Book Review: Made For You

TITLE: Made For You
AUTHOR: Melissa Marr
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery/Thriller
PUBLISHED: September 16th, 2014
PREMISE: A popular girl gets stalked by a guy who may be closer to her then she thinks...
MY REVIEW: This one...I don't know what to make of this one. It's not Marr's usual work, that's for sure. I certainly don't want to discourage writers from trying new things/genres. So her trying a new genre out wasn't a problem or why I didn't get into this.
Honestly, I think this one was just me. I'm not into stalker books. Mostly because they all tend to be alike. Once you find out who the stalker is, either a) they kill the person they're stalking (which sucks) or b) the person they're stalking gets pissed and manages to defeat them somehow (my preferred ending to these). Luckily this one was option b. The psychology behind this book was pretty interesting. Marr definitely got into a stalkers head and pointed out everything that is wrong with stalking.
So as far as this genre goes, it did the trick. It's just I'm not a huge fan of this particular genre. I mostly just read this because it's Marr.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of The Bodyguard movie, thriller fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five creepy stalkers who need to stop

Book Review: City of Stairs

TITLE: City of Stairs
AUTHOR: Robert Jackson Bennett
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Mystery
PUBLISHED: September 9th, 2014
PREMISE: In a fantasy world where a country is controlled by another country after defeating their gods, a prime figure is murdered and a woman is sent over to investigate his death.
MY REVIEW: May I just say, fantasy murder mysteries is starting to become my new favorite thing? It's sort of like historical fantasy where it's a blending of two of my favorite genres and it just makes me sigh with happiness.
This one is no exception. It's such an interesting premise that goes into slight social commentary without hitting over the head with the message. If you pay attention to the political scene and what's going on in other countries, you can get what the author is getting at here. That, along with wonderfully complicated characters, make this a very intriguing mystery/action thriller.
Possibly this is one of my favorites of the year. I'm definitely going to have to look into the author's other work now.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans, mystery fans, Inheritance Trilogy fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five angry gods

Book Review: The Girl With All the Gifts

TITLE: The Girl With All the Gifts
AUTHOR: M. R. Carey
PUBLISHED: June 19th, 2014
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Dystopians, Zombies
PREMISE: A young zombie is held with other zombie children and experimented on.
MY REVIEW: This was definitely an interesting one. It is what you could call a thought provoking zombie book. It actually reminds me a lot of The Walking Dead so if you're a Walking Dead fan I highly recommend it.
The thing I loved most about it was the writing. This guy can WRITE. He knows how to build suspense, and create atmosphere without info-dumping you all over the place. Such good prose too. Now plot wise...it does slow down a bit in the middle, I'm also still not sure how I feel about the ending. But it was fitting for the story so I'm not complaining about it too loudly.
If you're looking for a zombie thriller to read this Halloween, I highly recommend this one.
WHO SHOULD READ: The Walking Dead fans, The Forest of Hands and Teeth Fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five zombies taking over

What to Read Next: Creepy Classics

Since the Halloween season is upon us you may or may not have been reading those time honored Creepy Classics of Frankenstein, Dracula, or Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Now you want some more but maybe a little less classics, more modern. Here are some options for you:

1) Stephan King-Looking for more creepy? Check out this author like now.

2) This Dark Endeavor duet by Kenneth Oppel-Looking for some books on Frankenstein himself? I highly suggest these which are a fantastic character study of a well-known character and how he came to be in the book of Frankenstein.

3) The Madman's Daughter Trilogy by Megan Shephard-Good series involving the daughter of the Doctor Moreau, the doctor in the Island of Doctor Moreau (the author of Jekyll and Hyde, a good creepy classic). The third book comes out in January.

4) The Nevermore Trilogy by Kelly Creagh
Awesome paranormal trilogy that deeply involves Edgar Allen Poe (he of the fabulously creepy short stories/poems) in a clever way. Sadly book 3 doesn't come out till summer of next year. Hopefully. We were actually supposed to get it this year but it got pushed back. ;frowns;

5) Stoker and Holmes series by Colleen Gleason
Fun Steampunk mystery series featuring the descendant of Bram Stoker (whose family all hunt vampires) and the niece of Sherlock Holmes. You know you want to read it.

Book Review: P.S. I Love You

TITLE: P.S. I Love You
AUTHOR: Cecelia Ahern
PUBLISHED: 2003
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Romance, Drama
PREMISE: A women's dead husband has letters sent to her to help her get over her grief.
MY REVIEW: So here's another book from the reading through the library thing. This is again, a good example of why I'm doing this project. Under normal circumstances, I would probably never pick this up. Girly chick lit is NOT my thing. This is that in spades.
But I will say I have seen the movie (it was on TV one time, I was bored. That's usually when I see these romantic comedies). I'll spare you comparisons between the two. Everyone already knows them probably anyway. As for the book...my feelings on it are much like my feelings on the movie: cute. Good for when you're in the mood for a sappy romance. Other then that...it's not exactly a must read.
If you liked the movie or like sappy romance books, this one is for you. If that's not your thing, then I would avoid this.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the movie, romance fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five tissues for sappiness

Book Review: Chasing Power

TITLE: Chasing Power
AUTHOR: Sarah Beth Durst
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Witches/Wizards
PREMISE: A girl gets blackmailed into helping a boy find his mother which unearths a ton of family secrets...
MY REVIEW: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Durst is a seriously underrated author. Like all of her books, I didn't quite know what I was getting when I got this. But like all of her books, it turned out to be a creative treat to read.
This time, Durst went in for urban fantasy. As always, her heroine gets swept up into an epic adventure where she has to use her wits to survive. That is the only thing her books tend to have in common: her heroines aren't fools and I love that so much. The real shine in this book for me though was the dialogue. The dialogue between Kayla and Selena and Daniel is fabulous. I can't go on enough about how much I adored Selena. I adored her to the point where I want her to have her own book.
So after a slight slump with Conjured, Durst is back on the awesome list. I can't wait to see what her brain comes up with next. I do have one complaint though and that is the cover. This lightbulb here has NOTHING to do with the plot. Maybe it was supposed to be a pun. I don't know. I do know it's not a good cover. I can take funky covers if they actually have something to do with the plot. This one doesn't have anything to do with the plot. Bad cover artist. Bad.
WHO SHOULD READ: Durst fans, adventure book fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five bad covers hiding a good book

Making The Leap: Twilight

So you've read Twilight. You've devoured all the vampire novels YA has to offer and are looking for options beyond YA/MG. Luckily for you there are plenty of options to choose from. Despite popular belief, vampire romances are not just a YA thing.

If you liked this:

The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

Then check out this:

The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

Why: Well, the obvious answer is that it involves vampires and the main character has a romance with supernatural creatures like in Twilight. But it also has interesting takes on the mythos, and involves a small town like Forks. It's also very atmospheric like Twilight, accept its atmosphere is the deep south. Sookie is just slightly more involved in the plot then Bella (and also ten times more likable then she is but I'll spare you all my Twilight ranting for once).

Other Adult books to look into for Twilight fans:
Outlander series by Diana Gamboldon (for those who loved the romance aspect)
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice (for those who loved the broody vampire aspect)
Discovery of Witches series by Deborah Harkness (for those who loved the paranormal romance aspect)

Book Review: Broken Monsters

TITLE: Broken Monsters
AUTHOR: Lauren Beukes
PUBLISHED: July 31rst, 2014
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Mystery
PREMISE: A serial killer is on the loose and detectives are on the case.
MY REVIEW: I have really mixed feelings about this one. I picked it up after hearing Book Riot rave about it and I love my thrillers so I figured it'd be cool.
It definitely was...interesting. I did love the way the author wrote. She has lovely prose and knows how to weave a story. I may not have cared for this one, but I think I will maybe check out her other books.
My issue was that there were too many characters and that interfered with the very good mystery going on. Like why was the plot with the teenage daughter even there? It should have focused more on the mystery part because it got too caught up in drama that slowed the book down a LOT and made the middle a struggle to get through.
This sort of reminded me of Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling and it had the exact same problem that book had: good main idea and lovely writing/storytelling skills, but too many characters to focus on who cluttered up the plot.
WHO SHOULD READ: Mystery fans, Lauren Beukes fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five serial killers

Book Review: Fiendish

TITLE: Fiendish
AUTHOR: Brenna Yovanoff
PUBLISHED: August 14th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl wakes up and gets saved from being locked in a cellar only to be brought into a dark world of magic...
MY REVIEW: I love Yovanoff's imagination. This author is seriously underrated. Like Durst, each one of her ideas is unique in some way.
Also, I want to point to this book as a good example of how to world build without doing info dump after info dump. Because this is a complicated world with interesting rules. Yet Yovanoff managed to show it to the reader piece by piece, without having the main character go "this is this because of that and this etc." So refreshing to see. All authors should take notes.
Mostly this was just a fun creepy book that was perfect for this time of year. The romance was what it was. I could take it or leave it. But it was never the focus of the book, it was kind of just there. What was the focus was this fabulously creepy town and idea.
If you want a good creepy tale for Halloween, I highly recommend this one. As well as any of Yovanoff's other books.
WHO SHOULD READ: Yovanoff fans, Stephan King fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five creepy houses

Book Review: The Jewel

TITLE: The Jewel
Book 1 in The Lone City Trilogy
AUTHOR: Amy Ewing
PUBLISHED: September 2nd, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl who is raised to be a surrogate gets bought. Has forbidden romance in difficult times.
MY REVIEW: I'll sum this book up like so: it's trying to be A Handmaiden's Tale, but it's more like The Selection combined with The Chemical Garden Trilogy. Which means, I didn't like it very much.
It's readable. I'll give it that. I just wish we would get away from these fantasy/dystopians that have this great set up and then do everything they can to focus on a boring stock romance instead of the great idea going on. It doesn't help that this came off as pretty anti-feminist. Or at least what conservatives think feminists are. Because this society was basically women in charge, yet the women in charge were all horrible and the ones forcing these girls to get pregnant for them. At one point one of the woman makes fun of her husband and says "that's why you don't leave men in charge." Literally these women are stereotypes of what people think feminists are like. Maybe she didn't mean it to be anti-feminist, but that's what it came off as.
On top of that, everything in this is just...uninspired. Again, it's readable, the author has decent writing skills. The story has just been done before. Not just in the two series I mentioned either. It also does all the usual YA tropes: love triangle, insta-love with no basis (that leads to mentioned boring stock romance), stock characters, and again, a BORING plot that doesn't get interesting untill the last few chapters and even then, it wasn't enough to make me want to get the next book. Honestly...this was just a lazy book that could have been better had the author put a wee bit more original thought into it. But again, I did see potential in her writing skills. Perhaps she'll be like DeStafano: have a slightly mediocre first series then have a much more interesting second series because her writing has become more polished.
WHO SHOULD READ: The Selection fans, Chemical Garden Trilogy fans
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five disappointed sighs

Book Review: Ruin and Rising

TITLE: Ruin and Rising
Book 3 in the Grisha Trilogy
AUTHOR: Leigh Bardugo
PUBLISHED: June 17th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Alina and her crew gather all the strength they can to defeat the Darkling.
MY REVIEW: This is one of those rare trilogies that have actually gotten better as it's progressed. Usually it's either it gets worse, or it's good, has a ho hum middle book, and then gets good again at the end. Then there's the last option where it's good, get's a strong sequel, and then gets a ho hum ending.
Given my choice, I like this progression, where it starts off kind of good, gets kind of awesome in the middle, and by the last is pretty damn awesome.
Ruin and Rising was just satisfying. Which is how ending should be. I'm probably in the minority where I wish what happened to Mal had stuck, because I think that would have been more powerful. But I'm also happy with how it turned out so...oh well. I'm just a little tired of books temporarily doing damage to characters and then going ha! never mind, they're okay! It's been happening a lot lately in the series I read and it's honestly starting to feel like a cheap tactic. I have lots of problems with Allegiant, but at least Roth had the guts to keep Tris dead.
But for the most part, this was a satisfying end to a great trilogy. Luckily for us there is apparently more coming from this universe. While I am usually weary of spin-offs, this one sounds promising as it deals with completely new characters and new locations. The characters also all sound completely different from Alina and co. so hopefully it won't develop into a Mortal Instruments situation.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of the first two books, fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five

Book Review: The Blade Itself

TITLE: The Blade Itself
Book 1 in the First Law Trilogy
AUTHOR: Joe Abercrombie
PUBLISHED: 2007
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: Three men try to make their way through a grim world.
MY REVIEW: So I picked this one in my read through the library thing. I had no idea that apparently, this author is quite popular. Or at least well known. Even Rick Riordan loves him on Goodreads and I like Rick Riordan so I was prepared to get into this. Unfortunately I didn't.
It took me a long while to figure out why. It wasn't until three quarters in that I finally realized why I wasn't connecting with the book at all: there are hardly ANY female characters. Oh, there are some. Two in fact. But both of them show up late and both of them hardly add anything to the plot. But in this large cast of characters, you only have TWO female characters? Really? This doesn't even have Lord of the Ring's excuse of being written in the thirties. It was written fairly recently. I also don't think the author meant anything by it. He's probably like most male authors: he just didn't think about it. Really male authors, you need to think about stuff like this. It's 2014, people are paying attention to this stuff now.
Other then the problematic female character issue, this was honestly just okay for me. It honestly felt like a majority of the usual dark and gritty fantasy books that are a dime a dozen these days. I do recommend this to guys who are into Game of Thrones though.
WHO SHOULD READ: Game of Thrones fans, dark fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five swords

What to Read Next: Nicholas Sparks

So you've exhausted the Nicholas Sparks library (or you've realized his books are all the same, it's one of two usually). Here's some books/authors to check out next.

1) Nora Roberts
Why: Another popular romance author with a HUGE selection to choose from. I haven't read her myself yet (I'm thinking about starting this next year, if any of you have advice on where to start, by all means, let me know) but from what I see, she should be appealing to Sparks fans.

2) Sarah Dessen
Why: Again, haven't read her. But I know lots of Sparks fans who adore her stuff. She seems to have that loving the beach thing that Sparks has if her covers are anything to go by.

3) Danielle Steele
Why: Another author with a huge backlist of books to choose from. She seems to write everything from romance to mystery and in between.

4) P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Why: Cute romance about a woman trying to get over her husband's death and he had a bunch of letters to be sent to her after he died to try and help her move on. I confess, that again, I haven't read this (can you tell contemporary romance isn't my thing?) but I have seen the movie which is very cute and should appeal to Sparks fans. She also has a couple of other contemporary romances out if you find you like this.

5) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Why: Another romance that I haven't read (no reason, just lack of interest) but have seen the movie. It's got the same sort of dramatic love that Sparks has but with historical fiction and a circus setting.

Book Review: Sekret

TITLE: Sekret
Book 1 in the new Sekret series
AUTHOR: Lindsay Smith
PUBLISHED: April 1rst, 2014
GENRE: Historical Fiction/Paranormal
PREMISE: A girl with paranormal gifts in 1960s Russia gets caught and dragged into politics...
MY REVIEW: Ever kick yourself for not finding a book sooner? That is me and this book. Somehow I totally forgot about this hidden gem that I made note of early in 2014 but forgot by the time April came around. I blame all the fabulous spring reads that were out during that time. Luckily I've started going back over my 2014 book list and found this one.
Sekret is a good paranormal book that reminds me a lot of The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong. That is not a bad thing, I loved that book. Basically it's teens in Russia who have telepathic gifts and the KGB uses those gifts to help with the Cold War. It's nice seeing a book NOT set in the USA or Europe for once. It's also nice seeing a book go into the history that no one really likes to talk about. Probably because we did just as much shady stuff during the Cold War as Russia did. I can't help but notice whenever there's an even that makes the US look less then stellar, we don't talk about it much (see WWI, where we took forever to get to the war, Vietnam/Korea)
While the romance angle was a bit whatever and seemed thrown in there just because it's YA, the rest of the book is fun and interesting and a great ride. I can't wait to read the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Darkest Powers Trilogy fans, Russian history fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five spy organizations

Book Review: Love is the Drug

TITLE: Love is the Drug
AUTHOR: Alaya Dawn Johnson
PUBLISHED: September 30th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopianish, Drama
PREMISE: A girl tries to uncover what happened to her one night as the world descends into chaos over a deadly plague...
MY REVIEW: You want to talk timely book, this one is it. With all the ebola stuff going on I drew parallels between that and this like whoa. It doesn't just talk about that either though. It goes into privilege, internalized racism, abuse of power, government corruption, and whole other bunch of topics that need to be discussed. If I could review it based on just how much of a conversation/debate starter of a book it is, I would give this book five stars.
Story wise however...this one was a bit slow. The topics were interesting and did help pull the story along. But it did seem to move at a snails pace. Also, this is not an action oriented dystopian. So if you want big world-building, battles, etc. You're better off going elsewhere. This is more of a character study of the main character and how she deals with this world around her and how it effects her. I will say, it's a good character study at least.
Like The Summer Prince, I'm torn about this. It's so interesting and Johnson has such creative ideas and I love the issues it discusses. Also, it takes place in my old stomping grounds in DC, so that was fun for me. But once again the execution....could of used some work. I do think this one was a tad better then The Summer Prince though.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the Summer Prince, fans of quiet dystopians
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five drugs

Many thanks to the publishers for the ARC.

Top Ten Books for People Who Like Character Driven Books

This is a weekly meme hosted by the ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish

This week: Top Ten Books for people who like character driven books.

I interpreted this in a variety of ways. Some here just have really memorable characters, some have great character development/journeys that are satisfying, some are excellent character studies.

 
1) The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin

2) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

3) The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

4) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

5) Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

6) The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot

7) Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver

8) The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor

9) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

10) Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce

Book Review: Illusions of Fate

TITLE: Illusions of Fate
AUTHOR: Kiersten White
PUBLISHED: September 9th
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Romance
PREMISE: A girl gets swept up in a magical world when she runs into a mysterious man...
MY REVIEW: I'm always up for a White book. She has interesting ideas. None of her series/books are exactly alike. I never know what I'm going to get into when I pick up a book of hers, unless it's part of a series like with Paranormalcy.
This one is no exception. It's a complete fantasy romp for one. The main character isn't at all like Evie or the two sisters from Mind Games. The world was also very vivid and very fun. I will say though that the plot reminded me a bit of Howl's Moving Castle. So...it's maybe not as strong in originality as I would have liked. But it still is a very fun read as White's books always are.
Honestly, my only complaints about this is that it is slightly similar to HMC and that it's not a series. I think this one could definitely be a series. But I can also see it being a standalone as well. Really, I'm happy with whatever White has in store for us. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be fun.
WHO SHOULD READ: Kiersten White fans, Howl's Moving Castle fans, Fantasy Romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five mysterious wizards

Making the Leap: Going from MG/YA to Adult and Back Again

Has anyone noticed the barriers going on in the fiction world lately? Specifically, the one that's between MG/YA and Adult fiction? It's not totally obvious, but you know it when you see it. It can be that person who assumes that if you read YA, then you must not read adult fiction at all. Then there are adult fiction readers who want to get into YA, but are overwhelmed by the selection, and have no clue where to start. Sometimes the barrier is ourselves. For instance that idea floating around that adult fiction is super hard and if you read YA you can't enjoy it or literature is too complicated for YA readers. For the record, I blame this idea on book snobs and yes, I think this idea is BS.

So I've come up with this feature to help those trying to get into either one of these categories. What I'm going to do is take a popular book in one category and pair it with a book in another category that is in the same genre/has similar themes/characters/ideas etc. Just something that I hope will help make that leap a little less overwhelming for people or least get people to see that these two categories aren't really all that different. The only difference is the age of the characters.

If you loved: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (since the movie is coming out)

Then check out: Rosebush by Michele Jaffe

Why: Rosebush also deals with the disappearance of a girl, but this one deals with the aftermath of her finding. Her memory is gone though, so along with her, you get to slowly learn what happened and how she wound up being found under a rosebush. It also deals with complex relationships like in Gone Girl.

Book Review: City of Heavenly Fire

TITLE: City of Heavenly Fire
Book 6 in the Mortal Instruments series
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare
PUBLISHED: May 27th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: The final battle between Sebastion and the Clave starts...
MY REVIEW: Yes, here I am again. I keep saying I'm going to quit this series but then I think: oh, one more book. Then I think: oh, I'll just catch up. Seriously, I have made my peace with the fact that I just can't quit this series. I don't think Lady Midnight is at all necessary. But I'll probably read it anyway. I'm weak, guys.
As an ending this was perfectly decent. It was just...really safe. It also still didn't prove why another arc was needed but that's something else I've made my peace with. I do think the Simon thing would have been more effective if it had actually stuck, but it didn't. Which is great for Simon and co. but kind of makes me feel like I wasted my feels on something that didn't even last fifty pages.
So...it was another Mortal Instruments book, basically. It was a fast read, did a good job of entertaining, but keeps teasing me by making me feel like this could be ten times better somehow. But if you are a long time Mortal Instruments reader, this should satisfy you.
WHO SHOULD READ: MI fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five feels
RATING FOR SERIES: Three and a half out of Five

Book Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After

TITLE: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Anna and the French Kiss Book 3
AUTHOR: Stephanie Perkins
PUBLISHED: August 14th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Romance
PREMISE: Isla and Josh go through the ups and downs of a romance...
MY REVIEW: I don't read much contemporary romances. So when an author who writes them, manages to make one I like, I think that says a lot about a book.
That said, this one wasn't really the best of this trilogy. It wasn't horrible. By no means. Like all of Perkins writing, the story is smooth, the characters are likable, the romance is sweet. It just...didn't stand out that much, I guess you could say. But is certainly readable and you can do a lot worse.
Again, I say: romance, not my genre. But I was still charmed by it and still liked it and heaven knows I grinned when Anna and St. Clair got engaged. So if romance IS your genre, then you'll likely love this.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first two Anna books, romance readers
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Four out of Five

Book Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters

TITLE: Dreams of Gods and Monsters
Book 3 in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy
AUTHOR: Laini Taylor
PUBLISHED: April 8th, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Angels-demons
PREMISE: The final battle begins...
MY REVIEW: Another awesome trilogy that I'm sorry to see go comes to a close.
I really don't have much to say about this one that isn't just plain gushing and begging of Laini Taylor to please write more books stat. I'll literally take anything. But I've pretty much been in love with this one since the beginning so this review should probably be taken with a grain of salt because I am a big fangirl of it.
In short, I loved this one. It ended it perfectly. A little predictable...perhaps. But the ending suited the trilogy and there were things I wasn't expecting. The writing was lovely as always. I am on board for any future books/book series that this author does in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first two books, fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five squees of delight
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Four and a half out of Five