Winter by Marissa Meyer

Title: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genres: Fairytale Retelling (Snow White), Science Fiction, Romance

Summary: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

My Review: 

(Non-Spoiler)

If there was a way to make a perfect ending to a series this comes pretty close to it. The story takes you on a fun thrill ride (despite the horrors of worrying about if everyone is going to survive or not) and it doesn't disappoint, really. There was only one thing that I wished I could have seen more of. If you haven't read Cinder (the first book of the series) yet, you should go now and do so. It's so worth it!

(Spoilers ahead!)

I didn't expect to get as attached to Winter as I did. She's got to be my favorite heroine... Then again there's Cress, who I can relate too. But Winter was such an adorable, fun, little crazy person. I loved that we get to see how this lunar sickness works. The only thing is that I wish we could have seen how the treatment worked. As I said in the non-spoiler section, this is probably the only thing I wanted to see more of. Wait. I lied. 

I really ship Iko with Kinney (a palace guard). I wish I could have seen more of them interacting. They didn't get very far in the book. They're still in the dislike stage at the end. But I think you could tell that there might be something there in the future. 

The one thing I noticed in the book is that the group kept splitting up and never really stayed together at all till the very end. But when Scarlet escaped with Winter from the palace and finally seen Wolf... It was completely adorable! Just what I expected their reunion to be like. 

I really liked that we got to see more about some of the group's parents, even if it weren't all sunshine and rainbows. Hearing that Cinder's birth mother was as crazy as Levana was surprising. I wasn't expecting Cinder's mom to be the reason Levana was burned. I really want to read more about this. I think it's time to go pick up Fairest now.

Did I mention that all the boys in this series are completely swoon worthy? I loved getting to learn more about Jacin. As for my favorite, it would probably have to be Thorne. There's just something about the Space Pirate that I really like. By the way, does Thorne remind any one else of Han Solo? There were times where I thought he could have been Han. 

In case you didn't know, there is a Lunar Chronicles Anthology coming out on February 2nd.

Happy Reading!

Vampire Academy Movie Review

So a couple of days ago I saw Vampire Academy with my sister and mom, and surprisingly there were about 10 other people in there with us. Which was kind of disappointing since I really enjoyed the movie and I think that a majority of VA fans would have too. Yes, there were differences between the book (written by Richelle Mead) and movie (aren't there always??) but it was a decent adaption. I thought all the actors were great. But I do have a bone to pick about how they portrayed one character: Kirova. I kind of imagined her differently... and not so young. But at least the queen stayed the same! 

And I love how they did Rose's eyes when she was in Lissa's head

Favorite Parts:

The mall scene. 

Natalie and the wall.

From Dimitri doing this:

To Rose finally doing this:

Lissa and Rose's friendship.

All of those Dimitri-staring-at-Rose scenes.

Rose and Kirova and the Tranq.

I would give the movie 4.5/5 stars on being just a movie, but for it being close to the book I would it give it 3.5/5 stars. It held the same basic plot line but it was the little stuff that was different. But some of the little stuff I wish was the same as the book. But other than that, it was really good! I really wish more people took a chance with it. And I really hope (somehow) that Frostbite will come out.

Happy watching!

January Wrap Up

Hi!
I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day yesterday!
This is the first of twelve posts coming this year that explain how my January went. Mainly I'll be recapping what books I read for the TBR pile challenge and I'll include all the books I've read this month. If there was a review for a certain book I'll include the link to it.

I read two books for the TBR pile challenge.

The Goddess Inheritance Review

Nightlight Review

I read 8 other books. For ones that I haven't reviewed, I'll leave a link to Goodreads.

Touch on Goodreads

Toxic on Goodreads

Burning Blue on Goodreads

 Bitter Sweet Love on Goodreads

The Distance Between Us on Goodreads

Bitter Spirits Review

The Clockwork Scarab Review

Crash into You Review

I'm hoping to read more for the later part of this month. I've been really busy... so busy that I've only read one book so far! Yikes! And it's not on my TBR shelf. I'm hoping to at least read one book from my TBR pile. Then I'm planning on getting some newly released books (like Cress by Marissa Meyer) but I might not get them till March. 

I hope your month is going better than mine!

Happy Reading!

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day is quickly approaching and I thought I'd look through my shelves and find some books that I considered my favorites.
Fairytale retelling: Once by Cameron Dokey. This anthology has three retellings of Cinderella, Mulan, and Rapunzel.
Modern day classic: Howl's Moving Castle by Dianne Wynn Jones. I read this a couple of years back after watching the animation version. I fell in love with Howl and I think everyone else will too!
First romance ever read: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I give this book partial credit for getting me into romance stories.
First classic: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I read this for school, as most people have. But I loved the tragic love story .
Greatest classic: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Who wouldn't put this on their list?
First YA romance: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
First book boyfriend: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Ah, Harry. The first fictional guy that I became obsessed with.
Other-worldly romance (paranormal romance): Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I absolutely love this series! And its finally coming out in theaters!

What books would you choose as your favorites?

Happy Reading and have a nice Valentine's Day!

Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon

Title: Nightlight
Author: The Harvard Lampoon
Genre: YA, comedy, Parody, Romance
Summary: About three things I was absolutely certain.
First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe.
Second, there was a vampire part of him--which I assumed was wildly out of his control--that wanted me dead.
And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed me.
And thus Belle Goose falls in love with the mysterious and sparkly Edwart Mullen in the Harvard Lampoon’s hilarious send-up of Twilight. 
Pale and klutzy, Belle arrives in Switchblade, Oregon looking for adventure, or at least an undead classmate. She soon discovers Edwart, a super-hot computer nerd with zero interest in girls. After witnessing a number of strange events–Edwart leaves his tater tots untouched at lunch! Edwart saves her from a flying snowball!–Belle has a dramatic revelation: Edwart is a vampire. But how can she convince Edwart to bite her and transform her into his eternal bride, especially when he seems to find girls so repulsive?
Complete with romance, danger, insufficient parental guardianship, creepy stalker-like behavior, and a vampire prom, Nightlight is the uproarious tale of a vampire-obsessed girl, looking for love in all the wrong places.
My review: So this book was not my cup of tea. It was kind of painful to get through. Luckily it was very short. I get that this is a parody of Twilight and it was supposed to be funny, but for me it wasn't. It was kind of bland, more a tell rather than show kind of book. But yet again, that might be because it's a parody of Twilight.
I would give it 2 out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

*This is a part of my January TBR Pile.

The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter

Title: The Goddess Inheritance
Author: Aimee Carter
Genre: YA, Mythology, Romance
Summary: Love or life.
Henry or their child.
The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.
During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her--until Cronus offers a deal.
In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.
With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.
Even if it costs her eternity.

My Review: This is the last book in the Goddess Test series. And what a satisfying ending! It kept me up at night, biting my nail, and pulling my hair. I couldn't wait to see how it ended, especially after book two! This series is good at keeping you on your toes. If you haven't read the first book, The Goddess Test, you really should! 
I would give this 4 out of 5 stars!

Happy Reading!

*This is the first book in my January TBR Pile Challenge.

Crash Into you by Katie McGarry

Title: Crash into You
Author: Katie McGarry
Genre: Ya, Romance, Contemporary
Summary: The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind. 
Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look. 
But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

My Review: I absolutely love this series! This is the third in the series, but you don't really have to read in order. Although I really recommend that you do since the first two are so amazing! This book had all the thing that romance readers love: a bad boy and a nice girl (with a dark side or in this case- a thrilling side). I loved getting to know Isaiah. I loved getting inside his head and seeing him change. And I loved being introduced to Rachel. She changed too, and definitely for the better! My favorite part is with her towards the end when she finally speaks up. It was about time that she did. That ending! I did not see that coming! All-in-all I really enjoyed this book!
I would rate this 4.5 out of 5 stars.
There's another one coming out after this, apparently on May 20! It's called Take Me On and it's about Rachel's brother, West. I can't wait for this to come out!

Happy Reading!