Princess of Ash: Laura Sebastian

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia's family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess--a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.

For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She's endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.

Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn't always won on the battlefield.

For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.
(Goodreads)

Where to start.... Well, I read a review on Goodreads regarding this book... and it had some good points. Honestly this book is very familiar in the sense that I've read this story hundreds of times.
But that does not mean it isn't a good book
Even though this story idea is overused, the book itself was great. And I honestly loved this book, I liked the way Sebastian wrote Theo, how she was struggling with her identity. I loved that she wrote about the moral dilemma of Theo having to kill her only friend. How she was kind of struggling with both her cultures, and I know this can be argued over..... But she kinda was raised in two cultures, even if one was under oppression. I really resonated with the struggles of two cultures because hey.. ya girls a Latina in America
Anyway, I honestly really liked the book. It was interesting with a perfect plot twist that kinda maybe a lot scream because it was absolutely brilliant!.... And evil

Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

Update

Hello, yes, hi, it's me Kat
It's been a hot minute since I last really updated this blog excluding the two books I reviewed today
And that's mainly becasue life sucks, schools hard, and I have no time to do anything except cry, study, and work. I still very much love this blog, and intend to keep updating it slowly.
My goal this year is to put up my reviews a couple days after I finish the books so that my feelings and thoughts are more accurate.
It's not like anyone reads these anyway, but I still like to review books and get my thoughts out into the world.
To the people who have actually read some of my review/rants, thank you
To those passing by, thank you for the visit and I hope you like the reviews
2019 is going to be a better year and an incredible year for books
Thank you
Kat <3

Crimson Bound: Rosamund Hodge

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.
(Goodreads) 

So I got this book for free from EpicReads for doing a survey and I was kind of skeptical about reading it, considering I didn't like her other book, Cruel Beauty.<---hover here But since I got the book for free I decided to give a go.... Boy was that a mistake.
So lets begin, this is supposed to be a inspired by Little Red Riding Hood... And I don't see how because it was just nonsense. The story starts with Rachelle as a child who lives in the woods with her grandmother. They're the local witches and Rachelle is training to be the next witch. Little Rachelle wants to do more in life, she want's to fight the bad guys, she wants to actively do something and make her mark on the world. honestly same She has the chance when she meets one of these evil dudes I promise I read the book and she's intruigued by him obviously and she keeps coming back to him and she's trying to act all tough and be like "You don't scare me." When one day her adventure goes wrong and he attacks her, and marks her. Which now means she has to either kill someone or die. She ends of killing her grandmother and thus begins the real story. This beginning was so interesting that I just had to continue.... But that's when the disappointment began.
Honestly from here it's just one mindfuck after another. The story was not well thought out and it was extremely confusing. Everything that happened in the second part was so utterly confusing that it just ruined the somewhat good plot.  It started going back and forth in points of view about some random ass character, who you later find out is the one who started this whole thing way back when. And we find out we have to find this sword to kill the demon king dude and find the portal to the other world classic.
We find out her one demon friend was the one who turned her evil and that he's actually in love with her. She fights him off and wins and continues on her quest to kill the demon king. And then she finds out that the magic her grandmother taught her was how to defeat the king and the needle that was actually the sword the whole time! great She sacrifices herself and wins and through that sacrifice becomes human again. cool 
Throughout this quest she fell in love with her hand-less charge and so they end up together, happily ever after. 
Great. I just did not like this book at all, it was boring and uninspiring. The characters were all pretty mediocre and the whole part where we were jumping back and forth was just so confusing I had to reread it multiple times to understand what was going on.
Honestly this is an aquired taste, if you like it awesome! If you don't, join the club 
Anyway 
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

Cruel Beauty: Rosamund Hodge

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.
(Goodreads)

 So after reading and loving A Court of Thorns and Roses Cruel Beauty was recommended to me because of how amazing the story is. How strong the female character is, and the wonderful spin to the classic Beauty and the Beast.
Honestly? I was incredibly disappointed. The story in itself was incredibly interesting, it was rich and complex. It was dark and mysterious. The plot definitely had moments that it would drag on for pages and pages fully admit to skimming over these parts. And there were parts that were so intriguing I wish we could have learned more about it cough everything involving the world inside of a world plot and the labyrinth castle. Overall I'd give the plot a solid 3 since it was a pretty slow book that was super boring at times. But what really ruined the book for me was the character of Nyx, there was just something about her that I truly could not stand. She was kind of boring, and extremely self righteous. She was annoying, and her sister was equally annoying to. But the sister at least had the redeeming quality of actually loving Nyx and actually trying to save her even after all the hurtful things she said. 
But the real kicker was the ending. After Nyx fell in love with the beast and figured out that the shadow man is also part of him (I fully admit to loving the shadow man in the beginning, but once she saved the beast and he became nice I totally switched sides.) which took me forever to figure out too. He set her free, the world went back to how it was supposed to was when the plot took a turn for the weird. Obviously no one remembers because book logic's, but Nyx vaguely remembers something. More like she remembers missing someone. And now the castle is just an old myth about a cowardly king and she goes to find him because she knows there's more to the castle. Well she finds the king and the old ruler people things and bargains for the kings life. blah blah blah they argue it's weird...
And then...... the book ends..... Like that's it. There's really no closure and the book just had a weird ending.
Overall, not my favorite book. It was just weird and not the good kind of weird 
Anyway 
Until next time reader <3

Love Kat