Recently Read: Throne of Glass

I finished Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas the other night. I got totally sucked into this book and immediately loved the characters.

This book is about Celaena, who is seventeen and her country's most acclaimed assassin. She was betrayed by someone close to her and captured, sent to a hard labor camp for the rest of her life. After a year in this camp, she is visited by the Prince Dorian who offers her freedom if she will compete in a competition as his champion for the spot of the King's assassin. Although Celaena despises the King who is responsible for her imprisonment and the ruin of her country, she cannot pass up the chance to win her freedom and she agrees.

Celaena is a kick butt character, let me tell you. She is so fierce and feisty. There is a love triangle in this book with her, the Prince, and the King's Guard Chaol. It is a true love triangle because Dorian and Chaol are best friends. This book was full of action, but the action didn't overshadow the characters and their development. I read this book on my nook and before I even finished it I ordered the sequel, and the prequel off of amazon. The third book in the series is going to be released on September 2, 2014, and I am super excited to read the rest of this series.

I'm not sure how many books will be in this series, but I know it will be a long series of at least six books. I visited Sarah J. Maas' website and discovered that she has been working on this series for ten years before the publication of the first book in the series, and she was inspired by the idea of Cinderella being sent to kill the prince instead of falling in love with him. Here is the link  to her website's page on this book if you are interested in checking it out.      

Recently Read: Bad Girls

I saw Bad Girls by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple with illustrations by Rebecca Guay at my local book store and was very, very tempted to pick it up but I put it down. Later that week I saw it at my library so I picked it up.

This book tells the story of many different "bad girls" in history. Staring with Delilah in 110 BCE and ending with Virginia Hill in the 1940's. Each woman has a shortened version of their story and a beautiful full page illustration. I really love the illustrations in this book, so much so that I would love to have prints to frame of a few of them. Another cool element of this book is that there is a comic page following each women's story where the authors, who are mother and daughter, discuss how truly "bad" each of these women were. 

This book is aimed at younger readers but I found it a quick and entertaining read, full of girl power. This book includes the story of Cleopatra, Anne Boylen,Catherine the Great, Bonnie Parker, and many others. I would highly recommend checking this book out!    

Recently Read: The Name of the Star

Last night I finished The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson the first book in the Shades of London series. The sequel The Madness Underneath is already out and I am hoping to read it soon.

This book revolves around Rory, an American girl who is spending her senior year at a boarding school in London. While she is at school she has a frightening experience that leaves her with strange abilities and in a lot of danger. I would rather not say too much about the plot because this book is so mysterious, the less you know about it the more you can be surprised. But I will say it revolves around someone recreating the Jack the Ripper murders in modern day London.

I will say that this book creeped me out! I was reading it in bed one night and had to put it down because I was getting a little freaked out, but in a good way if that makes sense. The characters are very likable. I found Rory to be such an entertaining character to read and enjoyed her narration of the story. Not only did this book creep me out, it made me laugh too. 

I think this book was a great set up for the rest of the series and now that the background story is set the next books can really take off. I just saw that the third book is set for release in March of next year. I would recommend you check this book out if you are looking for something a little bit different from what you usually read, or if you like creepy mysteries.     

Recently Purchased: Used Book Haul

I have bought way, way too many books this month already. I'm going to try to not buy anymore until the end of May when City of Heavenly Fire comes out... But we will see how well that goes!

Non-Classics

Jane and the Wandering Eye, Stephanie Barron Jane Austen solves murders, this is part of a larger series and looks very cute.

Becoming Marie Antoinette, Juliet Gray Historical fiction about a young Antoinette, this is the first of a trilogy I believe.

The Juliet Club, Suzanne Harper Quick summerish read about the club who responds to letters addressed to Juliet in modern day Verona. 

Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Markus Zusak I have never heard of this Zusak, but it looks interesting,

White Oleander, Janet Fitch I have seen this talked about a few times and am curious about it. 

Classics

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

Vile Bodies, Evelyn Waugh

To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

Selected Poems, Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Voyage Out, Virginia Woolf 

Ariel, Sylvia Plath 

Recently Read: Unwritten Graphic Novel Prequel and Vol. 1

I have been intrigued by graphic novels for quite a long time, but I have never read that many. I started a new series The Unwritten Series because it really captured my attention with the plot. A man writes a fantasy series, comparable in ways to Harry Potter and it gains massive fame and following. He mysteriously disappears before finishing the series and the fans latch on to his son Tom Taylor who happens to have the same name as the main character of the novels. I was pleasantly surprised by a dual story line that is happening in the past along side the main story line in the present, which I won't say too much about so first time readers can be surprised by it as well.

I read the prequel to the series which was released after the first few volumes in the series before reading Vol. 1. The prequel, Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice is the set up for the fantasy novels and the persona Tom's father was setting up for his son and his wish for his son to be connected to the book. This was a good read, though I would say it is not necessary to read before reading the rest of the series.

Vol. 1 is entitled Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. I read both of these graphic novels in one day. They were a quick and entertaining read and I am eager to get the next volumes from the library when I have a gap in my planned reading. The art in these novels is comic book style art, which I enjoyed. The first vol. was a nice set up for the rest of the series and I think the next few volumes will really pick up in action.   

March TBR

I'm on Spring Break from classes the first week of the month and I am hoping to get lots of time to read. Here's what I am really hoping to read this month.

Currently Reading: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I am about 2/3 of the way through the first book in the Infernal Devices trilogy, and so far I am enjoying it. Clare always creates very likable
characters that are easy to get attached too, and I am enjoying see already familiar characters pop up in this story as well.

I plan to continue with this series later in the month, but first I have a couple of things out from the library I am hoping to get to during break or shortly after.

Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice and
Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity This is a graphic novel series that I am interested in starting. The first is the prequel to the series which I believe came out after the first few books in the series, and the second title is the first in the series. From what I understand this is about a young man named Tommy Taylor who is constantly mistaken for the popular book character of the same name that his father created before he disappeared. Somehow Tommy's world fuses with the fictional world his father has created. There are four or five books out in this series as of now I believe. I will report back when I finish these.

The Name of the Star Maureen Johnson This one is on my Nook. I don't know much about this one either actually. It is a series with two books out in it now. Murders similar to the ones committed by Jack the Ripper are taking place in London once again and somehow a girl living in a boarding school works to solve the mysteries. You might know I am a big fan of mystery novels, but I have not read many YA mysteries so this one intrigued me.   
I am also hoping to get to Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare and a classic, but I have not decided which one yet.