The Review Archive

"Edgar Allan Poe’s celebrated narrative poem now available as a Simon & Schuster ebook, including an extended excerpt from Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen, a vivid and compelling novel about a poet who becomes entangled in an affair with Edgar Allan Poe—at the same time that she becomes the unwilling confidante of his much-younger wife."

Since the edition that I own seems like it's not available on BookLikes, I've switched up just for the sake of having a cover to show up in this review.

The Raven is the first poem of Edgar Allan Poe that I've read in years, it's been forever since I've read one, and now I've remembered how much I love Poe's writing! It was awesome, as always, needless to say something else.

My edition had an excerpt of "Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen, it was quite an entertaining couple of chapters! I'm excited to get around to fully read this book sometime in the near future!

"St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger....

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever."

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but I didn't enjoyed this first book at all. I've been trying to read this little guy for about six months and nothing, NOTHING made me want to pick up this book back again, that made me read about 30+ books before I've forced myself to finish this one.

I know this series is quite popular, but I wasn't able to deal with it at all, maybe it's because I have no patience what so ever to vampire books ever since I've read Twilight, but I dunno... The only thing that I'm sure is that I'm not going to go on with this series at all. I did liked a few parts and truly agree that Rose Hathaway is a badass female character, but it didn't make me want to go on just because of her.

"A short story from New York Times bestselling author, Neil Gaiman. Plus an excerpt from his new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane."

It is quite a quick read talking about a boy trying to interact with girls in a random party that he and his friend goes to. I quite enjoyed it, I love Neil Gaiman's writing style and it had quite a few quotable moments, but I though it was a little to short, and also it ended in quite an open ending, which in this case I didn't enjoyed that much.

"Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation. 

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love..."

While I was reading this book, I couldn't stop but think on how relatable this novel can be to all the madness that happens with some people online. And at the same time it made me extremely frightened of posting, like, anything!

It's a fun read at the same time that it made me think on how the online life can pretty much mess with someone. The main character, Lucy, is quite an introvert like myself, so it was easier to relate to her than for a couple of the other characters we see through this novel.

Totally recommend for those who want a thoughtful contemporary to read this summer, for me it was a legit 4.5/5 stars, for sure!

"In this dazzling and long-awaited conclusion to the acclaimed Mortal Instruments series, Clary and her friends fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary's own brother.

Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures out of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell.

The embattled Shadowhunters withdraw to Idris - but not even the famed demon towers of Alicante can keep Sebastian at bay. And with the Nephilim trapped in Idris, who will guard the world against demons?

When one of the greatest betrayals the Nephilim have ever known is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, and Alec must flee - even if their journey takes them deep into the demon realms, where no Shadowhunter has set foot before, and from which no human being has ever returned...

Love will be sacrificed and lives lost in the terrible battle for the fate of the word in the thrilling final installment of the classic urban fantasy series The Mortal Instruments!"

Before I start this review, I must say that if you haven't read The Mortal Instruments series and/or The Infernal Devices series, it may spoil you with some events that have happened in the previous books, since it's the last book in a series.

Ok, ok. I've finished this book on Sunday but I had to sit and wait a little bit before I write this review, just so I could process and do it properly.

I'm not part of the group of people who is sideways this series since it's early beginning back in 2007, because by that time I wasn't a proper reader... I mean, I wasn't a reader at all, I really didn't read any books by that time besides school related stuff, I was more of a manga person.

But since I started this series less than a year ago I've grown so attached to the main characters of both the TMI and the TID series that when Cassandra Clare said that six people we knew by name would die, I seriously freaked out.

This book was released in the US on May 27th and doesn't release here in Brazil util the 18th at least, and since I didn't want to get massively spoiled, I decided to get it on Amazon and read it in my kindle app, and it was totally worth the extra 13USD I've spent, because I've already paid for the portuguese version of it! xD

It takes right after the moment in City of Lost Souls when Jace has the heavenly fire stuck on this body, and it has two main "point of views", one in New York and then it starts to switch in between it and Idris after a couple of events regarding Sebastian happened. 

There are a couple of things here and there that kinda was, I should say random? But it didn't take out of the main the propose of this book, which was pretty much try to take Sebastian down.

It was a super fast paste read, and even with the madness that was my end of the semester and such, I still was able to read this 725 page book in a matter of 10 days, and I must say that it was the biggest book I've read so far!

City of Heavenly Fire was a amazing conclusion to this series, and even though I'm sad because it's over, I'm also excited for The Dark Artifices! We had such a snack preview of the characters of this new series that it made me even more excited to know more about Emma Carstairs, the Blackthorn family and the Los Angeles Institute, and also quite a few of the characters that appears in TMI and TID will be a part of this series as well! 

I'm trying my best to not tell anything spoiler for this book since it's still quite a new release, but if any of you want me to do a spoilery discussion on this book, please let me know!

"Two novellas set in the world of Kiera Cass's #1 New York Timesbestselling Selection series are now available in print for the first time.The Prince and The Guard both offer captivating views into the hearts and minds of the two men fighting to win America Singer's love. This collection also features exclusive bonus content, including a sneak peek atThe One, the eagerly anticipated third novel in the Selection series.

Before America arrived at the palace to compete in the Selection, there was another girl in Prince Maxon's life. The Prince opens the week before the Selection begins and follows Maxon through the first day of the competition.

Raised as a Six, Aspen Leger never dreamed that he would find himself living in the palace as a member of the royal guard. In The Guard, readers get an inside look at Aspen's life within the palace walls—and the truth about a guard's world that America will never know."

This will be a review more focused on the printing format and the extras than the actual novellas, since I already have separate non-spoilery reviews on then in another posts. Click here to check out my reviews on The Prince and The Guard.

I have kind of a love and hate relationship with sneak peaks. As much that I love being able to, even for a short amount of time, to get into that world that I've enjoyed before, I hate because I just want to have the goddamn book in my hands so I can devour it. Is that crazy of my side or not?

I really enjoyed the extras overall, and also this novella bind-up was nicely printed and I gotta say I love me some floppy paperback and it was almost a full book on itself, because my copy has over 200 pages! Overall a great book, the only reason that I didn't gave it a 4.5* it was because of one of the novellas, you can see my thoughts on the links I've provided you above! :)

"Before America Singer met Prince Maxon... 
Before she entered the Selection...
She was in love with a boy named Aspen Leger."

Some people may be hating me because of this, but the entire time that I was reading this novella it made me want to slap Aspen in the face so-freaking-hard.

I've never liked Aspen, as you guys may know already, and see him whining all the time during this novella was kind of a pain. But it's nice to have another perspective of a couple of scenes here and there. And also, we had a couple of extra scenes that doesn't show in the other books because of it's focus on America's POV, and that's pretty much why I gave this book 3.5 stars instead of just 3. 

This is also part of the book pile I've read during Bout of Books 10.0 read-a-thon. I still haven't read The One because it will arrive with my portuguese copy of City of Heavenly Fire, which arrives by the end of this month, but I'm curious to see how this entire series will wrap up.

"Before thirty-five girls were chosen to compete in the Selection...

Before Aspen broke America's heart...

There was another girl in Prince Maxon's life..."

 

I really enjoy novellas overall because that, most of the times, are the chance that you have to know about a certain character P.O.V., and in this case it wasn't different, because I really enjoyed seeing another side of Maxon than what you can see on America's point of view on the rest of the series.

It was nice to see Maxon's reaction for this whole Selection thing-y started, and see how Maxon really is and feels with those events and also the way that his father treats him and faces some situations. And also we see his point of view when he first meet America, which is nice!

That's quite a nice novella, but I think it was kinda short, I dunno. I wish we had more of him!

˜Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.˜

 

This book for sure had more action than The Selection, but I still liked the first one a little better because of a couple of events that America went through in this book that I didn't enjoyed that much. And I still don't like Aspen, no matter what he does! 

As the first one, I've read it in one sitting during the Bout of Books 10.0 read-a-thon last week, since I prefer to marathon my series when I can. I totally recommend this book as well if you enjoyed The Selection because the end left me pretty excited for The One!

"For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined."