Library Haul

The other day I went to the library and picked up 3 books that I am very excited to read! *All summaries are from Goodreads*

Afghanistan. In the heat and dust, young British army medic Elinor Nielson watches an Afghan girl walk into a hail of bullets. But when she runs to help, Ellie finds her gone. Who is she? And what's happened to her? What Ellie discovers makes her question everything she believes in, even her feelings for the American lieutenant who takes her side.

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

Meet Celaena Sardothien.

Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

Have you read any of these books? 

Did you like them? 

What have you gotten from the library lately?

Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Summary from Goodreads:
Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Sweet Evil has been on my TBR list for ages and I finally ordered it! Now, let us take a minute to admire the gorgeous cover!

I was a little disappointed with it if I am completely honest. I had hyped this book up and it didn't deliver for me. I liked a lot of the plot turns but it wasn't my favourite read ever. It is a new take on the angel/demon trend that is going around nowadays! This one is a bit darker though!

The blurb had me intrigued. I mean 'What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?' how can that not intrigue you?

There was a little case of insta-attraction. I am not a fan of this at all. I'm sure that in real life there is insta-attraction I'd just rather not read about it in books. However, I still loved the romance and the relationship between Anna and Kaidan! 

There was good character development throughout the book. Each character was brilliantly written and I really enjoyed learning about them. 

The writing in this book was a plus. Sweet Evil is a well written book that left me thinking about it even after I finished it! I didn't love it as much as I thought I would but I still liked it!

Being the hopeless romantic that I am the ending made me want to cry! I need the next book!!! 

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Summary from Goodreads:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom? 

Wow oh wow! Why did I not read this book sooner?

DeStefano brings Rhine's story to life! I cannot get over the world in which they live in and its interesting to see what has happened to the world. Rhine is a believable character and she is very focused on her goal. Her relationship with Gabriel is one that I loved! I think that the writing style is very mature and it really gives us an insight in to Rhine's character. 

I was a bit confused on her feelings for Linden but that was one of the main things that kept me reading! At first I hated Linden but as the book progresses I began to like him more and more. The fact that Linden was completely oblivious to what was going on annoyed me, but the thing that annoyed me more was the fact that Rhine thought that she shouldn't tell him! I mean I like Linden but I would be the first person to tell him everything to make him suffer!

My favourite character was Jenna because I felt like she was the one that showed her real emotions all the time!

I love the cover! I think it is one of the nicest covers I have seen!

I really wish that we could have learnt more about Gabriel! I hope we learn more about him in the next book!

Review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Summary from Goodreads
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart 


I was completely captivated by this book from the get go and cannot believe I didn't read this before now! It has been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year and I never read it! I was an idiot for not reading it!

Meghan is an amazing main character and one that you can completely relate to. Megan has always felt different. I couldn't understand the way in which her family treated her, it didn't make sense until later on the book. The fact that she remained focused on her goal even when everything seemed to be going wrong was remarkable and I really admired her for it!

Kagawa did a superb job of creating this magical world, unlike anything I have ever read about before. I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of books that center on faeries and goblins and things like that but I absolutely loved this one! Kagawa is a very strong writer and can create beautiful images with the words she writes. She is a credit to her profession!

Ash and Puck are amazing characters and I cannot pick between them! It is usually so easy for me to decide on the characters that I prefer but in this case it is IMPOSSIBLE! Kagawa gives us different reasons to love and loathe these characters. Puck brought a sense of humor to the book but it was not over done like it is in some books! I may be slightly in love with both characters! 

Each character was perfect and I really cannot fault anything within this book! This book will always hold a special place in my heart!

I really can't say enough good things about this book! It was so addictive that I stayed up into the early hours of the morning so that I could finish it! I honestly do not know why I didn't read this before! It is an absolute MUST read!




Some of my favourite quotes:

“Ladies and Felines,” he stated grandly, grasping the doorknob, “Welcome to Tir Na Nog. Land of endless winter and shitloads of snow.” 

“Oh, we're playing nice now? Shall we have tea first? Brew up a nice pot of kiss-my-ass?” 

“Touch her, and I'll freeze your testicles off and put them in a jar. Understand?” 

“Bravo," said Grimalkin, peering down from Cold Tom's chest. "The Winter prince and Oberon's jester agreeing on something. The world must be ending.” 

“No, no. We can kill each other later.” 

“Ash blinked. "Are you raiding the cellars now, Goodfellow?"
"Me? Stealing?" Puck flashed a devious grin and popped another fruit into his mouth. "In the house of my ancient enemy? What gave you that idea?" He plucked another fruit and tossed it to me with a wink.”  

“Knock, knock!" he called in a high, singsong voice.
For a moment, silence. Then a thud and a crash, as if something heavy had been hurled at the door. "Go away!" snarled the voice from within.
"Ah, no. That's not how the joke goes," called Rob. "I say 'knock, knock', and you're supposed to answer with 'who's there?'"
"Fuck off!"
Nope, that's still wrong." Robbie seemed unperturbed. I, however, was horrified at Ethan's language, though I knew it wasn't him. "Here," continued Rob in an amiable voice, "I'll go through the whole thing, so you'll know how to answer next time." He cleared his throat and pounded at the door again. "Knock, knock!" he bellowed. "Who's there? Puck! Puck who? Puck, who will turn you into a squealing pig and stuff you in the oven if you don't get out of our way!" And with that, he banged the door open.” 

“Metallic trees. That's new. If you see any steel dryads, be sure to tell me so I can run away screaming."

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Summary from Goodreads:
You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret. . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes-- and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town. . .

. . .and what he discovers changes his life forever.

Wow. This book was just wow. It deals with such a topical and touchy area in a wonderful and sensitive manner.

When I saw this sitting on the shelves in my local bookshop I had to have it. I then devoured it in just over a day. When I started I was slightly skeptical as to how it was going to work with the tapes. I thought that I might get bored with it. I didn't. Thank God. It was such a page turner and I just couldn't wait to see what Clay would hear next from Hannah's tapes.

The characters were very well developed. Hannah's story at first had me confused and then I began to feel so sorry for her. At times I was in tears reading it. The book managed to keep shocking me with every turn of the page. When I thought it was going to go in a certain direction it just did a complete u-turn and it left me guessing until the complete end.

The writing was very strong and you could really feel the emotion. I could almost imagine Hannah's voice talking to me, telling me her story. You feel every emotion from Clay and from Hannah and it was just such a wonderful thing.

Even when I finished the book I was thinking about it for ages after it. It really stays with you and makes you think about the way that you treat people. I loved it so much. If I hadn't been so emotional after reading it I would have started reading again straight away.