The Selection by Keira Cass [Book Review]

The Selection 

by Keira Cass 

338 pages 

Release Date: April 24, 2012

Format: Ebook 

Prepare to be swept into a world of breathless fairy-tale romance, swoonworthy characters, glittering gowns, and fierce intrigue perfect for readers who loved Divergent, Delirium, or The Wrath & the Dawn.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want.

Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

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This is a series is one that has been on my TBR pile seriously for six years. I saw it everywhere in the book world and it had been suggested to me countless times. 

For whatever reason, i avoided reading it and getting invested in the series. At least for me, when there is too much hype I get turned off. However, that being said... I wish I'd read this so much sooner! 

The Selection begins with America Singer (she sings. No, really...) and as ridiculous as her name is, I did come to find myself rooting for America and overlooking these things rather quickly. 

While this book has the typical love triangle and parts of it are a tad bit unbelievable (like Aspen ending up at the castle as well AND you would think Royalty would have better security...) I did enjoy it and find it a very enveloping read.

I love when a book hooks me, and ultimately the "hook" factor is what really sets books apart for me. I was hooked while reading The Selection and proceeded to read the next two in the series within three days.

I loved the "Bachelor-esque" aspect of this book and really enjoyed the relationships created between the contestants. I felt Cass did a wonderful job at highlighting both sides of these relationships, on the one hand they are all each other has -- but they're also competing.

I felt at times like Maxon was a bit too forgiving to America, but this was the only occassion I had issues suspending belief.

I listened to these via Audiobook thanks to my beloved Scribd subscription (Scribd is a total game changer).

While these are not life altering books, I do find them to be very cute and engrossing. Definitely worth a read!

Have you read The Selection series? What did you think? Comment below and let me know! :) 

THE CRUEL PRINCE (The Folk of the Air) by Holly Black [Book Review]

Title:The Cruel Prince

Author: Holly Black

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: January 2018
Paperback: 384

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Source: Scribd 

Format Read: Audio Book

Review: 

I once wrote an entire post regarding how I was just not into fairy's back in 2010. You can find that here. 

Now, in 2019 I can officially say that I enjoyed THE CRUEL PRINCE. I heard so much about this book I had to put aside my preconceived notions regarding Fae tales and give it a chance. Ultimately, I'm happy I did. 

Our main character, Jude lives in an in between world of sorts. She was raised in the real world, our world, and then was taken to the High Court of Faerie and was forced to fit in. Her parents were dead and she had only their killer to see as a father figure. Just that alone would lead to some wicked issues, but add faeries on top of that and you have a story filled with deception paired with disadvantage. 

Things I liked: 

The world building in this novel is masterful. I LOVED the details and the darkness felt palpable even through the page. Holly Black made every minute detail related to the world of Fae. Something as small as a tea cup would be described and bring you further into the world of fae. Acorns abound and I loved it! 

I love Vivi and found her character to be very believable. She was in many ways the most likeable character in the book for me and I am excited to have more of her story in book two. 

I loved the slow build of this novel. The pacing was very well done with a slow reveal and build up that left me needing to continue to discover what was going to happen. 

I enjoyed the twisty family dynamics and the very real relationship they all had. Jude is fully aware she should be upset about her parents and even being in the Court. However, it's all she's ever really known. 

Things I didn't like: 

The first half of the novel felt different than the last half. It felt to some degree like the beginning had one set of goals and the second half had another. There was so much great build up that it kept building and building, but then everything changed. I was still ferociously reading to discover what was going to happen, but it felt... different. 

I did not like the love interest at all. I like bad boys and hate to love storylines. What I do not like is when a person is so incredibly hateful but yet somehow the protagonist likes him anyway. I get that Carden has his own things going on, but he isn't a nice guy. Towards the end I didn't feel that sense of understanding that others seemed to feel. He was still the guy who allowed others to be incredibly mean and cruel so... not a fan. 

I wanted to see more training. There was such a great intrigue subplot where Jude joins other Fae to truly prover herself and I wish we'd seen more of the development for it. I wanted to see what set her apart and made her great. Things were alluded to but we didn't see enough of it. 

Ultimately... 

I enjoyed the Cruel Prince and will be reading The Wicked King when it is released on January 8, 2019! Some of my observations may be due to a lack of reading when it comes to Fae stories, but I did enjoy The Cruel Prince and am eagerly awaiting the next one. 

I'm very hopeful for more understanding from Carden and very excited to delve back into the twisty world of the Fae High Court. 

Let's Talk: Graduation and The Hunger Games

You know how I said that I wouldn't be around for the latter half of my senior year final semester?

Well, that time has passed. College is over.

AND I AM FREE! 

I am so excited to be a (mostly) free woman! Think about all the books I can read when homework isn't a thing?

I mean, I'm going to be working full time and all of that jazz, but I read for a straight three hours the other night. I don't remember the last time I was able to do that! 

Now, for the more pressing matter, I did a final senior project/research paper on a media theory look at certain Young Adult novels. 

I chose The Hunger Games as a focus and was greatly shocked to discover that my itty bitty like I had for the book upon first read has grown into an obsession. 

I read The Hunger Games years ago, and I liked it. I actually liked it a lot, but I never felt the need to continue which for me says a lot. Upon this second read I was so much more drawn into it and now I am eagerly continuing on with the series. 

After my first read I wanted to continue, as I had really enjoyed book one, but Catching Fire ended up being a DNF for me.

This goes to show that you can't judge a book completely even when you read it. I know this sounds odd, but at the point in my life when I first picked up The Hunger Games I didn't get it... but now I SO GET IT. 

I just wasn't ready then. Now I'm over here like... 

So, next time you think you aren't feeling something just give it five years.

 It will come eventually.

Have you ever read a book later on and felt completely different? 

Let me know in the comments! 

Top Ten Tuesday - YA Fantasy 101 Syllabus

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish! 

I know this is coming a wee bit late, but this is one subject I can get behind! 

Here is what would be on my YA Fantasy Syllabus... 

Beginning with: 

Early Young Adult Fiction

Transitioning to... 

Mid-Century Young Adult

1980's to 2000's.. 

Late 1990's-Present day

Harry Potter (because you can't not have Harry Potter...) 

And..

All of these books I have loved immensely and I feel like they all have different bits of wonderful to add to a classroom. 

What is on your syllabus? 

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley [Book Review]

Title: Magonia
Author: Maria Dahvana Headley
ISBN: 0062320521
Source: From Publisher via Edelweiss for honest review.
Release Date: April 28th 2015

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air. 
Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. 
So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.
Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia. 
Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

This book started off absolutely fantastic. I read it immediately after finishing The Sin Eater's Daughter, which I adored, so I felt I was on a surreal amazing book streak!

Up until around thirty percent in I remained obsessed. I was flipping my virtual pages with the fervor of a T-Rex hunting prey. I did slowly begin to lose interest as things took a rather odd turn, which I need to explain a bit.

I am a fantasy junky, so I'm all for some fantasy/sci-fi elements mixed in with my contemporaries, but this book took the genre bending to an entirely different level. The first half reads like a completely separate novel, and in many ways the second half doesn't quite fit. In my mind there is a "before" and a "after" which feels strange to me. I don't think this is necessarily bad, but it did take some serious adjustments on my part to get into the feel of "Magonia."

I loved Aza's time in Earth, and I adored the attention to detail placed into the small things - like the reason for her name, and her and Jason's relationship. Jason and Aza were as perfect as it gets, and I was all in. I was in that relationship for the long haul, and it was by far my favorite aspect of the novel.

The sci-fi aspect was also enjoyable, but it was slightly confusing at times. Half-way through the novel we get an onslaught of new characters and it feels like an entirely new beginning (because it is) so it takes a bit to get used to. I don't think I was as indebted after the introduction of Magonia as I was prior to the introduction of that world, partly because I was a Jason fan girl and I just wanted that life back. That being said though, the fantasy/sci-fi aspect was completely original and I never lost interest.

This book involves fantasy elements I have never read about before - like bird people who fight pirates. And sharks in the sky. In this world you sing to get things done... and it was different. Not bad different, but it was so different that it stood out. I actually almost forgot I was reading a sci-fi until I got to that section, because I was super indebted to Earth Aza. We were in it for the long haul.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Magonia, but if I had to explain to you why I enjoyed it I would have a hard time. It is one of those books that are so different it takes you a minute... and I'm still reassessing how I feel.

It was kept open for a possible sequel (yay!) and I have to say, I would be very happy to find myself in Aza's world again.

Overall: I really enjoyed Magonia and would recommend it to any fantasy/Sci-Fi lover. If you love Science Fiction I think this book would be of particular interest to you -- after all, how often do you read of birds flying airships in the sky?

Top Ten Tuesday: The Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish! 

There are so many fantastic books that are coming out over the next few Summer and Fall months that I can't wait to get my hands on them so I can READ ALL THE THINGS! 

I even found this meme so I could express my emotions in color. 

The list of mythical summer wonders is... 

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.
Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.
With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…
The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.
Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.
Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.
Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

Laia is a slave. 
Elias is a soldier. 
Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. 

I know I'm behind on these, but... I WILL get to them this summer. I am determined!

 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. 

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.  

And, the Fall books that I am most eager for... 

What books do you guys need yesterday?