TTT. Villians I Love to Hate

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish

It has been a while since I participated in this meme. Gosh, times flies and I don't even notice it... This week on Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Villains. Which villains make your knees tremble? Which villains make you love to hate?

The Commandant from An Ember in the Ashes. I hated Keris for everything she did to Laia in An Ember in the Ashes. She was so vicious and unfeeling (she abandoned her own son to die). However, I didn't expect that A Torch Against the Night would make me hate her so much more than I already did. How dare she hurt Elias the way she did?        

Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. Is it bad that I hated her a lot more than I hated Voldemort? I must not tell lies, remember? I hated her so much for everything she did to Harry and to Hogwarts -how dare she try to ruin my dream school?

Queen Irina from The Shadow Queen. There were some chapters in Irina's perspective and I felt I was supposed to pity her, but she persecuted and killed so many that I just hadn't it in me. No matter how bad you think people treated you, it does not give you the right to murder and hunt people down.   

Mutt from The Scorpio Races. He was so despicable that I wanted to punch him.

Genevieve from To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Okay, Genevieve is more a bad girl than a villain. Her antics really hurt Lara Jean and if you hurt Lara Jean or try to ruin her relationship with Peter, you're instantly on my bad side.

I know it's a really small list, but I'm having a blank. I can't think of more villains I hate(d) with all my heart. I can think of the societies I hated (like the society from Matched and Delirium), but then I can't think of a particular person. Well, five is better than none. =P

Monthly Recap. September 2016

Goodbye September, thank you for bringing the fall (sadly, the weather still is very hot). This month I started a new journey: I started my master degree in English Studies. I don't have much time to read as I did before (at least, I don't have much time to read the books I want to; I've a long list of mandatory books to go through) or write reviews (I can't believe I only wrote one this month). But after two weeks I'm finding my pace and soon I'll find a balance because I don't want to leave this blog to be on hiatus again - especially now that I started receiving review copies.  

As I sadly wrote last month, I wouldn't be able to keep up with my reading strike for this month. As I mentioned above, I started a new journey and I've less time to dedicate myself to my bookish ways. However, apart from the books mentioned below, I also started reading Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop and I'm almost finishing The Scarlet Letter.

• Reign of Shadows, Sophie Jordan
• A  Torch Against the Night, Sabaa Tahir
• The Immortal Heights, Sherry Thomas
• The Time Machine, H.G. Wells [read for my master]

Firstly, I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the ending of The Immortal Heights. It was the ending of The Elemental Trilogy and I still don't know if it ended with a bang or if it was utterly disappointing. Secondly, I loved A Torch Against the Night. *.* It was all kinds of amazing (even if I got mad at Laia for a couple of chapters) and I haven't written a review yet because I can't find the words to explain all its amazingness. See? I keep using the word "amazing".

Another where month I didn't go bankrupted. *happy dance* So, which new books arrived to my bookshelf in September? 

Instagram

Wait?! What?! Only one book? :O Did I only get A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir that was my favourite book of 2016 so far? Okay, I got some books for my masters, but it's a list of mandatory books, so I'll write later about that book haul.

Random & Randomness, as the name indicates, is about random bookish stuff. Inspired by a few blogs, I decided to create this little space where I share some bookish love.

• Release of the full trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Can it be November already?
• What is your Patronus? - Got to Pottermore to discover your Patronus. I'd share mine with you, but I'm pretty sure I got it wrong. I love cats and felines too much not to have a cat/lion/tiger as my Patronus.
• Beauty and The Beast: The First Photos - My beautiful Emma *.* I can't wait to watch the full trailer of this film. 
• My review of The Darkness Shows the Stars & my Retelling Challenge Update.    

Cover Reveal. Always and Forever, Lara Jean

HAPPY belated COVER REVEAL! This cover is as cute as the cover of To All The Boys I've Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. I just love how adorable the covers of this trilogy are. *.* I confess I'm dying to read this book, but I'm terrified at the same time because of the future of Lara Jean and Peter (please, don't break them apart). Because, let's face it, high school relationships don't last forever and the tittle kinda suggest a break up.  

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is expected to be released on April 4th 2017.

"Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?"

Cover Reveal. A Million Junes

I've not decided yet if I like this cover or not. The background has some interesting details, but the silhouette seems terribly drawn and the yellow... well, black/grey and this splash of yellow don't look very nice together. I probably had very high expectations because the cover of The Love That Split the World was simply beautiful.        

A Million Junes is expected to be released on May 16th 2017.

"Romeo and Juliet meets One Hundred Years of Solitude in Emily Henry's brilliant follow-up to The Love That Split the World, about the daughter and son of two long-feuding families who fall in love while trying to uncover the truth about the strange magic and harrowing curse that has plagued their bloodlines for generations.

June O'Donnell—a.k.a. Junior, a.k.a. Jack, a.k.a. Jonathan O'Donnell IV, a.k.a. the first female O'Donnell first-born—has always been haunted by her family's mythic but complicated legacy. As she prepares to begin her final year of high school, June is itching to leave behind her ghosts in Five Fingers, Michigan, and travel the world.

And then, just like it always happens to the O'Donnells, a painful glimmer from her past returns to mess everything up. Enter Saul Angert, the eldest son of Eli Angert, a.k.a. June's late father's mortal enemy, back in town from a prestigious writing program to care for his ailing father. June can't seem to avoid Saul, whose very presence makes her ache with grief over her father, and soon the unthinkable happens: She finds she doesn't exactly hate the gruff, sarcastic, and strangely tender boy whom she was born to loathe.

When June and Saul accidentally stumble into a bit of the forest magic, they are allowed a glimpse into the past at the fateful, horrible moment that started all the trouble between their families. Now June doesn't know if this new discovery means she should hate the Angerts even more or if it's finally time for her—and all of the O'Donnells before her—to let go."

Waiting on Wednesday. Fear the Drowning Deep

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week on WoW is Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Gleen Marsh. I first added this book to my wishlist because of its cover (I know it is nothing special, but I loved the colours). Then, I fell for the summary - a mysterious sea, a witch, etc. - and now I can't wait to read this stand-alone. The book will be released on October 4th.

"Witch’s apprentice Bridey Corkill has hated the ocean ever since she watched her granddad dive in and drown with a smile on his face. So when a dead girl rolls in with the tide in the summer of 1913, sixteen-year-old Bridey suspects that whatever compelled her granddad to leap into the sea has made its return to the Isle of Man.

Soon, villagers are vanishing in the night, but no one shares Bridey’s suspicions about the sea. No one but the island’s witch, who isn’t as frightening as she first appears, and the handsome dark-haired lad Bridey rescues from a grim and watery fate. The cause of the deep gashes in Fynn’s stomach and his lost memories are, like the recent disappearances, a mystery well-guarded by the sea. In exchange for saving his life, Fynn teaches Bridey to master her fear of the water — stealing her heart in the process.

Now, Bridey must work with the Isle’s eccentric witch and the boy she isn’t sure she can trust — because if she can’t uncover the truth about the ancient evil in the water, everyone she loves will walk into the sea, never to return. "

From Goodreads

Retelling Challenge 2016. Update [2]

The (Fairytale) Retelling Challenge 2016 is hosted by Mel @The Daily Prophecy.

It's time for a new update! =D Since the last time, I've read nine more retellings and most have been five stars readings. I'm having so much fun finding and reading all of these retellings. However, I'm still far behind from my goal -as you all know, I'm aiming for the Cheshire Cat badge (I'm eleven books away from it). I now have the Evil Queen badge *insert evil laugh*.

Fairytale Retellings:

• A Thousand Nights - A Thousand and One Nights
• Spinning Starlight - The Six Swans
• Lost Lake House - The Twelve Dancing Princesses 
• The Forbidden Wish - Aladdin from A Thousand and One Nights
• Stitching Snow - Snow White 
• The Shadow Queen - Snow White
• Reign of Shadows - Rapunzel 

Mythology & Folklore:

• Riders - The Four Horsemen
• The Scorpio Races - Scottish lore [water horses]
• The Star-Touched Queen - Indian Mythology
• The Girl at Midnight - The Firebird [Russian myth] 
• The Chaos of Stars - Egyptian mythology

Classics Retold:

• A Study in Charlotte - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Prince of Shadows - Romeo and Juliet
• For Darkness Shows the Stars - Persuasion

If would like to read the tale of Snow White (the tale from where the Evil Queen comes from), written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, you can find it here. 

Review 21. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Title: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Publisher: Blazer + Bray
Published: June 12th 2012
Pages: 407 pages

"It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it."

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a dystopian retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, one of my favourite classic novels. With an alluring cover, it follows the story of Elliot North, a Luddite, and Kai, a Post-Reduced, in a post-apocalyptic world.

Characters: I saw Anne in Elliot. Her big and caring heart, her strength in a quiet way, her broken heart by Captain Wentworth. I admired her courage for staying behind, taking care of the Reduced on her estate instead of running away with Kai, the boy she loved. I enjoyed how much she grew through the story - she learned how to stand up to everyone who bullied her. However, at the end, I think Elliot acted out of character, but I can forgive her because I'm a huge sucker for love. 

“Envy hurt exponentially more than heartbreak because your soul was torn in two, half soaring with happiness for another person, half mired in a well of selfpity and pain.”

Kai brought to surface all those feelings I felt when Captain Wentworth was around (those feelings that made me want to smack some sense into him). Nevertheless, I found Kai a bit more vicious than Wentworth, which I guess was because of his upbringing because being treated as a Reduced when he was a Post-Reduced (able to think and protect himself) must  have been very difficult.      

Romance: I'm not fond of abusive relationships (no one in his right mind should be). However, no matter how harsh Kai was to Elliot, I don't see it as an abusive relationship. It resembled a lot the relation between Anne and Wentworth - the Captain felt hurt by the woman he loved (and never was able to forget) and wanted her to feel as hurt as he felt. That said, I enjoy friends-to-lovers-turned-to-foes-due-to-a-misunderstanding relationships and that's the kind of relation between Elliot and Kai. The angsty relationship between them was really heartbreaking. If I hadn't read Persuasion before, I would have been on the edge of my seat to know what was in store for Kai and Elliot. 

Worldbuilding: At the beginning, the worldbuiling was confusing. Luddites, the Reduction, the Children of the Reduction (CORs)... all these terms were used from the first page and I felt confused because they were no explained. But then, the letters exchanged between Elliot and Kai (which were a very nice touched that reminded me of the original novel) slowly unravelled this new world and how things came to be. If at first I was dubious, then I came to enjoy this vicious world for all those who were not Luddites (and, sometimes, for those who were *cough Elliot cough*). For Darkness Shows the Stars's world grew on me and I couldn't wait to know more about this well-woven dystopia. 

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a charming retelling of Jane Austen's Prejudice with a post-apocalyptic and dystopian twist.