Book Review Monday- Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Hello!
Today I have my last book review Monday post before my exams. For more information as to why I am stopping blogging from April to June, click here. Today I am reviewing the ever so popular Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. This is the first installment in the Dark Artifices series. It was released on March 8th and I finished it a week later. Without further a do, here is my review of Lady Midnight!
Warning! This review contains spoilers, it also contains some spoilers for The Mortal Instrument series and The Infernal Devices series also by Cassandra Clare. 

Cover

This cover is so gorgeous! I really hope they release The Dark Artifices in the same cover designs as TID and TMI. I love that the cover doesn't give too much away about the book. 

Plot

OMG! This plot, it may have been the best thing I have ever read. Lady Midnight takes place 5 years after the events of City of Heavenly Fire (Book 6 in TMI) but in Los Angeles. It follows Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorns. Emma lost her parents in the Dark War and is trying to solve their murders after the Clave ruled that they were killed by Sebastian. Julian Blackthorn lost his Father, elder brother and sister in Dark War and now has to look after his 5 younger siblings by himself. Emma and Julian became parabati after the Dark War. After a series of murders begin happening across LA, Emma becomes suspicious that it is something  to do with her parents murders. When the faeries arrive and ask them to solve the murders, Mark Blackthorn is returned to the Blackthorns. While trying to solve the murders and getting used to having Mark back, Emma and Julian realize they have feelings for each other even though it is against the law. Slowly they begin to unravel the murders, with the help of Christina Rosales (a Mexican Shadowhunter), they realize that the murder is a lot closer to home. Suddenly it dawns on them that the killer is Malcolm Fade, High Warlock of LA. Malcolm has been killing people in an attempt to bring back his long lost love who was killed by the shadowhunters. They battle Malcolm and Malcolm dies. When Emma runs into Jem he informs her that there is a parabati curse. If parabati fall in love they become so powerful they kill all those around them. Emma decides to break things of with Julian and to make things worse, she asks Mark to pretend to be her Boyfriend. Mark asks her "Why lie?"

Characters

The first character I want to talk about is Emma Carstairs. I adore Emma. Cassandra Clare has created another fierce and independent women to add to her list of brilliant females. Emma is like Clary and Tessa but at the same time she's unique. She's very loyal to the Blackthorn family and cares for those around her. You sense a very close bond between Emma and Julian, that isn't romantic or a friendship.You can tell they belong together. She's also very determined and won't let anything get in her way. You can tell that her parents deaths have had huge impact on her and also that the events of the Dark War have affected her. She has become one of my favourite characters that Cassandra Clare has created.

The next character I want to talk about is Julian Blackthorn. I may be in love with Jules. He's stepped up to the job of looking after his siblings and never complains. You can tell that he has had to grow up quite quickly. He's very mature for his age. He's also very caring, he extends his love to everyone around him. You can tell he has feelings for Emma quite early on and that he has had to hide his feelings. He's definitely like Will, in that he has had something massive happen to him which has made him quite secretive. It is hinted that he has a secret that even Emma doesn't know. He is definitely a father figure to his siblings. The ending of this book made me feel so bad for Julian, and I just wanted to give him a huge hug.

Finally I want to talk about Mark Blackthorn, who I also love. Mark is definitely the comedic character in Lady Midnight, this is mainly because he spent so long with the Wild Hunt. He just makes me laugh so much. He's like a child in an adults body. You can tell he cares for his family but sometimes his anger gets the better of him. Even though his time with the Wild Hunt was not a happy one, he managed to find love in the form of Keiran. 

Opinions

It is safe to say that I love this book, I actually posted a mini review of my Goodreads because I loved it that much. It was so nice having another insight to the shadowhunter world and meeting new characters. They were all so lovable and after a few chapters it felt as though you knew them as well as any other character. The plot was just so good that it is impossible to put into words. It had me all over the place and my emotions were ruined after reading this book. I cannot wait for the next book and I plan on reading TID, TMI and then Lady Midnight after my exams. It is impossible to rate this book as it is just so good, you have to read it.

So that was my review of Lady Midnight, let me know if you have read this. This is my final post before my exams and my once a month posts will start in April. They will be posted on April 29th, May 27th and June 24th. My twitter and Instagram are @itscarenzab and my business email is itscarenzab@gmail.com.

Carenza x

   

February Illumicrate Review| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So today I have something a bit different planned and I am going to be reviewing the February Illumicrate. I ordered and received mine in February but I wanted to read the book and test the products out before sharing my opinions with you guys. Without further a do here is my February Illumicrate Review!

Before I start the review, I will answer some questions that might arise in the comments!

What is Illumicrate?
Illumicrate is a quarterly (every 3 months) subscription service. It is a book based subscription box and each box comes with a new release (typically YA) and 3-5 bookish items. It is a UK based service run by Daphne from Winged Reviews.

How much does it cost?
Illumicrate costs £29.99 per box. This includes postage if you live in the UK, but if you live outside of the UK you will have to pay shipping fees.

How did you hear about Illumicrate?
I heard about Illumicrate through Sasha Alsberg's YouTube channel and it sounded really good. I then reached out to Illumicrate to ask if they could send me a box, sadly they had run out but they did offer me a discount code instead.

So those are so quick questions that I think people might ask and now I'm going to go into detail about the contents of the box.

Contents

This is what the box looks like from the outside. There is a lot of yellow confetti when it is opened and I really enjoyed this. 

This is a brief overview of the contents of the box, you get a really good selection of products.

The first things I found were these cool pencils from Pobble and Ping. They are exclusive to Illumicrate and I really like them. I don't think I'll ever use them because I don't want to damage or lose them.

The next thing I found was this cool Bookcase Pouch designed by Elena Illustration. You may have seen this pouch on my Instagram account. I really like it and it is super good quality. I've already taken it on two holidays and it holds a lot of pencils. This is also exclusive to Illumicrate

Next I found these super cute Love themed bookmarks from BeeDoo. These have sparked my love for bookmarks and in particular magnetic bookmarks. They are really good quality and I am currently using the one on the left. Again these are exclusive to Illumicrate.

 Possibly my favourite item from the box is this candle from Simple Co Candles. This candle is inspired by A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Shcwab (Which I have not read) and there were 4 candles you could get. I received Grey London and to me it smells like lemongrass or some other masculine scent. This is also exclusive.

The final item was this bookmark inspired by the book (Which I will show you later). I think that it is a nice touch to put in a bookmark inspired by the book. This is designed by Daydreaming Designs and is also exclusive.

There was this cool card in which had a message from the author and gave you a little inside to the world in which the book is set in. I have this pinned up next to my bookshelves. It's a really cool quote from the book and I really like the typography.

There was also this signed bookplate which I have now stuck in the front of my book. I have never received a signed bookplate and her signature is really cool.

There were some promotional items included as well. They were for 2 books that are coming out soon, one is The It Girl by Katy Seagull and the other is The Dark Days Club and I don't know who this is by. I think it's really nice that they included promotional products as it lets the subscriber find new books.

Another thing that was included was this recipe for lemonade and it is made by a character called Grace Reed. I don't know where this is from but I think it's a nice touch and in summer I will be using this.

Finally the book, you guys might already know this as I reviewed it for my last Book Review Monday Post. The book was Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, my review of which you can read here. I won't go into too much detail as my review has all my opinions, but I will say that I didn't enjoy the book and that I found it rather repetitive and too complicated (my review explains why).

So overall I really liked my first Illumicrate and I will eventually get round to subscribing for the next box. I think it's good value for money and I really enjoy waiting for it. I rate it 4.5/5 stars.

So that was my review of Illumicrate, I hope you liked it. Leave a comment saying what your favourite item was and remember that I will not be blogging through April, May and June because of my exams (my full reason can be read in my February Update). If you have any business inquires please email me on my business email itscarenzab@gmail.com

Carenza x

February Update 2016| It's Carenza B

Hello!

So today I am bringing you my February Update, in case you don't know this is a series were I look back at the month and how I felt it went. You can read my January one here. Without further a do here is my February Update.

1) Be more organised i.e be more tidy
Again, like last month (January) I haven't made much progress. My bedroom and desk did not get tidied once, my blog became less organised and I would only remember on the day of the post going up that I had not written one. So far this month (March) I have become at lot more organised, I have made a revision timetable which I am trying to stick to and I have had a massive tidy of my bedroom.

2) Be more confident
I feel as though my confidence dipped in February, and that in general February was a bad month though not as bad as January. My 2016 has not got of to the best start and it is not something I want to talk about, and because my 2016 has been bad my confidence has suffered.

3) To get fit and feel happy with my body i.e drink more water
This was not happening at the beginning of the month and it wasn't until the middle did I pick it up again. I exercised for 4 days in a row, and I noticed such a difference in my mood and general well being over that time. My goal is to exercise everyday in April and there are no excuses unless I'm ill and that's the only excuse I'll accept.

4) Study more often
This needs to start happening, I started to revise a bit more in February but it wasn't general revision it was specif revision for tests and I need to start revising more. I've drawn up a revision timetable for Easter and on average, on weekdays I plan to do 6 hours a day and 5 hours a day at weekends (this is when my parents are off and I want to spend time with them)

5) Do more of what makes me HAPPY
This one has taken a step down from my last update but still has been done more than revision. I think it's because I had a bad start to the year and I'm still adjusting to what happened. I'm glad I'm happy but I am going to start revising more.

6) Write and read more
I think that this one hasn't happened as much either. I did a lot of writing during the Half Term Holidays but I am getting through books a lot quicker. I've started taking books with me when I am travelling and reading them. I've also started going to bed a bit earlier and have been getting more reading done that way.

General Update:
As you guys know, I start my GCSE's in May and this means that blogging will have to take a step down. I don't want to do this but I have to focus on my exams and I want to do really well in them. All my other social medias will be taking a step down as well as I won't have the time to post on them. It is because of this I have decided to post ONCE A MONTH with a general mash up of my usual posts (TBR and Wrap Up, Favourites and Update). These posts will start in April and will finish in June. I will start blogging properly in July as I would like to enjoy the stress free days I have after my exams. I hope you guys can understand why I am making these decisions about posting once a month (the posts will come on the last Friday of those months).

So that was my February update, I hope you guys enjoyed it. You can now follow my blog by using the follow by email option and I have direct links to my Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads down the sides. If you have any business inquiries please drop me an email at itscarenzab@gmail.com

Carenza x 

Book Review Monday- Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Hello!
So I have my 4th Book Review Monday post and this time I am reviewing Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, I received this in the February Illumicrate (my review of which will be going up on 25/3/2016). I had never heard of it before then and was excited to read it, so without further ado here are my thoughts, feelings and opinions on Truthwitch.
WARNING: This review contains spoilers so do not read if you are/ want to read this book.

Cover

I'm going to be honest, I don't like the cover for this book. It has nothing to do with the book and I have no idea who the girl is supposed to be. I do like the typography used for the title though. Also I want to apologies for my cat being in the photo, he decided my bed was the best place to curl up on. Also, I am not mad keen on Hardback books. I'd say around 10% of my books are Hardback.

Plot 

What Goodreads says:
"In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.
Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.
Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.
In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch."

To be honest, this is the best way of describing the plot. The plot is quite simple: They are being hunted, but all the terminology made it hard to understand what was happening (I'll talk about this more in my Opinions section). The Goodreads rating for this book is 4/5 stars on average.

Opinions

I am going to be honest, I did not enjoy this book. It was very slow paced until the very end were everything seemed to happen. I felt as if there were too many action scenes and they were almost always straight after another. The one major thing that held this book back was terminology, I didn't understand half of it and it wasn't explained. I felt as though I spent more time trying to work out what was happening than actually enjoying this book. I don't think I would have read this if it hadn't have been sent to me. I do love the premise of this book, that it's two girls friendship that save the day but there wasn't much of that friendship in the book. I will be continuing with this series as I am interested to see were it goes but I don't have high hopes at all.

Also I have decided not to include a Characters section in this review as I find it really hard to explain the terminology and I felt that the characters were too similar to ones in the book and ones that existed in other books.

So that is my review of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, please remember that these are my opinions and that I am not trying to offend anyone in anyway. You can now follow my blog by using the follow by email option and I have direct links to my Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads down the sides. If you have any business inquiries please drop me an email at itscarenzab@gmail.com

Carenza x 

February Favourites 2016| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So today I have my February Favourites post and I will say that I have a few more favourites than last month. As you guys know January was a very busy and stressful month for me, so I didn't really enjoy it that much. February was a slightly better month, but I'm still working towards making the most of each month. Without further a do, here are my February Favourites!

Beauty

I didn't have many beauty favourites this month, I'm going to be honest I'm not into beauty right now. I just am not enjoying it and that's why I don't have many favourites in this category.

Like last month I really liked the Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream, it's been helping my dry skin loads and feels really nice on. I also like the smell, it smells really fresh and floral. I have been using this most mornings before school.

The other beauty favourite I have is the Sanctuary Spa 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask. This has been helping me with my blemishes, as when it heats up it opens the pores allowing all the crap to come out. Thermal masks are really good for blemish prone skin and they only last 5 mins. I used this once a week and noticed a difference in my skin.

Books

My favourite book of the month was Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, my full review can be read here. I really enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to get my hands on the others, also the movie looks amazing and I can't wait to see it. I never thought I'd like it as the cover use to scare me but I read it over 2 days and fell in love.

The other bookish related thing I loved are my USA editions of The Mortal Instruments, firstly please ignore the funny objects either side- they wouldn't stay up and secondly how could I say no to those covers. When I saw they had released these editions I was so happy, but then I found out they were only available in the US. I managed to get mine from eBay for £18 which is a total bargain!!  

Bits'n'Bobs

 The first Bits'n'Bobs thing I have been loving are my Harry Potter Pop! Funkos. They are these plastic figurines that originally came from Japan, but people loved them so much they brought them over here. I only have the Harry Potter ones and at the moment I have Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. I have been using them lots in my bookstagrams and when they are not being used they sit on my desk.

The second Bits'n'Bobs thing I have been loving are my Tsum Tsum, you guys probably know by now that I love Tsum Tsum. I currently have 46 in my collection but I have another 40 as good reward policies with my parents (that makes me sound like a little kid, but it's just something fun that's all). They have characters they sell all year round and they have limited collections that they release twice a month. They are sold in Disney mainly, but can be bought from Clintons and Toys R US. They range in price from £3-3.99. The ones in the photo are my favourites and they often appear in my bookstagrams.

The final Bits'n'Bobs thing I have been loving is my Instagram, I started the month with 4 followers and no idea what to post, by the end of it I had 16 followers which isn't a lot but I am happy with it. I get lots of nice people liking my photos and the occasional nice comment. My favourite thing I did last month was shoutout 9 of my favourite accounts and 4 of them liked the post and 1 of them is following me now. Being recognised in the bookish community is making me so happy and I hope one day my account is as good as the people I aspire to be like.

So that's all for this post, I hope you liked it. Leave me a comment telling me about your favourites, don't forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter (@itscarenzab) and if you have any business inquires please email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com

Carenza x

February Wrap Up and March TBR 2016| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So today I have my second Wrap Up and TBR, you can read my first one here. Like my last Wrap Up and TBR, I haven't read as many books as I would have liked to. Each book will have a short description as most of them will be reviewed at some point. So here is my Wrap Up and TBR, enjoy!

February Wrap Up

February was a slightly better reading month than January as I read 3 books, I'm slowly getting better at reading books and making more time to read them.

The first book I read in the month of February was Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas and holy crap it's amazing. I was already half way through this book by the beginning of the month. I won't go into too much detail as you really need to have read the other three books in the series to understand how good it is and all that happened in it. I am really happy with how it ended but I need more and I can't wait for the next one. I plan on reviewing the series at some point, so keep your eyes out for that.

  

The next book I read was Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and this was my favourite book of the month, my full review went up on Monday and you can read it here. I won't go into too much detail but I will say that I love it and I can't wait to read the other books, and guys the movie looks amazing. Eva Green as Miss Peregrine is perfect and I can't wait till October 7th, if you guys would like any posts about the movie let me know.

 

The final book I read this month was Truthwitch by Susan Dennard and I received this in the February Illumicrate. Again like Queen of the Tearling, I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I love the idea behind it, that two girls friendship can save the world but there was just so much terminology that I didn't understand and I felt like it could have been explained better. I plan on reviewing this as my next Book Review Monday Post.  

March TBR

I plan on reading 4 books this month, one being a novella and one of these books has been carried over from my February TBR.

The first book I plan on reading is one that I don't have a copy of and that is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. I joined the Shadowhunter fandom 3 years ago and haven't looked back since. I love the characters, her writing style and just everything about these books has me hooked. So far I know that Lady Midnight will be part of a trilogy called the Dark Artifacts, and that it is set in Los Angeles and the main characters are called Emma Carstairs (who we met in Heavenly Fire) and Julian Blackthorn. I am so excited to read this as I have been waiting since the last book came out for a new one.   

Next I plan on reading my World Book Day book and that is Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. I have never read a Rainbow Rowell novel before so I am excited to read this. The book revolves around the character of Elena, an 18 year old die hard Star Wars fan. Elena excepts to be part of a line of thousands of people waiting to see the new movie, instead she's part of a line of 3. Elena then has to endure this and do some pretty weird things, which I will let you guys find out. 

  

Then I plan on reading The Assassins Blade by Sarah J Maas, this is a bind up of 5(?) novellas, and all of them take place before Throne of Glass. I'm really looking forward to this but apparently you are suppose to read this before Queen of Shadows, but I don't think that it will have a major impact on your reading experience.

 

Finally I plan on reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, like I said in my previous TBR post I love this book and the character of Jane. I can't wait to read it again and fully appreciate it rather than study it.

So that concludes my Wrap and TBR post, I'm sorry it's a day late but I am super busy and the closer we get to my exams the more busy I will be. But after June, I have a lovely long 12 week holiday so hopefully I'll be blogging loads. I am thinking of changing my upload day to a Saturday as it is easier for me and I feel that Saturday is a good day to post. Don't forget to follow my blog by clicking the follow button, and leave me a comment about your reading habits from the last month. Don't forget to follow my Twitter and Instagram (@itscarenzab) and my business email is itscarenzab@gmail.com 

Carenza x