Review of Reckless Magic

Reckless Magic 

(Star-Crossed #1)

By Rachel Higginson

About: 

16 year old Eden Matthews has been in and out of private schools for the last two years. She can't seem to stop herself from closing them down. Kingsley is her last chance to finish high school and the last private school willing to accept her. 

She is focused on just getting through graduation until she realizes Kingsley is not like the other private schools she's been to. The students may be different, but so is she. And after meeting Kiran Kendrick, the boy who won't leave her alone and seems to be the source of all her problems, she is suddenly in a world that feels more make-believe than reality. 

To top it off, she is being hunted by men who want to kill Kiran and her best friend Lilly is taken away to a foreign prison. Eden finds herself right in the middle of an ancient war, threatening everything she loves. She alone has to find a way to save her best friend and the boy who has captivated her heart. 

Reckless Magic is an intricate story about mystery, adventure, magic and forbidden love. Eden Matthews is an unlikely heroine determined to save the world and be with her one, true love before it's too late.

Source: Goodreads

My rating: 3.4/5

My Thoughts:

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Eden has a tendency to accidentally destroy the schools she attends. Whether it's through a flood or burning the entire building down odd things happen around her and she doesn't know what to do or how to control it. Kingsley Prep is her last option, the only school that has been willing to take her in so Eden is determined to graduate without any 'incidents'.

Eden doesn't know that Kingsley isn't like other schools and the students aren't exactly normal, especially the other two new students that started the same day as her. 

In Reckless Magic I could feel the chemistry and attraction between Eden and Kiran but I really did not like him. Kiran might be handsome but he was arrogant, stubborn, too cocky and yes I'm aware he is the crown Prince but he was so controlling and used to having his own way that it was rather off-putting. 

 Eden, on the other hand, made me smile now and again with her rebellious and impulsive nature. Although all she wanted to do was be invisible at the school she managed to make herself the centre of attention a number of embarrassing times. 

However, I soon realised that Eden must be either incredibly stupid or in denial. In the story, she knows that somehow she has caused the problems at her previous schools, which led to her being expelled but she doesn't pick up that she has supernatural powers until it's spelled out to her. Talbott even refers to someone as a 'human' but she doesn't pick up on it being odd. I mean how dim can you be? 

Plus she wound me up when she couldn't push Kiran away even though she knew he had a fiance. I understand they had a magnetic attraction and even if the dude doesn't mind cheating that doesn't mean she needed to encourage it! She says she's not a home wrecker but her actions imply otherwise. 

From my review of the two main characters it sounds like I didn't enjoy the book, but I actually did. Despite not being overly fond of Kiran, Eden wasn't that bad once everyone explained things to her. The storyline was fun, filled with action and a number of bomb-dropping revelations scattered throughout the story, which kept it interesting.  

I'm not entirely sure whether I would continue reading this series our not but given the fact that I wanted to know what was going to happen next and whether Eden would actually save Lily out just cause more problems, I've given this book a 3.4 out of 5.

Zed (:

Favourite Quotes:


The tests of the hospital all came back normal. I knew they would, I knew that whatever was wrong with me was not going to show up on a hospital chart or graph, unless maybe it was a mental hospital.

I was sure that if he didn't have that damn accent I would have seen through him immediately. Oh, those Brits could be so charming and manipulative with their proper say of talking. 

"I am glad that you are feeling better."
He assumed I was feeling better without even asking. I was not feeling better, I was feeling worse. 

Review of the Originals #1

The Originals: 01 The Rise

By Julie Plec

About:

Family is power. The Original vampire family swore it to each other a thousand years ago. They pledged to remain together always and forever. But even when you're immortal, promises are hard to keep. 

Arriving in New Orleans in 1722, Original vampire siblings Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah Mikaelson believe they've escaped their dangerous past. But the city is lawless, a haven for witches and werewolves unwilling to share territory. The siblings are at their mercy…especially after Klaus meets the beautiful and mysterious Vivianne. Her impending marriage is key to ending the war between the supernatural factions—and Klaus's attraction to her could destroy the uneasy alliance. As Elijah works toward securing a piece of the city for his family, and Rebekah fights her unexpected feelings for a French captain, will Klaus's volatile desires bring their world crashing down—and tear them apart for good?

Source: Goodreads

My rating: 4.3 / 5

My Thoughts:

I can’t remember reading a book from three points of view, but in the originals we have just that. Alternating between the original vampire’s perspectives, we take in the story from Elijah, Rebecca and Klaus’ points of view. The Vampire Diaries TVshow introduced me to the Original vampires, so I was already familiar with the main characters. I’m glad to say the TV show got this spot on since the books build on the personal traits we’ve already seen.

Elijah is the older, wiser and more rational one. He is struggling to maintain peace with the witches and werewolves, but is constantly tried because of Klaus’ skirmishes. It seems that each time he progresses on bettering their relationship with the other supernatural parties, Klaus does something to mess it all up, which leaves Elijah trying to clean up the mess and stopping Rebecca from killing Klaus at the same time.

Rebecca is set on a mission to recruit the French army of humans to their side. It should be simple enough for someone as beautiful and smart as she, and it doesn’t hurt that she has compulsion on her side. What she doesn’t expect is to fall in love with the human captain. To make things complicated, the captain has been enlisted by her legendary father to hunt Rebecca and her brothers. Being the helpless romantic that she is, she struggles to make sense of it all, falling deeper in love and danger.

Leaving the best until last, Klaus lives up to his spectacular personality as the reckless, hot blooded, witty, charmer that he’s known to be. He’s known to want what he can’t have and this time it’s Vivianne, the unusual daughter of a werewolf and a witch. She has been brought up by her witch mother and happens to be the center of a very powerful alliance in the making, since she is about to marry Armand, one of the pack’s wolves, and so sealing the witches and wolves together in peace. I liked Viv, she made the story much more interesting, especially when she tries to choose between her loyalties to her people and the one she loves.

I loved this read because there was a lot of drama, action and twists in the plot that made it hard to put down, and the alternating points of views sealed the deal.  

Zed (:

Favourite Quotes:


'We have to tell him now,' Elijah growled, sure of their mistake. 'He'll be even worse if he finds out on his own.'
'Has he ever been better, in order to become worse?'


She couldn't possibly love the priggish, correct Armand, but if she never got the full experience of Klaus's charms she might faithfully marry Armand anyway. And live a dull, proper life. It would be too terrible a waste to contemplate.


'I am already ruined, Viv,' he told her. 'Meeting you has ruined me. What do I care if the rest of the world burns as well? Having you with me would be worth any price.'


'A likely story.' Klaus slurred carefully, 'claiming you walked into a brothem because you were looking for my company.'

Top 14 quotes of 2014

So, I saw some amazing quotes on Kimberlyfaye Reads blog and I decide I am going to partake in the top 14 of 2014 blog tour too. 

This blog tour is being hosted by Kim from KimberylyFaye Reads, Jessica from A Midsummer Night's Read and Krista from Krista's Dust Jacket. If you want to sign up, click here.

Today's post is about sharing our top 14 moments and / or quotes from 2014 so here are mine... Let me know what you think of them (:

1.

2. 

3.

4.  

5.

6.   

7.

8.   Daylighters by Rachel Caine

I loved this series, especially Myrnin, he never failed to make me laugh!

9.   Outlander book 1 by Diana Gabaldon

There are so many quotes I love from this series, but if I were to only choose one from the first book it would be the one below because it is a perfect introduction to Clare’s character:

10.

11. 

12.               The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa

Again, a series I am undeniably in love with this year. So, so many quotes but unfortunately a lot of them don’t make sense if read out of the story’s context. Here are a couple of my favourites…

13.

14. Klaus from the Originals

Day 5: Top 10 books for 2015

Day 5 of 5!

Welcome to the final day of the 'Top of 2014' event hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Fiktshun, Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and Tales of a Ravenous Reader.

Top 10 books I'm looking forward to in 2015 

Rule #1 - Only include books due for release in 2015.  

Here are the books I'm most looking forward to in 2015: 

 1. The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes. 

(February 2015)

2. Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare

(September 2015)

Another Cassie Clare book? Of course I'm dying to read it, silly!

3. The Other Side of Envy (The Ghost Bird #8) by C.L. Stone

(April 2015)

I love the Ghostbird series and her awesome Academy characters so I cannot wait for the next installment in this series. 

4. Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer

(January 2015)

The entire Lunar Chronicles series has been amazing to read, and I won't expect anything less than superb for the rest of Marissa Meyer's works. 

5. Salt & Stone (Fire & Flood #2) by Victoria Scott 

(February 2015)

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and I'm hoping the second will be just as addictive.

6. End of Days (Penryn & the End of Days #3) by Susan Ee

(May 2015)

I have followed this series from the start and again, it's one of those that I just could not stop thinking about even after I had finished reading it. I can't wait to find out how Penryn's adventure ends, and what happens about her poor sister who has been horribly experimented on...

7. The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines #6) by Richelle Mead

(February 2015)

Yes, I am guilty of not having read Bloodlines #5 yet but I promise I will. I've missed out on a lot considering it was on many blogger's 'best of 2014' lists. :S

8. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

(August 2015)

Although I haven't read any of Patrick Ness's books, I really like the synopsis on goodreads, have a read here.

9. Ensnared (Splintered #3) by A.G. Howard 

(January 2015)

Again, I need to read Unhinged first, but A.G. Howard has a magical way of writing so I know it will be awesome. 

10. All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1) by Ally Carter

(January 2015)

After reading Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls' books I’m intrigued to read the Embassy Row series, especially as the protagonist is being described as a ‘daredevil army brat.’

Which one of my top 10 are you looking forward to in 2015? Please share a link to your page if you are participating in today's post...

Day 4: Top 10 Book Boyfriends of 2014

Day 4 of 5

Welcome to Day Four of the 'Top of 2014' event hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Fiktshun, Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and Tales of a Ravenous Reader.

Today's topic is...

Best Book Boyfriends of 2014 

Rule #1  - Book BF must be from a book released in 2014. 

Rule #2 - Book BF must be from a book I've read in 2014.

Well this sucks because most of my book boyfriends are from earlier books! The rule is that the book boyfriend “must be from a book released in 2014 and from a book I have read in 2014.” (although it would be virtually impossible for me not to have read a book in 2014 if it was released in 2014. Unless I stole the manuscript from the author’s home sometime in 2013, before it was published, or time travelled to the future, read the book and returned to write this post...)

I digress, my point is that I think I found a loophole for this post. If I read a book released in 2014 that is part of a series, then I could potentially use one of the older book guys, right? Less waffling, Zed...

Here are my ten favourites in no particular order, and a few honorable mentions I couldn't resist!

1. Captain Thorne 

~ Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

Thorne is hilarious, I loved him in Scarlet, and he’s even funnier in Cress. He’s on my list purely because he made me laugh oh so much.

2.   Tobias Eaton aka Four 

~ Veronica Roth

(Thank you for releasing Allegiant this year otherwise I do not know how I would have snuck him on my list!)

3, 4 & 5. The Academy Boys 

~ C.L.Stone’s Ghostbird series. 

This series is about nine boys falling in love with one girl. Sounds kinda weird and almost incestuous considering that they refer to their group of boys as a family, but it’s anything but. A funny, lifting series, all the boys are amazing but since I need to pick a few to be the boyfriends I will go with:

Gabriel, Owen Blackbourne and Dr Green (that’s 3 of my 10 done!)

6.   Jace ...lost count of surnames

~ The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. 

City of Heavenly Fire was released in 2014, so he makes the cut! Yay! Although Jace annoyed me a hell of a lot in some of the books, he’s still pretty awesome :P

7.   Brian Oliver 

~ (aka Cinder) from Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram

I like his chemistry with Ella when he is Cinder, and how they fall in love without meeting. A leeetle ancient romance in this techy world doesn’t go amiss.

  

8.   BELLAMY!!! *sigh*

If I need to tell you who Bellamy is, you should bow your head in shame for not watching the 100, or reading the books by Kass Morgan.

In the books, he is sweeter than in the tv show but personally I prefer the tough attitude on the show. Bellamy and Clarke are so cute for each other, and the show hasn’t explored their potential feelings yet, but now that Finn is out of the picture (sorry guys, belated spoiler alert) perhaps we’ll see more of Bellamy-Clarke. Hopefully, he’ll wash his face now and again though.

9.   Akiva 

~ Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

Come on, he’s facing the wrath of the angels to help the girl he loves, what more could a girl want?

10.   Mason 

~ Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Mason appears like the bad guy, being the kidnapper and all, but as the story progresses, his inner charm comes out, or it might be the signs of Stockholm syndrome!

Since I can’t actually add these book boyfriends to my official list, I felt the need to give them an honorary mention. Unfortunately, they are all pre-2014, which is why I wasn’t able to add them above:

·         Damon Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith

·         Adrian from Richelle Mead’s series

·         Prince Ash from Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series