Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Published:  May 12th 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Summary:
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:
I’m going to be perfectly honest with you and say that I do not know how to review The Wrath and the Dawn. This book blew me away so much that I didn’t even notice where it took me until I reached the end and realized that my life will never be the same. A whole new standard has been made. Nothing short of throwing the book in your face and screaming “READ THIS” will do The Wrath and the Dawn justice. Or maybe I’ll throw it softly at your face, letting you catch it and feel satisfied, before I punch you in the face BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I FELT HAPPEN TO ME. It started as a soft blow that suddenly tore up my heart with its lyrical writing.

The thing is Khalid probably feels the same way I do. The only way to describe Shahrzad is that she’s a force. She’s unlike any other female character I’ve ever read. There’s so many powerful female protagonist out there but Shahrzad stands out. She’s unique.  She’s insecure yet confident. She’s all these things that you can’t quite know her exactly; which is what drew Khalid to her. He can’t explain why but he knows he wants her. He knows she must be in his life. This tortured soul wants to have a touch of light in his life even though he doesn’t deserve it. And before he knew it, he was invested in this plague of a girl.
For nothing, not the sun, not the rain, not even the brightest star in the darkest sky, could begin to compare to the wonder of you.
I’ve read so many books with cold-hearted turned good guys. And I admit, I have a type. I enjoy those kind of boy characters, it’s enjoyable. I was expecting Khalid to be this kind of boy but I was wrong. Khalid is so different. I don't even think he turned totally good at the end. He's a man of many faults but becomes better because of Shahrzad. This relationship didn’t go from hatred to love in a few pages. Khalid was uneasy to put himself fully into the relationship. I’m so obsessed with the dialogue. His lines starts off subtle as he tries to sort out his feelings, to sweet and heartbreaking. They didn’t come off as cheesy or eye-roll worthy. It was natural. I wish I could write the entire book in my quote notebook.
“And how will you know when you’ve found this elusive someone?” Shahrzad retorted.
“I suspect she will be like air. Like knowing how to breathe.”
Even with the book's magical writing, I admit it was hard to connect to. I remember reading the first half and thinking, “I know this is a good book, it’s easy to read and flows well, but for some reason I can’t get a feel for it. I can’t decide if I like it.” I kept thinking I can’t decide until I reached about the last 100 pages of the book. This part shines out to me the most and is what made me love it. It pulled the whole book together. The story got exciting and felt like a fire was lit inside me. I got emotionally involved and made me confident to ship Khalid and Shahrzad.

I am so excited for the sequel, The Rose and the Dagger. I can’t wait to see where the relationship goes. There’s (unfortunately? I can’t decide.) a love triangle with a childhood friend named Tariq. But I can’t decide how I feel about him. I liked him in the beginning but started get annoyed at the end, however, that might have been because I started to like Khalid A LOT and didn’t like that Tariq was getting in the way. I am looking forward to learning more about Tariq so that I can make a more firm decision. Though I doubt I can ship Tariq after THE ENDING. It broke my heart. The book leaves off on one of the best cliffhangers EVER. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!
Sorry that there hasn't been much going on on my blog! If you didn't know, I started college on Thursday and am scrambling to find time to write reviews. For those of you who are in school or have a job, how do you put aside time to write reviews?
I WILL be trying to post more reviews soon. I just finished Wendy Darling: Stars and I LOVE IT. I am looking forward to writing that review and can't wait for you to read it! Hopefully it will be posted soon. :) You can always find me on Twitter (@booknadventure) to find out what I'm doing and probably my struggles in college. See you soon!


Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish.
 
This week's theme: Ten books on my fall to-be-read list. Honestly I could go easy and name all the books on my bookshelf that I haven't read (basically 60% of the shelf) BUT I WON'T OF COURSE. I'm actually really bad at planning what books to read ahead of time. I figure out what book I'm going to read next after I finish the current one. And it happens based on whether I want to touch a book on my shelf, if I get lazy to move and decide to read on my phone via online library, or if I read a really good review and the title sticks in my head. So here's a list of books I'd like to read soon but there's no promise that I will.


1. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
Why: A love story told in 14 different point of views from other people watching the potential couple and fangirling about how cute they could be TOGETHER. I think one of the POVs is a squirrel.
2. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Why: I recently bought the book and basically everyone's been telling me to read it.
3. Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian
Why: BECAUSE JENNY HAN
4. Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons
Why: I love all things Alice in Wonderland. It's always been an extremely interesting story to me. Also Ranu's review over at The Araliya Bookshelf totally sold the book to me! Coming out September 28, 2015.
5. Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
Why: I bought the book when there was a 99 cent deal on Kindle. The author has promised me feels!
6. Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall
Why: Her problem? She’s babysitting the siblings of her childhood friend and new crush, Teo. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS BOOK PROMISES ME. FIRST ROMANCE. THEN SIBLING FEELS. I'M ALL ABOUT THOSE FAMILY FEELS. Coming out October 20, 2015.
7. Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell
Why: First, the cover is beautiful. Second, it's a fairy tale retelling. AND A CINDERELLA ONE TOO!! (My favorite classic princess. Though my all time favorite is Tiana in Princess and the Frog.)
8. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Why: A beautifully written historical fiction story during WW2. It's an adult book but I've been looking forward to this book for a long time.
9. The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore
Why: I'M SO EXCITED. I've heard such good things.
10. Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton
Why: A cutthroat ballet story.

There! I will try to keep to this list but I know I'm going to miss some because I start college on Thursday and don't know if I'll be able to read as much *cries* BUT I HAVE PLANS. And I intend to read a good amount.

Book Review: Beastkeeper

I present to you for this week's Middle Grade Monday: Beastkeeper, a Beauty and the Beast retelling in which the Beast is the girl and fairytale rules are broken. I bolded the line in the summary that won me over. I was second guessing the book before but I was intrigued by that line. 

Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen
Published: February 3rd 2015 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Source: Library
Format: eBook
Rating: 4 out of 5


Summary:
Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn’t know that it’s magic her parents are running from.

When Sarah’s mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents—people she has never met, didn’t even know were still alive.

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast . . . unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever. 

Review:
Sarah's life is good. Her parents love each other and they absolutely adore her. She likes that her parents are different. They aren't tied down by money and see no reason to buy fancy cars or big houses. She's been moving around all her life for a reason she doesn't necessarily understand but has accepted. Sarah's gotten used to moving and can even predict the exact day her parents will pack up from the geometry of dandelion seeds' flight in the air. Everything is good. Until the day her mom walks out. The shock is so big that the only reason Sarah can come up with is: the cold. Her dad becomes depressed. He stops talking, stop taking care of Sarah, and forgets to eat. This is where the beauty starts. The magic of the book is tied with the dark elements. 
She lost her mother to the cold and the winds, and now her father was also lost, lost to some strange sickness that ate away the inside of his head until he wasn't anything like her father at all, just a beast wearing his skin like a coat.
The writing is gorgeous. I loved how the author presented real problems as magic. Depression being her father's transformation and the cold as a symbol of a relationship without love. This book is dark. It's about unhappily ever afters. It tells the story of how jealousy turns into a big game of revenge that got so passionate it became impossible to end. Beastkeeper shows the realistic side of fairy tales. Where people's dreams are the worst thing that could happen to them. Where people fall in love with the image of true love but not with the actual person. It's about the dark side of human nature. The author calls out these conditions and intertwines it with magic. THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE PART.
It was a jolt.
A strange moment when the world stayed exactly the same, and changed forever.
It felt like an invisible firework.
And Sarah's bones shifted just the slightest bit under her skin.
Since this is a middle grade book there's no big emphasis on romance for the protagonist. But the summary obviously promises you something, I mean that's the big part of the story. This curse looms over Sarah's head. If I could describe this book in one word, it would be bittersweet. Sarah sees the ugliness of humans and deals with it like a brave little girl. It is amazing and SO BEAUTIFUL. I can't emphasize how beautiful this book is!

This is a book about the cruelty of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. I highly recommend this to everyone. It's NOT your usual happily ever all but has the satisfaction of fairy tales and retellings.
If you did/do read this amaaaazing book but get a little confused at the curse (which no shame, because I was too), the author wrote a short prequel online HERE.
It's about the story of Igna and Freya falling in love and how everything went downhill.

Book Review: Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Published: February 6th 2012 by Egmont Press
Source: Barnes and Noble
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:
I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine - and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I'm going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France - an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.

Review:
I wish I loved this book more. I heard such good things about how heart wrenching it is but I wasn't feeling it. Does this mean Code Name Verity isn't a great book? NO! This book is amazing! It has so many perks but it was super slow to get there. There are two parts of the book and my review will also be split because my feelings did a total 180 flip at the change.

Exactly what the summary promises. "Queenie" is a war prisoner who cuts a deal with the Nazi opposition to have a merciful death. Part 1 contains all of Queenie's written reports to the enemy. It is written through her best friend Maddie's perspective, which I admit was a bit strange at first. Because they are reports, it is filled with information. I felt like a majority of her story is an extensive description of pilots. The story started to get really slow because there was no drama. There were multiple times in which I thought of dropping the book but was encouraged to continue for the ending.

Something I appreciated is the friendship between Queenie and Maddie. Although it did drag on at certain parts, the two really love each other. Together, they are sensational. With each their own talents, they climbed the success ladder and with their jobs came secrets.
It's like being in love, discovering your best friend.
Throughout Queenie's entire story I felt uneasy and I couldn't figure out why! I expected her to suddenly reveal that she was Maddie all along or laugh at the end and say that it was all lies. Even with my uneasiness, I couldn't help but believe her. I could feel the emotion in her voice. Queenie is broken from the torture. She hates herself for telling the secrets of her country. I felt her shame and pain. She could have told me that she sold chocolate to turtles and I would've believed her.

I DON'T EVEN WANT TO TELL YOU ANYTHING ABOUT PART 2 IN CASE I SPOIL IT. Part 2 is what won this book over. I literally screamed at the first words. The story picked up significantly and there was TONS of drama. I think the problem with part 1 was that I knew no matter what Queenie did, her death was inevitable. In part 2, I had no idea where the book was going. I felt excitement, terror, love, and betrayal. There is more life in the voice. It has a different feel compared to the depressing tone from a prisoner sentenced to death.

But for some reason I wasn't crying. At THE scene that I know everyone was raving about, I couldn't cry. This is big for me because I literally cry at anything! I think my inner thoughts of groaning at the slow beginning snubbed my feelings for the ending. I felt sad and I was definitely shocked at the plot twist but I wasn't connected enough to the characters to cry.
KISS ME, HARDY! Kiss me, QUICK!
The New York Times review on the cover described the book as, "A fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel."  Since part 2 didn't start until two-thirds in, for a majority of the book I was waiting for the game. I was disappointed when I wasn't getting anything UNTIL PART 2. Everything that happened had me whispering, "Oh. My. Gosh." and flipping back to part 1 to reread certain parts. It further more confirmed my beliefs that Queenie is a badass.
My review may be mixed and probably an unpopular opinion but honestly I appreciate the book. This is a total "it's not you, it's me" moment. I just don't do well with slow books and maybe historical fiction isn't my jam? The characters are very real. There is an amazing, strong friendship. The story is emotionally filled. I think that people who love historical fiction should give this book a shot. Heck not just those fans, if you read the summary and found it interesting, READ THIS BOOK. Keep in mind that the beginning is slow but you have to wait! The ending IS worthwhile.

I DON'T want to give up on this genre.

Top Ten Book Quotes


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish.
 
Hello! This week's theme is: a FREEBIE! I recently started a "quote notebook" where I write down quotes that make me pause or take away my breath in books, movies, random ones I see on the internet, etc. So I decided to make a Top Ten Book Quotes post for this Tuesday... WITH GRAPHICS.
1. "Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time."  ~Cinder by Marissa Meyer

2.  "I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I'll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again..."  ~The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
3. “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”  ~Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

4. "Hazel," [her mom] said, voice firm and grave, "Listen to me. There is nothing wrong with you, got it?" Hazel nodded. She understood. They were plastic flowers of words but they looked nice on the surface."  ~Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
5. "I am the king and you could've been my Red Queen. Now you are nothing."  ~Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

6. “It might be my imagination, but I think I hear his heart beating. His is beating and mine feels like it's breaking.”  ~P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
7. “And there it is, against all hope, like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. The smallest hint of a smile.”  ~These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman

8. “Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back.”  ~Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

9. “And that might just be the root of the problem: we're all afraid of each other, wings or no wings.”  ~The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

10. "It's like, I don't know, grabbing a little piece of life. All this stuff happens, all these little moments go flying past, and then they're gone. And then you're gone...But when you take a picture, that one moment isn't gone. You caught it. It's yours. And you get to keep it."  ~The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart

Aaaand there you have it! My top ten quotes. I tried not to use too many of the obvious, power quotes from books. After getting the idea, I thought it would be aesthetically appealing to also include graphics... OMG they took FOREVER. I'm pretty sure my sister wanted to kill me from the amount of times I asked her, "Hey, does this look good." But there you have it! 5 quote graphics (the plan was ten but my hand died after five). 

Not exactly sure if the Red Queen one makes sense. She doesn't have red hair (at least I don't think) but red splash for the Red Queen? Also for the These Broken Stars quote, I tried to make the text have a "sunrise gradient". Don't really think anyone will get that, but OH WELL.

Haul my new Books // Book Haul #1




Introducing... Haul my new Books!! (see what I did there *wink* *wink*) So three weeks ago, I started this blog. To reward myself, I decided to buy a book from Book Depository. Obviously things got out of hand and I ended up buying more than one. Actually more than five... but I'm super excited and can't wait to read them all even though my wallet is crying! 

Code Name Verity // Elizabeth Wein
I've been wanting to try out more historical fiction and Code Name Verity is a highly suggested book from my friends in school. I've been promised feels.
The Winner's Curse // Marie Rutkoski
As always I am late to the club. I've heard AMAZING things and I know I'm going to be obsessed. But books that I know I'm going to be in love with always intimidate me so hopefully now that I've bought the book I'll read it soon.
This is THE feather book that got me obsessed with all feather books. I currently own two feather books and there is a 100% chance that I will own more. I've been waiting a long time to read this book because I am in love with the cover. I've heard mixed things but I really hope I enjoy it.

I'm not a photographer so I could NOT get a good shot of these two books together.
Counting by 7s // Holly Goldberg Sloan
I've been waiting a long time for this book. I'm so happy. It is the original book that I was going to buy before I got a little book crazy. I even got my little cousin to buy the book before I've read it. That's the amount of confidence I have in the book.
All Four Stars // Tara Dairman
This is a middle grade foodie book and that was literally all it took to get me to buy this book. Books + Food = I'm all for it. I don't even know if I'll love this book but why not. 

Only a Kiss // Ines Bautista-Yao
I bought the book on Kindle because it was 99 cents at the time and also written by an Asian author. Honestly I haven't heard anything about this book but I was in the middle of my book craze. I'm positive though :)
P.S. I Still Love You // Jenny Han 
The book didn't come in time for me to pick it up ;-; It's currently at my sister's apartment far away and I'll get it when I go to college. I already read it but I love this series and know I will reread it plenty of times in the future.


Middle Grade Monday: Inside Out & Back Again

This week's Middle Grade Monday will be on the book Inside Out & Back Again about a Vietnamese family immigrating to the U.S. on a boat. Honestly, this is more of me fangirling about finding a book about a Vietnamese girl. The summary of the book tells it all. Nothing that I say will be meaningful for this book. I'm going to let it's own words speak for the book.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Published: February 22nd 2011 by HarperCollins
Source: Library
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Inside Out and Back Again is a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration.

For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family.

Review:
I am lucky to have found this book at the library. I picked it up because of the cover but stayed because of so much more. I was excited to have found a book about a Vietnamese family fleeing the country to escape the war. This is my family's story. However, my parents never like to talk about their experience and I hoped that this book would help me understand our history.
The emotional aspect is important because of something I noticed in my nieces and nephews. They may know in general where their parents came from, but they can't really imagine the noises and smells of Vietnam, the daily challenges of starting over in a strange land. -From the Author's Note
The book is a historical fiction story that educates it's readers on the hardship of the refugees to teach compassion. I think that it is great to have a middle grade book on this topic, because it gives children the opportunity to turn to a book when they want to get a deeper understanding of their homes and family. I couldn't stop paying attention to this book. The book did the purpose I hoped for and after reading I felt more grateful of my family.
Everybody knows the ship
could sink
unable to hold
the piles of bodies
that keep
crawling on
like raging ants
from a disrupted nest.

But no one
is heartless enough
to say
stop
because what if
they had been
stopped
before their turn?
Lai writes the book in verse, which I'm usually not a fan of, but it worked well here. It allowed her to put emphasis on words and fully showed the frustration of Hà in the U.S. I'm amazed at how much emotion the author was able to fit into minimal words. The broken language even further emphasized Hà's struggles as she learned English and placed me in her shoes.
I count up to twenty.
The class claps
on its own.

I'm furious,
unable to explain
I already learned
fractions
and how to purify
river water.

So this is
what dumb
feels like.

I hate, hate, hate it.
Inside Out & Back Again is obviously more easy to read than a Wikipedia page and much more tolerable than a history class. I learned so much in an enjoyable form. There's a reason why diversity in books are important, especially access to it to children. I never knew how many Vietnamese books I lacked in my life until I felt like crying when I read Vietnamese words and names. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the Vietnamese culture and the story of the refugees.

One Lovely Blog Award

 

I got tagged for the One Lovely Blog Award by the amazing Ranu from The Araliya Bookshelf. She is a kind person who befriended me over Twitter when I first started my blog and made me more excited about being in the blogosphere. Please visit her blog, she's a Sri Lankan book reader :)

While I don't know if I can nominate 15 other bloggers, because I'm still a newb and don't know that many, I do think this is a great opportunity to let you all get to know me better. Also feel free to tell me about yourself in the comments, I would love to learn more about you!

The Rules:

  1. Thank whoever nominated you
  2. List Rules and display award 
  3. Give Seven Facts.
  4. Nominate 15 other bloggers and notify them
  5. Display award photo and follow the blogger who notified you 

The 7 (silly) Facts about Me:

  1.  I'm eighteen years old and I am convinced that as long as there is the word 'teen' in my age I am still a teenager because I don't know how to adult.
  2.  I have a blue blankee with two bears on it and I plan on bringing it with me to college; along with my stuffed animal tiger named Simba.
  3.  My sister is a picky reader and I've been trying to find books for her since forever. I'm really proud of the fact that she likes Shatter Me and am still searching for a scary book for her.
  4.  In middle school, I had the worse short hair style ever. It still haunts me. My mom even admits that she thought it was hideous but never told me... even though she was the one to cut my hair.
  5.  My favorite candy is Airheads. I remember when I was young I got a Costco pack for Christmas.
  6.  I have this unfortunate habit of saying "Treat yo self" every time I try to debate a big purchase in my head. Every. Time.
  7.  I hate driving so much.

I nominate:

Vy
Sarah
Chelsea
Stephanie
Kristin
Although they were already nominated, I would also like to name: Aentee and Mishma :)

Book Review: Dream a Little Dream

Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier
Published: April 14th 2015 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Source: Library
Format: eBook
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.

The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know--unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute...


Review:
Dream a Little Dream is a little complicated to explain, but a great book and would love for more people to read it. So for my review I decided to break it down into parts. Here's what I liked:

The book is told in first person through Liv. Liv is a sassy girl trying to adapt to her new home at her mother’s boyfriends house. After she learns that her classmates were dabbling in black magic to resurrect a Demon, she isn’t afraid to offer her help even though it puts her in danger. That doesn’t mean she kept a serious face though. Liv is hilarious and sarcastic as she tries to not laugh while her classmates drew circles and chanted Latin words for a ritual. Liv’s humor made the book enjoyable and drew me in in the first pages.

The dreams. A big part of what made me want to read the book was the twist on the dreams. After moving, Liv starts getting dreams involving the four popular boys at her school. The five interact in their dreams and are all able to remember them afterwards. Liv’s newfound ability allows her to go into other people’s dreams and that plus the black magic is where the excitement happens.

The plot. The main story line involves the dreams and the black magic to revive the Demon. It was easy to read and didn’t drag on at all throughout the book. The “filler” portion of the book where Liv explores her dreams and investigated the boys wasn't boring even though there was no major problem in those parts.

NO LOVE TRIANGLE/SQUARE. The four supermodels of the school that all the girls drool over are Grayson, Henry, Arthur, and Jasper. Grayson being her soon-to-be stepbrother is obviously knocked out as an opinion (but if I had to choose a boy it would totally be him). From the premise, I assumed that they were all going to fight over Liv, but it was pretty obvious who Liv’s love interest is from the beginning. In a way, it could be described as instalove but I think it worked in this situation. The romance is actually very cute. I think it could be described as the early dating/crushing phase of a relationship because it wasn't too overpowering or a main focus of the story. Even with this many boys, they were all different. Grayson is the cliche protective older brother, Henry is the quiet and mysterious one, Jasper oozes in flirtatious charm, and Arthur, the poss prince of the school.

What I think could’ve been worked on:

The world building. For such an interesting world with all the dreams and demons, it wasn’t explained very well. It was never explained why Liv was able to enter other people’s dreams. The boys had a tendency to straight up ignore Liv's questions when it got "too dangerous" and while it was supposed to keep up the image of the mysterious, beautiful boys, it got annoying and left a lot of questions.

Overall, I enjoyed Dream a Little Dream, and will be looking forward to reading the rest of the series soon. I found the first book very fun and hope that continues. Gier’s Ruby Red will also be added onto my to-read list.

Ten Characters I Just Didn't Click With

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish.
 
This week's theme is: Ten Characters You Just Didn't Click With.
I would like to note that just because I didn't like these characters doesn't mean that I didn't like the books. If I don't click with a character, there's a good chance I'll still finish the book and like it for the story.


Wren Gray // The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
Oh my gosh, where do I even start with Wren. She expects to be the only person in her boyfriend's life and expects him to chose her over his family. I'm going to stop short there (it's for a good cause. Thinking about her woke the fire of anger in me again) but my full rant is in my review here at Goodreads.

Margo Roth Spiegelman // Paper Towns by John Green
I never understood what was so special about Margo. Quentin goes through all this trouble to find her and her reasoning behind it all was a bit bratty. 

Scarlet // Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen 
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like her. It's how she acted in the beginning of the book all stuck-up and radiating in JUSTICE vibes that didn't let me connect to her right away. Her "I can't get close to you, it's too dangerous" attitude made me want to roll my eyes.

Mal // Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Oh Mal. You silly boy. You don't know how to support your girl. The whole we're-best-friends-since-forever-and-eventually-I-noticed-you're-kinda-good-looking-and-woah-I-love-you-ROMANTICALLY thing never worked with me too.

Juliette // Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
I really love this book. But girl you got to get up and save people not sit down and mope for no reason!

Heathcliff // Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront












Libby is written to have "good intentions" as she searches for the truth of her murdered family, but she will always be selfish to me. The girl gets jealous of other people's family massacres because she want to guilt people out of their money. It's always money money money.

What characters did you not click with?