Dark Breaks the Dawn: Sara B Larson

On her eighteenth birthday, Princess Evelayn of Eadrolan, the Light Kingdom, can finally access the full range of her magical powers. The light looks brighter, the air is sharper, and the energy she can draw when fighting feels almost limitless.

But while her mother, the queen, remains busy at the war front, in the Dark Kingdom of Dorjhalon, the corrupt king is plotting. King Bain wants control of both kingdoms, and his plan will fling Evelayn onto the throne much sooner than she expected.

In order to defeat Bain and his sons, Evelayn will quickly have to come into her ability to shapeshift, and rely on the alluring Lord Tanvir. But not everyone is what they seem, and the balance between the Light and Dark comes at a steep price.
(Goodreads)

Considering this is one of the books that had been highly recommended to me by a friend, and then meeting the author at a book signing prompted me to finally read the book.... I expected more. Much more than what was delivered. This book from the get go, is mediocre, its sporadic hard to follow. It's nothing amazing and the plot is very lacking in everything that would make it better. The writing was sub-par and I felt like she tried to shove as many things as she could in the first book and yet the plot felt stagnant.
The world was very underdeveloped, and the rules and customs of the world were hard to understand. Larson tried to give us background knowledge of how her world worked, but it just didn't work out well. This book was described to me as a beautiful love story paired with the devastation of failure and a broken heart. And it was a failure, it failed the characters and the lackluster story line. And nothing about this book was memorable.
The end was a failure, and I understand this book is a LITERAL representation of the authors fight with depression.... I just didn't like the book
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

The Wicked King: Holly Black

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
(Goodreads)

This literally starts right where the last one ended. Well, technically six months after The Cruel Prince, and Jude is nowhere near figuring out how to keep Cardan in line after her year and one day is finished. 
She's tired, she's frustrated, and now her sister is getting married and they want the whole family to be there..... So now she has to figure out how to get her brother here safely and keeps him safe from anyone who wants to kill him... It's not a fun time honestly.
Holly Black did an amazing job of making this book feel dangerously whimsical. The stakes are up and anything can happen.
But freaking! She and Cardan did the do, they did the sexy. And Cardan obviously cares for Jude.... SO HOW THE HELL DID HE GET FOOLED BY HER SISTER!?!?! screams into the void
Everything about this book is frustrating in the most exquisite way. And now I have to wait for the next book.... at least I don't have to suffer alone... sorry bestie not really
And last but not least:
Jude... My dude... I feel you.... Like, I too have wallowed and watched Yuri On Ice!! while eating ice cream... many times  too many times
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

The Shadowglass: Rin Chupeco

Tea is a bone witch with the dark magic needed to raise the dead. She has used this magic to breathe life into those she has loved and lost…and those who would join her army against the deceitful royals. But Tea's quest to conjure a shadowglass—to achieve immortality for the one person she loves most in the world—threatens to consume her heart.

Tea's black heartsglass only grows darker with each new betrayal. And when she is left with new blood on her hands, Tea must answer to a power greater than the elder asha or even her conscience...
(Goodreads)

This has seriously been one of my most highly anticipated books of the year, and boy was it better than I expected. 
I bought it as soon as it came out, and oh my gosh look at that cover <3 
Anyways, this book begins where the other one left off. Tea's story is coming to a close and her past and present are starting to intertwine. Everything that she told the Bard is now a direct cause to what's happening in the present. It's magnificent and dizzying all at the same time. And it's super confusing because we still only get the bare minimum, just like everyone else. Everything is starting to fall into place. Everything that Tea has sacrificed will finally have meaning. 
Unlike the previous two books, this one has a sense of urgency. This urgency that makes the book feel like we are running against the clock. Our time is running out, and it was she was able to convey this so well in her writing. I couldn't stop reading! All the dots were finally connecting and I felt my heart break for all the misunderstandings.
The romance between Tea and Kalen is just so sweet, seriously his death was devastating, heart wrenching. 
Honestly I just have so many feelings about this book that you just need to read this book to fully understand the beauty that is The Bone Witch series.


This story, at its core, is about love. The platonic love between a sister and her brother. This love so unconditional, to do anything for her fallen brother. To change the course of the world and its history for her brother. To bring him back from the dead so that he may have the happily ever after she believes, no, the one she knows he deserves, even at the cost of her only life. Is what makes this book magnificent. Magnificent and heart wrenching. It's enchanting and I am so thoroughly grateful that I bought this book on a whim. 
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

Shadow and Bone: Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
(Goodreads)

So let me begin by saying that I technically started this review THREE years ago.... And I never finished it because I couldn't remember the book as clearly as I wanted to.
So here I am in 2019, rereading all of Bardugo's books because of King of Scars.

Sooo lets get started.
When I first read this way back when, I honestly did not like Mal. Like AT ALL. I found him annoying and bland and just, I was so frustrated with Alina for liking him. When the Darkling was literally RIGHT THERE. Since rereading the book, Mal isn't that bad, he's not perfect. And I like that.
Considering this is Bardugo's first book, it is incredibly well written the way she created this world. The way she describes it, how immersive it is, without being over bearing.
Honestly the book starts off slow, the book has a lot of information to get there so at times it feels a bit dense, but the plot flows so well.
We see Alina grow and honestly face a lot of things in a short amount of time. Everything regarding the Darkling is just so perfectly execute. It doesn't seem fake, it's realistically done.
And Bardugo just has a way of writing that truly captures the audience with her dark and amazing characters.
Honestly this "review" is a mess... But I'm trying
Anyways!
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

The Glass Butterfly: A.G. Howard

For close to a decade, twenty-five-year-old Felicity Lonsdale has masqueraded as a dowager almost twice her age—selling caterpillars to butterfly consortium's—enabling her to hide an ill-fated past while raising her late brother’s daughters. Together, the three live on an isolated Irish estate bequeathed by a dying earl. When the earl’s estranged son arrives to claim his inheritance by threatening to expose Felicity’s true identity, she longs to pack up her nieces and run. But a ghostly secret within the castle’s turret holds her captive.

Nick Thornton—a Roma viscount’s heir—is also captive. After a tryst with an investor’s wife nearly destroyed his family’s holiday resort, Nick forsook everything to elope with her. However, a tragic mistake at his hand led to her and his baby’s deaths. Refusing to turn to the family he shamed, Nick travels to seek the countess who once co-wrote a romance with his sister. There’s rumor of a special butterfly in her keep—a transparent-winged species with ties to the afterlife. Nick hopes to contact his dead wife and child, for only their forgiveness can free him.

Upon his arrival to Felicity’s estate, Nick offers to help her defeat the earl’s son, on the condition she allow Nick to investigate her glass butterflies. Felicity agrees, though fears the closer he gets to the ghosts of his past, the closer he’ll come to uncovering her own. As Nick spends time with Felicity and her nieces, he realizes the mystery enshrouding this fragile countess and her castle is more intriguing than the ghosts he originally came to find. And perhaps putting his dead to rest and helping her do the same will be his true path to redemption.
(Goodreads)

This is book three of the "Haunted Hearts Legacy" and it was considerably better than the second one. Let me begin by saying this is the third to a series of stand alone books, that can totally be read by themselves. But you get the full story by reading them in order.

This one is about Nick, and I like him more than his brother. Nick is a womanizer, a scoundrel, the shame of his family or so he thinks. Obviously Nick has a dark past, a dark and depressing past and he is now chasing ghosts... Butterfly ghosts (??? it's a whole thing). Which leads us to Felicity, the ruler? leader? owner? Master of this ghostly estate. Felicity also has a dark past, a dark and devastating past, her only light in this grim world are her two nieces. And the boy who saved her from death. Who's obviously Nick though he doesn't remember her 
And thus starts their romance! With Nick breaking into her greenhouse in search of her ghost butterflies and Felicity literally ripping his knee open. Fun!
Honestly Felicity annoyed the ever living hell out of me, her back and forth emotions regarding Nick. When he LITERALLY told her MULTIPLE times that he was going to take care of her and the girls and that he loved her. He would not only tell her this, but he would show her. Actions speak louder than words and yet she continued to lie to him time and again. 
Until they got married. They got married and she was still lying to him 
But what's a true Gothic Romance without ghosts. Well her brother, yes, her brother is MOSTLY dead. And with the help of his eldest daughter and the butterflies is trying to help out around the greenhouse and communicate with Felicity. Felicity is having nothing of this nonsense and instead isolates her nieces more go figure 
Nick throughout this all suffering over the guilt of his deceased wife and child. He's falling for Felicity and has started to love her nieces as children of his own. Honestly Nick is pretty damn princely throughout this all. He's the textbook tall, dark, and handsome. He believes the eldest niece oops totally cannot remember her name for the life of me in regards to the butterflies and her father. Since he too has experience with ghosts... well... his parents. *cough* Anyways, Nick is doing everything he can to prove his love to Felicity, his devotion to her girls. 
And it only works when she saves the youngest one from drowning in the bog how clique... I love it But even then, Felicity manages to screw it up.
But in the end love conquers all! Nick makes up his estranged family, he is happily married to Felicity. Felicity makes peace with her past and the scars it left on her both figurative and literal Her dear old brother awakes from his coma, is pinning after Emilia slightly cringes a lot 
And everyone lives happily ever after, Nick's family visit the estate.
And by some amazing miracle, Felicity gets pregnant and all is well.
Honestly I love the clique of a Gothic Romance being a goth myself, I can't help but swoon and I love how Ms. Howard delivers the story in her own way. 
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

The Song of Achilles: Madeline Miller

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.
(Goodreads)

Let me begin by saying that I was so thoroughly excited to read this book. Considering I absolutely loved Circe, and all the amazing reviews I've heard of this book. I was excited. I was ecstatic to finally get the chance to read it since I had to wait months to get it from the library 
To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. I was slightly angry about how much I didn't like this book. And I really really wanted to like it. I was angry, and frustrated, and just plain sad in regards to this book. 
From the beginning! This book actually is not in the point of view of Achilles not until the end at least. This book is in Patroclus I literally had no idea how to say his name..... Like at all point of view, which was an interesting take. I was kind of okay with it... Except that it was seriously just so melancholy that it seriously made the book feel sad... THE WHOLE TIME 
Patroclus is a pathetic character for the longest time, he's weak and sad and overal pretty annoying. And Achilles? He's there too... But only just. He's not nearly as important as you'd think, not until their romance blooms.
Oh? Did I mention this book is HECKING gay?? Because, my god, it is so gay and there's even gay sex... it was interesting and completely true to the times. 
Anyways... When you think of Achilles what do you think of? I don't know about you, but I always think about the Trojan War. And you'd think that this book would be about that, would consist of a considerable amount of the Trojan War. Well you would be wrong. Because literally the Trojan War was at the every end of book, maybe the last hundred pages? Possibly? Which, for me, was so disappointing. The whole beginning of the book is about Paroclus's shame, his love for Achilles, his fear of his mother. 
I honestly was extremely disappointed, especially considering how much people raved about the book. But alas, this book was not for me, but who knows, maybe whoever reads this blog will actually enjoy the book. And if you do, awesome! If not... Joining me in complaining about
Until next time readers <3

Love Kat 

Girls of Paper and Fire: Natasha Ngan

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most cruel.

But this year, there's a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it's Lei they're after--the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king's consort. But Lei isn't content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable--she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.
(Goodreads) 

WARNING THIS BOOK CONTAINS SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND THEMES
*nothing too graphic or descriptive, but can still be triggering for certain people.

I fully admit to buying this book because it was pretty. Like? Look at that cover, its gorgeous. Yes the story itself sounding interesting, but I was more captivated by the cover. It had the premise of a regular old book, until it didn't. I fully admit that I went into reading this book thinking I wouldn't like it. But that sentiment quickly left within a few pages in.

The story starts with Lei, a girl in the lowest class, who works for a demon who's like family. She lost her mom in a raid years prior. The only thing that stands out is her golden eyes, eyes that shouldn't belong to a human. So the story at its base seemed very familiar to me and I thought it was going to be a Beauty and the Beast retelling.... Boy was I wrong
Everything changes when Lei makes it to the castle and things start progressing in a different way. 
Let me explain,  there are subtle changes to Lei's character in regards to girls and women around her. And me, being a hetero-normative female.... this threw me off. When they officially meet the Demon King, it officially puts everything into perspective. The way she reacts to Wren, how intrigued by her she is. And this is around the time I start thinking... is she a lesbian?? And then I moved on. 
When the girls met the Demon King, it was an unsettling experience. Lei's reaction was both fascination and fear. It was unsettling, because on the surface all the girls... Except Lei slight horror and Wren's indifference, are in love or so it seems 
Everything changes when Lei finally gets the letter, that it's her turn to pleasure the king. Obviously everyone is excited and jealous. And this was also around the time that everything started feeling more real. 
What happens when she gets the King's palace is weird..... and then horrifying. To say that I was crying... would be an understatement. Luckily, Lei fought back and was not raped this time 
Her romance with Wren is healing, and it is the most beautiful and pure love one could possibly find.
When.... Lei does get raped by the King. I felt my heartbreak, and I couldn't stop crying. The emotional trauma of what she endured was horrifying. 
The end of the book was amazing! They kicked ass! They escaped! They FELL IN LOVE! 
AND THEN THE KING DIDN'T DIE!!! I am so angry and I cannot wait for the next book 

Until next time readers <3

Love Kat