Top Ten Tuesday

And its time for another Top Ten Tuesday! This feature is hosted over at The Broke and The Bookish and this weeks topic is back to school freebie! I chose to be nostalgic and think back to my top ten favorite books I read while I was in high school!

1. Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.
Lets just get the obvious out of the way. I think we can agree that about 90% of high school girls in 2008 were obsessed with twilight! And I was on of them and I'm anything but ashamed! I was obsessed!












2. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.
I loved this book with all my heart! I think I reread it about 4 times in freshman year!









3. Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin.
I remember this being such an enjoyable book! and the cover is so pretty and shiny...











4. and 5. The Hobbit and The Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.
My love for Lord of The Rings has always been strong!










6. Unwind by Neal Shusterman.
I did a book report on this one as a senior and it was the first time I was actually excited to do my homework.










7. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
It was one of favorites while I was in high school!











8. Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
My first fantasy book and its really what started my love for the genre!










9. Stolen by Lucy Christopher.
This one really made an impact in me when I was a teen. I remember all of my friends and I passed it around and discussed it for months.












10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This was and still is one of my most treasured trilogies! I read this for the first time in junior year and I couldn't believe how amazing it was! This was the first series I was ever really obsessed with! It made me think about things that I'd never really pondered and I loved that!

So that's my list! I enjoyed going down memory lane and I kinda wanna reread some! So what list did you come up with?!

Review: Siege and Storm

Siege and Storm
Leigh Bardugo

Hardcover, 435 pages

Published June 4th 2013 by Henry Holt and Company

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. 

Oh lord, I don't know how to properly write this review. Basically, just prepare for a mess!

Plot: The pace of this book starts out really fast! I honestly thought that we'd have to wait a bit for some action but we were thrown into it pretty quickly! However, the middle is a bit slow. I enjoyed it cause I just love being in the grisha world so I'd take anything really! I honestly enjoyed this book so much! I, once again, didn't see any of the plot twists coming and I just loved that!

Characters: We had a couple new characters introduced in this book and I really enjoyed them! I knew we were gonna be introduced to Nikolai in this one and I can now understand why everyone loves him! He really grew on me and I loved his epic one liners! I especially loved it when he would piss off Mal! I lived for those moments!  And I really liked that some of the characters from the first book came more into there own in this one, like Zoya and David! And I enjoyed Alina's struggle with power. She had some pretty bad ass moments and mass respect to her for them!

At its best:  The Darkling came back a bigger bad ass than before and I still swooned! He's still my favorite part of this trilogy! Nothing beats him! I really wish there had been more of him this book! I missed him...

At its worst: The only problem I had with this book was all the Alina/Mal drama. If I didn't hate Mal before, he sure took care of that in this book! He was so whiny and selfish! And the way he would bring Alina down drove me insane! It was bad enough that I even started hating Alina because of him! Really though, there were moments when I rolled my eyes so hard I went dizzy! They were an absolute menace!

Read again: Oh hell yeah

Continue series: Series=Done

Final thoughts: My heart could not handle this book! I think I actually shed tears at the end from the adrenaline! I was that shook! Seriously, that ending is what makes the whole book! After reading this one, I knew that the next and final book was gonna destroy me! I can't stop obsessing! I just can't!

Rating:5/5 Stars!

Review: Shadow And Bone

Shadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo

Hardcover, 358 pages

Published June 5th 2012 by Henry Holt and Company

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.

I went in to this book not expecting much and good lord was I pleasantly surprised!

Plot: So interesting and Entertaining! I found the plot had a lot of tropes we see in a lot of YA which, honestly didn't bug me. I loved the pace of the story, everything moved along pretty quickly. There are some parts of the book that were slow but they were with purpose. Honestly I loved all of it though! I loved that every time I thought I knew what was I gonna happen next, I'd be completely wrong! I'm usually right and I loved being wrong! I found the Grisha universe to be mesmerizing! The world Bardugo built is so wonderful and I just wanna know more!

Characters: I really enjoyed almost all of the characters! Alina, the main protagonist is okay. I didn't love her to be honest, but I didn't hate her either. I did however love her friend Genya! She was precious! The only character that I didn't like was Mal. He was just so plain and boring to me! There were somethings I liked about him but just not enough to over power his dullness.

At its best: I'm not even gonna pretend to be subtle about it. The Darkling is the best thing about this book and probably the series too. I am in love with him.

   He is everything. He's complex and mysterious and smart and powerful. Just everything! And When the truth about him is revealed...

The obsession has rooted itself deep my friends, I'm more than ok with it!

At its worst: As I mentioned above, the book has some tropes we see a lot of in other ya books. I found the mean girl to be unnecessary. We didn't need the girl on girl hate. And if you're wondering if Alina has brown hair and is considered too thin and unattractive, yes, all of the above. And also, Mal and Alina together aren't so great either. They were just meh and I wasn't invested in them as a couple.

Read again: Absolutely! And soon!

Continue series: Already have...

Final thoughts: I seriously loved it! I read it in one sitting and have been thinking about it ever since! I wanna know more! I wanna know everything! Give me the Darkling's history! Ravka's history! Its a knew favorite!

Rating: 6/5 stars! (because its a new fav!)

Review: The Beast is an Animal

The Beast is an Animal
Peternelle Van Arsdale

Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Published February 28th 2017 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

A girl with a secret talent must save her village from the encroaching darkness in this haunting and deeply satisfying tale.

Alys was seven when the soul eaters came to her village.

These soul eaters, twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly morphed into something not quite human, devour human souls. Alys, and all the other children, were spared—and they were sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where good and evil are as fundamental as the nursery rhymes children sing. Fear of the soul eaters—and of the Beast they believe guides them—rule village life. But the Beast is not what they think it is. And neither is Alys.

Inside, Alys feels connected to the soul eaters, and maybe even to the Beast itself. As she grows from a child to a teenager, she longs for the freedom of the forest. And she has a gift she can tell no one, for fear they will call her a witch. When disaster strikes, Alys finds herself on a journey to heal herself and her world. A journey that will take her through the darkest parts of the forest, where danger threatens her from the outside—and from within her own heart and soul. 

Plot: I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It has a folklore feel to it and I found that kind of soothing. The pace is slow but I didn't find that I minded to much! I've never read a book about soul eaters so I don't really have much to compare to but I found it a decent story!

Characters: I really liked the main protagonist Alys. You get to watch her grow up and become a brave young women. She goes through a lot and struggles with the reality of what she is and over all, was a very nice character to read through.

At its best: The way the book is written was my favorite thing. That and also the way the story has a "The Village" feel to it. Also, there were some scenes that managed to pull my heartstrings. They made me get really emotional!

At its worst: The ending was anti-climatic in my opinion. I wish they're had been more to it!

Read again: I'm not sure. Maybe one day.

Continue series: Not a series! A stand alone!

Final thoughts: It was a good read! I had a good time reading it! Its stuck with me enough that I sometimes still think about it! If you like that folklore feel to your stories then you'll like this one!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday

Yay! Top Ten Tuesday is back this week! This feature is hosted over at The Broke and The Bookish! This weeks topic is simply recommendations! So I've decide to list of a couple books that I think readers who don't usually read YA (or look down on the genre... *cough*someofmyfriends *cough*) will like!

1. Hunted by Meagan Spooner. Such a beautiful read! Might make you cry..

2. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake. So interesting! and the drama is top notch!

3. Unwind by Neal Shusterman . This book deals with some pretty adult topics and I think its really interesting to read!

4. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. A favorite of mine which also deals with some serious topics!

5. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. one of the first Fantasy series I read as a teen and its probably the reason fantasy is my favorite genre to this day!

6. & 7. Six of crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo . Amazing and brilliant are just two of the first words that come to my mind but there are so many more! This book feels like an adult book to me! I just love it!

That's my list, didn't make it to 10 but still! I recommend all these books and if you agree about these I'd love to know! What recommendations did you all make this week!