January Wrap Up

This was actually quite a diverse reading month for me in terms of genre. We have a few hard hitting contemporaries, epic fantasy, portal fantasy, romance and mystery/thrillers. I didn’t have the highest amount of books read but the quality and substance of all the books I completed was pretty good!

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb – ⭐️3/5 stars

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Sadie by Courtney Summers⭐️4/5 stars

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The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern⭐️3/5 stars

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow ⭐️3/5 stars

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Lock Every Door by Riley Sager⭐️4/5 stars

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Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Mei⭐️4/5 stars

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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas⭐️4/5 stars

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Broken Knight by L.J. Shen⭐️3/5 stars

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Red Rising by Pierce Brown⭐️5/5 stars

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Frankly in Love by David Yoon⭐️4/5 stars

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The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen⭐️2/5 stars

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5 Mystery/Thriller Books I want to read in 2020

I have figured out over the last year that I actually really enjoy mystery/thriller books. I had previously just stuck to either fantasy or contemporary but I have finally broadened my reading horizons’ to include some other genres which I greatly enjoy!

These are the five mystery/thriller books I plan to read this year:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

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Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

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The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

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The Shining by Stephen King

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Watching You by Lisa Jewell

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Frankly in Love Review

*Spoilers Ahead*

39847584Frank Li is a Korean-American senior in high school who falls in love with a white girl in his class. Knowing his parents would never approve of her he concocts a scheme with another Korean-American girl in his class to pretend to date her in order to gain some freedom.

Frank is such an endearing character. He is always just trying to do what is best for everyone, kind of just keeping the status quo. He does question a lot of his parents’ thoughts and their racism towards anyone who isn’t Korean, but he never really challenges them until he is personally affected by it. I thought his plan was quite ingenious and it definitely worked in the long run.

Q just completely threw me off when we finally find out who he had a crush on. For some reason his character being gay just didn’t cross my mind at all but when we found out I was completely in my feels. It was a raw, honest moment and the way Frank handled it was kind and compassionate. Their friendship and banter felt very realistic to me and I am glad it wasn’t compromised when Q finally revealed his secret. His sister though wasn’t really necessary in the plot; I just don’t understand the purpose behind her character.

Even though Frank and Joy had known each other for years I still kind of feel like she moved on a little quickly from Wu. Frank kind of said even though all of the limbos hang out together they weren’t really friends so I thought it was a little strange that they were suddenly so close.

The plot was a little predictable at times but there were definitely some twists and turns thrown in to keep me engaged. I thought the pacing of the book was pretty steady; I finished it in less than a day so it was quite an easy read. The content I thought was super relatable and the cultural aspects added more depth to the storyline for sure!

⭐️4/5 stars frankly lovable!

Covers that Captured my Attention

For the Top 10 Tuesday prompt this week I decided to go with 5 books that I bought specifically because of the covers! This post is completely subjective as everyone has their own preferences when it comes to book covers, but these are a few books I’ve acquired in the last year that have captured my attention!

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

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Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

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Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

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Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

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This illustrated edition of The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

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Red Rising Review

23360729Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner living on Mars, extracting precious elements in order to make the planet hospitable for the rest of humanity. What Darrow doesn’t know is that Mars has been hospitable for generations now and his people the Red’s have been used as slaves, being exploited and worked to death by the Gold’s.

I loved everything about his book. The pacing was excellent, the world building was meticulous and the characters were fully developed and interesting. I am so mad at myself that I didn’t pick this series up sooner!

Darrow is a wonderful character. He is loyal to a fault and has done the unimaginable in order to free his people from their constraints. He goes through quite the transformation over the course of the storyline and I love that we see him fall quite spectacular and still rise again against all odds. I think he is well on his way to becoming one of my favourite male protagonists ever! His drive and ability to not take no for an answer and the way he uses his logic and cunning to overcome all of his obstacles, despite being a red at heart!

I never trusted Mustang. I knew she was too good to be true, especially considering the circumstances, but she pleasantly surprised me. Her secret definitely threw me and I honestly didn’t anticipate any of her actions. I thought the big twist at the end was that she was going to stab Darrow in the back, but the way things all worked out was just so much better than what I was expecting!

Usually long drawn out war sequences can get quite tiresome and boring for me but this really had me invested from the start. I love a good school setting in fantasy/sci-fi and the added twist of the war games really kept me entertained! We are right on the ground with Darrow and there really isn’t a whole lot of just sitting around talking and strategising, which can get a bit blah.

This was also a lot darker than I anticipated. There is a lot of gore and blood involved. I like that Pierce Brown didn’t shy away from killing characters off and displaying the bloodlust some of these characters have. It raises the stakes to another level and keeps the tension at an all time high.

⭐️5/5 This will have you on the edge of your seat!