Review: “A Thousand Pieces of You” by Claudia Gray

~o~Rating~o~


I liked this book but not as much I thought I would. I was expecting more sci-fi and less romance but overall it was a nice read. The book follows Marguerite whose parents have figured out how to travel in between dimensions. Her father had recently died and she sets out to find the killer Paul Markov who travelled to another dimension and kill him.

The entire time I was reading this book, I kept comparing it to “All Our Yesterdays” by Cristin Terril. Great book if you haven’t read it and both books have similar concepts. And I really loved the overall story line but it could have been a lot better. And there were still a lot of questions that need to be answered but there will be more books so I’m hoping the next installations will be more thorough.
And I have to say, this was the best book cover I have seen in a while. It is absolutely beautiful!

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~
 
The idea of all these different dimensions existing was terrifying. A single decision you make could create an entire different dimension. And honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was proven to be true sometime in the future.

I thought Marguerite was way too impulsive at times, too quick to judge and made some rash decisions. And I really thought she should have told her physicist mother about the other two Firebirds because the mother would have most likely figured out the whole Theo-is-the-spy thing sooner. I mean, the woman figured out how to travel to other dimensions.

And a lot of the decisions Marguerite made as her other versions would have made things difficult for them. The Marguerite of Russia was to be married off to the Prince of Whales as a virgin bride. It seemed like Marguerite just did what she wanted and then went “Oops”. (For her sake, I hope Russian Marguerite remembered what happened.) And it was also because of her that Lieutenant Markov died. If she hadn’t ordered him to back to the encampment, he wouldn’t have had to go fight.

I wish the author developed their characters more. I understand their basic personalities but they weren’t in depth. Paul was the only character I loved in the book. He is intelligent and very loyal to Marguerite and her family who have pretty much adopted him as their own. He seemed more real to me than even Marguerite. And it wasn’t their dimension’s Theo’s fault but I still dislike him.

I am looking forward to the next book to see what happens with Triad and the dimensional spies.

Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

I've been seeing this tag for a while now in both BookTube and the blogosphere and I have no idea why I've waited so long to do this. I am a HUGE Potterhead so this should be fun.

1) Favorite book?

It's a tie between Deathly Hallows and Order of Phoenix. I love the final scenes in DH, I think it was a great ending for the series. And I love OoP mostly for the twins and all their pranks at Hogwarts before leaving for good. 

2) Least favorite book?

Half-Blood Prince. I love the book but not as much as the others.

3) Favorite movie?

Deathly Hallows Part 2. I think the directors and the actors did a phenomenal job with the ending. There are some scenes that I would like to change but overall, it was my favorite. 

4) Least favorite movie?

Half-Blood Prince. They left out so much stuff from the book and mostly focused on the romantic aspect; they could've done a lot better. 

5) Favorite quote?
There are so many quotes I absolutely love.  

"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," said Luna unexpectedly. Everybody looked at her. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're planning to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."

 I do love Luna 

6) Favorite Weasley?

Molly Weasley. That woman is the kindest most wonderful person and does not get enough credit. She pretty much adopted Harry as a son (even though they were tight on money) and was as much as his mother as Lily Potter was. 

7) Favorite female character?
Luna Lovegood

8) Favorite villain.
Dolores Umbridge. That woman deserve to be eaten by centaurs. Fenrir Greyback is a close second.

9) Favorite male character?
It's a three way tie between the twins and Neville Longbottom

10) Favorite professor?
Professor McGonagall. She is an awesome woman

11) Would you rather A) wash Snape’s hair or B) spend a day listening to Lockhart rant about himself?
Wash Snape's hair. Listening to Lockhart rant about himself seems way more trying. 

12) Would you rather duel A) an elated Bellatrix or B) and angry Molly?
Definitely Bellatrix. You do not mess with the Weasley mother

13) Would you rather travel to Hogwarts via A) Hogwarts Express or B) Flying Car?
Hogwarts Express. I've been wanting to ride that train since I read the first book. And the flying car is way too unpredictable.

14) Would you rather A) Kiss Voldemort or B) give Umbridge a bubble bath?
Give Umbridge a bubble bath; maybe I'd have a chance to drown her. 

15) Would you rather A) ride a Hippogriff or B) ride a Firebolt?
I would love to ride a Firebolt. And giant birds terrify me.

16) Is there a character you felt differently about in the movies?
Ginny Weasley. Book Ginny is WAY more awesome. 

17) Is there a movie you preferred to the book?
NOPE

18) Richard Harris or Michael Gambon as Dumbledore?
I think they both did a wonderful job portraying Dumbledore.

19) Your top thing (person or event) that wasn’t in the movie that you wanted there the

most?
I have a few. 

• That scene in Deathly Hallows where Dudley says Harry wasn't a waste of space. I really wanted that scene in the movies because it showed that there was still hope for at least one Dursley. 
• The fact that it was Marietta Edgecombe who betreayed the DA in the book and not Cho Chang
• A lot of the memories Dumbledore had collected of Tom Riddle got left off in the movies

20) If you could remake any of the Harry Potter movies which would it be?
Half-Blood Prince. I'll make it closer to the book or just add in more scenes; I have no problems with long movies.

21 Which house was your first gut feeling you’d be a part of?
Hufflepuff. I loved that house since the very beginning. Us Puffs don't get enough credit.

22) Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore?
To my immense joy: Hufflepuff. 

23) Which class would be your favourite?
Charms or Arithmancy

24) Which spell do you think would be most useful to learn?
Accio (the summoning charm); I'm a lazy person. 

25) Which character do you think you’d instantly become friends with?
Hermione Granger or Luna Lovegood. They're very different but I love them both. I'm bookish like Hermione so we'd get along. And Luna seems like she would be a very loyal friend. 

26) If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be?
Invisibility Cloak. Raising the dead is scary and I'm not a dueling person. 

27) Is there any aspect of the books you’d want to change?
No

28) Favourite Marauder?
Moony. I think Remus is like the brains of most of the Marauder pranks but people just don't blame him.

29) If you could bring one character back to life, which would it be?
Fred Weasley, no doubt. I can't imagine George's life without his other half.

30) Hallows or Horcruxes? 
Hallows. Splitting my soul isn't really my thing. I'd much rather master Death.

If anyone actually read this whole thing, thanks! If you have a blog, do the tag!

Review: “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini

~o~Rating~o~


I am a big Kite Runner fan so naturally I picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was not disappointed. I loved this book! I love how Hosseini’s descriptions actually take you to the streets of Kabul. Afghanistan has been under A LOT of turmoil over the past few years, decades to be more precise, and this book shows just how much hardship the citizens of this country have to go through on a daily basis (the women especially).

I thought it was a beautifully crafted story of brutality and suffering as well as strength and hope. This book kept reminding me of one of my favorite Mahatma Gandhi quotes: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body but you will never imprison my mind.” Both Mariam and Laila are two women living under a fiercely male dominant society in which they have little to no power but they never lost their spirit.

I’m giving it 4.5 stars because there were a few parts I had to trudge through because it was boring me. Completely worth it though.


~o~Spoiler Alert~o~
 
Many parts of the book were truly painful for me to read. When it comes to violence in Fantasy or Sci-Fi books, I enjoy it immensely, but it just feels so real when it comes to realistic fiction. I absolutely hated Rasheed and felt immense joy at his death; he had it coming. And I thought it was even more justified that he would die at the hand of Mariam who sacrificed so much for that undeserving bastard. I was cheering her on the whole time.

I have to say, I liked the ending a lot. Laila deserved a real and happy family.

Review: “Fairest” by Marissa Meyer

~o~Rating~o~


Being inside the mind of Queen Levana, easily one of my most hated YA villains, was definitely intriguing. I couldn’t help but sympathize with her a little. It was nice seeing her background. Don’t get me wrong though, I would still rejoice if anyone from the Lunar Chronicles gang kills her.

Levana grew up as a lonely princess. Without any friends, neglected by her parents and constantly threatened by her older sister, the future queen. She also felt the need to constantly hide herself with her glamour because of her “ugly” face. It’s easy to see why she would be so bitter.

And it was also interesting to learn more about Levana’s step-daughter princess Winter. I’m very excited for Winter the fourth book of the Lunar Chronicles.

Review: “Captive” by Aimee Carter

~o~Rating~o~
 
I tried to like this book, I really did. Did I like it though? No. The first book in the series, Pawn, was much better in my opinion. Captive started off really slow and the main character Kitty was acting like a brat during most of the book. It took a long time for me to actually get into the story and even when I did, I was not as invested as I wanted to be.

~o~Spoiler Alert~o~
 
I would say though Carter’s description of Elsewhere was interesting. In the last book, it seemed like Elsewhere was this giant forest where the rich went to “hunt” down the poor who were accused of crimes. Witnessing that it was almost like a town was unexpected.

The big reveal about Kitty’s background was also unexpected. I don’t know what I think of that just yet. I kind of liked knowing that the only reason Kitty was chosen was because of her eye color and not because of her heritage. I am excited to see where this leads though.

Review: “What’s Left of Me” by Kat Zhang

~o~Rating~o~


This was one of those books I just randomly picked up from the public library not expecting much from it. I was very pleasantly surprised. What's Left of Me was very impressive for a book I hadn’t previously heard about.

This story takes place in a world where every person is born with two souls. One of these souls usually “faded” away by the person was around six years old. The people whose souls did not fade were known as hybrids. The main character was a hybrid; both her souls remained in her body though Addie was more dominant than Eva. It was a different experience reading from the point of view of one character who was really two people. I thought Kat Zhang did a wonderful job portraying the two souls.

I’m really looking forward to the next two books in the trilogy. I think these books just might make their way to my favorite shelf.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~
 
I’m giving it four stars because of the lack of explanation when it came to the hybrids. Why were people hybrids? Or is this just an alternative universe? Hopefully the sequels will explain better. I’m excited to see where this goes.

Disney Book Tag

This is my first tag! This is exciting stuff! I believe the tag was created by Kat from Katytastic. Being an avid Disney fan, this tag just had to be done.

For this I picked Cinder from Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is a fairy tale retelling of Cinderella that takes place in a future world. For one, Cinder is the outsider in her family living with her stepmother and two stepsisters. And then she's an outsider to her world because she's a cyborg.

For this I picked Tris from Divergent by Veronica Roth. Divergent, as I'm sure most people know, takes place in a future dystopian world where everyone is divided into five different factions. Tris goes through a major transformation. Beatrice Prior went from the simple, self-less Abnegation to Tris a brave and fearless Dauntless fighter.

I just had to pick two casts because I couldn't choose one. First the Ender's Game cast from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I have loved the Ender's Game characters for years now and every time I re-read the book, I fall in love with them again. The characters are written with beautiful depth. And second the characters of Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. All the characters in these books are very believable and the amount of personality Martin put in them is extremely impressing.

There are quite a few books that put me to sleep, school textbooks making the very top of the list. :D On literary terms though, I would have to pick either Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe or The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien. I tried to get through these, I really did; not a success.

Many of the YA characters had something traumatic happen to them as children. I picked Ruby Daly from the The Darkest Mindsseries by Alexandra Bracken.For those who don't know, the Darkest Minds series takes place in an alternative U.S.A where the nation was devastated by a plague that killed most of the children and those who didn't die developed superpowers. Ruvy goes through a LOT in this book and I think she is one of the strongest female heroines in YA so far.

The original question for Beauty and the Beast was: "a beast of a book that you were intimidated by but found the story to be beautiful". But I don't usually get intimidated by long books, I tend to love reading longer books. So I changed the question to: "A book that you hesitated to pick up because of the cover but ended up loving". I know people are always saying "don't judge a book by its cover", but we all do it anyway. I picked City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I first picked it up when I was in 6th grade and the cover just did not appeal to me but I'm glad I read it.

This one took me a while for some reason. I am going to pick The Boy Who Lived (Harry Potter for those of you who don't know). Growing up in an abusive home, Harry probably wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He gets that wish granted. He finds two very loyal friends, he finds a place he could call home and he finds his true family. Granted his life isn't the best even in the Wizarding World, but I guess you can't have everything.

A character who pretends to be someone else. I picked June Iparis from the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu. She goes under cover to follow the criminal/legend Day. I love these books wholeheartedly and June is probably the most intelligent YA heroine out there.

No way could I pick just one book. I want them ALL! Only the good ones though, the bad ones are free to stay trapped in their respective stories.

I would say the villain I most love to hate would be Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. I'm pretty sure everyone hates her. President Snow from the Hunger Games series is another one I would love to see the dead body of.

I hope you liked it!