Top 10 Mondays: Writers

1 .Amy A. Bartol - if you've been reading this blog for a while, then you'll know how much I love her writing. 'Nuff said 

2. Jennifer L. Armentrout - I love how even though all her books are paranormal -fantasy based, they still have a bit of humour in them and there's always this occasional funny line that makes you laugh. 

3. Cassandra Clare 

4. Victoria Aveyard- even though she's only released one book, I loved it so much that she just automatically earns a spot on my Top 10 Writers

5. Susan Ee- her writing style is amazing and I love the descriptive language of her work 

6. Sarah J. Maas- her stories always have an incredible plot that always leave you with the biggest book hangover ever and you don't even know what hit you 

7. Tahereh Mafi - The Shatter Me series was absolutely gold 

8. Michelle Hodkin 

9. Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles 

10. Marie Lu, author of the Legend series  

Review: Darken The Stars by Amy A. Bartol

Darken The Stars by Amy A. Bartol

Book 3 of the Kricket Series

Kyon Ensin finally has what he’s always wanted: possession of Kricket Hollowell, the priestess who foresees the future. Together, their combined power will be unrivaled. Kricket, however, doesn’t crave the crown of Ethar—she has an unbreakable desire to live life on her own terms, a life that she desperately wants to share with her love, Trey Allairis.

As conspiracies rage in the war for Ethar, Kricket’s so-called allies want to use her as a spy. Even those held closest cannot be trusted—including Astrid, her sister, and Giffen, a member of a mysterious order with a hidden agenda. But Kricket’s resolve will not allow her to be used as anyone’s pawn, even as the Brotherhood sharpens its plans to cut out her heart.

As the destiny prophesied by her mother approaches, Kricket will backtrack through her fiery future to reshape it. For she knows one thing above all else: the only person she can truly count on is herself.

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I received this e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Please excuse me if nothing I write here make sense because right now my thoughts are a huge blubbering mess.I finished the book and when I reached the last page and read the last sentence, my reaction was literally 'What? IS THIS BOOK MISSING A PAGE OR SOMETHINGS?' I should probably start this interview though by saying how much of a fan of Amy Bartol's I am, whether be it of her amazing Premonition series or the books from her Kricket series, I love everything she writes and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know how much of I love her works. 

That being said, it makes me really sad to give this book such a low rating - 2.5-3/5 stars. Why you may ask? 

Throughout the whole book, I was seriously confused and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Really. I feel like Kricket is jumping back and forth between Kyon and Trey, and I have absolutely no idea what to think. You know how usually when you read a book with two male main characters competing for one female character's attention, you will have an obvious favourite right? 

Usually, at the back of the mind you already know who you want the female character to end up with.But no, not in this series. For the first two books of the series, I really wanted Kricket to end up with Trey and I was so sure she was going to end up with him, until I read Darken The Stars, and BAM now I'm in an absolute mess and I've no idea what to think.

So basically this series starts of with this girl named Kricket, who is actually from this planet called Ethar but her parents brought her to Earth to protect her but they've supposedly died, leaving her an orphan. One day, she meets Trey and his group of military guys (their called Cavars in the book) and they end up kidnapping her to bring her back to Ethar to face her crimes because her mother was from Almeeda and ran away with Kricket's father, who was from Rafe. Now let me explain about the houses of Ethar: Ethar is split up into several houses, the main ones being Almeeda and Rafe. They're not just any two houses, no they're sworn enemies. 

Anyway, so there's a prophecy that one house will fall and one will rule all, blah blah blah (you know, the usual.)So anyway, Trey brings Kricket back to Ethar and of course, they fall in love despite all the complications they face.  One of them being Kyon.And this is where it gets complicated. So Kyon is from the other house, Almeeda and wants to bring Kricket to Almeeda because she has gifts- she's a soothsayer, and later in discovers that she has the gift of precognition as well. And that's not all! Kyon also wants to make her his consort, and yes, it's as creepy as it sounds.

OKAY, so now that I've given you guys the background information to the story, especially for those of you who haven't read the first book, let me get down to the actual review of Darken The Stars.My first thoughts when I finished the book: it wasn't terrible, though the plot was as confusing as anything. The thing that I had the most problem with was Kricket's 'love life', we could call it. 

She keeps jumping from one guy from another and it's really confusing me.I get that she doesn't know who to choose and all, but she does rash things in the book without any explanation that makes absolutely no sense to me.Darken The Stars starts off with how Kricket was captured by Kyon, and he brings her to his island-resort thing so they can have private time and get to know each other. 

She tries not to fall in love with him, as she loves Trey (or at least that's what we thought) but inevitably, she falls in love with him and becomes his consort, EVEN THOUGH she's promised herself to Trey and even though she and Trey didn't have the ceremony, they were as good as married.

 But no, Kricket ends up SLEEPING with Kyon and falls in love with him, and later on when she meets up with Trey (because she's on this undercover mission to assassinate Kyon's father but that point is irrelevant at the moment) she asks him of one things in case she doesn't make it, and I quote:

"PROMISE ME YOU'll PROTECT KYON AFTER I KILL EXCELSIOR"

I mean, come on woman for the love of dear god why would you say that to him? I was practically screaming "You love Trey god-dammit woman what's wrong with you!" the whole time and came very close to wanting to bang my head against my laptop screen.  

Kricket was basically transformed from a very likable main character to this whiny, indecisive girl that quite frankly really irritated me. And what's more important - Amy took away one of the parts i love the most about the book - the Cavars: Trey, Jax and Wayra. 

Their interactions and conversations with each other and Kricket was one of the things I loved the most about the first two books, and yet they barely appeared in this third book even though I'm pretty sure they play a major part in the story! 

I can only pray and hope that this is not the last book, because if it is I swear I'm going to become a monk and run away to the far far east because I'll never be able to face life again if this book doesn't have a fourth instalment. 

Interview Fridays: Jem from Lime Light Literature (Round 4)

Hey! It's Friday and you know what that means.....interview time! Today is our 4th and last round of Q&A for me and Jem, and after this we'll be announcing something fun that hopefully you guys will all enjoy as much as this!

Anyway, here is the Q&A! As usual, links are below.

1.     What books have you read so far this month? Any favorites?

My August TBR consisted of 4 books, 2 of which I have read already.

I read Oleah Chronicles: Truth by Michelle Johnson which in all honesty isn’t my normal type of

read BUT I am sooo happy I did read it! The storyline and characters were all so captivating. I will 

admit there were a few times I cried. GUILTY AS CHARGED haha

I look forward to the recently announced sequel!

I also read If I Stay by Gayle Forman and WOW. I finally realise all the rave around it! The writing

style was so different but I really enjoyed the perspective and flashbacks. I definitely cannot wait to

get the rest of the series!

2 2. Which book character do you think you relate to the most/and are most similar to? From which book?

Damn, this is a hard one…I think I am most similar to Sydney from Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover. My reasons for this are that I find a lot of myself in her in the sense that I like to stay home and be in my own company. My passion for songwriting is easy relatable to Sydney.

Final reason: Ridge. I mean come on. Is there any other reason, he’s intelligent, witty, romantic, adorable and he really opens your eyes up to the life without hearing.

Tbh, I’m so obsessed with Griffin Peterson’s music, it has become the only thing I listen to most days.

3 3. Who are your top 3 favourite female characters? Why?

·      Sahara Winters – From Harvard To Whoredom by Candice X. Sahara is from such a different background to most of us and I completely admire her strength to go through with what she has.

·      Angel Seriki & Mrs Seriki – Oleah Chronicles: Truth by Michelle Johnson. Honestly, this family has to endure so much throughout the story, both these characters have developed incredibly as the story progresses!

4 4. Do you set a goal for the number of books you read per month or do you just pick up whatever you see when you want?

When I first began book blogging and really got into the avid reading side of things, I was just picking up a book whenever I felt like it.

However, I am an incredibly organized person and I like to set myself a schedule/deadline so I try to read a maximum of 4 books each month or 5 if I’m lucky enough to read quite a quick and small one.

   5. Do you prefer reading hardcover books or softcover books? Why?

Well to be completely honest, I don’t have a huge amount of hardcover books though I wish I did have a lot more. So you can imagine that I read a lot of paperbacks instead but I do enjoy the hardcovers more, due to the spines not bending so easily and there are just so many beautiful hardcovers out there!

6 6. If you had to pick one genre to read that wasn’t YA, what would you choose?

Young Adult, I do have a few New Adult books and I love them so much. Not only because they are full of swoon-worthy sexy men but also because there is just something beautiful about the characters connection.

For example, Fifty Shades Of Grey by EL James.

It’s the book that everyone thinks is purely all about sex, sex and more BDSM. Whereas I find it to be more about Ana and Christian’s connection - how she uncovers his secrets and opens him up to a better light.

7 7.   What’s your favorite non-YA genre book? Why?

One Night Promised by Jodi Ellen Malpas. I mean the story honestly couldn’t get much sexier, emotional and the characters really developed well. Can’t wait to read One Night Denied and One Night Unveiled.

8 8. When you read, do you listen to music? Any particular songs?

Yes! I love listening to music when I read! It’s calming and relaxing to read along with. As I said in Question 2, I have been listening to Griffin Peterson a lot, as well as Iwan Rheon – Game Of Thrones FTW! and I listen to a lot of Christina Perri and Ellie Goulding – BAES <3

9 9. Is there a certain time you prefer to read (weird question I know but I feel like it’s important ;)

I read during my lunch breaks and just before I go to bed each night.

10. If you could recommend one book to a person who hates to read, which book would you recommend and why?

Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. A light, humorous contemporary romance that is sure to win anyone over.

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And that's it for this weeks Q&A session!

You can find Jem at her lovely blog limelightliterature.blogspot.com or at her instagram instagram.com/bookishromantic

Other book bloggers, as always, if you would like to participate please drop me an email at thatcrazbookobsession@gmail.com or drop me a little note on my social network sites below!

Instagram: instagram.com/thatcrazybookobsession

Twitter: twitter.com/evergracefully

A Little Something Fun #1

Round 1 of my new 'A Little Something Fun' here we go!

Okay so for this weeks something fun, I decided to go with this quote I found on Tumblr, by Rosemarie Urquico.

" If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM, clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She'll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are." 

I think this quote is absolutely beautiful, and honestly sums up everything perfectly. It's actually a small part of a longer quote, which you can read here on Goodreads.  I first heard of this quote actually because apparently Robert Pattison said it once, which lead me to find the whole passage/full quote, and I fell in love instantly.

So that's it for my this week's "A Little Something Fun"! Hope you guys enjoyed it, let me know what you think in the comments below!