Hi everyone!

Yes, I've been alive. I'm sorry that I haven't been active recently, I have actually been working on switching over to a booktube channel! If you followed us on Instagram, you would already know about this, but I just wanted to talk a little bit about where you can find me now.

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I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for so long, I had finals then I was travelling plus I was watching WAY too much Gilmore Girls so I’ve barely been reading. It was actually on the drive back from one of my trips that I downloaded Throne of Glass on an impulse because I did not want to watch yet ANOTHER movie in the car. If you’ve been here for a while, you may know that I tried to read Throne of Glass last year, but I dropped it because I really hated Celaena. I’m so glad I finally got through it because I can now join the fandom and understand what all the hype is about.

If you don’t know, which you probably do since I feel like the only person in existence who hasn’t read it yet, Throne of Glass is about a girl named Celaena Sardothien, who is an assassin. Actually, she’s the most notorious assassin in the country where she lives. Before the book, Celaena is captured and put in a labor which she is intended to die. After a year in the camp, she is taken out by the prince, who wants her to represent him in a competition to become his father's personal assassin. The book is filled with humor, action and, of course, romance.

I had so much fun reading Throne of Glass this time because I was able to get past the first hundred pages and into the good part of the book. I’ve found that with almost any fantasy book, you have to give it time to allow yourself to adjust to the world. The first time I read it, I had a lot of other books I could read instead, so I pulled out of the story the moment I got tired of world building. If you haven’t read it yet because you’re having a hard time getting into the book, I recommend trying to push through the first 100-150 pages and really isolating yourself from the idea of other books. I also recommend trying to read that first 150 pages in one sitting so you don’t try to delay continuing with the book. My other tip is, if you really can’t get into Throne of Glass, to try reading The Assassin’s Blade, which is the prequel. I read it after Throne of Glass but you can read it before or after.

The first thing I want to talk about is all the names. I love Sarah, I really do. She’s a great author and is a wonderful human being from all the interviews I’ve seen. But her character names look like someone vomited the alphabet. It’s like Ahren from the Selection series. I read it as AH-rehn, but then Christine pointed out that it’s pronounced AIR-rehn. Like Aaron. Yup :/ . So I tried my best to look up all the pronunciations that I needed help with because I want to get these names right, but it was frustrating for me and took away from reading.

Character names aside, I did enjoy Sarah’s writing. She has a very descriptive writing style without it going completely Wattpad and erupting with adverbs (if you’ve never read a FanFic, I’ll link an example of overly descriptive writing here). At some points, I did kind of lose her train of thought in the story, but that only happened a few times. One thing that did seem to irk me was how many times she mentioned that Celaena was blonde or blue eyed. It seemed to take away from the trait because she kept emphasizing it.

There’s not much to say without spoiling you, but I highly recommend this book, even if you aren’t a huge fantasy person. Come back when you’ve read the book so we can discuss it. Goodbye if you HAVEN’T read Throne of Glass yet!

So first of all, I need to vent about Celaena. I have grown to love her over the course of these books and really respect her, but she is so arrogant that it really frustrates me sometimes. The fact that she didn’t feel the need to train the night before a competition started against a bunch of other assassins kind of concerned me. I think a huge part of that was actually my fault because I expected it to be a lot more Hunger Games-y rather than Triwizard Tournament-y. I thought everyone would fight to the death and she would get killed super fast because she hasn’t trained in years, but the competition was actually a lot less intense than I thought it would be. I’m not saying whether I find that a good or bad thing, it was just different. I wish it was more intense because it would have been a lot more fun to read about, but I didn’t enjoy reading about any of the tests except for the poisons one and the final one. I still felt her arrogance throughout the book to really bother me, but I think that part of it is just her way of shutting fear out and other parts of it will kind of disappear over time.

I suppose now is as good of a time as any to bring up the love triangle. I typically hate love triangles because either (a) they’re forced on by the author and take over the entire plot of the book and/or (b) it is completely obvious who the main character is going to end up with. I think the only love triangle that I’ve ever read and felt was executed properly was the love triangle in The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. In this book, the love triangle is not forced on, it is definitely not the center of the book and I’m honestly not sure who she’ll end up with but I feel like it’s going to be Dorian. I feel like all the change she wants to instill is only going to be possible if she is queen and she kind of has to marry Dorian for that to work. From what I’ve heard, this is going to take a lot more twists and turns, so who knows, it might not even be either of them. As for the question of whether I am Team Dorian or Team Chaol, I don’t think it’s a completely fair question after just Throne of Glass because I feel like there was so much more Dorian time rather than Chaol time. I think I’m leaning towards Dorian, but that is truly subject to change. I don’t really like one more than the other, I think that Chaol is just more closed off about his feelings than Dorian so I know Dorian better.

Another character that I really want to talk about is Arobynn, even though we didn’t get to meet him. At first, I thought he was so nice for taking in this kid and keeping her off the streets. I thought of him as a father figure, like her Dumbledore. Then, we slowly learn about how cruel he was, making her break her hand and making her pay him back for teaching her then spending it all in a night. We’ll probably meet him at some point but I feel like it’s not going to be pretty. Did he disown her or something as a student for getting caught? I have so many questions about what exactly happened between them.

With the whole murder storyline, I suspected Nehemia immediately because she was the one who knew about Wyrdmarks in the first place and seemed to be hiding things. Even when Celaena saw Cain in the hallway all zoned out, I thought that was too obvious. It wasn’t until Celaena read this one line in one of her books about how the killer gets all the strength from the victims that I immediately knew it was Cain. I was disappointed in how long it took Celaena to make that conclusion.

While we’re talking about Cain, I want to talk about the final fight between the two of them. I was so frustrated the entire time when Kaltain came up to her with the wine and I was screaming in my head for her to not drink it but, of course, she did and she got poisoned. It was so stressful to read her slowly becoming dizzier and falling down and the stupid stick she had breaking. While it was a very important fight, I thought it was stretched out for a long time and the constantly shifting points of view left me really confused about what was happening with the visions she was seeing and if anyone else could see them. I also wanted to yell at Dorian to get up and go closer to Celaena because he just sat there telling himself to get up but he wouldn’t move.

I was also kind of confused about what was actually going on with Kaltain in the book. I know she is an opium addict and she gets terrible headaches, but the King and Duke Perrington mentioned something about testing mind control with her. I really want to learn more about the way magic works and some of the boundaries that it has because it hasn’t been described very thoroughly yet. I also think Celaena has some kind of magic because she keeps dropping hints about magic being outlawed and she’s extremely afraid of the King so there’s something she’s hiding from him. I think there also might be something to do with her identity since her parents were ordered to be killed and I’d assume she was too, so there must have been a way she fought off whatever poison or weapons they used on her.

I think that the other competitor, Nox, who she was giving lessons might reappear in a later book. I was so annoyed that she was giving him lessons because she shouldn’t be helping someone when she wants her freedom so badly she’s willing to cut Dorian off. I thought there might have been a romance on his end but I hope that doesn’t come into play or this love triangle is going to get a whole lot messier.

The whole Queen Elena deal was also kind of vague and I was very annoyed with her for Celaena. She just said “find the evil in the castle” and who knows what that means. Of course, Celaena figured it out but I would have been so angry with her. She also said something to Celaena about bloodlines, meaning that they’re attached in some way or she’s hinting at her heritage and not denying it. Again, I think there’s something about Celaena’s past that she’s hiding. Also, I find it kind of strange that Celaena and Elena sound so similar and wonder if that’s on purpose and is some kind of foreshadowing. I’m so angry about the fact that they changed Elena’s story to make it sound like she was some damsel in distress when she actually fought on the front lines with the king.

Now it’s time for some favorite parts!

I love the ball scene so much and you really get to see both Chaol and Dorian showing their differing natures like how Dorian is ready to ask her to dance while Chaol just kind of hangs back and watches her from afar.

The scene when Dorian gets her Fleetfoot, the puppy was so cute because he listened to her request about keeping Fleetfoot alive. I also love puppies so it was so cute to see that she had a little reminder of him.

I also loved the part when Celaena got her period she says something to Chaol like “I can’t be bothered to do anything right now” and Dorian comes in to try and cheer her up.

The last favorite part I can think of is when she was in the fight with that one guy, I think his name was Baron, and just wiped him out without even pulling out her sword. That was so funny, I think I actually laughed out loud for a solid minute because I was so proud of Celaena.

Those are all my current thoughts about Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. Please comment below letting me know what you thought of the book and also what team you are!

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Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon,

Caramel

So the Trials of Apollo came out. Yes, I bought it. No, I haven't read it yet (I'm in a reading standstill with Lady Midnight, but I am almost done with it).

In the meantime, I have some honest questions brewing in my mind about how things are going to go down.

Those are my main expectations and questions for Trials of Apollo right now. I know this was a short post, but it was just a fun little tidbit until I read it. Comment below letting me know what your biggest expectation is for Trials of Apollo.

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Thanks for reading!

Hello everyone!

Sorry I was pretty MIA last month, I had a bunch of different competitions I was at and haven't had much time to read.

I picked this book up on a whim after spotting it in the library and remembering all the hype over it and this book did not disappoint. 

I'll Give You the Sun follows a pair of twins named Noah and Jude who are inseperable. After a tragic accident, they stop talking to each other and completely destroy their relationship. The way this book is written is in a before/after plotline with 13 year old Noah narrating before and 16 year old Jude narrating after. It's honestly the kind of book you don't want to know much about before going into because the plot can easily get spoiled in a summary. 

I expected this book to be a contemporary novel, but it actually contains some magical elements. I still would not call it full-on fantasy, yet I was definitely taken aback by the sudden magic so do be warned. 

This book took me a while to get into, just because the beginning feels a bit slow and it takes a while to become invested into the story. Last year, I tried to read this book but I stopped before the end of the first chapter (no, I was not being quick to judge, the chapters are very long). You have to meet the characters and learn their quirks, then wait for the story to take off. About 200 pages in, the plotline took off for me and I finished the rest of the book in a matter of a few hours. The way it's written made me read physically slower as well, with the heavy metaphors that took a few seconds to digest. 

Both points of view had little quirks to them with Noah's being art and metaphors while Jude's were excerpts from a family Bible. I found the imagery from Noah's narration a bit jarring at first, sometimes saying how he felt in actions. His metaphors were like those in We Were Liars but I found myself quickly able to adjust. He also would paint beautiful images of how he felt, giving the trees and sky different colors based on his mood. Along with that, he'd stop at random moments in the story and create imaginary self-portraits with descriptive titles to show how he truly felt. They helped me understand his character a lot and how he wanted ro react to situations. In Jude's narration, she would point out different Bible excerpts based on an action that happened and what type of luck the action correlated to.

I wasn't a huge feeler on the emotional level with this book because I felt as though a lot of what happened was predictable. There were moments that made me sad or laugh, but I wasn't as affected by the feels as a lot of people have said they were with this book.

That's the end of my non-spoiler review, so come back when you've read I'll Give You the Sun so we can discuss. Comment below letting me know what you're currently reading as well as some contemporary suggestions that you think I would enjoy. Bye non-spoilers!

I loved both Noah and Jude and I was really surprised that there wasn't one specific narration that I enjoyed more. As I was reading each narrator, they became my favorite, but it would immediately switch with the narrator. When I usually read from multiple points of view, I tend to only like one point of view, but I was pretty evenly split with this book. I did enjoy Noah's a tad bit more because I loved his romance and also the language used.

Noah was an absolutely adorable character because he was so solidly himself. I loved everything about him, down to his phrases such as a "functioning umbrella." Some of the self-portrait titles were hilarious while others were heartbreaking and made me want to go hug him. His romance with Brian was adorable and made me so happy to read about, but I didn't like the way it ended. I wanted by ship to be together, but it felt way too perfect that Jude was able to suddenly get Brian to see Noah after years of ignoring him. 

I liked reading from Jude's point of view because she was broken in so many ways. Watching her piece herself back together slowly made me proud of her as a character because she had to go a bit backward to move forward. Her romance with Oscar felt a bit too predictable and also made me a little uncomfortable. Having them wait until she was out of high school would've made the ending a bit more realistic and I would've felt better as a reader. 

When we met Guillermo, I knew that he was in love with Noah and Jude's mom, which took away a lot of the big reveal for me. A lot of the plot felt predictable in that case, but I nonetheless enjoyed it. Guillermo was so much fun for me because he was such a lively person with Oscar and just reading about his sculptures made me wish I could see them in person.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading I'll Give You the Sun and am very glad I picked it up. Please comment below and tell me what you thought of it as well as what your favorite part was.

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Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon,

Caramel

I am giving away a SIGNED copy of any book in the Steamborn series. You can enter the giveaway here. Good luck!

Thank you to Xpresso books for hosting this blitz!

So, I'm pretty behind on the popular books, but I finally managed to read this.

I was taking a break from reading Shadowhunter Academy on my phone and I flew through this book. It was my first dystopian in a while, just because I've needed a break since my Hunger Games/Divergent/Matched dystopian binge.

I do want to watch the movie now and will probably review it once I get the chance to read it.

For those of you who don't know, The 5th Wave is about an alien invasion. Basically, a mothership appears and is just hovering over the Earth for 10 days, making no contact with humans at all to show friendly intentions or otherwise. On the tenth day, all the power cuts out. This is the beginning of the waves.

The second wave is flooding of all major coastline cities. The third wave is an airborne strand of Ebola. The fourth wave is the aliens coming down to Earth. There is time between these waves to allow humans to be wiped out before the next one hits.

Our story picks up after the fourth wave with a girl named Cassie. She's 16 and is still alive after all these attacks. That's all I'm going to leave you with because I don't want to spoil anything, but we do have more narrators than just Cassie.

Overall, I had a very fun time reading this book, it was the perfect blend of a lighthearted tone and seriousness. The characters are great and very real as well as a plotline that keeps developing as the story goes on. The reason I gave it 4 stars is because I found myself able to easily predict each development in the story and how it would play out. This often makes me sad in books because I want to be surprised and kept on my toes rather than just waiting for something to happen.

That's all I can say without spoiling you, so I advise you to go read The 5th Wave if you haven't already and to come back so we can discuss. Bye non-spoilers!

Okay, so I'm going to try my best to categorize this, but we'll see how this goes. There's more that I want to talk about than just my usual character breakdown.

Cassie: So, everyone always talks about how much they love Cassie, but I didn't find myself a huge fan of her. Sure, she had her likeable qualities, but not enough that I'd say she's an awesome character.

I appreciated that she was a real person with real concerns such as buying tampons and keeping up her hygeine. She was really funnily awkward, like how she kept wanting to say to Ben Parish, "Remember the babies?" It showed that she wasn't always composed, but she doesn't need to be either.

My problem with her was how naive she was, mainly when it came to Evan. With the Crucifix Soldier, she kept her head level and knew what she was doing, but the moment she met an attractive guy, all sense went away. She just accepted what he was before it actually occured to her to try and question whether or not he was actually a human. I also didn't like how fast they progressed in a relationship, but I guess Rick Yancey meant to show it as time moving slower when civilization is gone.

I love the fact that Cassie kept Bear with her through everything and had conversations with it regularly. I thought it was really funny and added a bit of sadness to show how quickly she had to age.

In the last part of the book, I liked her for her cleverness in breaking in and taking down the aliens herself. She didn't wait for Ben to come up with a plan, she just did the first thing that popped into her head and expected him to go with it. I like that she took charge and I definitely thing that she is going to clash with Ringer in the next book.

Just as a side note, I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned how it's so often in books and movies that stories rarely have two named female characters that talk about something other than a man. I am hoping that this series does not actually fall into that category. If you know any books that do or don't fall into that category, let me know in the comments. I'd be interested to see what you can come up with, maybe try applying the last three books that you read.

Ben/Zombie: I had mixed feelings about Zombie. I liked him for the most part, but he had these little quirks that made me want to hate him.

First of all, the moment he was introduced and we ignored his name, I knew it was Ben Parish. I don't know if Rick Yancey meant for this to be obvious or not, but I felt like it was a huge sign just blinking in my face. 

The story about his sister and how he left made me partially hate him but more so just feel bad for him. He kept referring to his sister as Sissy and, I mean no offense in this, but WHO CALLS THEIR SISTER SISSY? I just felt like it was a kind of strange nickname and didn't add any real depth to their relationship. The fact that he kept his sister's necklace made me love their sibling relationship a lot. I felt like there was such a strong sibling bond apparent in all the characters that I want to see more books where siblings don't get along because not all siblings are loving best friends.

I also loved the sibling relationship between Zombie and Nugget because it showed how he was healing from that loss. It was so funny that it came full circle, with Nugget feeling like both Zombie and Cassie were his siblings, which would be kind of awkward if they ended up together.

My main problem with Zombie was at the end, just because it gave a last impression of him being weak and needy. That was my main impression of him by the end of the book, which made me really dislike him. It wasn't necessarily that I didn't like him or his character, but more so that his character was ruined for me in those last few chapters.

Evan: Okay so I knew that Evan was the Silencer that was following her from the moment he was introduced. First off, he knew her nickname and claimed that it was from her drivers license, but YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE SAYS YOUR FULL NAME. Not only that, but he was just too perfect to be a human because you don't go through all of that and come out unscathed.

I was talking to my friends who had seen the movie about all of my theories when I was only 100 pages in and they told me that I wasn't going to enjoy the book very much if I kept up with all of my predictions. While it did bother me that I was so easily able to predict everything before it happened, I was still entertained by the execution of the story.

I did like Evan as a character and I think that his internal conflict will provide an interesting plot point later on. So, no, I don't think he died. I do think that Rick Yancey will carefully avoid putting him in The Infinite Sea for most of the book, but I do think that he'll make an appearance by the end. While I was upset that he disappeared, I do think that it was for the right reasons and cleared his name with a lot of readers.

Nugget/[CRAP I FORGOT HIS REAL NAME]: So Nugget was such a good character because, as sweet as he was, he kept pushing himself to keep going until Cassie came for him. Every time he said his sister was coming for him and Zombie tried to figure out how to let him down lightly, I was screaming in my head, "NO ZOMBIE THE KID IS RIGHT LET THE KID DREAM BECAUSE IT'S NOT DREAMING IT'S WAITING FOR THE END OF THE BOOK!"

Needless to say, I do think that the next books will be interesting to see how Cassie adjusts to having a little brother that knows how to shoot a gun and is faster than her. His innocence has been destroyed by the situtation and I think it'll be heartbreaking for her to watch.

Ringer: I loved Ringer so much because she wasn't afraid to let herself adapt to this new world. She knew that she had to be tough and wanted to thrive in this place so that no one would ever think of killing her, which made her such an interesting character. The amount of insight she had into everything was amazing and she was quick enough to jump to the conclusion that they were the fifth wave that she thought about it but didn't let it sit and keep denying it.

She's just super level headed even in all the craziness going on and doesn't allow herself to become weak, even if it means not getting attached to people. I hope to read from her POV soon because she's such an interesting character.

Ships: So I ship Evan and Cassie just because I feel like they have a lot of chemistry and also because Evan is so devoted to Cassie. They're cute and it doesn't feel one way like shipping Ben and Cassie would be.

I also ship Ringer with Ben/Zombie since Ringer needs to teach herself how to love again while Zombie is so quick to love and to trust. They have a good contrast and it would be a lot of fun to watch.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading The 5th Wave, even though there were a lot of plot twists that I found very obvious. I'm going to be reading and reviewing the next book soon as well as watching the movie.

Let me know what you thought of The 5th Wave and what your ships are in the comments.

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In honor of the release of Lady Renegades, the final book in the Rebel Belle trilogy, I decided to review Miss Mayhem, the second book in the trilogy. A huge thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of Miss Mayhem for the release of Lady Renegades.

Lady Renegades comes out on April 5. Here's the Goodreads page along with where you can purchase it. Penguin Random House is hosting a series giveaway, which you can get right here. It closes on March 25, so make sure to sign up soon. It is US only.

​Since Miss Mayhem is the second book in the Rebel Belle trilogy, there's not too much I can say without spoiling you, but I'll link my Rebel Belle review here.

I enjoyed Miss Mayhem, but it was not as much fun as Rebel Belle. It was missing a lot of the humor that set Rebel Belle apart for me and there really wasn't a lot of world building that I wanted to see since it was such a unique world. There was a quick recap at the beginning which I would have found annoying but greatly appreciated since it has been so long since I read Rebel Belle. We still had a good amount of action and the end has definitely left me in anticipation of Lady Renegades.

That's all I can say without spoiling you, so go read Miss Mayhem, then come back to discuss!

Harper: Harper lost a lot of her humor that I loved in the first book. I was so frustrated with her when she kept refusing to tell David that her and Ryan had put a blockade on his visions because I knew that they would break up over that. She also struck me as very cocky with her Paladin powers and used them unnecessarily.

Her choice to enter the Miss Pine Grove pageant felt very rushed, not only on her end, but on the writing end too. A lot of the events that happened in this book, minus the end, felt just smacked together rather than thought out. The whole book felt both dragged out and rushed at the same time, with the slowly building plot around the Ephors and the fast changes in relationships.

I wished we got to see more development with Harper because it felt like she was just sitting in her character flaw of biting off more than she can chew. In Lady Renegades, I hope to see her start to mold into a better person rather than just a better Paladin.

David: I started to like David more in this book but the end still left me frustrated with him. He was constantly moping about not being able to see the future, which made him annoying to have in a scene. Since it has been such a long time since Rebel Belle, I felt like David and Harper were forcing themselves upon each other rather than actually wanting to be together. They were always busy with Paladin/Oracle business, so I never really understood how they thought they could manage a relationship together.

When David finally left in the end, I was still really angry, even though I wasn't his biggest fan. It made sense that he wanted to leave so life could go back to normal for Harper, but I know that he's still going to make extra problems. The ending felt strangely final and I kind of wish that it was the end to keep it from being cliche.

Ryan: I liked Ryan immediately from the first chapter of Rebel Belle and I still do like Ryan. He was accepting of David and Harper, despite all the weirdness. I wasn't a huge fan of Ryan with Mary Beth and was super angry when I found out that he cheated on Harper while they were still dating. I hope that it is addressed in the next book because I do need closure on that. 

I saw Ryan and Bee coming from a while away, but was still surprised that Bee never told Harper about it. I felt like Bee was throwing herself at Ryan a bit, like when she invited him with her and Harper to the fair. I do want to know a bit more about how Bee and Ryan happened in Lady Renegades.

Bee: While I did enjoy seeing Bee as a Paladin, it felt like she was also very cocky regarding her powers. I'm sure that there was a part of her that wanted to be a Paladin so that she could keep her powers.

It was sad to see that Brendan didn't remember who she was, but everyone else eventually remembered who she was. Will Brendan remember her later? It seemed strange that the conflict between them was not addressed again.

I also want to know what is going to happen with Bee's Paladin powers in the next book and if she's going to keep them in the long run.

Alexander: Alexander was super sassy, adding in some of the humor that I was missing from this book. He raised some questions as to whether or not the Ephors are textbook "bad guys" or trying to keep their world surviving. Also, did he die or is he going to come back in Lady Renegades? I found it very unclear, but I do hope to see him again.

The Aunts: Just a quick side note that I seriously love The Aunts. I was glad that Harper tried to make some effort to talk to them more, since it added in some comedy. The part during the pageant where her and Bee were fighting and her Aunt stood up clapping for no reason was hilarious (I'm talking about the Aunt who did it because she didn't know better, not the one who was hiding the actual fight).

I want to see them in the next book, although I don't think they'll be very prevalent since Harper is travelling to find David.

World Building: There wasn't a lot of development in the world building, so we didn't get to learn much more than we already knew. I felt like the Peirasmos was just thrown in to add a conflict, but not actually meant to do anything since it was "cancelled."

The bit about the Ephors fading was interesting and I do think that it'll be explored more.

I just want to know more about this world since there are so many things I don't know. I also don't know how any of them know what they're doing, since there isn't exactly a guide book.


Overall, I enjoyed Miss Mayhem, but not as much as Rebel Belle. Make sure to check out Lady Renegades on April 5!

Tell me what you thought of Miss Mayhem in the comments!

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Talk to you later!

Now, for the GIVEAWAY!

I will be giving away one e-book copy of In the Hope of Memories. It is available internationally. These are the requirements:

1. You must be following us on Instagram and Twitter (link these accounts in your comment).

2. You must sign up for our email list (it is on the home page sidebar).

3. Comment on this post with something you want to do before you die.

The winners will be picked on April 10th. Good luck!

GUYS. GUYS. GUYS.

First off, happy Lady Midnight day! I'm so excited to finally be getting it and will have it in my hands very soon.

But, before you jump into Lady Midnight, you HAVE TO read Shadowhunter Academy. Don't wait for the bind up, there's some big stuff that happens here that you need to know.

It's definitely not a chore to read, I had SO much fun reading this, it's much better than the Bane Chronicles. If you have not yet finished the Mortal Instruments series, I advise you leave now and go finish those and DO NOT read the synopsis for this, as it contains major CoHF spoilers. Come back when you've read City of Heavenly Fire.

Okay, so Shadowhunter Academy follows Simon becoming a shadowhunter at the newly reopened Shadowhunter Academy. He's trying to get his memory back, rekindle relationships and choose whether or not he wants to join this world. It's not just about Simon though, we see a lot of old characters and different points of view.

The novellas get better as you go on, with the first two good but the rest are just much better. I binge-read these, taking a short break to read the 5th Wave, which I promise I will review soon.

If you have not read Shadowhunter Academy, go do so before picking up Lady Midnight. I've you've started reading it and have only read some of the novellas, you can read the individual reviews for the novellas or you can wait and read them all at once. BYE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!

Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy

Okay so Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy was not boring but not something super interesting that I would just sit down and keep reading. It had the necessary backstory that we needed and we met some new characters.

I already loved Simon's roommate George and HE'S A LOVELACE (well, sorta)! I wish that he could know about Jessamine and all that she did for everyone, but it's all okay.

Okay, what is even going on with the food? It becomes a running joke throughout the series, but I feel so bad for them. How are they supposed to body build if they can't eat the food. Isn't Simon a vegetarian? I'm pretty sure some of the food they served was NOT vegetarian.

I had a lot of Sizzy feels at the end, it's breaking my heart to see Simon reject her. YOU DON'T JUST REJECT IZZY LIGHTWOOD, SIMON! At the same time, I do understand that he needs to figure out himself by himself before he figures out himself with someone else. There were a lot of conflicting feelings, but I just WANTED THEM TO BE OKAY WITH EACH OTHER. Simon had no tact at all.

The Lost Herondale

So the Lost Herondale was also an okay novella, but it definitely set up some things that I think we will explore in either The Dark Artifices or in The Last Hour. Basically, there's another Herondale. Somewhere. Anywhere.

The story of how Tobias Herondale left to go save his wife from punishment for his leaving, was such a heartbreaking paradox. Did anyone else have a Rumpelstiltskin moment from Once Upon A Time? Let me know in the comments if you thought that too.

I really hope that Jace can find this other Herondale line and bring them back to the shadowhunting world.

The Whitechapel Fiend

​This was for sure one of my favorite novellas because we got to see my OTP Wessa as a couple living the family life. They're so cute together and such great parents. They were chasing down Jack the Ripper, who I actually don't know anything about, so I'll be looking into that shortly.

We got to see Jace and his interactions with Simon and he finally had the conversation with Tessa that I've been wanting to see since City of Heavenly Fire. They're all going to Idris together and I think Tessa will tell him about what it means to be a shadowhunter. Also, is it from Tessa that Jace has gold eyes from, or is it from the extra angel blood that Valentine gave him?

James was such a cute child, I loved him and his spoon. All the children made me so happy and I'm so excited to see the Herondale family dynamic in TLH, especially since parents usually take the backseat in these books, but Will and Tessa will surely be more involved.

It made me so happy to see that Jem was still a big part in their lives, despite his Silent Brotherhood. The kids know him as Uncle Jem and Will uses any excuse to call the Silent Brothers, which I find so cute and warming.

So much love for the "Wiggles" exchange, I've forgotten so much of Jace's sass because of the Shadowhunters TV show.

Nothing but Shadows

Nothing but Shadows is yet another amazing novella, where we get to learn more about the character of James Herondale. If you don't know, James is actually the main character of the other new Cassandra Clare series: The Last Hour.

We get to see how James was raised and I love that he was so close with his parents and how much love there is in their house. I can very strongly relate to James and how he's very shy around people, despite the fact that Will is such a charmer. It makes him a lot more real, especially since we haven't had a very shy main character.

James meets Matthew Fairchild, who everyone can't help but love. I was so sad to see James not like a Fairchild, especially because of the bond between the families, but Cassie resolved that nicely. They're going to become parabatai and be trained by Will, which I'm so happy for.

I really hope that The Last Hour picks up right from where we left off, especially because James in The Midnight Heir (The Bane Chronicles) is much different from this novella. I want to see the journey of how that happened to him.

We get the development that James can turn into a shadow, which is probably a result of having demon blood from Tessa. This will surely come into play during TLH, I think it's a very cool ability and handy for him to have. It's also something we do see in The Midnight Heir.

They mention the character Grace a few times, who we also saw in The Midnight Heir. I think she is some kind of demon/child/thing that is the "daughter" of Tatiana Lightwood. She's the reason for James' heartbreak in that novella, so I wonder what happened between then.

We also hear that Henry really isn't doing well and that he has a hard time working on new inventions. Charlotte is only able to do so much, especially since she's the Consul and has a full time job. It makes me so sad that Henry, who is so full of life, has to be like that.

I love getting to see the relationship between Jem and James, knowing that he was named for him. James really thinks of Jem as a part of the family and I love that they're so close.

It made me so happy to see how James was protective of Tessa and willing to go through insults from racist shadowhunters just to spare his mother's feelings.

When Simon thought about wanting to become parabatai with Clary, I got so excited because this thought had occured to me a few months ago. I was just waiting for it to happen and hoping that Cassie would include that. I'm sad we never actually get to see the ceremony, maybe we'll get it in Lady Midnight.

The Evil We Love

The Evil We Love was an interesting story for me to read because we got to see insight on the exact relationship between Robert Lightwood and Michael Wayland. Robert really didn't have any strong feelings about anything except for Michael and I honestly think that Robert did like Michael back.

I hated the way Robert immediately rejected him, like he had some kind of disease. I pretty much hated Robert throughout the story, but that was the part I disliked the most. We learned that Robert Lightwood could not bear marks and almost died. This is probably a reason why Izzy and Alec know so little about their family, just because they don't have a good relation. His parents said they would rather he died than be a mundane, which is horrible.

We got to see how the Circle worked, with Valentine having such a complex mind that he made sure everyone thought they were the most important member there. It really showed how cunning he was in manipulation.

There were also some Sizzy developments, which made me proud of Simon and happy for Izzy.

Pale Kings and Princes

Pale Kings and Princes made me so angry because it shed even more light on just how racist the Clave is. Despite the fact that Helen Blackthorn was raised a shadowhunter and has done so much for them, the Clave would rather take mundanes in over her. I just- URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I feel so bad for her, but I'm excited that she's getting married to Aline. I wish she could be with Julian so he didn't feel like the responsibility of his whole family on him.

It was very interesting to hear how Helen was even conceived in the first place and the plot twist at the end killed me. I want her to know that her mom really did love her father and maybe even try to contact her. It kills me to see what a rough spot she's in.

Also, I HAVE SO MANY SIZZY FEELS! They're finally back together and I can be happy that my ship has not sunk.

Bitter of Tongue

Now I took a break during Bitter of Tongue, mainly because it was such a heavy story and made me really sad to read. Mark Blackthorn is doing his best to stay a shadowhunter and fight off the urge to act more like a faery. 

Every night, he names off all of his siblings names, which made me so happy and sad, especially that he chose to include Emma. I think a big part of Lady Midnight will be trying to get Mark and Helen back.

We got to go to Helen's wedding and see what kind of stress Julian and Emma are under. They have such a family dynamic but are forced to age so fast because of everything. I just want to give them a hug.

It was also a really funny moment to hear Simon list off every time he's gotten kidnapped. Poor Simon :(

The Fiery Trial

I really did not like The Fiery Trial, it was a very weird novella to read. The premise was kind of strange and it felt like the friendship of Simon and Clary was still just forced onto Simon.

The main chunk felt very unneccessary, but I do understand why Cassie put it in. Simon had to remember that he wanted to tell Clary about his feelings for her in City of Bones, since Julian feels the same way. One of the main conflicts in Lady Midnight is going to be that Julian and Emma probably both like each other but are parabatai, meaning they cannot be in a relationship.

It made me sad to see that, instead of rejoicing in the ceremony, Julian and Emma were just aged by the situation. They had the whole withered parents feeling that made me pity them.

I love that Clary and Emma talk, I think it's good for Emma to have some kind of role model that she can look up to. Another role model I want her to have is Jem, so I hope to see him in Lady Midnight.

Born to Endless Night

Born to Endless Night was my favorite novella not only because we got to see Malec but because we saw a return of our old gang. Magnus and Alec now have a warlock child who they found and they named him MAX LIGHTWOOD! A question that will be raised in the future is going to be who the parents are, but we all know the answer to the question of exactly how stylish this baby is going to be. It also makes me happy that Magnus won't be alone because he'll always have his son with him, even after Alec dies.

We got to see everyone fawn over the little baby and even got to see Mayrse and Robert work hard to accept Magnus as a part of the family. I enjoyed the heartfelt conversations between everyone.

SIMON FINALLY TELLS IZZY THAT HE LOVES HER SO MANY FEELS YAYAYAYAY

Alec, Maia and this new vampire named Lily have started this small council to deal with Downworlder issues. I love that Alec is finally coming out of his shell and becoming more confident in the shadowhunter he is. He's been through so much, especially in that conversation with Magnus where he talks about how he's afraid of letting their son down.

Alec and Magnus are going to get married, which I'm so ready for! I got my gold on and I'm ready to go!!

Angels Twice Descending

Now, when I heard that someone was going to die in this story, I instantly knew that it would be George. We all love him too much to live. When he died, I could not cry because I had just seen it coming from miles away. While I'm angry that he couldn't be in the city of bones, it makes me happy that he's with Jessamine instead, protecting the London institute.

Simon is finally a shadowhunter and he picked the name Lovelace in honor of George. I think he'll probably change it to Lightwood when he marries Izzy, but it still makes me happy. He finally got his memories back and he feels complete again.

Him and Clary are going to become parabatai soon, which will be very fun to see. Just a nice conclusion overall and it provides a lot of closure on Simon.


I had so much fun reading the Shadowhunter Chronicles, I'm so glad that I didn't choose to skip it. Let me know what your favorite novella was or if there was anything that I missed so we can talk about it in the comments! I'm super excited for Lady Midnight!

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