The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys | A masterpiece of historical fiction!

Historical Fiction was never a genre I considered to be my favorite. I dipped my toes into it, tried some of the most popular books, like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Fall of Giants by Ken Follet and All the Lights We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. And while I was impressed by these works, I never truly experienced a full immersion in this literary genre. 

Everything changed with just one Ruta Sepetys book, who masterfully introduced the heartbreaking story of love, fear, and truth into the most severe times in Spanish history. 

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Most Anticipated Releases | October 2019

Autumn is usually filled with new releases. This October won’t be an exception. Even though there are more there hundreds of books coming out this month, I was very picky and chose my top 5 that I’m the most excited about!

One of them I already started reading, and let me tell you – it’s incredible!

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron | The unexpected DNF and what didn’t work for me in this new YA fantasy!

Such a promising concept, but… You’ll see my Goodreads “history” of reading this book and understand just how much of a pain it was to actually read it. I don’t want to say that I understand why other people might love it. Because, honestly, I don’t. But at the same time, I don’t think that this book is bad. However, it had a lot of issues, that I couldn’t just overlook. 

I felt so excited and happy to have my “wish granted” on NetGalley, as that rarely happens and this book sounded amazing. So I’m slightly disappointed that it wasn’t my cup of tea.

American Royals by Katharine McGee | Scandals, drama and gossip of the American monarchy!

When I was just out of high school, I was obsessed with the Gossip Girl TV show with Blake Lively as Serena and Leighton Meester as Blair, this TV show was the most stylish drama of my youth. It was actually my high school boyfriend who introduced me to the show, I remember that we watched some episodes together.

If you’ve never seen Gossip Girl, it’s the most addicting show that follows the lives of privileged teens in the upper east side, NYC. I was always wondered what was the budget of this series considering the settings and some of the most iconic wardrobes. I loved Serena’s style ❤ 

Much later, I’ve watched a couple of episodes of another TV show, called «The Royals». Basically, again the drama infused story about the royal family showcasing all the luxury but also the lack of privacy that comes with that life. 

«American Royals» is a perfect mix of these two shows, following the lives of royal children – Princess Beatrice, the eldest and the heir to the throne, and Princess Samantha and Prince Jeff – the twins who are always loud and in trouble. Every family, especially royal, needs a couple of troublemakers.

Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

This has happened again! Just like with «Miracle Creek» by Angie Kim, «Ten Thousand Doors of January» by Alix E. Harrow didn’t grab my attention enough to care about the characters or the destiny of different worlds. And while in my review of «Miracle Creek» I mentioned that there wasn’t anything I hated about the book, in «Ten Thousand Doors of January» I can say with confidence that I would have enjoyed this book so much more if not for the writing style. 

After seeing such a warm and loving feedback from the bookish community for this Alix E. Harrow novel, I’m very disappointed that I didn’t love it. And, although, my opinion is in minority, I still saw those 2 and 3 stars reviews on GoodReads of people who felt similarly to me. 

Most Anticipated Releases | September 2019

September begins with some very exciting new releases! It’s interesting how hyped I get about the last books in the series I haven’t even started yet, but we will blame it on the bookish community and my sensitivity to all things bookish.

In my defense, I already own the first two Nevernight books so it’s only a matter of actually reading them.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker | “Isn’t the future always an imaginary thing before it comes?”

If you go into this book hoping to get a thrilling science fiction world setting, you’ll be disappointed. This is a Literary Fiction with just a little bit of a dystopian element that helps to propel the plot forward. This is a book that focuses heavily on characters’ choices, believes, their wishes and dreams. 

«The Dreamers» by Karen Thompson Walker isn’t a book for everyone. Surprisingly, after a very “rough” start, I slowly fell in love with the story and many beautiful quotes.

The Hive by Barry Lyga, Morgan Baden | Not as good as I expected it to be.

I wish I could say that Barry Lyga swept me off my feet with his recently released new novel «The Hive». I wish I could say that it was the most amazing sci-fi I’ve read in a very long time. At least, these were my expectations going into this book. But it didn’t deliver. 

We all know that creating too many expectations can go very wrong sometimes, and this was probably the case. While I loved the somewhat dystopian world created by Barry Lyga, I didn’t care for Cassie and believed her character to be very shallow and undeveloped.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo | The book that pulled me out of a reading slump!

«Shadow and Bone» by Leigh Bardugo is the first book in the acclaimed Grisha world that surpassed all of my expectations! And yes, it is still the usual YA fantasy with cheesy lines, the fake “flawed” main character with big emphasis on the romance. But however cliché it was, I loved it! 

As I will be writing this review, there might be more and more “negative” things that I will think of, but I don’t even care about them anymore. I enjoyed reading this book from the moment I picked it up until the very last page, and nothing can change that. So be aware that my rating is solely based on my enjoyment of the book.

Most Anticipated Releases | August 2019

It’s officially the 6th day of NEWTs, and I’ve yet to read any of the books from my readathon TBR. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Instead I picked up «Normal People» by Sally Rooney (It’s amazing btw!) and spent many hours looking at the upcoming releases.

There are some very exciting books coming out this month (i.e. «The Passenger» by John Marrs) and I was very lucky to get two ARCs – «Bursts of Fire», which I’m planning to read asap, and «Keeping Lucy» that I read in June!

IGIST by L.S. Larson | Download free App and experience this new immersive sci-fi!

«IGIST» by L.S. Larson is a new YA Science-fiction with the most unique reading experience!  You can read this book as a normal physical copy that contains a few images that can interact with the IGIST app (at least that’s what the book states in the beginning). Personally, I switched between my Kindle, as I got a copy from NetGalley, and the IGIST app, that is free for download for Android and IOS. The app is quite impressive and I don’t know why more people didn’t think about this concept before. 

In the app, as you progress through the story you unlock achievements and gain points. I didn’t finish reading the book in the app, as I prefer to read on my Kindle, but for someone who has more advances phones with big screens, this app will be perfect, and it makes the reading experience very unique, you feel like you are achieving something as you read. Which is amazing! And I already can see this concept attracting the younger generation.

download the app

Most Anticipated Releases | July 2019

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There is only one downside to these “most anticipated releases” posts – I tend to request too many ARCs on Netgalley. Then they all get approved at the same time and I suddenly have tons of books that need to be read ASAP!

I still love seeing new releases and pick a few that spark my interest to share them on my blog.

July will be a great month for new releases! I’m the most excited about «The Merciful Crow» (that I didn’t get the ARC of) and «Stay and Fight» (that I’m going to start reading this week!).

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson | “A true child of the library”

One of the most anticipated releases of this month, «Sorcery of Thorns» by Margaret Rogerson made me fall in love with gigantic libraries, enchanted books, witty sorcerers and one brave apprentice librarian. As I plunged into the story, my reader heart immediately warmed up towards Elisabeth Scrivener, the orphan raised in the Great Library of Summershall, whose only big desire was to become a warden.

She was to be a warden, keeper of books and words. She was their friend. Their steward. Their jailer. And if need be, their destroyer.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Limited Wish (Impossible Times #2) by Mark Lawrence | Paradoxes and some more D&D campaigns!

A good mathematical proof is a gem. It sparkles in the same way, and like a diamond, it’s impervious to time. It takes and multiplies the light of understanding, refracting it through many facets.

Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence

I’m so glad that I had an opportunity to read the two books in the Impossible Times trilogy back to back. «One Word Kill» was an amazing “introduction” of the time traveling concept and the main characters, but «Limited Wish» brought the story to the next level, introducing even more dark and twisted moments.

You can read my review of «One Word Kill» here, but I will try to stay away from the spoilers and give a quick overview of improvements and things I enjoyed the most about the second book in this new Sci-Fi trilogy by Mark Lawrence.

One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence | Mind-bending time traveling & great D&D campaigns!

Being a huge fan of MMO RPGs and a World of Warcraft addict for over 6 years, Mark Lawrence’s new YA Sci-fi book hit all the right buttons!

Filled to the brim with mysterious events, science, and Friday nights D&D sessions,  «One Word Kill» is a perfect mix of Stranger Things, Dark Matter and The Fault in Our Stars, with a very unique presentation of time traveling.