The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Review

Book Review:
Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Titan Books

“...it is sad, of course, to forget.
But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.
To remember when no one else does.”

When Addie La Rue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But there's always a price - the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone.
Addie flees her tiny home town in 18th-Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day.
Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him.
Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she can't escape her fate forever.

The Bone Shard Daughter - Review

Book Review:
Title: The Bone Shard Daughter
Author: Andrea Stewart
Publisher: Orbit

"We all tell ourselves stories of who we are, and in my mind, I was always the hero. But I wasn’t. Not in all the ways I should have been."

The emperor's reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire's many islands.
Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.
Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.

The Gilded Wolves - (Mini) Review

Book Review:
Title: The Gilded Wolves
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher:Wednesday Books

“I don't want to be their equal. I don't want them to look us in the eye. I want them to look away, to blink harshly, as if they'd stared at the sun itself. I don't want them standing across from us. I want them kneeling."

It's 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.
To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.
Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history--but only if they can stay alive.

The City of Brass - Review

Book Review:
Title: The City of Brass
Author: S.A. Chakraborty
Publisher: Harper Voyager UK

"Often the mightiest things have the humblest beginnings."

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...

5 Series on my 2020 TBR

Like any other reader and blogger, I have way too many books on my TBR. Some that have been on there for years and some that have just recently been added. It's a problem.
Too many books, yet so little time (never mind the fact that I procrastinate too much and have a huge love for rereading my favourite books for comfort, therefore my TBR only ever goes up and never down)

I have discovered that if I write and post a tweet on Twitter stating what my next read(s) will be, I am way more likely to actually follow through and read the book. I don't know why, but it just works.

So that's what I'm going to do here! I narrowed down my TBR to series and then after a LOT of deliberation, I picked the top 5 series I am most excited to get to and feel like I would enjoy the most. Some of these are finished series, some still have books to come.

Lets get to it:

From Blood and Ash - Review

Book Review:
Title: From Blood and Ash
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Blue Box Press

“Fear and bravery are often one and the same. It either makes you a warrior or a coward. The only difference is the person it resides inside.”

A Maiden… 
Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. 
A Duty… 
The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden. 
A Kingdom…
Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City) - Review

Book Review:
Title: House of Earth and Blood
Author: Sarah J Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

“That's the point of it, Bryce. Of life. To live, to love, knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.”

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

The Midnight Lie - Review

Book Review:
Title: The Midnight Lie
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
I received an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“It’s a midnight lie... a kind of lie told for someone else’s sake, a lie that sits between goodness and wrong, just as midnight is the moment between night and morning.” 

Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences.
Nirrim keeps her head down and a dangerous secret close to her chest.
But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away who whispers rumors that the High Caste possesses magic. Sid tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself. But to do that, Nirrim must surrender her old life. She must place her trust in this sly stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.

A Heart So Fierce & Broken - Review

Book Review:
Title: A Heart so Fierce and Broken
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Books
I received an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Choices are never easy. There are good and bad options, but the most dangerous is to not make any choice at all.”

Find the heir, win the crown.  
The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers. 
Win the crown, save the kingdom.  
Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen--until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?
The heart-pounding, compulsively readable saga continues as loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.

Favourite Reads of 2019

2019 was quite the year. I finished my 2^nd of University (with an average of 80% ayyyyyyyyy) and I started my Industrial Placement at one of the biggest companies in the UK. For those unaware, an Industrial Placement is when a student does a year in industry between their 2^nd and 3^rd year at Uni. I’m currently just over 6 months in and it has been a crazy experience thus far. Full time, 9-5 work is no joke. It’s such a great learning experience, and I’m having so much fun, but it’s also intense and highly stressful. As a result, in terms of numbers, 2019 has been my worst reading year probably since I first properly got into reading about 6/7 years ago! I read 39 books in 2019, which isn’t bad by any means, but I did set my Goodreads goal at 45 ☹

However, saying that, for the first time in years, I actually found it easy to pick my favourite reads of the year (I have become increasingly picky with handing out 5 stars) and I really truly did love all the following books;

✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

The Wicked King - Holly Black

First up we have my first actual read of 2019. When I read The Cruel Prince back in 2018, I enjoyed it, but a part of me was left a little underwhelmed and so The Wicked King could have gone either way for me. And I’m so happy it went the positive way and I absolutely LOVED it! It was fast paced and thrilling, and I fell in love with Jude and Cardan. I also read The Queen of Nothing in 2019, and while I loved that too and rated it 4.5 stars, TWK is for sure my favourite of the trilogy and is therefore wholly deserving of a spot on this list!