Book: Snow Like Ashes

Author: Sara Raasch

My Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis: Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

      "Snow Like Ashes" was the July book of the month for the "Cover 2 Cover Book Club". While we didn't have the twitter chat due to unforeseen circumstances, we still read the book and had a discussion thread on Goodreads.


      This book actually surprised me. I thought I was not going to enjoy it, especially considering that it took me two tries to get through the first two chapters, but I was pleasantly surprised after I pushed through the beginning and actually enjoyed the book.


      At the start, I thought Meira was hella annoying and completely fixated on the prince, but as she goes through character development, her character became more enjoyable and I actually was a fan on her narration and just her as a person.


      It took me awhile to get the hang of the world building, but after some time, I was cool with it. The universe is clearly thought out, however I do wish some things were explained better. There were times when you were infodumped and it was just too much to remember or even care about.


      As for the relationships and love triangle... Hmm... In the beginning, I was not even remotely a fan of the love triangle, but as it progressed, I didn't mind too much. I made a decision on who I want Meira to be with, but from what I've heard, he changes and doesn't get chosen which, is a bummer cause he was hella dreamy.


      Overall, this book was a pleasantly good one. That being said, I also have no desire to continue the series. The book wrapped up rather nicely and while I know there is going to be more conflict and stuff while arise so that the series is no longer wrapped up, I'm cool with ending it here.

• Must be 18 or have your parents'/guardians' permission. 
• US/Canada ONLY. (Sorry, I'm too broke to hold an international giveaway this time. Next time though, I've got you my international peeps.)
•  You must feel comfortable giving me your address. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book:  The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

My Rating: ★★1/2

Synopsis: The truth about Mara Dyer's dangerous and mysterious abilities continues to unravel in the New York Times bestselling sequel to the thrilling The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.She can't. She used to think her problems were all in her head. They aren't. She couldn't imagine that after everything she's been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets. She's wrong. In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next? 

      I'm going to say this from the start: this book was incredibly disappointing. I read "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer", and despite it's confusing nature, I liked it and was really looking forward to reading "The Evolution of Mara Dyer", especially since me and Temecka from Library of Tomes decided to read it for a buddy read.


      I can't pinpoint a single thing that I enjoyed about this book. The writing did not captivate me like it did during the first book. The plot... well to me there was absolutely no plot, and the little plot that there was, was boring as hell. I got to about 60% in and I was like, fuck it, I'm just going to skim the rest of the book and look up anything important that I missed. Honestly, the whole scenario is bullshit and when it is explained why the shit that happened when down the way it did, I was not satisfied.


     Finally we get to Mara and Noah... Their relationship is creepy now that I have read this book. They are both infatuated with each other for no reason. In the first book I though Noah was a nice gentle and all, but now that I've read this one I'm like, dude, get a life. Why are you so head over heels in "love" with Mara. And as for Mara, she's crazy and I can't believe she just let some random dude become so close to her.


      I decided that I have no desire to read the rest of the series, so I looked up what happened in the last book and I'm not missing anything. This series really does exemplify why I don't like giving into the hype.

Book: Dark Descendant

Author: Jenna Black

My Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: From the acclaimed author of the Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist books comes the gripping first novel in a new series about a private eye who discovers, to her surprise, that she’s an immortal huntress.

Nikki Glass can track down any man. But when her latest client turns out to be a true descendant of Hades, Nikki now discovers she can’t die. . . . 

Crazy as it sounds, Nikki’s manhunting skills are literally god-given. She’s a living, breathing descendant of Artemis who has stepped right into a trap set by the children of the gods. Nikki’s new “friends” include a descendant of Eros, who uses sex as a weapon; a descendant of Loki, whose tricks are no laughing matter; and a half-mad descendant of Kali who thinks she’s a spy. 

But most powerful of all are the Olympians, a rival clan of immortals seeking to destroy all Descendants who refuse to bow down to them. In the eternal battle of good god/bad god, Nikki would make a divine weapon. But if they think she’ll surrender without a fight, the gods must be crazy. . . .

      Coming into this book, I knew literally nothing except for the fact that it dealt with Greek mythology (which now that I have read it, I know that isn't entirely true). A friend from the summer medical program I was in recommended this book to me, and despite every fiber in me telling me that I probably might not like it, I decided to read it anyway.


      I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoy the concept, but I'm not entirely sure it was executed well. The entire premise that there are certain people descended from various gods across all mythologies is really cool to me. However, the fact that when people learn this and don't question it is not cool. Literally all of the characters who didn't know about this system before the plot started but came into this world didn't even question anything. I know if I were in that situation, I would be questioning literally everything about the system and even life itself.


      As for the characters, for the most part I liked them. They were all different from one another and brought their own traits. The main character, Nikki, was pretty typical of books like this, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but she was nothing unique.


      With regards to the writing, it was really nothing special, which at this point in my book blogging career, I really don't expect great writing anymore, especially from an adult book.


      As for the plot, I honestly felt like this could have been a standalone. Like literally everything wrapped up nicely at the end, and I'm not entirely sure what the rest of the series is about. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to continue the series. But back to the plot. I thought it was very cookie cutter and a bit too fast paced. Everything happened perfectly and predictably.

Book: Cathy Yardley

Author: Cathy Yardley

My Rating: ★★1/2

Synopsis: Geeky introvert Tessa Rodriguez will do whatever it takes to get promoted to video game engineer– including create a fandom-based video game in just three weeks. The only problem is, she can't do it alone. Now, she needs to strong-arm, cajole, and otherwise socialize with her video game coworkers, especially her roommate, Adam, who’s always been strictly business with her. The more they work together, though, the closer they get…

Adam London has always thought of his roomie Tessa as “one of the guys” until he agreed to help her with this crazy project. Now, he’s thinking of her all the time… and certainly as something more than just a roommate! But his last girlfriend broke up with him to follow her ambitions, and he knows that Tessa is obsessed with getting ahead in the video game world.

Going from friends to something more is one hell of a challenge. Can Tessa and Adam level up their relationship to love?

      I came into this book knowing literally nothing about it. I had read a review from a fellow blogger who really enjoyed the nerdiness of it, so I figured I would give this a chance for booktubeathon, especially since it was free on Amazon and I like the cover.


      This book was just not good to me, like at all. It was awkward and choppy and just so cookie cutter. Also, I didn't realize this was an adult book, so when I got to those cheesy and weird as fuck sex scenes, I was a bit surprised.


      It's been quite awhile since I've read such bad sex scenes or writing in general. The idea behind the book is actually quite good: female game designer and her coworker male roommate. That had potential. But it just did not pan out for me.For the most part there really was no plot and the very basic level of the writing didn't help. The focus was supposed to be on romance, but that was just not the case. They didn't have feelings for each other, they were horny and simply lived in the same house. As for the characters, they weren't really special, though I do give brownie points to the book for having the main character being a Hispanic female game designer.


     Overall, this did not come close to reaching the bar I had set.

Here are the rules:

• Choose a book or book series that best matches the prompt provided
• Feel free to change the TV show if you’d like it to reflect YOUR preferences!
• A blank set of the prompts is located at the very bottom in the scroll box
• Feel free to use our header graphic with the usual credits
• Link back to us and tag some friends to join in

my babies!!!

it's been over a year and I'm still not over this

Anne Hathway is a boss. Slay girl slay.

She truly is a queen