Arc Review: Perfect (Flawed #2) by Cecelia Ahern

Perfect (Flawed #2) by Cecelia Ahern

Published: April 4th 2017

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Available from:

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Synopsis:

Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine's life has completely fractured--all her freedoms gone.

Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the public, she has been a ghost, on the run with Carrick--the only person she can trust.

But Celestine has a secret--one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. A secret that has already caused countless people to go missing.

Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand, and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save just herself or to risk her life to save all Flawed people.

And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human in itself is to be Flawed?

Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Flawed (Flawed #1) by Cecelia Ahern

Published: March 24th 2016

Rating: 3 out of 5

✥✤✤✤

Available from:

✥✤✤✤

Synopsis:

You will be punished…

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

Review: Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Publishers: Henry Holt & Co/Macmillan

Published Date: June 4th 2013

From: Bought

My rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis:

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her–or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Review:

Siege and Storm is the second book of the wonderful Grisha Trilogy. A pseudo-Russian tale of commoner girl becoming more powerful than the king who runs the country. Grisha are the people born with magical skills. Some can muster weather, others can create. The worst Grisha is the Darkling whose only end game is to take control of the country and rule. And only Alina, an orphan, deserter from the army and late developer of her Sun summoning skill, can stop him. In Shadow and Bone we learned how Alina along with her best friend Mal travel across the Fold and Alina saves the lives of everyone, especially Mal's. At the end she runs from her life at the palace knowing the Darkling wants her power and also wants her by his side to conquer the country of Ravka.

We start this sequel as Alina and Mal are making a life for themselves far away from the enemy. Both are enjoying their life undetected and away from the threats of Ravka. Friends from a young age there is even a hint of the growing romance between them but their secret life is brought to an awful crashing end when the Darkling catches up with them.

From here on the adventure takes us through twists and turns. The privateer Sturmhond takes them on a journey and ends up revealing a more important side to his character. And soon word is spreading about a living saint, Sankta Alina - Saint Alina, the Sun Summoner. Supposedly raised from the dead and turned saint, Sankta Alina is the only one who can bring the Darkling finally down. But with rumours of his army growing larger and soldiers deserting the First Army, Ravka is on the brink of war.

You know when you're reading a good book and a thrilling series when you really can't bear to put the book down and you're grateful you have so much more to read. Then you reach the end and you feel that pain that says 'Now I have to wait another year - Why??'

Leigh Bardugo does not disappoint in this amazing sequel. The characters are as rich, humourous and as real as before. The range of emotions Alina goes through has heightened since the last book and I truly felt sorry for her situation. She neither asked for it or felt it was deserved. In the same vain Mal was a wonderful guy who stood by her, despite fighting his own demons of being non-Grisha and in the end he still accepted her for who she is. But the one who stole the book for me was Prince Nikolai. What a great character to bring into the second book. Funny, witty and clever with it. Alina would have been lost without him.

If you enjoy tales of magic, intrigue and heroes then this is the series you definitely should read. Don't forget to check out the small stories in between also. Here's a link to Goodreads where you can download or view them.

Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo  

Here's the official video trailer

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Review: Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth 

Publishers: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
Published Date:  May 8th 2012
From: NetGalley
My rating: 2 out of 5

Synopsis:
Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

Review:

Very disappointed with this one. I was expecting something and read something else entirely. I even had this one as my Waiting on Wednesday last year.

Firstly the main character, Mia, is a lightening addict. In the prologue she introduces us to what happens when she gets struck. She feels the pain, she loses her skin but she heals really quickly. After a horrendous earthquake leaves Los Angeles in ruins, Mia and her family are coping, but barely. At school, she's introduced to the Seekers, an alternative dark version of the white Followers who are led by a self proclaimed Prophet. The two cults face off through most of the book, both trying to get Mia to join them. Both sides know she is a lightening addict, in fact no one else has the skill that she's developed. She's crucial for some final plan.

I didn't expect this book to be mostly about cults, and with the Followers there's so much God talk and a little too much bible quoting. It wasn't until about 85% into the story that Mia actually got her first lightening strike. She has some pretty strong powers but she didn't use them at all until the end.

The love interest, Jeremy, was a dead giveaway. I guessed who he was. When he gives Mia his visions, and then tells her that the outcome isn't definite then why didn't she step up and deal with the Prophet before anything bad happened?

Overall, the writing is very good. The imagery is impressive. I just expected a little more lightening and drama.


-CB x

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Review: Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Publishers: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

Published: Date: June 5th 2012

Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis:

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

Review:

In the fantasy land of Ravka, that is reminiscent of Old Russia, Alina and her childhood friend Mal are in the army. Alina has found being a mapmaker is one of the few things she can do because she enjoys drawing. Mal is good as a tracker. When they were 8 years old they were tested for possible Grisha skills (magic) but both were found to have nothing of value.

But when their lives are threatened crossing the infamous 'Fold', a swathe of darkness that hampers the land, Alina's power shines out like the sun and pushes the enemy away. From that moment her life changes beyond all measure.

This is a wonderful story, written with such super precision. The world building is easy to understand and no aspect of Alina's adventure drags on for chapter after chapter. The pace is steady and the conclusion is reached with wonderful tension building and leaves us wondering what will happen next.

Alina is a plucky, courageous character, and although I had doubts about Mal in the beginning, he did show his true colours towards the end. The Darkling was charming and came over altogether as a misunderstood leader who wanted the best for his kingdom. But his dark intentions come true near the end. In a way I was sorry it turned that way because I think the pairing of the Darkling and a Sun Summoner (Alina) would have been an interesting twist. I think in the end, when we get the next book, only Alina can save him from himself.

Altogether a great read that will keep you on the edge of your toes!!

-CB x

  Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the Six of Crows Duology and the Grisha Trilogy (Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising), as well as the upcoming Wonder Woman: Warbringer (Aug 2017) and The Language of Thorns (Sept 2017).

She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. These days, she lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band.

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