Book Spotlight: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige!

I've done this one time before on my blog and decided to do another post because I think it's so fun and such a great way to discover new books!

This post is going to be dedicated to Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. If you haven't heard of this book yet you've been missing out on a lot! It puts an awesomely dark twist on The Wizard of Oz! Dark and twisted fairy tales are some of my favourite books to read so as soon as I heard about this book I had to pick it up and read it ASAP!

Dorothy Must Die is the debut book for author Danielle Paige, and what a great book this is to start your writing career with! This book put such an interesting spin on the classic tale of Dorothy and Oz! Everything was backward and twisted and you didn't know who to trust which made the story that much more interesting!

As of now the first two books in this trilogy are out: Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise, along with three prequel novelas: No Place Like Oz, The Witch Must Burn & The Wizard Returns. I've read all of these books except for The Wizard Returns (which I plan on purchasing soon) and I loved every single one of them! They just get better and better as you read them!

These books are full of action, mystery, and comedy mixed with a dash of romance! The perfect recipe for a YA book!

Dorothy Must Die in particular was very well written. I really loved reading from Amy Gumm's perspective because she's hilarious and kick butt! I also loved getting to see how much Oz has changed since we left it in the original tale. This is definitely a book I can see myself re-reading time and time again.

If you haven't read this book yet I highly suggest you do! This is perfect for lovers of fairy tales and fantasy.

Published: HarperTeen, April 1st, 2014
Pages: 452
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Fairy tale retelling, fantasy
Rating: 4.25/5
Favourite Quotes:

• “Sometimes only pain can heal.”
• “No matter how tough you think you are, there are certain things that just get to you, and they’re usually the little things. The ones you don’t expect.”
• “Those who have sacrificed always have the most to lose.”
• “He just stared at me, his gaze intense. I couldn’t look away any more than I could move my arm. Energy crackled between us, and I felt a strange pull to him. Moth to flame. Magnet to magnet. Stupid girl to impossible, slightly mean witch boy. Wizard. Whatever.”

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

***Quotes taken from Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige and Goodreads.com***
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Published: Bloomsbury, August 7th, 2012
Pages: 416
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5

Thoughts: Woah. I finally understand why everyone is so obsessed with this series, it's amazing! I flew through this book and couldn't put it down! Normally it takes a while for me to get into fantasy novels but I dove head first into this one and enjoyed and understood everything!

The premise of this book is that the king of Adarlan (a region in this country) is looking for a personal assassin and he decides to hold a contest and the best assassin and the winner with become the King's Champion. The king's son Dorian goes to look for Celeana because she's the best assassin in all the land. She is then taken to Adarlan to complete a few tests and win the final duel so she can become the Champion and in a few years gain her freedom.

Celaena was definitely my favourite character! She was so strong, smart and independent and I loved reading from her perspective, she's one of the best female protagonists I've read about in a while! The fact that she's the country's most notorious assassin is really interesting and unique! I'd love to learn more about her and her past in the books to come!

Sarah J. Maas has such lovely and brilliant writing! Every scene she wrote had me enthralled in the story! I loved how she wrote action sequences, they were very easy to follow and visualize.

I also loved reading about Chaol and Dorian, they remind me so much of Jem and Will from the Infernal Devices! I don't really know which team I'm on right now but I think I'm leaning more toward Chaol, there's just so much mystery surrounding him and I think his toughness is very good for Celeana. But then again Dorian loves to read and has those adorable moments too.

On the mention of Dorian and reading I loved how the fact that both him and Celaena's love of reading were incorporated in the novels, it just made them both so much more enjoyable to read about (and increased their similarities to Tessa and Will which I found rather enjoyable). 
I really can't wait to learn a lot more about the history of Erilea. I also can't wait to learnmore about the Fae because I have my suspicions... I also am excited to eventually see more of Nehemia and I hope we can see Eyllwe in future installments.

Overall this book was fantastic! I can't wait to buy Crown of Midnight and DEVOUR it!! I definitely recommend this one!

Favourite Quotes:

• “Libraries were full of ideas–perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”
• “No. I can survive well enough on my own— if given the proper reading material.”
• “We all bear scars,... Mine just happen to be more visible than most.”  
• “How long was I asleep?" she whispered. He didn't respond.
  "How long was I asleep?" she asked again, and noticed a hint of red in his cheeks.
  "You were asleep, too?"
  "Until you began drooling on my shoulder.”  
• “Sometimes, the wicked will tell us things just to confuse us–to haunt o-ur thoughts long after we've faced them.”
• “I like music," she said slowly, "because when I hear it, I...I lose myself within myself, if that makes any sense. I become empty and full all at once, and I can feel the whole earth roiling around me. When I play. I'm not... for once, I'm not destroying, I'm creating.”

Thanks for reading!

~Birdie

 

***Quotes taken from Goodreads.com and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas***
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*

Tumble and Fall by Alexandra Coutts

Tumble and Fall by Alexandra Coutts
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 17th, 2013
Pages: 372
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 2/5

How I Felt: To be honest I'm not too impressed with this book. I was really interested in the story because it had a really cool concept: an asteroid is going to hit the Earth in a week so what do you do for the last few days of your life? Apparently in this book, go to the beach because no one wants to die pale.

This book is told from three points of view and written in third person. Not a good combination in my opinion. I don't like third person perspective in the first place, so having to read like this about three different characters just made everything extremely difficult and dull. I couldn't connect with the characters at all not just because of the P.O.V but also because I found them all incredibly boring and constantly making dumb decisions. They were the most dramatic and whiny characters I've read about in a long time.

In terms of characters I didn't really like any of them. I liked (tolerated) Ryan, Sienna's younger brother, because he was adorable and a ray of sunshine in this book. And I also liked Sienna's dad mainly because I felt sorry for him.

The whole book was said to be about this asteroid that was supposed to crash into the Earth and this concept was pushed to the back burner in the grand scheme of the plot in this book (ironically). The characters never really thought about any of this, a line about it was forced in there every few chapters or so to remind the reader that it's actually happening. The main reason I picked up this book was because I found the whole asteroid thing very interesting and unique and so I was very disappointed and let down when it wasn't a major part of the book.

I only really liked two things about this book. I liked how the families were portrayed in this book. Well, more towards the end at least. I feel like by the end the author really communicated the importance of family and the need of everyone to be together. The other thing I liked was the very, very end. I liked the way the last few minutes on Earth and the coming of the asteroid was written. It was very beautiful and I could really picture that scene in my head.

Overall there was nothing spectacular about this book. I don't really recommend it. It's not a good contemporary and it certainly isn't a good book about asteroids. Read it if you really think it interests you and you're open-minded.

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*

Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins
Published: Putnam Juvenile, April 7th, 2015
Pages: 288
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Fantasy, paranormal
Rating: 5/5

How I Felt:  All I have to say is that Rachel Hawkins is such a talented writer. This book was hilarious yet still managed to be serious when it needed to. I can't believe this is the last book. That's not possible. I need more Harper and David A.S.A.P!

This book was full of action just like the first book, and had me laughing just as hard as well! Harper was such a great protagonist, her southern sass has to be the best! I loved the Aunts in this, they don't always appear in the books but when they do I always feel 10x happier!

I will admit the ending moved me to tears. It was a waterfall of emotions because the ending was not okay at all.

I really didn't like Ryan in this, I didn't like him in the first book either but in this one I always wanted to slap him. I also didn't like Bee either, she just felt a lot different and even though Harper was okay with her, I wasn't.

The whole magic thing took a really interesting turn in this book, we got to learn more about it but I still don't think it was enough. I really would've liked to learn more about the history and origination of Oracles and Mages and Paladins. It would've been great to learn more about Saylor and Christopher as well.

Another thing I wish we got to learn more about is Harper's late sister, Leigh-Ann. She was mentioned a bunch of times but we never really got to learn anything about her except from Harper's sudden and sporadic memories of her.

I also feel like the ending was really rushed, it kinda came out of nowhere. Everything was happy and then BAM! Tragedy and THE END.

My favourite character in these books is most definitely Harper. Despite her being an awesome ninja-assassin she was funny, stubborn, and smart. Of course I loved David too, especially the way he interacted with Harper.

The southern flair thrown into this book was much appreciated, it just helped to lighten the mood and atmosphere.

Overall Miss Mayhem was a fantastic sequel! I can't wait to read more books by Rachel Hawkins and if you haven't already picked up Rebel Belle I highly suggest you do so!

Favourite Quotes:

• "Is that your Oracle self talking, or just your concerned boyfie self?"
•  "I do not know what 'totes' means in this context, but I assure you, no one is 'going on their merry way,' Miss Price."

Thanks for reading!

~Birdie

***Quotes taken from Goodreads.com and Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins***
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*

The Body Electric by Beth Revis

The Body Electric by Beth Revis
Published: Scripturient Books, October 6th, 2014
Pages: 468
Source: E-book, purchased
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 4/5 (87%)

How I Felt: This book was fantastic! It reminded me why I love Beth Revis' writing so much! This book takes place on earth at the same time period the Across the Universe series; it was so interesting to see what the world has become while Amy and Elder are in space! This was such a quick read! On my e-reader it was almost 500 pages and I flew through them in just a few hours! I literally couldn't put this book down because I wanted to find out what happened next!


This book is full of suspense and mystery; classic traits of Revis' writing. I loved reading from Ella's P.O.V., she was such a great protagonist! In this world there was a great war, the war to end all wars as some call it. This world destroyed the world. Everything then rebuilt themselves and eventually came the Unified Countries. Ella lives in the capital city of the world: New Venice, Malta. In this futuristic society there are androids and artificial intelligence everywhere thanks to the work of Ella's dad. Her mom was quite the genius too, she created the reverie, a state you enter that lets you relive your happiest memory like it's real. Then one day Ella meets Jack and things start to pick up speed from there.

I really enjoyed this book, it was such a quick and entertaining read! But I did have one big-ish problem: the plot of the second half of the book was very similar to that of Perception by Lee Strauss. Most of the plot from middle to end was very predictable because I already read something extremely similar in Perception. Ella was very similar to the main character Zoe and Jack reminded me a lot of Noah, the male lead. That was why I took off the one star. But aside from this I loved everything else about this book!

It was so fun to see references to the ship Godspeed which Amy and Elder are on, they even made a movie about it!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! If you liked Beth Revis' other books or are just a fan of sci-fi I highly recommend you pick up this book!

 

***Quotes taken from Goodreads.com and The Body Electric by Beth Revis***
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*

*Images taken from Google.ca

Pawn by Aimée Carter

Pawn by Aimee Carter
Published: Harlequin Teen, November 26th, 2013
Pages: 343
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 4/5

How I Felt: After just over a year of having this book on my shelf, I'm so glad I finally picked it up! It was such an easy and quick, yet interesting dystopian. I really enjoyed reading this book, definitely worth my time!

Our protagonist, Kitty Doe was so spunky and awesome, I loved reading about her. She reminded me a lot of America Singer and Katniss Everdeen. Kitty was so passionate about the country and its people, which of course is a necessary characteristic for the heroic figure in a dystopian setting.  Kitty is placed in a group home because she is what people call 'extras', the child of parents with more than one child. Through the group home she meets her long life friend, and boyfriend, Benjy (Benjamin Doe). (Everyone in the group home has the same last name, they're not related...at least I hope not at this point.)

The people of this new version of the United States have a lot of strict rules placed upon them because nothing is just. In this world when you turn 17 you take a test to determine where you'll be ranked in society, a II, III IV, V VI or VII which is reserved for the Prime Minister and his family. The higher your ranking, the more special treatment you receive. And if you don't pass the test you get sent Elsewhere because you're deemed 'useless' by society. You can only imagine how much chaos this system causes. I loved the way this world was set up, it had the typical corrupted government, with people in poverty fighting for their lives, and then we have this protagonist that's stubborn, and brave so it was great to see all those elements come together!

In this book there was some sort of war in the United States and so when the country recovered they had a Prime Minister instead of a President and the title was inherited so there's no real sense of democracy.

I'll admit this wasn't the best dystopian book I've ever read but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and read it pretty quickly. I definitely can't wait to pick up the sequel, Captive! I hope we learn more about the government and the way that it's set up.

There were a few plot twists that were literally on the last page of the novel so I really want to learn more about those. I thought the romance aspect was a little shaky and uncertain and kept going back and forth between the prospect of a love triangle and this didn't sit well with me. Also, the fact that the main character has dyslexia didn't occur to me until after I finished the book and I can't believe it took me that long to figure that out because it was hinted at quite a lot.

Other than that I really liked this world and story; it reminded me a lot of a mixture between Uglies and The Selection. I highly recommend this if you're in a reading slump because it got me out of one! Also if you're a fan of either Uglies or The Selection or both you'll definitely have a fun time reading this! I need to get my hands on #2!!

Favourite Quotes:

• “Have you ever played chess, Kitty?”
  I eyed her. What did a board game have to do with this? “Not really.”
  “You and I should play sometime. I think you would like it,” she said. “It’s a game of strategy, mostly. The strong pieces are in the back row, while the weak pieces—the pawns—are all in the front, ready to take the brunt of the attack. Because of their limited movement and vulnerability, most people underestimate them and only use them to protect the more powerful pieces. But when I play, I protect my pawns.”
  “Why?” I said, not entirely sure where this conversation was going. “If they’re weak, then what’s the point?”
  “They may be weak when the game begins, but their potential is remarkable. Most of the time, they’ll be taken by the other side and held captive until the end of the game. But if you’re careful—if you keep your eyes open and pay attention to what your opponent is doing, if you protect your pawns and they reach the other side of the board, do you know what happens then?”
  I shook my head, and she smiled.
  “Your pawn becomes a queen.” She touched my cheek, her fingers cold as ice. “Because they kept moving forward and triumphed against impossible odds, they become the most powerful piece in the game. Never forget that, all right? Never forget the potential one solitary pawn has to change the entire game.”

Thanks for reading!

~Birdie

***Quotes taken from Goodreads.com and Pawn by Aimee Carter***
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*

Top 5 Favourite Contemporaries!

I've decided to start doing posts about some of my favourite books, but because I've read so many I've decided to split them up according to genre so they can all have their shining moment. I wanted to start off with comtemporary because most of the books I read from this genre have romance in them, so I thought this would be perfect to do before Valentine's Day. This is also kind of like a recommendations post too because I do highly recommend all of these books! And by the way these books are in no particular order. So here they are!

1. Along for the Ride
Author: Sarah Dessen
Pages: 399
Rating: 5/5
This was my first Sarah Dessen book and I really loved it! It is still my favourite Dessen book of all time, and I've read quite a few more by her already. I loved the characters, the plot and the setting; it all just worked for me! If you want to start reading Sarah Dessen I highly recommend this one! (Also, the characters in this book appear in her other novels!)

 

2. My Life Next Door

Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick

Pages: 394

Rating: 5/5

I absolutely loved this book! I loved how we got to see the two main love interests together for the majority of the book, and not just at the end like other contemporaries. I also liked that there was a big focus on the importance of family in this book, I feel like that isn't mentioned much in most young adult books. If you're looking for something cute, sweet and meaningful I suggest you pick this up A.S.A.P!

3. Just One Day

Author: Gayle Forman

Pages: 369

Rating: 4.5/5

This was such an inspiring book, a really great coming of age story! The main character Allyson had so many awful things thrown at her, yet she pulled through in the end. Gayle Forman's writing is glorious as usual, definitely a really relatable read, one that deals with more serious topics, and not just a cutesy love story. Highly recommend, and would be a perfect read for February!

 

4. To All the Boys I've Loved Before



 Author: Jenny Han
Pages: 355
Rating: 5/5
This book was nothing shy of amazing! It was funny, adorable and fast-paced! Lara-Jean was such an amazing protagonist and I loved reading from her perspective. Peter and her were adorable and I can't wait to see more of them in the sequel! This was another book I loved that had a strong focus on the family aspect. Definitely a must read, especially for Valentine's Day!

 

 

5. Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Pages: 433

Rating: 5/5

When I first read this book I fell completely in love with the characters and the story. I remember when this first came out I pre-ordered it because I really liked the premise (it was also 50% off!) and when I finished it I was in a state of shock because it was just SO GOOD, if you are one of the few people who haven't read this already get on it because you won't regret it one bit! Another perfect Valentine's read! But it might leave you in a slight slump because...Levi... *swoons*

 

So those were just some of my favourite contemporary books, I hope this helped you find a new gem that you can enjoy time and time again. Thanks for reading!

~Birdie

 

***Info on books taken from Goodreads.com

*Pictures and quotes taken from google.ca and bing.ca