Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Name: Four Dead Queens
Author: Astrid Scholte
Series Number/Standalone: Standalone
Dates Read: May 7-June 2
Rating: 3.5
ISBN: 9781101951026

Summary: 
A divided nation. Four Queens. A ruthless pickpocket. A noble messenger. And the murders that unite them.
​
Get in quick, get out quicker.

These are the words Keralie Corrington lives by as the preeminent dipper in the Concord, the central area uniting the four quadrants of Quadara. She steals under the guidance of her mentor Mackiel, who runs a black market selling their bounty to buyers desperate for what they can’t get in their own quarter. For in the nation of Quadara, each quarter is strictly divided from the other. Four queens rule together, one from each region:

Toria: the intellectual quarter that values education and ambition
Ludia: the pleasure quarter that values celebration, passion, and entertainment
Archia: the agricultural quarter that values simplicity and nature
Eonia: the futurist quarter that values technology, stoicism and harmonious community

When Keralie intercepts a comm disk coming from the House of Concord, what seems like a standard job goes horribly wrong. Upon watching the comm disks, Keralie sees all four queens murdered in four brutal ways. Hoping that discovering the intended recipient will reveal the culprit – information that is bound to be valuable bartering material with the palace – Keralie teams up with Varin Bollt, the Eonist messenger she stole from, to complete Varin’s original job and see where it takes them - Goodreads

Review:
I went on a bit of a rollercoaster with this book in terms of how much I was enjoying it while reading it.

When I first started the book, I was enjoying the writing and the concept, but the characters weren't really doing anything for me. I was prepared to have it end up being a two star book.

However, around 100 pages in, I got super invested in the story and the characters really started to click with me. The world started to make more sense and the mystery aspect of the plot really started to take off. In fact, I would say everything from parts 2 and 3 were fantastic. I practically doubled my reading speed from the first 100 pages because I was so enthusiastic to keep going and see what the outcome would be. Through here, I thought the book might end up being a 4-4.5 stars.

However, part 4 of the book fell a little flat for me. Especially in the last 60 or so pages. I felt like the solution to the murder was a little bit of a cop out. I felt like some of the conversations that took place should have been a bit more impactful than they turned out to be - as many of them were kind of glossed over and solved easily. This is a large part of what brought the rating down to a 3.5-3.75.

I was also very conflicted with the romance throughout this book. I enjoyed it, generally speaking. I liked both characters and I liked how they interacted with each other. My main problem came from the time frame. By the end of the book, the characters have known each other for about a week and one of them is willing to say that they're in love with the other, which is just a bit much for me.

That being said, I think that this book was a lot of fun and very well done, especially for a debut novel with a concept that was this complex. The story did wrap itself up relatively nicely, even though it felt a bit rushed. I'll definitely try whatever Astrid Sholte writes in the future!

God I'm bad at this

Wow. I guess it's been another 2 years, huh?
Sorry fam. I keep intending to stay active on here and then just falling off the bandwagon.
Honestly, I wasn't reading a whole lot over the last while, but so far this year reading has been going significantly better, so I think it might be time to raise this blog from the grave.

Hopefully I'll have another post up soon!

The Reading Quest

Hey all,
So if you haven't heard already, there is a really cool reading event that is about to take place! It's called The Reading Quest, and it's a reading challenge based on RPG style video games. Since I am a human who has played far too many of those, it would be a shame if I didn't take part!

This challenge is being hosted by Read at Midnight (click here for the post) and all of the artwork was done by CW of Read, Think, Ponder.

Here is the quest board:

I am going to be following along the Rogue path to start!

 For a Banned Book, I am going to read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time. It covers a fairly taboo subject, which is why it has been banned in so many places, but I've heard such great things about it that I want to give it a chance.

For a cover with a partially obscured face, I intend to read Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. Again, this is a bookt hat I've just been hearing nothing but amazing things about, and it's one of the few books that I currently have with me. I've been meaning to read it since it came out because I have a feeling that I'm really going to enjoy it!

For a book with less than 500 reviews on goodreads, I intend to read Traitor's Masque by Kenley Davidson. This is a self published novel with around 400 reviews, currently, on goodreads. It is supposed to be a retelling of the Cinderella story with some fantastical twists, so I'm really looking forward to diving into it.

For a book published by a small press I want to read Flame by E. Latimer, which is the second book in her Frost Chronicles series which is being published by Patchwork Press. I read the first book last year and really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to diving into this one.

And finally, for a book with a one word title, I want to read Rooms by Lauren Oliver. I have loved both of the books that I've read by this author in the past, and this book is also fairly short, which is nice! I'm hoping that I'll love it just as much as her other books and that I'll fly through it!















So those are all of the books I'm currently planning on reading! Are any of you guys taking part? You should let me know! I would love to keep up with your progress. I'm going to be posting at least once a week on here with my updates, mostly because I think it will help me keep track of everything!

Good luck, and happy reading,
Helen.

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

Title: The Nightmare Affair
Author: Mindee Arnett
Series: The Arkwell Academy Book One
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target. - Goodreads

The Nightmare Affair is a quick and fun paranormal read that had me flipping the pages as quickly as possible to find out what was going to happen next. This book took me by surprise with how much it dragged me in and wouldn't let me go. I had so much fun while reading it that upon finishing it, I found myself wishing that I owned the rest of the trilogy so that I could simply marathon my way through it, but alas, I do not, and so the marathon will have to wait.

While I did, obviously, love this book, it does have some flaws, most of which didn't take away from my over all enjoyment of the story. The two flaws that immediately stand out to me are some aspects of Dusty's personality, and how predictable one of the plot twists was. 

To elaborate on those points, there were times when I found Dusty to be a bit annoying. She takes everything at face value and doesn't stop to think about things before she acts. Of course, this is what leads to the vast majority of the events that happen in this book, but it would have been nice to have her doubt some of the things being told to her, at least a little bit. Or to have her be a bit stronger in her convictions. As for the plot twist, I'm not going to go into it because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read this book yet, but I will say that I did guess at least one of the people who had a hand in the murders fairly early on. This part, in particular, didn't necessarily take away from my experience of the book, but it did make a lot of the things that this character did throughout the story seem far less genuine than they were supposed to feel at the time.

So, long story short, I liked this book a lot despite its short comings, and I am really looking forward to picking up the rest of the trilogy in the future. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quick, fun read, or someone who wants a fun paranormal book centering around a type of creature who doesn't get a whole lot of spotlight in current media. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Purchase: Amazon (Available in e-book, hardback, and paperback editions)

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Shelved on Goodreads As: Read, Books of 2017

So it's been two years...

Hey all, How you doin'?
Okay, there's no getting around this. It's been two years since I've posted on this blog. I don't even have an excuse. I loved running this blog, and I loved writing the book reviews that I used to post on here, among the other things.
I've been having a lot of trouble lately keeping up with my youtube channel. I don't have as much time as I used to any more, so filming and editing videos is difficult. I'm hoping to make up for some of that lost content on here, as finding an hour to set aside to write a blog post is much easier than finding 3-8 hours to make a video.
I'm hoping that I'll be posting on here again, soon. Keep an eye out, and try to hold me accountable.

Ciao for now,
Helen.

Every Day by David Levithan

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Series: Every Day Book One
Synopsis: "Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day." -Goodreads.

Review: This book is amazing, first of all. I needed to get that out of the way right away. I can't even begin to explain all of the intricacies of this book or the amount of thought that David Levithan must have put into it. Even though A wakes up in the body of only sixteen year olds in the state of Maryland, none of the stories become repetitive. Every body is unique, every experience is unique. 

This book also manages to tackle some pretty big topics, some surrounding love, but not all of them. It handles LGBTQIA issues with David Levithan's usual ease, while also having chapters that deal with drug addiction and depression, as well as many different types of families in general. All of them were presented in ways which showed respect and understanding for the people who are dealing with the problems that they may be dealing with on a regular basis.

Seeing as I can't really go much further into a discussion without spoilers, and I really don't want to spoil anybody on this glorious book, I shall have to end my review here. Just know that I absolutely loved this book, and the only problems I really had with it were the last two chapters, and the relative insta-love quality that it has, at least on one side. The saving grace for the love story was the fact that the love wasn't reciprocated off of the bat, and in fact all of the issues surrounding the love story were addressed as the story went on. 

But seriously, this book is amazing. GO READ IT.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Shelved on Goodreads as:

1. Read
2. Books of 2015
3. Favorites
4. Unbelievably Cute

Landry Park by Bethany Hagen

Title: Landry Park
Author: Bethany Hagen
Series: Landry Park, Book One
Synopsis: "Downton Abbey meets The Selection in this dystopian tale of love and betrayal
In a fragmented future United States ruled by the lavish gentry, seventeen-year-old Madeline Landry dreams of going to the university. Unfortunately, gentry decorum and her domineering father won't allow that. Madeline must marry, like a good Landry woman, and run the family estate. But her world is turned upside down when she discovers the devastating consequences her lifestyle is having on those less fortunate. As Madeline begins to question everything she has ever learned, she finds herself increasingly drawn to handsome, beguiling David Dana. Soon, rumors of war and rebellion start to spread, and Madeline finds herself and David at the center of it all. Ultimately, she must make a choice between duty - her family and the estate she loves dearly - and desire." - Goodreads.

Review: I listened to this on an audiobook which I got from Scribd, a site which I have absolutely fallen in love with. I have to say that I'm really glad that I did because I don't know if I would have finished it if I had just been reading it like any other book.

The thing is, the writing in this book was absolutely stunning. It was weirdly poetic and super descriptive, and an absolute pleasure to read, but sometimes the pacing of the book was just a tad too slow for my liking. I feel like, even though a fair bit did actually happen within the span of this book, it didn't FEEL like a whole lot happened. Sometimes the descriptions, which were beautifully well done, would kind of take away from the actual story.

I had a couple of issues with the characters. Madeline and David both fell quite flat for me, especially considering that they were supposed to be the two main-ish characters. Unfortunately, their flatness wasn't saved by any of the side characters either. All of the characters were fairly flat (at least in my opinion), and none of them were particularly likable. I don't know if it was just me, but even though I could connect with Madeline on several levels as we have some similar tendencies, I just couldn't stand listening to her back and forth constantly going. The relationship between her and David, which did take a long time to actually become anything, still managed to feel rather insta-lovey. After seeing David for the first time, Madeline never stopped thinking about him, which did get rather annoying.

Over all, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought that I would. It was okay, but I don't think I'll be continuing on with the series. That being said, if Bethany Hagen ever puts out a different book, whether it be a stand alone or a new series, I will definitely give it a shot if only for her amazing writing.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Shelved on Goodreads as:

1. Read
2. Books of 2015