Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Published: May 16th 2017 by G. P. Putnam’s sons for Young Readers

The only daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has always known she’d been raised for one purpose and one purpose only: to marry. Never mind her cunning, which rivals that of her twin brother, Kenshin, or her skills as an accomplished alchemist. Since Mariko was not born a boy, her fate was sealed the moment she drew her first breath.

So, at just seventeen years old, Mariko is sent to the imperial palace to meet her betrothed, a man she did not choose, for the very first time. But the journey is cut short when Mariko’s convoy is viciously attacked by the Black Clan, a dangerous group of bandits who’ve been hired to kill Mariko before she reaches the palace.

The lone survivor, Mariko narrowly escapes to the woods, where she plots her revenge. Dressed as a peasant boy, she sets out to infiltrate the Black Clan and hunt down those responsible for the target on her back. Once she’s within their ranks, though, Mariko finds for the first time she’s appreciated for her intellect and abilities. She even finds herself falling in love—a love that will force her to question everything she’s ever known about her family, her purpose, and her deepest desires. 

I was a bit wary going into this book because I DNFed TWATD and I wasn’t sure if I just didn’t like the book or Renee Ahdieh’s writing in general. However, I absolutely adored this book! This was a fantastic retelling of Mulan and I am already so excited for the next book!

From the very beginning of the book, I was hooked! It was fast paced from the very beginning and I just absolutely had to know what was going to happen next! The beginning of the book set the pace for the rest of the book and I didn’t feel like it had pacing problems at all!

I think my favourite aspect of this book was the character development – whether it was Mariko or any member of the Black Clan. I loved watching them interacting and how the relationships grew and developed as they got to know each other better. I felt like I could feel the moments of indecision between them and I empathised with all of the characters. I will say that I wasn’t totally on board with the ship that was sailing because I felt like it did’t have enough time to develop considering she was pretending to be a boy… but I feel like it is a ship that I will definitely support by the end of the next book.

I also enjoyed the multiple POV’s within this book. Each and every character had their own voices and they didn’t blend into each other. It was easy to tell who we were reading when the POV just changed. It also helped to give the readers an insight into the other characters and what makes them tick and what makes them do the things they were doing.

The plot was so amazing! There was always something going on, whether in a big way or a little way and I always had the feeling of needing to know what was going to happen next! Whether or not she was going to get caught etc. Also, may I just mention THAT DANG ENDING!!!  *Ahem* So much happened, and I was left gobsmacked and I just need to second book already because I NEED to know what is going to happen next!

The world building in the book was beautiful. I was so detailed that I felt completely transported to the world that Ahdieh created. It was easy to get lost in this book and not want to come back!

I absolutely loved this book and I cannot even wait until the next instalment! I definitely need more! I loved each and ever character and the different aspects and back stories that they brought to the book and I cannot wait to revisit them in a re read and to meet them again in the next book! I gave this book 5/5 stars.

Goodreads Monday

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 up to the inlinkz below so that others can see what you picked! 

Hey guys! Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy belated mothers day to every mother out there! The weather here was absolutely beautiful – which meant that we weren’t at home all weekend! Anyway, this pick for me is a book that I picked up over the weekend – which doesn’t actually release until tomorrow! I managed to find an early copy and it is so beautiful!

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Published: May 16th 2017 by G. P. Putnam’s Son Books for Young Readers

The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor’s favorite consort—a political marriage that will elevate her family’s standing. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black Clan, who she learns has been hired to kill her before she reaches the palace.
Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the Black Clan and track down those responsible for the target on her back. Once she’s within their ranks, though, Mariko finds for the first time she’s appreciated for her intellect and abilities. She even finds herself falling in love—a love that will force her to question everything she’s ever known about her family, her purpose, and her deepest desires.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and Bookish!

Hey guys! Before I go into this post I just want to say happy anniversary to my amazing husband! Feels like I have been married to him for a lifetime rather than just three years – but in a good way! 😀

So, this week’s TTT is Top Ten Hyped Books That I Have Never Read. This post could cause a few people some heart attacks – so try not to be too surprised!!

10.  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. *Ducks head* Yes, I have never read this book and no, I don’t really have the intention of reading this book. After seeing it everywhere, the hype of the film coming out etc. I just cannot face opening this book. I may be missing out I may not be – who knows? It could be that after some time, I might attempt to crack open this book – that will take a while though!

9.  The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. This book was recently all the rage and I did actually attempt to jump on the bandwagon and read it. I, however, did not get very far in and I ended up DNFing it.

8.  An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. This book is actually on my TBR list and there it will most likely remain until I have forgotten the amount of hype that surrounded this book upon its release. I have the horrible feeling that this is going to be one of those books that I am really going to want to love and I just won’t…

7.  Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I actually red the synopsis of this book no less than 1,000 times before finally deciding to add it to my TBR list. Since then I just haven’t opened it – I have the funny feeling I just won’t like it.

6.  Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. This is a series that I started and absolutely loved. I feel like that hype that surrounds this series is even justified – why I haven’t read this book yet is beyond me… especially considering the fact that I own a copy! This is a faceplate moment, I think!

5. Anything Sarah Dessen has written. She has written a fair few books – some of these books are even on my TBR list. Have I read any of them? No. Have I attempted to read any of them? No. Will I? Yes, at some point. Hopefully soon!

4.  Cinder by Marissa Meyer. This is a series that took me forever to add to my TBR list based purely on the fact that I love the original story of Cinderella. It is my favourite Disney film and was as a child too. After finally adding it, I never got around to actually reading it because of the hype surrounding it and still surrounds it!

3.  Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. This is just one of those books that I had every intention of reading and still do, but my TBR list just hasn’t allowed me to get around to it!

2.  The Maze Runner by James Dasher. I actually went and saw this in the cinema with my husband (unfortunately in German), but the book never really appealed to me.

1.  The Young Elites by Marie Lu. Again, this is a book that I own but have never gotten around to actually reading it! I will… At some point!

What about you guys? Feel free to leave comments and links in the comments section below and I will check them all out!

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all. (Goodreads)

I have finally given up on this book as a lost cause – that is to say, I DNFed it. I have been trying to read it and get into it for what feels like forever, but for some reason, it is just not happening! I jumped onto this bandwagon (reluctantly, I might add) because of all of the hype surrounding it. While a lot of people seemingly love this book, I am one of those who just didn’t/doesn’t.

I am not even sure if it was the book itself or me. I found it difficult to actually connect to the people and the events happening because it all seemed so jumpy. One minute our main character, Shahrzad, hates the Caliph and the next minute she is fighting urges to kiss him and what not. The flow of events just didn’t seem right to me – which is probably why I found it so hard to get into this book.

The jump between Shahrzad’s point of view and Tariq’s wasn’t obvious. If I put the book down and came back to it a while later, I would often forget who and what I was reading and I would have to skim back a couple of pages just to figure it out. I found myself doing other stuff – like catching up on GoT or Pretty Little Liars instead of wanting to read this book.

The only character I actually liked was Jalal. His witty, easy going character was refreshing to read after ploughing my way through the rest to get to his parts. He is someone that I could easily get along with – he is just one of those characters that you can’t help but love.

The Hype Monster got its teeth into this one, which is a shame. I think this is one of those books that is considered to be marmite within the book world – either you love it or you hate it. I personally didn’t enjoy it, but it should still be read and you should still form your own opinions about this book! Based on Jalal’s character, I am going to give this book 2/5 stars.

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.

Hey guys! 🙂 Another Saturday and time for another Stacking the Shelves. I only have two additions for you this week, so I will include both the synopsis’ of the books and the links to Goodreads in case you want to add them to your own TBR!

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh.

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren.

A bombshell bookworm. A chronic Casanova. And a lesson in chemistry too scandalous for school.

When Hanna Bergstrom receives a lecture from her overprotective brother about neglecting her social life and burying herself in grad school, she’s determined to tackle his implied assignment: get out, make friends, start dating. And who better to turn her into the sultry siren every man wants than her brother’s gorgeous best friend, Will Sumner, venture capitalist and unapologetic playboy?

Will takes risks for a living, but he’s skeptical about this challenge of Hanna’s…until the wild night his innocently seductive pupil tempts him into bed- and teaches him a thing or two about being with a woman he can’t forget. Now that Hanna’s discovered the power of her own sex appeal, it’s up to Will to prove he’s the only man she’ll ever need.

I jumped onto The Wrath and The Dawn bandwagon not too long ago after seeing it absolutely everywhere. I am not going to lie, I didn’t want to put this onto my TBR list because of the hype monster and I am struggling to actually sit down and read it without going and doing something else. So far I have absolutely loved the Beautiful Bastard series by the duo Christina and Lauren and I am definitely looking forward to reading this books offerings!

More than anything, I have added a ton of books to my TBR list thanks to Netgalley and Goodreads … This list will never shrink at this rate!

So, what about you guys? Have you added anything interesting? Feel free to leave your answers and links in the comments section below and I will check them all out! In the meantime, I am going to go and get some lunch…