Weekly Reading Wrap Up- Feb 15th to 28th
Hello BookDragons,
I am not going to lie to you all, I have thrown 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 book 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 think I did pretty well all things considered. I still feel like I am behind on resign but that is nothing new for me at this point. I had a great last few weeks. I really 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 is missing. Often when reading I find that the focus is on one or the other so 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 does some serious soul searching and some serious power 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, even though I loved the first book so much. We go much character growth from everyone. We got new characters and unexpected relationships. Also, some seriously shocking things happened. 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 and her knowledge of who she is and her own boundaries, and the side characters. 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 get confirmed and some come 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 working on one particular story already 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 so I can’t talk about it. I can’t talk about anything because this is the third book in the series so 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 sold writer who crafts such compelling stories. She really is. However, I have many questions I think this book should have answered, that were not answered. I know this is a middle book of a trilogy, but like, give me some answers so I don’t feel completely lost. I did grow to like Tella more. However, I did feel like a lot of the events of the previous book were negated. This pissed me off. My pissed-off self was mattering angrily the whole time I was reading. I am so glad we got some world-building in this, but I am so very confused as to where we are 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 this book is written just absolutely blows my mind. I have so many quotes written down. Anyways, I loved this book. I really was fascinated with the world, and with the characters. Karou is such a good main character. So is Akiva. They both have some serious issues. I also loved that they didn’t really keep any secrets from each other, you all know this is my personal pet peeve. The book is built upon layers of mysteries, but within those mysteries, the two of them figure their issues out pretty well. I took a star away for the insta-love. Like it was a beautifully done insta-love 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 really loved this book too. I read it for the second time and I caught way 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. I love the mixture of mythological influences. There is a lot of Celtic/ Irish/ British mythology, and I got a nice nod to Russian mythology as well with the addition of the Firebird and the name of a certain someone. 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 9/10- Okay do not go into this book expecting a plot. That is not the purpose of this little novel. The purpose is to build a bridge between the multiple parts of the same continuing story. And I loved it so much. 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 seeded here. We got little kernels of everyone and it worked for me. Sarah essentially vowed flags at things we should pay attention to. We also got some glorious character moments that I am always in need of.
“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. 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, and the friendships filled my heart. I cried a few times. I had to cry. There was no other choice. Nesta is such an amazing character. She really goes on an amazing journey both physically and emotionally. The stairs guys! The freaking stairs! Ugh, I’m a mess. I got multiple copies for the bonus scenes and I highly recommend that everyone try to get their hands on these bonus scenes because they really add to the story in my opinion. I want so many more things. Could Sarah eventually release the outtakes somewhere? Please? I have a list of things I’m sure she’s written and not released.
“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 really enjoyed myself while reading this book, on the other 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 a bit shallow? Like I wanted more. This is a book I think would have benefited from more character moments instead of plot moments. I did not see one plot twist coming at least. However, I am still confused about that ending. Like.. what happened? Also, what was the whole point o the Ageon? Someone give me answers. Am I just super dumb right now?
Alright, here are my reading updates. I really 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
