Weekly Reading Update (WRU, #9)

This week I managed to read two books and start one more.

  The Ring and the Crown (The Ring and the Crown, #1)

Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Pages: 372
Acquired: Library
Published: 2014
Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Blurb:
Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the Lily Throne, and Aelwyn Myrddn, bastard daughter of the Mage of England, grew up together. But who will rule, and who will serve?

Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second, Supreme Ruler of the Franco-British Empire. With the help of her Head Merlin, Emrys, Eleanor has maintained her stranglehold on the world's only source of magic. She rules the most powerful empire the world has ever seen.

But even with the aid of Emrys' magic, Eleanor's extended lifespan is nearing its end. The princess must marry and produce an heir or the Empire will be vulnerable to its greatest enemy, Prussia. The two kingdoms must unite to end the war, and the only solution is a match between Marie and Prince Leopold VII, heir to the Prussian throne. But Marie has always loved Gill, her childhood friend and soldier of the Queen's Guard.

Together, Marie and Aelwyn, a powerful magician in her own right, come up with a plan. Aelwyn will take on Marie's face, allowing the princess to escape with Gill and live the quiet life she's always wanted. And Aelwyn will get what she's always dreamed of--the chance to rule. But the court intrigue and hunger for power in Lenoran England run deeper than anyone could imagine. In the end, there is only rule that matters in Eleanor's court: trust no one.

__________________________________________________________

  Can You Keep A Secret?

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Pages: 357
Acquired: Library
Published: 2004
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Blurb:
Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her...

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The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: Currently reading on page 37 of 439
Acquired: Library
Published: 2013


Goodreads Blurb:
If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

***** 

Tell me what you're currently reading or what you've read this week!

The Testing

 

 Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Series: The Testing, #1
Pages: 336
Challenge: Goodreads Challenge 2014, 2014 Book Bingo Challenge
Genre: Dystopian
Acquired: Library
Rating: ★★★½

*****

Goodreads Summary:

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same?

The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.

Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one.

But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

  *****

 My Thoughts:

The Testing follows Cia Vale and her life after being chosen as a testing candidate. I first got wind of this book due to its heavy comparison to The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins. Both novels deal with candidates representing their districts, or colonies in this case, to compete in the Testing to earn one of the coveted spots to attend the University and become the world's future leaders. In that aspect the plot differs but the similarities are noticable.

Cia's character overall was a little too pristine and squeaky clean for me. She was a little too nice for me to even take her seriously. I really wanted a bad-ass, kick-butt character but instead I feel like I got a somewhat complacent and too perfect version of the character I wanted. Now with that being said, I did like her character not to confuse you; I just wanted more from her.

As far as the other characters go, Will and Tomas were very interesting characters that made the story more unpredictable. They kept the plot fast paced and exciting. Cia on the other hand slowed the plot a bit with her character being one dimensional and not complex at all. She was clever and smart in some scenes but overall her character was boring to say the least.

Action? I could have gone for more a little bit more in the action department. Although the book was a fast read (read it in a few hours) I wanted more suspense and chair- gripping moments. Maybe the plot gets better with the following books in this series. Now on to The Hunger Games comparison, this was definitely a softer version of The Hunger Games as far as "graphic" scenes or the element of thrill go. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a post- Hunger Games read due to the similarities I observed in this first book.

The way this novel ended was completely anti-climactic. I feel like it just slowly ended. No big cliffhanger. Just a slow rolling stop to the last page. I felt that it had a lot of potential to redeem itself and end on an amazing climactic cliffhanger leaving me desperately needing the next book..... but instead the story just sort of stopped.

I'm still on the fence on if I should continue with the next installment in this trilogy, I'm certainly in no rush but I am curious as to if it gets better as the trilogy progresses.

If you have read this book, let me know your thoughts below!!

*****

Top Ten Tuesday (TTT, #5)

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's post is:

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

So considering that I've only read about 10 books so far this year, I don't have much of a choice in picking the best ones that I've read. Currently I'm around 13 books behind schedule for my Goodreads 50 book challenge but hopefully I'll be able to turn that around this summer since I'm challenging myself to read 25 books by the end August. It's time to kick it into gear! Fingers crossed! Nonetheless, here are the books I've read so far this year!

Top Ten: ( in order)

Shatter Me: I finally read this book this year and it did not disappoint! I really enjoyed it and need to read Unravel Me very soon!



 Clockwork Angel: This is one that I am very ashamed to have not read sooner. It was the first Cassandra Clare book that I read and I am excited to continue on with The Infernal Devices trilogy and also start The Immortal Instruments series as well!



 Miss Match: This book was one that I picked up on impulse from my library's adult fiction section. I really wanted to branch out this year and read more adult fiction books and figured I would start off with a light read like this one. I was pretty good and is the first in a series. If you have any suggestions for adult chick-lit books or authors let me know!


*****
What are your favorite books that you've read so far this year? 
Comment and let me know!!

May Wrap Up & June TBR

 

May Wrap Up

 

    

 

                        ★★★★                   ★★★½                  ★★★★½                ★★★★½

Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

In Honor - Jessi Kirby

Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare

Unbreakable - Kami Garcia

************************************************************

 

June TBR

 

Missmatch - Erynn Mangum

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz

The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
Gated - Amy Christine Parker

Frozen - Melissa De La Cruz

The Dream Thieves- Maggie Stiefvater

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

Letting Ana Go - Anonymous

Where Things Come Back - John Corey Whaley

The Testing - Joelle Charbonneau

Splintered - A. G. Howard

Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige

 I know my TBR may seem a little ambitious due to how many books I read last month, but I am out of school and usually read between 10-15 books per month when summer starts so I am hoping that I will get through almost all of these! 

Let me know what you read in May and also what you are planning to read in June!

In Honor

 

 Author: Jessi Kirby
Series: Standalone
Pages: 235
Challenge: Goodreads Challenge 2014
Genre: Contemporary
Acquired: Library
Rating: ★★★½

*****

Goodreads Summary:

Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.

Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn . . . and ruggedly good-looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn--but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

  *****

 My Thoughts:

In Honor follows Honor a young girl who recently lost her older brother, Finn. With a letter that arrives after his death Honor makes it her plan to fulfill Finn's request before her first day of college starts. As the book progressed Honor grew up and grew stronger to ultimately learn to cope with the death of her brother and the secrets she discovered from Rusty, Finn's best friend.

Although this book was an okay read I would not say it was one of my favorites unfortunately. I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I felt that they all were a bit boring. Rusty was one of the only characters that I liked which made him all the more interesting to me.

The story is told from Honor's point of view and the problems she faced were realistic and I liked that. For example, she experienced car trouble with was expected, when taking an across country road trip, and realistic. I also liked that she did not fall for Rusty the minute she laid eyes on him again. They were actually enemies for the first half of the book and only stayed connected by Finn. I liked that this wasn't a story centered around romance and more about learning to deal with the death of a loved one while uncovering secrets along the way.

I also felt that Honor became more of an independent and capable person out from behind her brother's shadow. She learned to make her own decisions and choices for herself and her life.

One of my favorite scenes was the airplane scene at the end as well as the secrets that were uncovered to Honor by Rusty about Finn. It really let you see into the kind of person Finn was and how he was as a protective brother and loyal best friend. The thing I liked least was actually Honor's character. For some reason I did not like her at all and found her boring and dull. I really wished that she would have been more interesting; I think I would have liked her more if she added more to the story as a whole with either her personality or actions.

The ending of In Honor was predictable but good to end the story with. It did not really keep me guessing but as a whole it was okay. I would give the cover a ★★½; it describes Honor's features and clothing and it also matches the setting of the book. I would recommend this book for contemporary lovers who enjoy reading about road trips and realistic situations. I ended up giving In Honor a ★★★★½.

*****