Transitive Verve

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) This book is the sequel to The Wrath and the Dawn , and therefore this post will contain spoilers for that book. You can read my review of it here . Summary:  Rey is in tatters after it was hit by a mysterious magical storm, one that was probably caused by Sharhzad's father, who has gotten his hands on a book of dark magic. Having been forced to flee the city and leave behind Khalid, Sharhzad now finds herself in a desert encampment with her family, some old friends, and mysterious strangers. In the meantime, Khalid tries to seek inner peace by rebuilding his city. But nothing feels right now that his wife is gone, even if she is safe. Sharhzad realizes quickly that she isn't safe, as some of the soldiers in the encampment are apparently part of the band of mercenaries that were sent to kill her in the palace. They are part of a greater plan to destroy Rey and overthrow Khalid, so Sharhzad has to find a way to break the cu...

It's that time again! This is my second Owlcrate, and I was eagerly awaiting the possible items for their Dystopia themed box. Let's take a look: Every Owlcrate comes with a themed postcard. The front has some cool artwork, and the back details the items in the box.

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:  Elena is a maaaaaaajor Star Wars  fan, so she decides to  overcome her introverted nature and to get in line a few days  early for The Force Awakens . It'll be just like in the news, with tons of fans bonding and having fun, celebrating their love for Star Wars , right? She ends up being third... in a line of three. Only two other superfans have decided to brave the great outdoors of the sidewalk outside their movie theatre. Between being outside on the cold cement in December in Omaha, and having to pee into a cup behind a dumpster in the middle of the night, this fan experience isn't quite what Elena had expected. But as opening day approaches, she finds that sometimes the unexpected can turn into something great.

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  Misfits Dill, Lydia, and Travis are entering their final year of high school in Forrestville, Tennessee, each with their own dreams and burdens as they prepare to face life after high school. Dill Early Jr. has inherited a legacy of darkness and serpents - his grandfather, the Serpent King, went mad with grief and began hunting and killing snakes; his father, a preacher already notorious for his out-there brand of Christianity, was sent to prison for a detestable crime shortly before Dill started high school, and ever since, Dill's life has been a living hell, made only worse by the fact that his best friend/the girl he loves will be leaving town after she graduates. He's stuck in a town he doesn't want to live in, waiting for the darkness to consume him while everyone else moves on. Lydia is a majorly popular fashion blogger (but not to the jerks at their school), and she can't wait to ditch this backward ...

Apparently today is National Siblings Day, and what better way to celebrate (beyond reaching out to my own sibling - Hi Khoa!) than to go over some of my favorite sibling groupings! 

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any graphic sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.  Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: This is the seventh and last book in Dannika Dark's Seven  series. I'm linking to my reviews for the first book as well as the rest of the series , which contain information about the universe of the books as well as the individual characters. My review for this book will contain spoilers for previous books. I will copy and paste my summary of the universe here, though, for people who don't want to encounter spoilers: The Seven series is about a family of shapeshifters - specifically, they are wolf shapeshifters, so they live in a pack, in Austin, TX. This universe also contains other types of supernatural beings, like vampires (but they are different from other vampires in other books), beings that can trans...

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Back in September, I did a write-up of the first three chapters of Soundless , so I'm going to go ahead and link it here , as it contains a summary and my initial thoughts on the setting and world-building. For the people who thought this book wasn't "Chinese" enough - what else were you expecting? Is Mead supposed to drop "won ton soup" and "kung fu" into every other sentence? The characters are Chinese, their names are Chinese, Mead draws from Chinese folklore (and I appreciated that in her acknowledgments, she mentioned that she consulted with people who knew more than she did in order to write this book), she tells  us that they are Chinese, so what else is she supposed to do? Fei and her fellow villagers experience love, suffering, desperation, and fear -  just like other human beings . Are love, suffering, desperation, and fear all white by default? Do Chinese people (or black people, or Latino p...

This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary:  In this society, flaws have not only been eliminated, but they've essentially been made illegal: individuals who lie, who make bad decisions, who dare to rebel, etc., are declared Flawed and branded according to their Flaw. Celestine, on the verge of turning eighteen, is living the perfect life: she has a loving family, she gets good grades, and she's dating an amazing guy (who happens to be the son of Judge Crevan, the head person responsible for doling out justice to the Flawed). However, after one terrible mistake, Celestine is thrown into a maelstrom, and she no longer knows whom to trust. People either want a piece of her, to use her for their cause, or they want to see her in pieces. All she knows is that more people are questioning the system than ever before, and that she is at the center of it.