Of Secrets and Slippers Review

                                    

                                Above all, do it for Honor.                                        

I am genuinely saddened to be saying goodbye to this world. Of Secrets and Slippers is such a perfect ending to this incredible YA fantasy series. I am left with overwhelming excitement for whatever Chanda Hahn gives us next. 

Of Secrets and Slippers is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and follows the story of Honor, a character fans of this series have been eager to get to know. Honor quickly became one of my favourite characters in the series, and Hahn has saved one of the best best stories in the series until last. 

We learn a great deal about Honor from the start of the novel, but she is a complex character with a genuinely interesting and unique secret. Of Secrets and Slippers clearly portrays the different upbringing Honor had from her sisters, and Hahn writes her as an outcast in a refreshing way. We learn so much about the kingdoms, the history of even more of the characters, and the magic that is amazingly present in each story. Hahn's writing in this book is so cleaver in her world building, twists and turns, and an epic villain that I did not see coming. There has not been one book written by Hahn that I have not enjoyed, but her storytelling seems to just get better and better with each novel and I can hardly contain my excitement for whatever she has planned next. 

This pain is nothing compared to the pain of being without you. You may not need me, Honor, but I will always need you. 

I found Honor's story to be different in a number of ways to the other stories in this series, but it is just as enjoyable, if not more so. I liked the love interest in Of Secrets and Slippers, but he did not feel as though his role was as important as the love interests in the previous books until the last 50 or so pages. I do not think this is a bad thing as he is still very well written and I really enjoyed the bigger focus on Honor's past and secrets, and the secrets of the history of the kingdoms, and the characters that set the Daughter's of Eville on their paths. 

The connection with the Twelve Dancing Princesses in this book is absolutely incredible. The way that they travelled through the painting is one of my favourite things from this series. I wish we could have learnt a bit more about each of the sisters, but I struggle to see how this would have been relevant to the plot, thus overall they were well written and fit into the story incredibly well. 

Of Secrets and Slippers had a more devastating plot to the previous books. We see the end (or do we?) of some incredible characters. While this book provides readers with scenes full of humour, there are definitely some heartbreaking moments too.  

This is not our story. You must write the conclusion. 

The reunion between the sisters was incredibly sweet and wraps up their stories perfectly. Readers will find it incredibly satisfying to see the seven sisters finally reunited and happy. Of Secrets and Slippers, is a heartwarming end to this series. There are so many fantastic tropes in this book including swapped/mistaken identities, huge secrets, long lost families, and forbidden love. I rated Of Secrets and Slippers five stars, and highly recommend it to all YA fantasy lovers. 

Twin Crowns Review

Find your courage. Wield it as a weapon. 

Twin Crowns is an epic tale of twins Wren and Rose, and their adventure back to each other after being separated at birth due to an awful tragedy. Readers will be excited to follow Wren on her quest for the crown after swapping places with her twin, and will love discovering the truth with Rose and her journey of breaking free from her cage. This YA fantasy is perfect for fans of The Bone Spindle and Throne of Glass. 

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Due to a pretty intense reading slump, Twin Crowns has been sat on my shelf for a while. I am so glad that this is the first book I chose to review after finally breaking this slump. When I first heard about Twin Crowns I was desperate to read it. The cover is awesome, and I ended up with both Waterstones editions as I could not decide between the two. A story about twin princesses separated at birth and a battle between kingdoms and witches is just perfect for YA fantasy lovers. Twin Crowns includes all of the YA tropes that make it great YA fantasy including; enemies to lovers, absent parents, cute romance, and powerful friendships. The world building is truly incredible, and the map in the shape of a bird is one of the most unique maps I have seen. I rated this book four stars. 

Tabs: 

I was slightly reluctant to use tabs for this book as I did not want to ruin the effect of the sprayed edges but I don't think it looks too badly. I used four tabs for this book: 

Purple: Parts I really liked 

Pink: Plot

Blue: Important character information/ development 

Green: Quotes

As Twin Crowns follows a standard plot structure for YA I was able to minimise my use of tabs for this. As it followed this structure the plot was both memorable and enjoyable. While the book has finished up on a devastating cliffhanger, it has set the story up for even more excitement in the sequel. One of my favourite parts of Twin Crowns is definitely the cute romances, and I am eager to see how they progress in book two. 

Sometimes love can be a curse...it can be a prison. Or a death sentence. 

I absolutely adore the resolution between the twins at the end. It will be so interesting to see how they rule together in the next book, and I am both nervous and excited to see more development of the curse. 

Kill one twin to save the other.

I used the purple tab frequently throughout this book. The romance, character development, world building, humour, and plot twists provide a lot of entertainment, thus creating many scenes that I greatly enjoyed and want to remember.  

It is hard to choose between the twins, but I would say my favourite characters are Wren and Shen. I really enjoyed their friendship but I would love to see more character development from Wren in the sequel. 

You cant destroy magic rose. It will always find its way home. 

I desperately hope to learn more about the magic of this world in book two. I also want to learn more of Shen, Rose, and Wren's powers. I would love to know more about Wren's training and cannot wait to see how Rose adapts to her magic and what she does with it. 

Echoes and Empires review

After being caught in a robbery gone wrong Josslyn Drake, a confident 17 year old, finds herself stuck with Jericho Nox, the sarcastic failed robber, to rid herself of magic, something which is considered dangerous and evil in her world. Their journey takes them to dangerous places, leads them to uncover secrets, and forces them to work with each other. Echoes and Empires is fast paced, well written, and gives YA readers everything they love. 

My review: 

There is so much I could say about this book! Just the first line "I wore red on the night I slammed head first into my destiny" had me hooked. I could not put this book down. I am a huge fan of Rhodes Falling Kingdoms series and I have been eagerly waiting to get my hands on Echoes and Empires, and it was without a doubt worth the wait. This book has so many interesting characters, really good plot twists, and a really interesting take on magic. The story is really fast paced and the cliffhanger will have readers desperate for more. I rated Echoes and Empires five stars, and I would recommend this book to fans of Throne of Glass, Cinder, and Vampire Academy. 

**MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW** 

Tabs: 

I used 5 colours as follows: 

Yellow: Plot/ memorable parts

Purple: Quotes

Green: Parts I really liked 

Red: Characters (anything memorable or important information about them)

Blue: Parts that made me laugh 

I used a tone of yellow tabs for Echoes and Empires. The plot was just incredible, so much happened in just 384 pages. The twists, turns, and secrets made this a captivating story. The parts that I marked with green tabs were mostly interactions between Joss and Jericho, and blue tabs were usually when Jericho made me laugh. 

Some of my favourite quotes from this book are:

Safe. What a small word for such a very big lie. 

Nothing truly good can be destroyed, and nothing truly evil can live forever. 

Denial is a wonderful thing. 

What was my favourite part of the plot? 

I don't think I can pick a specific part of this plot to make my favourite! I did find the twist of Elian's fate to be incredibly interesting though. I had a feeling he was still alive but I did not expect that he was brought back from the dead to become a monster. 

I really enjoyed Joss and Jericho's journey together and I can't wait to see more of them in the sequel, especially after learning of Jericho's role in the death of the Prime Minister. 

I really hope to find out more of Jericho's past in the next book. I also hope we get to see a lot more of him and his brother and learn more of their history. 

I'm really excited for Joss to meet her real father! I wonder if he knows or will figure out that his daughter is still alive before she tracks him down? 

I can't wait to see how Joss, Jericho, and Elian work together to solve their problems. It will definitely be interesting to see them on the run together. I would also love to see more of Celina in the next book. 

2022 TBR

I made some good progress with my tbr throughout 2021. I read a lot of new releases but still kept up with goal of getting to books that had been on my tbr for a long time. Today, I took a look at the way my tbr currently stands and decided I wasn't feeling some of the books currently there. I decided to shelve these and swap them for some others that I'm excited to read. The image on the left is how my tbr stood at the end of 2021, and the picture on the right is how my tbr looks for 2022. 

What books did I shelve and why?  

I shelved the books in the picture mostly for the same reasons. With Kingsbane and Furyborn I do not currently own the third book in this trilogy and I want to wait until I have it before i start reading. Not owning the sequels is also why I have shelved The Obsidian Tower, Scavenge the Stars, There Will Come a Darkness, and the Shadow Rises. 

As for the other books I shelved, this was just because I do not feel like reading them at the moment. I am still excited to read them, and I may regret shelving them now, but there are other books I am more eager to get to. 

Another reason I was able to stick to my tbr in 2021 was that I stopped myself from rereading all of my favourite books. I still had a few rereads, and also read  A Court of Silver Flames, and The Petrified Flesh, twice, but I limited my rereads. I am not sure if I will be doing the same this year. There are some favourites that I am really excited to reread (as seen in the picture) so my tbr may not get much smaller. There are also a great deal of new releases this year that I am dying to get my hands on, so I know they will go straight to the top of my tbr. 

What am I reading now? 

At the moment I am resisting the urge to reread some of these books. My final book of 2021 was a reread of A Court of Silver Flames, so I've picked a book I have owned for a very long time; Shatter Me. I was gifted the last three books in the series for Christmas, so now that I have them all I am excited to make my way through them. I won't be writing reviews for this series, but I am aiming to take a break after the first three books to read and review Lore, which I am disappointed that I did not get around to in 2021 so this is one of my priority reads. 

 

Books of 2021

 2021 was a good year of reading for me. I found myself in reading slump for most of 2019 and 2020 but have succeeded in pulling myself out of it this year. Overall, I read 54 books. 

I decided to rank all of the physical  books I read this year (not including rereads, making this list 34 books) from least favourite to favourite (I also included a video of this on my tiktok account). So, here are my 2021 reads from least favourite to favourite; 

• 
  The Bargainer Series - Laura Thalassa (my most underwhelming read of the year) 
• The Killings at Kingfisher Hill- Sophie Hannah (my first read of the year) 
• A Slow Fire Burning- Paula Hawkins 
• Princess at Heart- Connie Glynn 
• Rule of Wolves- Leigh Bardugo 
• Gilded- Marissa Meyer
• A Vow so Bold and Deadly - Brigid Kemmerer (Biggest disappointment of the year) 
• Shadow and Flame- Mindee Arnett 
• Bone Criers Dawn- Katheryn Purdie 
• Hunted- Meagan Spooner  
• Onyx and Ivory- Mindee Arnett 
• Bone Criers Moon- Katheryn Purdie 
• The Shadows Between Us- Tricia Levenseller 
• The Mask Falling- Samantha Shannon 
• Vespertine- Margaret Rogerson 
• The Devil and the Dark Water- Stuart Turton
• Rosebound- J.J. Marshall & J.R Walden 
• A Shadow in the Ember- Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Defy The Night- Brigid Kemmerer 
• The Unhoneymooners- Christina Lauren 
• Midnight In Everwood- M.A. Kuzniar 
• The Crown of Guilded Bones- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
• Kingdom of the Cursed- Kerri Maniscalco 
• Kingdom of the Wicked- Kerri Maniscalco
• These Hollow Vows- Lexi Ryan
• A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
• The Unbound Empire- Melissa Caruso 
• Aurora's End- Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff 
• Empire of the Vampire- Jay Kristoff 
• From Blood and Ash- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
• Once upon a broken heart-Stephanie Garber 
• Realm Breaker- Victoria Aveyard 
• A Court of Silver Flames- Sarah J Maas 
• The Silver Tracks- Cornelia Funke

I read a lot of fantastic books this year, The Bargainer series are the only books that I didn't enjoy all that much. I thought the first book was good, but I feel that it doesn't live up to the hype, and the sequels are a bit of a let down. 

It wasn't hard for me to choose my top three books of 2021. Realm Breaker completely blew me away and has been stuck in my mind since I read. I have a feeling that the sequel will be one of my favourite books of 2022. 

A Court of Silver Flames was one of my most anticipated 2021 releases. I counted down the days for this book and tried my best to read it as slowly as possible. Going into this book I was not the biggest fan of Nesta but I am so glad that I read it. I really enjoyed her story and her path for bettering herself. I know it is going to be a long wait but I am so excited for the next book. 

It was no surprise that The Silver Tracks, was my favourite read of 2021. I have waited so long for this book and it was so worth the wait. This is the fourth book in my favourite series and it added so much to an already beautiful story. I am sad that this is likely to be the penultimate book in the series, but so much happened in this book and I know that the finale is going to be epic. I am anticipating another 5 year wait for the next book, so I will get in plenty of rereads of The Silver Tracks before then. 

Organising the rest of the list was a great challenge though. I read so many great books this year, with some unexpected new favourites including From Blood and Ash, and Kingdom of the Cursed, and I am excited to read some great books in 2022. Although my tbr definitely gained a lot of books, and some new releases took priority over the books that have been sat on y tbr for far too long, I feel I made some good progress with it. Onyx and Ivory has been on my tbr for years and I am really happy that 2021 was the year that I finally got around to it. I am disappointed that I did not get around the reading The Raven Boys, We Hunt the Flame, and The Starless Sea, all of which have been on my tbr for a while, so I am aiming to make them priority reads for 2022. 

For the last few days of 2021 I am rereading A Court of Silver Flames. I am yet to decide what my first read of 2022 will be, I am going to reorganise my tbr trolley over the next few days and I am sure that will help me to decide what to get started with. 

Of Gold and Greed, Chanda Hahn review

Of Gold and Greed is a glorious retelling of Rumpelstiltskin set in the magical world of the Daughters of Eville. Following Rhea, readers are taken on a journey literally Of Gold and Greed, with fantastic characters, a fast paced plot, and a cute romance perfect for YA readers. This is the sixth book in the series, and it undoubtedly lives up to the standard of the previous books. 

My review: 

I have been a big fan of Chanda Hahn's books since I first picked up UnEnchanted back in 2013. The Daughters of Eville series has quickly become a favourite of mine, with retelling's of tales well known in YA, but also some that have not been used widely before. Of Gold and Greed is the second Rumpelstiltskin retelling I have read this year and it did not disappoint. Much like many of Hahn's books, I was quickly hooked by the story. The world building in this series is great, but each book is not too drawn out that it is a struggle to fall into the plot, and quickly devour it. I really enjoyed with twist in this retelling. The different backstory created for Rumpelstiltskin in this book, along with the gold and the curses used, fit really well together and created and new and unique story. I rated Of Gold and Greed 5 stars, and it is now one of my favourites of the current 6 books in the Daughters of Eville series. 

**MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW**

 Tabs:

I had a different experience of using tabs with this book as I read the kindle edition and used the highlight function instead. This left me with only 4 coloured tabs this time but I think that was the perfect amount. This is how I used them;

Blue: quotes

Yellow: important plot points/memorable parts

Pink: cute parts/ parts I love

Orange: parts that made me laugh 

How many tabs did I use? 

I used 86 tabs throughout this book. Far more than I thought I had and I was really shocked when I counted these! I used 32 yellow tabs, 15 blue tabs, 19 pink tabs, and 20 orange tabs. 

Rhea's journey in this book was amazing, she worked hard and became a hero that everyone needed. Of Gold and Greed has a very complex plot, and I used 32 tabs because I felt there was such much that happened that was important to the plot and there were a lot of memorable parts I wanted to return to later. 

Of Gold and Greed had so many great quotes, I felt myself highlighting a lot and tried to have some restraint, leading me to have 15 blue tabs. Some of my favourite quotes from Of Gold and Greed include; 

"For all great hero's never truly die." 

"Sometimes our greatest enemies are those within."

"Women and books can be hazardous for your health." 

"Books are a weapon in the right hands." 

I used less pink tabs than I thought I would but I did try hard not to highlight every single interaction between Rhea and Kash. Similarly, the orange tabs I used were mostly down to Kash and Rumple. 

Who was my favourite character? 

Kash! I really liked Kash and his story, I knew as soon as he walked into the manor at the start of the book that I would enjoy his story and every interaction Rhea would have with him. His brothers were great characters too and I greatly hope they make an appearance in the next book. 

What was my favourite part of the plot? 

So much happened in Of Gold and Greed, the plot for this book is amazing but I really enjoyed reading about the curse on the three brothers, it was so unique and interesting to read. I found it amazing how the personalities of the brothers fit into their cursed form and it was a great element to the story and Rhea's journey. 

How long did it take me to read? 

Of Gold and Greed, took me a few hours to read over two days. I always try to pace myself with Hahn's books, but with such interesting stories and great characters the books are just impossible to put down. But this is something that I greatly love about Hahn's works, they are often light reads, with happily ever afters, that readers can happily enjoy in one sitting. 

I am ridiculously excited for the next (and sadly last) book in the Daughters of Eville series. I loved what we got to see of Honor in Of Gold and Greed, so I'm really looking forward to reading her own story. Of Secrets and Slippers is due to be released in June 2022 and is described on Goodreads as "A 12 Dancing Princesses twisted villain tale." From that description alone I am counting down the days until its release. 

Gilded, Marissa Meyer review

 
Gilded is a unique Rumpelstiltskin retelling perfect for YA fantasy fans. This complex retelling provides readers with a heroine with an interesting backstory, a villain you'll love to hate, and a story full of magic, secrets, love, and lies. (And how stunning is the cover!) 

**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS**

My review: 

Gilded was an interesting read for me. I found this book challenging, disappointing, and eventually enjoyable. I was incredibly eager to start this book, I am a huge fan of The Lunar Chronicles, but found myself disappointed by the third instalment of the Renegades trilogy, and hoped that Gilded would make up for this. As I began reading this novel I found myself falling into a reading slump but did my best to push through it. However, I did need to take a break from reading for a few weeks and only managed the first 50 pages. I was excited to return to the book as I felt there was going to be a lot to this story and I was very excited for a Rumpelstiltskin retelling. Once I picked up the novel again I found many positives and negatives to it. 

Starting with the positives, I really enjoyed the world building in this novel, just as I love the world building in Meyer's previous novels. I find it easy to get sucked into the worlds that Meyer creates, and difficult to leave them. I am so excited to explore more of the world in the next book and learn more about its history. 

My next positive of the book is the characters. I quickly became invested in all of the characters in Gilded, including the villain, and I am eager to learn what happens to them, and any new characters, in the sequel. Just like her previous books, I find that Meyer has created very likeable and interesting characters. I also really enjoyed the stories that were written for Serilda to tell, I found this really unique and well written, and this added a lot to the plot. 

Now onto the negatives. My biggest issue with Gilded is that I found it to be far too long. The first 200 pages of the book just felt far too drawn out, and each time something interesting happened with the plot it was very short lived. I found some parts too repetitive, especially parts including the hunt, and wanted more information about the castle and the Erlking. Of course, not too much can be given away and I'm sure more will be revealed in the sequel, however, this is why I found the book to be too long. At times, it felt like there was an information overload of certain things and not enough of parts that I really wanted to explore. When looking at the size of this book I was a little unsure as to why it was so long considering Rumpelstiltskin isn't a long tale itself, and I think I would have found this to be a much more enjoyable read if it was shorter. 

My second negative is something that I very much hate in YA books and I found myself very disappointed when I saw the unplanned pregnancy coming. When written in the right way this isn't something that annoys me and I do like it in adult books, but no YA books. It is a peeve of mine when the main character has sex for the first time and gets pregnant. I find it to often be pointless to the plot and very much overdone. However, the end of the novel made me a lot less annoyed with this and I can see how this is going to tie into the plot of the next book and I'm looking forward to seeing how the characters deal with this. As a reader, I just wish that we saw more of a relationship between Gild and Serilda before getting to this point. 

This brings me to my next negative of the book; we didn't see all of the characters enough. I'm sure the intention is to explore Gild and the Erlking in the next book and I understand that their pasts could not have been revealed too early and there needs to be enough kept secret for the next book, but again this is why I found the book to be far too long. Also, I really wanted to see the Erlking more in this book! I felt as though the first half of the book did not include him enough considering that he is the villain. 

Personally, I gave Gilded a 3.5 star rating. However, I think other readers may find this novel more enjoyable than I did and may find it to be 4 stars. I will definitely be picking up the sequel, the last 100 pages of Gilded were very enjoyable and has made me excited to read more of this story.  

Tabs:

I used 59 tabs in total for this book. This was my second time using tabs whist reading. I used a lot less tabs for this read, however this book was longer than my previous read. I used my tabs as follows:

Yellow dislike/ when I was bored. 

Purple quotes

Blue plot

Green surprise

Orange laugh

Red sad

Pink really liked

Unfortunately, I used more yellow tabs than I was hoping to. I used 5 yellow tabs throughout Gilded, and changed the way I had originally intended to use them. My initial intention was to use them for any parts of novel that I did not like, but I found myself using them to mark when I was getting bored of reading the book and found myself wanting to take a break. 4 out of the 5 yellow tabs were for this, with 3 of them being within the first 200 pages. After this point I found that the story really got going and was very enjoyable. The 5th yellow tab was for the unplanned pregnancy. 

I used 6 purple tabs for Gilded. This is less than I thought I would use but I did find some very interesting quotes from this book; 

"The wheel of fate and fortune, which, if you are wise, you know is the greatest deception of all." 

"She did not remember her heart healing, and yet it seemed clear that it had." 

"This was just a game to the Erlking, Predator and prey." 

"Hero and villain. 

The dark and the light. 

There are two sides to every story." 

29 blue tabs were used throughout Gilded. This was a lot more than I was expecting, but it does have a very complex and interesting plot, I just would have found it more enjoyable if it had not have been so drawn out. Following on from this, I used 7 green tabs, mostly towards the end of the book when the plot developed further. 

Lastly, I used 3 red tabs, 2 orange tabs, and 2 pink tabs. There weren't many moments of this book that made me feel sad, and the ones that did were related to the difficult times Serilda had gone through. The orange and pink tabs both related to Gild. There were some moments that his sarcasm and mischief did make me laugh, and I loved his interactions with Serilda. I hope to see much more of him in the sequel, and if we do I'm sure I will use far more of these tabs then. 

Who was my favourite character? 

I can't say that I actually have a favourite character in Gilded. I liked Serilda, and I am looking forward to seeing her again in the sequel, but I am more looking forward to seeing Gild and the Erlking again. 

How long did it take me to read?

As I found myself falling into a reading slump and finding the book very difficult to get into this one did take me a while. I began reading on November 29th, and did not complete reading it until December 16th. Once i finally got into the book, I finished the second half within two days. 

Aurora's End Review

Aurora's End starts where Aurora Burning ended with squad 312 separated and all in danger. Now split off into groups the squad are all working to defeat the Ra'haam, and change past, present, and future. Aurora's End is a hell of a ride, with epic fights, plenty of tension, in more ways than one, and a story that will grip readers from the first page. 

My review:

Wow. What a ride. Aurora's End completely blew me away, just like the previous books in this trilogy. Honestly I think the ending of this trilogy is perfect. The story is wrapped up perfectly and although I did not want this trilogy to end, it was a pleasure to see the characters come to the end of their journey. I gave Aurora's End a 5 star rating, just like the previous two books in the trilogy, and I will definitely be rereading this amazing book in the future. I love the writing style of these books, the chapters for each character are all written so well and do not become confusing. The voice of each character is clear making it easy for readers to keep up with the plot and the characters. 

Tabs: 

I used tabs for the very first time whilst reading this book, as someone new to it I actually found it very helpful in absorbing the story. A bonus was how fun it was to look back at the tabs and the parts of the story that really stuck with me. This is how I used my tabs: 

   Purple- Parts that I really liked/ parts that made me happy

   Orange- parts that I didn't like 

   Blue- Important parts of the plot 

   Green- Quotes that stuck with me

   Yellow-  Things that made me laugh 

   Red- pulled at heart strings 

   Pink- Things I wasn't expecting/ things that surprised me. 

***MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW*** 

How many tabs did I use?

Throughout the 493 pages of this book I used 86 tabs. Looking at them it doesn't look like a lot but actually counting them I used far more than I thought and intended to. This was my first time using tabs while reading a book, I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I got it quite right. However, I am looking forward to doing this again. 

I used 12 purple tabs. There was just so much of this book that I loved! Don't get me wrong, the characters really do continue their journey of heartbreak and hell in this book, but there was still a lot of fun and happy moments that really contributed to making Aurora's End such a good read. 

I was really hoping that I would not be using a lot of orange tabs for Aurora's End and I'm happy to say for the entire book I only used one. My only complaint about the Book was Zila's fate. In terms of plot this 100% made sense and was such a good idea, it really fits into the story well. Also, Zila finding someone she really loves? I was completely rooting for her and I love that this happened. I just desperately wanted the squad to be reunited. The found family trope is one of my favourite tropes and I wish Zila could have found her way back to the squad, but I can see how that would have required the plot to be changed considerably. 

The plot for Aurora's End is just epic, so much happens right from the first chapter, so I'm not too surprised that I used 17 blue tabs. Although there's a lot to follow in this story, with the characters being separated and not just having their own tasks but also being split across different time periods, Aurora's End is so well written it's easy to follow the journey of each of the characters. 

 

I expected there to be many quotes from Aurora's End that would really stick with me and I wasn't wrong. I used 8 green tabs and below are some of my favourites: 

"Tears are for the conquered, Kaliis" 

"There is  no love in violence" 

"He once told me that love was a drop in the ocean of what he felt for her." 

"Love shouldn't ask you to give up everything else; that's not how love works." 

Despite being written by authors that are known for torturing their characters and their readers, Aurora's End made me laugh many, many times. Aurora's End was absolutely heartbreaking at times, but there's plenty of humour and sarcasm to make up for it. Overall I used 18 yellow tabs. 

As I said, Aurora's End had many heartbreaking moments so I used 19 red tabs (I guess they're more of a pink colour?) I use the red tabs to mark any moments in the book that really pulled at my heart strings, made me cry, or made me feel any kind of overwhelming emotion. While Aurora's End didn't destroy me like Empire of the Vampire did, I still found myself tearful at times. 

Lastly I used pink tabs to mark parts of Aurora's End to mark anything that really shocked/ surprised me. There was a great deal of this plot that I completely loved but was not expecting. I also found myself shocked at times by the characters (like Tyler and future Tyler and their use of curse words). In total I used 11 pink tabs. 

Who was my favourite character? 

I can honestly say there is not one character in Aurora's End that I did not like. I love all the members of the squad and I was really excited to see Saedii again, my only wish is that we got to see a lot more of her. In the previous two books Tyler was my favourite character and that has not changed for Aurora's End. As much as I love the squad being together and I was overjoyed with them being reunited at the end of the book, I was too mad about them being separated for a while. I love the friendship between Tyler and Kal and Tyler and Auri so seeing the three of them together, even though it was future, adult Tyler for a part, made this a joy for me. 

How long did it take me to read this book? 

It took me just two days to read Aurora's End. I tried to pace myself but I was very quickly gripped by this story and eager to learn the fate of the squad so I had a very hard time putting it down. I also wanted to mention that I love books with multiple character perspectives and I find this is very well done in the Aurora Cycle. Although I haven't seen any news of the audio book being released in the UK yet, I have listened to the audio books for Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning, and I highly recommenced them for readers that like multiple character povs. I love the use of multiple voice actors, each feels perfectly matched with the characters, and they're just so enjoyable to listen to. 

What was my favourite part of the plot? 

So much happened in this book so it's hard to pick one part of the plot that I liked more than the rest. I found the loop that Zila, Scarlet and Finnian found themselves stuck in very interesting and both exciting and nail biting to read. 

October wrap-up

October has been my most enjoyable month of reading so far this year. I enjoyed 10 books this month, all of which I enjoyed, consisting of 7 YA novels, 2 NA novels, and one adult fantasy. 

I started the month with Stephanie Garber's Once Upon a Broken Heart, and being one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 it did not disappoint. I am a huge fan of the Caraval trilogy and could not wait to get my hands on Once Upon a Broken Heart. Stephanie Garber's writing style is just incredible, the world building in her books fascinates me and this book definitely makes it into my top 5 reads of this year so far. I gave this book a 5 star rating and it is perfect for any YA fantasy fans. Although set in the Caraval world readers do not need to have read the trilogy before picking up Once Upon a Broken Heart, but it might cause some curiosity for the trilogy. 

Moving on from Once Upon a Broken Heart, I dove into another anticipated release of 2021; Kerri Maniscalco's Kingdom of the Cursed. I had mixed feelings about the Stalking Jack the Ripper series, but went into Kingdom of the Wicked with an open mind. The only disappointment I had from the first novel was that it was far more YA than NA, when I had wrongly believed it to be NA. Kingdom of the Cursed more than made up for this and absolutely exceeded my expectations. Picking up from where book one left off, Kingdom of the Cursed is an epic story, it makes readers invested in all of the characters and I am desperate to know what happens next. I gave Kingdom of the Cursed a 5 star rating. 

My third read of October was yet another release I had been eagerly awaiting. Margaret Rogerson's Vespertine was an enjoyable read, but quite a complicated story. Rogerson's previous novels, An Enchantment of Ravens and Sorcery of Thorns, are favourites of mine and the newest novel Vespertine did not disappoint. I gave Vespertine a 4 star rating. It was very enjoyable but I wish the beginning had been a little longer to give some more information on the world the book is set in. 

The next two reads of October were Kathryn Purdie's Bone Grace duology. While I did enjoy the two books, they weren't as enjoyable as I was hoping. I gave each book a 4 star rating. Unfortunately I found that both books had the same problem; the beginning was too long and too drawn out. I was tempted to DNF Bone Crier's Moon, but I'm glad that I stuck with it because the second half of the book was fantastic and the ending left me excited for the sequel. However, the disappointing start the sequel, Bone Crier's Dawn, made finishing the series a bit of a challenge. 

Empire of the Vampire may just be the read of October that has stuck with me the most. Although it is an intimidating read due to its large size its more than worth it. I was unsure if I would be able to follow the story due to the way that it is told but I was hooked by the second chapter. I forgot I was reading and couldn't put it down. I finished this beast of a book in three days and I'm desperate for more. I have so many questions, and will be eagerly awaiting the sequel to this amazing and devastating story. I haven't read Nevernight yet but it has climbed up my tbr since reading Empire of the Vampire. I haven't read a great deal of adult fantasy, I always stick to YA with a little bit of NA, but Empire of the Vampire has encouraged me to branch out and I hope to find some more adult fantasy books that are as captivating as this one. I gave Empire of the Vampire a 5 star rating and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I put it down. 

Brigid Kemmerer's Defy the Night was a really pleasant surprise. I loved A Curse so Dark and Lonely, but was disappointed by the third book in the trilogy so I wasn't sure what to expect with Defy the Night. I have seen this book on tiktok a lot lately and now having read it I completely understand the hype around it. The story is just so captivating! It's fast paced, has many lovable characters, without being too many that its easy to lose track, and the plot is incredibly interesting. I rated Defy the Night 4 stars. I am excited for the sequel, but I hope I hope does not follow the pattern of A Curse so Dark and Lonely, with the sequel being a disappointment and not up to the standard of the first book. 

Jennifer L. Armentrout's From Blood and Ash series has been a recent discovery for me, one that I enjoyed for more than I expected to, so naturally I was excited to read A Shadow in the Ember. I enjoyed this a lot, but not as much as From Blood and Ash. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for A Shadow in the Ember, and a lot more criticism than From Blood and Ash received. Personally, I thought A Shadow in the Ember was a fantastic read and I will be reading it again. I understand why this has criticism, particularly the criticism that it has a lot of similarities with From Blood and Ash, but I think that may be necessary to the stories. When reading A Shadow in the Ember, I think it's important not to try too hard to link it to From Blood and Ash, and to read it as its own story. I'm excited for the next books in both series and I'm sure that as readers we will get a clearer picture of the link between the books soon and how the characters histories intertwine. I really liked the characters in A Shadow in the Ember, and I think fans of From Blood and Ash are likely to enjoy it. A Shadow in the Ember is not a perfect book, but it is enjoyable. I rated it 5 stars, mostly because of my love for the series it is prequel to, but perhaps a more accurate rating would be 4 stars. 

After almost six years of waiting I received my copy of The Silver Tracks, the next book in Cornelia Funke's Mirrorworld series, two weeks early. I can't put into words just how excited I was to read this book and how happy I was to finally have it in my hands! I tried to pace myself with this book, I really did, but I had it finished in two days. Like all of Cornelia Funke's novels, I was hooked from the start and sucked into a story that I really did not want to leave. Being the fourth book in the Mirrorworld series, and having waited so long for it, I wasn't expecting it to be one of the best books in the series, but it is. Every book in this series has been incredible and I am excited for the next book, sadly the final book, in the series. I gave The Silver Tracks a 5 star rating. The Mirrorworld series is a great YA fantasy series that many readers will enjoy. 

The final book of the month was my one and only reread this month; Aurora Rising. I made myself a challenge this month to read more books on my tbr than rereads as a majority of my reading for the last few months has been rereads. I was very successful this month with Aurora Rising being my only reread. I love the Aurora Cycle books and I finally have my hands on the final book of the trilogy. The characters in this trilogy are just hilarious and I am very invested in their stories. I will be starting November with a reread of Aurora Burning before moving onto Aurora's end. I rated Aurora Rising 5 stars.  

Of the 10 books I read this month the one that I would recommend the most is Once Upon a Broken Heart. The book is a really fun and interesting read and I think that its great for fans of both YA fantasy and YA romance. 

Welcome!

 Hello! 

My name is Lindsey, I am 24 years old and I live in the UK. I love to read, especially YA books. I have created this blog to post book reviews and to connect with other readers.