Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers - Book Review

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

“When one consorts with assassins, one must expect to dance along the edge of a knife once or twice.” 

If you were raised hearing that you were sired by Death himself, that even though your mother tried to destroy you in her womb and you didn't die, what would you think? Would you think that it was a bad thing, a curse that would doom you until the end of your days? Or would you see it as a blessing, a way to exact revenge on those that harmed you throughout your youth? For Ismae, she initially thought that it would be a curse, having to deal with the abuse from her father and her would-be husband. But she was rescued, swept away from what would have been a terrible marriage, and found herself in a place where she would learn who she truly was:

A handmaiden of Death.

From there, her new life begins, where she learns just how powerful it could be to have the ability to not die, even when she is poisoned. She learns that not all the Daughters of Death have an immunity to poison, so that's something special that she shares with only one other nun in the convent. But she still has much to learn, and when she's ready to test her training out in the real world, she will see that not everything is as simple as she thought it would be.

I haven't read a book like this before, and I'm really glad that I came across it. From the historical aspect, the historical politics, and the fact that Death had all daughters was one of my favorite parts of the book. It also made me want to research this time in history and see how much if it was actually true and how much was made just for the story.  At least I'll be able to find out eventually.

I'm really proud of Ismae though by the time the book ends. I feel like she really grows as a person, learns how to take control of her life and figures out that not everything is as it appears. She finally learns how to think for herself, and she finds out just how special she really is. In the end, I'm just glad that she was the subject of the first book in the trilogy, because I think that her story makes a great introduction into this amazing world.

Rated: 4/5 ★

Tuesday Talks: Favorite Book Series (January 24, 2017)

Hey everyone!  Welcome to this week's segment of Tuesday Talks. As usual, if you'd like to learn more about this group, start contributing to the weekly discussions, or even check out some past questions, check out the group on GoodReads.  Here we go again!

Show your favorite book series

This week's one seems like a fun one! Instead of just talking about my favorite book series (I have more than one, probably like most people), I get to actually show them! Unfortunately, I don't have all of my favorite book series in my possession which is a definite bummer. So I will show you as much as I have, and maybe I can mention the ones that I don't have.

So this is going to be all of my favorite series so far, pretty much. I have come to love quite a few series during my lifetime, but as I have told one of my friends before, I have a problem with actually finishing them. Especially if a series is really good, I just don't want it to end! I'm pretty sure that the only series that I actually finished was Harry Potter (of course) because I had to know that everything turned out okay. I had to know how it would end before the final movie came out, and thank goodness for the most part all was well.

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

I used to see this series floating around for years, since the first book came out in 2012, but I never had the opportunity to get all of the books or read the first one until recently last year.  I fell in love with the characters, Genya and Mal mostly, although I did really like Alina, the main protagonist. The Darkling was also a character that still sits in the back of my mind, and I can't wait to find out what happens in the next two books.

Since I did end up writing a review for Shadow and Bone, be sure to check it out on my blog. Also, be sure to be on the lookout for my future reviews on the rest of the trilogy. I will make an effort to actually finish series for once in my life!

 The 5th Wave Trilogy by Rick Yancey

This is another series that I started but never finished. Granted, I didn't get the last two books until just recently, about December of 2016. But now I have no excuse. I'm going to have to finish this eventually.  The first book was honestly amazing, and I think the movie wasn't too bad for an adaptation. Don't get me wrong, there were some aspects in the book that wasn't in the movie that I felt there should be, but I have a totally different post dedicated for those thoughts.

I also have my review of the first book as well that I read early in 2016. A definite must-read and I'm sure I will enjoy the rest of the series as well.

 The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

These books were some of my all time favorite. I actually read the first three back to back, and if those were the only three books in the series I would have finished the entire series in five days. That's how much I enjoyed these books. I realized though that I read these during my period of no reviews, so I don't even have a good post to refer you to on my thoughts of it. I guess I'll have to reread them anyway before I finish the final book. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Think "The Bachelor" mixed with "The Hunger Games" or something like that. It was pretty interesting and I'm surprised I enjoyed it, but I'm glad I took the chance to read them. Honestly though, I think it should have ended with The One, but oh well. More books for me to read and enjoy.

 The Red Queen Trilogy by Victoria Aveyard

With the third book, The King's Cage being released in a matter of days, I have to bring the book series up. I couldn't get enough of the first book, Red Queen. It reminded me a little bit of X-Men per se, but also had a Red Rising feel to it. Also, I love to see girls that kick major ass, and while those girls were mostly bad girls, at least the main character Mare does end up learning how to be somewhat bad ass. I know she's going to get better, and I can't wait to see how this translate on the big screen.

The Waterfire Saga by Jennifer Donnelly

Last but not least, the best series about mermaids that I have come across so far. These are only the books I have though, and I still need to get the rest when I get the chance, but I absolutely love this book. Six mermaids, all with their own special powers that will help them to defeat great evil. Plus, they are all pretty damn smart and can kick major ass and I always love that in girls. This was one of my favorite books to read of all time, especially because it deals with mermaids. I love mermaids. I've always wanted to be a mermaid, so at least these books will help me live out that dream in some way. If you haven't checked out this series yet, you definitely have to soon.

Not convinced, I actually did a review for the first one sometime last year, so check it out on my blog. Go on. Don't delay :)

There are probably so many more series that I am in love with, but I either don't have the physical books or I don't have the physical books. Yes I said that twice because the other ones that I love are either on my Kindle or were borrowed from the library years ago and there aren't any copies of them here on Guam. It definitely sucks, but at least I got to read them, right? What are you favorite book series? Have you read any of the ones that I mentioned here? Let me know in the comments below.

January is almost over, and so far I've done every single Tuesday Talks segment for the year. Yay! I'm pretty proud of myself and I plan on keeping the momentum going with next week's discussion. Until then!

Tuesday Talks: Book Arrangement (January 17, 2017)

Hey everyone! Welcome to another segment of Tuesday Talks! If you'd like to learn more about this group or start contributing to the weekly discussions, check out the group on GoodReads. Let's get started, shall we?

How do you arrange your books?

If you look at the different bookstagram accounts, you see all of these beautiful shelfies. And the most beautiful thing about seeing those shelfies is how they are arranged.  Some of them are arranged by color, by series, by author, sometimes even by genre. It's really nice to see how different people arrange their book cases, and it also makes me a little jealous that I only have one shelf.

So back to the question.

When I had the perfect amount of books on my shelf (in this case, not enough books at all), I had it arranged alphabetically by author's last name. Within each author's section, I also had each series chronologically. But, now that I have so many more books and absolutely no new book case, it's just arranged by whatever can fit without falling off the shelf.

Maybe one day when I get more book shelves, I can arrange them back to the way it was before, or maybe I can try another arrangement and make it match by color or book heights. We will see.

How do you arrange your books? I hope it's better than mine! Let me know in the comments below.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson - Book Review

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart — the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning — and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

"I hadn't been fighting because of my father's death.  I fought because of his dreams."

Boy, oh boy, this book was a really good one. I just wish that I had more time to dedicate to it than I actually had. With a lot of real life, heart-breaking situations that I had to deal with, reading this book really helped me calm down and reassure myself that things would be okay. Yes, even though David's dad was killed in this book and there was so much death and destruction, reading this book really did make me feel like things would be okay.

So coming into this book after reading the sequel almost two years ago, it was nice to go back to where it all began. I was curious as to how Steelheart ended up succumbing to his fate and why David ended up leaving Newcago with the Reckoners. I was also curious as to how he ended up joining them, and whatever happened to the infamous Megan that he kept talking about. What was it about her that made him so... boyish?

I really don't know how to explain his mentality sometimes. He's 18 years old and yet I can still hear some of that immaturity in him when it comes to Megan. She's like his first crush, and I get to see that develop in this book, so I'm really glad I got to.

Plus, finding out that the infamous Prof's true nature was fun too, even though you only get to find out at the very very end of the book. At least it explains to me why it felt like David was so betrayed. Maybe reading this book will encourage me to reread Firefight and finally finish the trilogy with Calamity.

I'm glad for the backstory on David, and how he became one of the best members of the Reckoners. I am really hoping that the rest of the Reckoners get their chance to shine. We will definitely see.

Rated: 5/5 ★

Tuesday Talks: Favorite Books of 2016 (January 10, 2017)

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another segment of Tuesday Talks. As usual, if you'd like to learn more about this group, or start participating in the weekly discussions, be sure to check them out on GoodReads. So, here we go!

Your favorite books for 2016

2016 had a lot of amazing books for me, even though I didn't get to read as many as I wanted to. There were also so many books that I didn't get a chance to read as well. I'll at least list a few of the ones that really stuck with me throughout the year. Maybe you have read a couple of them as well?

• Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• The Siren by Kiera Cass
• The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
• Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly
• The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
• Heartless by Marissa Meyer

I feel like that's pretty much my entire reading list from last year! But don't worry, it's not. Those are just my all time favorite ones. There are some that come at a close second but these are the ones that I absolutely could not put down no matter what. Have you read any of these books? What were your favorites of 2016? Let me know in the comments below.

See you guys next week!

The 100 by Kass Morgan - Book Review

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents -- considered expendable by society -- are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves -- but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

“That was the thing about secrets-you had to carry them with you forever, no matter what the cost.” 

Yay for finishing my first book of the year. It's been five days since the new year began, and only now am I getting the chance to catch up on my reading. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for not taking too long, although at the rate that I took to finish this, I did take longer than I really wanted. So at least I got that out of the way.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through this book. I thought that since I like the TV show I would at least enjoy the book somewhat, but then I remember how I felt when I was reading The Vampire Diaries after falling in love with the show years before.

Yeah... same situation.

Really the only reason why I finished this book was because I just wanted it to be over. There were very few parts of the book that I actually enjoyed, but it wasn't enough to keep me interested or read the rest of the series. Granted, the plot twist at the end was exactly what I was expecting, and had I liked the book, I would have been very quick to pick up the next book or at least finish it.

The premise of the book was great. To think that people have been living in space for the past 300 years or so after humans end up destroying Earth in a nuclear war is something that could easily happen with the way things are going right now. This book would have been the perfect way to delve deeper into that world and see what would happen if humans found a way to go back to Earth after all those years.

Honestly, I really wanted to see that play out, and I was really hoping that it would be a really good book. But unfortunately, it just didn't catch my interest as much as it should have. Keep in mind, this is only the first book of the series, and maybe it was Morgan's intention to keep it that way so as not to give too much away in the first book. But if the first book isn't enough to keep me interested, then what would make me want to go on to the rest of the series?

Watch the TV show. The action is better, the story is more exciting, the characters are people you actually want to root for. Well, except for Clarke. For some reason, I just don't like her in either outlet. Sorry.

Rated: 3/5 ★

Tuesday Talks: Bookish Resolutions (January 3, 2017)

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another segment of Tuesday Talks. Part of my new years resolution is to keep up with my blog and make sure I make weekly posts on it. With being part of the amazing GoodReads group, "Tuesday Talks", I will be sure to make this goal. If you want to learn more about Tuesday Talks, or start writing your own posts for Tuesday Talks, be sure to check out their GoodReads group.

What are your bookish resolutions?

I noticed that a lot of my resolutions this year are revolving around my love for books. If there's one thing that I want to nurture this year, its my book activity, so this is a good topic of discussion for the first Tuesday Talks of the year. Rather than have unnecessary paragraphs about what my resolutions are, I'll list them for you.

1. Be more active on my Bookstagram account (@miyukinightreader)
2. Make weekly posts on my blog
3. Take a chance and read books that I normally wouldn't read
4. Actually finish a monthly challenge for once
5. Be more active on my GoodReads account

I'll start with those five for now. It sounds like a lot, and for me I know it will be a challenge. But I'm going to make an effort actually finish the year strong, and make sure that I don't have too long of a break throughout the year like I usually do. What are your bookish resolutions? Let me know in the comments below!