REVIEW: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: YA/New Adult, Fantasy, Retelling.
Publication Date: May 5th 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Rating: 5/5

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Timesbestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

This was sent to us from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is no way altered my opinion of this book.

As I’m sure all of you know, I’m a bit of a Throne of Glass fangirl. It’s one of my favourite series of all-time and I spend the majority of time either thinking or talking about it. You can imagine how excited I was for this book and I probably don’t have to explain my reaction when Chami told me we’d been sent an ARC from Bloomsbury Australia.

Yes, it took me a little while to get to it and yes, it has been published now but I have trust issues when it comes to Sarah J Maas novels. I know that they are going to tear me apart, and this was no exception.

I was a little hesitant for the first 30 or so pages — I haven’t had the best history with fae books or retellings so I was a little nervous. I can’t pinpoint the moment where I fell in love, but all I knew was that I was suddenly on page 160 before I knew it.

I absolutely loved the world. Quite a few fae books I’ve read revolve around courts, especially to do with the seasons but I loved Sarah’s take on it. I tripled checked to make sure this wasn’t a spoiler, but the members of the court that our main character is in wear these masks as the result of a curse — Can we talk about how amazing this is? This was honestly one of my favourite parts of the book (and I have a lot of favourite parts) because of how unique it is.

I was talking to Chami a few hours ago about this book, and she mentioned how quite a few of the reviews she’d read talked about how they thought Feyre, the protagonist, was annoying. I actually really liked Feyre. Firstly, her name is awesome — Sarah is just the best at fantasy names. Secondly, I really like how she grew and adapted throughout the novel. In the start, she was naïve and proud and honestly, kind of dumb but by the end, she had this new strength to her (I’m only focus on the mental strength here) that I really admired. She’s no Celaena, but honestly, who is?

I admit that I totally prefer the male characters in this than those in Throne of Glass. Don’t get me wrong, I like Chaol and Dorian but Celaena will always trump them. In this, however, I have to say that I really really love the three main male characters — Tamlin, Lucien and Rhysand. I can’t pick a favourite (yet), but I just really love them all and I can’t wait to see where Sarah takes them.

This is the part where I cry over the fact that I don’t have anymore Sarah J Maas books to read until September. How am I going to survive this?

Thank you Bloomsbury Australia for sending us a copy of this book for review and for ultimately ruining my life.

Thoughts on Travelling

I’ve been in a weird place lately.

My life is a little all over the place on the account that I have 24 days left in this country. I’m leaving Melbourne — the city I was born in and have lived in my entire life, for seven months. Fun fact about me, I’ve never moved, as in I’ve lived in this same room, this house, for my entire life. And yet, here I am packing up to move to Denmark.

Honestly, if you’d told me two years ago that I would be moving to Denmark, I probably would have laughed at you. London has always been my dream, but sometimes you just have to go where life takes you.

This is a weird thing for a number of reasons. Number one, I’ve never left the Southern Hemisphere — I’ve travelled all over Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific but this is my first time to Europe. Number two, I’ve never travelled by myself before. Before Book Expo Australia last year, I’d never travelled without my parents out of Victoria. So yes, scary times.

I’m lucky enough to have a lot of family over there. In fact, my two sets of grandparents and an aunt are the only family we have here. Everyone else lives in England, with a select few in America. My family have been so incredibly supportive and lovely so far, they’ve been planning things for my arrival and been messaging me almost every day with some new to say or more adorable pictures of my adorable little cousins to show. I’ve already been designated the role as ‘big sister’ by one of my gorgeous little girl cousins.

Of course, there are some not so great aspects to the trip, or rather things I’m sort of worried about. My love of Europe, and of travel in general, was something handed down to me by my mum. Some of you might know that my mum passed away last year, which is why it’s a little… difficult, sometimes.

I always expected to be able to share my plans with my mum. I’d always just expected that as a given. I was lucky enough to be told all the stories of the wild things my mum got up to when she lived in Europe for four years at my age, both from her and from her friends (who have been setting things up for me too).

My mum, the absolute sass monster.

At the same time, I’m excited because I know how jealous she would have been of this trip but also how proud and supportive. I plan to make this an absolutely ridiculously amazing seven months.

Finally, I just wanted to tell you all that I’m in the process of setting up a travel/study abroad blog. I’m planning to be blogging on there every couple of days, so I thought it’d be better not to clog up this blog with travel stuff. I’ve got a couple of book related travel posts planned that’ll be coming up within the coming months so look out for that, and I’ll tweet about the travel blog once I have it set up.

I hope you are all super well. Feel free to leave any travel tips below that you might have!

REVIEW: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy.
Publication Date: September 2nd 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Paperback
Pages: 562
Rating: 5/5

Consumed by guilt and rage, Celaena can't bring herself to spill blood for the King of Adarlan. She must fight back...

The Immortal Queen will help her destroy the king - for a price. But as Celaena battles with her darkest memories and her heart breaks for a love that could never last, can she fulfil the bargain and head the almighty court of Terrasen? And who will stand with her?

 Any of you who know me at all will know that Throne of Glass is one of my all-time favourite series. If you know that, then you probably know how long I’ve been putting this off.

For those of you who don’t know, I bought this the day it came out, literally treasured it — it sat beside me on my bed for like three weeks so I could look over at it and get excited again. I read 240 pages that September… and then nothing.

Yep, I just left it there until now. The thing is, I wasn’t doing that because I didn’t like it but I just knew what was going to happen. If you’re a fan of SJM then I’m sure you are well acquainted with PAIN. That’s why I put this off, because I knew that it would absolutely destroy me and I would just spend the rest of my life crying about (or at least, until the next book came out).

It wasn’t actually that bad. I don’t completely feel as if my heart is going to shatter into a million pieces, which is actually a pretty good feeling, you know? Mainly the ending just made me want to go start a war or something, because I’m a badass assassin.

On another note. Celaena, oh my god. I honestly adore Celaena more than anything in this world. If I could bring one fictional character to life (let’s ignore Sirius Black here, shall we?) it’d be Celaena. Sure, lots of people would die but I reckon we could be pretty good friends.

·     

Also, I can’t believe the complete 360 I made with some of these characters. I loved Chaol in Crown of Midnight but now I’m like ‘meh, you’re here, whatever’. I actually liked Dorian again which I did not see coming at all. Words cannot describe Rowan. They really can’t… at least not without spoiling anything. Can I just say, I didn’t expect a new OTP in this novel but here I am, crying again.

So yes, basically — I’m an idiot for having not read this soon. Yes, I want the next book right this second. No, I am not entirely okay.

Top Ten Authors I REALLY Want To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and you can find more about this meme here. It's been ages since I did a Top Ten Tuesday but I thought I'd jump back on the bandwagon this week and talk about the top ten authors I want to meet most.

1. J.K Rowling

Let's just get it out of the way and put Jo first on this list. She's a given, really.

2. Daniel Handler

This is the guy behind Lemony Snicket — my favourite childhood author. The reason I fell in love with reading all those years ago. I couldn't leave him off this list.

3. Tahereh Mafi

I would like to demand my own personal Warner. Also, I'd really like writing lessons from Tahereh because MY GOD GIRL, HOW DO YOU DO THE THING?

4. Patrick Ness

The good ole Nessy... I literally have no idea where that came from. Anyway, Patrick Ness is one of my favourite authors and just AH. This one is actually hopefully coming true this year... I promise I won't call him 'Nessy' to his face.

5. Maureen Johnson

I think Maureen Johnson is hilarious — honestly, I've never met a book of hers that I haven't liked. I think she'd be a lot of fun to listen to in person.

6. Maggie Stiefvater

This has actually happened. I met Maggie in 2011 (wow, that was a long time ago) but I'd really like to meet her again because The Raven Boys. (Look at me being super young and cute with Maggie)

7. Eva Pohler

Eva is one of the loveliest authors I know and I would absolutely love to get the chance to finally meet her and thank her in person for everything she's sent and done for Chami and I over the years. One day!

8. Agatha Christie

I tried to keep this to authors who are actually alive, but I couldn't help this one. I would really, really like to have some stern words with Agatha for completely destroying my life. COMPLETELY DESTROYING MY LIFE, DO YOU HEAR ME AGATHA?

9. Rick Riordan

I would just force him to write ALL of the Percabeth. 

10. Sarah J. Maas

Did you honestly think you'd make it through a post without me mentioning this goddess? I would honestly sell my soul to meet Sarah — she's probably my favourite author and you can bet that I would cry my eyes out if I ever got the chance to meet her.

Bout of Books 13 TBR

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Yes, I've decided to participate in Bout of Books yet again! I've done about five or six of these in the past and I've always enjoyed them so I couldn't pass this one up. Here's a little tentative TBR...

1. Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
2. Boundless by Cynthia Hand
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
5. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

This is likely to change, depending on what I read between now and when the read-a-thon starts on Monday. Are you participating?

Dominic Sherwood May Not Dye His Hair Blonde For ShadowHunters?

So if you haven’t heard, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare is currently in casting mode for their new TV show “Shadowhunters.” As of now, we know that Jace Wayland will be played by Dominic Sherwood, Simon by Alberto Rosende and Isabelle byEmeraude Toubia.

Now let’s cut to the chase shall we?

Dominic Sherwood is gorgeous. I mean look at him. I wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of him. He has gorgeous eyes, exceptional acting ability and damn that blond- wait, what, he has brown hair? But Jace has blonde hair!

They are going to dye his hair, right?

They can’t just not dye his hair!

One of the main differences that have got fans of the series all worked up is the colour of Dom’s hair. Jace has blonde hair and Dominic obviously does not. Now I bet you are all wondering, will Dom dye his hair?

He might not.

I mean, he might, but there is every chance that he may remain his brunette self for the show.

A lot of other actors that play characters from book to TV show (or movie) adaptations have kept their natural hair colour. For example, Nina Dobrev, a brown haired actress, plays Elena Gilbert, a blonde hair book character, in the book to TV show adaptation of Vampire Diaries. Of course, the show got so much hate from the book fans about Nina Dobrev’s hair in the beginning, but she did not yield. The producers of the show said they had to be realistic. Elena is not all about her hair and they had to assume that the show would keep running for a long time, which is understandable. And look! It has been running for a long time and has been successful without Nina having to dye her hair blonde.

So will Dom dye his hair? Maybe or Maybe not.

Does it matter? Well we all know that TV shows tend to be very different from their book counterparts so what is one more difference? I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t dye his hair. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did either!

Personally, I think he looks much better being a brunette. I can’t see him being a full out blonde and not looking weird.

What do you all think?

April Wrap-Up: Stress and Anxiety

I am so incredibly thankful for April to be over, you can’t even begin to understand the suckiness that has been this month. Let’s talk about it!

BOOKS

Despite how bad this month was, I managed to read 24 books in April which is my highest number so far this year. My favourites were Suite Francaise, Between the Lives and Heir of Fire.

CHALLENGES

TV/FILM

I finally got to watch the Veronica Mars movie this month and I adored it! I also watched the entire season of Freaks and Geeks, which was beautiful. Otherwise, I’ve tried to watch a few things but I just can’t stick to anything for more than five minutes.

WRITING

I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo this month, which went really well…for about a week, then I gave up. I just haven’t been in the writing mood lately.

VIDEOS

I posted a couple of videos this month: Chely Vlog 1, April TBR, Best Friend Book Tag, Update 2, Unhaul 3 and Bookshelf Tour? (I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this one)

ON THE BLOG

I think the posts I’m most proud of this month were my coverreveal for Millicent’s upcoming book and my review of Suite Francaise.

OTHER THINGS

Here we go again. 

Uni has been… stressful. My anxiety always plays up at Uni and I find it really hard to talk to people so usually I just don’t, as you can imagine that doesn’t make Uni a wonderful time for me. I don't think I've ever really talked about my anxiety here, but as you can see, it is something that really impacts me.

Luckily I’ve caught up with Michelle twice – once over Easter weekend and then again halfway through the month. I always have a great time with Michelle and we eat a lot of food and stay up talking until 3am… it seemed like a great idea (until the next day). 

If you follow me on Twitter, you would have seen this – but I got my acceptance letter for Aalborg University!! I actually booked my flights to London last week so everything is coming together now, but you would not believe the pain I went through to get them. I uh… still don’t have a passport because this country sucks if you don’t have a driver’s license. Also, I tried to go for my learners permit and learnt how the world hates Type One Diabetics. 

It’s just been a really, really stressful month. There's been quite a few 'stay in pyjamas days' and a lot of crying, and I’m thankful it’s over.