look at her go: reviewin' reviewin: captive prince trilogy

Captive Prince Trilogy: Captive Prince, Prince's Gambit and Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

☆☆☆☆☆

goodreads/b&n/amazon

blurb for book 1: "This was Vere, voluptuous and decadent, country of honeyed poison"

Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the truthful heir to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.

Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.

For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else...

mini-reviews of all three books under the cut!  

recent cover reveals

So, I don't know about you guys, but when a book has a truly awesome cover, I get chills. Though I know it shouldn't, a cover will make me 100% more likely to read a book that I was originally on the fence about. And I love keeping up with cover reveals on Twitter, it is so fun! There have been some truly awesome ones recently, so I figured I'd put them all in a post, just in case you guys missed them!

A Million Worlds With You (Firebird 3) – Claudia Gray: 

this whole series has amazing covers, so when this last one came out last week, I knew it would be incredible. I didn't realize *how* incredible, though! I seriously can't decide which one of these is my favorite, they're all so beautiful.

(spoilers) A million universes. A million dangers. One destiny.

The fate of the multiverse rests in Marguerite Caine’s hands. Marguerite has been at the center of a cross-dimensional feud since she first traveled to another universe using her parents’ invention, the Firebird. Only now has she learned the true plans of the evil Triad Corporation—and that those plans could spell doom for dozens or hundreds of universes, each facing total annihilation.

Paul Markov has always been at Marguerite’s side, but Triad’s last attack has left him a changed man—angry and shadowed by tragedy. He struggles to overcome the damage done to him, but despite Marguerite’s efforts to help, Paul may never be the same again.

So it’s up to Marguerite alone to stop the destruction of the multiverse. Billions of lives are at stake. The risks have never been higher. And Triad has unleashed its ultimate weapon: another dimension’s Marguerite—wicked, psychologically twisted, and always one step ahead.

In the epic conclusion to Claudia Gray’s Firebird trilogy, fate and family will be questioned, loves will be won and lost, and the multiverse will be forever changed. It’s a battle of the Marguerites . . . and only one can win.

Of Fire and Stars– Audrey Coulthurst 

The blurb for this one intrigued me since I first saw it a couple months ago, and now LOOK at that COVER! I love the 3-D effect of the worlds and the like paper cutout figures and castle omg this is amazing.

Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden.

Now, Denna must learn the ways of her new home while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn to ride Mynaria’s formidable warhorses before her coronation—and her teacher is the person who intimidates her most, the prickly and unconventional Princess Amaranthine (called Mare), sister of her betrothed.

When a shocking assassination leaves the kingdom reeling, Mare and Denna reluctantly join forces to search for the culprit. As the two work together, each discovers there’s more to the other than she thought. Mare is surprised by Denna’s intelligence and bravery, while Denna is drawn to Mare’s independent streak. Soon their friendship is threatening to blossom into something more.

But with dangerous conflict brewing that makes the alliance more important than ever, acting on their feelings could be deadly. Forced to choose between their duty and their hearts, Mare and Denna must find a way to save their kingdoms—and each other.

  Like A River Glorious (The Gold Seer 2) – Rae Carson

These covers just scream *epic* to me. The first one was all browns and golds and I love the icy blue and gray of this one. And I love the title and how big the lettering is as well. I usually don't really like covers with people on them but this one is small so I'm okay with it.

(spoilers) After a harrowing journey across the country, Leah Westfall and her friends have finally arrived in California and are ready to make their fortunes in the Gold Rush. Lee has a special advantage over the other new arrivals in California—she has the ability to sense gold, a secret known only by her handsome best friend Jefferson and her murdering uncle Hiram.

Lee and her friends have the chance to be the most prosperous settlers in California, but Hiram hasn’t given up trying to control Lee and her power. Sabotage and kidnapping are the least of what he’ll do to make sure Lee is his own. His mine is the deepest and darkest in the territory, and there Lee learns the full extent of her magical gift, the worst of her uncle, and the true strength of her friendships. To save everyone, she vows to destroy her uncle and the empire he is building—even at the cost of her own freedom.

The second epic historical fantasy in the Gold Seer trilogy by Rae Carson, the acclaimed author of The Girl of Fire and Thorns.

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows 2) – Leigh Bardugo 

  Six of Crows was both one of my favorite books and one of my favorite covers of 2015, and it looks like Crooked Kingdom is following in its footsteps. Holy CRAP look at this one. I love the creativity and optical illusion-y aspect, and I just think WHY is this only a duo??

(spoilers) Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.

  

Three Dark Crowns – Kendare Blake    

 Not only does this blurb sound absolutely incredible, the cover is also amazing. I feel like it really captures the darkness of the blurb, and if it is any indication as to what is inside this book, I am so looking forward to it. 

Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest. 

Furthermore – Tahereh Mafi 

HOLY CRAP guys this one is maybe my favorite? I love the colors and the cartoon-ish nature of it, I think it is perfect for a middle grade. the lil fox is my fave :) 

The bestselling author of the Shatter Me series takes readers beyond the limits of their imagination in this captivating new middle grade adventure where color is currency, adventure is inevitable, and friendship is found in the most unexpected places. 

There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn’t miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it’s been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she’s about to embark on one to find the other.
But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she’ll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit—and with a liar by her side in land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice's wits (and every limb she's got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father Alice must first find herself—and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.

If there are any more pretty covers that have recently come out, please point them my way!! 

xx

Sunny

waiting on wednesday: a study in charlotte

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted over at Breaking the Spine!

This week's pick: A Study in Charlotte
by Brittany Cavallaro

release date: March 1

"The last thing sixteen-year-old Jamie Watson–writer and great-great-grandson of the John Watson–wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s enigmatic, fiercely independent great-great-granddaughter, who’s inherited not just his genius but also his vices, volatile temperament, and expertly hidden vulnerability. Charlotte has been the object of his fascination for as long as he can remember–but from the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else.

Then a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Holmes stories, and Jamie and Charlotte become the prime suspects. Convinced they’re being framed, they must race against the police to conduct their own investigation. As danger mounts, it becomes clear that nowhere is safe and the only people they can trust are each other.

Equal parts tender, thrilling, and hilarious, A Study in Charlotte is the first in a trilogy brimming with wit and edge-of-the-seat suspense."
  

top ten tuesday: out of my comfort zone

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is: " February 23:  Ten Book I Enjoyed Recently (last yearish) That Weren't My Typical Genre/Type of Book (or that was out of your comfort zone)"

1. Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat – this is a sort of historical fiction m/m story, the first in a trilogy. There is a ton of mature content in this one, which isn't necessarily usually my cup of tea, but the way it is handled and the amazing story made me love this one.

2. November 9 by Colleen Hoover – This was my first Colleen Hoover novel, and it was a great experience! I haven't really ever read any NA before this, but reading this book made it something that I want to look into for sure.

3. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman – I love poetry, but in reading an entire book of it, I rarely have ever stayed engaged. Though I had read poems from Leaves of Grass before, I sat down and really read them all last year and absolutely loved them.

4. Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson – I am always really daunted by graphic novels, because I don't know where to even begin! I know there are so many great ones, so I just dip my toe in a little at a time. I really loved Lumberjanes, though, it was a great introduction.

 5. Vicious by V.E. Schwab – this is a book that defies a single descriptor, for me. It is adult fantasy/sci-fi/action/thriller about superheroes who are really antiheroes. It's noir, it's chilling, it's incredible and it's unlike anything else.


6. Humans of New York – Even after following HONY on social media for a long time, reading through the whole book was something that I truly enjoyed.

7. A Nervous Splendor by Frederic Morton– When I'm reading, I don't normally go for historical nonfiction because I want to escape. However, this book, about Vienna in the late 1880's, captured my attention. It is a gripping tale.

8. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – I don't read a lot of sci-fi and I'm not really into video games, which probably makes you go "whyyy did you pick this book up?" Well, it was so highly recommended that I couldn't pass it up, and I ended up adoring it!

What's on your lists today?

xx
Sunny

waiting on wednesday: map of fates

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted over at Breaking the Spine!

This week's pick: Map of Fates by Maggie Hall (The Conspiracy of Us #2)

release date: March 8

(spoilers for book 1!) Two weeks. 



That’s how long it took for Avery West’s ordinary life to change forever: In two weeks, she discovered she was heiress to a powerful secret society known as the Circle, learned her mother was taken hostage by the Circle’s enemies, and fell for a boy she’s not allowed to love, just as she found out another was her unwelcome destiny. 



Now, Avery crosses oceans in private jets to hunt for clues that will uncover the truth about the Circle, setting her mom and herself free before it’s too late. By her side are both the boys: Jack—steady, loyal, and determined to help her even at the expense of his own duty—and Stellan, whose connection to Avery grows stronger by the day despite her best intentions, making her question what she believes at every turn.



But at the end of a desperate hunt from the islands of Greece to the red carpet at Cannes comes a discovery that not only changes everything, but could bring the whole world to its knees. And now Avery is forced to face the truth: in the world of the Circle, no one is what they seem.

~~~

I really enjoyed the first book of this series when I read it last year, especially for the amazing settings that it included. I can't wait to see where the story goes next, both plotwise and also which fabulous locations that Maggie Hall will take our characters to. 

What are you waiting on this week?

xx
Sunny 

HAMILTON booktag

Umm, so basically, like just about everyone else in the world right now, I'm obsessed with Hamilton. If you've been living under a rock and haven't heard about it, it is a hip-hop Broadway musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton. It's one of the most amazing things to ever exist in the world, and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is one of my favorite people ever, and the creator of another popular show, In The Heights. When I saw that Krystianna did this tag over on her wonderful blog, Downright Dystopian, I knew that I had to do this one as well! So thank you Krystianna for the tag and also for the images of the song titles, which I am borrowing here! Here is the link to the OP of this tag.  Here we go!

I would love to be a Shadowhunter. Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series were some of the first books that I read that really got me into the online book community. They remain some of my favorites, and I love the idea that, in this world, the fantastic is just right under everyone's noses. I would want to be a Shadowhunter for sure, but just seeing vampires and werewolves and seelies and warlocks would be incredible for me. Or, taking it even further, going back to Victorian London and being a Shadowhunter there would be just as amazing.

Louis Lane from Gwenda Bond's incredible series! I read the first book over the summer, and the second one is supposed to be coming out later this year. I don't hear nearly enough praise for this book, because I think that it is wonderful, and Lois is an incredible character. She's a precocious loudmouth who can't keep her nose where it belongs, which is useful, because it gets her into all kinds of scrapes that are both exciting and rather funny. I love the idea that Lois Lane has always been incredible, and she doesn't need Clark Kent to make her so. Love this book, can't wait for the next one.

Of course, I'm going with Delilah Bard from The Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab. The second novel is out next week (!!!!) so there's still time to hop on this incredible bangwagon. Lila a swashbuckling fiend who dreams of getting out of the gray doldrums of London, where she is trapped in a man's world. When she runs across Kell, a magical traveler, she sees it as her opportunity to become something more than the hand she's been dealt, and follows him into the unknown, hoping for adventure and, just maybe, a ship to fuel her escape into the unknown.

What else can I choose but the relationship in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth??? No spoilers here, if you haven't already had your heart ripped mercilessly out of your chest, but this is one of the saddest endings to a book or series that I have ever run across. I think I cried just as much the first time I read TFIOS as I did when I finished Allegiant, and that is saying something, for sure. I swear, this was the most unnecessary plot twist in the entire world, and I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that it actually happened.

Besides King George himself, who I would pick if I could, I am going to go with basically everyone from Vicious by V.E. Schwab (her second appearance on this list, woohoo) There is a lot of gray area over who is evil and who is not, and I'm not sure there is ever even a clear answer about who we are supposed to root for, but the one thing that I do know is that everyone in this book has their sassy moments, for sure.

I thought that I saw the plot twist coming in the end of Crown of Midnight, the second book in Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series, but it turns out I was MISTAKEN. It took me totally by surprised, the direction that Mass took the character of Celaena, and she continued with that amazing arc through the third and fourth books. Queen of Shadows had about 15 plot twists that I totally didn't see coming, and I loved every single second of it. From the reveal moment in the second book, these books have not taken their foot off the gas.

When the fourth book came out last summer, I marathoned all of The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer. I think that these lend themselves really well to marathoning. They are middle grade, which makes them super quick and fun reads, and the world is so fun to slip into, you won't realize that you've read through two books before you reach for the third one. I would definitely recommend this series to fairy tale and MG fantasy lovers. The characters and the plot events are just wildly entertaining.

I am a huge fan of multiple POVs. I absolutely love reading from many different character's perspectives, especially if it is done right. The most recent book that I loved with multiple POVs was Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. There are six main characters in this novel, and all of them have such a distinct voice. Bardugo manages to juggle them expertly, giving them all screen time without detracting from the depth of their characters. Love love love this novel, so sad that it is only going to be a duet.

Um, duh. 

(This is spoilery, obviously)

Basically, the end of The Book Thief destroyed me, and I wish that I could go in there and make the bomb not fall, saving everyone close to Liesel, but especially Rudy. I swear to God, when Rudy died, I wanted to rip out my own hair and just cry forever, which I basically did. This book is so beautiful and heartbreaking, especially in the end, and I love it for that and also in spite of it.

If you love Hamilton and want to do this tag, please do and comment a link to your post!! I would love to see what you guys come up with! 

xx

Sunny

waiting on wednesday: the girl from everywhere

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted over at Breaking the Spine!

This week's pick: The Girl From Everywhere
by Heidi Heilig

release date: February 16

blurb: It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was 1774, though not for very much longer.

Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times - although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix's father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix's existence rather dangerously in question...

Nix has grown used to her father's obsession, but only because she's convinced it can't work. But then a map falls into her father's lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it's that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.

~~~~

I just recently finished Alexandra Bracken's fabulous time-travel novel, Passenger, and so I have been itching for another YA time travel romp to read! I've seen tons of hype for this one, so I'm really hoping that it lives up to the expectations. I can't wait to see where this book takes us in time! 

what are you waiting on?

xx
Sunny