Book Review Monday- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas(Contains Spoilers)| It'sCarenzaB

Title- A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author- Sarah J Maas
Series- A Court of Thorns and Roses
Published- May 2nd 2017
Page Count- 699
Publishing House- Bloomsbury
Rating- 4/5 Stars

About the Author 

Sarah J Maas is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, as well as a USA Today and international bestselling author. Sarah wrote the first incarnation of the Throne of Glass series when she was just sixteen, and has now sold in thirty- five languages. A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and dog. (Taken from Sarah's website)

Plot

A nightmare, I’d told Tamlin. I was the nightmare.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit—and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords—and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

Following A Court of Mist and Fury, I had very high hopes for this book and sadly my high hopes weren't met. I have been a fan of Sarah's since 2015 and managed to catch up with all her books very quickly. I can say that I prefer the ACOTAR series as I prefer trilogies, so when I knew that this part of the series was coming to an end, I was excited to see how Sarah wrapped it up. I know that a lot of fans of the ACOTAR series were either happy or let down by ACOWAR, but I fall somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed it, but it didn't compare to ACOMAF. I ended up giving it 4/5 stars, which is still a lot more than you would have thought. 

Trying to turn my opinions into something articulate with structure is going to be a challenge, so I'm settling for articulate rather than structure. One thing I loved about this book was how fast paced it was. I was sure that it was going to be a very long time before Feyre and Rhysand were reunited, but it happened after over a hundred pages. I think the pacing of the book was one of the reasons why it got higher than what I was initially planning on giving it. It hooked you in and was almost impossible to put it down. I haven't felt that way about a book in a very long time.

Something I had an issue with was the way Sarah handled Mor's sexuality. I know that several fans of the series have had issues with this part of her character. For someone as big as Sarah in the YA writing world, the lack of diversity in her books is shocking. But when she did included some diversity, it was (in my opinion) poor. Having a character who is gay suppress their sexuality for hundreds of years and lead someone on is just wrong. It was a chance for Sarah to have some great representation of diversity in her books and in my opinion, she just threw it away.

The character development from ACOTAR to ACOWAR is amazing. These books have been very character driven, which is something I am not usually a fan of, but in Sarah's books it is something I like. I think that this is what invested me in the story line when I picked it up last year. Characters such as Lucien, Cassian and Azriel are the ones I am the most invested in. I know that lot's of people are invested in Feyre and Rhysand's story, but I personally don't care for them. I found them quite irritating in this book and considering they were both narrators, that's not a good thing.

Like I mentioned, I wasn't invested in Feyre's story line as I found her annoying as a narrator. When you find the narrator annoying, it's never a good sign. I found her very whinny and self-centered in this book. All the things she did to Tamlin were cruel and even if Tamlin made many bad mistakes to get Feyre back, what Feyre did to Tamlin was equally as bad. Putting an entire group of people at risk because one person made a bad mistake is idiotic and selfish.

I'm very glad that the remaining books in this series won't focus on Feyre and Rhys as I'm done with their story. I am going to be continuing with this series, but I am looking forward to reading more about some of the other characters.
Love,
Carenza x    

May(ish) Wrap Up| It'sCarenzaB

I've officially had the worst reading month since January 2016 where I only read two books. For the last three years, May has become one of the most stressful and busy months in the year because of exams. And this year was no exception. I spent the entirety of May drowning in revision and so I only had time to read one book. Now that exams are over, I have more time to read and plan on catching up on all the books I want to read.

The only book I read was the final book in the main A Court of Thorns and Roses series. A Court of Wings and Ruin hit shelves on May 2nd and after much waiting and pain, I finally got my copy. I am going to be posting my full spoiler review very soon, so stay tuned for that. 

So that concludes my very very short May Wrap Up. I promise these posts will be longer in the future now I have more time to read.

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

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   

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

Hello!

So firstly I owe you guys an apology, this post was suppose to up yesterday (5/2/16) but this week has been a very emotional and busy week for me, and to top that I am coming down with a nasty cold. I haven't had the time to write and I felt really crap last night so I decided to chill in order to get better quicker.

Anyway, today I have my first Wrap Up and TBR post. You guys can tell that I am book obsessed, its got to the point were I am browsing Amazon for books and dying to get my hands on new covers (The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices new covers are to die for, shame they're only available in the US!). Anyway, lets get into the post!

January Wrap Up

This month was a very bad month for reading books, I only read two books! I have been stupidly busy and had family things to deal with, and because of this I only read two books! This is an all time low in book reading terms as I can usually read 3 or 4 books a month.

The first book I read was Girl Online On Tour by Zoe Sugg aka Zoella from YouTube. This is the second book she has written and continues the story of Penny and Noah. Penny has just finished her GCSE's and has also stopped posting on her blog after receiving hate from the Media for dating Noah. Penny and Noah haven't seen each other in a long time and tonight Noah is performing in her local area, then going on tour around the world while taking Penny with him. Things then escalate and don't end well. I have to say I enjoyed the first book a lot more as it focused more an Penny as an individual and how she learnt to cope with her anxiety, whereas this book was more about Noah and Penny's relationship. I will admit I ready this over two days and really enjoyed myself, and unlike other Zoella "fans" I hope there isn't another book as I feel that the story has run its course and ended nicely. If you want I can review this for my Book Review Monday Series, leave a comment if this is something you would be interested in reading.

The other book I read was The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, my full review can be read here and I won't ramble too much. I will say that I have a love-hate relationship with this book but am hoping the sequel to this book is a lot better than the first one in the series. 

February TBR

I have chosen three books to read this month, one classic and two Young Adult books. One of the books I have chosen I am half way through.

The first book I plan on reading is the one I am half way through and that is Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas. Holy crap, I love this book. It may be my fave so far in the Throne of Glass series, it's also the largest in series. I'm not going to say anything as I plan on review the series throughout the year, but I will say that I am really annoyed that I have caught up with the series and that I have to wait for the last 2 books to come out.

The next book I plan on reading is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, I had to study this in 2014 for school and really enjoyed it but I didn't finish it. I recently saw a play version of it and it has reignited my love for the book and her writing style. I love Jane so much as she is such a strong independent person and she won't let anyone put her down.

The final book I plan on reading this month is The Kill Order by James Dashner. This book is the prequel to the Maze Runner series and I thought I'd start with this before reading the series. I really want to read the series so I can watch the movies as they look super good.

So that's it for today's post, sorry it's very short but I am still feeling super crappy and my writing skills aren't great at the minute. Don't forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter for more everyday updates (@itscarenzab) and don't forget to follow my blog. I was thinking of hosting a read a long type thing for Jane Eyre so let me know if you are interested in joining me. If you have any business type things email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com. Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Carenza x    

  

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass Review| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So if you didn't read my birthday book haul, then you won't know that I bought Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. Anyway, 2 months later I finally got round to picking it up and reading it. I instantly fell in love, it was a brilliant read and had me hooked from the start. I think I finished it about a month ago*, which isn't as fast as I would usually read a book. I have even pushed Harry Potter to one side so I can read this series, and I'm glad I did. If you haven't read it, then I urge you to do so as it is a bloody good read! So without further a do, here is my review!

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram then you'll know I want to start a book review series, this post is kind of a trial post to see if you guys like it. Also I want to clarify that this review will be as spoil free as I can make it.

* I read this in October and planned to put it up in November/December, but I became super busy so I had to push it back to January so in real fact when this goes up it will have been around 3 months since I read it*

Cover Design

So it seems only right to start with the cover as that is the first thing you see when picking up a book, now I know it's wrong to judge a book by its cover but this cover is beautiful! Just look at it! The title is embossed with silver lettering, and the blue glow around the girl on the cover. I love how it is on a white background as it makes the title stand out and go "look at me!". Overall, I rate the cover 5/5.

Blurb

Not only is the front cover beyond beautiful, the blurb is too! It's the same girl as the front but from the back. Instead of being dressed in combat gear she is dressed in this beautiful dress. I love the pale blue tint to the image and how it makes her look like she is glowing.

Plot

OMG, the plot. How do I even began to describe the plot without ruining it?? The plot follows the life of Celaena Sardothien, an 18 year old assassin in the fictional kingdom of Adarlan. After a year in a slave camp, Celaena finds herself in front of the prince who offers her freedom by competing to become the Kings assassin. As the only female in the competition, she finds herself up against an assortment of criminals. During her time in the palace Celaena becomes close with the Captain of the royal Guard, Chaol and the crown prince, Dorian. As she makes her way through the competition, several fellow criminals are mysteriously wind up being killed in the most brutal way. Celaena must now survive the attacks and the competition. Not only must she survive being attacked, she must figure out who her heart belongs to and pick one of two dashing men who care about her deeply.

Characters 

 In a Throne of Glass there are lots of lovable characters that you meet and get to know as the books go on. I am going to tell you some of my favourites and some I think you need to know about. Obviously, I have to talk about Celaena. Celaena, in my opinion, is the queen of bad-asses. I absolutely love her, in a competition dominated by men she manages to shine and overcome them. There have been lots of traumas in her past that have made her who she is and this adds to her personality. Although she finds the competition hard and hates the idea of working for the king, she manages to persevere in order to gain her freedom. I love books with strong female characters and this has easily become one of my fave book series ever. She doesn't let anything stop her and works for what she wants not what others want.

The next character I want to talk about is Chaol Westfall, he is the Captain of the Kings guard and is really young for his position. Throughout the book you learn reasons why he is the Captain and things about his past. At first I wasn't to keen on him and saw him as a bit of a thug, but you soon come to realise that he cares deeply for Celaena and Dorian, who I will talk about next. You also learn that he works well with Celaena even though they fight a lot at first, he takes great interest in her training throughout the competition.

Next we have Dorian Havilliard, Crown Prince of Ardalan. Again, like Chaol I wasn't wowed over by him, seeing him as an arrogant prince. At the beginning of the book you learn that Dorian is a bit of a player with the ladies and has a reputation for it.But as you get to know him, you discover that he's actually a kind person. Unlike his little brother, he is a lot more docile and also takes part in Official Court based things. Like Chaol, he also cares for Celaena and does have romantic feelings for her.

Finally I am going to talk about Princess Nehemia from Ellywe. Nehemia is a strong-willed person who refuses to let people look down on her. While staying in the castle, she pretends she can't speak the native language and speaks in her own native language. Luckily Celaena speaks Nehemia's natural language and the two become friends. I love Nehemia as she supports Celaena and speaks her mind openly.

Opinion

As you can probably tell, I love this book and am currently reading the fourth one in the series. I am actually sad that I have caught up with the series as now I have to wait ages to read the last two books and the prequel novellas. The reason I love this story is that Celaena started of bad and chose to take part in the competition for her own benefits rather than others. I feel that a lot of books like this start with something happening to the protagonist and this forces them to become involved in the magical/ dystopian world they live in. I love the idea behind the series as well, which is basically a retelling of Cinderella but instead of being sweet and innocent, Cinderella is an assassin. Also you have some truly vile characters in this book who are out for their own gain.

I highly recommend that you guys read this series as I think it's amazing and I wouldn't be reviewing it if I didn't like it. Please let me know if you like this type of post and want more like this for my Book Review Monday series. As I said at the beginning this is a trial post so I would find it super helpful if I was given some critical/ constructive feedback. Don't forget to follow my blog and follow me on Twitter and Instagram (@itscarenzab), I have started posting daily book themed posts which need some love. If you have any post requests or business inquires please email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com
Carenza x