sunny is reading

book blogger & reviewer

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Book Review: To Dream of White & Gold by R.K. Hart

Ladies and gentlemen, drumroll please, I have found my new favorite book of 2020.

Hart's debut and the first novel in the Death Dreamer Legacy series, To Dream of White & Gold, is a young adult fantasy novel with tids and bits of adventure, romance, and friendship. At the beginning of the novel, our main character Lida is a normal teenage girl who loves to dance, fool around and help her dad around with animals but going deeper and deeper, we accompany her on a magical journey where she is taught how to use her magic as the last one of her kind and where she falls in love, although forbidden.

I absolutely loved this book! Even going into it, the beginning was strong, which surprised me quite a bit seeing as this is a debut novel - not to imply that they can be good, but authors usually get better with time and experience. And after the beginning, this was a literal rollercoaster, following Lida all across the countries to learn about her mother and her hidden magic.

The characters were very well built, especially Lida, who grew up through this book with us and now has a special place in my heart. She wasn't perfect in any way - she made mistakes, but she tried to fix them and do better next time no matter what. And that is what, in my opinion, makes a hero character a great character, and what we should be teaching our children. Besides her, I really enjoyed reading about the others as well: Lorcan, Katrin, even Ella, Maya, and Alys. It's interesting how invested you quickly become in some, although you only get to know a little about them and their backstory throughout the book.

And if we're talking about the characters, let's talk romance as well! This was one of the best-executed romances I have seen in a while. It was wholesome, it was cute and sweet and protective, but it was built on agreeing to communicate and work together and grow together, and I shed quite a few tears reading about the two. Although it was subtle at first, it got so much more without taking over the whole book.

Following Lida's adventures, we get to know a lot about the magic system of the country, which I usually enjoy the most, and this was the case here as well! It was well-built and well-written, although it did leave me asking about some things as I wished we could have seen more abilities of some of the other characters that we only encountered briefly.

Additionally, I really loved the writing style and how easily the POVs switched between characters. When I picked it up, I couldn't put it down because it was so gripping and magical. This is exactly the type of book I could read and read all over again without an issue, savoring all those moments.

And the ending! Although it didn't really end on a cliffhanger as most first books of a series usually do, we were presented with a prologue that was equally mysterious and gripping, just making me want to know more and to dive into the second book right away - thinking about it, I have no idea how I'll last until 2021 to read it.

Even with consideration, this book deserves the 5 stars without a question. As a mix of fantasy, magic, mystery, and romance, it was utterly perfect for me, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well-structured and built fantasy system and strong leading characters that will crush your heart.

Disclaimer: I received the eARC of this book from BookSirens in exchange for my honest review.

Expected publication: August 1st 2020 by Pindika Press Read: July 16th 2020 Rating: 5 stars | ★★★★★ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

This was beautiful, and breathtaking, and heartbreaking, and can we get a part two?

"I am glad, then, that I will never love someone again in this way. I would not survive a second time. In America, one of my professors said once that the best art comes from an unbearable life - if you live through it, that is." Miho

Frances Cha's debut novel If I Had Your Face paints the picture of modern-day Seoul, Korea, through the eyes of four women, each trying to survive on their own: Ara, a mute hairstylist with an obsession for boy bands; Kyuri, a girl who spent thousands so she could work in a room salon; Miho, an artist that is head over heels in her work; and Wonna, the unhappily married woman who just wants to hold her baby in her arms.

"But now, I think perhaps that's precisely why he likes me - I am a welcome change because with me he can play the role of the provider. There is no limit to how much Korean men are willing to endure female money, especially if they are wealthy themselves." Miho

The first thing that I feel deserves praise are the characters in a whole: although there were quite a few of them, I didn't find myself being confused or bored while reading about them, their lives and their daily struggles, but rather intrigued, interested, wanting to know more. Step by step, we unravel their pasts and find out how they came to where they are today, fighting unreal expectations set for women, cheating men, and most of all, their perceived role in society.

"You have to grow up with parents whose lives become better as time goes by, so you can learn that you must invest effort for life to improve. But if you grow up around people whose situations become worse as time goes on, then you think that you have to just live for today. And when I ask young people, What about the future? What will you do when tomorrow comes and you have spent everything already? they say they will just die. And that is why Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world."

Out of the four perspectives, I must admit that I enjoyed Kyuri's the most, although Ara comes in a close second. She was so real and fleshed out that I felt like I could almost touch her. Reading about her plastic surgeries, about her family problems, her issues with men, and her job made me tear up quite a bit. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every single perspective: even Wonna's, which felt a bit forced at first, out of place, grew on me as I realized even her perspective was an indispensable part of the story so the author could truly portray the struggles of a modern Korean woman from all possible aspects.

I loved the way the author spoke about the perils of today's world: prostitution, maternity (which we can especially see through Wonna), suicide, plastic surgeries, and much more. Reading books like this really makes you realize how hard the world around us can be, but how soft we can make it to be if we surround ourselves with friends, support, and love - which I personally think is a beautiful message.

"No. No. No. Why should you be paid for not working, when everyone else works twice as hard as you? So that you can play with a baby at home? Women like you are the reason companies do not want to hire women. And that sets back women everywhere. If you were a man, how many days off would you take after having a baby? That's right, none."

Furthermore, the writing really worked with me. Although it was quite simple and understandable, the style fits the content of the book perfectly. It felt as these girls were actually speaking through it, telling about their experiences and their pains.

What bothered me a bit was that certain events were not fleshed out enough, and there were things I would have loved to know more about: what happened to Miho and Hanbin, how exactly did Ara actually lose her voice, if Kyuri ever moved on. Although the ending was symbolically perfect, a lot of things stayed open that I would have loved to know more about.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, especially those interested about in delicate topics and Korea in general. It was a clear five star read for me and I have no doubt that I'll be rereading it in years to come.

Published: April 21st 2020 by Ballantine Books Read: July 8th 2020 Rating: 5 stars | ★★★★★ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong

I'm always up for a good psychological thriller. But this? I barely forced myself to finish it and not DNF it.

Jeong's The Good Son is a psychological thriller/mystery/horror novel that is said to have a Stephen King vibe. It follows our young Yu-yin's three-day journey after waking up in his bed covered with blood and discovering the dead body of his mother. While trying to prove that he's innocent, he starts uncovering memories from years and years ago, trying to fill in the gaps his brain has so cleverly forgotten.

Having read this, I feel like I should feel disturbed and scared and like I just looked in the eyes of a serial killer, but to be honest, reading through the novel, all I felt was boredom and annoyance. I was around 65% into the book before anything even started happening, and after that point, I felt like the author went completely off the rails and started writing a whole new story. And this just gave me a headache.

The main character, Yu-yin, didn't do it for me at all. I've read multiple psychological thrillers in the past, but here, our psychopath is beyond boring, and don't even get me started on his hatred for all women alike and his pages long flashbacks that, most of the time, aren't even real the first time around.

Not only that, but I disliked the writing style in general. I am giving it the benefit of the doubt that maybe it's like this because it's a translation from Korean, but the writing was dry, full of unnecessary descriptions that went on for pages and pages, and the dialogue didn't stick with me at all.

There were some passages as described by our psychopath that were utterly disturbing and raised so many red flags that I doubt anyone could just ignore. For example: "Maybe she was on her period. It wasn't rare for me to smell menstrual blood in an enclosed space like a lecture hall or a classroom; it was easy to identify the person who was bleeding since it had a clear, unique smell." Um, excuse you?

All in all, I rarely rate the books this low, even the ones I do not enjoy, but this one just sparked a lot of new-found hatred in me. It was bland, boring, and forgettable, and I literally fell asleep once during the last 10%. And, honestly, I hope I never have to force myself to finish another book like this.

Published: June 5th 2018 by Penguin Books Read: July 8th 2020 Rating: 1 star | ★☆☆☆☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: The Silence of Bones by June Hur

Although this is the type of book I would never put on my TBR by my own volition, as a choice of a group book for this year's Koreadathon, I decided to pick it up nevertheless - and I surprisingly enjoyed it quite a bit!

June Hur's The Silence of Bones is a historical fiction novel set in 1800s Korea and follows a murder investigation in the capitol's police bureau, where orphaned Seol is indebted and working as a damo - a servant who observes women's corpses when men cannot. Throughout the novel, she goes through not only the struggles of finding herself and her voice in the world, but finding her long-lost brother as well.

Let's start at the beginning: with Seol. I loved her as a character: her personality, her flare, her so-called curiosity which kept getting her in trouble, and in the end, her never-ending loyalty to her family and the truth. She was a well written, realistic woman protagonist; the kind that we need in books nowadays. She did have her mistakes and flaws, but she was learning how to overcome them and become better. More tolerant. It was refreshing to read about a female character like this.

"Everyone dies; what is difficult is a meaningful death."

Not only that, but I loved how great the fact that you do not need a man to be happy was represented here. Although this is a young adult novel, there is no romance, no affairs, no drama, just platonic love, friendship and loyalty. In that aspect, it is definitely a rare book to be found, but a great find nonetheless, and brings up all the right messages and ideas, especially to the young women of today.

However, I do have to admit that on the whole, it was a bit hard to get into, especially at the beginning, and it wasn't until about until 1/2 of the book that it really hooked me in. It felt a bit too descriptive when it needn't have been, and I was a bit confused by the number of characters and trying to perceive the whole story and the mysteries of the police bureau. At moments, it didn't feel entirely fleshed out, which we can see with Seol's backstory and how the whole thing ended. It was just a bit underwhelming after all the pages I've read through, and a bit disappointing.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the premise of this book; even the blurb was intriguing, recommending it for fans of Maniscalco and Ahdieh. Having read books of them both, I liked The Silence of bones a lot better than the other two combined. I think what really did it for me was the absence of a romantic relationship for the protagonist to swoon over, and rather a well built platonic, familial relationship that felt real and worth crying over.

Published: April 21st 2020 by Feiwel & Friends Read: July 6th 2020 Rating: 4 stars | ★★★★☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen

As a teenager struggling to fit in, struggling to keep my grades up, struggling to survive, this was the best book I could have come across at this time.

Jansen's debut novel The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is a young adult contemporary, describing how our average teenager, Alison Green, got into the mess (and out of the mess) of having to produce a school play in her senior year of high school. But that's not where it ends: throughout the novel, we also get to know about the struggles of wanting to become a valedictorian, coming out and dealing with first relationships.

Going into the book and judging only by the very beginning, I was a bit disappointed. Usually, it is especially the beginning that brings you in and ties you to a story, but this at first read a bit like a typical Wattpad novel, so I was delighted when it picked up a little bit. It felt like the author herself didn't connect with the story entirely at first, but reading more, she was more and more comfortable sharing about Alison's life.

Reading some reviews, something I noticed frequently was that teenagers aren't at all like how Alison was portrayed in the novel. But I dare to disagree - as a senior myself, I have gone through this exact stress, burdens, and troubles this year, studying my head off for 40+ hours per week, stressing about every single thing. And exactly this is what made the novel so special for me, being able to connect to a character so deeply, reliving my struggles from even a week ago.

"Because being valedictorian means that hard work pays off! Maybe high school isn't so easy for all of us. Maybe some of us need to believe there's something better waiting after high school is finished." Alison

Besides portraying the struggles of being a high school senior, I think the author did a great job with the gay and pansexual representation, even Korean representation, and how much people struggle with it through high school. I do have to agree that at some points, what is said can be quite problematic: the concept of being 'more out', or Alison having to come out to her parents because of a straight best friend, but I see this as a chance for the author to grow and learn so she can write it better next time.

Talking of the gay representation in the novel, the romance was one of the first in a while that I was rooting for, a lot. It was just so sweet and young, something you would actually expect from teenagers in high school. Not eternal love, not soulmates, but crushes and growing as friends first and awkward texts about corgis and first dates and that's not even everything. It was wholesome and cute and I'd love to read more about it.

However, a thing that maybe didn't click as much with me, especially in the beginning, was the abundance of all the characters. For the first 60 or 70 pages, I was confused as to who was who, regularly switching them up. I don't think having a lot of characters thrown into a situation right at the beginning is necessarily a bad thing, but especially in shorter books, it usually ends up as feeling that most of them are a bit two dimensional, when they should be a bit more developed and rounded.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and finding myself in not just one, but a few characters. I would recommend it to seniors and high schoolers alike, especially the ones struggling with their grades and their sexuality. Although the novel had a few problems, it was still a really enjoyable, fast read, and I must admit that I even teared up a little bit at the end.

Disclaimer: I received the eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Expected publication: September 22nd 2020 by Second Story Press Read: June 25th 2020 Rating: 5 stars | ★★★★★ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: Ignite the Sun by Hanna C. Howard

This book held such an amazing premise when I started reading it: an evil queen, the never-ending darkness, a quest to bring back the Light, and save the kingdom. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the premise.

Howard's debut book Ignite the Sun is a fantasy young adult novel about a common 16-year-old girl with a fear of darkness in a kingdom where darkness always prevails. Overnight, she is thrust into an entirely new world, discovering she is not who she thought she was and learning about her duty to the kingdom and her people. On the quest, she tries to find herself through love, friendship and magic.

Going into the book, I didn't have necessarily high expectations, but the plot was something I would read in a moment if offered - just the thing that is right up my alley. But even after the first few chapters, I started noticing things that don't usually bother me if done well, but they really weren't: cliches. And deeper I went into it, more of them there were - and I wouldn't have minded, but they were badly incorporated at inappropriate times, but I would have handled that if they were done and gone through properly, but they really weren't. I think the sentence 'One bed.', is all I have to add here.

Siria, the main character, was a person I started off liking a lot, but that just stopped after we got around to the quest portion of the book. Her backstory somehow didn't match a lot to what she was going through at that time - as a rebelling child, although she was supposed to be coddled and cherished, I didn't expect to spend a good 1/4 of the book with her muttering and holding grudges and being angry at everyone for not telling her something they possibly couldn't. But again, I could have handled the growth of her character if it was done properly.

Especially looking at the world and how it is right now, I think we need more strong female characters that find strength, bravery, and magic in themselves, without a prince charming always standing around. And that might have been a bit of a problem here. Although in the beginning, I really liked the slow-building romance in this book, from childhood friends to starstruck lovers, as we might say, I think it would have been better if they stayed best friends as the book and their romance started dragging on.

Another thing that bothered me a bit was the ending: we get this pretty slow-paced story at the start, them travelling to the North on foot, and then suddenly we're 80% into the book and everything, and I mean everything, goes down. The pace could have been a lot more thought out, and the ending shouldn't have been rushed as much as it was.

Saying all of this, I can't deny the fact that at times, I still enjoyed the book and its premise, thinking of it as more of a light, fun, romance-filled read with some feeble characters, but with some who I loved seeing grow: Yarrow, Elegy and Merrall. Although this was a 3 star read for me, I think some of you who are into light and fun novels with a twist of magic could still enjoy it a lot.

Disclaimer: I received the eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Expected publication: August 18th 2020 by Blink Read: June 20th 2020 Rating: 3 stars | ★★★☆☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke

"He thought because she was quiet, because she liked books and the way flowers blossomed on the hills in spring, because she was a girl, he could dismiss her as frivolous and unimportant. Weak. He was wrong."

Jennifer Gruenke's Of Silver and Shadow is her not-yet-released debut fantasy novel about one of the last known existing silver wielders, Ren Kolins, living in a kingdom where her magic is forbidden and considered high treason. Throughout the novel, we follow Ren as she is thrown into a rebellion she never wanted to be a part of, and her companions of all sorts and types.

Although the plot itself was intriguing, I definitely didn't expect myself liking this book enough for it to be a 5-star read. You know the type: the massively overused plot of a girl wielding magic who shouldn't even exist fighting for herself, her magic and her people. Wrong. This novel took all the right turns, had a set of the most unique characters and a love to hate romance that I absolutely adored.

The characters were a delight to read about. Each one of them had a unique and interesting story of their own, and there wasn't one character that I hated reading about through the whole story (when there usually is at least one). Their backgrounds and traits were incredibly thought out, and even the worst, the evilest characters had motives and a personality of their own, without being just filler characters. It did set me off a couple of times because there were a lot of names to remember, but their personalities were so different that it was noticeable when the POV shifted from one to another.

And don't get me started on the romances in this book! As I already mentioned, there was an amazing love to hate romance that pushed me to my knees reading it. There was obvious chemistry and tension between the characters, written so well that even I got goosebumps. And that rarely happens. Besides that, there is an LGBTQ+ relationship in this book that is so sweet and loving and I literally craved and hoped for the best for these two characters because they just deserved a happy ending.

Although it is definitely bloody and gruesome in some parts, which some people might not be a fan of, I think the whole premise of a silver wielder with dangerous abilities and strength was well executed. Unlike many books, it didn't feel forced. Maybe the world-building might still need a little bit of polishing, but overall, this was an amazing novel through and through, making it easy to simply fall into and devour in a matter of hours.

In 480 pages, the newly-not-even-yet-published gave me everything I wished for in one novel, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy, unique magic and well-written romance.

disclaimer: i received the eARC of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Expected publication: May 26th 2020 by Flux Read: March 28th 2020 Rating: 5 stars | ★★★★★ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

After reading this, I want to reread Eliza and Her Monsters. Just to fix the taste this left.

Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl is a contemporary novel about twin sisters, Cather and Wren, fighting their way through their first year of college. Cath is a major fanfiction writer for Simon Snow, while Wren is trying really hard to distance herself from Cath after living with her for her whole life. The novel faces quite a few problems in the form of college life, making new friends and boyfriends, drinking, anxiety and stress.

Where do I start? Let's say I'm mildly disappointed as I expected a lot more from this book. There are so many good ratings, good reviews, it felt underwhelming. Everyone describes this book as something for everyone who is active in a fandom and is a fangirl/fanboy. But when we get to this book, it's mostly Cath dealing with her problems and how to fit in college life in her hectic days, filled with writing fanfiction. And I don't have a problem with that, not at all. I could see myself in some things that Cath faced as well. But I'm sure that if I didn't have such high expectations going into this book and if it weren't advertised as such, I would've enjoyed it a lot more.

One of the things that bothered me from beginning to end, were the Simon Snow paragraphs pushed into the book. Why? Again, why?! I get it, you want to show us this universe, but it doesn't fit in Cath's story at all. To be honest, I mostly just skipped those paragraphs. Not to mention that the Simon Snow universe just feels like Harry Potter. It is even similar in context, in how it is announced in the book, even the years it was written. And I don't mind Harry Potter at all. But it felt forced ...

Another thing that I had troubles with was that it felt like the author was almost scared to give anything in this book a real peak. Like a real fight, or a real issue, or anything. When we encounter Nick and his actions, I wanted action. I did see it isn't exactly how Cath works, but I expected something at least from Wren? Or just something that just flat out passed on and wasn't mentioned again, although it was a major plot point. As well as Levi - when he and Cath get into an argument over Carry On, that should've been more. Just more. Not just a 10 minute argument and him mopping straight back up to her. In any way possible, he was right. And I was just facepalming through that. And we couldn't even get a moment where it was revealed that Cath was this major fanfiction writer. I mean, come on ...

As goes for the characters ... I liked Cath in the beginning but was feeling meh about her towards the end. Especially because of the assignment - because I totally agree with Levi on this one. I was rooting for Levi, as he really felt the character of the book. I didn't really care much for Wren as we mainly see her at the beginning and the end, but in the middle, she's rarely there.

As I said, mildly disappointing. I did like some of the stuff in it but not enough to say this was a really good book. I read Eliza and Her Monsters last year and I loved it, and everyone kept comparing it to this one. But it's not even similar. So I really think I'll just go and reread that one. Because this was, again, meh.

Published: September 10th 2013 by St. Martin's Press Read: July 14th 2019 Rating: 2.5 stars | ★★★☆☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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THE READING RUSH 2019: TBR stack

a book with purple on the cover: Furthermore by Tehereh Mafi

read a book in the same spot the entire time: Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

a book you meant to read last year: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

an author's first book: Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

a book with a non-human main character: Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

a book with five or more words in the title: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

read and watch a book to movie adaptation: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

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Book Review: The Immortal City by Amy Kuivalainen

I'd recommend this mostly to fans of The Da Vinci Code or A Discovery of Witches - of course if you don't mind many parallels and similarities.

Kuivalainen's new book The Immortal City is a magical tale set in Venice, where a woman is brutally sacrificed to a long-forgotten god. When the murder site is found covered in graffiti of an unknown language, the police calls on Doctor Penelope Bryne, a historian ridiculed by her colleagues for her search of the lost city of Atlantis. After arriving in Venice, she comes face to face with a magical community she never believed existed and is forced to work together to keep Venice from disappearing into water forever.

As I already mentioned, there are a bunch of similarities I saw between this book and The Da Vinci Code and A Discovery of Witches. They aren't necessarily bad or disturbing, but as I have read both books in the past two years, I couldn't help but see all of them while reading this. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy some of the references, it just means that Penelope, our main character, was too much like Diana - seemed like a strong, determined person, until a stronger male character came along and dragged her into situations only he could save her for. There were moments that this wasn't that distracting, but most of the time, it was.

I also felt that there was too much repetition regarding Penelope - I remember reading the book and she was kidnapped or snatched from someone/somewhere at least every 90 pages. I mean, you can be defenseless and everything. But even with a knife, she just didn't really manage to do anything. What she did was just pull a magical string and called on her man to rescue her. I'm of opinion that we need more female characters that can take care of themselves at least in minor situations, and this book was lacking it. Especially since it felt from the beginning that Penelope would be able to take care of herself, but this just disappeared over time.

To not focus only on the bad stuff, I have to say that I still loved the romance in this book. It was nice, slowly built, felt realistic, and they totally had chemistry. Alexis as a character totally lived up to his arc and his name, and for this aspect, I have to admit that the author knew what she was doing. Hands down.

What also bothered me was that the first two-thirds of the book was really slow, and then the ending felt rushed and full of reckless decisions. I did enjoy Penelope getting to know Alexis and the other six and the Archives and everything, but the ending should've gone a bit slower and with more established, legitimate actions from some characters.

Overall, this was not such a bad book. It was easy to read, the romance was good, though some things - as mentioned - bothered me. I would personally give it 3 out of 5 stars, and when the second book comes out, I'll definitely read it - if just for the sake of seeing what happens to the main relationships in the book.

disclaimer: i received the eARC of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Expected publication: September 19th 2019 by BHC Press Read: May 25th 2019 Rating: 3 stars | ★★★☆☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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Book Review: Romanov by Nadine Brandes

As a history geek, this book drew me closer than you could imagine - but maybe not for the best.

Nadine Branes' new, not yet published book Romanov is a fantasy retelling of the Romanov family massacre in 1918. It threads with the possibility Anastasia escaped with her brother Alexei and ran far, far away, far from Yurovsky and other Bolsheviks that threatened their lives ... With a little spin of magic to it.

My biggest concern when it comes to this book was that I definitely didn't expect this arrangement of events, which made it much slower than I'd like. Instead of jumping in after Anastasia's escape, we are put into the lives of the Romanov family in exile - their everyday schedules, their problems with the house being too tight, with there being too much bad air. There are some mischiefs, like Anastasia putting eggs into the soldiers' boots, or stealing something, and I did enjoy this part ... until it became 65% of the whole book.

After their exile finally commenced and she rescued herself and her brother from execution, the story was rushed and made no sense at some moments, with plot points that remained unfinished or unexplained or just ... weird in particular, unclear, undefined. The ending itself felt rushed and I, unfortunately, had trouble finishing it.

In addition, as this is supposed to be a fantasy retelling, I expected a lot more magic happening. The magic system could've been great - I can feel it - if it were more deeply explained or we learned more about it. A glimpse here and there just didn't work as well as it should have.

Not only that, but the relationship - the supposedly romantic one - wasn't really. Although I kind of rooted for them and hoped they'd go on and have a happy ending, I didn't really feel that chemistry between them or attraction. The moments between them could've been so much better developed and written and I was clawing my hair out at them. What a shame.

On the other hand, I really liked Anastasia and her personality as a whole - independent, caring, protective of her family, wanting to explore more than just being a princess. I do wish Zach was devised better :(

That being said, I am quite disappointed with this book, especially since it had so much potential to be another 5-star read for me. This way, it only reached 3 stars. I know a lot of people liked it a lot more, so maybe it is just me, but I wouldn't exactly recommend this to people expecting a full-blown fantasy retelling or a blossoming, well-developed romance. Too bad.

disclaimer: i received the eARC of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Expected publication: May 7th 2019 by Thomas Nelson Read: March 26th 2019 Rating: 3 stars | ★★★☆☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

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JANUARY 2019 TBR STACK

Sadie by Courtney Summers

P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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WHAT I ACTUALLY READ IN DECEMBER | DECEMBER 2018 WRAP UP

In Love With Alien Santa Claus by Zara Zenia; read 02/12/2018, ★★★☆☆

Saga Volume 2 (Saga #2) by Brian K. Vaughan; read 05/12/2018, ★★★★★

My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins and others; read 07/12/2018, ★★★☆☆

Lost Boy by Christina Henry; read 08/12/2018, ★★★☆☆, read my review here

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas; read 12/12/2018, ★★★★☆

The Collector by John Fowles; read 15/12/2018, ★★★★☆, read my review here

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang; read 28/12/2018, ★★★☆☆

Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo; read 31/12/2018, ★★★★☆

FINAL PAGE COUNT: 2.502 PAGES

[sunnyisreading]

Book Review: Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie is the kind of book you cannot put down until you finish it - and when you do, you are certainly not disappointed.

Courtney Summer's Sadie is a mix of podcasts and a diary-like story that both revolve about two girls: Sadie and Mattie. Daughters of a drug addict, they were forced to fend for themselves - and for each other. When Mattie disappears and is later found dead, Sadie is broken and begins her journey, following the steps of the man who killed her little sister.

Let me start at the beginning: with the structure of the book, which was one of the things that surprised me the most. It's been a while since I read a book like this, but I must admit that the mix of podcasts on the radio, following Sadie's disappearance, and Sadie's own perspective, was quite refreshing. Not only that, but it felt perfect for this kind of story - leading the reader deeper and deeper and letting him follow all possible clues.

The story itself was good and well-written; I mostly liked Sadie's POVs since they let us on about most major things that happened and included how she felt, too, but I enjoyed the podcasts too, mostly because there was definitely a note of West, the narrator, in them, and that was something I particularly like in these kinds of novels.

I must definitely point out that this book deals with a lot of difficult topics and I personally would put trigger warnings on it about child abuse, sexual abuse, pedophilia and death. I can assume that people can have issues reading that sort of stuff and would definitely recommend to stay away if you don't feel 'comfortable' reading about these topics. It definitely wasn't easy for me reading about this either - in a lot of chapters, I was disturbed and half crying by everything that happened to Sadie, Mattie and all those little girls Darren had abused.

The thing that really disappointed me in this book was definitely the ending. The story was great, characters were developed, it was well-written, but as we neared through the ending I started becoming anxious about what would come of this book, and I definitely didn't expect this. To be honest, I would've liked a different ending.

Considering all that, I think this book deserves a good 4.25 out of 5 stars. It was quick paced, I loved the structure and the characters and if you like reading about murders, tracking down killers or forensic stuff like that, I would definitely recommend this book to you.

Published: September 4th 2018 by Wednesday Books Read: January 2nd 2019 Rating: 4.25 stars | ★★★★☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

[sunnyisreading]

READ (AT LEAST) 100 BOOKS. In 2018, back when I started more seriously managing my reading through my Goodreads account, I set my goal for the annual yearly reading challenge on 80 books. I was absolutely certain that it would be too much for me, but as an overachiever, I went for it anyways. But since 2018 rolled around, I read 102 books in the past year - which is a crazy number for me. I never tracked my reading before this, counted the books I'd read - although I'd known they were a lot but was unsure - and I know that if I put a little bit more effort into this, I could've even read more than the count for 2018 was. Therefore, I decided to aim for at least 100 books in 2019.

GET BACK INTO REVIEWING ARCS AND WRITING REVIEWS. Since I started this blog, I slacked off quite a bit - both here and on my BookstaGram account, which I'm not exactly pleased with. My goal for 2019 is to get more reading done, but I want to read more ARCs too and review them, as I quite enjoyed doing that when I first started blogging. Not only that, I want to focus on blogging itself, too. I want to write more reviews on books I read, not only every third or fourth or when I feel like it, I want to write more blog posts about my reading, my goals, readathons I participate in etc. I know 2019 will be a busy year for me, but this is a source of creativity for me and I want to continue doing it.

PARTICIPATE IN AT LEAST ONE READATHON PER MONTH. Looking back at my 2018, I realized I read a lot of books when I was reading actively with other people, participating in challenges or in readathons. Therefore, I decided to set a realistic goal for me in 2019: to participate in at least one readathon per month, whether it is a weekly or a daily one. After consulting Little Book Owl's Readathon Calendar, I decided and planned out different readathons for different months - all from #AYearAThon, in which I'll probably be participating in January soon, to Witchathon, and of course, BookTubeAThon - now known as The Reading Rush, which I am (arguably) most excited for!

FINISH MORE SERIES. Every year, I start reading so many series that I never (or rarely) finish. I know this is not a problem only to me, but to almost everyone I know. I still have so many series to start and to finish - and with many, I mean a lot. This year, I want to take one month and devote it to only reading series I haven't finished yet - all from All Souls Trilogy, Throne of Glass, ASOIAF, Nevernight etc. Should be fun!

What are your reading goals for 2019? How many books do you strive to read? Let me know on Tumblr or through my BookstaGram account at tulipsandbooks. I hope we all have a lovely and productive year ahead of us!

[sunnyisreading]

Book Review: The Collector by John Fowles

In some way, I really get why this book has been shelved as 'DNF' so many times on Goodreads.

Fowles' The Collector is a horror story about Frederick and his newest catch or rather guest, not a rare butterfly or an obscure photograph this time - but a human. Miranda is taken forcefully and is at his mercy, but he doesn't have similar feelings or wants that other men have; he just wants to collect her, keep her there. Not for her feelings or her soul, though.

Honestly, this book scared the living daylight out of me on some levels. Through different parts of the book, the story is fluid, is changes and sometimes, it didn't feel more than a telltale about a kidnapper and his latest victim, someone he can stick in a box and admire, but on some other level, it made me feel all the cruelty, selfishness, these unreal expectations Caliban has for Miranda ...

Horror is not really my usual genre, but I decided to give it a go. Was it the right decision? I'm not exactly sure. And I didn't love the book, not really. It wasn't that kind of fiction books where everything feels almost unreal, but while reading this, I got shivers half of the time and wanted to puke sometimes. They say good authors do that often.

"I hate scientists," she said. "I hate people who collect things, and classify things and give them names and then forget all about them. That's what people are always doing in art. They call a painter an impressionist or a cubist or something and then they put him in a drawer and don't see him as a living individual painter and more."

To begin with, the first part of the book, told from Frederick's perspective, is quite distant, mushy in some way - because Frederick is like that. Through this part, I totally felt sorry for him for a while, felt sorry he had the kind of disability, felt sorry that he felt he'll be unable to get a woman if he didn't go out and kidnap one, a crush from his younger years.

You can get away with murder with words. But a picture is like a window straight through to your inmost heart. And all you've done here is build a lot of little windows on to a heart full of other fashionable artists' paintings.

But when the story is told from Miranda's perspective, we get a wholly new expression of the backstory and what is going on currently. I felt like I got entrapped and taken aback by her story - the prison, the heartless man who she named Caliban, the money and opportunities and how he'd do anything for her, but not in a good way - she constantly felt like a butterfly on display. He didn't really care about her soul or how she acted or felt - she was just a display object, there as an accessory, as an ornament.

I could scream abuse at him all day long; he wouldn't mind at all. It's me he wants, my look, my outside; not my emotions or my mind or my soul or even my body. Not anything human. He's a collector. That's the great dead thing in him.

In conclusion, I did have major setbacks while reading this book, but they say this is what makes books good. And I don't really disagree; this author surprised me quite a lot with the story, not how I'd expected it, but on a whole new level. That being said, I think the story deserves 3.5 stars and I'd recommend it to anyone really, especially those who love the horror genre.

Published: June 1963 by Little Brown & Company Read: December 15th 2018 Rating: 3.5 stars | ★★★★☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.

[sunnyisreading]

Book Review: Lost Boy by Christina Henry

Starting this book, I was taken aback with this beautiful cover (which is, to be honest, not really unusual for me). But did the story really hold up to its expectations?

Henry's recently released book, Lost Boy, is a dark, mystical, magical retelling of Peter Pan. It is spoken from a point of view of Jamie, Peter's best friend, and favorite. Through the story, we learn about Peter, his true intentions for his lost boys and how he actually stays young forever.

This was the book that made me think, 'weird pitch but ok?'. To me, it was captivating until about midway, where I was just confused and unsure about what was actually happening to the story. The characters just began slowly mending together and although the writing was utterly gorgeous and something I'd totally read on an everyday basis, the story just wasn't doing it for me.

Starting at the beginning, I really, really, enjoyed the writing (as I've already pointed out) and the story too - lately, I've been falling in love with fairytale retellings and I was so sure that this book would be great. Jamie, especially then, was an interesting character - different from all the boys, Peter's favorite, but still the one to actually take care and mind everyone on the island, unlike Peter, who just wanted some fun and someone to play with.

As the story gradually progressed, I was still liking Jamie a lot - he's just one of those characters, you know, that you fall in love with, and his growth as a person was really interesting to see. However, while he progressed, the other boys just seemed to lose this meaning and 'were just there' in some way. Not really important, kind of left out.

As the story began reaching it's halfway point and things were starting to get heated, I'd find myself losing interest in the story completely. I found gruesome descriptions of several deaths tiring and as Jamie grew up, the story was starting to get really predictive and just kind of ... boring.

As I was nearing the end, I was just constantly thinking: 'this is not how that would've happened', 'this character is just not acting how he was set up to act', and when a certain young boy started spending more and more time with Peter whom he feared all through, I was honestly just lost.

The ending was sort of okay-ish, although, again, predictable. I would've loved more developed relationships, especially between Jamie and Sal, and after the midway point, the story just seemed quite rushed and tiring. However, I still really enjoyed the writing and Henry's style as the story took place.

In conclusion, I gave Lost Boy 3 out of 5 stars. It wasn't necessarily awful and I'm still looking forward to reading more of Christina Henry's books, it just didn't do it as much as I would've liked it too.

Published: July 4th 2017 by Titan Books Read: December 8th 2018 Rating: 3 stars | ★★★☆☆ Review cross-posted to Goodreads.