Review: Throne of Glass

Info: 
Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Publisher: Bloombury's USA Children's
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Source: Purchased.

Synopsis:
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating  . But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Review:
I'm pretty late to the Throne of Glass party, but that's ok, because better late than never! I'm always a bit nervous going into a popular, hyped-up book because the hype ruins so many of them for me. But not this one! No, this one I really really liked! Hooray!

I loved Celaena. She's just one of those characters that I couldn't help but fall in love with. Even though she's not perfect, I still wanted her to succeed. I mean, this girl has been through Hell and is just so strong and tenacious. Love her.

Then there are the boys. First Prince Dorian, who I enjoyed. He seemed like an all-around decent guy, though constantly in his father's shadow. Then there's Chaol, who I particularly liked (all though I'm not sure of the exact reason why). Since there are two guys, you can probably guess that there is a little bit of a love triangle. Although it's not very pronounced right now (as it is fairly one-sided), I think that it will be developed as the series progresses.

I also enjoyed the action in this book. Any book with a competition involved seems to add extra excitement for me and this was no exception. Especially since most of the competitors were very unlikable, so I particularly wanted Celaena to win!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and immediately bought the next two books after finishing this one!

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Review: Rebel Mechanics

Info: 
Title: Rebel Mechanics
Author: Shanna Swendson
Series: Rebel Mechanics #1
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Publication Date: July 14, 2015
Source: I received a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
A sixteen-year-old governess becomes a spy in this alternative U.S. history where the British control with magic and the colonists rebel by inventing.

It’s 1888, and sixteen-year-old Verity Newton lands a job in New York as a governess to a wealthy leading family—but she quickly learns that the family has big secrets. Magisters have always ruled the colonies, but now an underground society of mechanics and engineers are developing non-magical sources of power via steam engines that they hope will help them gain freedom from British rule. The family Verity works for is magister—but it seems like the children's young guardian uncle is sympathetic to the rebel cause. As Verity falls for a charming rebel inventor and agrees to become a spy, she also becomes more and more enmeshed in the magister family’s life. She soon realizes she’s uniquely positioned to advance the cause—but to do so, she’ll have to reveal her own dangerous secret.

Review:
I love a good Steampunk story! And I definitely found Rebel Mechanics to be a fun time. Verity was a likable, although naive, character and I enjoyed the idea of the class conflict between the magical upper class and non-magical lower.

As I mentioned I did enjoy Verity as a character. She is sincere and likable in general, although certainly quite naive, especially in the beginning. I enjoyed seeing her struggle and make some missteps, but eventually figuring things out for herself.

I also liked the children that Verity cares for as a governess. Olive is such a sweetheart, I just want to give her a hug. Roland was lots of fun and a good representation of a lot of little boys. And Flora was so stuck up, but I liked that too, as it provided another challenge for Verity to face. And of course, their uncle Henry was one of my favourite characters, with his well-meaning and nerdy persona.

On the other side, Verity's mechanic friends were a different sort entirely. I liked Nat a lot, with his boyish enthusiasm. Lizzie was also a character I enjoyed. The boy Verity starts to fall for, Alec, however, was not a favourite. I just didn't like how much he pushed Verity to do things that weren't in her best interest.

As I mentioned, I really liked the way the author used magic to magnify the division between economic classes in the world she created. Class division were huge in that time period and I thought the emphasis the author was able to place on these differences was well done.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit and thought it stood us fairly well to the other steampunk books on my shelf. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

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Review: The Road to You

Info: 

Title: The Road to You
Author: Alecia Whitaker
Series: Wildflower #2
Publisher: Poppy
Publication Date: July 14, 2015
Source: I received a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
The second book in the Wildflower series--full of drama, heart, and that country music spirit.

Bright lights... Screaming fans... Cute roadies... Country music sensation Bird Barrett is officially on tour. The months flash by in an exciting whirlwind, due--in no small part--to a certain dreamy lighting tech named Kai. 

After the tour wraps up, Bird makes the move to LA, finding herself at the center of a trumped-up rivalry with another country music starlet she barely knows. Meanwhile, Kai's out on tour again with an indie rock band and growing distant, and Bird has the label breathing down her neck for a new hit song. Finding true love is supposed to be inspiring, so why does penning the next great country pop ballad suddenly feel so hard? 

ABC's hit show Nashville meets The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Review:
So far, the Wildflower is one of my favourite contemporary series! I find Bird to be so likable and relateable, even though her life is so much crazier than mine!

This installment starts with Bird going on tour as the opening act for a country superstar. It's there that she meets Kai, the intense indie roadie that Bird immediately feels a connection with. Once the tour wraps up, her label suggests that she move to LA and attempt to be a crossover artist.

Bird deals with a variety of issues this time around: a long distance relationship, navigating the pitfalls of the LA media, dealing with friends (both good and not-so-good) and trying to assert her independence with her parents.

I wasn't a huge fan of the love interest, Kai. He's a bit too hipster for my taste and I just didn't think he and Bird were a great match, despite their chemistry. But he really does seem like a nice guy and I can see other readers liking him a lot.

The other new character we meet is Devyn, a Hollywood actress who strikes up a friendship with Bird. I wasn't a big fan of her; she lives a bit too much a crazy Hollywood starlet lifestyle, compared the Bird's down-to-earth personality.

Despite me not being crazy over the love interest, I did really like this book and can't wait for the next one to be released!

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June Wrap-up

July! Time for full-on summer! Yay! Sorry I'm running a little behind this month!

Books Reviewed in June:

Sweet by Emmy Laybourne  - 4 stars
Armored Hearts by Pauline Creeden and Melissa Turner Lee - 2 stars
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - 4 stars
End of Days by Susan Ee - 4 stars
Tangled Webs by Lee Bross - 4 stars
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis - 4 stars
We Will Be Crashing Shortly by Hollis Gillespie - 3.5 stars

Average rating = 3.6 stars

So many 4 star reviews!

Books Received in June:

For Review:

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis
Stay the Distance by Mara Dabrishus
You Me and Him by Kris Dinnison
Love Spell By Mia Kerick

Purchased:

Perfect Ruin by Lauren de Stefano
Raging Star by Moira Young
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

Amazon Freebies

Lenin's Harem by William Burton McCormickYou Won't Remember This by Kate Blackwell
Yesterday's Gone: Season One by Sean Platt and David  WrightSpecial Offers by ML Ryan