The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Published on September 20, 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their difference, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess.

But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Oh boy, this book was such a disappointment for me, it had everything to make me love it: a revival of a well know mythology character, ancient history and a gay ship to give me all the shippy feels but in the end none of this actually worked for me. I think that what killed this for me was the writing, all of the sentences and paragrafes were too fragmented, written on short sentences which annoyed me and the scenes were all short too, so this didn't let me get a good pacing while reading the story because I could pick it up, read a scene of a page or two and put it back down again, usually if I have to push myself to finish chapters at least I have more progress on my reading.

Other thing that didn't worked for me was the fact that tried too hard to be like an actual myth - if you already had to read one for a history class you know what I'm talking about, it's all very formal and detached and centered on the conflicts, leaving things like characters on the second plane to the plot,  and this ended up giving me a sense of detachment with its characters and their stories. I guess the wrong on this was me, since I was expecting pure fiction while going into this and with these expectations I wanted all the feels and etc. Or maybe it was just the hype towards this tittle.

I would recommend this if you like history/mythology and is looking for a new read and/or is interested on ancient history for fun/class/work, but as a work of fiction alone it didn't worked for me and I'm not sure to who it would work, if you're interested on this one but isn't sure it's gonna work for you probably just pick it up on the library or read an excerpt here.

Dressing Up The Part: Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl

Hey guys, today I'm here again with the feature Dressing Up The Part, this time around I'm getting to dress up an old favorite character of mine: Blair Waldorf from the Gossip Girl series. I gathered influences from both the books and the tv show, since I was completely obsessed with both of those on my teen years. For the collages I used the site Polyvore. There may be mild spoilers. 

This one is a daily look, for when she is going to shop with Serena on the 5th Avenue or Soho, or even just chill on the Central Park. I mixed the colors, the print and the glittered detail on the shirt because I think that Blair always risked on her looks mixing different tendencies and bold colors. The hair is on a more elaborated way because even being an informal occasion Blair would never be that informal.

When I was doing this I was thinking on Blair on law school or already having her own office. The jewels of pearls are always a classic but mixed with the fur and the floral skirt it gave the look more life and more of a Blair face to it, always classy but also always launching new trends.

Now, couldn't forget about date night with Chuck and Blair will want to look her best for those of course. I chose more of a clear aspect this time around, with white and pink, the only stamp being on the shoes. The jewels are what give the finale touch for this look and that really stand out, because obvs Blair will want everyone to see the giant rock that Chuck put on her finger and get jealous.

That was it for this edition, I hope you guys enjoyed this one I really had fun since Blair has such a unique fashion sense. There will probably be a Serena edition too, so stay tuned for that and until next time! 

2016 Reading Challenge

Hey guys, today I'm here to announce the challenge that I will be partaking during 2016. Since I'm not sure how much I will be able to read during 2016 I don't want to compromise my reading with lots of challenges that I may not follow through so I'll be only participating in one that I'm highly excited.

A Series A Month, hosted by Danielle at Love at First Page

I'm so excited to take part on this challenge! It always seems like YA books are much more series than stand alone, but even thought it seems that I'm always reading series I hardly ever finish them, there is also that finished series that I didn't get around to read while they were being published so now with this challenge I have the perfect chance to catch up on all the books that I've been dying to read for some time already. 

Some of the series that I already own, completed (Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce, Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, Every by Ellie Marney, Newsflesh by Mira Grant - I think this one is not finished yet, but there is already a ~original trilogy out, Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Legend by Marie Lu, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor), there is also some others that I own only part of the series (like Graceling by Kristin Cashore, His Fair Assassin by Robin LaFevers, Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie, The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani) and/or the last book of the series is gonna come out on 2016 (like Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey).

 So as you can see I have quite a lot of series to catch up to, you could probably call me a book hoarder because omg there is more than 12 series on this list and I only put the books visible on my bookshelves imagine if I had logged into Goodreads and looked into my "want to read" list there oh my god let's not think about this. You can get to know all the tidbits and details about this challenge on it's official sign up post here, but the basically guide lines is to read a series new to you each month, but if you don't manage to read one series every month there is no stress you can still keep participating. I suck at being active at challenges, I usually do try on my reading year to keep track and achieve my challenges but hardly ever update things around here but this year I'll try to do series reviews of the series that I manage to read. Let's hope I succeed. 

Well, that is it for me, tell me all about it on the comments bellow!

#CRAMATHON

Hey guys, so this is very last minute but I decided to join in on the fun of the Cramathon, it's a read-a-thon hosted by Whitty Novels and you can get to know more about it on this video. It goes from December 19 to December 22 and there is some challenges, so let's get into my TBR.

1. Read an audibook or ebook: For me is quite easy to read an ebook since I read them for the majority of the time, but I'm putting "This Savage Song" by Victoria Schwab here because I've been dying to read something by her and this one is up on Edelweiss. Other likely options are: anything available at Edelweiss or from my Kobo.

2. Read a bindup: When I got the Losing It series I got it on a bindup edition and I still have Finding It & Keeping Her to read. I have some other options on this one but they are 1000+ pages so yeah, this one is the more likely to happen.

3. Finish a series/Read the last book of a series: I just downloaded "Remembrance" by Meg Cabot from Edelweiss and it fits perfectly this category since it's the (maybe) last/newest book on the Mediator series. Other probably option is "Lady Renegades" by Rachel Hawkins, the third and final book of the Rebel Belle trilogy.

4. Read a book under 200 pages: "Beasts of no Nation" is actually my only option of book and not novella/short story so yeah. But maybe I read a novella from one of my series if I don't feel like reading this one.

5. Finish a book you DNF'ed: this is actual a cheat since I did put "Onyx" but with every intention of picking it up again, another option for this category would be "Saving Francesca".

6. Read a graphic novel series (or as many as you can): I read the first volume of Ms. Marvel a while back and I definitely want to pick it up its sequels, so this is a great opportunity. Other options are Amulet and Fables.

7. Read 5 books total: well, I would love to this to happen but it seems unlikely I'm not a speed reader and have things to do like, every day of this read-a-thon but still I hope that getting into this will give me a gas to read a bit more this week. 

That's it for my Cramathon TBR, tell me on the comments bellow if you're participating and what is your TBR for it. 

Calvin - Martine Leavitt

Calvin by Martine Leavitt
Published on November 17, 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

As a child, Calvin felt an affinity with the comic book character from Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes.

He was born on the day the last strip was published; his grandpa left a stuffed tiger named Hobbes in his crib; and he even had a best friend named Susie. Then Calvin’s mom washed Hobbes to death, Susie grew up beautiful and stopped talking to him, and Calvin pretty much forgot about the strip—until now. Now he is seventeen years old and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Hobbes is back, as a delusion, and Calvin can’t control him. Calvin decides that Watterson is the key to everything—if he would just make one more comic strip, but without Hobbes, Calvin would be cured. Calvin and Susie (is she real?) and Hobbes (he can’t be real, can he?) set out on a dangerous trek across frozen Lake Erie to track down Watterson.

It's been almost two months since I finished Calvin and I honestly can't say how I feel about it, I guess the good outweighs some of the problems I had with it and I would definitely recommend to some people but at the same time I don't know if I really liked it. Oh, well, let's make a list and see how this goes.

• This book is super short, like really short, my eARC version of it had about 70 pages and while reading/thinking back on my experience with this story I don't think such a short amount of pages is enough to deal with such a hard topic as schizophrenia, it doesn't give the author the time to really make the reader, that don't know about this decease, to understand how it works and the whys. 
• But still, the part that I thought most suffered from this shortage of pages was the ending, it was incredible rushed. I liked that this one ended in a happy tone since there was so many times where I thought things were going down but, since it's written on a letter format, we just get some pages of Calvin telling us what went down and how he is dealing with everything and them boom it ended, I don't know if it was the way it was told us and not showed us or if it was the number of pages that had to fit such a amount of information but things felt rushed and brushed off. 
• The romance. When it comes to books about mental health I'm always wary about the way romances are portrait, never in a million years I'm willing to accept the love interest as some kind of savior for the mental health problems but in this case it kind of did happen that, but it didn't at the same time. Okay, this is problem the part that most confused me if I enjoyed this story or not, I'll try to make myself clear but it will be hard. So Susie, the love interest, does help Calvin while he is at his worst and her help is a BIG part of why he gets better, but at the same time they have a good relationship dynamic, yes she helps him getting better but she isn't the whole reason why.
• Also, I was so happy with the way the ending showed how important it's to get proper help, like medication and doctors, and how that isn't a bad thing at all.
• This was funny, like laugh out loud funny at a lot of scenes.
• Parts of it is written on letter format, but most of it is on a kind of script way and this made it even more quickly to read since is basically only dialogues.
• The plot is totally insane, we have two teenagers crossing a frozen lake on winter and is cold as shit and is dangerous and as crazy as that may sound they find things and people on the middle of this crossing, so yeah, it was quite fun to read about Calvin and Susie adventures. 

Overall the good is bigger than my personal peeves and I think that maybe if you're looking for a book about mental health that isn't dark and heavy, but light and fun while still managing to create good characters dealing with their problems they you have found the right book, but if you want a deep look into schizophrenia I don't think this will be your best shot.

Faking It - Cora Carmack

Faking It by Cora Carmack 
Series: Losing It #2 
Published on June 4, 2013 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

I dived in Faking It right when I finished Losing It, its prequel, having heard so much praise for this one I was super excited to be getting into it, but unfortunately some parts didn't worked for me while others did. This one as its predecessor is a super funny and quickly read, these books are the perfect reads for when you want some brain candy but I for me Faking It loosed a little of its fun by giving their characters a complicated past, especially Max. Max is a supposed trouble maker because of *reasons* on her past and this weighted down my enjoyment on some parts of the story, this isn't a book problem more of a me problem, since I came into this one expecting only fun sexy times and got drama on a way that is pretty common among New Adult books.

Nonetheless this was still super enjoyable on its fun and sexy parts, I was super happy when I discovered this one was about Cade because he was such a good guy on Losing It and I couldn't wait to see him get his happy ending. The faking dating trope is something that always works for me, it's always fun to see the couple struggling to keep things on the fake side but you already know there is no turning back, and oh boy all the banter and hilarious scenes this leads us to.

In the end of the day this was a pretty good book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a fun, quickly and sexy read but be warmed this series does tend to be pretty predictable and more on the drama side at times.

Alanna: The First Adventure - Tamora Pierce

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Series: Song of the Lioness #1 
Published on December 7, 2010 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Alanna of Trebond is no ordinary girl: her dream is to become a knight. So she disguises herself as a boy and begins training at the palace of King Roald. Alanna quickly finds out that the road to knighthood is not an easy one, but her skills and stubbornness help her become friends with Prince Jonathan and his followers. At the same time, Alanna makes an enemy of the prince's uncle, the overly charming Duke Roger.

Here begins Alanna's first adventure, one that will lead not only to fulfillment of her dreams but to a magical destiny that will make her a legend.

 I feel like I'm the last one coming to this party, everyone seems to have read Tamora Pierce's books when they were young and absolutely loved each one of them. Now, I finally can join the party - at least partially, since omg there is so much books by Pierce - and some things worked for me, others not so much. I will make a list because it's more practical and I'm lazy.

What I disliked:

1. The writing was too much show and not tell at times, I think this happened because this book passes through a long period of time, years actually, so it's understandable that some mundane tasks would be brushed over. But still, nothing really moved me on this writing, it was somewhat distancing from the characters and even on the action sequences I felt my attention span wavering.
2. This is a middle grade book and it shows. Not just on the simplistic writing but also on the little character development, the characters here are pretty simple and what you see is what you get, I'm a very character driven reader so for me this is kind of a big bummer, I hope that on the next books of the series we get to have more complex and emotional situations that show us some character development. 

What I liked:

1. Alanna is a great main character, she is not flawless (far from it actually) and I think she sets a great example for younger children. She is strong headed, determined and don't let her time period rules dictate who she will become.
2. The friendships that Alanna construct on the palace were pretty great too, I loved how they showed time and time again that they would stick to Alanna nevertheless of her actions because that is what friends are for (and it was adorable how surprised she was by it).
3. The action and the magical elements were pretty cool, I definitely want to read more about it on the next books, despite Alanna wanting to be a Knight and not a  deal with her gift I really think it will come in handy on her next adventures and I can't wait to discover more about it.
4. Despite the writing being simplistic once I picked up I only put it down when I finished, so it was really addictive and I just love books that give this urge to binge read them.

I will definitely be continuing with this series, even with my peeves it was pure enjoyment and such a great take on classical fantasy, I felt like watching/reading a book from my childhood. I would recommend it to young readers looking to a fantasy novel that isn't that heavy on the fantasy aspects, or anyone that wants to read something more on the classic feel of old fantasy novels. 

The Falconer - Elizabeth May

The Falconer by Elizabeth May
Series: The Falconer #1
Published on May 6, 2014 by Chronicle Books

One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale.

She's a stunner.
Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.

She's a liar.
But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.

She's a murderer.
Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.

She's a Falconer.
The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.

The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.

When I first read The Falconer, on 2014 I absolutely loved but re-reads are always something that leave me wary because what if I don't love the book as much the second time around? I don't want to tarnish the perfect memories I have of the original read! Oh well I shouldn't have worried, The Falconer was as much entertaining the second time as the first one probably even more. Since I tried to write a review on the regular way and failed I'm gonna do a list of the important factors:

• The World Building: Reading this one for the first time I remembered being highly confused by this world, at the start we are said this is Edinburgh at 1844 but that isn't exactly what we find on this story. The setting is Edinburgh but it's a steampunk version of it, full of new inventions and even different geography aspects; since I already knew what I was going to find this time around I wasn't as bothered by these elements, but be warmed this is a fantasy/steampunk novel that has kind of a alternative historical setting too.
• Aileana: guys, this girl has to be one of my favorite characters ever, she passed through a terrible trauma but instead of cowering and hiding she goes out of her way, defying her society to avenge her mothers death. Despite her strong physical attributes, she shows a lot of weakness on the emotional side, I really hope that with the passing of the series we get to see her coming around on her grief. 

• The Romance: So, when I first read I thought the romance on this book was a love triangle but now I didn't see it that way at all, but more on this next. Right now I want to talk about Kiaran, our dickhead fae that trains Aileana to hunt his own species, it's pretty obvious he has super secret things on his past that made him start hunting his own and it's pretty obvious that despite his facade he has a heart and cares deeply for Aileana. I love the banter between those two, Aileana doesn't take shit from him and is always ready to call him on his bullshit or put him on his place. I really hope that on the next books we get to see more of his good side and less of his emo persona.

• The friendships: Now, as I said above I thought the romance was a love triangle at my first read, but now I don't think Aileana and Gavin's relationship has any romantic elements to it at all. Aileana never has passionate feelings towards Gavin, but they do share a emotional connection that is deep because both of them remind of their lives two years ago with longing, of their lives before the fairies, and also they are the only ones in this society who can understand what each other is passing and be honest with each other, so it's a great dynamic between these two, it sounded true and very deep for me. Also loved the portrait of female friendship, Aileana and Catherine, they are best friends since childhood and despite Aileana not being able to share her new life with Catherine their friendship doesn't falter, Catherine chooses to keep believing on her friend and understands that there has to be a good reason for her lies while still keeping her trust on her. Honorable mention to the adorable pixie, Derrick, that made me laugh like a mad person on so many scenes.

Okay, that was all that I had to highlight about this one, there is much more too it but I can't do justice because well, you have to read it yourself. Trust me on this one, if you're looking for an amazing cast of characters, with incredible relationships and well develop personalities, while also having a fast paced read, full of new twists and action sequences you need to pick this one up. And even if you don't think this is what you want you should pick this one up anyway because I'm pretty sure it can surprise you. 

Dressing Up The Part: Cress of the Lunar Chronicles

Hey guys, today I'm here with a new feature. Just recently I discovered Polyvore, which is a site to create collages, there some different stiles and one of them is on fashion; now I always liked to play dress up but never really had done it focusing on characters from books but now I started and am addicted so here I'm. Hope you enjoy it, this time around I played dress up on Cress, the Lunar character from the Lunar Chronicles, as I said on my review I quite liked Cress personality and I hope to have translated it well to this clothes. There may be mildly spoilers to Winter.

This one was based on the favoritism of Cress for wearing dresses on her satellite, so I was thinking that when she was aboard the Rampion, using her mad hacker skills she would prefer to use a dress as well. She will also let her hair grow because she misses having something to hold on to when she is solving a computer problem or is nervous. The heels is for her height difference with Thorne, I mean from time to time she will try to make it not so big.

This second one I was thinking on a more formal way, but still approachable. It's for the times the crew will go visit they *very important* friends, like you know the Emperor of the Commonwealth or the Queen of Luna, basic stuff. Of course, it isn't for a formal appearance, just that little dinner between old friends. 

The last but not least was probably my favorite of the three, I just loved the mix of yellow and kind of pink, idk what color the skirt and the flats are but yeah. This is for a date night, just between Cress and Thorne, without their friends, it's simple but very delicate and romantic as I like to think Cress would like.

So that was it for this edition, I hope to get back with this feature soon (despite my horrible ways on keeping anything frequent around here). Tell me on the comments what did you think of these combinations and if you have done something similar with your favorite characters too.  

Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer

Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer
Series: Twilight #5 
Published on October 6, 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

Celebrate the tenth anniversary of Twilight! This special double-feature book includes the classic novel, Twilight, and a bold and surprising reimagining, Life and Death, by Stephenie Meyer.

Packaged as an oversize, jacketed hardcover “flip book,” this edition features nearly 400 pages of new content as well as exquisite new back cover art. Readers will relish experiencing the deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful love story of Bella and Edward through fresh eyes.

Twilight has enraptured millions of readers since its first publication in 2005 and has become a modern classic, redefining genres within young adult literature and inspiring a phenomenon that has had readers yearning for more. The novel was a #1 New York Times bestseller, a #1 USA Today bestseller, a Time magazine Best Young Adult Book of All Time, an NPR Best-Ever Teen Novel, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. The Twilight Saga, which also includes New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, and The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, has sold nearly 155 million copies worldwide.

I was extremely surprised when I heard about this book, I thought Twilight was over and buried we already got the series completed, a short story from a secondary character and all those movies but them, on the tenth anniversary Meyer completely surprised me with this announcement and it was a non brainier that I was going to read this. Back on 2008 I was a hard core Twilight fan, defending it from all the bad critics it got when the movies came out and reading these books over and over, they were my comfort when I was between 14-16, Edward was my dream boyfriend and this was series responsible to open the amazing world of YA for me.

So yeah, I had to read this book but it didn't really lived up to my expectations. Before I started reading it I already had see and read some bad reviews but I was expecting to love it anyway, mostly due to nostalgic feelings than by the story itself, I mean I knew I wasn't gonna be blow away by it since it was mostly the same story but still, I was hoping to relieve the attachment that I had created to this world so many years before, unfortunately this didn't happened.

My first problem with it was the fact that this is basically 99.9% of the same book, so yeah I knew it was the same story but OH MY GOD COULD YOU JUST AT LEAST TRY TO NOT CONTROL+C CONTROL+V SO MUCH???????? It was REALLY, REALLY hard to picture Beau and Edythe on my head when I could hear was the same lines from Bella and Edward, you can totally take the same bases to create a new story but you CAN'T just change the pronouns in a story and say these are new characters, because they weren't! They're the same fucking thing, on the same fucking story, passing through the same fucking situations and saying the same fucking sentences, this isn't reimagining anything. Maybe I went into this expecting to much, because I mean it's said that it was the same story but only switched genders, I read that on the letter/thing Meyer wrote at the start of the story but still in my head I was expecting a little bit more of changes, not in the story and facts itself but on the personality of those involved on it.

And I'm really pissed thinking about it you know, because if Meyer wanted to wrote something "new" on the Twilight world showing that Bella wasn't a damsel in distress as she said but a human in distress them why not write a short story them about Beau and Edythe? Or take a secondary female vampire of the series and create a romantic story for her? Or even take that female werewolf from the pack of Jacob and create a boy for her? Like seriously, 100 pages of a new work and this could have gone much better in showing what she wanted, without having copied 400+ pages of Twilight and just switching pronouns, it would have been so much more satisfying, she showed that on The Short Second Live of Bree Tanner, it was short and it still was a good read that made me care for Bree while reading it.

Also, she totally failed on her task to show that her books weren't sexist when she took the scene of attempted rape on Bella/Beau and when she totally changed the rape scene from Rosalie/Royal, breaking news guys are raped and sexual assaulted too, so there wasn't a good enough reason to make these changes. The writing continues the same, since it's basically the same narrative, still full of unnecessary information about Beau and Charlie diet and full of chopped sentences. The only big change is the ending, which it was changed to make this only one book and not a series, but I really didn't get what she tried to accomplish with the info dumping about the vampire and werewolf mythology, I mean I'm pretty sure that if you're gonna read this one you already read the rest of the series or at least saw the movies, it was completely unnecessary to have that part since it only showed how rushed this was done and it didn't really added to anything in the story.

Overall this was a disappointment, can't say I wasn't warned before but as a Twilight fan I just had to read this one and see for myself. I'm sad to say it didn't added anything to the world of vampires and werewolves that we already knew, it something it only took some of my enjoyment when thinking about this beloved series and made me agree with some hatters about the problems these books portrait. Honestly, if you're a fan of the series you will probably want to read this anyway but my recommendation is: just re-read your favorite book of the original series or watch your favorite movie of it and be happy with the nostalgic feels.

Winter - Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4 
Published on November 10, 2015 by Feiwel & Friends

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

We are here friends, at the end of the road, we finished this series and now we probably just want more or it is just me? Of course not, no one wanted this to end. I don't really know how to make reviews of last books on a series, I found it hard to make reviews of seconds books already I mean, it's hard to talk about a series because spoilers everywhere and you want to talk about those spoilers but also review isn't the place to it and AGH. But anyway, I'll try to do my best and talk about this book on a more general way, but I make no promises that this will be coherent (who I'm kidding, my reviews are never coherent lol).

First and mostly, I feel like I should praise Meyer for the growth on her writing. I remember that when I read Cinder I thought the writing was more on the young-ish side of YA, it wasn't bad or anything but also it was very simplistic, and the plot twists too were so easy to see a mile away which took some of the story but oh my, this really didn't happened this time around. The writing is much improved, and Meyer overcome all my expectations with the plot on this book, this book is enormous and so many things happen on it, I never felt like it was predicable she really surpassed anything that I could have expect and upped it up turning this story so much more than already was.

Also, I was so so SO scared of the size of this book, I'm not a fan of big books and by big I mean that I become wary of anything over 400 pages, if is part of a series I usually will read it despite it's size but I was fully expecting to take me a month to read this one, instead I read it in about 6 days which for me is equal super speed. The big reason for this is the fact that there was ALWAYS SOMETHING HAPPENING on this book, I'm not kidding, so much happens and I feel so satisfied with it, because I was afraid that things would be solved to quickly or easily since the whole revolution had to happen on this book but no, on the contrary.

These characters had to face so many challenges (as if they didn't already but yeah), now shit is real, Levana is crazy as fuck, like even more than usual, seriously this gurl took crazy to a whole new level and I loved it, I think I never said on my other reviews but she grew to be one of my favorite villains, probably because it's so interesting to read about her. Her mind is so fucked up and twisted on believing this reality she created to herself to deal with her childhood traumas, I think it's a very unique way of picture a villain, they usually have strong beliefs and ideologies but Levana is straight out crazy because of her past, and her only belief is on the lies she created, such a interesting character.

Anyway, I wasn't going to talk about her, I was going to talk about how much I loved the plot of this book. As of this being a fairy tale retelling I didn't know what to expect when they were facing challenges to bring on the revolution, maybe my fear was that it would become too much of a Once Upon A Time kind of thing where the good always wins the bad just because but no. All of our loved cast, plus Winter and Jacin, have challenges to face on this one and absolutely nothing goes smoothly, seriously I would be like HELL YES LET'S GO REVOLUTION TIME BOO LEVANA and them BOOM shit happened, them resolutions for that shit comes and I would go all like YEAH NOW WE GO FULL ON REVOLUTION MODE and them BOOM more shit even worse comes flying and hits me on the face. Seriously there was one chapter at the end that was just plain bad to my heart, for those who already read this is the last scene on the throne room, SUCH AGONY, SUCH A HIGH.

Also, the personal characters stories I was fully satisfied with the ending of everyone, like I said before nothing comes easy and also doesn't end perfectly as in a fairy tale but this was a war so things were to be expected. The couples have time together but nothing over shines the plot, but it's enough to give everyone that ships different things to have their ship feels and feel happy with their otp, mine had such a great kissing scene and finally a declaration and I was giggling the whole time I'm totally normal, I swear.Let's talk a little about our new character, Winter, she is suffering from Lunar sickness which means she is loosing her mind, it was very unique read things through her POV but I really enjoyed how Meyer didn't infantilized her and showed how clever her mind still was despite her sickness. One thing that I do complain is that I needed more Cress POV, actually I need more from like everyone on this series, I didn't wanted it to end when I finally got to the ending and I hope the collection, Stars Above, has short stories from these characters on the future because I need to know about their future, pretty please.

Overall this series ended on a more than satisfying note, I will definitely revisit these characters and their stories on the future, it's kind of funny to see how disappointed I was on the first book and how much I ended up liking this series in the end. Super recommend this series to everyone looking for a YA science fiction series and/or a dystopia that doesn't fit the mold expect after The Hunger Games, if you already read the first book but was let down by it I would say give it a chance to the other books on this series, I think they may win you over.

Cress - Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Published on February 4, 2014 by Feiwel & Friends

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

 Guys, I'm in love with Cress, I really don't think any of the other Lunar protagonists conquered my heart so quickly and easily and it's really clear why. Cress reminded me of Felicity, from the tv show Arrow which is one of my favorite shows and she is definitively my favorite character of it, Cress with her awkward ways around people (because you know is hard to develop social skills when stuck on a satellite most of her life), her insanely good hacker abilities and huge crush on Thorne, won me over in just a few pages, safe to say that the more I read about her and the troubles she passes through this book I liked her more and more, also I feel like she would totally understand my crush on Thorne too and we would spend all the night gushing over him.

Despite starting as a sheltered girl, not having much of a life outside her computers, Cress still manages to go through a lot during this story and grow a back bone while being herself still. I have to say I specially love the way she created to deal with hard situations by imagining stories on her head based on the drama shows she watched all her life, it was fun and showed her naive ways to see the world. She also challenged a lot of common places for heroines, since she is naive while also being a super genius, she is awkward and say the wrong things at times but is completely unique on her hacker skills, she isn't physically strong and does at times need or even want to be rescued by her knit on shine armor (Thorne in case you didn't noticed yet) but is the one that saves the day a lot of times. Yay, for strong kick ass heroines that don't fit the mold YA created years ago with Katniss like heroines.

Since I already mentioned Thorne so many times and how Cress has a crush on him let's talk about their relationship. They end up being together for the most part of the story because of spoilery things and it's a hard situation, physically and emotionally, so this definitely created a bound between them. There isn't much romance properly saying since it's mostly Cress crushing on Thorne and Thorne, well being Thorne all charming and stuff, but I feel like this made them the best couple of the series so far, my biggest complaint whit the others romances where their instalove but this time around there isn't any of that on play. Cress does eventually grows and realizes the distinctions between the Thorne she created on her head and the real one, so even from her side there wasn't any instalove for me. Also their scenes where so cute and I giggled a lot of times, so win win.

I guess there was other characters on this story too, so I should probably talk about them too, hmm, these characters continue to grow on me. I'm actually really surprised by how much I'm caring about Cinder since her voice really didn't stood out for me on the first book but now she grew so much, I'm liking to see how much she grew and how hard she is trying to make everything work while still caring insecurities that make her a character easy to relate. Wolf is still my least favorite character, sorry for all his fans, but I just don't click with the guy I think he's a weakness on their group with his mind control stuff and just no. Scarlet shows up very little on this one, but when she did it was pretty scary stuff, also Winter makes an appearance on this book and I was like !!!!!!!!!! so excited to read more from her point of view that is bound to be very unique.

Overall this was, so far, my favorite of the series, Cress won me over as my favorite heroine of this story and at each book I grew more attached to the rest of the cast, even the ones that weren't my favorites at first. I totally recommend to readers of the series, I mean what are you guys awaiting to finally pick this up but also to everyone looking for a very fun and fast paced YA science fiction series.

A Song To Remember: Queen of Shadows

Hey guys, today I'm here with a brand new feature that I hope you will enjoy. Books and songs are something that sometimes match so perfectly that we have that thought "this song is exactly the fit for X book/scene/series/character", we all know this felling and a lot of other blogs already have features that match books and songs but now is my time to show you my matches! A Song To Remember is all about matching books with songs that I enjoy listening too.

This time around the book is "Queen of Shadows" by Sarah J. Maas, I didn't review it because it's basically impossible without spoiling everything (I did think on doing a discussion post about it but laziness and all that), so to try to make this book justice I complied 5 songs that I think match it's clime perfectly. Let's see them, click on the name of the songs for official video clips:

1. Run the World (Girls) - Beyoncé | This was a no brainer since this whole series is ruled by girls and this is basically a national anthem to girl power.

"My persuasion can build a nation / Endless power / With our love we can devour / You'll do anything for me / Who run the world (Girls)"

2. .  Salute - Little Mix | This one is also all about girl power but I think is more undervalued which shouldn't be because it's awesome, I specially picture this one with the Thirteen.

"You think we're just pretty things / Couldn't be more wrong (we're standing strong, caring on) / Knock us but we keep moving up (we're moving up) / Can't stop a hurricane, ladies it's time to awake (...) Ladies, the time has come, the war has begun / Let us stand together / And remember, men fight great, but women are greater fighters"

3. Fighter - Christina Aguilera | I picture Aelin singing this one to Arobynn, especially after that dinner scene, I think it fits so perfectly her relationship with him, not just this part bellow but all of this song.

"Never saw it coming, all of your backstabbing / Just so you could cash in a good thing before I'd realize your game / I heard you're going around playing the victim now / But don't even begin feeling I'm the one to blame / Cause you dig your own grave "

4. Castle - Halsey | THE ENDING. This I picture at the ending, on the scene where Aelin, Dorian and the King are on the castle and GAH SPOILERS. So yeah, I just really like this song and think it matches with that scene.

"I'm headed straight for the castle / They wanna make me their queen / And there is an old man sitting on the throne that's saying that I should probably shouldn't be so mean / I'm headed straight for the castle / They've got the kingdom locked up / And there is an old man sitting on the throne that's saying that I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut / Straight for the castle / Oh, all these minutes passing, sick of feeling used / If you wanna break these walls downs, you're gonna get bruised / Now my neck is open wide, begging for a fist around it / Already chocking on pride, there is no use crying about it"

 5. Girl on Fire - Alicia Keys (Cover by Nicole Cross) | Totally Aelin song. I mean "You can try but you'll never forget her name" it's such a true statement.

'She's just a girl and she's on fire / Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway / She's living in a world and it's on fire / Filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away (...) Looks like a girl but she is a flame / So bright she can burn your eyes / Better look the other way / You can try but you'll never forget her name"

So did you guys agree with my choices? Which are the songs that YOU think match Queen of Shadows? Tell me all about it on the comments!

Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2 
Published on February 5, 2013 by Feiwel & Friends

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Oh, boy this series is really growing on me, I still had some troubles with Scarlet but I enjoyed it more than Cinder and can say with 100% sure that I'm gonna continue with this series. The biggest development between Cinder and Scarlet was the writing and the pacing, this time around we have a clear build up to the ending despite it being pretty predictable still was much more enjoyable for me to see things clearly building the tension and getting to the final climax. The writing also improved on terms, especially, of info dump, when building the world on Cinder I often found myself thinking how conveniently everything was and how things are being underdeveloped but this time around I didn't had these kind of thoughts, the world Meyer created really started to have a more clear image on my head.

What made this book for me was its characters, I found the characters on Cinder pretty card board and one dimensional but now I don't really see them like that, Cinder and Kai have to face a more lot of challenges on this one, having to make hard decisions that not always will coincide with what they think is the best/right. The new characters Scarlet, Wolf and Thorne also have their time to shine, Scarlet is our main POV on this one (there are multiple ones) and I liked her, she is a fighter, even after everything she went through on this book she didn't back down and is more than ready to join this bigger fight that is building. Wolf isn't my fave, more on that later. Thorne <3 Oh, Thorne is just my kind of character, he is a jerk with a big heart and a even bigger repertory of snark comments.

Now, my problem on this one was with the romance, I just I couldn't guys, it was terrible and I wanted to punch the two of them on the face all the time. So yeah, Scarlet and Wolf  are the supposed couple of this one and first, it was completely instalove (as with was already on Cinder, but at least Cinder and Kai had a few talks and never declared their undying love for each other) but I could get past that, what I couldn't get past was the way Wolf treated Scarlet and how she continued to trust him even after everything, just no. He's violent, lies to her, betrays her, but even after she knows this what does she thinks? "Wolf is different, Wolf is only doing this to protect me, Wolf has something in him that makes me trust him despite everything" just ugh no, big giant no, I thought we had passed this with Twilight.

Overall I liked this one more than Cinder and now this is a series that I would recommend to more people looking for fun YA series, this is a fast paced read with characters that really grew on me and in spite of my reservations I would say for you to give this series a shot if the synopses intrigues you.

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer 
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Published on January 3, 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I had some problems with this one but overall I enjoyed and started the sequel right away. My main problems were concerning the world build on this series, it is supposed to be a dystopia with a sci-fi touch, but things never really felt... Natural, none of what was presented here sounds like plausible near (100,200 years from now) future, on the other side it sounded a lot like Hollywood movies taking scientific concepts and putting it on a easier way for the audience and/or for the convenience of the plot; one other thing, this is supposed to be set on Asia, more specific Beijing (that was destroyed and is now the New Beijing), China and honestly, if this passed on any USA or European city it wouldn't have made a single difference because there is no use of the Asian culture which I think it is a shame; also it's said at some point that Commonwealth is a junction of all the past Asian cultures but it's never really explained any cultural aspect of this new world and this citation made me really curious because as of right now on Asia we have very different and opposite ideals on religion and politics which even lead to numerous wars over the history, so how come now they are at peace and which religion is practiced there, the political system is socialism? I honestly have no clue and it bothered me. 

Some other things that also rubbed me wrong are the pacing of the story, there wasn't a consistence for building a climax at least not on my reading experience and the ending was really abrupt. There are some times that I thought the plot was to convenient too and the characters weren't exactly the most complex ones. 

But despite all this I did enjoyed most of my reading, it was really easy to read, most of the time fast paced with things always moving the plot and I'm interested in seeing where Meyer will take this on the next books. Do not recommend to readers looking for something more complex/emotional but to those who want a candy brain read. 

Losing It - Cora Carmack

Losing It by Cora Carmack
Series: Losing It #1
Published on February 23, 2013 by William Morrow

Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

New Adult is a new territory for me, I think over all my life I read about 2 new adult books (now with Cora's 4) but I did heard a LOT of criticism about this gender, so it's fair to say that I entered this one wary. Shouldn't have worried, this was what I expect from a good romantic comedy but on the book format, it was light fluffy and with a good dose of romance.

The story stars with Bliss deciding to lose her virginity with a one night stand, enters Garrick, perfect male specimen with a British accent to complete the packet. I'll not give any further details, since I think the synopses already gives away enough spoilers for the start of the book but I do want to say that I really enjoyed their relationship, Bliss was always putting herself on hilariously situations and Garrick was pretty sweet most of the time.

If I have one complain is that it was that their characters weren't developed enough, I can't honestly say who Bliss was before this story or what Garrick likes besides being with Bliss, this didn't really took away my enjoyment while reading it but it does make the story much more forgettable among all the other books and made these characters not all that realistic.

Also, there wasn't really any obstacles to their relationship, this is a romance focused book so you know the couple will met, like, fight drama, surpass said drama and have a HEA but the whole drama of this story is basically created by Bliss and Garrick, yeah there is room for a good drama like with the teacher-student relationship but it was never explored.

Overall this was a really fun, quickly and sweet read, I would recommend as a brain candy for when you don't really want to think about anything and just sit back and relax.

Until We Meet Again - Renee Collins

Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins
Published on November 3, 2015 by Sourcebooks Fire

They exist in two different centuries, but their love defies time.

Cassandra craves drama and adventure, so the last thing she wants is to spend her summer marooned with her mother and stepfather in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. But when a dreamy stranger shows up on their private beach claiming it's his own—and that the year is 1925—she is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.

As she searches for answers in the present, Cassandra discovers a truth that puts their growing love—and Lawrence's life—into jeopardy. Desperate to save him, Cassandra must find a way to change history…or risk losing Lawrence forever.

Until We Meet Again wasn't in my radar until some glowing early reviews started to appear, reading the synopsis I was more than intrigued by it a romance with time travel AND a mystery, hell yeah sign me up. Unfortunately, this was one of those cases of it's not you, it's me books.

The thing that most worked for me was the writing, despite I knowing very early on that this would probably not be a me book I still kept reading and never really felt an urge to DNF it. The pacing of the story also worked really well, we have a murder mystery and a romance to be developed and Collins manages to gives us enough information so to keep us interested on the story and eager to get to the ending to figure everything out.

We have two POV's, Cassandra's (which is the main one) and Lawrence's (usually really short and occasional). Cassandra is a typical angst teenager until she sees a stranger on the beach (Lawrence), them her life gains a purpose (with the mystery to solve) and I just can't, using romance as character development just isn't enough, she supposedly was so many depth to Lawrence because she is "different" and I didn't get, was she different because she was bored? And Lawrence, wow that boy was overdone on the perfect boyfriend machine, he comes from a rich family but isn't a snob and doesn't want to follow his father footsteps, oh no he wants to be a poet! And guess who his muse is? That's right, Cassandra! Maybe this sounds like a perfect romance to you, and it was quite nice but that is it, it was nice and fluffy and extremely cheese - so much that sometimes I thought I would be sick. The secondary characters were just really black or white, if someone was bad (we have some mob and really bad guys here) you could see from a mile afar.

The way everything happened in this story also made me question either this was really an YA book, because everything was so... Childish and predictable. There was things, like the last few chapters, that I think were supposed to be life or death, heart pounding scenes that ended up just reading like a dramatic telenovela (well, I think all telenovelas are dramatic).

Overall this wasn't a bad book, I think it can be perfect to some people and/or depending on your humor, for me this was a disappointment - I think the story could have worked a little bit more on bringing more flawed characters and realistic scenes so that this would have felt more like a story being told and not just a entertainment read.

Doctor Who: The Glamour Chronicles

Hey guys, today I'm here to share my two other reviews of the series Doctor Who: The Glamour Chronicles. You can find my review of Royal Blood, the third book of the series, here.
[These books where given to me by the Publisher, this in no way affected my opinion.]

Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale
Series: Doctor Who: The Glamour Chronicles
Published on September 10, 2015 by BBC Books

‘I do hope you’re all ready to be terrified!’
The Phaeron disappeared from the universe over a million years ago. They travelled among the stars using roads made from time and space, but left only relics behind. But what actually happened to the Phaeron? Some believe they were they eradicated by a superior force… Others claim they destroyed themselves.
Or were they in fact the victims of an even more hideous fate?
In the far future, humans discover the location of the last Phaeron road – and the Doctor and Clara join the mission to see where the road leads. Each member of the research team knows exactly what they’re looking for – but only the Doctor knows exactly what they’ll find. Because only the Doctor knows the true secret of the Phaeron: a monstrous secret so terrible and powerful that it must be buried in the deepest grave imaginable…

Having read all three books of The Glamour Chronicles I can affirm that Deep Time is my favorite of the bunch, this book had all great things of a sci-fi novel for me. I loved the start, on the space ship where we get to know the crew, sci-fi that actually passes on space where definitely my favorites. Them the survival part on a unknown planet, we had some great elements of emotional impact, also some pretty disgusting things (insects blegh) and I turned the pages like a maniac, I read this one in one night and it was amazing. It's the one that, for me, translated the twelfth doctor best to the pages, it didn't exaggerated on the eccentrics of his personality but on the more emotional and human side that the doctor has developed through the seasons. If you only want to read one of the books of this new series of the Doctor, stay with this one you won't regret it.

Big Bang Generation by Gary Russell
Series: Doctor Who: The Glamour Chronicles
Published on September 10, 2015 by BBC Books

“I'm an archaeologist, but probably not the one you were expecting.”
Christmas 2015, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Imagine everyone's surprise when a time portal opens up in Sydney Cove. Imagine their shock as a massive pyramid now sits beside the Harbour Bridge, inconveniently blocking Port Jackson and glowing with energy. Imagine their fear as Cyrrus "the mobster" Globb, Professor Horace Jaanson and an alien assassin called Kik arrive to claim the glowing pyramid. Finally imagine everyone's dismay when they are followed by a bunch of con artists out to spring their greatest grift yet.
This gang consists of Legs (the sexy comedian), Dog Boy (providing protection and firepower), Shortie (handling logistics), Da Trowel (in charge of excavation and history) and their leader, Doc (busy making sure the universe isn't destroyed in an explosion that makes the Big Bang look like a damp squib).
And when someone accidentally reawakens The Ancients of the Universe - which, Doc reckons, wasn't the wisest or best-judged of actions – things get a whole lot more complicated…

Oh boy, Big Bang Generation was the last one that I read of The Glamour Chronicles and unfortunately this was a disappointment. We start the story getting to know a bunch of new characters, where each one wants something different from the Glamour and we only get to see this scenario clearly about 30% or something in so for a few chapters I was just so focused on trying to attach everyone with their names/personalities that it got a little hard to enjoy the story. But them things kick in, action start to happen and I finally understood the story and it was meh, this one (as you can see for the title) relies on a thing that on the DW series kind of is a trope already and it wasn't my favorite. But probably my biggest complaint is that, despite this being a Doctor Who book we get so little of the actual Doctor, the narrative is on third person and keeps changing from one character to the other, having so many new characters we spend most of the time getting to know them than spending time with the Doctor, honestly at the ending I felt like this was a story that could have been completely independent of the Doctor, like this was a already imagined story that the Doctor was put there only as another character because it was a requirement to make into the Glamour Chronicles. Overall my least favorite of them and I can't really recommend it.

Black Widow: Forever Red - Margaret Stohl

Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl
Published on October 13, 2015 by Marvel Press

Enter the world of the Avengers' iconic master spy

Natasha Romanoff is one of the world's most lethal assassins. Trained from a young age in the arts of death and deception, Natasha was given the title of Black Widow by Ivan Somodorov, her brutal teacher at the Red Room, Moscow's infamous academy for operatives.

Ava Orlova is just trying to fit in as an average Brooklyn teenager, but her life has been anything but average.The daughter of a missing Russian quantum physicist, Ava was once subjected to a series of ruthless military experiments-until she was rescued by Black Widow and placed under S.H.I.E.L.D. protection. Ava has always longed to reconnect with her mysterious savior, but Black Widow isn't really the big sister type.

Until now.

When children all over Eastern Europe begin to go missing, and rumors of smuggled Red Room tech light up the dark net, Natasha suspects her old teacher has returned-and that Ava Orlova might be the only one who can stop him. To defeat the madman who threatens their future, Natasha and Ava must unravel their pasts. Only then will they discover the truth about the dark-eyed boy with an hourglass tattoo who haunts Ava's dreams. . . .

Black Widow:Forever Red features all the heart-pounding adventure readers expect from Marvel, written by #1 New York Times best-selling author Margaret Stohl. Uncover a new side of the Marvel Universe that will thrill loyal fans and newcomers alike, as Stohl reveals the untold story of Black Widow for the very first time.

To say that I was excited about this book is an understatement, I love the Marvel universe of the movies since Iron Man was released on 2008 and, maybe a personal mistake, I came here expecting more of the same we see on the screens or at least a book that would be similar to the tone but that is not what I found. For starters this doesn't fit with the movies time line, since there is things here that we only get to know on Age of Ultron, with characters that aren't supposed to be here since The Avengers and places that don't exist since The Winter Soldier so yeah, not cannon.

That would have been totally okay, since this is a book and it never proposed (as far as I know) to be cannon with the movies universe still, things never lived up to what I was expecting. This book is divided in three POV's, I have to say that this annoyed me because the whole marketing of it focus on being a Black Widow book but honestly I think Natasha's POV is the one that shows up less on the story, we have much more focus on Ava and Alex and I'm sorry but I wasn't here to read about teenagers instaloving each other.

Oh yeah, the romance was another thing that annoyed me here. Ava and Alex have a "connection" since they first see each other, they instantly care about each other and are willing to risk their lives because why not die for this person that I just met right. This made their chapters annoying too, since they couldn't stop thinking about how an amazing connection they had and how much they cared about each other etc. after less than a day, less than a few hours, to say I wasn't a fan is the least.

What I did enjoyed of this book was its action sequences, I think they were written on a fast paced way that made me glue on the pages and want to keep reading it, good that there was so much action scenes that I was kept interested and did finish it, this is were I think this story is similar to the movies and comics - the action is very agile and cinematographic, it was easy to imagine things happening on my head while reading.

In the end I was left with an underwhelming feeling towards this book, I saw some glimpses of greatness like on the action sequences or on some ironical tirade from Tony or Coulson but it never went beyond it. I don't really know to who recommend this either, maybe newcomers to the Marvel universe that aren't really into movies, idk, this is hard.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness 
Published on October 6, 2015 by Harper Teen
[This book was given to me by the Publisher, in no way it affected my opinion.]

What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.

This is my second time reading Patrick Ness and it's pretty obvious won't be the last, his written is one of the most beautiful that I ever read managing to be funny and touching, this creates some great quotes (I highlighted so many passages!) and also makes a quickly read, I picked this one up on an impulse and about 3 AM I was putting it down after finishing.

But, despite I having liked this story it didn't moved me as much as I hoped it would, be clear that my expectations where sky high since "A monster calls" became one of my all time favorites so this book had a lot to fill in, in parts it achieved it but overall I ended up feeling underwhelmed. I enjoyed getting to know Mikey, his family and friends, get to see his insecurities and problems, still I never felt really connected with him. Mikey is passing through some hard stuff and it should have passages that where wrecking emotionally that I just read with a distancing curiosity.

I think one of the reasons to it is because we never truly distance the time line of the chosen ones from the regular people, they are kind of always intertwined (and I think this was exactly the point of the book: dealing with regular life while the world around you blows up) so this book that is already a short one, leaves even less pages to delve deeply into Mikey's story and journey to figuring himself out before college. Maybe the chosen ones where some kind of magical realism to life itself, I mean there is people blowing themselves up right now on the world and we still have to carry on with our lives, dealing with things that in comparison may seem little and insignificant but to us, it's our entire world.

I would recommend this book if you enjoy Patrick Ness' other works and is dying to read something new of him, also if you got curious by the synopses (the excerpts about the chosen ones where really funny, ironical and made a somewhat stress relief from Mikey's life) and if you enjoy coming of age stories and don't mind a little bit of magical stuff mixed with your contemporaries.