Best of Books 2016| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?
Welcome to the first post in a 3 part series called "Best of 2016". I did this last year for 2015 and really enjoyed it, so I thought I would do it again. Just a quick note- while I am writing this, I am very ill, so it may not be as fluent as some of my other posts.

In this post I will be talking about my favourite books that were published in 2016. I have picked 6 books that I love and were published last year. They are in no particular order other than the order I took photos of them.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

 While I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about this book, I loved it. ACOMAF completely hooked me in and I read this beast of a book in 3 days. I loved the pace and the world building of this book. I cannot wait for the sequel A Court of Wings and Ruin to come out in May this year. ACOMAF is one of my most prized books as this copy is a US hardback that Sarah signed and personalized to me. My parents got me this with help of a friend of my dad's who lives in America. You can read my review here.

The next book on my list is the screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them movie. I knew that at least one JK Rowling book would have to make it on to this list and I chose this one over Cursed Child because I preferred it. I was happy that I could read the script of the film and be able to refer to scenes better. I loved that I could see how JK Rowling had written such a good script. You can read my review of the film here.  

Next is a book I don't talk enough about on here and that is Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. I picked up this book not really knowing what it was about and it was one of the best reading choices I made. Rebel of the Sands is like nothing I've read and I am dying for the sequel Traitor to the Throne to come out this year.

Another book I don't talk about enough is Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin. I bought this on the same trip as Rebel of the Sands and fell in love with it too. I would describe it as a YA version of the Man in the High Castle, which is a book I haven't read but I have watched part of the TV series.  It was so well written and I need to pick up the sequel Blood for Blood, which is already out.

In 2016 I discovered VE Schwab's books and she has become one of my favourite authors. This Savage Song was such an amazing book about what it is to be human. I would highly recommend this. Our Dark Duet, which is the sequel, comes out later this year.

My final choice is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. I would have to say that this is my favourite book of 2016. It was so emotional and moving, as well as behind funny. I need the sequel, Lord of Shadows now. You can read my review here.









So that concludes my Best of Books for 2016. Let me know some of your favourite books. The next post in my Best of Series will be going up next Friday.
Love,
Carenza x

Book Review Monday- A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?
So it's been a while since I posted a Book Review on here but I've wanted to review the A Court of Thrones and Roses series (the first two books in the series) by Sarah J Maas for a while. I read these books back in July and words can't convey my love for this series. So as per usual, this review will follow the same style as my other book reviews.

ACOTAR and ACOMAF by Sarah J Maas- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

Okay, you might want to prepare yourself for some fangirling in this post. I loved these books so much! They were what I needed after being in a reading slump for the first part of 2016. I had read all of the books in the Throne of Glass series that had been released at that point and was really looking forward to starting this series. When this (ACOMAF) came out in May, my twitter was filled with tweets about ACOMAF. If you love fantasy, then you need to read this series.

Cover Review 

Now you may notice that one is a paperback and the other is a hardback. I bought the paperback and my dad got me the hardback signed by a friend of his (his friend got it signed for me, they didn't sign it, Sarah signed it and it's my pride and joy) End of slightly long story

I love these covers so much, I love the hardback more and plan on getting more hardbacks in this series. I love the block colours and how the people are really detailed.

Plot

So I am going to be doing a very brief summary of the plot for the overall premise of the series and these summaries are from Goodreads

ACOTAR

Feyre is a huntress.

She thinks nothing of slaughtering a wolf to capture its prey. But, like all mortals, she fears what lingers mercilessly beyond the forest. And she will learn that taking the life of a magical creature comes at a high price...

Imprisoned in an enchanted court in her enemy's kingdom, Feyre is free to roam but forbidden to escape. Her captor's body bears the scars of fighting, and his face is always masked - but his piercing stare draws her ever closer. As Feyre's feeling for Tamlin begin to burn through every warning she's been told about his kind, an ancient, wicked shadow grows.

Feyre must find a way to break a spell, or lose her heart forever.

This was taken from Goodreads, the average rating on Goodreads is 4.3/5 stars and this is from 122,283 ratings.

ACOMAF

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.
Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.
With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.  

This was taken from Goodreads, the average rating on Goodreads is 4.74/5 and this is from 67,372 reviews.

Character Chat

So I am going to talk about 3 characters and they are Feyre, Tamlin and of course Rhysand (the fandom would kill me if I didn't talk about Rhys.

Feyre

I will be honest, at first I wasn't the hugest fan of Feyre. I found her too similar to Celaena/ Aelin at first. But I soon fell in love with her, she stood up to the powerful men in the world she lives and has too put up with so much from her family. I really enjoyed reading from only her perspective and I thought that she was a very strong character.

Tamlin

I really liked Tamlin at first, he was really nice in ACOTAR and he showed compassion towards Feyre. I felt that Tamlin and Feyre were a perfect couple and that there was no way Feyre could end up with anyone else. But in book two, I hated Tamlin. He was so controlling and needy. He just needs to chill, and I can't believe he would do those things to Feyre and Rhysand.

Rhysand

I love Rhysand! I want to get candles that smell like him and prints with him and Feyre on! I thought that Rhys wasn't as bad as he was painted to be in ACOTAR. I knew that he was doing these things to protect Feyre. His relationship with Feyre was perfect and I could read scenes about them all day.

Opinion

Like I have said countless times, I love this series. This book has such beautiful descriptions, amazing fight scenes and seriously steamy sex scenes. If you do not like graphic sex scenes, then I would advise that you don't read these books. But I loved the fantasy world they were set and loved the descriptions of the various courts. I am way too excited for the next book to come out, I'm not sure if this is the final book in the series as earlier this year we got some news that ACOTAR will be a 8 book series. 

So that concludes my review of ACOTAR and ACOMAF, I hope you liked it and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Love,

Carenza x