The Best Reads of 2013

With 2013 drawing to a close, I thought I'd join the band wagon and share with you guys, my best reads of 2013! So here are my top ten (10) reads, and my pitiful reasons why you should read them!

10. Endless by Amanda Gray, 3.5 Stars

It was a good read, but it has a lot of loose ends and wholes. It really needs a sequel.

 

9. Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield, 3.5 stars

 

 

The Chantress world was a really interesting one for me, and was really unique. I even reviewed this for my school newspaper :)

 

8. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor, 3.5 stars

 



I love this series, and I love the way Taylor is going with this, but Karou was not my favourite in this novel. But you should read this series- it's totally worth the 500+ pages :D

7. The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan, 4 stars



Forbidden romance, magical powers, a curse, family ties , secret organizations, GARGOYLES, and Paris. Need I say more?

6. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, 4 stars

 

This book was very steam punk-esque to me (I've never even read that genre yet). And it had a living prision. This book was, in a word, bad-ass!
5. Yesterday by C.K Kelly Martin, 4 stars



Imagine if your life was a lie. Imagine that you aren't from your present time period. What if I told you that this was your reality? Welcome to Freya's life, where nothing is as it seems... And it takes place in Canada. That should be the selling point right there :D

4. The Prophecy by Erin Albert, 4 stars

Abandoned as a baby and taken away to end the war between two warring countries. Just a day in the life of Layla Givens. But more she resists, the more involved she becomes. Totally loved this book, shipped the characters so hard, but then Erin Albert had to Moffat me. But it is TOTALLY worth the read.

3. Crewel by Gennifer Albin, 4.5 stars



There's a world above ours, and it was created to end all suffering. But when 16 year old Adelice is chosen to be a Spinster, she learns that her world isn't as safe as she thought it was... READ IT! Or I will go all Cormac on you! Don't get it? Well, read the book!

2. Belladonna by Fiona Paul, 4.5 stars



Belladonna is the sequel to Venom, by Fiona Paul. It's set in Italy, and is full of mystery, murder, adventure, swoon worthy guys, and of course, a secret organization obsessed with life. This book was an amazing read, I waited TWO MONTHS after its release to get it... only to lose it a month later. NOTE: When you buy this book, cherish it with ALL of your life.

1. United We Spy by Ally Carter, 5 stars


AND SO WE MADE IT TO NUMBER ONE! WOOOH! United We Spy was my Best Read of 2013. I had such a hard time reading and reviewing this book because I just couldn't part with the series. I started reading the Gallagher Girls series when I was in the SEVENTH grade- that was over 5 years ago guys! I grew up with Cammie, Bex, Macey, Liz, Zach, Rachel Morgan, Abby, Solomon, and the Gallagher Academy, that I just didn't want it to end. But alas, it did. And I loved it, even if I didn't read the wedding scene because I'm from Canada if the ending was bitter sweet for me. The series came along way from being a story about a teenage girl attending a spy school who falls in love with a civillian to an action-packed, international intrigue filled story. If you haven't read the Gallagher Girls series yet, you should. It's worth it. If this isn't for you, give it to your daughters, nieces, cousins, friends, husbands, boyfriends, mothers, dads, brothers, sisters, and spread the word about the Gallagher Girls!

So that's it for me! Any of these books part of your best of 2013 list? Any of these books interest you? Comment or tweet me @missyallydums97 :D

AND come back tomorrow for a SPECIAL announcement regarding my first ever giveaway!

Review: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

 

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Author: Laini Taylor

Pages: 513 pages

Release Date: November 6th, 2012

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Recieved From: my public library

Status: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (#2)

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

 

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

 

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Review

 

This awesome Doctor Who gif can describe my emotions for me before, during and after I finished this book:

 

 

Days of Blood & Starlight brought out a lot of my fangirl feels, something I haven't experienced since reading The Prophecy by Erin Alberts. This book was freaking amazing guys, my emotions were a wreck after this book and left me with such a big book hangover the next day!

 

The plot of this book again was beautifully written, and unlike the first book, I didn't feel bored at ANY point in the novel. I just had to keep reading to see what would happen next! I think the reason why is because we didn't go between past and present too much in this book, but we were switching POV a lot. We learned a lot of backstory and a lot about both the seraphim and chimera worlds, which was nice. And I like how Zuzanna and Mik fit into this story well without seeming too awkward.

 

Karou in this novel...ugh. She was not on point in this one. She was very angsty, very afraid, very confused- I felt like she took being betrayed and breaking up with Akiva to a whole new level with helping Thiago, even though throughout the WHOLE book, she knew something was up! Ugh.

 

 

She was just not my favourite in this book. I get that Akiva destroyed her whole race and the creature that raised her for 17 human years like a father. I get that's something nobody can forgive, but teaming up with your ex-fiance that murdered you is not the answer, especially when he has someone watching you 24/7 for the majority of the time. Karou was lost throughout the whole entire book, and even when her friends were there with her, I felt like she still didn't know who she was. She is not the person you remember in the first book, but she does come back to life when Issa comes back and she's around Ziri, so that made me feel better. But her whole overall character did not make me like her in this book- she was so focused trying to become someone she isn't anymore.

 

While Karou was brooding and trying to piece together her life, Akiva was out saving what was left of her kind. I found that very redeeming about his character, and that made me love him even more. I also loved that we got to see more of his position as the Beast's Bane and his interaction with his world- especially with his siblings. Hazael is probably my favourite out of the three siblings, and was really upset with what happened to him near the end. In Daughter of Smoke & Bone, I wasn't a fan of Liraz because I felt she was too cold hearted and such, but in this book, you see a lot more character development from her.

 

What really won me over with her character was her love for her brothers, especially when she learns that Karou is alive. She, along with Hazael, have their heads on straight. There was a part in the book where she talks about how Akiva pretty much gives everything to Karou- his love, his devotion- but all she does is return him back broken. When I read that I was seriously like:

 

 

Like because someone finally got it!

 

I really liked Zuzanna and Mik in this book- they were pretty awesome, and as cute as ever! Ziri's introduction was really nice, and I think he was a good character to add. I was so enthralled when I read about his past and connection to Madrigal. His whole crush and new position at the end of the novel is going to be soooo interesting in the next book, I am seriously pumped for it!

 

This book was an amazing book, but Karou was not on point. However, I seriously cannot WAIT for Dreams of Gods & Monsters. Did you guys see the synopsis yet?! It is so good, like I'm already getting feels! I really hope I can get an ARC!

 

 

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

 

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Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: Review

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

Pages: 424 pages

Release Date: September 27th, 2011

Status: first book of the

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept 

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

She runs errands for a demon names Brimstone, whom helped raised her, and travels the world to do her errands through a magical door way portal (think Narnia for a little while)She runs errands for a demon names Brimstone, whom helped raised her, and travels the world to do her errands through a magical door way portal (think Narnia for a little while)

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

I think you all better prepare yourselves for some 

(I love Doctor Who gifs :D)

Anyway, I literally just finished Daughter of Smoke & Bone and my mind is literally just reeling.

This book has a lot of characters, a lot of world building, and a lot of history/backstory to take in. I swear, after the first couple chapters, I was already on chapter 10 & I barely made a dent; I just had to put the book down to take it all in. This book took me about 3 days to read (and no it's not because of homework), because I just couldn't wrap my head around everything all at once. 

So here are a few things that you should know:

1) The narrator is Karou, a sixteen year old girl (remember that age, because I forgot halfway though the story)

2) She's humans, but was raised by demons all her life 

3) She's an art student in Prague

4) She has a stalker ex-boyfriend named Kaz and her best friend Zuzana is described to be short and doll like, and is ironically, a puppeteer in training

5) She runs errands for a demon named Brimstone, who raised her, and she collects teeth. 

6) There are two races at war with each other: the chimaera and the seraphim

And 7) The chimaera are hybrid creatures made of different creatures, while seraphim are angels that are trained from a young age to be soldiers for an age old war. The two groups used to live side-by-side together till the chimaera revolted; the war has been going on for THOUSANDS of years

Poinrs 1-5 are what I got from the beginning of the novel, and it gets a little awry (yet interesting) when Akiva, a seraphim (a type of angel), and his siblings Hazael and Liraz start leaving handprints on doors and all hell breaks loose in Karou's life.

There is so much world building, but Laini Taylor is able to make everything work, which I was so happy to see unfold before my eyes. 

This novel is everything that you could want in a YA novel: romance, adventure, mystery, and of course, witty dialogue, quirky characters and a badass protagonist (Karou is like a karate master guys, the girl is amazing).

The novel kind of goes back and forth between Karou and Akiva, and weaves present day Prague and Morocco with old memories to link together what really made Akiva and his siblings leave handprints on doors.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone just hits you with its craziness. That's literally what this book was for me. It just started getting crazier and crazier as it went on, but what I loved is that it didn't seem so crazy at the end; it made perfect sense.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS UP AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

It starts off normal: Karou has a stalker-ish, no good, older ex-boyfriend who cheats on her. Then it gets a little weird: she has blue hair, is sixteen & lives on her own in Prague, goes to a ritzy boarding school, and eats goulash in a graveyard with her best friend Zuzana. 

Laini then amps it up a bit: she runs errands for a lion, Minotaur like creature demon and collects teeth- teeth! And she can make wishes.

At this point, Laini throws in a bit of crazy in the stew: she introduces us to the seraphim, Akiva, and his siblings who are leaving hand marks on doorways. While out on an errand one day, someone burns the doors and seals Karou from the outside.

And then Laini throws the rest of the crazy in: Akiva starts getting some emotions for her which he recognizes from when he first fell in love with his first girlfriend, Madrigal, and decides to push them down by KILLING Karou. However, Karou is amazing and is able to prevent it from happening. He continues to stalk her (even after he slaughters her family) and then they have like a rematch! It isn't until his siblings arrive do we get a little more of the backstory, and we start going (much frequently) back and forth between memories and present day.

Spoilers are done. You can breathe now.

This book was amazing, despite the fact that my mind still isn't able to keep up with all the names and the terms.

Not only do I like the way she weaves it all together to make the story go from how the present goes to the past, and what happened in the past ties together with the present, but I just love the world!

It's a crazy, mysterious world that Laini has created; it's chaotic and there's soo much that WASN'T explained in this book that I'm really curious as to see how the next book turns out.

This book was a lot of world building and focused on Karou figuring out what she was more than what the whole war thing was about,  and what her whole destiny with Akiva all ties together.

There is a lot going on in this book that I know will exploded in the next book. 3.5 out of 5 stars to this book! I really recommend this series and if you're buying or borrowing it at the library, a little advice: get Days of Blood & Starlight at the same time, because I made the mistake of not getting it. Now I have to wait.