Maeve Reads: May 2016

Thursday, May 26, 2016

The Love That Split The World Review

The Love That Split The World
by Emily Henry

Normally I never would have bought this book for myself, but I received this in one of my recent OwlCrate boxes, and I included this in my May TBR pile, so I felt like I had to read it. The first half of this book mostly felt like contemporary to me, and that's probably why I didn't really like it. I'm fairly picky when it comes to what contemporary books I like, and most contemporary novels I read end up having pretty much the same story line. Girl meets boy.

However, the second half of this book was definitely more interesting to me. It kind of focused less on the boy/friend/family issues, and more on the supernatural aspect of the plot.

This book is based on time/world travel, which of course is a hard topic to explain and write about, so I'm not sure I fully understand what was really happening but I think I get the gist of it. Some of the passages that explained the travel were pretty confusing, and I had to reread them a few times.

Overall, I gave this book 3/5 stars, and I would recommend it to people who really enjoy contemporary writing.

Buy TLTSTW from Book Depository and get FREE shipping!

Connect with me
Twitter
Goodreads
Pinterest

Thursday, May 19, 2016

The Raven King Review

The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4)
by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the fourth and final installment in The Raven Cycle series, and I'm so sad that it's over! One of my favorite things about this book was how much Stiefvater left open for interpretation. Seriously, there is so much left to your imagination.

It's always hard for authors to wrap up a series, and I think Stiefvater did an excellent job. Nothing felt rushed or stretched. It all flowed very naturally.

In case you haven't read any of the books yet, here is a little summary. The series follows the story of Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah as they try to find an old Welsh king named Glendower and deal with tons of crazy supernatural stuff. Also I am warning you, chapters 18 and 19 will give you all the feels. It was borderline painful, I actually had to stop reading for a few minutes and just breathe.

Another thing about this series that I really enjoyed was that even though this takes place in the modern day, the main characters weren't super annoying. In some contemporary books, like one I'm trying to read now, characters use modern day slang and talk like 'Whaaaaaaaat. Oh my gosh I'm dying I'm so giddy right now'. It's like the author is trying to be super current and up to date on what 'kids' are doing these days, but I just find it unrealistic and kind of unintelligent. In my experience, no one really talks that way. I think that's the main reason I don't like many contemporary novels; because of the cringe-worthy way teenagers are portrayed. Rainbow Rowell is one of the few contemporary authors I can stand to read. Anyways, back to The Raven Cycle. Even though its not fully a contemporary series, it does still center around modern day teenagers, but Stiefvater wrote them in an intelligent and realistic way and I really enjoyed reading that.

I gave this book 5/5 stars, and I will recommend it to anyone on any day.

Maggie Stiefvater's Official Website
The Raven Cycle Official Website
Buy The Raven King from Book Depository and get FREE shipping!

Connect with me
Twitter
Goodreads
Pinterest

Kindle Library Tour

I haven't done a post in a while, so here's a quick tour of all the books on my Kindle. I have the Kindle Paperwhite, and I really like it. Books are so cheap in the Kindle store, and its great for trips when you don't feel like lugging around seven books. Plus, some of the classics are free. Nothing is better than free books. Most of these I have read, and some of them I'm still getting around to.

The Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

The List by Siobhan Vivian

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The After Series (1-5) by Anna Todd

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Runes by Ednah Walter

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Foreman

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

The Iron Trials by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

The Raven Boys Review

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater

This book follows the story of the non-psychic Blue Sargent, a sixteen year old girl, and her four raven boys. Her raven boys, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah, all attend Algionby, a private boys boarding school. Together, they go on the search for Glendower, a long lost Welsh King, with the help of Blue's psychic family.

I had been meaning to read this book for a while now ever since I saw it on Goodreads. I have never seen a negative review of this series, so I just had to try it sooner rather than later. The Fountain Bookstore, located in Richmond, has signed copies of lots of Maggie's books. I walked down there one day and picked up the first three books, which started my obsession over yet another series.

This is one of those books where I find myself actually laughing and smiling while I'm reading it. I love all the characters and their relationships with each other. I also really enjoy Maggie's writing style. It's hard to describe, but she focuses more on the plot and the overall big picture than on the small little details. She doesn't spend two paragraphs explaining what the main character is wearing that day, if you get my drift. The storyline is also pretty unique, I mean how many books have you read about Welsh kings before?

I gave this book 5/5 stars, and currently I'm reading the second book in the series, The Dream Thieves.

Maggie's Website
The Raven Cycle Official Site
Buy The Raven Boys from Book Depository and get FREE worldwide shipping!

Connect with me
Twitter
Goodreads
Pinterest

Monday, May 2, 2016

April Wrap-Up & May TBR

Happy May! This is the first wrap-up and TBR (to-be-read) post that I've done. I'm going to start doing these at the end of every month. I would like to take my own pictures of each book I include on here, but since I'm at school and living in a tiny dorm room, I am constantly swapping out which books I have with me and which ones are at home. Not to mention my dorm room has no nice places to take pictures of books. So until the summer pictures from google will have to do. So here are the books I read in April (in the order I read them):

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)

by Cassandra Clare

After Lady Midnight came out I decided to reread the whole Shadowhunters book series. Mostly because I'm not emotionally ready to read Lady Midnight and then wait so long for the next book. So I'm putting it off by reading the whole series again. Cassandra recommends reading the books in a slightly strange order (her words) and that's what I'm doing. Read about it here.

Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters Chronicles Website

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices: Manga #1)

by Cassandra Clare art by Hyekyung Baek

I have wanted to read these manga editions for such a longtime and finally I caved and bought it at Barnes and Noble.The illustrations in this book are GORGEOUS! Especially of Camille. I have a crush on manga-version of Camille. Also the TV-version, played by Kaitlyn Leeb. I rewatched that scene where she said "I smell angel blood" about a thousand times. Anyways, these manga editions also work as a refresher for the books if you don't feel like rereading the actual book.

Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters Chronicles Website

Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

This book was one of the required readings for my Latin
American History class I'm taking this semester. Carolina
was such a strong woman and not enough people know
about her and her story. A great feminist reading.

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2)

by Cassandra Clare

The second book in the Infernal Devices series that
follows Will, Tessa, and Jem. Also one of my favorite
series EVER.

Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters Chronicles Website

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices: Manga #2)

by Cassandra Clare art by Hyekyung Baek

Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters Chronicles Website

The Serpent King

by Jeff Zentner

I wrote a review of this book in my previous post that
you should definitely check out. Spoiler alert, I loved
this book.

Jeff Zentner

My review

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3)

by Cassandra Clare

The third and final and my favorite book in The Infernal
Devices! I was planning on following the pattern I had
going where I read the book then the mange version,
but I haven't been able to find the Clockwork Princess
mango version in a book store yet!

Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters Chronicles Website

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater

I have another book obsession, which I did not need. This book is SO GOOD. I will be posting a full review soon. Fun fact: next semester I'm transferring to the college (University of Mary Washington) that Maggie Stiefvater went to. Also my book is signed courtesy of my local bookstore.

Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Cycle

Order a signed book!