I know it's been a while since I posted on here but I thought I'd do a quick post to tell you that I've moved to Wordpress. Here is a link to my new wordpress blog: kylaslibrary.wordpress.com where I'm still doing book reviews, wrap ups and all sorts of bookish things.
Wednesday, 30 December 2020
Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Top Ten Tuesday- Book Characters I'd Love To Be Best Friends With
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is: Book Characters I’d Love to Be Besties With.
Izzy O'Neill (Izzy O'Neill by Laura Steven) -
Izzy would be such a great character to be best friends with. Her humour is very much my style so I think it'd be fun to hang out with her.
Magnus (The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare) -
I think Magnus would be great to be best friends with and there wouldn't be a dull moment with him around.
Celaena (Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas) -
The same with Magnus, I think there wouldn't be a dull moment with Caelena and I think she'd be a good friend to have.
Kate Daniels (Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews) -
I would love to be a part of Kate Daniels' inner circle of friends since they all seem to care about each other very much.
Angel (I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman) -
I'd love to be besties with Angel because I think she would really understand my feelings about my favourite groups (BTS & GOT7) because she feels the same about The Ark and it'd be fun to fangirl with her.
Who are some characters you would like to be besties with?
Friday, 9 August 2019
Book Review: Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion #1) by Jessie Mihalik
Series: Consortium Rebellion book 1
Author: Jessie Mihalik
Genre: Adult sci-fi, romance
A space princess on the run and a notorious outlaw soldier become unlikely allies in this imaginative, sexy space opera adventure—the first in an exciting science fiction trilogy.
In the far distant future, the universe is officially ruled by the Royal Consortium, but the High Councillors, the heads of the three High Houses, wield the true power. As the fifth of six children, Ada von Hasenberg has no authority; her only value to her High House is as a pawn in a political marriage. When her father arranges for her to wed a noble from House Rockhurst, a man she neither wants nor loves, Ada seizes control of her own destiny. The spirited princess flees before the betrothal ceremony and disappears among the stars.
Ada eluded her father’s forces for two years, but now her luck has run out. To ensure she cannot escape again, the fiery princess is thrown into a prison cell with Marcus Loch. Known as the Devil of Fornax Zero, Loch is rumored to have killed his entire chain of command during the Fornax Rebellion, and the Consortium wants his head.
When the ship returning them to Earth is attacked by a battle cruiser from rival House Rockhurst, Ada realizes that if her jilted fiancé captures her, she’ll become a political prisoner and a liability to her House. Her only hope is to strike a deal with the dangerous fugitive: a fortune if he helps her escape.
But when you make a deal with an irresistibly attractive Devil, you may lose more than you bargained for . . .
My Rating: 4 STARS
My Review:
Polaris Rising opens up with Ada being captured and locked up on a space ship. She has been on the run for two years from her father, who wanted to marry her off, and now she has got captured and is on her way back to her father. So from the very start of Polaris Rising we are thrown right into the thick of things and I really liked that because a lot of books take a while to build up to something exciting (and that's okay) but I'm glad that this book just catches your attention straight away.
I really liked Ada and found her an interesting character, I liked how she thought. She's a character not afraid to take action but she also thinks and plans things out which I liked, she's good at strategising. I also liked Loch, even though he's a hard character to understand sometimes, and I liked Ada and his interactions with each other and how they teamed up in the beginning and came to rely on each other throughout the book. It made the romance have more depth to it when it developed.
I liked how the universe in Polaris Rising was described, it all felt well developed and I especially like how the Houses were described. The politics between these leading Houses was all very intriguing to read and the Houses felt unique to one another. I can't wait to see if we find out more about the other Houses in future books.
Overall I enjoyed Polaris Rising a lot and think it's an interesting sci-fi/romance book with great characters and a well developed world/universe. The plot was fast paced and never boring, I'm very excited for the next book.
Tuesday, 6 August 2019
Top Ten Tuesday- Favourite Book Covers
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is: Cover Redesigns but I decided to change it and show a few of my favourite book covers.
Under A Dancing Star by Laura Wood
The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Peebles
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer
What are some of your favourite book covers?
Friday, 2 August 2019
Book Review: The Cursed Sea (The Glass Spare #2) by Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Glass Spare book 2
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Genre: YA fantasy
Wil, the exiled princess of northern Arrod, must do what she never thought possible: return home to discover the origins of her own curse.
But home is very different from how she left it—Wil’s unpredictable elder brother Baren is now king, leading a war against the Southern Isles. And with time running out, Wil must navigate the dangerous secrets within her family to find the truth.
Nothing goes as planned, and suddenly Wil and her allies are fighting for their lives as the Southern king is out to ensure neither of his children will survive to take the throne. Traveling across cursed seas and treacherous kingdoms, Wil and Loom must make peace with their pasts if they hope to secure the future of their world.
But when their plans lead them right back to evil marveler Pahn, and to Baren—who is more dangerous than ever—can Wil and her friends outsmart their enemies, this time for good?
My Rating: 4 STARS
My Review:
The Cursed Sea opens up where The Glass Spare left off. At the beginning of The Cursed Sea Wil is back in Northern Arrod, her home kingdom, trying to find answers for Pahn that will save Loom. I liked seeing the reunion of Wil and her family, it was something I was waiting on since she left her home in The Glass Spare. It was really nice to see her meet with Gerdie again and I thought it interesting how Barren reacted to her.
The Cursed Sea centres on the mystery of Wil and her family and what made them 'cursed'. I liked how that was the centre of this book because I was expecting it to focus on the impending war between the two kingdoms but I'm glad that that was more of a side story to the main story of Wil and her curse.
In the beginning of The Cursed Sea Wil is very focused on Loom and after the initial reunion with her family she is very much concentrated on Loom and his predicament and I didn't like that because I found the family dynamics much more interesting in this duology than the romance so to see Wil more focused on this guy she just met a few weeks ago than her family kind of annoyed me but I will say that only lasted a short while before the story came back around to the family.
And although I disliked how Loom held Wil's attention more than her family at the beginning, I still liked the romance of this book and I do like Loom as well. I also liked how we see more of Loom and Espel's complicated sibling relationship in this book.
Overall I thought this was a great sequel and conclusion to this duology. I really liked the intricate mystery behind Wil's family and I thought it was just as fast paced as the first. The ending was great and I liked how it wrapped everything up.
Thursday, 1 August 2019
July Wrap Up 2019
What I Read:
The Glass Spare (The Glass Spare book 1) by Lauren DeStefano - 4 STARS
I enjoyed this book a lot and I liked the family interactions, it was a fast paced YA fantasy and I'm glad I read it.
The Cursed Sea (The Glass Spare book 2) by Lauren DeStefano - 4 STARS
I went straight onto this book after finishing the first and I liked this just as much. I liked how the mystery of the family curse was explained and I thought this was a great conclusion to the duology.
Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno - 2 STARS
I liked the beginning of this book, it builds up this mysterious magical island and family very well and at the beginning I thought this could end up being a 5 STAR read but then things started to go downhill. I didn't find any of the characters that interesting and as the plot went on I found things to be very predictable, some of the main mysteries in this book were easily guessed. (spoilers and content warning ahead) This book deals with the topic of rape and I didn't like how that became one of the mysteries in this book. This is only my opinion and I know many people loved it so I'd recommend reading more reviews of it.
Polaris Rising (The Consortium Rebellion book 1) by Jessie Mihalik - 4 STARS
I liked this book and found the characters and the space politics interesting. This is a great sci-fi/romance book with intriguing world building.
Girls of Paper and Fire (Girls of Paper and Fire book 1) by Natasha Ngan - 4 STARS
I've wanted to read this book since it was released but because of the subject matter of the book I was hesitant. This book deals with topics of rape and sexual abuse so that makes it a very hard read so I can't say this was an enjoyable read but I did like the writing.
Under A Dancing Star by Laura Wood - 5 STARS
I loved this book a lot. The main reason I picked this book up was because I liked the authors other book, A Sky Painted Gold, and thought I would like this and I was right. This book takes place in the 1930s and is about a girl trying to find her place in the world even if it seems like it's already been decided for her. I would highly recommend reading this and I'll be doing a full review of it soon.
Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle book 1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - 3 STARS
I was disappointed in this book. It was an okay read but I didn't like the characters and although the plot was action packed I still felt like nothing really happened in it. I liked the ending and it did get exciting in the run up to the ending.
Blog Posts I Did In July:
My July Bookstagram pictures (xo_reader_kyla):
I read so many books in July and that was mainly because I participated in the Reading Rush readathon which was a lot of fun. I didn't get to all of the books on my Reading Rush TBR but I'm happy with the amount of things I read. What did you read in July?
Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Disappointing Sequels and Series Endings
I've read a lot of book series over the years and there have been many a sequel and conclusion that I loved but today on my blog I thought I'd list some of the book sequels/conclusions that have disappointed me. I have loved nearly all the first books in these series but I really feel that a lot of the sequels and endings on this list were not needed and were not as good as previous books in the series. I've also linked this post up with this week's Top Ten Tuesday (a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) topic since this week's topic was: freebie.
Allegiant (Divergent book 3) by Veronica Roth
Up from the Grave (Night Huntress book 7) b Jeaniene Frost
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows book 2) by Leigh Bardugo
Vengeful (Vicious book 2) by V.E. Schwab
Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers book 3) by Becky Chambers
Fierce Fragile Hearts (Beautiful Broken Things book 2) by Sara Barnard
The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air book 2) by Holly Black
The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer book 3) by Michelle Hodkin
What book sequels/conclusions were you disappointed in?
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