Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas

4/5 Stars ★★★★

Published September 2, 2014

Published by Bloomsbury 

Synopsis: Celaena Sardothien has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak - but at an unspeakable cost. Now she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth ... a truth about her heritage that could change her life - and her future - forever.

Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. To defeat them, Celaena must find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to battle the evil that is about to be unleashed. 

After reading a lot of different reviews and hearing a variety of thoughts on Heir of Fire, I finally made it my mission to finish what I started a couple months back. Sarah J. Maas is phenomenal at keeping you intrigued and invested in her books. Though this one took a while to really pick up, once it did, it was full throttle. The writing continues to be impeccable and I think SJM's writing even improved a bit in this book. I love the Throne of Glass world so much and honestly could not even begin to commend the fantastic world building that goes on throughout the series.

Tuning The Tale #1

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you probably know I love pairing books to songs. I've always wanted to find a way to share with everyone the music I find that fits with books, but I saw no easily available alternative to just tweeting "hey everyone! listen to       by       it's everything this author tried to encompass in this book!" This project has been in the works for a long time, so I'm proud to finally present to you: Tuning The Tale! 

Basically, whenever I find some songs that have struck a chord (see what I did there) with me pertaining to a particular book, I will share with all of you my song choices and why I chose them! I guess this is sort of my way of creating/sharing playlists with you, along with analyzing lyrics and picking out parallels between the books and songs! So with no further ado, I would love to share with you my first Tuning The Tale.

*creds to Jess who helped me with this name you rock* 

ARC Review: These Vicious Masks by Kelly Zekas and Tarun Shanker

4/5 Stars ★★★★

Published by Swoon Reads

Publishing February 9th, 2016

*Thank you to Swoon Reads and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

Synopsis: Jane Austen meets X-Men in this gripping and adventure-filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London.

England 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved Sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they're not the only ones looking for Rose. the reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true - and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared. 

This book certainly lives up to its synopsis and my expectations! With These Vicious Masks being one of my most anticipated reads of 2016, I was hyping it up loads and loads. Ever since I read "Jane Austen meets X-Men" I was entirely devoted and willing to having this book mess me up - and mess me up it did. Kelly Zekas and Tarun Shanker, two debut authors, come together in this gripping story to provide us with a superhero-esque adventure filled with fascinating and daring quests that left me wanting more. These Vicious Masks had a slow, but steady, and compelling pace that had me intrigued from start to finish. I was really fond of the setting and the time period in which this book took place, and I enjoyed the language - wishing I could time-travel back to Victorian London to wear the dresses and speak with sarcastic wit (though I already do that now).

Waiting on Wednesday: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Here is where I share with you my anticipation for upcoming books! Breaking the Spine has introduced me to this and I am super excited to get to participate. Please feel free to comment what books you are looking forward to as well!!

Synopsis (from Goodreads): The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore. 

After spending my first week of winter break devouring the first three books in this series, it seems only right that my first Waiting on Wednesday of the year is The Raven King. This series is by far one of my favorite series and I can't wait to see how it comes to a thundering close. I've spent countless hours thinking about this story and the characters that have such a special place in my heart, so by all means I hope this doesn't end tragically. 

The Raven King comes out April 26th, 2016! 

Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn't

I've been watching this meme float around a lot, so I've finally decided to join in the fun! This meme was created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday there is a new list that involves all things books!

top ten 2015 releases I meant to get to but didn't 

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Falling Kingdoms Readalong

Hello everyone! As I said in the beginning of the year, one of the things I want to do is catch up on a few series. In fact, I asked you all what series YOU wanted to read in 2016 and a few people said Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes, enough to say, "Well, why not do a readalong?"

So that is what we did.

Introducing...

Falling Kingdoms Readalong

with the Kingdom Readers!

The Falling Kingdoms Readalong will be, well, a readalong of Morgan Rhodes' YA fantasy series, Falling Kingdoms. The hosts are:

• Jess @ Princessica of Books
• Drew @ Endlessly Reading
• Tamara @ Tamaraniac
• Josie @ Josie the Bookworm
• Lillie @ Little Lillie Reads

In case you don't know, Falling Kingdoms is, in short, a young adult fantasy series that focuses on three kingdoms and four champions whose lives become intertwined in a war between the kingdoms

Though we are announcing this today, we won't start the first book, Falling Kingdoms, until January 18th.

The full schedule right now looks like this:

Falling Kingdoms (Book One): Jan 18th- Feb. 1st

Rebel Spring (Book Two): Feb 2nd- Feb 16th

Gathering Darkness (Book Three): Feb 17th - Mar 3rd

Frozen Tides (Book Four): Mar 4th- Mar 18th!

Want to know more? Don't have the book? That's okay! Find the Goodreads and Book Depository links below.

Falling Kingdoms: Goodreads | Book Depository

Rebel Spring: Goodreads  | Book Depository

Gathering Darkness: Goodreads  | Book Depository

Frozen Tides: Goodreads  | Book Depository

Feel free to join in at anytime! For example, if you already read the first book, join us on reading the second book! It's also perfectly fine if these are rereads for you. This is a pretty relaxed readalong; we are giving everyone including ourselves two weeks to read each book, with a day in-between. The Kingdom Readers will also conduct a discussion at the end of each book so stay tuned for that!

Let me know if you are participating in the comments below!

ARC Review: The Love That Split The World by Emily Henry

5/5 Stars ★★★★★

Published by Razorbill

Publishing January 26th, 2016

Synopsis: Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.

Natalie's last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start ... until she starts seeing the "wrong things." They're just momentary glimpses at first - her front door is red instead of its usual green, there's a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn't right.

That's when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls "Grandmother," who tells her: "You have three months to save him." The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it's as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau. 

I have never read such an electrifying and thought provoking book in my entire life. Emily Henry's debut is stunning beyond belief and so full of moments worthy of awestruck reactions. I've spent the most of these past two days just trying to put into words how much this story impacted me, but it has become entirely too impossible to put into words how I feel. All I can really say is that I have never connected so deeply to a story before and I cannot even begin to put into words how grateful I am for the story Emily Henry was able to create. The Love That Split The World is a contemporary, fantasy twist with an alluring romance and delicious characters. However beyond that, it's the story of friendship and the inevitable transitioning of life. It's the maturing and moving on that comes with senior graduation; that last summer spent with hazy nights and parties with your friends. It's the story of shaping your future, taking what you have and what you want and creating it into something you desire no matter what the cost.