In Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo,

We dive into the world of Ravka and explore the lives of the Grisha.

The nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a sea of darkness crawling with monsters that feed on the flesh of the living.

Alina Starkov is just a simple girl who works as a mapmaker for the First Army of the Ravka kingdom. One day her regiment is forced to go into the Fold and is attacked. There she reveals a dormant power - the power of the Grisha, the magical elite- when she tries to save the life of her childhood friend Mal. After the awakening of her powers Alina is pulled away from everything she knows and is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, whom are led by a mysterious man by the name of Darkling.

I was blown away by the world that Bardugo builds. It is not easy building a brand new world from scratch but Bardugo excels in bringing this new place to life. (And the map at the begging helped loads) Think of Middle-Earth with a tinge of Civilizarion. That is Ravka. In this world Magic is considered Small Science because nothing is created (other than darkness), everything is just amplified and Bardugo explains all this as Alina learn more about the life of a Grisha.

Alina was such a great character; at first I feared that she would just let other push her around, because that is kind of the essence she gives off in the beginning of the novel. Thankfully she is not, she only needed to able to see it within herself, she had to see that she was powerful and not a useless nobody.

 I related a lot of Alina’s character, because the only reason she was unable to move forward because she kept putting herself down and tying herself to the past. But once she was able to let everything go, she was such a strong and powerful character. Physically, mentally and spiritually. She was not written off as a clique ‘strong female character’. It did not just appear from night to day, her strength was built slowly, and as a reader you are caught off guard of her growth, because it was slow and subtle. I loved it.

There are other characters, like Mal, Darkling, and Geyna, but they will not top Alina. Mal is Alina’s childhood friend who has been by her side since their days in the orphanage. He is sweet, charming and a bit rude, but lovable either way. Darkling is the second most powerful man in the land of Ravka, and he has the power to control and create darkness (hence the name) oh and he is also like 120 years old. (We have a love hate relationship right now). Geyna is a sweet character that befriends Alina once she is thrown into the Little Palace (a place were Grisha train and study). Though towards the end of the novel I kind of wanted to punch her in the stomach for reasons you will understand if you read the book (which you should btw).

I do not want to talk about the story plot for the obvious reasons of: Spoilers. My dear reader, if you want to dive into a brand new world of magic small sciences, mystery and amazing character growth you should pick up this book.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book of the Grisha Trilogy and continue on following Alina’s story.

Rating: 4.5/5

In Alienated by Melissa Landers.

We follow the story of top high school student Cara Sweeny as she is chosen to be the host to a exchange student from an alien race. 

Two years ago, aliens made contact with Earth and now Cara will have to share a bathroom with one. The alien race of the L’ehir hosts their first-ever exchange student with Earth hoping to build an alliance between humanity and L’ehirs. Cara was one of two other students who got chosen to be friend these aliens. She thinks her future is set and perfect with this opportunity. She will get a free ride to the college of her dreams, and will have the inside information about the mysterious L’eihr race that every journalist would kill for. (Perfect blog material).

The L’eihr that is sent to live with Cara and her family is a young teenage boy named Aelyx. With his arrival Cara’s life changes completely...for the better and the worse.

I originally bought this bought this book because the cover attracted my attention, when I bought I had no idea what it was going to be about….other than aliens and a possible love relationship. (Boy was I right!)

It was a fun read, because it was not exactly what I expected it to be. Yes, there was the obvious romance between Aelyx and Cara, but it was not the main story plot of the book! Their relationship did not bloom in any way till the last 60 pages of the book.

The story focused on the idea of how we, humanity, are so reluctant to change in the face of something new. There are people who did not like the L’eihrs and wanted nothing to do with them. That they'd go as far as to try to pass a bill to get rid of the three L’eihr students from Earth! 

Humanity’s fear of new things was mesmerizing, because it can be applied to the current world. I do not know if that was Landers’ key goal in this story, but it is scary that humanity’s fear stops us from achieving and learning new things.

L’eihrs have similar DNA from humans but as Aelyx always tells Cara, “They are not humans”. The L’eihrs are obviously much more advanced than humanity, since they were the ones to make contact with Earth, but at the same time the L’eihr race is a lot like humanity (beside the similar DNA). They have as much fear as humanity, but they don’t act upon it rashly like we humans.

I am not the biggest fan of plain romance novels, and if you are like too my dear reader, then you will not be disappointed with this novel.

Cara’s character took a while for me to fall in love with due to the fact that she would let other people influence her bit. But once she womaned up she was a joy to read. Cara is willing to stand up to what she believes in even if the rest of her classmates don’t. It takes a lot of guts to be able to keep a strong face when everyone pretty much hates you because you have an alien living in your house.

Aelyx’s character was my all time favorite, mostly because he is a bit sarcastic and he is like 110% done with human food (too many flavours). From the very beginning Lauders makes him very likable even when he is trying not be. He is an adorable baby who needs to be protected. Personally, I fell in love with him when he had to start reciting the human periodic table ( for reasons you’ll understand if you read the book ).

My biggest complain about this story is that it lacked enough descriptions. There were times where I couldn’t see the scene clearly and it bothered me because I wanted to have a clear image in my mind and I couldn’t. There were a few plot holes, but this a first book of a trilogy I believe so hopefully the holes are filled by the end of the overall story.

My rating: 3/5

GoodReads: 4.01/5

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard will cause emotional turmoil and destroy all the trust you once held.

We follow the tale of seventeen-year-old Mare Barrow’s, a common girl whose magical powers draw her into the dangerous world of the king’s palace. Mare’s world is divided by blood – those with Red blood are the commons, who serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman gifts. Mare is a Red, she is a common, and she is helping her family survive by being a thief in a poor, rural village. Her life was plain, and it was simple until fate throws her in front of the Silver court one day. Right in front of the king, princes, and all the Silver-blood nobility, Mare discovers she has an ability just like the Silvers.

To cover up Mare’s anomaly, the king and queen force her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of the princes. Soon she is drowned further into the world of the Silvers, unable to get away. In her new position, Mare risks everything in order to help the Scarlet Guard – a growing Red rebellion – even when her heart tells her to go the other direction, the impossible direction.

The reader follows Mare as she plays this dangerous game that can cost her not only her life, but also the lives everyone and everything she cares about. Mare and the reader struggle for a positive outcome for both Reds and Silvers but there is no certainty, the only certainty is…betrayal.

 I experienced so many emotions. It got to the point that I wanted to crawl into a hole and cry. Aveyard does a great job making you fall with all the characters till the point that you see them as your children. Then…your children betray you and you just want to die. There are no words to properly describe the betrayal you will feel once you get to “THAT PART”. I have never been so emotionally abused by a story before.

Mare’s character takes a while to “like”. At first she is a bit like Katniss, living in a bubble and only seeing the world in black and white. After the 70 page mark, she goes through a massive character development as she discovers that she has Silver powers as a Red.

Other characters include: Kilron, her childhood friend. Kilron reminded me of Gale except Gale had a reason to fight and drive to live, while Kilron simply did not. Tiberias Calore VII (Cal), the first-born crowned prince of Norta and heir to the throne is unlike any other male character I have read before. Cal stands for what he believes in till the very end and does not let a girl cloud his judgment of what is right and wrong (unlike most lover boys in YA novels) which is god-flipping-tastic. Even when he is introduced in around page 50 you can tell see his high sense of morality. Maven Calore (my favorite character) is the second crowned prince of Norta and he is betrothed to Mare (reason will be explained once you read the book), he starts off a bit cold but he will warm up to the reader until you are madly in love. Maven caused me emotional turmoil, and he will cause the same thing to you my dear reader.

I believe Aveyard did an amazing job writing the character, especially covering the ever so obvious hints, which makes the betrayal much more painful than it needs to be. My dear reader I wish to tell you what occurred to spare you pain, but I want you to feel the grand pain I felt when the betrayal comes…and I have already given too much away. Just know, the plot twist is obvious if you, my sweet reader, don’t become distracted with the kindness.

Like most YA novels, there is an obvious romance aspect but it is not overwhelming and thrown into your face. The acute love square, triangle, line thing romance allows the story to progress smoothly as it ties in to events, causes and outcomes.

My small complaint, and the main reason why Red Queen does not receive 5 stars from me is: riddled descriptions. There are some points in the story that the description is riddled and it is difficult to properly imagine the scene. Certain scenes, like the Mare’s power reveal, took a couple of reads to properly visualize, but even so the image in my head was not very clear. Don’t be disheartened by this sweet reader, it is only a few sections where these riddled descriptions happen, rest of the scenes are clear enough to picture in the little theater in your mind.

Rate: 4/5

Goodreads: 4.15/5

There are many reasons why a book is special, for me the book has to have a way of making you see things in a way you have never even thought of before. Whether it is spiritually, intellectually, or mentally.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak hit the nail on mentally.

The last book that made me pause, and thoroughly think, “What am I doing with my life” was If I Stay by Gayle Foreman.

In this story we explore World War II Germany, and through Death’s eyes we watch a young girl by the name of Liesel Meminger, a foster child living in the poor neighborhood in Munich.

Liesel is the famous book thief that caught Death’s eye while he collected the souls of the fallen. He first met her when he collected the soul of her younger brother and caught her in the act of stealing her first book The Grave Digger’s Handbook.

I have never read a book where I can say that the narrator is completely reliable. He has no real attachments to this girl. He is Death; he has few emotions towards humans but even so he still feels for them. He feels: curiosity, pity, happiness and sadness. The most un-human character was the most human. (Does that make sense?) He has human-like emotions, but he is not allowed to be part of humanity.

Death was blunt with all the characters in story and even forewarned that they were all going to die. He also forewarned us of all the major events that were going to happen and gave us as readers’ small glimpses of how it was going to occur.

 There was some foreshadowing, by the first couple chapters you are already aware of the characters who will die by the end and it was heart breaking because you end up growing attached to a few them.

It was the worst feeling in the world watching yourself fall in love with a character knowing that he or she was not going to survive the story.

But I guess that was why The Book Thief was so special, you were Death, and you watched people live their daily lives unaware that you were aware that it was going to be over soon.

Liesel, Max, Rudy, Papa, Mama, Tommy. All these characters made it into my heart and watching most of them die was a painful experience.

I do not wish to give much of the story away, because The Book Thief is a piece of literature that everyone should read, much like 1984.

It is a story that will survive the test of time, because it creates awareness in the reader that life is unexpected and you never know when it will end. It can end in your sleep, like for most citizens of Himmel Street, or on your journey to someplace new. It can all end unexpectedly, not only your life but also the lives of people who you hold dear, it can end, and it may end filled with regrets.