Weekly Reading Wrap Up- Feb 15th to 28th
Hello Book Dragons,
I am not going to lie to you all; I threw the TBR away in the last week of February. I blame one Sarah J Maas. It was all her fault. I was slowly rereading her books, and then the new books came out, and I said, “Oh well”, and just read the whole series back to back. This will not be the last time this happens. The waiting was killing me, and the book was looking at me.
Ahem, here is my wrap-up for the last two weeks of February. I did pretty well, all things considered. I still feel that I am behind on reading, but that is nothing new for me at this point. I had a great last few weeks. I enjoyed myself. That is, after all, the goal.
“There are good days and hard days for me—even now. Don’t let the hard days win.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury”
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas - Rating: 12/10 - These books are so addictive. Again, I understand that not everyone likes Sarah’s books, but I personally love them. This book expanded the world so much, and I am here for it. I love how Sarah balances character development with world-building. I never felt like the balance was missing. Often, when reading, I find that the focus is on one or the other. I’m so happy this series gives me both. And granted, I am a character-driven reader; I need to care about the people to be invested in the story, so these books make me so happy. And the journey (both personal and plot-wise) in this book is so amazing. Fayre starts on some serious soul searching and some serious physical and magic training. I also got more character dynamics and interactions, which is the stuff I live for. I don’t want to say much more because of SPOILERS. Like, everything is a spoiler.
“Whatever I am, let it be enough” ― V.E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows”
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab - Rating:10/10 - Excuse me? Ma’am? Ms. Victoria Schwab? Are you reading this? Because how dare you END the book like that? This is not fair. I have rage after that ending. Anyway, this book was so much better than the first book, and I thought the first book was fantastic. We got character growth a relationship work from everyone. New characters appear and completely change the stakes of the story. There were a few moments in this book where I was basically sitting there going “Say whatttttt?” Also, ladies and gents and assorted others: Delilah Bard puts on a dress. I mean, talk about character growth.
An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn - Rating: 5/10 - Alas, this is my least liked book in the series. I have many issues with the character of Benedict. Many issues. He has such a massive ego, while at the same time being so salty about everything. Sophie tells him “no” multiple times, and instead of respecting her decisions and just being there for her when she wants him, he keeps pushing and pushing and demanding a different answer. The book was saved by Sophie’s knowledge of who she is and her boundaries. The side characters also stood out, especially the one and only Violet Bridgerton. Someone give this woman an award.
“Do you know what I have in my heart? I have hope. And I’ll share it with the world.”
― Amanda Bouchet, Heart on Fire”
Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet - Rating: 10/10 - What an ending. Oh my god, I was so stressed going into this book. We open up and shit explodes. Some things I suspected got confirmed, and some came out that completely blindsided me. I demand many stories to follow up on this one. Like, yeah, one storyline is over, but we are left with so many hanging threads. I know the author is already working on a particular story, but it’s not out and I have to wait, so… I’m not happy about it. And the one thing Cat does… like it’s a massive spoiler. I can’t talk about it. I can’t talk about anything because this is the third book in the series, and everything is a spoiler.
“Gold shimmered no matter what, but few people could make darkness glitter the way he did.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary”
Legendary by Stephanie Garber - Rating: 8/10 - I had a blast reading this book. Stephanie Garber is a solid writer who crafts such compelling stories. She really is. However, I have many questions that this book should have answered, but they were not. I know this is the middle book of a trilogy, but give me some answers so I don’t feel so lost. I grew to like Tella more than I did in the first book of the series. However, many of the events of the previous book were negated. This pissed me off. My pissed-off self was muttering angrily the whole time I was reading. I’m glad we got some world-building in this, but I am very confused as to where we’re going with this. I also did not appreciate Tella’s and Scarlett’s indecision. They both go back and forth on everything. Scarlett only started doing this in this book. She was pretty committed before. Also, everyone is keeping secrets, and everyone is surprised when it backfires in their face. Yet I still loved the book despite all my gripes with it. Now that’s called talent.
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well.
― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone”
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Rating: 9/10 - This is my third, or fourth, time reading this book, and I am still in awe of the language. The way language is used is lyrical and creates an atmosphere unlike any I’ve read before. I have so many quotes written down. I was fascinated with the world and the characters. Karou is such a layered main character. So is Akiva. They both have some serious issues. I loved that they didn’t keep any secrets from each other, you all know this is my pet peeve. The book is built upon layers of mysteries, but within those mysteries, the two of them work on their issues. I took a star away for the insta-love. It was beautifully done, but it was still insta-love.
“What we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin”
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas - Rating 12/10 - I loved this one too. I read it for the second time, and I caught more things than I did on my first read-through. This is why I am a firm advocate for rereading books. You see things you did not notice before. I loved that we had a real ensemble cast in this one. There are so many fascinating people in this world I want to know about. We have a whole freaking continent we have never been to. Someone needs to go there and take us with them. There are a lot of Celtic/Irish/British mythology influences, and there’s a nice nod to Russian mythology as well with the addition of the Firebird. I would also like everyone to go look up the meanings of the character names to get some insight into them. This is it for my Ted Talk of the day.
“Stars flickered around us, sweet darkness sweeping in. As if we were the only souls in a galaxy.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Frost and Starlight”
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas - Rating 9/1 0- Okay, do not go into this book expecting a plot. That is not the purpose of this little novella. The purpose is to build a bridge between the multiple parts of the same continuing story. If you go in knowing that, you will have a good time. It was so nice to spend some time with these characters outside of them fighting for their lives. I loved all the story threads that were planted. We got little kernels of everyone, and it worked for me. Sarah essentially waved flags at things we should pay attention to. Otherwise, I was reading just for the purpose of hanging out with the characters.
“I am the rock against which the surf crashes.― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames”
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas - Rating 14/10 - So far, this has been my favorite book in the series. It had so many things I needed and didn’t know I needed. Was it perfect? No, absolutely not. But it was a good story. I am being as vague as humanly possible because I truly think going into this book only prepared with what you know from the previous books is the best thing you can do. I also benefited greatly from my reread. The relationships in this book worked for me. The romance was great, but the friendships were the true stars of the show. I cried a few times. I had to cry. There was no other choice. Nesta is such an amazing character. She goes on a journey both physically and emotionally. The stairs, guys! The freaking stairs! Ugh, I’m a mess.
“I was born knowing how to do three things - how to breathe, how to dream, and how to love you.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Lore”
Lore by Alexandra Bracken- Rating 8/10 - I have many feelings. On one hand, I enjoyed myself while reading, but on the other hand, something felt like it was missing. I’m not even sure what I was looking for. I think my main issue was the lack of relationship development. The Lore/Castor relationship was pretty well developed, but everything else felt shallow. I wanted more. This is a book I think would have benefited from more character moments instead of plot. I did not see one plot twist coming, at least. However, I am still confused about that ending. What happened? Also, what was the whole point of the Ageon? Someone give me answers. Am I just super dumb right now?
Alright, here are my reading updates. I tried to be as good as possible about avoiding spoilers. It was not easy. I have many thoughts about all these books, but all of them are spoilers, and I refuse to just spoil things. If you ask me to spoil things, that’s okay, I’ll do it on request, but not in any other way
See you all next time,
Anna
