{REVIEW} The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle
Book: 2
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Rating: ★★★

Blurb from Goodreads:

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps form others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.


Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

My Reaction/Thoughts:

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS COVER IS EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL?! RONAN! THE RAVENS! GLORIOUS

The Dream Thieves and I had a rough start. I was well over halfway through the book and I wasn't connecting the way I thought I would. I didn't want to judge it too harshly after not really loving The Raven Boys because that was the first book and I felt that definitely suffered from First Book Syndrome. So I went in completely expecting to love Thieves. While I did enjoy it a lot more than the first book, it did take me awhile. The thing I loved about this book was simply because it focused on Ronan figuring how who he was and get a grasp on his supernatural powers and how that releates to his family's history. I thought the plot was really a step up and I enjoyed it. While, the book centrally focused on Ronan, our old gang was still there battling their own obstacles. Gansey was still searching for Glendower, although not as seriously, Blue was struggling with her fortune coming true and her developing feelings for Gansey, and Adam was facing the aftermath of his choices after the first book. Adam still really bothers me and I need something to make me like him. Pronto!

I still rated this fairly average because though I really did enjoy it I was still a bit confused. I kind of did not like how I felt like so much information was thrown at me and I was just supposed to understand it all. I was kind of confused with where things were going

One thing that I found really weird was Ronan and Kavinsky's relationship. They had this bitterness towards each other and Ronan absolutely hated him, but I never knew why, other than the fact that the Raven boys continuously say he's an a$$hole. Then all of a sudden Kavinsky is all jealous and clingy and it turned him into the psychotic villain of our story. Whoa!

However, I enjoyed the obvious confessions that we got Ronan. He was just a great lead in this book. He has some dark demons and there is so much more to him! I just love him so much! Oh my sweet, Ronan. ♥

Another character we were introduced to was the mysterious Gray Man. Now I admit I did not care for this man at all. He creeped me out and I didn't even want to read his POV. I found myself skimming his chapters and moving on. But I started to find him interesting when he found out exactly what the Greywaren was and decided not to take Ronan. And we found out his real name and about his brother. Though I would have liked to know a little bit more about his backstory because his confrontation with his brother was so quick!

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but I don't know I am just not a fan of Maggie Stiefvater still. She hasn't won me over and her books always make me zone off. However, this book really grabbed my attention during the last 150 pages and I honestly can't wait to read what happens next in Blue Lily, Lily Blue  now because that ending was insane! Maura! RONAN! What?! Oh my gods I am so intrigued. I think I am just invested now and I have to know what happens.

{REVIEW} Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Book: 1
Rating: ★★★★

Blurb from Goodreads:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Rating/Thoughts:

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. 

It did not end well.” 

Perfect. This book is what I think I have been looking for in a great modern fantasy book. It's filled with a great world that I just didn't want to leave! It's a bit confusing at firsts because there is a lot of world building, but once I got the hang of it and understood everything, it just clicked. Everything made sense and I fell in love. I enjoyed the characters so much. Karou is such an interesting character and I loved her. Akiva is a dangerously sexy angel that you can't help but fall in love with. Once I really got into this book, I couldn't put it down. Even though my head was killing me and I couldn't read anymore, I kept going. I had to finish it.

“Wishes are false. Hope is true. Hope makes its own magic.” 

What was most interesting was the creatures in this novel. There are the "angels" the Seraph, or seraphim, and the Chimaera, the "devils" and they both have such a twist. Both chimaera and seraphim have different legends about how they came to be and it's so interesting to read the different legends in the book. The chimaera also are portrayed a little differently. In this world, they are half human and half various beasts. Reading all the descriptions in the book, I always thought "whoa that sounds so weird."  The book also goes back and forth a lot and it can be a bit confusing, but I think it was a great concept. The author doesn't spell it all out for us and makes it easy. Oh and I loved all the title pages at the beginning of a new part for the book with the feathers and the "Once upon a time..." introductions. It was so cute and really hooked me into the story.

“Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist.

And a devil knelt over him and smiled.”

The magic in this novel had a nice twist as well. In this book, magic comes from pain. Magic has a cost and it was interesting to see how Brimstone would get so upset with Karou using magic on what he perceived as wasteful. I loved his relationship with Karou and Madrigal and how the novel showed that progression backwards. I am not going into too much detail because I don't want to spoil anyone but I will say one thing. One of my favorite small things I loved was how Madrigal would make all her random wishes out loud instead of actually using the scuppies (who wouldn't want a necklace of scuppies to keep around their neck to make wishes? I know I would). My favorite one was "I wish I had blue hair." That was my favorite and made me smile!

“And yet, something tied them together, strong than any of that, something with the power to conduct her blood and breath like a symphony, so that anything she did to fight against it felt like discord, like disharmony with her self.”

I LOVED LOVED LOVED AKIVA AND KAROU!!!! Their romance was so cute! So passionate and unlike any that I have read in the past couple months. I just loved it so much and can't wait to see what happens in the next books. I definitely need to pick the next books up immediately because I am dying to find out what happens next.

Would I recommend? Yes. This is a great fantasy novel and you should read it if you are looking for a different read that has a new world and great romance. I loved it. I mean look at that gorgeous cover? Doesn't that alone make you want to read it? (:

*REVIEW* Cursed by Jennifer L Armentrout

Title: Cursed
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Rating: ★★★ 1/2

Blurb from Goodreads:

Dying sucks
...and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. 

After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life.


For real this time.

My Rating/Thoughts: 

Caution: this will contain mild spoilers.

I got this book free on my Kindle through Amazon when they offered me a free book if I signed up for their Teen novels newsletters. Among the choices, I chose this book because it was written by Jennifer L. Armentrout and sounded the closest to something that I would enjoy. Now I have never read anything by JLA before so I was pretty excited since I hear nothing but wonderful reviews for the Lux series. So I was a little bummed out that this book took me four months to actually finish. The start was really slow and I just kept putting it down and picking up another book instead. Every time I decided to give this another try, I would read about ten pages and then sit it back down. I think it felt like it was just a little too reminiscent of Shatter Me with Ember being able to kill with just her touch and plus being surrounded by others with special gifts as well (this always reminded me of X-Men (lol). So about twenty or so books later, I finally set out to finish this book once and for all and I would not rest until I had it done!

Ember is a bit of a loner in the beginning of the book. Ever since the accident, she is afraid to get too close to anyone for fear of hurting them. She has one friend named Adam and her sister, the only two people in the world she actually has in her life. Her mother is catatonic and has not said a word to her in two years. So after another freak accident in the grocery store parking lot where Ember accidentally kills her ex-boyfriend who got a little too close, Ember finds herself ripped away from her life, her school, her house, and within the residence of Cromwell, who for some unknown reason seems to find  the "Gifteds" and brings them together. As Ember begins to try to control her "curse" with the help of Hayden Cromwell, the sexy guy who seems to know a lot about her, she unlocks the secrets to the accident that changed her life.  

So, let's get down to business: Ember got on my nerves, plain and simple. She was overly accusing of Cromwell and his entire family and it got a little annoying. I admit it does throw you a loop when she finds out that the accident that killed her father and well, her, wasn't in fact an accident was shocking. But the fact that she does nothing but point fingers to Cromwell the entire book was irritating. I know Cromwell seemed a little suspicious and I would have suspected him too since he seemed too keen on wanting Olivia and her gift of bringing back the dead, but it wasn't like Ember actually took the time to get to know him either. She shyed away from him, she avoided pretty much everyone in the house and made them all extremely uncomfortable, which resulted in no one liking her and wanting her gone. They were all already afraid of her because of her gift and it didn't help that Ember's emotions were dark and isolated herself that made everyone even more afraid of her. Aside from all of this, I really enjoyed her character. I enjoyed reading her progress with trying to come to terms with her gift. It was kind of heart breaking to learn that she found herself to be so ugly and unlovable because of, what she considered, her "curse. So it brought a tear to my eye when she finally realized that she could take responsibility over this "curse" and control it. She wasn't soullesss or "unnatural and wrong" she was actually gifted like the others. Once she understood this, she was able to touch without killing. This made me feel so happy for her! Now she can have the life that she deserved and always longed for.

Now let's talk about the gorgeous Hayden. Hayden is an enerpath and I loved him. I loved him so much. He was just so cute and always looking out for Ember even when people warned him to stay away from her. Now I do find it a bit weird that he basically sort of stalked her for two years and said he loved her just by watching her, but it was still sweet to see how their relationship progressed. He knew he would never hurt Ember with his gift and regardless of everything Ember believed, he knew she would never hurt him or anyone and she wasn't a freak. He looked at her with such love and didn't even falter when he saw all her scars. He was just so perfect to me. *swoon* 

Now what I really liked about this book was the big shocker twist in the end. The whole book, you are wondering who actually caused the not-so-accident and what happened to her mother. Who wiped out her mother's memory to make her believe Ember is actually dead? Why  were they after Olivia? Who is bullying her at school? Who is killing dead animals and stuffing them in her locker? And what comes out is shocking! I did not expect any of it! My jaw literally dropped to the floor when I was reading. But I really enjoyed the ending. I enjoyed the comings together of stories intermingling and that Ember finds out she was not the only one who had her gift and even though that girl's fate led to a suicide, that didn't mean that Ember had the same end She could have a better life. I loved that she finally felt like she had a home among Cromwell and his children. I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't perfect by a long shot, but it was still enjoyable once it finally picked up. Now if this is one of JLA's "worst" books (popular opinion from her fans' reviews) than I am excited to read more of her novels to see how good those ones actually are. I am glad that it got better because I was really starting to doubt if I'd ever finish it so I am overjoyed that I ended up actually enjoying the end and the story line. 

Do I recommend it? Hmm, probably. 

But wait, so who did wipe her mother's memory? We will never know...