Review: The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows

Title: The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1)

Author: Jodi Meadows
Publication Date: March 10th 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book One of Two
I Got A Copy Through: I bought it!
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Barnes & Noble || The Book Depository || Wordery 

Blurb Description: Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.
She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.
She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.
She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.
Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world. 

AAAAAHH.

This is my The Orphan Queen re-read which was initially done to serve two purposes:

1)      Prepare myself for the GIANT BEAUTIFUL THING that is The Mirror King

2)      To Write a Comprehensive Review for it BECAUSE IT IS AWESOME.

At this point it seems like I’ve also succeeded in breaking my heart yet again. I’m halfway through my FIRST read of The Mirror King (57% according to Goodreads. WHAT.) AND. UM. WELL. I’m just reading and reading and reading and not at all processing because that’s what I do with good books and wait for everything bad to hit me after.

YOU, HOWEVER, ARE HERE FOR The Orphan Queen, SO WELCOME.

What is The Orphan Queen?

Oh, it is only the book that will get you SO BLOODY ADDICTED you’ll need to have The Mirror King to open and devour right away.

Wilhelmina is a spy in the palace in the Indigo Kingdom. She’s the long lost princess of the Aecor Kingdom that stole her homeland and slaughtered her parents. Wilhelmina HAS MAGIC (which is illegal, just so you know).

And now, almost ten years later, IT IS TIME TO EXACT REVENGE AND SAVE HER HOMELAND.

Except in politics, sly games and vigilantism NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE. Especially a young queen’s feelings, and her magic.

Wil is, as I was told, A BADASS HEROINE! What makes her stand out SO MUCH in my head though is that the fact that she’s NOT ALWAYS RIGHT. Or holier than thou. Or anything of the sort. She’s scared, she makes mistakes, she pays for her mistakes and she’s ALSO BRILLIANT. She just seemed an all-around REAL character with her fear and insecurities and everything. I love Wil.

Another aspect I ADORE about TOQ is the Osperys (yes, even controlling Patrick) and the fact that they could just get things done. THERE WAS NO WAITING ABOUT IN THEIR MISSIONS, nothing less than true grief when they lost one of their own for they are family and all understanding all the time about who the other person is.

Also, BLACK KNIFE. AAAH.

I did love that there wasn’t a lot of importance given to court drama and social niceties because well, that happens in EVERY book and it would’ve just dragged this piece of gorgeous literature on.

I think the ONLY thing I didn’t like (in my first read) is the fact that I predicted a certain reveal about a certain character and it was kind of disappointing because I was hoping I wasn’t right.

All in all, A BEAUTIFUL BOOK THAT YOU SHOULD ALREADY BE READING.

If you had a group of fictional rebels, who would you choose to be in that group? Have you read this series? What did YOU think? Should I be reading the novellas?

BLOG TOUR: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Caravallo - Review + Favourite Quotes + Giveaway

Title: A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes #1)
Author: Brittany Cavallaro
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: March 1st 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Retellings, Fiction, Romance, Thriller
Part of A Series?: Yes! Book 1 of 3 of the Charlotte Homes Series
I Got A Copy Through: Edelweiss Above The Tree Line

Synopsis: The last thing sixteen-year-old Jamie Watson–writer and great-great-grandson of the John Watson–wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s enigmatic, fiercely independent great-great-granddaughter, who’s inherited not just his genius but also his vices, volatile temperament, and expertly hidden vulnerability. Charlotte has been the object of his fascination for as long as he can remember–but from the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else.

Then a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Holmes stories, and Jamie and Charlotte become the prime suspects. Convinced they’re being framed, they must race against the police to conduct their own investigation. As danger mounts, it becomes clear that nowhere is safe and the only people they can trust are each other.

Equal parts tender, thrilling, and hilarious, A Study in Charlotte is the first in a trilogy brimming with wit and edge-of-the-seat suspense.

AMAZON: A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes Novel)

Let me just start by saying that Sherlock is my JAM! I am a HUGE HUGE Sherlockian. 221B is my dream home, and I would probably kick your ass at Sherlock trivia, and so when I heard about A Study In Charlotte, I knew I HAD HAD HAD to have it! The entire idea was SO ingenious, and reading the synopsis should make any good Sherlock fan run and buy it!

To be honest, I didn't quite know what I was getting into. I was hoping that ASIC would be good enough to compare to Sherlock, and Brittany Caravallo you have WAY surpassed what I would have considered a good book!

For the first 20% of the book though, I was a little frustrated, and all due to one fact: Charlotte Holmes is EXACTLY like her great great grandfather, Sherlock, and I was sitting there wondering what the point of this book was if we just took Sherlock, changed his gender, and through him in our time as a teenager. 

And then, once I could SO clearly see her as Sherlock's descendant, did the book really start to take shape. AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

Holmes and Watson are being framed for murder. Murders recreated in same way as the original Sherlock books. And all while enjoying this GREAT book, I was completely fangirling in my head. It was AWESOME! I'm not going to tell you much more, but I will say if you have your reservations about reading what sounds like a Sherlock Fanfic, trust me, It will leave you fangirling and COMPLETELY spellbound, but never once give you the imitation that it isn't something new and brilliant!

I will leave you with this, though: Caravallo manages to combine the finesse of a Sherlock novel and the excitement of a YA thriller seamlessly in A Study in Charlotte! READ IT!

Quotes: 

'There were a lot of answers to that not-question: I'm a Watson, it's generically impossible for me to suspect you or, in my imagination, you weren't ever a villain, you were always a hero.'

'It might have been a waste of time and money, but foe once, I understood it. Better to focus on pageantry than on death.'

'I learned the names of everything she played. She liked when I asked, and I liked to listen'

'You're questioning me about all there crazy crimes that I haven't committed, but someone wants you to think I've committed, and they've done such a good job of it that I almost believe I committed them too.'

Follow the A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Brittany Cavallaro is a poet, fiction writer, and old school Sherlockian. She is the author of the poetry collection Girl-King (University of Akron) and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She earned her BA in literature from Middlebury College and her MFA in poetry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently, she's a PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she teaches creative writing, detective fiction, and lots of other things. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, cat, and collection of deerstalker caps. Find her at her website, brittanycavallaro.com, or on Twitter @skippingstones.

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REVIEW: Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Six Of Crows, #1)

Title: Six Of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Indigo Publishing
Publication Date: September 29th 2015
Part of A Series?: Yes - First in a trilogy
I Got A Copy Through: ARC- Guardian Children's Books

Blurb Description: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. 
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. 

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first

**MY REVIEW**

Do you know what it feels like to go back into a fictional world, and be able to call it home- to feel like you’ve finally found a part of you didn’t even know was missing? Well, that is exactly what Six Of Crows is to me. A return to the world of Alina and Mal and Nikolai and The Fold and The Darkling and everybody else that I had no idea I missed that much…

I’d heard about Leigh’s new book, of course, but through all my research (I did that extensively, believe me) there was a lot of anonymity about the book, leaving me little to no storyline expectations from the book- except for the hope of a great new story and the hesitation to get into a new trilogy, for fear of emotional strain. And will the billions of other books releasing this fall, this wasn’t exactly on the top of my to-buy pile- but now, I see how COMPLETELY wrong I was.

If you’re considering this book, let me tell you- it is BRILLIANT, Leigh Bardugo is a genius, and you will be transported in a matter of a few sentences, back to the world of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, except from a completely different point of view. In Six of Crows, the Ravkan Civil War is over, and the Grisha (yes, the GRISHA!) are still reeling from it, but we see it all not from the royalty’s perspective, but from thieves and low-lives and we see the whole world in a completely different perspective.

Kaz Brekker is a criminal prodigy. Kaz Brekker is calculating, cold and ruthless. Kaz Brekker has been offered all the money he could ever hope for, in exchange for a prisoner. Simple, right? The prisoner is a notorious doctor who has created a drug that in the wrong hands, could be deadly. So what, isn’t this normal? Except this drug- Jurda Parem- is designed especially for Grisha. And it makes them unstoppable. It can make Healers convince bend rooms full of people to their will. It can make Heartrenders stop unlimited hearts at whatever distance. If it falls into the wrong hands, the drug can mean the end of Grisha freedom as we know it.

To free the scientist, and ultimately hand him over to the merchant lords of Ketterdam (you know, where Alina and Mal ran off to in the end of Shadow and Bone) Kaz Brekker needs a team- a team as deadly, as cunning and as ruthless as he is. He needs a team of criminals that have nothing to lost and everything to gain, to break into the most impenetrable fortress known to their world. If captured, death will be a blessing to them. If they succeed, they earn their freedom- and money, of course!

I absolutely LOVED Six of Crows. Reading it was like getting sucked into this whirlpool of emotions and that feeling of falling hopelessly in love with a whole new host of characters, however unredeemable they might be- and loving every second of it! It was a perfect novel- as perfect as young adult gets- with Leigh Bargudo producing her best work to date.

If you’re hesitant- like me- or simply haven’t hear of this book- I can only say READ IT! It will blow your mind!   

Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K.Johnston

Title: A Thousand Nights
Author: E.K.Johnston
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: October 6th 2015
Part of A Series?: Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: NetGalley

Blurb Description: Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.

Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.

Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster. 

**MY REVIEW**

From the minute I read the synopsis during the cover reveal, I knew that A Thousand Nights was a book I just had to have. I was so excited, that I kept telling even my non- reader friends that I had found this book, and I knew it was going to be the next IT thing...

Maybe I shouldn't have overdone it like I did, because A Thousand Nights, although really good, just didn't reach that level of brilliant that I thought it would be.

The synopsis sets the story up in ways that I never could, but despite all of that, the story itself was vague, had a lot less magic than I thought it would, but a lot more embroidery and pining over a sister.

Let me elaborate on what I didn't like about the book, before I move on to what I did, just to finish on a high note, because I do think that this book is something pretty much everyone should read.

A Thousand Nights has this gorgeous setting, in a desert in the time of camels and tents, with stories told about myths and the king that kills his brides. A Thousand Nights is the story of a girl, who pays the ultimate sacrifice, to save the person she cares about the most in the world. A girl who was rewarded with magic.

“She was not of my kind, yet there was some power to her that was not human, not quite. She did not die, and I wondered if I might at last have found a queen for whom I could set the desert on fire.”

Magic is not something that people in our world simply receive- especially humans.
But then Kings are supposed to be just men, and not something without a conscience. And as every new dawn comes, the new queen finds herself growing more powerful, instead of winding up without breath in her body, and finds that she has to deal with her husband, the monster, with both magic and love, if she can hope to slay the demon and save the man.

What I didn’t like all that much about the book was the terminology- it took a while- like seventy five percent of the book- to get used to things like ‘sister of my heart’ and ‘Lady mother, we must be quick if we are to save your daughter.’ Even more than that, thinking back as it has been a couple of weeks since I finished A Thousand Nights, I now find myself hating the way things ended. I would have loved a better showdown- girl versus creature- and it sort of ruined the whole thing.

What I did love- the Science and Religion co- relation (BRILLIANLY done, especially in an ancient setting) and the debates (in a kingdom where women aren’t allowed to work- this impressed me!) I also loved the concept of how Gods were created- not a metaphorical all hearing, all knowing God, but that Gods could be anyone- a grandfather, a sister- pretty much anyone, that you would pray too for all that they did while they were alive. What I loved the MOST, however was how everything- from the magic to the very narrations and descriptions were told in this fashion that made me feel like I was being let it on this HUGE secret- like a story in a book that only I could read, which no other book has ever made me feel.

For an Arabian Nights book with magic, kings, queens and love- A Thousand Nights should be your next read!

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo- Review

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Indigo Publishing

Publication Date: June 17th 2014

Review Copy: Courtesy to Guardian Children's Books

Part Of A Series?- The Grisha Trilogy

Blurb Description: The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

**MY REVIEW**

“There is no end to our story.”

Ruined, at the brink of death, defeated, abandoned but hope? It’s the one thing they have. Hope, even though it might be as fickle as water, it will always finds a way to seep in.

In the tunnels below the world where chaos is embodied, Alina- Sankta Alina, The Sun Summoner- lives a fragile existence. With no power, freedom or space to breathe, life is bleak. The Apparat rules over and charms her followers- the ones who believe that she is a saint- the one who see her as the only salvation that they will ever find.

Mal, the otkazat’sya, pushes himself, to try and give the only girl he has ever loved something she needs. I Become the Blade- inked on him, the only thing he can think about. The mythical firebird- his mission.

For The Darkling- Aleksander- everything he has ever worked for, over the centuries, is finally coming into play. The Sun Summoner, the Fold, the Nichevo’ya. It’s happening. His goal- power. 

Alina. Control. Darkness. Victory has never been so close. 

In this absolutely STUNNING (I don’t know what else to call it) conclusion to the New York Times Bestselling Trilogy, everything you know about this world and the things in it will change.

Love, loyalty, friendship, survival, power, victory, and freedom- everything is at stake. And one broken saint, a disgraced tracker, and a whole gang of misfits and a prince without a throne are all that stands between light and dark.

If you choose not to read this, you are missing out on one of the BEST series ever.

The ending was absolutely stunning, the finale heart-breaking, the story so realistic. I’m actually going to need time to process what I’ve just read- READ IT!!

BLOG TOUR: Crane By Stacey Rourke- Excerpt

Crane by Stacey RourkeLegends Saga Book 1

The Horseman is unending,

his presence shan’t lessen.
If you break the curse,
you become the legend.

Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle had no choice but to cover up the deadly truth behind Ichabod Crane’s disappearance. Centuries later, a Crane returns to Sleepy Hollow awakening macabre secrets once believed to be buried deep.

What if the monster that spawned the legend lived within you?

Now, Ireland Crane, reeling from a break-up and seeking a fresh start, must rely on the newly awakened Rip Van Winkle to discover the key to channeling the darkness swirling within her. Bodies are piling high and Ireland is the only one that can save Sleepy Hollow by embracing her own damning curse.

But is anyone truly safe when the Horseman rides?

Purchase Amazon Barnes & Noble Smashwords iBooks

About Stacy Rourke

There is nothing worse than being put on the spot and asked to talk about yourself. For me it brings back that inevitable moment in a new school when the teacher would ask me to stand up, introduce myself and tell the class something about myself. I was always worried I would blurt out something stupid that I would get teased for. Something like, “My name’s Stacey and I like pickles!” Then for the rest of the school year I’d be known as the Pickle Girl and let’s be honest, no one wants that. So to avoid such a faux pas I will simply say that I love to write. It allows me to get my crazy out just enough that I can function as a normal member of society.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

**MY REVIEW**

Dangerous, legendary and all around brilliant, Crane is the perfect, chilly read!

Told in two POV’s, Crane seamlessly flows from the time after the Revolutionary War to the bustle of cars today, both in a little, picturesque town called Sleepy Hollow (yeah, I think of the show too!) with each character telling you a little more- giving you one more piece of the puzzle- but just little enough to have you sitting on the edge of your seat!

Centuries ago, the headless horseman rode, faster than light on his steed as black as night, claiming the heads of the innocent and even the not so as his own. Until the ultimate sacrifice was paid, lovers torn apart, brothers in spirit separated and everything returned to the quiet.

Right now, looking for a fresh start, after her pompous ex-boyfriend broke her heart and stole her refrigerator (No, I’m not joking!), Ireland (Awesome name, by the way) is the first Crane to set foot into a town that does everything it can to live up to its name, becomes everything but. Beheadings, warnings in blood and a senile old man this book is everything you could ever want to read and more!

Scary, with the ‘I must see what happens next- it is essential for sane thought’ element combined with one of the most fun and flirty chemistries I’ve read about in a while, Crane is just. Plain. Awesome.

And, how can I forget, you’re always left thinking, how can you kill someone who is already dead?

My Verdict:

Just. Read. It!!