Erika's Month in Review: May 2017

 

Month in Review is a new feature on Living for the Books where the past month is recapped and discussed!

Book Haul

For Review

 That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim
Grit by Gillian French
Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson 

 The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari

Library

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Talon by Julie Kagawa

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Free

 Arms from the Sea by Rich Shapero

Bought

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Currently Reading

Grit by Gillian French
I really hope this one is good! I thought the synopsis sounded interesting and it's received some good reviews so hopefully I like it too. 

My Reviews This Month

• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (3 stars)

• The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh (4 stars)

• Arms from the Sea by Rich Shapero (1 star)

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

• Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (3 stars)

 Coming Soon

• Review of The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari

• Review of Talon by Julie Kagawa 

• Review of Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson
• Thoughts for Thursday: Book Covers 

Life Updates

This past month I finished up my second year of college and I found that I really missed reading as well as blogging. During the school year my reading was definitely limited to my textbooks, so as soon as I was done with finals I read books that I had been putting off for awhile and renewed my library card (as much as I want to own all my books I'm a broke college kid, so I gave in and went to the library). I hadn't been to the library in years and it changed so much it was crazy. 

Anyway I'm really excited to be back into reading, blogging, and reviewing. I'm definitely planning on sticking with this for as long as I can because I didn't realize how much I missed it until recently. 

How was your month? 

Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Published: September 20, 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 398 (Hardcover)
Series: Three Dark Crowns #1
Source: Library
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

New Releases: May 28 - June 3

Release of the Week

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married. 

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? 

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. 

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? 

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Other Releases

 One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

 Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

 I Believe in a Thing Called Love

When It's Real by Erin Watt 

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia 

The Hundredth Queen (The Hundredth Queen #1) by Emily R. King 

 Romancing the Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney

 Juniper Lemon's Happiness Index by Julie Israel

Dark Breaks the Dawn by Sara B. Larson

Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Published: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 421 (Hardcover)
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Source: Library
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

Review: Arms from the Sea by Rich Shapero

Arms from the Sea by Rich Shapero 
Published: April 1, 2016
Publisher: TooFar Media
Pages: 193 (Hardcover)
Series: N/A
Source: Free
My Rating: 1 of 5 stars

Lyle is a young man who hates his life in the State of Salt, a cultural and literal desert. He vandalizes a State icon, then swallows a poison pill that transports him not to death, but to a liminal realm—blue, watery, and wholly alien.

He’s rescued and shepherded by henchmen of the Polyp, god of the oceanic world they call “heaven.” A series of encounters unfolds between Lyle and the monstrous, seductive god, who gradually reveals his grandeur and mysterious purpose.

Lyle is horrified at first but soon finds himself falling for the Polyp, and the potent and bizarre creative potential he represents . . .

Whimsical and outlandish but also timely and dead serious, Arms from the Sea navigates imagined realms of possibility, pointing to what it might mean to redeem a desolate world.

New Releases: May 21-27

Release of the Week

Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare

Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare’s Lord of Shadows, the sequel to the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Lady Midnight.

Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?

And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.

Other Releases

 The Gauntlet (The Cage #3) by Megan Shepherd

Refuge for Masterminds (Stranje House #3) by Kathleen Baldwin

In a Perfect World by Trish Doller

Crazy House by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

 Darkest Days by N.W. Harris

Review: The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Published: May 12, 2015
Publisher: Putnam
Pages: 388 (Hardcover)
Series: The Wrath & the Dawn #1
Source: Bought
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Published: September 13, 2011
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 512 (Paperback)
Series: N/A
Source: Bought
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

 The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

Review: The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo

The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo
Published: March 14, 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 352 (Paperback)
Series: N/A
Source: ARC
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?