Avalon's Book Blog

Hi! I'm Avalon, I'm a 22-year-old psychology student in my last year of my bachelor's degree. In 2020 my goal is to read a 100 books. Have I ever read 100 books in a year. No. Do I have the time? Kinda. Do I have the will not to procrastinate? No. Am I going to fail? Yes. But that's the fun part and I get to record my failure online. Awesome.

[anaavalon]

Devil in Winter (Wallflowers #3) - Lisa Kleypas

23/100

I read this book twice.. in a row. I like it that much. It’s no wonder that this is the most popular Lisa Kleypas novel.

4/5

[anaavalon]

Duke of Knight (Gentlemen of Knights #1) - Elizabeth Johns

22/100

I loved the premise of this book and while it did deliver on some points, it failed a little on others. Otherwise its a lovely clean romance.

3.5/5

[anaavalon]

Chasing Cassandra  (The Ravenels #6) - Lisa Kleypas

21/100

It’s a charming story and exactly what you would expect from Lisa Kleypas.

3.8/5

[anaavalon]

Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) - Leigh Bardugo

20/100

The good - the story, the ending, Nikolai

The mediocre - Alina

The bad - Mal, the relationship, Mal, the plot twist, Mal

3.5/5

[anaavalon]

“Idiot.” “That fact is well established and adds nothing to the plot.”

Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

[anaavalon]

Devil in Spring (The Ravenels #3) - Lisa Kleypas

19/100

I’ve been enjoying The Ravenels Series (and other Lisa Kleypas books I’ve read) and since Chasing Cassandra came out recently I figured why not read this one first.

The first half of the book is just fabulous, I really enjoyed the chemistry between Pandora and Gabriel. The second half gets a little dull. For me it’s like 3.8 stars on goodreads, almost but not quit a 4.

Happy Thor’s day!

L, Avalon

[anaavalon]

Being just a little cynical will make you a much safer optimist.

Lisa Kleypas, Devil in Spring

[anaavalon]

Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) - Leigh Bardugo

18/100

I read this one in like two days. That’s how much I like the plot. It’s really good, I like the story, the action, and that ending, I love the ending.

That said, while in the Shadow and Bone, Mal was a pretty good character, in Siege and Storm he’s an annoying little shit. I really don’t get what is supposed to be so charming about him. Alina also gets worse. The whole ‘‘I can’t hurt anyone’‘ reminds me of Mare from the Red Queen and Mare is my least favorite character in that series. I get that that is an important part of her personality, but it could have been shown better. Nikolai tho, I love him to bits and pieces. He’s the best part of this novel.

Overall, the book is not better or worse than the first one.

3.5/5

Happy day of the Moon!

L, Avalon

[anaavalon]

I'm perfectly capable of being stupid on my own.

Leigh Bardugo, Siege and Storm

[anaavalon]

The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient #2) - Helen Hoang

17/100

I don’t remember much of my feelings about this book except it made me laugh.

It’s just a charming, sweet, light-hearted romance.

4/5

Happy Saturn's Day!

L, Avalon.

[anaavalon]

Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.

Mark Twain

[anaavalon]

She needed to get ready for bed, but first, she wanted to do nothing for a few moments. Just nothing. Nothing was such a luxury.

Helen Hoang, The Bride Test    

[anaavalon]

Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) - Leigh Bardugo

16/100

I wanted to read this series before I read Six of Crows because of my inability to start from the middle (and yes I know you can read Six of Crows before this series, I just need to start from the beginning).

The premise is interesting but nothing new. You have a chosen one, a handsome childhood friend, an upbeat friend and a mean girl. Alina, the main characters is pretty realistic, she fails (a lot), she believes the wrong people and she is hopelessly trying to do her best. Mal, the childhood friend, is a welcome addition when he shows up. Genya, the upbeat friend, is intriguing. And The Darkling is probably my favourite in the book. He is just grey, and I love morally grey characters. You never really know what he’s up to, and for the most of novel, I was as charmed with him as Alina was. That said like half the book is kind of boring. Not much happens and what does happen is not that interesting. The third act and the satisfying ending is a saving grace for the plot. Overall it's good - but not great.

3.5/5

Happy  Týr’s day!

L, Avalon

[anaavalon]

And there's nothing wrong with being a lizard either. Unless you were born to be a hawk.

Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

[anaavalon]

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials #3) - Phillip Pullman

15/100

The adventure has come to an end.

Lyra and Will are know trying to get to the world of the dead and do something... talk? Other characters are doing other things, and priests are now assassins (boy was that a disappointing subplot). Oh and angles, ghosts, tiny people and harpies, because why not.

This book kind of feels like one long third act. So it makes a lot of sense to think of this trilogy as one big book. And as the ending, it does piece everything together quite nicely. However, there are quite a few things that don’t get explained or get haphazardly explained (an angle conveniently explaining everything at the end, anyone?). Some of the foreshadowing and subplots fall flat and the ending suffers from you could have just done this syndrome. The worldbuilding, however, is as magical as ever. It's a fine but could have been so much better, ending to a story. 3/5 Now, I can’t help it but think of Lyra as that kid in horror films that goes to investigate a strange sound and gets themselves killed, and Will as the dumb, but a loyal friend that follows. I might be the only one.

Wash your hands, practice social distancing and happy Thor’s day!

L, Avalon

[anaavalon]

Highlands' Lairds Series - Julie Garwood

Recently I have come to love historical romance. I go thru fazes of what sub-genre of romance I love at the moment and this series I’ve been reading for the past two months or so and since they are somewhat similar I’m putting them together.

12/100

The Secret (Highlands' Lairds Series #1) - Julie Garwood

Its a story of an English woman going to Scotland to support and help her pregnant friend because that’s what besties do. Then falling in love with the laird, uh how scandalous, and then meeting the owner of her secret. And it all happens in the medieval times. I was going to just read this one, but then I had to read the other two as well because I liked this one so much. 4/5 stars.

13/100

Ransom (Highlands' Lairds Series #2) - Julie Garwood

Book number two. A brave English woman (again) send a messenger to a Scottish laird claiming to be his bride. Not to marry him, but to get a kidnapped boy home. We love a child saving queen. And then there is whole keeping your uncle alive, finding your long lost sister, getting the king his little box and accidentally avenging your father. 4/5 stars again.

14/100

Shadow Music (Highlands' Lairds Series #3) - Julie Garwood

A mystery of lost gold. Also the story of Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel traveling to Scotland with her guards to marry a highlander. Only he gets murdered so she marries another one. Not as good as the other two, so 3.5/5 stars.

Wash your hands, practice social distancing and happy  Frigg’s day!

Also don’t get a cold in the middle of a virus outbreak, its not fun. You can take my word for it.

L, Avalon

[anaavalon]

Kulti - Mariana Zapata

11/100

I read the Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata a while ago (and I loved it) so I figured why not give the book that is constantly showing up on romance.io a try.

Kulti is a slow-burning, enemies to lovers, kick-ass romance novel. Its a love story of a football star and the new coach that is also a retired football rockstar. Yes, football, I’m Europian, fight me.

Even tho it is a slow-burner I didn’t find to drag too much. It wasn’t difficult for me to keep reading. It mostly felt very realistically-paced. It’s not an insta romance as many romance novels would like you to believe are a thing. Overall, it's a solid romance.

Wash your hands, practice social distancing and happy Frigg’s day!

L, Avalon