Month: August 2019

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Nevernight Review

Dee’s Reading Tree

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
My bookstagram

Author: Jay Kristoff

Publication Date: August 9, 2016

Series: The Nevernight Chronicle #1

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Pages: 429 pages

Audiobook narrator: Holter Graham

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

Review:

I cannot believe it took me this long to start reading this series. The final book is actually coming out September 3, so now I’m left scrambling to finish the second one, but I’m glad I finally did. Nevernight was a mix of two of my favorite series: Harry Potter and Throne of Glass. It includes an enchanted library, scary monsters, ghosts, cats, dark magic, and assassins to name a few similarities. Just be warned that Kristoff does not hold back on the gory details or the sexual ones, so this should be for mature audiences only.

Beauty you’re born with, but brains you earn.”

Mia’s mom

The characters were well developed. One of my favorite things about this story was that Kristoff gives enough back story on all of them to justify their motives. There are some lovable characters, and some you love to hate. I always get attached to the animals in all the books, and my favorite was Mr. Kindly the cat. Mia was a likeable, strong, female character, and even though she had power, she was not obnoxious and full of herself (unlike Cealena from Throne of Glass). Mia actually reminded me a lot of Harry Potter, albeit a snarkier much much darker female version.

The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.”

Chronicler

The pacing of the story was well done, it was action packed enough to keep me glued to the pages, but also it explained all the new lingo, words, and terms used in this new world. The story would switch seamlessly from the past to the present by using italics to differentiate the time frames. Kristoff also included little side stories in order to explain certain terms or remarks that were used, some of these small stories were hilarious and entertaining. The plot was fast paced with some twists and unexpected turns thrown in.

My only issue was with the audiobook version of this book. The narrator was a male, and the main character was a female which made it very awkward to listen to. He was a great narrator, but it’s always really weird for me to hear a male narrator doing a female’s voice, and with Mia being a main character he had to do it a LOT. I found that I enjoyed reading the digital book copy of this book much more, and I could add my own imagined voice for Mia instead.

Overall, this book was amazing! I would recommend this book to all mature Fantasy readers. I’m currently reading Godsgrave, the second book in this series, and I’m really enjoying it. Darkdawn, the third book, will be released next week.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

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Geekerella Mini Review

Dee’s Reading Tree

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

geekerella book by Ashley poston
Picture from Goodreads

She wears life like Elvis wore sequins, with no apology laced into the seams.”

Elle

Geekerella (Once Upon a Con, #1) by Ashley Poston was a fun and entertaining take on Cinderella. I personally love fairy tale retellings, and this modern take on it was no exception. Darien and Elle are two lonely teenagers trying to figure out who they really are in a world set on sticking a label on them. This story was fast paced, and once I started reading it was hard for me to stop. Sage was one of my favorite characters, she was strong and confident and lived life with no apologies. (the quote above was about her) I liked the character growth for both Darien and Elle. I especially liked that they were both eventually able to speak up and stand up for themselves.

I’m strapped to the pilot chair of my life, and my hands are tied.”

Darien

I took off one star from my rating for two reasons. First, the relationship between Elle and Sage felt forced at first. Suddenly this girl (Sage) that has never crossed two words with Elle wants to talk to her? AND she happens to have amazing sewing skills? Second, I don’t like it when girls fall in love with guys they barely know. Elle and Darien just shared a few texts and all of a sudden they were in love, but I guess it wouldn’t be a fairy tale if they weren’t. Overall, I loved this whole geeky world and how the author shines a light on the fact that just because you “cosplay” or dress up as one of your favorite characters, doesn’t mean pieces of your true self can’t shine through. Sometimes pretending to be someone else can help you figure out who you truly are.

Starlight, star bright, you can be anyone you want to be tonight.”

Elle’s Dad

I love Poston’s writing, and I will definitely be reading the next book in this series. Did you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments 🙂

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Gemina and Obsidio Mini Reviews

Dee’s Reading Tree

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

obsidio by amy kaufman and jay kristoff book
Picture taken by me

Obsidio and Gemina are the last two books in the Illuminae Files series by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. These books were both amazing, though not as great as the first Illuminae book in my opinion. I think what I really missed fromthe first book was the killer infected people. I found them absolutely terriffying. Also, AIDAN (the artificial intelligence in charge of the ships in the first book) was still super creepy in these last two books, but its abilities were diminished and he/it became a bit predictable.

Every story needs its hero. And its villain. And its monster.”

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Gemina had the mind-sucking alien like creatures which were interesting. Here we were introduced to Hanna, the daughter of the man in charge of Jump Station Heimdall, and to Nik, her drug dealer. These two end up holding the fate of the whole universe in their hands after a wormhole malfunction. Hanna became one of my favorite characters, because she could be a badass and look good doing it at the same time. I also loved Nik’s little cousin Ella, she was hilarious.

Live a life worth dying for.”

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Obsidio was about bringing the whole story together. I liked seeing all the main characters working for the same team and fighting for their survival on the last book. We are also introduced to the last two characters: Asha and Rhys. What I really liked about Asha was that she was just a regular person, she didn’t have super computer abilities like Kady, or crazy fighting skills like Hanna, but she still managed to make a difference.

Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around its collective madness.”

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

These last two books were fast paced, but there was enough character development to make me fall in love with all the characters and become invested in their survival. The story dealt with the possibility that not everything is black or white, and the plot was full of gray areas. The “bad guys” thought they were doing the right thing. The “good guys” were forced to cross lines they would otherwise never cross before. I would recommend this whole series to everyone. Before Jay Kristoff and Amy Kaufman’s books I was never a big fan of space settings, but they made me change my mind.

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Reasons for Mini Hiatus

Dee’s Reading Tree

Some of you might have noticed I’ve been absent for a while. I took some time off from the blog to work on something I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time. I’m happy to announce I finally opened my very own Etsy Shop! I’ve been designing my own bookmarks with some of my favorite bookish quotes from beloved series such as Harry Potter, ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, Shatter Me, and the Shadowhunter books. The hardest part for me was not the designing part, this part was actually a lot of fun and a great creative outlet. The printing, cutting, and laminating part was so tedious, but I guarantee you each one of these was made with a ton of love. Go check out my new shop!

A court of thorns and roses books and bookmark etsy listing picture
Deesreadingtree Etsy Shop

The second reason for my prolonged absence is the fact that my first born just started pre-school. This was so nerve wracking for me, but not for him, he was super excited and had been counting down the days until the start of school. He walked into class on the first day with his new haircut and a back pack that looked huge on his small frame. He then immediately headed over to play with some toys, and soon he forgot that mom and dad were even there. My husband and I stared at each other and then we shrugged, we tentatively waved goodbye (he blew a kiss back), and we slowly… begrudgingly walked out of the room. We both kept glancing back at the little piece of our hearts we were leaving behind.

But that is what I’ve come to realize parenthood is all about, you bring these little people into the world, you fall in love with them, and then you have to let them go. You have to let them spread their wings out in this cruel world, all the while hoping you’ve prepared them enough. This is however impossible to do, they have to make their own mistakes, you can only hope you’ve given them the emotional support and stability they will need in order to work through life’s struggles on their own.

fireheart thorne of glass by sarah j maas picture
My Etsy Shop

Well there you have it. I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long. I’m currently attempting to catch up on my posts and all my reading. I HAVE done some reading while I’ve been gone. I read the rest of the Illuminae files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, reviews coming soon! I’m currently re-reading the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, because I desperately needed something good but lighthearted to read while going through all this turmoil. I will also write a post on that series soon! Thank you guys for being so patient.