Title: The Jewel
Author:Amy Ewing
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: September 2nd, 2014
Series: The Lone City Trilogy #1
How I Served It: Audiobook
How I Got It:Live-brary
Summary:
"
The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.
Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for." -- Goodreads
Review:
Frankly I am so over trilogies. I know I've been saying that for legitimately years now. I know that I still buy and read trilogies in excess despite my insistence that I'm over them but... seriously. I'm over books that don't need to be trilogies being trilogies because Twilight and the Hunger Games were such successes. This book could've been a standalone book. It could've done what ___ did and make a series out of linked standalone books set in the same world. It did not need to take a girl who is not especially fascinating and turn her into the center of a revolution (because clearly, that's what's going to happen). That said, I'll still probably read the sequels.
Title: Clockwork Prince
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: December 6th, 2011
Series: The Infernal Devices #2
How I Served It: Hardcover
How I Got It: Own
Summary:
"In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart."
Review:
I liked this book so much better than the last one, which admittedly is saying something because I loved the first book in the series too! It just, had all all of the elements of a good novel and God knows seconds books in trilogies are so often disappointing. This one was awesome. So awesome in fact, that I don't even know how to tackle reviewing it... So I'm just going to do what I do best. That is, make lists! Spoilers abound.
Title: Branded
Author: Abi Ketner &
Publisher: Month9Books
Published: June 25th, 2014
Series: Sinners
How I Served It: e-book
How I Got It: Purchased, amazon
Summary:
"Fifty years ago The Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society.
To punish the guilty, he created the Hole, a place where sinners are branded according to their sins. Sinners are forced to live a less than human existence in deplorable conditions, under the watchful eye of guards who are ready to kill anyone who steps out of line.
Now, LUST wraps around my neck like thick, blue fingers, threatening to choke the life out of me. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit, and the Hole is my new home.
Constant darkness.
Brutal and savage violence.
Excruciating pain.
Every day is a fight for survival.
But I won’t let them win. I will not die in the Hole.
I am more than my brand. I’m a fighter. My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story." ---Goodreads
Review:
Once again I find myself saying that I really, really wanted to like this book. The premise just sounded... different? I mean, dystopian is so in right now that it's hard to find anything truly original, but the idea of people being branded with their sins and condemned to live as inferiors... it just sounded like something vaguely fresh. And the whole 'falling for the one person you're not allowed to love' thing is the basis of nearly all of my favorite books. So, when I used that stupid '1-Click Buy' button on amazon to purchase Branded, I had pretty high hopes. I so wanted to fall in love with this story. I didn't expect it to be a Pulitzer Prize worthy work of life-changing fiction. I didn't want it to be, I just wanted an escapist story filled with angst and romance and all of the ya tropes we all hate to love!
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.
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.
