Review: The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Book: The Lost Prince, Julie Kagawa

Series: The Call of the Forgotten #1

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: October 23^rd, 2012

Don’t look at Them.
Never let Them know
you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

My name is Ethan Chase.
And I may not live to see my
eighteenth birthday. 

Review: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Book: Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

Series: The Dark Artifices #1

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Release Date: March 8^th, 2016

The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.

It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…

Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?

Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series.

Thursday Quotables: Lady Midnight

Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This feature is the place where you highlight a great quote, line or passage you've discovered in a book you're currently reading. Whether it's something heart-warming, heart-breaking, funny or inspiring, Thursday Quotables is where my favourite line(s) of the week will be, and I invite you to join in! It's hosted by Lisa at BookShelf Fantasies, so be sure to check her out :)

The book I'm reading this week is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare, the first in a new series in her world of Shadowhunters and Downworlders. I love coming back to this world and her new characters are really refreshing. Emma is a wonderful protagonist (and way better than Clary!)

My quote this week is a funny quip between Emma and her friend Cristina about the Clave's Law.

"That's not the spirit of the law, Emma, remember? 'The Law is hard, but it is the Law'."

"I thought it was 'The Law is annoying, but it is also flexible'."

I laughed out loud at this line, and it's also true because in this world, the Shadowhunting Law is incredibly tough, with almost no room for changes. 

Have you read this book? What quotes grasped your heartstrings this week? Let me know in the comments below!

Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Book: Glass Sword, Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen #2

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date February 9^th, 2016

If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. 

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. 

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. 

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.

Review: Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard

Book: Cruel Crown, Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen #0.1, 0.2

Publisher: Orion

Release Date January 5^th, 2016

Two women on either side of the Silver and Red divide tell the stories no one else knows.

Discover the truth of Norta’s bloody past in these two revealing prequels to #1 New York Times bestseller Red Queen.

Queen Song

Queen Coriane, first wife of King Tiberias, keeps a secret diary—how else can she ensure that no one at the palace will use her thoughts against her? Coriane recounts her heady courtship with the crown prince, the birth of a new prince, Cal, and the potentially deadly challenges that lay ahead for her in royal life.

Steel Scars

Diana Farley was raised to be strong, but being tasked with planting the seeds of rebellion in Norta is a tougher job than expected. As she travels the land recruiting black market traders, smugglers, and extremists for her first attempt at an attack on the capital, she stumbles upon a connection that may prove to be the key to the entire operation—Mare Barrow.

Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Book: Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen #1

Publisher: Orion

Release Date February 10^th, 2015

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart...

ARC Review: The Way He Looks At Me by Juliana Mae

Book: The Way He Looks At Me, Juliana Mae

Series: N/A

Publisher: CreateSpace

Release Date December 11^th, 2014

Annie and her family left everything behind and moved over 3,000 miles away to California for her mother to become a musician. When Annie is reunited with an old family friend who is also an up-and-coming musician, she's far from complaining. Especially when he takes her to her first movie premiere where she meets two of her favorite bands.
Hayden from Vas Happenin' shows an immediate interest in Annie, and wastes no time in getting Annie's number. A coincidental run-in at Starbucks leaves Annie with a kiss from Colt from Sons of Jannone.
How will Annie be able to choose between the two? Or will someone else stand in her way?

Review: The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith

Book: The Reflections of Queen Snow White, David Meredith

Series: N/A

Publisher: ebook

Release Date October 2^nd, 2013

What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone? 

On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an ageing Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing: 

The king is dead. 

The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old. 

It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means? 

Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White.