Book Review Monday- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard| It's Carenza B

Hello!

Today I am sharing with you guys my second Book Review Monday, this time I'm talking about Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. As the second book in this series has just come, I think it's only fitting to talk about the first book. If you have any requests for books for me to review, please let me know as I don't have a book to review for the next Book Review Monday, which will be going up on the 29/02/2016. Anyway, here is my review of Red Queen!
Enjoy!

Cover

Like the last two Book Reviews I have posted, I love the cover! If you didn't know, I'm a sucker for a beautiful cover and white covers are my favourite. I love the bold red writing, and the blood dripping down from the upside crown. I think the covers for this series are amazing and love seeing them lined up on my bookshelves.

Plot

I will  try and make this as spoil free as I can but I would advise reading the book first before you read these posts. The story is set in a world were common Reds like Mare Barrow are undermined and ruled by superpower possessing Silvers. When Mare is cornered by Silvers and threatened, it is revealed that she has powers. The Silvers panic and to cover her up, announce she is a long lost heiress and she is entered into a competition to win one of the hands of the Royal Princes,  heir to the throne of Norta Prince Tiberias (known as Cal) and his younger brother Prince Maven. While settling in to life in the castle, Mare is approached by her old friend Kilorn Warren, he has been called up to fight but he thinks he has found a way out by joining a rebel group led by a women called Farley. The story follows Mare as she learns to control her powers and sees her grow close to both of the Princes.

Characters

The first character I am going to talk about is Mare Barrow. Mare is a 17 year old Red, the second youngest in her family, she struggles to support her family. All of her older brothers have been sent to the war and her sister works in a sewing factory. Mare is protecting her sisters when her powers are revealed and because of this her sisters arm is broken. Mare is strong, fierce and independent. She is use to looking out for herself and hates living in the palace. She finds life very different and difficult from what she is use to, but she finds a friend in Cal.

The next character I am going to talk about is Cal, Cal is slightly older than Mare. Unlike the rest of his family, Cal enjoys walking around the Red part of town, and isn't as formal as the rest of his family. The first time he meets Mare is before she has discovered her powers, he was nice to her and seemed to see something in her.

The final character I am going to talk about is Maven. Cal's younger brother and Mare's fiancee, he is young and hotheaded. He is kind to Mare like his brother, but is very rash and turns out he's not as nice as he looks.

Opinions

I love this book and can't wait to get my hands on the second book, Glass Sword. I love the way it's been written and her characters are brilliant. Mare is such a feisty and independent person, it's hard not to love her. You also get to know how hard it is to survive in that world and I hope the next book finishes a lot of unanswered questions.

So that concludes my book review for Red Queen, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think of Red Queen and if you have read Glass Sword, please no spoilers! I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback. Don't forget to follow my blog, and my Instagram and Twitter, my username for both is @itscarenzab. If you have any business inquires, please email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com.
Carenza x    

Best of Books 2015| It's Carenza B

Hello!
Welcome to the second post in a series I'm calling "Best of", in which I look back at things that I loved in 2015. This one is all about books and which were my favourite books of this year. Since the start of this year I have read so many new books and re-read old favourites, but somehow I managed narrow it down to my top 5 books/ series of 2015. Enjoy!

These books are in no particular order other than when I grabbed them of my shelf to take there photos.

First we have Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, I read this in July after seeing so many book-tubers hype it and it rightly deserves the hype. The story takes place in a fictional world of Norta, were the people are divided by class- your either a common Red like Mare or a powerful Silver like Prince Tiberias (who is called Cal). Without giving too much away, in the society the Silvers have special powers and when pressured it is revealed that Mare has powers. The book follows her journey about learning to control her powers and surviving in the royal palace. I can't wait to read the second book, Glass Sword when it comes out this year.

 Next we have a classic, around the end of  July I started to re-read the Harry Potter series. I don't think I need to explain the plot of Harry Potter and if you don't know it, go read it. I grew up reading and listening to the books and waiting for the films to come out. We had this rule in my house hold that I wasn't allowed to watch the movie until I had read the book, I ended up seeing the last three movies in the cinema and having to watch the rest on DVD. I love Harry Potter and I have lots of fond memories about it. I tend to re-read it at least once a year to refresh my mind and I find that every time I read it I learn something new.

Next we have a very hyped up book and that is The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire by Dan Howell and Phil Lester aka danisnotonfire and amazingphil. This book was massively hyped up in the YouTube world and in my opinion, the hype was unnecessary. Don't get me wrong I liked the book but it wasn't my favourite book I read in 2015. There are bits that are funny and there are loads of pictures, it is basically another part of the world of Dan and Phil.

The next series I want to talk about is the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Sthol, this was the first series I started book blogging about. I love it, it follows the story of Ethan Wate, a seemingly normal boy and a girl called Lena Duchannes. Lena is the niece of the towns reclusive and when she arrives at Gatlin School, things start going weird. It turns out that she is a witch (Caster) and on her 16th birthday she will claimed for the light or the dark. The series follows their relationship and how they overcome everything in their path. This is probably my second favourite series of the year.   

And finally we have my favourite series of the year which was the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Mass. This is beyond superb. The series follows an assassin called Celaena Sardothien in the Kingdom of Adarlan. She is summoned to the palace to take place in a competition to become the Royal Assassin. The story follows her journey through the competition and her getting used to her freedom. I don't want to give too much away as I plan to review the book, which should be going up at the end of this month.    

So those were my top 5 books of 2015, leave a comment saying what your favourite books are and maybe we can all get some good recommendations. Don't forget to follow me on instagram and twitter @itscarenzab. You can also follow my blog by clicking follow, if you have any post requests please feel free to email me on my business email itscarenzab@gmail.com.

Carenza x