Let's Talk: "Four Dead Queens" by Astrid Scholte

Title: Four Dead Queens

Author: Astrid Scholte

Genre: YA High Fantasy

Page Length: 408 pages (arc paperback)

Publication Date: February 26, 2019

Date Started: October 11, 2018

Date Finished: October 14, 2018

Rating: 3.9/5 stars

Goodreads

Amazon

*I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I'm not going to lie: this book blew my mind. There were so many twists I didn't see coming. There were plenty of times that I thought I had something figured out only to be dead wrong. I thought that the twists throughout were quite surprising and definitely had me flying through to finish this book late into the night.

I'm very split on what to rate this, since I didn't quite love it as a 4 star book, but I definitely enjoyed it a lot more than some books I've rated at 3.75 stars. I've decided to go with  3.9 stars since it's kind of a happy medium. I also think I'm going to make this pretty basic since I don't want to spoil anything, especially since this book doesn't release until the end of February, so we're going to go with a list of things I loved and a list of things I felt subtracted from my reading experience.

Things I liked:

• the main characters (especially Varin)
• the plot and the twists!!! so many twists!!! 
• writing style
• how the world was built--cool mix of science and fantasy

Things I felt subtracted from my experience:

• there were definitely parts of it that reminded me of Divergent and so I then got distracted thinking about similarities between this and Divergent, even though they were few
• a big part of the story is based around this one twist, but it kinda confused me and still confuses me a bit just because of how it was structured 
• the pacing at times wasn't the best and I found myself skimming certain chapter (but then other times I was reading as fast as I could because it was just amazing) 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am excited for it to come out and for others to be able to read this and share their thoughts with me! If you've been lucky enough to read this book early, message me with what parts you liked and we can talk about everything! 

---

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

---

Follow my Instagram here. New giveaway will be posted very soon!

Get 10% off your first order, plus 50 rewards points, when you use this link to purchase a personal aromatherapy diffuser from Monq

Get 10% off your first order on A Court of Candles when you use this link.

Subscribe to Owlcrate using this link and get a discount off your first box using AVIREADS

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link

---

Let's Talk: "Sky in the Deep" by Adrienne Young Book Review

Title: Sky in the Deep

Author: Adrienne Young

Genre: YA High Fantasy

Page Length: 352 pages

Publication Date: April 24, 2018

Date Started: April 6, 2018

Date Finished: April 6, 2018

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Goodreads

15 Thoughts While Reading Sky in the Deep

OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating

*Non-spoiler review*

I really enjoyed this book. I had such high hopes and expectations going into it and I'm so glad it lived up to them. I loved it. There are a few reasons why, which I'll get to in a minute. First and foremost, I want to thank the beautiful human on Twitter who traded arcs with me so that I could get my hands on this one and read it before it released. I don't think I'll ever get over having this so early.

This book was awesome. It started off with a high-intensity battle and just kept going from there. Like all good books do, the tension and intensity rose and fell throughout the novel so that we were never bored or too overwhelmed. I thought the pacing was excellent and I can only say that I wish it was longer.

The characters were awesome. I think the main character, Eelyn, is my favorite for many reasons. I don't want to talk much about the other characters because it might spoil how different things turn out, but I loved so many of them and hated some. I thought they all worked very well as characters and I only wish we had more books after this one to explore the relationships between all of them. It was amazing watching the different characters grow and mature. Plus, Eelyn is such a badass and I only wish I could be as strong as her.

The plot was fantastic. I actually was surprised by how the plot went and I really am glad with how everything happened in this book. I think that it was very realistic in this world. It wasn't super complex, but I think that was a reason I enjoyed it so much and flew through. There was just enough plot and subplot for me to enjoy it, but it didn't overwhelm me with details and too many overlapping storylines. The writing style was simplistic, yet complicated enough for it to not be boring. It was smooth reading, through and through.

I think this book was very unique as a YA fantasy standalone as we usually only get series. I do want more books, but I am happy with how this story wrapped up. I can already tell that I'll be rereading this a little after it releases because I enjoyed it so much. Overall, I just really loved this book and can't wait for my signed copy to come in the mail via Good Choice Reading.

Pre-Order Links
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Book Depository

Adrienne Young Information
Website
Goodreads
Instagram
Twitter

~~~

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

~~~

Follow this blog by clicking "Follow" on the right hand column! Add me to your Google+ Circles on the left hand column! New content every month from Reviews to Hauls to Tags! Don't forget to check out all the other parts of this blog by following the different links at the top of the page! 

Follow my Instagram here. Giveaway at 1k followers!

Get 10% off of HD Movie Codes (sponsored by Movies Anywhere) when you use "INFLUENCER" at checkout! *I do not receive commission from HD Movie Codes--I just want to save you some $*

Get 10% off your first order, plus 50 rewards points, when you use this link to purchase a personal aromatherapy diffuser from Monq

Get 10% off your first order on A Court of Candles when you use this link. 

Subscribe to Owlcrate using this link and get a discount off your first box using AVIREADS.

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link. 

~~~

Let's Talk: "Legendary" by Stephanie Garber Book Review

Title: Legendary

Author: Stephanie Garber

Series: "Caraval" #2

Genre: YA Fantasy 

Page Length: 416 pages

Publication Date: May 29, 2018

Date Started: March 20, 2018

Date Finished: April 3, 2018

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Goodreads

Amazon

Caraval Review

*Disclaimer: I was provided an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. This in no way impacts my rating. All thoughts, comments, and opinions are 100% my own and have not been influenced by the author, publisher, or fans of this book/series*

~

Oh my god. Seriously. I'm writing this minutes after finishing the book and I can't believe anything right now. I'm seriously blown away. I really truly loved this book and it was a fantastic sequel to "Caraval." First things first, there's gonna be another book right? Right?! Stephanie/Flatiron please tell me there's going to be another because that ending absolutely slayed me.

There are a few things that I want to talk about in this review. I only had one small problem with this book but other than that everything was really good. The only reason I dropped my rating half a star was because it took me quite a while to get invested in this book. I mean, I was interested in what was going on with the characters and I wanted to know what happened, but it took me a while to get to the point where I couldn't put it down. It could have been because of the e-arc formatting. I mostly read this on my phone and the formatting was super weird on it, but when I read it on my computer, the format was a lot better. So I think a lot of why it took me so long to get into the book was because I was struggling with subconsciously fixing the formatting. That being said, the last 20% of the book I sped-read as fast as I could because I needed to know what happened. And let me tell you, I am mind-blown.

This book wasn't like Caraval on so many levels. I think that's kind of part of why it's such a good sequel. It didn't just do the same thing over again. No. This book was darker and we saw a lot of character struggles, both internal and external. I think that, just like at the end of the game in book 1, we are seeing behind the curtain. It was interesting watching the game this time around because Tella knew the different performers, so it was the same characters but they sometimes acted different or were completely opposite of their personalities in the first book. We also had a lot of information thrown at us right off the bat.

I knew, though, that Stephanie would throw a million and five plot twists at us towards the end of the book. I was not disappointed. I am thoroughly blown away and I have so many questions! I will keep this review non-spoiler, but I just need more! I NEED it! I need a third book or a novella or for Stephanie to at least tell me what the resolution is between different characters. I'm only dying a lot.

In conclusion, this book was fabulous. It was darker and grittier than book 1, but it still maintained it's magical and mystical feel. I feel like if the series were to end there, it would be an ok ending, but I really want another book because this one just left me with more questions than I had at the end of the first. I highly recommend this book and this series overall!

~~~

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

~~~

Follow this blog by clicking "Follow" on the right hand column! Add me to your Google+ Circles on the left hand column! New content every month from Reviews to Hauls to Tags! Don't forget to check out all the other parts of this blog by following the different links at the top of the page! 

Follow my Instagram here. Giveaway at 1k followers!

Get 10% off of HD Movie Codes (sponsored by Movies Anywhere) when you use "INFLUENCER" at checkout! *I do not receive commission from HD Movie Codes--I just want to save you some $*

Get 10% off your first order, plus 50 rewards points, when you use this link to purchase a personal aromatherapy diffuser from Monq

Get 10% off your first order on A Court of Candles when you use this link.

Subscribe to Owlcrate using this link and get a discount off your first box using AVIREADS

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link

~~~