Tag: rutkoski

Best books I read in 2016

Hi guys!

It’s been a long time since I posted anything, but I am back now, and I plan to blog on regular basis from now on.
I was thinking about what should I write in my first post this year, and talking about great books I read previous year was the obvious choice (plus, there’s a giveaway hop I signed up for in which I’ll give away one book from this list, that’s coming very, very shortly(today)).

Without further ado, here is my TOP 10 books I read in 2016:

the summer that melted everything1.  The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

The Summer That Melted Everything is one book that will stay with me forever. It was the best book I read not only this year, but one of best I read in my whole life.
It is beautifully written with a great story that awoke so many of my emotions.

You can read my full review here.

 

2. On Writing by Stephen King on-writing

On Writing is one of rare non-fiction books I read this year, and it is also one of a few books I didn’t review.
The reason why this book found it’s place on my top 10 books list is not because of brilliant writing advices, but because I really enjoyed reading King’s memoir.

 

3. Martini Henry by Sara Crowe martini henry

Martini Henry won me with it’s beautiful writing. The story itself was pretty slow, but I enjoyed every single page. This book is definitely the one I’d recommend to aspiring authors.
You can read my full review here.

 

my map of you 4. My Map of You by Isabelle Broom

This year, thanks to book blogging community, I discovered new favorite author of mine, and she won me in her debut novel My Map of You. Characters she created felt like real people and the way she described Greece made me feel like I was partly there.
This is another novel I’d recommend to aspiring authors, and you can read my full review here.

 

faithful 5. Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Faithful won me with beautiful writing style and raw story that made me emotional so many times, but it also left me feeling hopeful after I finished it.
To read my full review, click here.

 

flunked 6. Flunked by Jen Calonita

Flunked is the middle grade book, first in the series, that takes place in the world of fairytales.

I had fun the whole time I was reading it and, in my opinion, it’s main atribute is it’s sense of humor. A lot of times it reminded me of Shrek, so I think it would appeal to fans of that movie.

You can read my full review here.

 

a-list-of-cages7. A List of Cages by Robin Roe

I was fortunate enough and had an opportunity to read A List of Cages before it’s releasing day.

This novel made me so emotional but it also made me feel like I got so much out of it.
Although it is ya, I think people of all age should read it at some point.

You can read my full review here.

 

take me on 8. Take Me On by Katie McGarry

Katie McGarry is one of my favorite authors and once again her book reminded my why I love everything she writes. Her writing style is always great, and the story in Take Me On was so interesting and emotional. It talkes about poverty, love and sports.

You can read my review here.

 

the iron warrior 9. The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

Iron Warrior is the last book in The Iron Fey series and I was so sad to say goodbye to my favorite fictional world and characters I love so much.

The book didn’t disappoint and I was happy with how the whole story concluded.

To read my review, click here.

 

the winner's crime 10. The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Crime is the second installment in The Winner’s Trilogy. I still have to read the third one, and since I heard nothing but great things about it, my hopes are pretty high. I enjoyed the first book in the series too, but this one was sooooooo good, and it reminded me of Game of Thrones at some points.

You can read my full review here.

Book Review: Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

winner's crime

Title: The Winner’s Crime
Series: The Winner’s Trilogy #2
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date: March 3rd, 2015
Pages: 416
Format: Hardback
Source: Purchased

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Book two of the dazzling Winner’s Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement… if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

vrpca

Review:

This book should have come with the warning.
It contains violence on such a strong level that it left me uneasy.
I wondered how the book, that you can find in a children’s books section in a bookstore, can have so many well-described scenes with violence in it.

It starts with the bang, and it surely continues in the same tone trough the whole novel.

There’s a huge story development and even bigger character development.

Kestrel became stronger, smarter and she learned how to play the war game.
She still likes to play piano and her dream about becoming someone’s wife is so close to become the truth because she is engaged to emperor’s son.
Even though she is not a warrior in a literal sense, she has a mind of one.

Arin is a leader now. He is smart but still, his feelings do lead his actions more then they should be.
He still wants Kestrel but he also wants for his people to have the power they once had.

There are some new characters that were introduced to us in this, second book in the series.
Some of them were very likeable and some of them were just cruel, but very important for the story.

There is another tribe that came to the picture and I welcomed them with pleasure.
I have a feeling they will have a big part in the next, the last book of The Winner’s Triology.

In my opinion, The Winner’s Crime was better The Winner’s Kiss.
It took the story in a whole another level and it reminded me a lot of Game of Thrones.

I have a feeling The Winner’s Kiss will be an epic read and I can’t wait to read it and see where the story is going to go.

4,5

Book Review: The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

winners

Title: The Winner’s Curse
Series: The Winner’s Trilogy #1
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date: March 4th, 2014
Pages: 355
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Winning what you want may cost you everything you love…

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

vrpca

Review:

You wanna know what my “problem” is when it comes to books?
I read a premise.
I see the bautiful cover.
I interpret the premise in my own way so it would match the cover and it often ends up being a whole another story then the one I created in my head.

That’s what happened with this book.
I don’t mind it, though!

Going into this novel, I expected a love story between the slave and his mistress, that was taking place in the fantasy world.

In this case, thank God I was wrong, because that kind of version would be cheesy and probably boring to death.

Instead, I got to read an amazing story about the differences between two tribes, the war that happened in the past that got one tribe enslaved, and about the war in which people have a goal to take what once was theirs.

Somewhere in between all of that, the forbidden love was born.

The story is written in third person and it mainly follows two perspectives: Kestrel’s and Arin’s.

Kestrel is a seventeen years old girl from the Valorian tribe.
Her father wants for her to become a warrior, but she has something else on her mind.
She wants to be girly, to play piano she so much enjoys to play and, one day, to become someone’s wife.

Arin is a slave Kestrel has bought on an auction.
He is angry at the world, and he has a good reason to be angry. He hates what Valorians did to his people, he hates how they took their homes and enslaved them.
He wants revange.

Reading this book was an unique experiance.
I didn’t know who’s side to take, had no idea whether I should root for the love or to root for it to dissapear.
I felt like both sides were right but at the same time, like they were also wrong.

After losing some micropieces of my mind over it, I simply decided to just read and watch what will happen’ without taking anyone’s side.
And it was the best decision to take because it spared some nerves I would lose otherwise.

This book was really good, so much better then I expected it would be.

There is only one thing I think that should be stressed out more when it comes to this novel: even though you can find it in children’s or ya section, it has some scenes with heavy violence in it.
I think it would be fair for readers to know what they are getting when deciding to read this book.

4

Spring Reading: 10 books I want to read this Spring

Happy first day of Spring, everyone!!!

I did some blog hopping these days, and got an inspiration for this post.
I know this was a theme for TTT, but since I don’t do TTT and I still wanted to write about my Spring reads, I decided that first day of Spring would be a perfect day..

My main inspiration came from the post by Liv from curlyhairbibliophile .

Without further ado, these are 10 books I want to read this Spring:

 

  1. The Second Love of my Life by Victoria Walters

the second love

This book comes out on April 7th. I already read it’s short story prequel, The Summer I Met You (you can read my review here) and liked it very much, so I can’t wait to see what Walters cooked for us in her full-lenght debut.
I hear this women’s fiction story is a real tearjerker so I’ll make sure to prepare some tissues for myself.

 

2. The Winner’s Triology by Marie Rutkoski

winners

I want to read this series for some time now and, since the last book is coming out soon, I figured it would be the best to just marathon the whole series. I want to do it ASAP, so that’s the reason why I’m choosing to read it this Spring.

 

3. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

the raven

Another series I want to marathon. First thing that bought me as a reader is the gorgeous cover for the last book in the series (yes, I know, I am shallow like that).
Second thing is, one of my favorite booktubers, Daniella from Pixie Tonic chanel said this is the best ya series outthere at this very moment, and I trust her opinion more they anyone’s.

 

4. Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel by Jane Costello

Summer Nights at Moonlight hotel

My favorite author is coming out with her new book on March 24th. This book is the first one from this list that I’ll be reading, and I plan to do that on it’s releasing day, if TBD delivers it on time. I am too excited for this one!

 

5. The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

the glittering court

Another book I plan to read on it’s releasing day, April 5th (if TBD delivers it on time, that is!). Richelle Mead is also one of my all-time favorite authors and I can’t wait to see what she prepared for us this time!

 

6. Warrior Witch by Danielle L. Jensen

warrior witch

My favorite on-going series is coming to an end and I can’t wait to see how it all’s going to wrap up, but am also sad to say goodbye to this world and it’s characters.
I am sure this series will be the one I’ll re-read many times in my life.

 

7. I heart London by Lindsey Kelk

I heart london

I am the worst reader ever, because this is my favorite chick-lit series and I still haven’t finished it.
I just HEART Angela Clark and Jenny Lopez and can’t wait to hang out with them again this Spring.

 

8. The Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

girl against

I simply can’t wait for this ya contemporary to come out. It sounds like it is written for me and I hope it will live up to my expectations. This one comes out on May 17th.

 

9. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

anne

This classic is the one I want to read very soon. I never got the chance to read it in my native language, so I bought it in English. I can’t wait to see how I’ll like the book that is loved by so many people in the world.

 

10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

pride

Once again I am the worst reader ever. This book that is loved by so many people in the world is the one that is still not on my “read” list.
I plan to change that this Spring in a hope that I’ll like it.

 

What books do you plan to read this Spring?
Tell me all about it in comments. 🙂