Review For Love Of Anna by James Lawless

The funny thing about this book is, is that I never heard about this book before until the author himself emailed me and asked me to review this book.

I do have to say, I know now why I never came across this book - it's more of an adultsbook than a YA/sci-fi/fantasy/whatever type of book. But I'm always open to new types of books, so I was very curious to discover what this story was about.

Afterwards, I feel like it was definitely not a bad read!

Summary

The story is about Guido van Thool who meets Anna, a ballet dancer, and falls in love with her. A real romance starts which is continually tested by the forces of life. For example when Guido is been called away for military service. But they always seem to get through it. Paralleling their lives is that of the corrupt judge Jeremiah Delahyde who got his high position and the power that comes with it because of his friend the minister Bartholomew Smythe. Their lives collide on New Year's Eve, when the drunk judge crashes into Anna with fatal consequences. And Guido swears revenge. 
But how can he beat such a powerful judge?

My opinion

Rate: 7.5/10

I actually quite enjoyed this book!

I do have to say, this is not my type of book, since it includes romance and well, yeah - no. Haha. But the thing is - the book isn't completely about the romance.

This book actually includes three strands: 1. the romance between Anna and Guido, of course, 2. the life of the corrupt judge Jeremiah Delahyde and 3. ANNA, an acronym of Anarchists of the New Age which kind of influences Guido's thoughts, I'd say, since he discusses the society and the government a lot throughout the book and he has an anarchist friend called Philippe who keeps goading him.

I really liked seeing these three strands coming back in the story, some more than the others. It did make me wonder what the actual point was of the book - was it mainly the lovestory that counted (how crazy love can make you, for example) or was it mainly the philosophical thoughts and the growth in them that counted or was it a mixture of both? 

I couldn't really get that out of the story.

And also, I kind of felt that some parts of the story dragged on, especially after the big plot twist. The impact of the events coming after that lessened in my opinion, because it took so long to get there. With the three strands combined, I was trying to figure out what the whole point was of the book and I got quite confused when the philosophical parts lessened after the big plot twist (it was understandable why, but still) and Jeremiah's perspective was nearly gone and I really liked his perspective, the perspective of a villian. The anarchism mentioned in the book wasn't as important or as crucial as I hoped it would be - it wasn't highlighted very much in my opinion, the romance seemed more important, which is not bad but I liked to see a bit more balance between the two.

BUTTTT. The story had some very great parts too.

Like I said, I really enjoyed reading Jeremiah's perspective, especially because of the fact that it's actually the complete opposite of Guido's. Jeremiah is the REAL villian and o so fascinating. His evilness, his corruptness, his disgusting intelligence shines through every thought he has and every word he says and everything he does and that's just amazing. He's such a strong character and I think Lawless has managed to make him so realistic and evil - hands down! 

Guido's perspective was, of course, interesting too, since he's a philosophy student and thinks a lot deeper and a lot more extensively than most others. And seeing those two perspectives on the society of Potence and the government and its power next to each other was very interesting to read. It wasn't like you had sympathy for them both - Lawless really made sure you would hate Jeremiah and love Guido - but you got the chance to understand them, both the "hero" and the villian.

Actually, I think all of the characters were strong and vivid, but Jeremiah was just the best of them all.

Other than that, I also really enjoyed the writing style in this book. It really set the mood.

It was very formal, but I feel like THAT is what makes you want to read it. It really fits the kind of philosophical and political background the story has. Besides that Lawless has managed to really make me feel what the characters feel. For example when Guido was at Anna's ballet performance, Lawless used such beautiful words to describe how Guido felt that I could literally feel it too. If words can do that with you, you just know it's a good book.

And lastly I want to say that I found the relationship between Guido and Anna cute and very realistic. It's quite shy and it develops slowly, but that kind of fits their personalities. They're both quite shy, Anna more confident than Guido though, and I can see that the relationship reflects their shyness, their personalities as a whole in some way and I love that about their relationship.

Well, that was it for today's blogpost! I want to thank James Lawless, the author of this book, for giving me this book to read and review and I hope you liked this review and found it a bit useful perhaps.

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Review Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Fairytales.

We've all heard at least one fairytale in our lives. And those fairytales have taught us many things, like never give up dreaming or be yourself or something like those inspiring messages. Another thing those fairytales have in common are the happy endings. Cinderella ends up with her prince, Beauty ends up with her not-so-beasty-Beast and Sleeping Beauty awakes from her not-so-eternal sleep and marries the prince she fell in love with. Yay, all so happy.
But then you have the retellings and everything changes. EVERYTHING.
Suddenly everything you know from those good old fairytales becomes a lie or something bad or something burns or breaks or dies or or... It's very stressful.
And I love those retellings. Especially this one of The Wizard of Oz was awesome!

Summary

Amy Gumm lives a tough teenage life in Kansas. She's forced to live in a camper with her not-so-caring mom and at school her life isn't getting easier with people like Madison. 
But then her whole life is swept up by a tornado and she ends up in a land that only exists in fairytales - the Land of Oz. But this land looks different from the stories - it's close to completely falling apart. What happened? Dorothy.
Not much later, Amy has been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked and has been given a mission. She shall kill Dorothy.

My opinion

Rate: 8.5/10

Dorothy Must Die is a must read, people! (You see what I did there? hehe.)

This was such a fun read for me - I flew through the book like it was nothing but air.

The main character was real and human and I could relate to her thoughts and actions throughout the story. Her growth came natural to me - it didn't feel forced and she didn't become this invincible superhero, which made it even more realistic. Like I said, she was really human and you could see that humanity shine through her actions and thoughts and I liked that about her. I liked that she wasn't like many other protagonists.

What really amazed me about this book were the different settings with different characters this book went through, without it being too much or too vague. It wasn't like Amy immediately was some sort of "chosen one" who just needs a bit of training and then should defeat evil Dorothy - no, the process was slow, which, again, made the whole story much more realistic. And through that slow process she went through different settings with different people surrounding her, either helping her or making things difficult for her to reach her ultimate goal. But while she tries to reach her goal, she also learns more about Oz and you can see that her dedication for the mission and her trust in the Order are both being put through a test. Developments in the certain settings she's residing in at those times and friendships she grows there affect her in different ways, makes her do stupid or heroic things, whether it had to do with her mission or not. And I really enjoyed reading that.

Paige managed to give us so much in this book without making it seem like much. It seemed light and thin, but she did manage to leave me with the feeling like 'wait, this is all? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REST?!'. The ending was quite abrupt, in my opinion, and a lot of questions are left unanswered which makes me wonder if the next book will be able to answer all of them. Hmm... IT PROBABLY WILL.

Now getting into the "extra-stuff", the minor stuff, the tiny little details which have amused me or bothered me (in this case just amused me): 

I liked how the story still had that fairytale-touch. For example (*MINOR SPOILER*) the different training sessions Amy went through, whilst residing in the headquarters (it's actually an enormous cave that just has EVERYTHING) of the Order in which the witches gave her all different kinds of wisdoms.

And ooooo! - how I loved that sweet relationship between Amy and Nox. I liked that Paige didn't highlight it much - instead of making the story all about how Amy fights for her lover, she made sure that the relationship was nice and subtle, mysterious even. WILL THEY BE HAPPILY EVER AFTER OR NOT? (One of the many questions in my head)

But overall - I just loved this book. I do have my worries here and there, but I shall not think about those worries. I shall buy the second book and discover how this story will twist and turn. (Now imagine me saying that in a portly voice. hehe.)

That's it for this blogpost! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

The Disney Book Tag!

Last week I went to Disneyland and man, it was so fun! 
I literally felt like a four-year-old as soon as I stepped into the amusement park.
I freaked out when I saw the stuffed animals in the souvenirshops and couldn't stop smiling and jumping around when I was standing in line for one of those rollercoasters that scared me to death but were awesome anyway.
Okay, maybe I wasn't smiling all the time and maybe I wasn't jumping around, because 1 it was way too hot and 2 my feet hurt and 3 the lines were waaayyyyy too long.
But other than that - I had a great time.
And since I'm all Disney right now, I thought I'd do the Disney Book Tag, created by Katytastic! (Click here to see her video!)

1. The Little Mermaid - a character who's out of their element, a "fish out of water".

Definitely Juliette from the Shatter Me series. I haven't finished the series yet, but I've read the first two books and especially in the second book she's definitely out of her element. Instead of being used or locked up in a cell, she is forced to be around people, to train and to fight for justice. A bit difficult for someone who fears herself and isn't doing a good job in socializing.

2. Cinderella - a character who goes through a major transformation.

Meghan from the Iron Fey series definitely. She starts out as this scared little girl, not knowing what to do with everything she sees and discovers and turns into this badass heroine who makes tough, but wise, decisions and becomes this leader.

3. Snow White - a book with an eclectic cast of characters.

Damn. This is a difficult one. 
I think I'd say the characters from The Ember In The Ashes since all the characters, both main and minor, are very strong and you can see clearly how different they are.
You could say that every character is a different colour, since every character has a different personality. Yes, some colours are somewhat the same, but you can always see the difference in them.

4. Sleeping Beauty - a book that put you to sleep.

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. It has been ages since I read the book, but I remember how much it dragged on and how it just managed to put me asleep, literally. I SHALL NEVER READ THAT BOOK AGAIN. (Unless I need to fall asleep.)

5. The Lion King - a character who had something traumatic happen to them in their childhood.

Alexa from the Defy series. I love love love this series, by the way.
But I mean, seeing your dad getting killed by a sorcerer is pretty traumatic in my opinion. 

6. Beauty And The Beast - A beast of a book (a big book) you were intimidated by, but found the story to be beautiful.

Well, here's the thing - I only look at the amount of pages of a book after I've seen  the cover and have read the summary of the book. And even if I see that the amount is high, I don't and I won't care. So. Yeah.
But I guess I found every book with over the hundred pages a lot when I was a kid and now a book of sixhundred or more would intimidate me. 

7. Aladdin - a character who gets their wish granted for better or for worse.

Allison from the Blood of Eden series. Again, another series I haven't finished (and probably won't finish :$). Although I wouldn't say it's really an all-time wish to want to live after you nearly got killed by rabdo's (which are like failure-vampires or sick vampires), she did want to stay alive, even if that meant becoming a vampire.
It was a difficult life, though, but eventually she managed to keep going. #inspirational

8. Mulan - a character who pretends to be someone or something they're not.

I guess Mare is the one who fits this one pretty well since she pretends to be a Silver when she's actually a Red with Silver-like powers. The funny thing was that I didn't understand that she was pretending to be Silver until a few pages, (a few chapters perhaps,) after that part. Yup.*facepalm*

9. Toy Story - a book with characters you wish would come to life.

The characters from An Ember In The Ashes! (The second time already, hehe) I loved all the soldiers - even Marcus and Zak - from BlackCliff and Cook and Lizzy and of course the main characters! I need you guys in my life right now.

10. Disney Descendants - your favorite villain or morally ambiguous character.

BUT I LIKE EVERY VILLAIN! I mean, I just think villains are so freaking interesting and fascinating and I'd love to read every book from a villain's perspective! But I think I'm going to give this one to... *drums* 
The Commandant of An Ember In The Ashes. I know, I know, this is the third time already, but come on, guys - she's the most horrible villain I've ever met and well, I love my horrible villains. (That might be because I'm a villain myself. SSHHH. DON'T TELL.)
And besides that - An Ember In The Ashes is just an awesome book, alright?

That's it for today, guys!
I'm not going to tag anyone to do this tag, but feel free to do this tag if you want to.
Until the next blogpost, then! :)

{ Picture used in this blogpost is from (WITHOUT EDITS): www.froot.nl }