Month: March 2020

Wrap Ups

March Wrap Up

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on March Wrap Up

I’ve had a great reading month in terms of getting through my TBR. I managed to complete a series I have been reading for over a year now and completed a couple of books from my physical TBR that I’ve owned now for over 2 years. I feel like I’ve definitely got my reading groove back and I am excited to continue and hopefully read some great books!

Fire by Kristin Cashore – ⭐️3/5 stars

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey – ⭐️3/5 stars

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertali & Aisha Sayeed – ⭐️3/5 stars

Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi – ⭐️2/5 stars

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan – ⭐️4/5 stars

Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes – ⭐️5/5 stars

Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes – ⭐️5/5 stars

Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes – ⭐️5/5 stars

Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb – ⭐️2/5 stars

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – ⭐️2/5 stars

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan – ⭐️4/5 stars

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz – ⭐️4/5 stars

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Reviews

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Review

12000020Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime.

Ari, bless him is just trying his best to get through the summer and high school and has to deal with a lot. His family keeps a lot of secrets and doesn’t communicate with each other very well. He is a little awkward and puts himself down a lot. He definitely undergoes quite the evolution over the course of the storyline and it was really gratifying to see him come into himself and accept his flaws and acknowledge what he needs to work on.

Dante was a very interesting character; he contrasts starkly with Ari but their dynamic just works so well together. He is very talkative, spouts random knowledge all the time and is almost overly emotional. I like that when he is away from Ari in Chicago he makes friends and goes and experiments, really reinforcing with himself who he is. The letters that he shared with Ari were incredibly personal and I like that he is open and honest enough to want to discuss these things with a friend instead of internalising everything like Ari tends to do.

I loved that we got to delve into the characters backstories and we learn a lot about their families. It makes the book as a whole a lot more relatable and engaging. There were stages at the start where the pacing was a little on the slower side. All we really had was angsty Ari overthinking everything and I kind of had to push myself to continue.

This was really a lovely, touching, sometimes hard hitting story about two boys coming of age and discovering their own identities. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next and I was extremely satisfied by the end!

⭐️4/5 stars just a truly lovely story

Reviews

Immortal Reign Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Immortal Reign Review

23367265We dive straight back into the action in this final book of the Falling Kingdoms series. Jonah is trying to defy his destiny, Lucia will do absolutely anything to get her daughter back from Kyan, Amara heads back home to Kraeshia to be throned and Cleo and Magnus continue to fight to bring the kingdoms together.

Magnus’s arc over the course of the series was wonderful to read. I had a feeling his character would change drastically because of how he was portrayed in the first couple of books and I find he was definitely vindicated himself for his past actions. Also the fact that Cleo still chose to overlook those past deeds and just accept Magnus for the person he has shown her was lovely.

Cleo I feel I have steadily enjoyed but haven’t loved in the series. She was definitely a little too naïve and spoilt but through all of the difficulties she has had to face over the last year she has matured and shown a lot of restraint and poise.

I think I have the most thoughts and feelings about Lucia above all because she had such a drastic plot line in the series. I always thought she was an unlikeable character and that feeling didn’t really change over the course of the series. When her powers were drained by her daughter she finally realises how much she has relied on those powers and how non effective she is without them.

I honestly wouldn’t of been mad if this book had another 200-300 pages to really draw out the plot and build up the anticipation. The short length was something I always appreciated in the previous book because all you really get is all the action and manoeuvres that brought them to this moment. I would of loved go fully in depth with each character and get the minute details of everything that is happening.

I thought the pacing picked right back up and I was on the edge of my seat throughout my read. The ending did kind of wrap up quite conveniently but after the epic journey these characters embarked on back in the beginning of this series I was very content with how it ended!

⭐️5/5 WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ THIS SERIES????

Updates

🔱 Heroes of Olympus Reread Update 🔱

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on 🔱 Heroes of Olympus Reread Update 🔱

7736182._SY475_I am currently in the middle of my reread for The Lost Hero and I am loving it so far! It definitely is giving me the same vibes as the Percy Jackson series and from what I remember its pretty much follows the same formula. Theres some sort of impending doom, there’s a quest and like a mini resolution leading to the next obstacle. I’m enjoying the new perspectives we’re getting in this series and how they differ from the original characters. Just the fact that we are moving away from the main three (aside from Jason and Percy) and showcasing a few of the children from the different gods is keeping me invested. Once again the pacing is consistent and fast, I have flew through the first half of the book! I think we are on the higher end of the middle-grade age range with this series but I will see whether or not it stays consistent as the books continue!

happy-reading

Reviews

Bitterblue Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Bitterblue Review

915sDFes1LLWhen Queen Bitterblue took the throne of Monsea, she was a child, and her advisers ran the kngdom for her. Now she is beginning to question their decisions, especially how they handle the legacy of her father Leck, who who ruled through his Grace–a special talent for mind-altering–and his taste for darkness and violence.

I found Bitterblue to be way too cavalier as Queen of Monsea for the first half of the book. She was unaware of anything that was happening in her kingdom and feasted control over to her advisors who were able to manipulate her. The way she handled herself at the start of the book was almost infuriating. She ran off in the middle of the night to listen to stories and ignored the concerns of her kingdom hiding in paperwork for the rest of the day in her tower. She doesn’t assert her control enough for me and let everyone walk all over her. She isn’t relatable at all, she didn’t even realize how privileged she was until three quarters of the way through the book when she seen how so many of her countrymen were struggling. She does strive to better herself and her kingdom though which I think is honourable, I just feel like it should of happened a lot sooner.

I just didn’t feel like there was enough Saf in the story for me. For the first 100 or so pages we don’t really learn much about him and what his purpose in the story is. He and Bitterblue continue to keep secrets from each other and don’t communicate well at all so the fact that they fall in love boggled my mind a little bit. I just didn’t think the romance aspect needed to happen at all. He was an interesting character though and I liked that we delved a little deeper into his backstory as the plot progressed.

It was nice having Katsa and Po come in and out of the story. It had been quite a few years since I read Graceling so it was nice to reacquaint myself with those characters.

I found the entire plot to be a little boring to be totally honest. There wasn’t really any stakes that kept me engaged in the storyline. It was basically just Bitterblue walking around her castle deciphering codes and reading books, trying to figure out who was lying to her and scheming against her, which I think was pretty obvious from the start…

⭐️2/5 I’m glad I read it, didn’t really enjoy though…