City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Spoilers for the books leading up to this one!

Title: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
My Rating: 4.25 stars! ⭐️
Description:
What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

My Review:
Can you believe it, I actually did it! I finally completed another one of Cassandra Clares books…2 years later. 😂

My Favorite Book Tropes!

Definition of a Book Trope:
↳ used for describing commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works.

WE ALL LOVE THEM. I’m here to discuss my favorites! (And yes, I know this post has been done dozens of times before, but it’s so fun, so why not do it as well 😂)

Book Trope #1
The Enemies to Lovers

One of the best tropes out there which has been used a crazy amount of times. I mean, when we’re reading a synopsis for a book YOU JUST KNOW what’s coming. I also like this because it usually has a slow burn romance that is amazing!

My favorites:
-Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
-The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Book Trope #2
THERE’S A BALL. (Or something alike)

I personally really love this one! There’s that feeling that you just know good shit is going to go down during the ball. Like it’s one of those parts in the book that can’t let you down!

My favorites:
-The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (this one was SO INTENSE)
-Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
-Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Book Trope #3
The funny side character

Is this even a trope? (I should probably know since I put a definition in the beginning of this post). This one is for all my favorite side characters.

I love when authors have that one side character who we can always rely on to bring some comic relief into the story. I love laughing whilst reading a book, I find that it makes me love the characters even more than I already do, and it allows some leeway from the plot of the story.

My favorites:
-Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
-The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
-Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

Book Trope #4
Forbidden Love/Star-Crossed Lovers

I mean, it’s pretty much the same thing. This trope builds so much angst in the story that it literally makes me SO HAPPY? It just makes the stakes that much higher.

For example:
-The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutoski (ANOTHER INTENSE ONE)
-Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (kinda?)
-Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Book Trope #5
Discovering a secret ability

I feel like this one can be so obvious at times, but I love it anyways. I mean of course our main character is seemingly normal, but at the end or later on in the novel…GASP, they have a power/ability too? Who would’ve guessed? 😂

Although, I do have to say some authors have managed to surprise me in this department.

My favorites: (don’t worry, these are the obvious ones)
-Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (ONLY RQ BC I DIDN’T LIKE THE SECOND BOOK AT ALL)
-Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
-The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Book Trope #6
The Anti-hero

For this one, I’m talking about the character who isn’t all good, but isn’t completely bad either? The character that instantly comes to mind for me is Kaz Brekker (one of my all-time favorites) and I think this trope allows the characters to become that much more complex? It makes you want to learn more about their motives and the reasons as to why they choose the path that they’re on.

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So those are my 6 favorite book tropes, ones that I will immediately add to my TBR if I see it hinted at even just a little bit!

Let me know if you agree with any of these, or if you have any to add to this list!

Thanks for reading!
-Ashley

Favorite Reads from Winter 17/18!

Hello everyone! Since it’s officially Spring, I thought it would be fun to share my favorite books that I read this past season!

I don’t have a huge amount of books to share, especially since I’m super picky about my ratings for books and what I deem to be a favorite read, but these are my most memorable ones for sure.

fyi: You can click the titles of the books to go to the goodreads page!

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Traitor to the Throne
My review
By: Alwyn Hamilton

This is actually the sequel to Rebel of the Sands, and BOY DID I LOVE THIS BOOK. I enjoyed the first book quite a bit, but the second just completely blew my mind. I loved every single aspect of it, and I rambled away in my review for this book because I’m still too obsessed. Highly recommend this series to you guys if you are looking for a book that has a middle-eastern setting, djinn, and an awesome rebellion. I gave this 5/5 stars!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Spoiler-free!

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
My Rating: 4 stars! ⭐️
Description:
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

My Review:
I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! Yes, I have been hearing a lot of mixed things about this first book especially, so I went into reading it with somewhat low expectations, and I’m really glad that I did!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Surprised Me!

Hello everyone! I’m super excited for today’s TTT topic, especially since I have some pretty awesome books I want to share with you all!

The books that I’m listing are ones that surprised me in a good way! ☺️

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl, and here’s a little blurb from her blog about it:

I assign each Tuesday a topic and then post my top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join me and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! 

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The Cruel Prince 
By: Holly Black

Usually with books that are extremely hyped, I tend not to like them as much, or I avoid them for a little bit, but for this book that was not the case! I ended up loving this book SO much, and it’s still my favorite read of the year (even though it was one of the first books I read in January!)

It took me a little bit to get fully immersed into the world, but once I was sucked in, I flew through the book in one night!

The Song of Achilles
By: Madelline Miller

At this point, I talk about this book way too much, but of course this book surprised me because I did not expect it to be my favorite book of all time! 😁

Six of Crows
By: Leigh Bardugo

I read this book almost three years ago, (can’t believe its been that long!) and I’m still obsessed with it! I really enjoyed the first two books in the Grisha trilogy, but I was not a fan of how Ruin and Rising ended, which is why I wasn’t too excited for Six of Crows, but boy was I wrong!

This duology has some of my all-time favorite characters and the story-line of it is amazingly done. I can’t wait for King of Scars next year!

A Darker Shade of Magic 
By: V.E. Schwab

This is my most recent read and I am so happy with how much I enjoyed it! I’ll have my full thoughts on it posted in my review soon, but it took me about 45 pages to get into the world, and after that I was hooked!

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So that’s all I have for today, let me know the books that surprised you in the comments below!

And, as a side note, I FINALLY picked up City of Lost Souls again and I honestly can’t believe it! I’m a little intimidated by it since I forgot a lot of what happened, but hopefully I’ll actually stick to reading this book instead of putting it down again. 🙈

Thanks for reading!
-Ashley
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Books I MUST read in 2018!

Hello everyone! I decided to do this fun little post, (even though it’s literally March…) to share with you guys the books I MUST read before 2018 is over. (I know this is really late, but ya girl still wants to set some goals for herself 😂)

I already made a most anticipated 2018 reads list, which were books that are coming out this year, but for this list I’m going to be talking about books that have already been released for quite awhile. This is mainly to share with you guys the books that I still haven’t read…

The Mortal Instruments + The Dark Artificies
Author: Cassandra Clare

I WILL DO IT. I SWEAR. I’ve been so motivated to read this series these past few weeks, and I am determined to catch up! I mean, I only have City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire, Lady Midnight, and Lord of Shadows…it’s not impossible, BUT THE BOOKS ARE SO FREAKIN LONG. (Don’t worry, I will make a promise to myself to catch up before October!)

WWW Wednesday – March 7th, 2018

Hello everyone! I’m finally reading some new books, so I can actually post one of these again without being too repetitive on the things I’m reading! 😂

If you didn’t know, WWW Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

The Three W’s are:
-What are you currently reading?
-What did you recently finish reading?
-What do you think you’ll read next?

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What are you currently reading?

A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: V.E Schwab

I am so mad at myself for not reading this sooner! I’m so pleasantly surprised by it! During the first 20 pages, I was a bit iffy about it, but I kept reading and it’s so good! I do see some mixed things about the first book, but I’m really happy that I’m enjoying it! (like REALLY enjoying it!)

Every Heart a Doorway
Author: Seanan McGuire

Yay for finally listening to a new audiobook! I’ve barely started this, so I can’t say too much about my thoughts, but it’s a pretty short audiobook so I’m hoping to finish it soon!

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished reading Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk a couple days ago! I enjoyed it quite a bit and I’ll have my review up for it as soon as possible!

What do you think you’ll read next?

Probably Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi! I was going to start it as soon as it came out, but I have some exams later this week and next week, so I won’t have any time to properly start a new book!

But I definitely hope I will like it as much as Ignite Me!

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That’s it! Thank you guys so much for reading! Link your own WWW Wednesday post in the comments so I can check it out!

-Ashley
Twitter  Instagram

Read-A-Thon Wrap Up!

Whaaaaaat I actually finished a book during my read-a-thon? Scratch that, 2 books?
Who am I? 😂

I keep saying that I barely read anything during this read-a-thon, BUT I actually completed the goals that I set for myself in my last post, which were…

-Start & finish reading Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk ✓
-Finish listening to Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman ✓
-Start reading ADSOM by V.E Schwab ✓

So technically…I successfully completed the read-a-thon, (even though the total number of pages I read isn’t that impressive) BUT STILL.