ARC Review: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

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Book summary:

Welcome to a new YA series that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. Each book asks the question: What if one key moment from a familiar Disney film was changed? This dark and daring version of Aladdin twists the original story with the question: What if Jafar was the first one to summon the Genie? 
When Jafar steals the Genie’s lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.
What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

          I don't know for you, but back when I was a kid Aladdin was a huge hit. It brought us a piece of orient that for me, till then, was an unknown part of the world. Now years later I got familiar with it and while I hoped that A Whole New World would add more to my knowledge of it, sadly I cannot say it happened.

         What the blurb promises you is a dark version of Aladdin and it certainly delivers. This is much, much darker version of it. There still is Aladdin and Genie and Jafar and all the characters that you've already had a chance to meet years ago only non of them are what they seemed. Better said they all were just a shadows of previous selves. It seemed to me like there wasn't really any effort to develop and create some new sides of them. They all were really plain. Aladdin is just your typical character, one dimensional and plain boring. But I could live with that I guess, if it wasn't for Genie. Remember that big, blue guy whose witty comebacks made you giggle in front of the TV, well he is not here. And that disappointed me the most.

          This book still has some unexpected twist, I will give it that. It's a really interesting idea and this idea could be really nicely done and maybe will be somewhere else. But not here. Everything just sort of happened, without any feelings or my involvement in any part of it. It was action packed so you go through it pretty fast, but in all honesty you'll forget it even faster.

          Basically, interesting idea and good promise, but really bad realization.

Rating: 1 star.

Until the next time,

*NOTE: Copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher Disney Press. Thank you. 

The Sunday Post (#53)

Hello all. Well, as some of you know Sundays are always reserved for Sunday Post which is a meme created by lovely Kim @Caffeinated Book Reviews!

Morning all! Another week is behind us and September is just round the corner. Meaning, this summer is almost over. It's been a good one, but autumn is my favorite season so I'm looking forward to that. 

In the meantime our week wasn't really eventful, I'm polishing my final thesis, while Glass is still job hunting. We do get to read a lot in the meantime, but it's been quite hot here so sitting in front of a computer is not really appealing. 

How are you? Any interesting new reads?

• Daughter of Dusk by Livia Blackburn 
• The Darkest Part of Forest by Holly Black 
• Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn 

• ARC Review: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell 
• Waiting on Wednesday (#147)
• The Misanthrope: Stone's Story by S.M. Boyce 

Thank you: HarperTeen, Blazer + Bray and GreenwillowBooks

Until the next time, 

Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

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Book summary:

When you’ve been kept caged in the dark, it’s impossible to see the forest for the trees. It’s impossible to see anything, really. Not without bars . . .
Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself.
He’s part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost.
He’s part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful, long-ago summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a secret so monstrous it led three children to do the unthinkable.
Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles both the pain of his past and the isolation of his present.
Before the sun rises, he’ll either surrender his sanity to the wild darkness inside his mind or make peace with the most elemental of truths—that choosing to live can mean so much more than not dying.

         I always had a weak spot for unreliable narrators and shocking reveals so it wasn't strange that this book got under my skin. I like being surprised and even though at moments Charm & Strange went off to places I might wanted to avoid still it gave me what I was looking for.

         Meet Win, a boy with a strange idea. Well, he believes that he may be a wolf. Just by that you might realize that this book will go somewhere between realistic and fantasy, depending how you want to see it. He tells his story from two aspects. One is Before which is actually the main part of the book and the other After, which actually reveals things for you. You get lost at the start and even though it all seems like just a story or rather imagination afterwards it gets realistic and it really shocks you. This books is much more than you expect after first few pages.

       This story is different in many ways. It tells about something I was never close to and still I felt every emotion that this book gave off. You will notice that I'm very wage about everything so don't blame me. If it get you curious and you go and read the book then my job is done. Telling you everything would just ruin the experience.

       Don't do research and read much about. Just read it. There are some things that you need to experience alone and in your own way.

Rating: 4 stars.

Until the next time,

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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Book summary:

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.
At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.
Until one day, he does…
As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

         In case that you're thinking that in this book Holly Black will deliver you a fluffy and lovely story about magical land where everything ends with HEA, well don't raise your hopes. Even after reading The Coldest Girl in the Coldtown I knew that this one would be different, but I didn't know by how much.

        Here we're in a place somewhere, between reality and fiction. It's a world just like ours only it's slightly different as it has fae in it. The folk of Fairfold are aware of it and while they tend to warn all tourists away from the woods, it's hard to resist temptation. Especially after the Snow White, sorry, a boy with horns is missing from his glass coffin. It triggers all kinds of change that neither Hazel nor Ben thought would ever happen. Their fantasies are close to coming to life, only what if they aren't as idealistic as they seemed in their little heads.

         For me, Holly's greatest strength beside captivating writing is that she can use any typical paranormal creature and give you a story that is all but typical. Vampires don't turn too human in here books and fairies don't make you fly, it's quite opposite as humans are more likely to become like vampires and run from fairies as far as they can. It's what intrigues me so much that I will read anything she writes.

Rating: 4 stars.

Until the next time,

Daughter of Dusk by Livia Blackburn

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Book summary:

After learning the truth about her bloodlines, Kyra can’t help but feel like a monster.
Though she’s formed a tentative alliance with the Palace, Kyra must keep her identity a secret or risk being hunted like the rest of her Demon Rider kin. Tristam and the imprisoned assassin James are among the few who know about her heritage, but when Tristam reveals a heartbreaking secret of his own, Kyra’s not sure she can trust him. And with James’s fate in the hands of the palace, Kyra fears that he will give her away to save himself.
As tensions rise within Forge's Council, and vicious Demon Rider attacks continue in surrounding villages, Kyra knows she must do something to save her city. But she walks a dangerous line between opposing armies: will she be able to use her link to the Demon Riders for good, or will her Makvani blood prove to be deadly?
In this spellbinding sequel to Midnight Thief, Kyra and Tristam face their biggest battle yet as they grapple with changing allegiances, shocking deceit, and vengeful opponents.

     When Midnight Thief appeared two years ago I was blown away by it. The whole idea of the story was so good and with addition of Poison Dance (a prequel) this story promised me a really good ride. I did get that, and I'm happy to say that Daughter of Dusk is pushing it in the right way.

     Even though it's been two years since I've read Midnight Thief it didn't take me long to get back into this story. Daughter of Dusk continues where the previous one left off. We're back with Kyra and her development. Not to spoil things for people who haven't read the first book, there were some unexpected (if you ask me) twists at the end of it and here we get to discover a new side of this world. A new side of Kyra, but also other characters here. It adds to already complex world building which was what meed me fall in love with the first book. Now with Demon Rider kin who as it turns out plays greater role than expected things are about to go down. For real!

      I wasn't surprised that I got back into the story so quick as Kyra is a character you'll easily love. She is all you ever wanted to be: smart, capable and with all that really human, meaning with some flaws that make her even more likeable. And with Tristam who let's face it is a knight in shining armor it wasn't hard to cheer for them. Not to forget James, who for me is one of those amazing villains or so it seemed.

      Even though, it seemed like this would be a great series sadly it ended to soon. I don't really know why this turned out to be a duology as in my opinion there is so much to be said about this. I wish there was more to it. But who knows, maybe someday.

Rating: 4 stars. 

Until the next time,

*NOTE: Copy of this book was kindly provided for review by the publisher, Disney. 

The Sunday Post (#52)

Hello all. Well, as some of you know Sundays are always reserved for Sunday Post which is a meme created by lovely Kim @Caffeinated Book Reviews!

Back on track! Hello all. It's been great to back with updates. This past week we tried to catch as much as we could with updates from your. You've been really busy and hardworking. It's amazing to see your posts again. 

Like we said, we're taking small steps now after what it seemed like a burnout for both of us. So we'll post only few posts a week. We still haven't figured it all out yet, so just go with the flow. :) In the meantime let's see what we did post this last week and what you can expect in the week to come. 

• It's ALIVE! 
• Waiting on Wednesday (#146) 
• Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers 

• Daughter of Dusk by Livia Blackburn 
• The Darkest Part of Forest by Holly Black 
• Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn 

We won't post our haul, as we lost track of that one. It'll be back next week, worry not ;) 

Until the next time, 

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

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Book summary:

Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.
She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn't mean she has... 

        It might be surprising why I waited for so long to finish this trilogy. Well the thing is, Annith was one I had high expectations for. After reading Dark Triumph somehow this series started to get away from me, as I did't connect with it as much as I did with Grave Mercy. But luckily for me, Mortal Heart returned this on the right track.

        It'll be heart to write a review solely about this book without spoiling the first two for you, so I won't say much. But after hearing Ismae and Sybella's stories it was time to go back to covenant and get to see how things really function there. Annith as one who has been there for a long time has a lot to say about it. She always felt like worthless as she didn't get to go and fulfill her missions without knowing what's really behind all that. After her fears came true and she found out that she is about to become the next Seeress and forever kept in the covenant it's time for her to show what she is really made of.

        I wasn't surprised that I always felt strong connection with her as she is so much like me. Always working hard and giving her best but at the same time obedient. Luckily for me she got to be herself and take things into her hands. One weird thing happened though. I really shipped romance here from the start. It had all elements that I was looking for, slow building and whit that ups and downs. But even when I realized what's really happening it didn't bother me as much as I expected. So heck to the author, who made me fall for it to the point of no return.

       All in all, this is one of the series that you must have on you reading list. It'll take you back in history, our history and add a spark of magic there.

Rating: 4.5 stars.

Until the next time,

Waiting on Wednesday (#146)

You know the story. This is a meme created by Breaking the Spine and every week we pick books we're waiting for. Here are our picks for this week.

Our pick

Featuring fan favorites MacKayla Lane and Jericho Barrons, the sensational Fever series picks up where Burned leaves off in this highly anticipated new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning.

Expected publication: January 19th, 2016

We'd love to see your picks so feel free to link them up.

Until the next time,

It's ALIVE!

Hello our dear friends!!!

We know it's been a while since we posted anything and we're sorry for that. It's just that both Glass and I needed some time off. So little update from us and promise that we'll try to post some more in weeks to come. It won't be a post a day schedule but expect our reviews :)

In the meantime Glass has been job hunting again and mostly relaxing. After so many obligations at her previous job she need some time off. Mostly spend with books, mind it.

And other half of this blog, Tanja has passed all her exams and that left her with 0 energy. So she also took some time off and enjoyed this summer. Now brain needs to be turned on again as it's time to do the final thesis.

We've also been reading some good books, but worry not you'll be informed about that shortly ;)

But we'd love to hear what all of you've been doing? How's summer treating you? Hopefully with some amazing books and lots of sunshine! 

Tell us, we'd love to hear!

Till the next time,