Review: Princess of Thorns

Title: Princess of Thorns
Author: Stacey Jay
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Published: December 9th, 2014
How I Served It: Kindle eBook
How I Got It: Stalked it on goodreads for months, then bought

Summary:
"Game of Thrones meets the Grimm's fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.

Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago.

Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?" -- Goodreads

Review:
I loved this book.  Couldn't put it down from the minute I picked it up.  This is the book that forced me to learn how to master the Kindle app for my iPhone.  I've always loved girl-power books where the girls kick ass or dress up as guys to infiltrate an army.  This was like taking the Lioness (Tamora Pierce) books and amp-ing up all of the things I loved about them.  It's definitely not a book for everyone, and I really don't think it can/should be sold as a fairy-tale retelling, but I will recommend it to anyone who loves losing themselves in ink (or pixels, whatever floats your boat).

This is not a retelling of Sleeping Beauty or really any fairy tale. Yes, Aurora is the daughter of a woman presented as Sleeping Beauty, and Niklaas a twelfth son of a mad king, and there are hints of Rapunzel and a few other famous princesses, but this isn't a retelling as much as it is a new adventure that hints at familiar roots.  At the start of the novel Aurora has disguised herself as her brother Jor in an attempt to win an army to storm the palace of the ogre queen.  Aurora is the rightful queen but the ogres took control through murder and bloodshed and literal soul-sucking.  The ogres aim to invoke a prophecy that will doom the world but requires the blood of a fairy-blessed briar-born child... which as far as I can tell really just means Aurora or Jor.   Ogre Queen Ekeeta has kidnapped Jor (not knowing that it's Aurora who is fairy blessed), and it's the mission of the novel for Aurora to save her brother.  Hence the need for an army.

Review: The Winner's Curse

Title: The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Published: March 4th, 2014
Series: The Winner's Trilogy#1
How I Served It: Kindle eBook
How I Got It: That Stupid Easy 'Buy With One Click' Button

Summary:
"Winning what you want may cost you everything you love 

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. 

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. 

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. 


Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart." --- Goodreads

Review:
Okay, I know this book has rave reviews and a cult following and obsessed fans but... I'm sorry I just don't get it.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, it wasn't terrible, I even liked parts of it but... I'm just not getting why this book is such a phenomenon.  To be honest I don't even feel the need to read the sequel.  Please, disagree with me.  I want to love this book as much as everyone else did.  I want to understand but, I just... don't.

Review: Heir of Fire

Title: Heir of Fire
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: September 2nd, 2014
Series: Throne of Glass #3
How I Served It: Hardcover
How I Got It: Library

"Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy. 

While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?" -- Goodreads
Review:
 Okay, so I'm not good at regular updates. Sorry. Life's been weird, I'll be better! 

You know what my main issue was?  Television. It came back. All of my lovely melodramas and comedies and soap operas that are socially acceptable because they're on ABC, they all came back to me a torrent of LEDs and long lost sisters and murder. Maybe I'll start reviewing television too. This is my catch all blog after all...

So anyway, I've been reading the Throne of Glass series since it came out. It was one of the first times that I trusted a Goodreads recommendation. I liked the first one okay, but adored, ADORED, the second one. It was the romance.  Call me thirteen, but I love a will-they, won't-they, snarky relationship. Basically all of my favorite pairings in any genre started with mistrust and sarcasm.  So I loved the caelena/chaol pairing. And I really liked the increased level of intrigue and the revelations about what was really going on in the palace and everything. Suffice it to say that Crown of Midnight and I were tight, we got along great, it was a happy read. 

TTT - Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.

It's also a lot harder than I anticipated to stay on top of in light of the holidays/stuff.  I have drafts for the past three sitting in my blogger, but none of them completed in time to post!  What I've come to realize through writing this post is that I had a serious Trilogy thing going in 2014... Maybe I'll start a Trilogy Thursday thing and bring you all up to speed on my thoughts :)

Top Ten New-to-me Authors I Found in 2014

     

    

1) Marie Lu - Legend, Prodigy & Champion
         I know, everyone's been shouting the praises of this series for years, my mother and brother (who doesn't read willingly) included.  Blame it on college, but I never really bothered to pick the books up until my post-graduation binge-read.  On the plus side that meant I was able to binge read all three books in one weekend without having to wait years and years between them.  Might make me seem like less of a fan and more of a bandwagon jumper but with this series that's exactly what I was.  I haven't read her newest book yet, but I'm on the library waiting list!

Review: The Blood of Olympus

Title: The Blood Of Olympus
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion//Listening Library
Published: October 7th 2014
Series: The Heroes of Olympus #5
How I Served It: Audiobook (Read by Nick Chamian)
How I Got It: Borrowed (Library) (purchased the hardcover)


"Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over."  --- Goodreads

I hate endings.  I mean, this book had an amazing ending but I hate the thought that this was the last time I'll get to delve into this world.  A huge part of me was hoping Riordan would pull another Last Olympian and throw in another prophecy at the last moment and give us another series and... he didn't.  I guess it makes sense, what with them all being pretty close to too old to be the subjects of YA/middle grade books... but... :(  I hate letting go of books.  

Review: Mortal Heart

Title: Mortal Heart
Author: Robin LaFevers
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Published: November 4th 2014
Series: His Fair Assassins #3
How I Served It: Hardcover
How I Got It: Purchased

"Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn't mean she has..." -- Goodreads

Review:
First thought upon finishing this: Damn.

Second thought: I don't know how to feel.

I love and have loved LaFevers's trilogy since the second I picked up Grave Mercy.  To be honest I might have even fallen in love after reading the Goodreads summary. I have been waiting for Mortal Heart for what feels like forever (I'm melodramatic, remember?) and I'm having a lot of difficulties accepting that this trilogy is over. A LOT OF DIFFICULTIES.