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: 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.