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sincerelybooks · 5 years

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June Wrap Up 2019.

1. The Heart Of Betrayal by Mary E Pearson. 5 / 5 Stars.

This was a solid sequel. Unlike the first book, this had a better pace. It was fast paced and action packed. The political intrigue was so interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. However, what I liked the most were the characters and their development. I loved Lia’s transformation from a runaway princess looking for a simple life to a badass princess who was learning to survive. Her character and her story weren’t tied to her relationship with Rafe and Kaden and I really liked that. She was her own independent person. She was Lia with or without Rafe and Kaden. It was a remarkable transformation in my opinion.

2. The Beauty Of Darkness by Mary E Pearson. 4.5 / 5 Stars.

As if it wasn’t obvious before, finishing this series made me realize that the characters are what made me adore this story. I have enjoyed following Lia, Kaden, Rafe and the rest of the characters on their journey as they grew and developed as individuals. I also really enjoyed the world building. The Remnant world and the history within the story were so fascinating to read about. This book and this series, in general, kept me engaged and interested in what was going on. I do believe that the sequel was the strongest book in this series. However, the three books are all good and well written and developed. I would highly recommend you’d check this one out if you haven’t yet.

I have a more detailed review in which I discuss the characters so make sure to check it out if you’re interested: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25944798-the-beauty-of-darkness

3. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo. 2.5 / 5 Stars.

This was a disappointing read. When I wrote my goodreads review, I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars, but now as I’m sitting down to talk about it yet again, I feel like it’s fairer to bump it down to 2.5. I talked about this book in my midyear book freak out tag and like I said, it was pitched to me as a dark retelling of The Little Mermaid and I was disappointed cause it was anything but that. I appreciate the author’s effort and I do believe that her writing style was nice and simple and I enjoyed it. However, the book was not the dark seductive siren story I anticipated. It was so boring. The climax was not exciting at all. I did not connect nor care for any of the characters. I was able to distinguish The Little Mermaid aspect so I’ll give it to that, but it wasn’t as dark as I wanted it to be. I thought Lira as a character was flat. She didn’t have much going on for her but the fact that she was a siren, and I did not like that. Elian was the only character that made the story somewhat bearable for me. This was an average read.

4. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. 4 / 5 Stars.

So after three fantasy books, I needed something fun, light and summer appropriate and this seemed like the perfect fit. Keep in mind, I tried reading Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating and I did not feel like finishing it because I did not like Hazel, so I didn’t have high hopes for this one. However, this was so fun! It was so cute and although I was reading it at home, it felt like I was in a vacation in Hawaii. I really liked the characters. I enjoyed their dynamics and I appreciated how present the family aspect was in this book. This made me want to go give Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating another shot because I enjoyed Christina Lauren’s style and I honestly want and need more. My only critique and this could be a personal preference is that this wasn’t dual perspective so I didn’t get the chance to see what Ethan thought about, but nonetheless this was a fun read and I would highly recommend if you’re looking for a fun summer contemporary.

5. Beautiful Mistake by Vi Keeland. 4 / 5 Stars.

So after I finished The Unhoneymooners, I was in a big romance mood and I wanted to read some more and goodreads have recommended this book to me so I decided to try it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really liked the fact that Caine and Rachel knew each other when they were younger and somehow found each other again when they got older. That’s one of my favorite tropes. I really appreciated how developed these characters were. They weren’t there just for the sake of the romance. Both main characters had an interesting background story that dealt somehow with important issues. I’m not saying that it’s world changing, but it was a nice addition to the story and the characters.

6. Prince Charming by Rachel Hawkins. 3.5 / 5 Stars.

This book was highly recommended to me from a booktuber that I constantly watch and that I very much trust. I’m a sucker for a good royal romance, and this one was interesting. It was very entertaining, but it also lacked in some aspects for me. My favorite part about this book were the characters. I thought they were interesting to know and to read about. I loved how Daisy’s normal life clashed with this posh Scottish royal life. I enjoyed watching her try and adapt to this new fancy life. And unfortunately that was it. I found it to be slow paced for me and I felt like barely anything happened till like the last half of the book, and that’s the part that I enjoyed the most. I really want to do a separate post and just go into more details cause I have a lot to say, but yeah this was an average read and if you enjoy stories that are heavily focused on the characters instead of the story line then I believe this one is for you.

7. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 5 / 5 Stars.

We’re down to the last book and by far my most favorite of the whole year. This was excellent! If you’re hesitant to pick it up because of the hype, let me tell you, it deserves the hype because it is THAT good. This was told in an interview format instead of an average narrative format and it added so much to the story. The characters were phenomenal. The story was engaging. This entire book was an emotional rollercoaster. Again, I will have a whole separate post in which I will discuss in more details everything that I loved about it because I genuinely have so much to say.

8. I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman. 3.5 / 5 Stars.

I decided to pick this up for my book club and I was excited because I really liked how it sounded. This deals with fandom culture which I thoroughly enjoyed. As an active member of so many fandoms, it was so refreshing reading about it and just relating to it. This was also very eye-opening in so many ways. I liked the characterization and how diverse this book was. It featured a Muslim main character as well as a Transgender character and I really really loved that. So overall, there were so many things that I liked about this. However, I did not like the overall plot. It was very simple and boring at times? I found myself mostly bored and not looking forward to pick this up to finish it and that’s why I gave it a 3.5. The characters were good. What it dealt with was eye opening and relatable, but the story wasn’t it for me. I for sure will be picking up more Alice Oseman in the future because I enjoyed her writing style.

Well folks, that is all the books I have read so far! If you have read any of these books, let’s discuss, I would love to. Y’all can message me anytime :)

#booklr #booktube #books #book tube #book review #reading wrap up #reading #currently reading

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sincerelybooks · 5 years

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Mid Year Book Freakout Tag!

I was able to read more than usual these past few months because I graduated therefore I have more free time, so I had the need to come out here and start out by doing this tag and talk about the great books I’ve read so far.

1. The best book of the year so far.

Up until today, I thought I had my answer for this question but I wasn’t satisfied with it. The book I had in mind was really good, but it wasn’t THAT good for me to give it the title of being the best book I’ve read so far in 2019 then I finished reading a certain book today and I’m still thinking about it to the point that I just want to put this to the side and go re read it because I’m so attached to the characters and the story that I don’t want to part from it all. That book is Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. There was so much hype surrounding this book in booktube that I was like there’s no way I’m going to like this book as much just because of the hype. However, it did not disappoint one bit. I could go on and on about it, but I’m planning to do a whole post just about it so keep an eye on that.

2. Best Sequel of the year so far.

This one will for sure go to The Wicked King by Holly Black. I dipped my toes into Faye fantasy this year by reading The Cruel Prince and as much as I enjoyed it, I found it to be slow paced for me up until the last half which I obviously enjoyed enough to immediately pick up the sequel and it did not disappoint. It exceeded my expectations and it just had everything I expected and wanted and more. In my personal opinion, what really made this book it for me was the ending. If you read it, you know what I’m talking about ;)

3. A New Release you haven’t read yet but want to.

In terms of what I’m most intrigued by, I would say A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Bridgid Kemmerer. I heard so many mixed reviews that I’m so intrigued and curious to see where I will fall.

4. Most anticipated release for autumn/winter.

The only book that I can think of that I absolutely can’t wait for because the second book left in quite the cliffhanger is The Queen Of Nothing by Holly Black. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on it. I believe it is set for a November release.

5. Your Biggest Dissapointment of the year so far.

So I decided to pick up To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo. It was pitched to me as a dark retelling of The Little Mermaid, and that alone hooked me. However, it wasn’t the dark seductive siren story I anticipated. The entire book was so boring and uneventful that I felt myself just hoping and praying that I’ll finish it soon. I still had hope that maybe the climax will change the pace of the story and therefore change how I was feeling about it. It didn’t. The climax was not exciting at all. I found myself feeling indifferent to what was happening. I do have to say that Elian as a character made the story a little bit bearable for me. Otherwise, the whole thing was a big dissapointment.

6. Your Biggest Surprise of the year so far.

I’m gonna go with The Kiss Of Deception by Mary E Pearson. When I started reading the first book, I did not feel connected to the characters nor to the story and I put it down and thought to myself “Is it worth it?” However, I decided to pick it up and just push through some more and see how I feel about it and I honestly expected to feel the same and end up DNFing it or something, but that was not the case. I ended up loving it more than I ever expected and the rest of the series just got better from there, so that was certainly my biggest surprise of the year because I had no doubt I was going to dislike this book but I ended up adoring everything about it.

7. New Favorite Author.

I’m gonna go with Taylor Jenkins Reid.

It’s easy for a book to make me smile and react and all that, but it’s very difficult for a book to make me cry and Taylor Jenkins Reid made me sob throughout most of Daisy Jones and The Six. She has a way with words and a way with building up her characters that makes them feel so realistic and so raw that you can’t help but feel so different after reading about them. I just cannot express through words how her writing through that book alone made me feel and it’s something I am so glad I got to experience and that I will cherish.

8. Your Newest Favorite Character.

So this one is going to be hard because I’ve read so many great books that contain so many grea characters. I’m going to go with Daisy from Daisy Jones and The Six. I don’t know if I’m choosing her because the story and her character in particular is still so fresh in my mind, but her character left quite the impression on me. I’m going to go more in detail when I write about my thoughts and feelings on the book. However, all I’m going to say is Daisy is a character I didn’t know I needed to read about till I read about her. Originally, I was going to answer this question and say Billy was my new favorite character and he is. However, I felt myself thinking about Daisy and the impression she left on me and it’s something that just makes me feel this inexplicable feeling that I can’t put into words.

9. Your Newest Fictional Character.

So most booktubers that I watch who posted this tag have all said that they don’t have fictional crushes anymore. However, I’m the type of person who literally has a crush on literally anyone because I have an uneventful love life hahaha, yet now that I’m thinking about all the books I’ve read, no one in particular is sticking up except for Miles from Prince Charming. I will also be talking about Prince Charming in details in another post since it was a recent read, however Miles is just a character that I can’t help but smile when I think of how cute he is.

10. A book that has made you cry.

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Are we even surprised by this answer? I sobbed like a baby reading this book.

11. A book that made you happy.

I’m again going to go with Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’m sorry that’s repetitive but this book really made me happy and sad all at the same time.

12. The Most Beautiful Book of the year so far.

If we’re talking book cover wise, I’m gonna go with Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins. Blue is my favorite color so the fact that the entire cover is blue just satisfies me.

If we’re talking about the inside and the content, I’m gonna have to go with Daisy Jones and The Six yet again.

13. Some Books You Need To Read before 2019 ends.

I’m gonna go through these really fast but some books that I would love to get to before the year ends are :

- Ace Of Shades by Amanda Foody

- The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

- Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins.

- Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco.

That is all the questions I have to answer for you guys today. I hope this was somewhat helpful to whoever is reading this in getting new book recommendations or at least interesting to read a stranger’s opinions. I don’t know hahaha. Let me know what you guys think! What are some of your favorite books and not so favorite books so far? I would love to know. But yeah, see you guys soon in another post :)

#books #booktags #booktube #midyearbookfreakout #book tags #mid year book freakout tag #daisy jones and the six #the wicked king #the cruel prince #bookworm #booklover #booklr #book review

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