Frostfire by Amanda Hocking

Bryn lives in the world of the Kanin, a troll group living unbeknownst to humans. Someday she hopes to be part of the king's guard, but for now she is training and going on a few missions. When one goes wrong and she comes face to face with the man that tried to kill her father years before, she realizes that he has also been killing Changelings but he may be working for someone else. That combined with the fact she has a crush on her boss that he may feel back is getting to be too much for Bryn. Will she be able to save the kingdom she loves from Konstantin Black once and for all?

Ever since I read Hocking's Trylle series I have collected almost all of her books so that when I have time to read them I can. When I saw she was writing another series in this awesome world I preordered it as fast as I could. For fans of the first series this one might be a bit of a disappointment but an overall entertaining read.

Parts of this book sort of got boring for me. It seemed to move too slow and didn't have much happening. Luckily these were overshadowed by the fighting scenes which may have been my favorite parts.

There was barely any romance in this book but the next book has a lot of stuff that might be considered inappropriate for younger audiences. It isn't that bad but just as a warning if you are under 13 or 14 you might want to read something else.

In this book Ridley sort of seems like a jerk and a player but in the next book you really get to see his better qualities. I think the next book is much better than this one so if you didn't like it I would recommend still trying the next one. Just like the Trylle series they seem to be getting better as the series progresses.

I will be posting reviews for the other books by this author really soon. This was one of my least favorites, and we'll see how the third book in the series goes.

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

 Rachelle had a perfect life before she was turned into a bloodbound. She was her aunt's apprentice, someday hoping to be a Woodwife to protect her village from dark magic. Then everything changed. Forced by the Forestborn to murder her aunt, she turned into a bloodbound. She protects the kingdom from woodspawn, killing them every day and looked down upon by the rest of the kingdom. Then she meets the King's illegitimate son, Armand, and everything changes. Somehow after being turned into a Bloodbound he managed to not kill anyone and not be killed himself, only losing his hands. But how did he manage that? And how long will it take before Rachelle succumbs to the Great Forrest and becomes a Forestborn?

Just like Cruel Beauty, I absolutely loved this book. It was every bit as enjoyable and it may have kept my interest even better. Both of them will definitely be making my mental list of favorite books.

I'm not going to lie to you- this book was dark. Death, murder- it had it all. That somehow didn't make it scary or quite push it farther into the horror genre though, it just sort of made it have layers just like the staircase on the cover depicts. I felt like there were so many different stories mixed into this but somehow the story wasn't confusing and it made sense.

I love this author's writing style. It is very rhythmic and I loved how all the words just seemed to belong in the order they were put in. I will honestly read anything by her!

Rachelle was definitely a kick-butt character just like Nyx. Definitely no Mary-Sues here! She never seemed to depend on Armand and I love the message that is sending out to teens everywhere- you don't need a guy to take care of you and you can do almost anything yourself.

It was a nice change of pace how Rachelle owned up to her actions and apologized and made things right after she would do anything wrong. If she jumped to the wrong conclusion about something and got mad, she thought over it and realized that she might be wrong. This helped her maintain good relationships with most of the people in her life, even though at times I felt she was sort of a pushover. I understand that characters can't be absolutely perfect though, otherwise they get boring.

I wish at the end Rachelle could have been able to make things right with her family. They pretty much kicked her out after she became a bloodbound, but she could do nothing about that so I think they weren't completely fair. I wish that they could have apologized or something, but I guess that's just life.

I loved the open ending in this. It sort of implies a future with Armand, and I'm glad the reader gets to imagine that themselves.

If you haven't read anything by Rosamund Hodge, go out RIGHT NOW and get one of her books! Trust me, you'll be obsessed!

*** Thanks to HarperCollins and EpicReads for sending me an ARC of this book! I really appreciate it!***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Nyx has known all her life that as soon as she turns seventeen she will be forced to marry Ignifex, the evil demon lord of their land as part of a deal her father made before she was even born. Right after they are married she plans on killing him, but gets stopped just in time. Ignifex doesn't punish her for doing that but does take away all her weapons. As Nyx learns more about him will she still be able to murder him, or is she slowly starting to fall in love with him? And what about his shadow, Shade? Is she starting to have feelings for him too? Find out in this beautiful reimagining of The Beauty and the Beast!

I absolutely loved this story. After I got an ARC of Crimson Bound in the mail, I knew that I really wanted to read this one too. I quickly ordered it so I could read it before Crimson Bound, and boy I'm glad I did. This is a beautiful story that will stay with me for a long time.

The writing is amazing. I could feel everything with perfect clarity and it was NEVER boring. I felt like all that happened was happening to ME and I really liked that. It has been a while since that has happened to me and I can honestly say that it helped make the book very enjoyable.

The characters were very 3D and even the most minor characters were very well fleshed out. My favorite character was Ignifex, he had a lot of layers. I would start to think that I knew what he would do next, but then he would do something different and it left me mind-blown (in a good way!). Nyx was such a strong heroine and definitely was not a "Bella Swan". The romance was swoon-worthy and I don't think that the love-triangle could even be classified as such since they were basically the same person. That was another bonus for me and added to my overall love for the book.


The plot never got slow. The book captured me from the beginning and didn't let me go until the very last page. As you can tell, I absolutely loved this story! If you haven't yet, go read it!

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Angelfall and World After by Susan Ee

The apocalypse has come....
Penryn lives in a world ruled by angels and street gangs. The world is being ravaged by them and if someone doesn't stop them the entire human race will be destroyed. Penryn rescues an angel named Raffe. Doing so, her little sister gets kidnapped and she must go on a journey to save her- if she's even still alive. With help from Raffe will she be able to do it?

I'm trying a double review today. I don't know how well it's going to work, but we'll see how it goes.

In Angelfall, Penryn was a strong heroine, nothing like Bella Swan from Twilight. I liked how she stood her own and never let anyone boss her around. My one small problem was in World After she seemed a little more dependent on Raffe, but I did like how their relationship sort of progressed and they got more comfortable with each other.

The plot moved really smoothly and it was barely ever boring. I felt that even though there wasn't a lot going on, the author still managed to make it entertaining. This was a major plus.

If you want to read some paranormal without all the cliché romance and bad role models, try this series out! Someday I might post separate reviews for these two, but it was easier for me to do this at the moment.

***Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Children's Publishing for letting me read these two books! I really appreciate it!***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

The Heir by Kiera Cass

Years after America and Maxon's fairytale selection, their daughter, Eadlyn, is having her own. She will do anything to wait and find her one true love, but to distract her kingdom from the rebellions she must do the one thing she would do anything to avoid- have her own selection. But will she fall in love on the way?

Months ago I saw their were going to be more books in this series and I was ecstatic! Even though I gave them low ratings doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them. Sometimes even if I liked a book I might give it only 2 stars just because it had one or two issues that I really did not like. That was what happened with this series. Unfortunately this one wasn't as entertaining as the other ones.

Eadlyn was a super selfish character. Everything was about her and she didn't care about anyone's feelings except her own. She treated her maids like dirt and seemed to always say the dumbest things. She was also rude to her possible future husbands and multiple times I wondered why they wouldn't just leave.

Honestly, NOTHING happened in this book. The only major thing that did was at the end, but I won't tell you since it would spoil the book. It was such a huge cliffhanger that it was like the author was grasping for something to force readers to come back. I have found this many times in books and it honestly just annoys me so bad. Its one thing to leave the reader with questions for the next book, but its a whole other action to start something with literally 3 pages left.

I have been waiting for this book for so long that this is a huge disappointment. I will be reading the next book, but the wait honestly won't kill me.

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

The One by Kiera Cass

 There can be only one winner...
America never thought that she would last this long in the selection... or for that matter actually begin to have feelings for Maxon. But when the rebels threaten the whole kingdom's future America and Maxon know they need to do something. But will America be picked as Maxon's wife? And what about Aspen?

Like I've said before, this series is just entertainment. Honestly it has no substance and you should know that going into it. If you're looking for some life-changing dystopian story, look elsewhere. If you're looking for some fluff with basically no substance this is the series for you!

America is the most whiny main character I have ever seen. Everything was about her and Maxon. Oh poor me, I have to choose between Maxon and Aspen. Who will I ever choose? That was literally the only thing that ever happened in all three of the books. You sort of learn to tune it out though...

Maxon was super annoying in this book. If he really knew that he wanted to pick America he would have just done it and wouldn't have kept making out with Celeste and all the other girls. He was such a jerk in this book.

I actually started to like Aspen and how he moved on from America. I wish she could have just realized that and told Maxon how she felt and then most of the drama in this book never would have happened.

The world building in this series was not good. I could care less about the castes since the author didn't really do a good job putting very much detail into them. I don't understand how anyone could live that way and how there were not any rebellions sooner, especially by the sevens and eights. This was too unrealistic to me.

I can honestly say that after reading The Heir it doesn't get much better. America's daughter is the main character in that book and she's not annoying like America, but she is super selfish and thinks everyone is beneath her.

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Book Haul #1!!!!

I've been thinking about doing one of these for a while now, and since I've gotten quite a few books these past few weeks, I'm just going to add the ones I'm most excited for.

Physical books from publishers:

Harlequin:
The Notorious Pagen Jones by Nina Berry

I was lucky enough to win this book from Goodreads Firstreads. I'm super excited to read this- it looks like it has a little bit of historical fiction, along with some falling from stardom and maybe a little WWII drama all mixed in. All that together sounds like an intriguing read.

Harper:
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

I am currently reading this and so far so good. Crimson Bound made my all-time favorites list so hopefully this will too! Thank you so much HarperCollins for sending me an ARC of this book! Sorry my review might be a little late.

Things We Know by Heart by John Corey Whaley

I also got this book from HarperCollins and also from the author who was amazing enough to sign it and sent it to me. I was thinking about doing a giveaway with this one, but after reading the back and seeing it was signed, I just couldn't part with it. It sounds really moving and I really hope it is since that's the kind of book I've been looking for right now.


EBooks from publishers:

Random House:
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I'm really proud of myself right now- I only requested one EBook this whole month, and awesomely I got accepted to read it! This book is about a girl allergic to the world and that just sounds so lonely and sad to me that as soon as I saw it I knew I needed to read it! This review won't be posted for a long time since it is released in September, but about two weeks before it is released I will be posting a very long (probably gushing) review about it! Thanks go out to Random House Childrens and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

Books I've bought:

Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking

I have read this and I'm just waiting to post my review! Hopefully I get accepted for an ARC of the third book too! Fingers crossed!

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

I just finished this and wow oh wow. Love. Pure love goes out to this book. If you haven't read it, do so RIGHT NOW! And I mean right this second!

So that was my book haul for the past few weeks! In the comments please say which book you think I should read next and which book you're planning on reading next! 

~Bri