Redeemed (A House of Night Novel) Review

Redeemed (A House of Night Novel)
by P.C. and Kristin Cast

My rating: ★★/★★★★★

Finally I'm finished with the House of Night series! So the series as a whole I was enjoying until this last book. Also, this is one of those series that's problematic and I kind of hate myself for enjoying. I've written more on this in a review of one of the books on my Goodreads, so I'm not going to go too much into it here. In brief, throughout this series there are many recurring moments where the authors are ignorant, insensitive, and kind of just rude. The r-word is used repeatedly, there are unaddressed instances of what basically amounts to (sexual) assault, not to mention the numerous offensive and stereotypical jokes/comments about LGBT people. I would have hoped that as more and more books came out, the author(s) would have grown and realized their mistakes, but alas the last book, which was published in 2014, was no different from the rest. Here's one specific moment. When referring to two girls who are (about to be) in a relationship, someone says, "I knew Nicole would be the guy" because she put her arm around the other girl and was acting 'possessive'. I mean. I'm not going to write a whole paragraph on why what's wrong, so please just go do some research. 

Now onto other reasons why this book received such a low rating from me. The writing in this series has never been super great, but I've always enjoyed it. This book, however, seemed so much worse than the rest. Neferet's chapters, and the chapters she was in, were so bad they were laughable. The writing was over-explanatory, and Neferet as a villain was just not believable. All this work (11 books worth) of building Neferet up to be some huge baddie and in the final book I couldn't take her seriously. Why did I have to read chapters and chapters of her worrying about her temple and what her "supplicants" (more on that later) were named and what they were wearing. It. Was. So. Bad. Another part of the writing that bothered me, but not as much as the whole Neferet thing, were the chapters on Detective Marx. He's supposed to be an adult, and he just came off as very childish and not very mature to me. Another technicality that bothered me was that I swear no one even took a statement from Zoey when she got arrested. They just threw her into the cell and then when Neferet confessed to the murders, Zoey finally explained everything that happened in detail. Then bam, she's out of jail. It just seemed very unrealistic. 

Back to the writing in Neferet's chapters. The word "supplicant" was so incredibly overused. In one chapter I counted. It was used on every. Single. Page. In combination with the terrible writing in Neferet's chapters, I just kept getting pulled out of the story. By the second half of the book, things got a little better. The S-word, as I shall refer to it from now on, wasn't used as much. 

All in all I'm glad that I finally finished this series. Except did I really, now that there's the whole House of Night Otherworld novels? Who knows if I'll ever read those. I would be interested to read them to see if they are still as problematic as the original series, and if the writer(s) have grown any. I kind of doubt it. I have asked P.C. Cast a few questions on Goodreads about some things I have problems with in her books, just to get her take on it. I genuinely wanted to know if she had some explanation, or I just wanted to have a conversation like an adult. The responses I got were lacking, and I don't think she's a very receptive person to questions that challenge her writing. Of course I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, because communicating via written word is always challenging, and posing a question in less than 140 characters is even harder. 

So overall I'm giving this book 2.5 stars. I was happy with the ending and most parts of it, but some of it I just couldn't get over. 

P.S. This is one of the first 'bad' reviews I've written. I'm obviously nervous to post it because the internet is a scary place, but my hope is that the book community will be mature enough to handle it and, if there's any discussion, it can also be mature and respectful. Not that anyone will be discussing this, but still. It's always relevant. I'm actually planning a post about the bookish community in general, so stay tuned. 

Getting Ready for the NoVa Teen Book Festival

During a recent internet browsing session I discovered the NoVa Teen Book Festival! I can't believe I've never heard of it before, but I'm so excited I did. It's happening on Saturday, March 10th this year, which happens to be during my spring break. Despite interning at a book festival, I've never actually been to one, so I'm excited to go to my first one.

Authors I'm Excited to See

Anna-Marie McLemore
A.C. Gaughen
Jennifer Mathieu
Jodi Meadows
Karen McManus
Sarah Glenn Marsh
Linsey Miller
Meagan Spooner
Susan Dennard
Tomi Adeyemi

Now onto the books I need to read before March 10. I've split it up into two categories: books I already own, and books I don't. Hopefully I can get through the books I already own. For Jodi Meadows, I just want to read one of her books, whether it be The Orphan Queen or Before She Ignites, which I also own. A few months ago I actually went to a small book event that Jodi Meadows was attending and I got The Orphan Queen and its sequel, Before She Ignites, and My Lady Jane signed by her. I still haven't read any of them though! I've been wanting to read Truthwitch for a long time, and I'm hoping I'll like it enough to also read the second book. I'm under no delusion that I'll actually read all of these, but in an ideal world it would happen!

Books I Own: TBR

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Hunted by Meagan Spooner

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Books I Don't Own: TBR

Reign the Earth by A.C. Gaughen

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Unearthed by Meagan Spooner

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Windwitch by Susan Dennard

The Cruel Prince Review

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
by Holly Black

My rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★

What a book! I was hesitant to pick this up because there has been SO much hype surrounding its release. Everyone who got an arc was raving about it. I mean, it does have a 4.38/5 stars on Goodreads as of now. Usually when there's a lot of hype surrounding a book, I try to hold off reading it. For some reason all the excitement makes it harder for me to actually pick the book up. Your expectations have much further to fall when a book is so beloved. You want to love it to. I only just read The Wrath and the Dawn (a favorite of many), and I loved it! So I'm sure all these successful and widely popular books that I'm not reading would end up being favorites of mine (that's what I'm hoping will happen when I finally read Six of Crows).

So, back to The Cruel Prince. I caved much earlier than I normally do and bought this. From the prologue I was intrigued. Since reading those first few pages I've hardly put it down. Between classes at school I never read, but today I was reading in all the spare time I had. One of the reasons why I love this story so much is because of Holly Black's writing. She is truly a spectacular storyteller and writer. Years and years ago I read The Spiderwick Chronicles, which I think I really enjoyed. More recently I read the first book in The Magisterium Series, which Black coauthored with Cassandra Clare. I wasn't super into The Iron Trial. I enjoyed it, but I have no desire to continue with the series. Since I didn't absolutely love it, I wasn't feeling any pressure to read any of Holly Black's other books. I am so glad I finally did because now I know what I've been missing out on! Black's world building is spectacular. She makes Faerie seem real. I cannot wait to read more of her books. They have all moved up to high spots on my tbr list.

Holly Black is also wonderful at writing characters. They are so deep and complex, I honestly don't know what to think about any of them. Jude is so wonderful unexpected and unlike the average heroine of a book. She's violent and angry and wants power. How many heroes of a story want power? Most heroes want to save the world, or fight evil, or find love. Not many would admit to wanting power.  I actually have a hard time calling Jude the hero of this story. It would be easy to say Madoc, or Dain, or Balekin was the villain, but even they aren't black and white. All of Holly Black's characters are so complex. Also, Jude killed someone and wasn't even phased by it?! I feel like a need a whole book just to explain the inner workings of her mind to me. 

Now let's talk about Cardan. At the beginning of the story I thought he was a jerk and he really seemed like a minor character to me. But of course, he's not as simple as he appears. By the end of the story I just wanted Cardan to be happy, and I was so mad when Jude tricked him! I hope everything works out for him. I also really liked Madoc as a character. He seemed very realistic to me, despite being a Faerie. I thought his relationship and dynamic with Jude and Taryn was super realistic and relatable. Now onto Taryn. I do not like. Not one bit. As someone who has a sister and other friends who are like sisters to me, I would never ever agree to step aside as my sister was being bullied or harassed just because some I guy I liked told me to. She's selfish and weak and I honestly hope nothing works out for her.

All in all this was an incredibly interesting book. I'm giving it five stars because I am so impressed by Holly Black's writing! Now to wait until the next book comes out!

Ophelia Review

Ophelia

by Lisa Klein

My rating: ★★/★★★★★

I admit this book was a cover buy for me. I bought it for two dollars at our library book sale. The cover immediately caught me eye, and once I saw the title I was intrigued. I've read Hamlet in multiple classes and spend numerous hours discussing Ophelia, her madness, and her death. A book dedicated entirely to her untold story seemed like it would be very interesting.

Lisa Klein is a good writer. She writes with a very beautiful, descriptive style. But I found that as I got further into the book, the writing started to bother me more and more. I think that because she writes in such a slow, descriptive way, Klein takes much longer to get a point across and say anything. So by the end of the book the writing seemed so, so slow. 

I understand that this is Ophelia's untold story, but what I didn't think this book would be was a chronicle of her entire life. It's more like a biography. I thought this would be Ophelia's story specifically around the events of the play, which I think would have been much more interesting. Part I was about Ophelia's life as a child. At the beginning it was interesting, but by the end I was ready to move on. There wasn't really any plot, it was just chronicling her life. By the time Part II came around, I was ready for some action. This is when most of Hamlet's madness and the events of the play take place. But still, Ophelia is pretty far removed from the action. Part III seemed entirely unnecessary in my opinion. Ophelia escapes the castle, hides as a convent, and worries. 

One of the things that bothered me about this book is that Ophelia is a member of the "special snowflake" club. She's the only girl in court who wants to educate herself, and she's the only girl who finds like at court boring and unfulfilling. Since Ophelia is so different from other girls, I assumed she was being set up to the hero of the story. However, in this novel, just like the play, Ophelia is a bystander. Part III really bothered me because all Ophelia does is worry about her safety. She greatly overestimates her importance, which is why she had to pretend to die and flee the castle. 

Ultimately, this wasn't the book I was expecting. It seems like a lazy retelling. It was pretty boring and Ophelia as a character wasn't much stronger than she was in the play. However, after reading this, I am more excited for the movie coming out. I think the movie is going to end up being very different from the book, because if the movie is exactly like the book, that is going to be one boring movie. 

Most Anticipated Releases of 2018 (Part 1)

In 2018 there are so many wonderful books being released! Below is a list of some of the books I'm most anticipating. 

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black

Release date: January 2

Zenith (The Androma Saga #1) by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

Release date: January 16

Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Release date: March 13

Legendary (Caraval #2) by Stephanie Garber

Release date: May 29

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas 

Release date: May 1

Smoke in the Sun (Flame in the Mist #2) by Renee Ahdieh

Release date: June 5

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

Release date: June 26

Son of the Dawn (Ghosts of the Shadow Market #1) by Cassandra Clare

Release date: April

Catwomen: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3) by Sarah J. Maas

Release date: August 7

Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3) by Cassandra Clare

Release date: December 4

The World of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Release date: October 2

Now a Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy

Release date: April 3

2017 Reading Summary

We are well into 2018 by now, but it's never too late for a 2017 reading wrap-up! I did not get to read as many books as I would have liked in 2017. My classes involved much more reading than they did in 2016, so my pleasure reading was way down. Most of this info is taken from my Goodreads page, so be sure to friend me!

I read 22,130 pages across 62 books


Shortest book: 11 pages 
The Mirror and the Maze by Renee Ahdieh

Longest book: 870 pages 
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 

Average length: 357 pages 

My average rating: 3.7/5 ☆

Favorite books of 2017: 
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Diabolic by S.K. Kincaid
Books 3-5 in the Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan
Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Unfiltered by Lily Collins
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Most disappointing books of 2017:
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

Books I did not finish in 2017: 
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst 
The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

Eliza and Her Monsters Review

Eliza and Her Monsters
by Francesca Zappia

My rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★

I received Eliza and Her Monsters in the May OwlCrate box, and I was really happy with this book choice. I don't read much contemporary, so I love it when book subscription boxes include contemporary because it allows me to branch out from my usual fantasy reading habits. Normally when I receive a book from OwlCrate, it takes me a while, sometimes months, to get around to reading it. But for some reason, I just really wanted to read Eliza and Her Monsters, so I started it the very next day! I finished this book in two days, so clearly I loved it a lot! I was immediately drawn into the story and the characters, and I found this to be a refreshing and completely relatable contemporary novel. I'm sure most of us don't run a weekly webcomic like Eliza, but her emotions and feelings throughout the book are so relatable, and I'm sure that nearly all teenagers have felt like her at some point.
This novel also dealt with social media and the online world and how older generations don't fully understand it. I thought this was very interesting, because I think that the way Eliza keeps the extent of her webcomic a secret from her family is probably very similar to the circumstances of many kids/teens/even older people today. I feel like lots of bookstagram accounts, and even super popular twitter accounts, or just Instagram models etc. don't tell their families about how popular their accounts are, so I just found this theme to be a very real one.
Eliza and Her Monsters also contained drawings throughout which was so cool! They were drawings from Eliza's webcomic, Monstrous Sea. It also included snippets of Wallace's written transcription of Monstrous Sea, which I really loved. Another interesting thing about this book is that it mentions the novels The Children of Hypnos, which Eliza and Wallace both love. Fun fact, you can actually read The Children of Hypnos! Since I loved Francesca's writing so much, I can't wait to catch up on this!

Follow me on Instagram to see my unboxing of the May OwlCrate box! @maevereads

Check out Francesca Zappia's website and read The Children of Hypnos here or here!

Buy Eliza and Her Monsters using my Book Depository affiliate link and get free shipping!

The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson the Musical Review

Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Originally I intended this blog to be just about reviewing books, but I feel like I can make an exception for this musical! I spent Easter weekend in New York with my sister, and I was lucky enough to get us tickets to see The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson the Musical at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. We went to the night performance, and we got there pretty early but there was already a crowd waiting to go inside. I managed to snag my sister and I front row seats, and it was definitely an amazing experience being so close to the action! So, now to the actual play. I cannot express enough how much I loved it! It was about 2000 times better than those movies that shall not be named. Although, to be fair, the movies on there own aren't that terrible. But they were a terrible book-to-movie adaptation. The musical contained every moment that the movies left out, like the Oracle, Mr. D, Percy having no idea who is godly parent is and eventually being claimed, his fight with Ares, and the exploding toilets, believe it or not. There was also a fun little cameo from Bianca Di Angelo! 
The cast was AMAZING. They embody the characters so perfectly, not to mention they are all super talented. It was so amazing to finally see some of my favorite characters brought to life in a way that was super true to the books. Percy was so sassy and funny, and Annabeth was such a badass. It was such a well-written play, the entire theatre was laughing the whole time! This is an off-broadway musical, so I assume there wasn't the biggest budget, but let me tell you that did not stop them! They dealt with centaurs, satyrs, and Medusa in such clever and funny ways. Also, they just announced that a cast album will be released! So if you can't make it to see the musical in person, you should definitely buy the album! After the musical, they actually set up a small merchandise table where they were selling the Percy Jackson books, some of which were actually signed by Rick Riordan, as well as posters and two t-shirt styles! I bought the two t-shirts, which I have a picture of down below. After the musical ended everyone lined up outside and the cast came out and took pictures with everyone and signed posters or books! I brought my original copy of The Lightning Thief which is a million years old and has clearly been read a million times based on how destroyed the spine is. So that was my experience at The Percy Jackson Musical! I definitely give it 5/5 stars! 

Make sure you go to www.lightningthiefmusical.com where you can see the entire company, pictures, and even a song thats been released!

My copy of the Lightning Thief signed
             by the entire cast!

 The two shirts they were selling! 

Finally I have a Camp HB shirt!

Flame in the Mist Review (Spoiler Free)

Flame in the Mist
by Renée Ahdieh

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book through Penguin's First to Read Program.

This was the first Renée Ahdieh book I have read, and I have heard so many great things about her writing so I went in with high expectations. I was not let down! This was a wonderful story about politics, magic, and the strength of women. I also truly enjoyed Ahdieh's writing. It was so imaginative with just the right amount of mystery to keep me hooked the entire time. At first I had a really hard time connecting with the characters, but eventually they all grew on me. The novel also had a very intricate plot, so I really had to pay attention to what was happening, and all the small details and the names of everyone or I would get really confused. At first I thought this was going to be a story with no romance, but then it came out of nowhere and I completely support it! I will go down with this ship! I can't wait to see where it goes in the next book. 
Let's talk about Mariko, because she is an incredible character! I loved seeing her grow into a confident woman during a time in Japan when women were not given power and were only expected to be wives. It was so empowering and inspiring to read about such a wonderful character. I am definitely going to check out more of Ahdieh's writing in the future, because I can't wait to discover her other characters!

Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me Review

Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me
by Lily Collins

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

I was super excited about this book as soon as Lily announced it since she is one of my favorite actresses and role models. This was truly such an inspiring book with such great messages. Lately I have been on an autobiography/memoir reading kick, but I've only been reading female authors, and they are all just so inspiring and relatable. When I got this book I wasn't too concerned with the writing, because I know that Lily wrote for some magazines and newspapers in the past, so I knew that she would be a good writer. The stories that Lily chose to tell in this memoir all clearly related the message she was trying to get across, which is one of self-love and confidence. There were also so many great quotes scattered throughout the book, I encourage everyone to pick it up and read it!

Buy Unfiltered using my Book Depository Affiliate Link HERE

RoseBlood Review

RoseBlood
by A.G. Howard

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

This is another book that I received from OwlCrate. It is a phantom of the opera inspired retelling, which immediately made me hesitant to read it. I have been growing a little tired of retellings, because I just don't find them that creative or original. I was willing to give this one a shot, however, because I have never read/seen/heard the story of the phantom of the opera. I am glad that I decided to give this a chance, because I really enjoyed this book. I believe this is a standalone novel, and normally I have a hard time liking the characters in standalones because there is so little time for character development. I recently had this problem with Heartless and Of Fire and Stars. However, with this book, I found myself immediately captivated by the characters, and I credit this all to the beautiful writing. I really can't praise A.G. Howard's writing enough. She writes such vivid descriptions of characters and music, and she gives you just enough information to always keep you wanting more. She also seamlessly transitions from the present to events in the past in a way that is very interesting. I was super pleased with the ending of this novel, which was dramatic and interesting and just so amazing. 

Buy RoseBlood using my Book Depository Affiliate Link HERE

Caraval Review

Caraval

by Stephanie Garber

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

I received Caraval in my last OwlCrate box, which I will be doing a post on soon. I wasn't surprised that this was the book included, because leading up to its release I had seen so many posts about. So many people were super excited about it and had already said such great things. I was excited to read it, but also hesitant because with so much hype already surrounding it, I didn't want to go into it with expectations that were too high, because then I would just end up getting let down. That being said, this book deserves 100% of the hype and wonderful reviews it has been given. 

Incase you don't know, Caraval follows the story of two sisters, Scarlett and Donatella, who escape from their home to take part in the magical performance/game Caraval. Before the game begins, participants are warned not to get too swept up in the performance, but when Donatella is kidnapped as part of the game, Scarlett must work to get her back as she finds herself more drawn into the mystery of Caraval.

This book literally had me hooked from the first line. The very. First. Line. Not many books can do that. Stephanie Garber did a wonderful job with the writing. It was interesting, and the descriptions were so creative and seemed so real that it was easy to imagine you were really there. If you are planning on reading this book, beware of the plot twists! Just when you think you have everything figured out, there's a giant plot twist that immediately makes perfect sense. They came at just the right moment and kept you guessing until the very end.

The characters in this book were also so easy to love and relate to. Despite coming from a terrible situation, both the girls were strong and embraced their weaknesses. This series is going to be a duology, and I cannot wait until the next book comes out! The movie rights have also already been sold, so hopefully they will do it justice! Also, I need some bookish merch! The Melting Library has a candle inspired by Legend which sounds amazing!

Buy Caraval from Book Depository (using my affiliate link) and receive free shipping: CLICK HERE

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. 

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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
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