The Bane Chronicles ; Review

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

Wow wow wow. 
Until reading this book I had not realized how much I had missed Magnus. I missed his glitter & glam, his sassy remarks, and generally just his overall fabulous self. This book wouldn't have been quite as good as it was if it wasn't told by Magnus. (Even though these are his experiences.) His narration is extremely funny, but interesting as well, because you get to see all of these past events from Magnus' view. Not only was this book super sassy and hilarious, like everything that has Magnus in it, it was really interesting to finally get a lot of background info about events previous and after TID & TMI. Throughout the TID & TMI books, most of the perspectives were from Shadowhunters. We never really got some deep information and thoughts from someone heavily involved in the Downworld and it's community, but we finally have, through Magnus. 
We learned a lot about Magnus himself, but also some extra information about the Circle, the children of characters in TID, how the Hotel Dumort came to be, and lots & lots about Camille. We got to see more about Magnus' past relationships, romantically and friendly. The collection of stories was a good mix of fun and serious, which was needed. 
Over all, this book was just a joy to read and it was really really fun to revisit Magnus and the Shadowhunter world. (Also this book really just made the wait for Lady Midnight EVEN LONGER.)

T5W 6/24/15 ; Top 5 Characters You Wish You Could Drown

6/24/15- Top 5 Characters You Wish You Could Drown

5. Mortmain from The Infernal Devices

My hatred for Mortmain can finally be expressed! So, where to start? Throughout the entire series, Mortmain is so evil and manipulative but don't get me wrong, I love a good villain, but he was so frustrating! He was insanely cruel to Tessa and all the other characters, but especially in Clockwork Princess. I don't want any spoilers in this, as I want everyone to be able to read this, but seriously if I had to opportunity to throw Mortmain into a lake and knew he couldn't swim, I would without hesitation. All of his actions in these novels were in excusable and frankly, I hate him!

 4. Thiago from Daughter of Smoke & Bone (And DoBaS)

Again, where to start with Thiago? He was such a cruel and manipulative character! The way he treated the other Chimara and Karou aggravated me soso much. Most of all, I kind of hate it when the villain pretends to be the good guy. Like honestly if you are gonna be the bad guy, own up to it. PLAY THE ROLE OF A VILLAIN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Don't sit on the sidelines and have the reader question your motives, own up to them! Not only this, but like I said earlier, Thiago is cruel, careless, and a straight up douche. Once more, if I got the opportunity to push into a deadly rocky stream I would. (And I'd make sure there was no one around to resurrect him. Because seriously he's come back like 15 times. Leave already.)

3. The Commandant from An Ember In The Ashes

THE COMMANDANT NEEDS TO GO SHE JUST NEEDS TO GO. Literally one of the female characters I have hated the most, and I generally dislike a whole lot of characters, but I HATED the Commandant. Her entire system of punishment was insanely cruel and her PERSONALITY. UGH. She's so crazy! What women does that to her own son?!?! (Not posting what she did of course or to who because, that my friends, would be a spoiler.) But honestly! I completely and utterly hated her. As well, every single interaction she had with our main characters left we scared that she would randomly submit them to some kind of insane punishment. (Which she did a few times. And I hate her for it.) So yes, THE COMMANDANT NEEDS TO FALL OFF OF A CLIFF INTO A ROCKY RIVER. Hopefully she can't swim. I don't think they teach that at Blackcliff. 

2. Eleanor's Stepdad from Eleanor and Park

So, this is kind of a minor character that most people wouldn't think to put on their lists. But I had too. I was sat there in front of my bookshelf trying to figure out another character for this list when I thought of it. And I knew Eleanor's step-father had to be on this list. My hatred for Richie is so intense that once I thought of putting him on this list, I literally shook with anger. Richie has absolutely no redeemable qualities. Not even one. The things he did to Eleanor and said to her made me what to vomit. Reading this book, I contemplated throwing it against a wall several times when Richie spoke. Actually, almost every time. Of all the books I've read, I've never read about such an evil and vile character who did such terrible things as Richie did. (Well except for my #1 character.) So while Richie was a character in a contemporary novel, the things he did kind of made me demote him from even being considered a human being. Or even a slightly respectable one. And to answer the question, yeah, I'd let him drown.

1. Jude Lowe from The Mara Dyer Trilogy 

I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU. Okay I feel better now. So, to repeat what I said for Richie. Jude Lowe is a terrible "human" being who I despise with a passion. He put Mara through so much undeserved crap and basically had her sleeping with one eye open for quite a while. Like all the other characters on this list, he's cruel and manipulative and terrible. Every scene he was in, whether is was a flashback or a real time scene, it made me feel like I should throw the book across the room and burn it. (Which I would never ever do. It's my favorite series of all time.) He was vile and insane, and even though we eventually came to know why he was they way, it still doesn't make his actions anywhere close to inexcusable. And to finally end this T5W (which kind of turned into a rant??), yes I would so totally drop Jude Lowe into a pool if he couldn't swim. And I would probably let Mara have the satisfaction of doing it.

The Start of Me & You ; Review

The Start of Me & You by Emery Lord

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Excuse me while I beam from complete and utter happiness. 
Okay, this book was adorable. I enjoyed it very very much. Honestly, it's an immensely enjoyable summer read, which I ended up completing in one sitting. 
From the beginning, I was pretty much hooked and couldn't stop reading. I never wanted to put it down, and not because it was the most beautiful writing or because the story was so beautiful, it was just straight up fun. 
It was a story filled with everything from family, friends, death and loss, grief, love and everything else you would/could find a in YA contemporary. 
Paige, the main character, was not frustrating to read some at all, which made me soso happy! It's hard to find a YA female protagonist in contemporary who doesn't complain ALL THE TIME. As well, the romance was very slow burning, which I also enjoyed! All the friendships in the novel were easy to relate to, as it was a group of friends who didn't all share the same interests, they were all so diverse and had completely different interests and personalities! 
While this book did not wow me into speechlessness, I still recommend it, for it was insanely enjoyable and adorable (at times, there are still many darker topics that are touched on.)

End of Days by Susan Ee ; Review & Rundown

End of Days by Susan Ee
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars! 

Okay, so on with this review. This book honestly was AMAZING. Until I started reading it, I hadn't realized how much I had missed Penryn and Raffe. There were soso many good parts of this books and I don't want to dump all this one you, so I'm gonna try to organize this. 

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

[ RUN DOWN OF THE BOOK: This book started out fast paced and kept it that way throughout the entire novel. We start out with Penryn and Raffe together (YESS) and trying to find some shelter with little Paige who has some awesome but terrifying Locust friends. Once they find the house, I COULD NOT CONTAIN ALL OF THE FEELINGS. Penryn and Raffe oh the angst!! But it was good angst, not typical annoying teenager angst.
So we move on from the house because Beliel releases some hellions through Pooky Bear. (WHICH IS ACTUALLY PRETTY COOL) But anyways, the crew carries on and eventually find the Resistance Camp! There, Pen is reunited with her mother, who turns out has joined with a cult who is willing to over themselves up for Paige to eat?? It's weird.
Anyways, Paige turns them down, so instead they decide to capture Pen and take her to the angels and in turn, be spared by the angels. Meanwhile, Raffe leaves, as Laylah has offered to get him his wings back. The two part ways for like, a day. So, these cult people proceed to take Pen to the aerie and turn her in. There, she's forced into a trial. (By trial, I mean she has to fight to the death against several hellions and Beliel. Joy.
Pen ends up killing a ton of the hellions, when WAIT RAFFE IS BACK AND IS NOT ABOUT TO LET HIS DAUGHTER OF MAN DIE!
So Raffe saves Pen, and with Josiah, who is actually a good guy now, they proceed to figure out how Raffe is going to win the election for Messenger. Because douchecanoe Uriel has decided that there will be a fight/contest. Raffe decides that the only way to win, is to get his Watchers back. So guess what? They go through the sword, once again via Beliel, and get Raffe's watchers back! You know, after they basically went through Hell to get them.
Once the watchers are back, Pen and Raffe once again split ways and Raffe goes off to beat Uriel. BUT WAIT. The contest turns out to be a massacre of sorts, where the winner is the one who kills the most humans. Pen and the crew at the Resistance Camp do everything they can to fend the angels off and prepare to basically injure as many of them as they can.
Once the angels come, Pen and the crew are prepared! It seems like they have the advantage at first, but they really don't since the angels are literally perfect in every way. BUT RAFFE IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY. Raffe comes down with the Watchers and gives the humans a fighting chance! But this all goes veryvery bad when Uriel monsters come out to play. (By play I mean "all the humans must go") So Raffe once again sacrifices his wings, and manages to save all the remaining humans and Penryn.
Skipping to the following day, EVERY THING IS WONDERFUL. Micheal, the only other person able to run for Messenger, is going to take the job! Since Raffe no longer has his wings, he can stay on Earth with Penryn, along with all of his Fallen watchers. EVERYTHING IS AMAZING. Then tears followed because the book was over.

FEELINGS: So honestly, this book deserves 10 out of 5 stars. I adored Raffe and Pen and the action was soso good. Every part of this book was amazing! READ IT and LOVE IT.