the people who got too close to the edge happened. I feel like I would have maybe enjoyed this book a little more had the world building been there and the explanations as to why certain things were the way they were.

All in all, whilst I feel like this book had a lot of potential, it definitely fell short for me and my expectations. I found this book relatively boring and the world building was lacking. I gave this book 1/5 stars

The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye

The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye

Published: May 16th 2017 by Balzer + Bray

Amazon: The Crown’s Fate (Crown’s Game, Band 2)

Book Depository

Russia is on the brink of great change. Pasha’s coronation approaches, and Vika is now the Imperial Enchanter, but the role she once coveted may be more difficult—and dangerous—than she ever expected.

Pasha is grappling with his own problems—his legitimacy is in doubt, the girl he loves loathes him, and he believes his best friend is dead. When a challenger to the throne emerges—and with the magic in Russia growing rapidly—Pasha must do whatever it takes to keep his position and protect his kingdom.

For Nikolai, the ending of the Crown’s Game stung deeply. Although he just managed to escape death, Nikolai remains alone, a shadow hidden in a not-quite-real world of his own creation. But when he’s given a second chance at life—tied to a dark price—Nikolai must decide just how far he’s willing to go to return to the world.

With revolution on the rise, dangerous new magic rearing up, and a tsardom up for the taking, Vika, Nikolai, and Pasha must fight—or face the destruction of not only their world but also themselves.

The Crown’s Game was a book that I highly anticipated reading, which left me underwhelmed – so I went into this one a little wary. I wasn’t sure how the author was going to answer so many question in just this last instalment (this is a duology). I ended up DNFing this book. I found this book even more underwhelming than the first and I was really having to force myself through it.

Whilst this book starts off at the end of the previous one, I feel like it is basically a repeat of book 1 – but on a slightly different level. It is less a game and more of an open warfare between Vika, Pasha and Nikolai. The book is basically Nikolai trying to get the better of Vika and Pasha, whilst Vika hits back and Pasha sort of stuck in the middle. I didn’t feel like there was a huge amount of character development from book 1 (except for Nikolai with what his mother was doing to him) and the characters remained relatively 2D. I didn’t feel a connection with characters to actually care what was going to happen to them throughout the story.

I also feel like I was being given more questions than answers. How was Nikolai in the form he was? How did Aizhana come back? How does the transference of energy work? Why can Galina do magic if there is only supposed to be two people in the entire of Russia who can do it? Why can only two people do magic? There are more, but I feel like all the questions I have would take over this post. I have spoken to a couple of people who read both books and they have had similar opinions in the sense that they have a lot of questions that have, and will remain, unanswered.

The plot didn’t really interest me that much – to the point where I was having to force myself to pick the story up. The style and the form that the plot took was very repetitive from book one, but on a bit of a bigger scale (I don’t want to say too much because of spoilers). I also decided to read the ending after DNFing to see how it would all wrap up and I found the ending to be a little weak. It would have been better had it gone down differently.

I honestly don’t understand either canon for this book. I don’t see a connection between Vika and Pasha or Vika and Nikolai. Jealousy was a huge motivator for what some of these characters did and I honestly didn’t understand why because I didn’t see a spark between any of the characters.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed by this duology. This series was highly anticipated series for me and I ended up not really enjoying either book as much as I thought I was going to! I gave this book 1/5 stars.

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

Other reviews for this book:

Alyssa @ Eater of Books

Jananee @ Head In Her Books

My Guilty Obsession

Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton

Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton

Published: September 6th 2016 by Balzer + Bray

Anna and the French Kiss meets The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks in a romantic and hilarious new novel from Brodi Ashton, the author of the Everneath trilogy. 

Raucous parties, privileged attitudes, underage drinking, and diplomatic immunity . . . it’s all part of student life on Embassy Row.

Piper Baird has always dreamed of becoming a journalist. So when she scores a scholarship to exclusive Chiswick Academy in Washington, DC, she knows it’s her big opportunity. Chiswick offers the most competitive prize for teen journalists—the Bennington scholarship—which would ensure her acceptance to one of the best schools in the country.

Piper isn’t at Chiswick for two days before she witnesses the extreme privilege of the young and wealthy elite who attend her school—and realizes that access to these untouchable students just might give her the edge she’ll need to blow the lid off life at the school in a scathing and unforgettable exposé worthy of the Bennington.

The key to the whole story lies with Rafael Amador, the son of the Spanish Ambassador—and the boy at the center of the most explosive secrets and scandals on Embassy Row. Rafael is big trouble—and when he drops into her bedroom window one night, asking for help, it’s Piper’s big chance to get the full scoop. Except Piper discovers that despite his dark streak, Rafael is smart, kind, funny, and gorgeous—and she might have real feelings for him. How can she break the story of a lifetime if it will destroy the boy she just might love?

I have had this on my TBR since last year, so when I picked it out of my TBR jar I was glad to finally be getting to it. I thought it would be a quick, possibly predictable read – however, I ended up DNFing this book. I got about 30% of the way through this book before putting it down.

My biggest issue with this book was the fact that the characters were superficial. There didn’t seem to be any depth to them and they were relatively boring within the story itself. We didn’t really get to know out characters on a deeper level by 30% of the way through and it led to me being pretty bored for most of the time I was reading. The characters were very cliche in the sense of poor girl who has to work for everything meets rich boy who can get away with anything – and there was obviously the mean girl who hated the poor girl. It was pretty eye rolling inducing.

Another major issue I had with this book was the fact that the writing itself was very repetitive. The same words and phrases were constantly being thrown at me – if I had turned the 30% I read into a drinking game, I probably would have been on the floor, it was that bad. I was constantly being reminded that she went to the same school as the rich kids but was on a different planet and the nickname she gave the rich kids (Diplomatic Immunity (DI’s fo short)) and it got to the point where it was in pretty much every other sentence.

I also felt like the plot took too long to actually kick off with something interesting. By 30% she was just getting an idea of what she wanted to do to achieve her goal within the book and, for me, that was way too long an amount of time to slowly start introducing the point of the book. Had the characters been developed at the beginning of the book to then support the late plot introduction, it wouldn’t have been so bad. As it was, the characters were very 2D and the plot itself lacking.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this book. I do have some of Ashton’s other works on my TBR, so hopefully I will enjoy those better. I gave this book 1/5 stars.

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners