Book: In Farleigh Field

Author: Rhys Bowen

My Rating:  ★★★★

Synopsis: World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham’s middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret: she has taken a job at Bletchley Park, the British code-breaking facility.

As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, which may include another member of Pamela’s family, he discovers that some within the realm have an appalling, history-altering agenda. Can he, with Pamela’s help, stop them before England falls?

Inspired by the events and people of World War II, writer Rhys Bowen crafts a sweeping and riveting saga of class, family, love, and betrayal.

      So usually I don't read historical fiction because me and it just don't click which is strange considering I absolutely love history. Like I love reading history books, watching documentaries and stuff like the History Channel, but when it comes to historical fiction, whether in book, movie, or any other format it usually doesn't click with me. This time however, something about the synopsis clicked with me and I decided to give it a go, and I'm glad I did because I actually quite enjoyed it. The writing, plot, and pacing were all nice and kept me wanting to read more. The entire time I kept trying to guess what was going to happen and who did what, but I was wrong until almost the very end which pleasantly surprised me because I am almost always a great guesser when it comes to these things. That just made me appreciate the book even more. I loved the writing because it made me feel like I was in Englad during World War II, and for once I actually enjoyed that kind of atmosphere. What also surprised me was that the book was in multiple POVs, and usually I hate that but this time I felt that it truly did add to the book.


      Overall, this was a pleasant surprise and a well-needed laid back read. If you enjoy World War II books, mystery/suspense, spy shit, or historical fiction, I would recommend giving this a go.


*Thank you Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Book: King's Cage

Author: Victoria Aveyard

My Rating: ★★1/2 (... if that)

Synopsis: In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl's spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother's web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare's heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down. 

      Annoyed. That's the word I would use to describe how I feel about "King's Cage".  Also the phrase "I don't care" comes to mind. I didn't care about any of the characters, what was happening in the book, basically everything about it. The writing was meehhhh, the plot was mehhhhh, and the character growth was a joke. There was nothing that really spoke out to me, and that sucks because I really enjoyed the first book, but everything since there has been downhill. The only reason why I haven't DNFed this series is because I do want to know how it ends because the original concept is cool it's just that the execution has been subpar since then.


      I know this was a really short review, but that basically sums up all of my feelings on this book, which in itself should tell you the quality of the book in my mind. I didn't love it, like it, or hate it. It was just meh.

Last year Maggie Ann Martin hosted a super fun series called Book Madness, where BookTubers picked their favorite fictional character, made a video explaining why the character was awesome, and encouraged their viewers to vote to keep them moving through the competition. It’s set up in a bracket system like March Madness basketball in the U.S. 

This year Maggie is making it bigger and better with book lovers from the BookTube, Book Blogger, and Bookstagram community. Not only will our audience have the chance to win awesome prizes along the way (ARCs from 2017 debut authors, bookish trinkets, Amazon cards), but the winning blogger will win a $30 Amazon card! 

It works like this: each person participating would post a video, blog post, or photo on March 1st representing their favorite fictional character that they choose. In that post, we describe what makes them so great and encourage your audience to go and vote for them. At the end of each round, the characters with the highest half of the votes will keep going until we narrow it down to one champion character! 

      Cool right! So voting for Round 1 closes on March 5th at 11:59pm Central Standard Time. You are allowed to vote for up to 5 characters per round. And don't forget, you get entered for cool prizes after you vote! I am going to put a link to voting throughout this post so you don't miss the change to vote!

LINK TO VOTING HERE

5 REASONS WHY I LOVE ROSE HATHAWAY FROM VAMPIRE ACADEMY ((the book) I mean don't get me wrong I liked the movie too but for our purposes I'm talking about the book but using GIFS from the movie)

LINK FOR VOTING HERE

LINK FOR VOTING HERE