7 Reasons Why I Couldn't Bring Myself to Like: The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

Title: The Sin Eater's Daughter
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Audiobook
Published: February 24th, 2015
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Genre: YA - Fantasy - High Fantasy - Magic - Romance
Source: SYNC Summer Free Audiobooks

A startling, seductive, deliciously dark debut that will shatter your definition of YA fantasy.

Sixteen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, no one speaks to her. No one even looks at her. Because Twylla isn't a member of the court.

She's the executioner. As the goddess-embodied, Twylla kills with a single touch. So each week, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason.

No one will ever love her. Who could care for a girl with murder in her veins? Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to her touch, avoids her.
But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose playful smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the goddess. Yet a treasonous romance is the least of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies-a plan that requires an unthinkable sacrifice.

Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo 

The Sin Eater's Daughter is a huge disappointment of a book. I think the only thing that salvaged this to 2 stars for me is the twist at the end, which I completely did not expect. Aside from that, I don't even know what to praise anymore. I mean, I guess the story is quite original, but nah, unfortunately, it's not my cup of tea.

Here's why I couldn't bring myself to like this book:
1. The world. The world was basically constricted to Tywlla's room and temple and a few parts of the castle. Yes, there were talk of other Kingdoms, but none of them were explored.

2. The plot. Because the world is constricted to Twylla's room and temple, there was not much of a plot except for the evil queen and the romance. Granted, there were a lot of revelations, but still, the world and plot seemed to be narrow-scoped to me, compared to most fantasy novels.

3. The love triangle. Oh, it was so predictable that she would fall for Lief! I mean, what ever happened to girls wanting to marry Princes as the cliché? In novels nowadays, cliché means loving the other guys, and thus it's what's predictable nowadays.

4. What is up with that ending? The novel has an open-ending that I don't get, and there were many loose ends still not tied. What ever happened to the Kingdom, the prince and Lief? There are still so many questions left unanswered, and overall I'm just not satisfied with that ending.

5. It was a boring read. I didn't feel compelled to read it, and the only reason that I didn't put it down is because I have a hard time not finishing books and feel the need to finish them once I reach pass 50%. I keep waiting for amazing things to happen, but until the twist and after the twist, everything was just boring for me.

6. I can't connect to the characters. Twylla is stupid and both Lief and Merek felt manipulative to me. The queen is evil, we all know that, and her mother is a bitch. Everyone in this novel infuriated me at some point, and I just couldn't find a single character that I liked.

7. Self-pitying Twylla. In the end, Twylla was talking about everything was her fault, bla bla bla, and said that she should stop pitying herself. But what does she do a few pages later? Go back to pitying herself, of course. Ugh, Trylla, you infuriate me!

Overall, I didn't like the world nor the plot, didn't get a proper ending, and dealt with characters that infuriated me. If it were not for the unexpected twist, this would have been a 1-star book. I think it's safe to say that I wasted my time trying to finish this novel, when clearly I didn't connect to it from the start. 

2 stars. Ah, it's okay. 

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Review: The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

Title: The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game #1)
Author: Evelyn Skye
Kindle, 399 pages
Published: March 17th 2010
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre: YA - Fantasy - Historical Fiction - Romance
Source: via Edelweiss

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love... or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear... the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo 

I had a hard time deciding what rating to give this book because while I didn’t really enjoy it, I didn’t really hate it either. However, upon thinking about it, I realized that I have no desire to read the next book, so I decided to just give this book 2 stars. I know a lot of people loved this book, and I really wanted to love this book because of the amazing concept, but it turns out that I am yet again the black sheep.

What I Liked:
1. The premise of this book is very interesting: Set in Russia, the two enchanters born of that time (1800’s) were to enter in the Crown’s Game to duel each other until one dies and the other becomes the Grand Enchanter of Russia. I mean, it has magic and it’s set in Russia! I really was interested in that plot, and I felt like it would be a really unique book.

2. The vivid descriptions: In the game, the enchanters were tasked to please Pasha for his birthday celebration, so the enchanters created a lot of beautiful things such as fountains, magical boxes that would create masquerade gowns, islands, etc. The author did a really great job of describing these, and I felt like I was able to see those things clearly.

3. The writing: Not that it was anything special, but I felt like the writing was good. I had no problems with the pacing and choice of words. And as mentioned above, the author is really good in descriptions without being too overbearing with words.

What I Didn’t Like:
1. Multiple POVs: I don’t usually have problems with multiple POVs, especially when the book is in the third person perspective, but I was just annoyed in the execution of it in this book. At first I thought there was already this set amount of narrators, but throughout the book, new ones just keep popping out. I would prefer it if from the start, I knew which people would get to narrate the novel, because I was just confused at times why there were new ones popping out, even neat the end of the book.

2. Love Square?: I don’t really like love triangles, but this novel has a love square! It was infuriating because I was really looking forward to the magic element of the novel, but at some point the focus became the romance. And can I just say how predictable it is that Vika and Nikolai would fall in love with each other? I think I would have preferred it if it became Vika + Pasha and Nikolai + Renata, just for the sake of being different for once.

3. Bland: I don’t know, this book just wasn’t interesting enough for me. I was really looking forward to reading this book the longest times, but it fell short of my expectations. In my opinion, it lacks the excitement that I wanted it to have, so I didn’t really mind if I was interrupted or anything.

2 stars. Ah, it's okay. 

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ARC Review: Ruined (Ruined #1) by Amy Tintera

Title: Ruined (Ruined #1)
Author: Amy Tintera
Kindle, 368 pages
Published:  May 3rd 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: YA - High Fantasy - Romance - Magic

Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war. She lacks the powers of her fellow Ruined. Worst of all, she witnessed her parents’ brutal murders and watched helplessly as her sister, Olivia, was kidnapped.

But because Em has nothing, she has nothing to lose. Driven by a blind desire for revenge, Em sets off on a dangerous journey to the enemy kingdom of Lera. Somewhere within Lera’s borders, Em hopes to find Olivia. But in order to find her, Em must infiltrate the royal family.

In a brilliant, elaborate plan of deception and murder, Em marries Prince Casimir, next in line to take Lera’s throne. If anyone in Lera discovers Em is not Casimir’s true betrothed, Em will be executed on the spot. But it’s the only way to salvage Em’s kingdom and what is left of her family.

Em is determined to succeed, but the closer she gets to the prince, the more she questions her mission. Em’s rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life—and her family—on the line, love could be Em’s deadliest mistake. 

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo

  Thank you, Amy Tintera, for giving me a new fantasy series that I can excited about! Ah, this book is wonderful, and it kind of hurts that I won’t get to read the second book anytime soon. Amy Tintera created a world that is easy to love, no matter how complicated the politics may be. As you guys may know, I am not much of a fantasy fan, so it always takes me by surprise whenever I really, really enjoy a fantasy novel. And Ruined? Well, Ruined did amazing in the books of a not-so-fantasy-fan. Ruined is told in a dual POV, which I just love so much, so that was definitely an added bonus.

  In Ruina, people are valued for the powers they possess. However, Emelina, a member of the royal family, is regarded as useless because of her lack of powers. When the King of Lera waged a war against Ruina, killed her parents and took her sister hostage, Em pretends to be Princess Mary of Vallos in order to execute a complicated plan to avenge her family and save her sister. As Princess Mary, Em had to marry Prince Casimir of Lera, where she realized that Prince Cas is not what she expected at all.

  One of my absolute favorite things about this book is the blood-pumping action that made it hard to resist to keep turning the pages. My heart was literally pounding because of the action-packed chapters, and I’ve never been more excited while reading a book! I felt everything as though I were the main characters, and that’s just one of the most amazing things ever. Although this book is action-packed, Tintera still managed to make this one well-paced.

  And the romance! The romance just made me feel so giddy. I’m a hopeless romantic, and I just love reading about romances like these. I feel like they’re full of tension, which just makes everything all the more exciting. Em and Cas slowly started seeing more of who the other truly is, and that process of liking each other despite not expecting to do so just makes me happy.

  Ah, Ruined truly is an amazing book, and I just cannot wait for the next books in the series! This is definitely a book that I would recommend. Oh, just please let me have the second book already!

 Totally Awesome! I loved it, would read again.

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Book Review: Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore

Title: Graceling (Graceling Realm #1)
Author: Kristin Cashore
Kindle, 481 pages
Published:  October 1st 2008
Publisher: Harcourt
Genre: YA - High Fantasy - Romance

Kristin Cashore’s bestselling, award-winning fantasy Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable-yet-strong Katsa, a smart, beautiful teenager who lives in a world where selected people are given a Grace, a special talent that can be anything from dancing to swimming. Katsa’s is killing. As the king’s niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his thug. Along the way, Katsa must learn to decipher the true nature of her Grace… and how to put it to good use. A thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure (and steamy romance!) that will resonate deeply with adolescents trying to find their way in the world.

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo

“When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?” 

  The reason that I read Graceling was because it was included in The Noob's Guide to Fantasy Reads. And, that it what I am - a noob in the fantasy genre. Indeed, it takes a while getting into fantasy books, and this one is no different.

  Graceling was a pretty good book, in my opinion. It has a good plot, I love the main characters, and the writing style was good. But the thing is, I felt like it lacked the element of excitement, when I would just turn the page until I got to the last one, pause for a while and process what just happened. With this book, I'm liking it, but I wouldn't mind putting down the book to do other things, and I wouldn't be mad if I was interrupted. Which is why it took me so long to finish the book. However, I still really enjoyed this one.

  The strong heroine that I always enjoy is present in this book. Katsa definitely is a strong woman, and not just physically. She can stand on her own two feet and doesn't like relying on anyone. She has a pretty great character development in this novel. She started from being enslaved by King Randa, to setting out on her own. From acting on her temper, to learning how to control it. From never letting feelings get to her, to letting go and accepting her feelings.

  I didn't really like Po in this novel. He always keeps things hidden from anyone, even Katsa, letting others figure things out before he confesses. Sometimes I'm really annoyed at him and I want to beat him up like Katsa wanted to, except I wouldn't know how to and Katsa would.

“Mercy was more frightening than murder, because it was harder.” 

  My favorite character from this novel is Bitterblue. She's just 10 years old, but she understands so much. She's a princess, but she's no brat. She's usually quiet, but when help is needed, no one needs to tell her to do so. She's very helpful, strong, understanding, and wise beyond her years.

  Overall, this was a pretty good book, but it lacks a little bit of excitement.

 Totally Awesome! I loved it, would read again.

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