angelreads, Author at Angel Reads

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Books I Love But I Haven’t Talked About Enough

Mar 22, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list that members at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. All bloggers are then welcomed to join. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is: Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven’t Talked About Enough

I love a lot of books, but I do talk about more than I do others. Here is a small list of some of my favourite books/series that I don’t think I talk about enough.

Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout: This is only a recent read, and I have no idea why I waited so long to read these books, because they are seriously so good. I haven’t written my reviews for this, but I read the whole series in a week.

Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski: This is probably one of my favourite fantasy series that I have read. I adore these books, and I just want everyone to read them. Winner’s Curse | Winner’s Crime | Winner’s Kiss

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys: Another recent read, but this book is already of my favourite this year. Review

Emmy and Oliver by Robin Benway: I love this book a lot, it was fun, cute and broke my heart at times. Review

Masquerade by Kylie Fornasier: This book is just beautiful. Review

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas: This book messed with my mind, but it was so good. here was so many twist and turns and I had no idea to believe. I guessed some things and was way off on others. This book kept me thinking and thinking, I could not put it down. Review coming soon.

And that is it for this weeks Top Ten Tuesday. I hope you liked the 6 books that I love, but don’t about enough. I hope that you read some of them. Do we share any? Are you going to read any? Let’s Chat.

Book Review: The Winner’s Kiss by Maire Rutkoski

Mar 21, 2016

The Winner’s Kiss by Maire Rutkoski

Pages: 496
Publish date: 24 March 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
ISBN: 1408858746
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.

But no one gets what they want just by wishing.

As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

The Winners Kiss:

This review will have spoilers from the previous novels in the trilogy.

Bloomsbury Children’s sent me an e-arc of The Winner’s Kiss via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review, this has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I loved the first two books in this trilogy – I adored them. I was intrigued by the world, by the characters, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I read both The Winner’s Curse and The Winner’s Crime in a day each and it was no different when I read The Winner’s Kiss.

The Winner’s Kiss was action packed, emotional and also kept me on my feet. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, it was full of blood, secrets and revenge. If Kestrel and Arin will ever see each other again? If they will ever come back together?

The Winner’s Kiss starts off no far from where it finished in The Winners Crime. Kestrel is being held prisoner in a brutal work camp. When the book start she is just arriving at is not prepared for what is in stall for her. She is hoping that Arin will come and save her, but as the days go on and on her hope lingers.

The work camp scenes were very hard to read at times. I just wanted to hold Kestrel in my arms. Her whole life she hasn’t had to deal with things like this and now she is doing them herself. She is being drugged so that she works hour after hour and it’s tearing her apart. She is being mentally and physically tortured.

One of the hardest things about these scenes throughout the book was that I knew that her father was responsible for this. Her own father put her there.

Arin is not physically being tortured, but he is mentally. He thinks that Kestrel has betrayed him, she cared more about the empire than him. He is trying to convince himself that he no longer loves her, that he no longer cares. But we can see right through it and all we want to do is hug him nice and tight.

This might be a spoiler here, but we cannot go nearly 500 pages of a novel and Kestrel still be in the prison. She does escape with the help of a special someone. But she has changed and this broke my heart.

There were countless twists and turns throughout The Winner’s Kiss that I didn’t know when anyone was going to be safe, I couldn’t know till the last page.

The Winner’s Kiss is much darker than the previous novels. Both protagonists have gone through so much and they have both been hurt. Arin is swoon worthy and gorgeous, but he has been hurt and he doesn’t trust anyone. Kestrel is broken, but her love is what gets her through it all.

The writing of Marie Rutkoski is exquisite, it just takes you write into the story and you are lifted into another world. The world building in these books is also taken to another level.

The Winner’s Kiss has everything; romance, friendship, battles, and heaps of banter that helped realise the tension, and it was brilliant.

One thing that I have loved about this series from the start is the strategies. It is about, okay let’s fight. It’s well thought out, well planned and very interesting to read.

The romance in The Winner’s Kiss just broke my heart. I adore Kestrel and Arin together, from the start they captured my heart. Throughout The Winner’s Kiss they are tested, they are broken, they are torn apart, and they are pulled in many different directions.

I could go on and on, about how I feel about The Winner’s Kiss, but I finish with, The Winner’s Kiss was a near perfect ending to a brilliant series that blew my expectations. It deals with many things from politics, religion, war, and love. It takes you’re a journey that you near want to stop.

The Winner’s Kiss is about love, betrayal, friendship and what would people do to do for their empire. The Winner’s Kiss takes you on a journey like no other, it captures your heart, but wreaks your emotions, and it will break you and put you together over and over again until the last page.

Have you read The Winner’s Kiss? Are you going to read it? Are you excited?

Book Review: The Next Together by Lauren James

Mar 17, 2016

The Next Together by Lauren James

Pages: 356
Publish date: September 3rd 2015
Publisher: Walker
ISBN: 1406358053
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.

Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?

Maybe the next together will be different…

The Next Together:

I don’t know what I was expecting when I started reading The Next Together by Lauren James. I had been hearing brilliant things about, and that cover is sensational. I read the synopsis and I knew that it wasn’t my typical read, but I ended up really enjoying it.

The Next Together follows protagonist Matthew and Katherine through their many lives. Yes, you did read wrong, I said many live. They are reincarnated in a way, brought together and then tragedy strikes.

The premise of The Next Together was totally intriguing. A couple being brought together again and again and then being torn apart. The Next Together has everything; history, science, romance and mystery – there is something for everyone.

The Next Together is predominately sent in 4 different times. There is some of their other lives brought up throughout the story. It was different for me, jumping through all these different times. These characters are essentially the same, but they live in different times so therefor have different characteristics and values.

However, after a while you get used to all the characters and their voices and it all fits.

Firstly, we have the main characters. They are set in the ‘now.’ Well, in 2039 their names are Kate and Matt and they both attended the University of Nottingham in England. They just meet when the novel starts and they lab partners.

Then we have 2019, Matthew and Katherine. These two were simply adorable. I don’t know what more I can say about them. Their story is told through notes, letters, emails etc that they have left for each other. The banter between these two is off the scales and there is not dialogue. We find out more about 2019, Matthew and Katherine through their 2039 versions.

1745, Carlisle, England. Katherine is from the upper class and has come to live with her aunt and uncle, Matthew is a coachman. There is quite a lot of teasing between these two. And as you can imagine heartbreaking. Katherine from a higher class and Matthew a Scottish man, in the lower class – oh and they are in the middle of an uprising.

Nevertheless, there is Katy and Matthew in 1854. These two travel the world and for half of it Katy is dressed as male and goes by Kit. This is the slow burning type of romance and oh did it break my heart.

I loved that The Next Together wasn’t just a novel, but included notes, newspaper articles, blog posts. It made it really interesting and gave the book this feel that worked well.

I was turning page after page, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next, how were things going to pan out.

I do wish there was a little more characterisations, especially in 2039’s Katherine and Matthew. I felt they needed more of a character arc.

The ending, let just say I have mixed feelings about the ending. At one point it was quite messing and it all quite fast, that I didn’t know what was going on. All their stories were ending and I felt that we didn’t resolve anything. But, then again, it somehow worked in a way, and it has been left open ended for more.

Overall, I enjoyed The Next Together. It was intriguing, and different. I loved the characters, but I do wish some did have more to them. Also the ending fell a little flat for me, but I can see how it works. However, The Next Together by Lauren James is a beautifully written time travel, historical fiction, contemporary novel that looks at how love can travel through centuries, be beautiful and amazing, but it can also be tragic.