What I Read in September...

I try and review the books I read on this blog, but at the moment I'm a little burned out to do full reviews for every one. So I'm trying out a monthly wrap-up style post like a lot of other book bloggers. I do have reviews for some of these books, so I'll link them.

Here's what I read in September!

HEIR OF FIRE by Sarah J. Maas

I reread this in preparation for the QUEEN OF SHADOWS release, and I enjoyed it SO MUCH MORE than the first time. HEIR OF FIRE is the book that really widens the scope of the Throne of Glass series (we meet new characters, introduce new plotlines, see other countries) and I was very overwhelmed when I first read it. I read all the books quickly up to that point, so I didn’t have as solid a grasp on the world as I could have. This time, I understood it better and really loved HoF, even though my favorite characters don’t interact much in this installment.

 

QUEEN OF SHADOWS by Sarah J. Maas

OH. MY. QUEEN. So much goes down in this book! Without spoiling anything, let me just say: so many things I wanted to happen…they happened! Out of all the ToG books, I’d say this one has the best plotting and pacing, with constant action and stakes. I grew to love characters I didn’t used to care much about (especially Manon. First time I read HoF I was bored by her sections, but in QoS I looked forward to them). Everything that went on in this book made me a little less gloomy about a certain character whose story arc veered off on a completely different (and sort of disappointing) path, ship-wise. I posted a bit more of my thoughts in my QUEEN OF SHADOWS tour post (also non-spoilery). Favorite book of the month!

 

SCARLET by Marissa Meyer

This was a reread in preparation for WINTER in November. SCARLET was my least favorite of the Lunar Chronicles the first time I read it, and while I still like the other books better, I enjoyed Scarlet as a character much more this time. I reviewed the book the first time I read it, if you’re interested.

 

THE SCORCH TRIALS by James Dashner

For those read-book-before-seeing-movie people (like me), let me save you the trouble: THE SCORCH TRIALS book is NOTHING like the movie. There is one plot twist from the book that the movie keeps (and that might spoil part of the book if you see the movie first) but it’s executed in a completely different way. I’m not torn up about the movie’s changes though, because I didn’t like the book much. I have trouble investing in the Maze Runner series because of how plot-driven it is. Crazy things just keep happening to the characters without much explanation, and as a reader, there’s no way to figure out the mysteries without being spoon-fed by the author. Even after I finished THE SCORCH TRIALS I was still a little confused. I own book three, THE DEATH CURE, and curiosity will probably drive me to read it at some point. The movie was fun, (gross at some parts, but fun) and staring at Dylan O’Brien’s face for two hours is anything but torture!

 

CRACKED UP TO BE by Courtney Summers

This was part of a Courtney Summers bind-up called WHAT GOES AROUND. Parker used to have it all together: popular girl with popular boyfriend, head cheerleader, great student. But suddenly she starts drinking and skipping classes. Her school counselor, parents, and the new guy in class try to figure out what’s wrong, but Parker won’t talk. Something bad has happened…and it might just be Parker’s fault. Courtney Summers writes AMAZING high school stories. Spot-on dialogue, a hint of mystery, and stark portrayals of real issues.  

 

SOME GIRLS ARE by Courtney Summers

This is the reason I bought the WHAT GOES AROUND bind-up. SOME GIRLS ARE was banned from a school reading list, so fans of the book donated hundreds of copies to local libraries. I wanted to see what the book was about, so I bought myself a copy. It’s an intense look at bullying and mean girls. Regina was a member of a Plastics-esque clique (like the Mean Girls, they coordinate their outfits and adhere to certain rules) until false rumors spread around school about her and Anna the clique leader’s boyfriend. Now she’s the victim of harsh bullying, and the only person who (sort of) gives her the time of day is the boy she bullied at the height of her mean girl status. Some of the bullying in this book is so cruel it made me gasp out loud. Such an important read.

 

BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson tells the story of her childhood growing up African-American in the 1960s and 70s. The entire book is written in verse, and the poems give such a vivid picture of her childhood. She tells about living in the South vs. North, how her grandfather was more of a dad to her than her biological father, and how she fell in love with writing. Race is a factor of the book but not the focus—it’s about all aspects of Jacqueline’s childhood. Here’s my favorite poem from the book:

WHAT WE SAW by Aaron Hartzler

This book is based on the Steubenville rape case of 2012. A girl at Kate’s school accuses four varsity basketball players of rape, dividing the town as everyone makes up their own mind about the events that occurred at the party in question. Kate attended that party but left, drunk, before the alleged assault, and the knowledge of “That could have been me” drives her to find the truth. I did a full review of this book and think it’s such an important commentary on society’s victim blaming tendency. Full review here.

 

CRESS by Marissa Meyer

I continued my reread of The Lunar Chronicles with CRESS. My favorite book of the series so far, it was just as fun the second time. So many lines had me laughing out loud, namely: “We’re on a spaceship, Cinder! In space!” My full review is here.

 

Overall, I had a solid reading month. A lot of rereads in preparation for new books in some series, but I really enjoy finding new tidbits in books I've read before. Also a lot of heavy subject books with the Courtney Summers bind-up and WHAT WE SAW. I'm in a let's-be-conscious-of-how-society-views-women mood lately. 

What was your favorite book of September?

Meeting Sarah J. Maas! (and why you'll want to meet her too...)

I am a huge fan of Sarah J. Maas and her Throne of Glass series. When I found out she was signing copies of her latest, QUEEN OF SHADOWS, at a Bensalem Barnes and Noble (an hour from my house), I jumped at the chance to meet her.

In case you haven't been swept up by the THRONE OF GLASS craze yet (in which case, where have you been?) the series follows Celaena Sardothien, the kingdom's most deadly assassin. In the first book she enters a competition to become the King's personal assassin in order to gain her freedom from the salt mine where she's been imprisoned.

The latest installment, QUEEN OF SHADOWS, came out September 1st. It. Was. AMAZING. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say it's my favorite of the series so far. It's action-packed, and many of the events tie back to the prequel novellas (THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE). I love the novellas so much, and revisiting some of those characters and plotlines was fascinating. Sarah J. Maas has such a solid grasp on the world she's created. Every character, every reference, every seemingly random piece of information has its place, and this lady knows EXACTLY where it is. Stellar worldbuilding and character development!

The Bensalem stop was toward the end of her book tour, and she'd just flown in from Albuquerque. So she was tired but full of things to say. About Celaena, about Chipotle, about OUTLANDER (which I think I need to finally add to my TBR after all this talk about Jamie). Not to mention, her Disney princess hair looked FLAWLESS, and she was sporting this super sparkly leopard ring:

Leopard ring is officially ON. Headed to the 92nd Street Y for my NYC launch event with the amazing @sashaalsberg!! Can't wait!! Thanks so much for all the support and love today, you guys!!💍🎉🎉💖💖😎😎 #QOStour #queenofshadows #iwearthisringtoeveryevent #toremindmyselftobeaBAMF #alexisbittar

A photo posted by Sarah J. Maas (@therealsjmaas) on Sep 1, 2015 at 2:33pm PDT

Sarah did a half-hour Q&A moderated by the fabulous Steph from No BS Book Reviews, and then the signing line started. Since I'd arrived suuuuper early I was lucky enough to be number eleven in line, so I was one of the first to talk to her. And she is FANTASTIC.

Here's why you should run to the bookstore next time Sarah comes to town:

Talking about Sarah's time-traveling/insane writing schedule

1. She took her time talking to everyone. I respect authors SO MUCH when they actually make eye contact with you while signing your books. Sarah not only did that, but she asked me as many questions as I asked her. She wanted to know where I'm from, what I write and if I'm looking to send my work out. We probably talked for a solid two minutes, which is actually a long time for a signing line.* And from those two minutes, it's apparent how genuine a person she is and how much she cares about her readers.

*MAJOR points to the Neshaminy Mall B&N staff for not rushing readers through the line. I was in the first group to go through, so I don't know if it continued, but they let Sarah take her time talking to everyone I saw. When the facilitators have a low-stress attitude, it makes the event a thousand times more fun. Thanks, B&N!

2. Sarah is HILARIOUS. Between referring to her teenage years as "back when we still drove oxen up and down the roads" and calling her husband Dobby, she had everyone cracking up.

3. Relating to my second point, I burst out laughing (see photo evidence) when Sarah and I were talking. I asked her how she's managing to write two books a year, one THRONE OF GLASS novel and one A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES novel, both of which are enormous beasts of books. "I have a time-turner," she informed me. We started talking about how her life has become so scheduled and filled with deadlines, and she insisted that was why she was so pale. "Because of the time travel?" I asked, figuring time travel had to be pretty exhausting. "No, because I never leave my house." She said it's okay, though, she'd much rather be inside anyway.

4. You will want to be part of her squad. During the Q&A, Steph asked Sarah who would be in her "Bad Blood" squad, a la Taylor Swift. I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was about a second away from volunteering as tribute. Sarah has a posse of writer BFFs, including Susan Dennard (the SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY series, and TRUTHWITCH coming January 2016) and Alexandra Bracken (THE DARKEST MINDS series, and PASSENGER coming January 2016). Writing is such a solitary job, and having a group full of supportive writer friends (especially ones you can sometimes do book events with, like these ladies do) is awesome.

5. She's so motivating. She started writing THRONE OF GLASS when she was sixteen, and now there are six books on my shelf with her name on the spines. I left the event ready to get back to my own writing.


In case you couldn't tell, I had a little bit of fun at this event! Thanks again to Sarah for being wonderful and the Neshaminy Mall Barnes and Noble for facilitating the signing in such a friendly manner. And if you haven't started THRONE OF GLASS yet, what are you waiting for? Check out my spoiler-free reviews of THRONE OF GLASS and THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE (the novella bind-up).  

After I wrote this post, Sarah announced on Twitter that THRONE OF GLASS has been optioned for TV! *happy dance* Who else would LOVE to see this story on their TV every week?

Book Review: A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas

After Feyre kills a wolf in the woods while hunting to feed her family, a beast bursts into her home demanding retribution. Turns out it wasn’t a wolf she killed but a faerie in wolf form. The Fae are lethal, and humans live in a small corner of the land, fearing the Fae may one day attack like they did years ago. The beast gives Feyre two options: die or come live in his court. She soon discovers the beast is actually Tamlin, one of the Fae.

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES is a new series by Sarah J. Maas based on Beauty and the Beast mythology. The story was also inspired by the fairytale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.”  

Like many Sarah J. Maas fans, I went into this book with Celaena and THRONE OF GLASS in my mind. Celaena is a tough gal to compete with, and while Feyre is a solid heroine with character development, she fell short of Celaena for me. Celaena’s personality is bold and sarcastic, while Feyre keeps everything bottled up inside. It might be an unfair comparison for me to make, since these are two different women in different worlds. Both do what they need to do to survive: Celaena (at the beginning of TOG) enters the contest to become the King’s Assassin to get out of slavery, and Feyre’s actions (hunting, leaving with Tamlin) revolve around saving her family.

I also anticipated more action in ACOTAR than we get (probably another unfair TOG comparison). When I went back and thought about Beauty and the Beast, though, most of the story is Belle living in the Beast’s castle and getting to know him, so ACOTAR’s structure makes sense. The last third of the book, though, HOLY COW it steps up the action! So that made up for the book’s slower middle.

Sarah J. Maas is excellent at developing a well fleshed out cast of characters, from Tamlin’s right hand man, Lucian,  to Rhysand, the ruler of another faerie court. By the end of the book I’d started to like Rhysand, which I’m not entirely sure about (he’s one of those morally ambiguous characters), so I can’t wait to see where book two takes the story.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, and the faerie magic system is different from the lore in THRONE OF GLASS, so nothing feels repetitive. Sarah J. Maas took on a fairytale retelling but gave it a life of its own—it doesn’t follow Beauty and the Beast to the letter, so there is still room for surprises. If you enjoy high fantasy and fairytales, A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES might be for you!

My Most Anticipated New Releases of 2014 (Fall/Winter)

I'm anticipating going on several book buying sprees before 2014 ends. Why? SO MANY NEW RELEASES! Many of my favorite series are releasing their latest installments, and a couple contemporary authors I love have new standalones coming out. Here are the eight books I am most looking forward to.

My Most Anticipated New Releases of 2014 (Fall/Winter)

8. AFTERWORLDS – Scott Westerfeld (September 23)

From the author of the UGLIES series, this new book follows two storylines. The first is of a girl attempting to publish her first novel, and the second is the plot of her thriller novel. The stories alternate chapter by chapter. I’m a writer and LOVE reading about characters who love to write (aka. FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell).

  

7. THE YOUNG ELITES – Marie Lu (October 7)

This is a spinoff of sorts of the Legend series and follows survivors of the blood fever that plagued the nation. Now some of the survivors seem to possess powerful gifts (and are called the Young Elites), and they are being hunted down by the king.  

6. ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER (Anna and the French Kiss #3) – Stephanie Perkins (TODAY, August 14!)

Okay, so this technically is a summer book and was just released today, but I had to include it! This is the third book in the Anna and the French Kiss “world” of characters and follows Isla and Josh (both characters we’ve seen before) as they navigate the tricky world of a new relationship. I read the first 50 pages that were posted as an online except and fell in love with Isla and her voice. Can’t wait to grab my own copy!

5. GLORY O’BRIEN’S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE – A.S. King (October 14)

Glory has the power to see people’s pasts and futures, and the future looks bleak: tyrannical leaders, destruction of women’s rights, civil war. She begins recording everything she sees in hopes that her notes cam somehow make a difference and change this potential future before it comes to pass.

4. I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN – Jandy Nelson (September 16)

This book is told from alternating points of view of twins, Noah and Jude, who used to be closer than close. But something has come between them. Noah narrates their earlier years, while sister Jude gets the later teenage ones. From the excerpt I read online, I can tell that these two characters have amazingly unique personalities and I can’t wait to follow their entire story! I adore THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE and am so happy Jandy Nelson finally has another book for readers to devour.

3. IN THE AFTERLIGHT (The Darkest Minds #3) – Alexandra Bracken (October 28)

I love THE DARKEST MINDS and NEVER FADE, books that follow Ruby and a bunch of other kids who were locked up by the government due to their special abilities. I have no idea how this story will be wrapped up, but I’ve enjoyed how much Ruby has grown throughout these first two books. She’s going to kick butt in this last book!

2. THE INFINITE SEA (The 5^th Wave #2) – Rick Yancey (September 16)

The world is getting worse and worse under threat of alien invasion. In book 1, we learned about the first four waves of the invasion, and now the fifth wave is upon the cast of characters. This book is going to be told from even more points of view than THE 5^th WAVE, and I love the excerpt online that follows Ringer…her voice is STRONG. I’m ready for the adventure to continue!

1. HEIR OF FIRE (Throne of Glass #3) – Sarah J. Maas (September 2)

I can barely contain my excitement for this book! Celaena Sardothian is one of my new favorite heroines, and her adventure is getting bigger and bigger. Sarah J. Maas has promised us lots of attractive guys in this installment, hooray! CROWN OF MIDNIGHT left off with a crazy cliffhanger – thank goodness I read it close to HEIR OF FIRE’S release date. I want every bit of Throne of Glass I can get my hands on. It’s one of my favorite series I’ve discovered this year.  

And there you have it! Looks like 2014 is the year of AMAZING covers...I love every single one! 

Are any of these books on your own Most Anticipated list? Any books I missed?

Book Review: THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE by Sarah J. Maas

(This is a spoiler-free review.)

THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE is a bind-up of five Throne of Glass prequel novellas. It follows Celaena, the most feared assassin of Adarlan, as she embarks on missions for the Assassins Guild and her master, Arobynn. Each novella leads into the next, so even though each is a standalone, together they create one story. The first novella, THE ASSASSIN AND THE PIRATE LORD sets the book’s conflict into motion. Celaena and her fellow assassin Sam (who is mentioned several times in THRONE OF GLASS and CROWN OF MIDNIGHT) are sent to oversee a deal with the Pirate Lord about slave trading. But Celanea begins to have second thoughts, and her actions in this story (and the consequences) carry through into the other novellas.

The five novellas are:

THE ASSASSIN AND THE PIRATE LORD

THE ASSASSIN AND THE HEALER

THE ASSASSIN AND THE DESERT

THE ASSASSIN AND THE UNDERWORLD

THE ASSASSIN AND THE EMPIRE

I read this book after completing both THRONE OF GLASS and CROWN OF MIDNIGHT, but I recently found out that the novellas were released as eBooks before THRONE OF GLASS came out. Just curious: Did any Throne of Glass fans read the novellas first? How did that change/influence your reading of the first two books in the series? Or did you read it in the order I did? I’m not sure if one way is better than the other. I definitely had a feeling of dread reading the novellas, especially THE ASSASSIN AND THE EMPIRE, because I knew what was about to happen to Celaena at the end.

Celaena’s character development over the course of these novellas was great. She begins as a clever and ruthless assassin with a ton of pride—she knows she’s the best there is. She always obeys Arobynn, her master and the leader of the Assassins Guild, because he saved her from near-death when she was young and trained her as his protégée. Throughout the novellas, though, she discovers Arobynn has his own agenda, one she does not agree with. We also see her struggle with her feelings for Sam. They have always disliked each other, but when they are thrown together on a mission, Celaena slowly realizes she may have been wrong about Sam. I adored Sam! I knew who he was from the other books, but I loved seeing him in action, not just through Celaena’s cryptic memories.

My favorite of the novellas is THE ASSASSIN AND THE EMPIRE. It ties closely to THRONE OF GLASS, dealing with many of the events we only hear about in memory/flashback in TOG. It takes on a darker tone, setting the stage for TOG and COM. We see the biggest emotional shift in Celaena here, particularly at the end. After finishing, I immediately wanted to pick up TOG again!

Sarah J. Maas is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Maybe my favorite YA fantasy author! If you are a fan of this series and haven’t read THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE yet, what are you waiting for? I’d say it’s absolutely necessary if you want to truly understand Celaena as a character and why she acts the way she does in the series. Plus the cover is stunning, especially when you see it in person. So many colors!  

Check out my review of THRONE OF GLASS here!

Book Review: THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas

At age seventeen, Celaena Sardothien was the world’s deadliest assassin. Until, that is, she was captured and sent to a death camp where she was forced to work in a salt mine and endure abuse from the overseers. One year later, she is summoned from the mines by Prince Dorian, the son of the land’s ruthless king. Dorian wants Celaena to represent him in the king’s tournament, where she has the chance to win her freedom by becoming the King’s Champion (which is a nice way of saying “the king’s personal assassin”). She has to live in the Glass Castle, defeat twenty-three other competitors and serve the king for four years, and then she will be free.

But when a dark force begins attacking the competitors, Celaena realizes the other potential champions are not her only enemies. She has to figure out what sort of entity is lurking in the castle, especially when it looks like she may be its next victim.

I hemmed and hawed and watched review after review on YouTube about this book for the longest time. At first, I thought it wasn’t for me at all. (And I hate to be that person, but the cover intimidated me at first, fantasy newbie that I am.) But the more buzz I heard about it, the more I warmed up to it, and I’m so happy I finally read it. Guys, this book is SO COOL! Don’t let the fantasy aspect scare you. Yes, it’s in a kingdom/land/world created by Sarah J. Maas. Yes, it comes with a map at the beginning to avoid confusion (which usually means there’s a lot of weird kingdom names I never remember). But you catch onto this world so quickly and it sucks you in. My only other experiences with entirely new fantasy worlds have been Harry Potter and Narnia (and even they had one foot in the “real” world), but I love this THRONE OF GLASS world so much more than I expected. Sarah J. Maas originally came up with the idea as a spin on Cinderella (what if Cinderella came to the ball to kill the prince?) but it quickly took on a life of its own. If I didn’t know about the Cinderella origins, I wouldn’t have even noticed the slight traces of it while reading.

It’s advertised as GAME OF THRONES meets THE HUNGER GAMES. I’ve never read or seen GOT, but there definitely is a Hunger Games-esque aspect with the competition to become the king’s champion. One important difference: killing is not a part of the competition. It’s more like the Triwizard Tournament in GOBLET OF FIRE, where there are a series of tasks. Celaena is the only girl competing, and she more than holds her own amongst these other thieves and killers.

Celaena is sarcastic, no nonsense, and insanely strong, but she’s also very girly. She LOVES gorgeous dresses and cares about her appearance, like when she’s dragged from the salt mines to meet the prince looking like a mess. I didn’t expect to find her so likeable, but I did. We only get traces of her backstory in this first book, but Sarah J. Maas has written a series of prequel novellas that were recently published in a bind-up called THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE, so I think that’s where much of her history lies, as well as in the sequel, CROWN OF MIDNIGHT.

The two other important characters are Prince Dorian, whom Celaena is representing in the completion, and Chaol Westfall, the Captain of the Guard. An obvious love triangle begins to form in this book (NOT A SPOILER…the back cover of the book gives this plot point away), and as of right now, I’m not taking sides. Chaol is a soldier-type who helps Celaena train for the tasks and guards her, making sure her assassin claws don’t come out and kill the prince or another member of the court. He’s pretty serious, and Celaena enjoys teasing him. Dorian is more playful and artsy; he loans Celaena books from his own collection to read, banters with her, and insists he does not want to be a ruthless leader like his father. I really enjoy both characters and can’t wait to see where the sequel takes these relationships!

If you like well-developed and surprising characters, lots of action and kick-butt heroines, THRONE OF GLASS is for you! I just bought CROWN OF MIDNIGHT and the novella bind-up, THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE, and am anxiously waiting for fall when HEIR OF FIRE is released!