Book Review: Conform (Book #1 in the Conform series) by Ariel Sullivan (Major Spoilers)

Right off the bat, I have to confess that I went into reading Ariel Sullivan’s book, Conform, with a great deal of excitement and anticipation, given all the hype surrounding this book. After having read Conform, I have to say that this book definitely lived up to the hype for the most part.

 

Conform definitely has a lot going for it, both as a book and as the beginning of a book series. Emeline is also a very interesting protagonist for the series in many ways. That being said, I don’t think that Emeline having heterochromia can be considered a particularly compelling defect from an emotional standpoint. Hopefully, Sullivan will flesh out the idea of the characters having defects, especially when it comes to Emeline, to make the whole aspect of the series involving some of the characters having a defect, so it will come across as more compelling from a creative standpoint as the series continues. That being said, Collin and Hal are both well-written and compelling characters who both served as great and interesting love interests for Emeline in their own unique way.

 

Conform also has quite a few compelling supporting characters that I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed what we saw of Collin’s family members and found them very well-written. The whole Gregory and Nora subplot was especially compelling and a very enjoyable aspect of the book. Honestly, I wish we could have gotten more of the Gregory and Nora subplot, simply because of how much I enjoyed that aspect of Conform. I would love it if one of the future books in the series focuses on Gregory and Nora. Emeline’s friend, Lo, was also quite interesting, at least based on what we saw of the character, given her interest in getting a reproduction contract like Emeline was originally trying to get. That being said, one complaint that I have about Conform is that many of the supporting characters kind of blurred together at times, especially when it came to some of Collin’s family members. Hopefully, Sullivan will flesh out Collin’s family members as characters as the series continues. Given that the Conform series is apparently going to consist of nine books, hopefully Sullivan will have the chance to further develop Collin’s family members and the supporting characters in general.

Book Review: Crush (Book #2 in the Crave series) by Tracy Wolff

Right off the bat, I have to say that my thoughts on the second book in Tracy Wolff’s Crave series, Crush, are rather complicated, because in some ways I liked it more than I liked Crave, but at the same time, I also thought that at times this book somehow managed to lack even more originality than the first book did. Crush also has a variety of other aspects to it that I definitely think could have been better. However, despite its flaws, Crush is definitely a really fun guilty pleasure book, much like the first book in the series was. That being said, here are my thoughts on Crush.

I thought that it was pretty interesting that a major plot point in Crush was Grace finding out that she’s a gargoyle and learning how to use the abilities that come along with being a gargoyle; because I honestly can’t think of any other YA books where the premise involves gargoyles. Grace discovering in this book that she’s a gargoyle is definitely something that I think helps set Tracy Wolff’s Crave series apart from other YA fantasy series. Grace finding out in this book that she’s a gargoyle definitely came as quite a surprise to me, because in Crave (The book) I really thought that Wolff was setting things up for Grace to become a vampire later on in the series.

 

However, I definitely think that there are a lot of missed opportunities on Wolff’s part when it comes to how she handled the reveal that Grace is a gargoyle. It seemed really weird to me that Grace pretty much didn’t seem upset or say anything at all about the fact that her parents had never told her that she was a gargoyle while they were still alive. She was simply initially in shock when everybody told her that she was a gargoyle, which is something I can completely understand. The other thing that frustrated me about Wolff’s execution of Grace discovering that she’s a gargoyle and how to use the magical abilities that she has as a gargoyle is how quickly she always learned how to do something. Instead of struggling to get the hang of her abilities for at least a couple of chapters and experiencing some genuine frustration, which could have led to some potentially compelling storytelling, Grace basically always figured out how to successfully use her abilities within a matter of a few pages; which typically led to lovey dovey moments between Jaxon and Grace that ultimately proved to be incredibly repetitive almost immediately.

Book Review: The Assassin’s Blade (Books #0.1-0.5 in the Throne of Glass series) by Sarah J. Maas (Spoilers)

Right off the bat, I have to say that I absolutely loved The Assassin’s Blade as a whole for the most part. I found all five of the novellas that are featured in this book very enjoyable to a certain extent. Reading The Assassin’s Blade was also definitely a very interesting experience for me, since I originally read Throne of Glass for the first time back in 2017; not realizing that most fans of the Throne of Glass series actually recommend reading this book before reading the book Throne of Glass since the five novellas that are featured in this book essentially serve as a prequel to the series. Reading The Assassin’s Blade after having already read Throne of Glass ultimately caused me to more or less see a few things that happened in the five novellas featured in this book coming from the get-go. However, I thought it was also kind of fun to read this book after reading Throne of Glass, because it gave me the chance to learn the origins behind a few aspects of the series that I was already aware of.

Since The Assassin’s Blade is a book of five novellas, I decided that the way I would approach reviewing the book by briefly reviewing each novella in the book individually, give each novella their own individual score, and my final overall score for the book is the average of the five individual scores. That being said, here are my thoughts on all five novellas that are featured in The Assassin’s Blade.

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

I thought that The Assassin and the Pirate Lord was a great novella to open the book with, and I loved it for many reasons. For starters, Maas definitely did a great job of introducing Celaena as the protagonist of the Throne of Glass series in this novella, and giving people a feel for what she’s like as a character. Plus, the overall plot of The Assassin and the Pirate Lord worked very well for a novella in the sense that it focused on Celaena completing a single mission that her master, Arobynn, sent her on with Sam; which proved to be a very interesting and well developed concept for a story within the novella’s relatively short length. (This novella is 75 pages long in the hardback edition of The Assassin's Blade.)

As far as I’m concerned, The Assassin and the Pirate Lord’s three greatest strengths are Maas’ writing for Celaena as the protagonist of the series, her writing for Sam, and her writing for Celaena and Sam’s friendship. I absolutely loved the somewhat playful and the platonically affectionate dynamic of their friendship, because it really made the interactions between them throughout the novella very entertaining. That being said, the only genuine complaint that I have about The Assassin and the Pirate Lord is the fact that I found the first chapter somewhat chaotic due to quite a few characters being featured in the chapter that weren’t present or a part of the novella’s plot after that chapter. I really think the first chapter could have benefitted from Maas not featuring as many characters in the first chapter as she did.

Book Review: A Court of Frost and Starlight (Book #3.1 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas (Spoiler Review)

Right off the bat, I have to admit that I went into reading A Court of Frost and Starlight with fairly low expectations, mainly because I found A Court of Wings and Ruin to be rather frustrating and disappointing in a lot of ways; and yet I was ultimately still incredibly disappointed by this book.

When it comes to books that I either have mixed feelings about, or books that I simply don’t like, I usually try my best to keep my reviews balanced and fair when it comes to discussing what I like about the book, and what I don’t like about it. Unfortunately, Sarah J. Maas didn’t really give me very much to work with when it comes to having positive things to say about A Court of Frost and Starlight. After all, you can’t build a big, extravagant sandcastle with just one cup of sand that somebody peed in. That being said, the biggest problem that I have with A Court of Frost and Starlight is the fact that the book honestly doesn’t really have a solid plot to it. Much like Seinfeld has always been described as being, “A show about nothing,” I would describe A Court of Frost and Starlight as being a book about nothing; because this book doesn’t really have much of a solid, concrete plot.

Prior to A Court of Frost and Starlight’s release, the information that was given about the book led me to believe that this book was basically meant to be an interlude and bridge the gap between the events that took place in A Court of Wings and Ruin, and set things up for the upcoming full-length novels in the series; which will focus on characters other than Feyre and Rhysand. However, there’s pretty much nothing that happens in A Court of Frost and Starlight that sets things up for the upcoming full-length novels in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series; aside from the fact that there’s an excerpt from the next book in the series at the end of the book, which I’ll briefly comment on at the end of this review. The fact that there’s nothing that happens in A Court of Frost and Starlight itself that appears to set anything up for future full-length novels in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series makes me feel like this book doesn’t even need to exist. As far as I’m concerned, this book is nothing more than an unnecessary, cash grab since the excerpt from the next full-length book in the series is honestly the only thing in this book that sets things up for future books in the series. I suppose I could end up being proven wrong once I read the next book in the series when it’s released; but for now, I just feel like this book fails to serve as genuine setup for upcoming books in the series. That really made reading this book feel like an unnecessary waste of time, as far as I’m concerned.

Bookstagram Post: My May TBR Dilemma

Here's a picture of almost all of the books that I'm considering including in my May TBR.

I’m definitely having a really hard time finalizing my May TBR. These are the books that I’m currently considering the possibility of including in my May TBR, along with A Court of Frost and Starlight by @therealsjmaas and The Soldier by Neal Asher, which aren’t included in this picture due to the fact that they don’t come out until next month. Obviously I won’t be able to read all of these books next month, which is why I’m in the process of trying to narrow this selection of books to a more manageable number of books to read next month. I already know for sure that I’m definitely going to read A Court of Frost and Starlight, Ace of Shades by @amandafoody, and The Queens of Innis Lear by @tessa.gratton. I’m also hoping to listen to @stephanie_garber’s book, Caraval, on audiobook again in preparation and anticipation for the release of Legendary on May 29th. Listening to @genashowalter’s Everlife trilogy on audiobook is also pretty high on my list of priorities when it comes to reading at the moment, so I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to make that happen next month, too. I really want next month to be the month where I finally read @vanessafewings’ book, The Chase, because I’ve wanted to read it for a very long time. 😀 I would also love it if next month could also be the month where I FINALLY read @adamsilvera’s debut novel, More Happy Than Not, because all three of his books have been in my TBR pile for the longest time. Of the three @aleatharomig books that are in consideration for my May TBR, I’ll most likely read two of them at most. I’ll probably at least read Plus One again next month so I can write a review for the book. If I end up reading a second Aleatha Romig book next month, I’m leaning towards reading Respect. The plot synopsis just has me feeling really, really, really excited to read it, so I’m really glad that Romig wrote it as a standalone book that people can read, even if they haven’t read the rest of the Infidelity series. 😀 It really is proving to be very difficult to finalize my May TBR, because these are all books that I really want to read or re-read for various reasons. 😀 #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookblog

A post shared by Taylor Madison Street (@tmswriter6) on Apr 24, 2018 at 11:32pm PDT

Books Featured in this Post  

Ace of Shades (Book #1 in The Shadow Game series) by Amanda Foody

Firstlife (Book #1 in the Everlife trilogy) by Gena Showalter

Lifeblood (Book #2 in the Everlife trilogy) by Gena Showalter

Everlife (Book #3 in the Everlife trilogy) by Gena Showalter

Caraval (Book #1 in the Caraval series) by Stephanie Garber

Royally Endowed (Book #3 in the Royally series) by Emma Chase

The Chase (Book #1 in the Icon trilogy) by Vanessa Fewings

All or Nothing at All (Book #3 in the Billionaire Builders series) by Jennifer Probst

Plus One (Lighter Ones series) by Aleatha Romig

Betrayal (Book #1 in the Infidelity series) by Aleatha Romig

Respect (An Infidelity series novel) by Aleatha Romig

Lucky in Love by Kasie West

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

A Court of Frost and Starlight (Book #3.1 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series) by Sarah J. Maas (Not featured in picture; Comes out May 1st)

The Soldier (Book #1 in the Rise of the Jain trilogy) by Neal Asher (Not featured in picture; Comes out May 15th)

Related Book Reviews

A Court of Thorns and Roses (Book #1 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury (Book #2 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book #3 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Review: Dark Intelligence (Book #1 in the Transformation trilogy) by Neal Asher

Firstlife (Book #1 in the Everlife trilogy) by Gena Showalter

Royally Screwed (Book #1 in the Royally series) by Emma Chase

Royally Matched (Book #2 in the Royally series) by Emma Chase

Everywhere and Every Way (Book #1 the Billionaire Builders series) by Jennifer Probst

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

Book Review: A Storm of Swords (Book #3 in the A Song of Ice and Fire series) by George R. R. Martin

Right off the bat, I have to admit that because I thought that A Clash of Kings proved to be rather disappointing, I definitely went into reading A Storm of Swords with somewhat lower expectations. That being said, I actually ended up liking this book a little bit more than A Clash of Kings. However, this book still proved to be rather difficult to get through in terms of its ability to maintain my interest throughout the entire book. I actually ended up taking two breaks from reading this book in order to read two other books. If I’m being entirely honest, I’ve definitely been kind of dreading writing this review, because I know that there are a lot of people who think very highly of this particular book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Admittedly, I held off on writing my review for A Storm of Swords for quite a while after having finished reading it. When it comes to discussing my thoughts on this book, I want to be perfectly clear that I definitely didn’t completely hate A Storm of Swords, but I do have quite a few problems with it; that being said, here are my thoughts on A Storm of Swords.

When it comes to which characters’ P.O.V. chapters I enjoyed the most, I definitely enjoyed Jon Snow’s, Arya’s, Daenerys’ Catelyn’s, Tyrion’s, and Bran’s P.O.V. chapters the most. I have to admit that I’m surprised that I enjoyed Catelyn’s P.O.V. chapters in this book as much as I did. While I’ve always liked Catelyn as a character, she’s never really ranked very high on my list of favorite characters; both in terms of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, and the show Game of Thrones. Samwell Tarly’s P.O.V. chapters were definitely my least favorite out of all the P.O.V. characters in this book. I just thought that he was a very annoying character, especially when it comes to his first P.O.V. chapter.

The main problem that I have with this book is that I felt like George R. R. Martin really meandered quite a bit throughout the book in a lot of ways. While I really appreciate it when authors, especially fantasy authors, really take their time to try and create elaborate worlds for their books to take place in; sometimes I feel like Martin has the tendency to get too caught up in spending a lot of time describing things such as the food the characters are eating, or the clothes that the characters are wearing. In the grand scheme of things, those kinds of things aren’t really all that important when it comes to actually developing and progressing the various storylines that take place throughout the book. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mind Martin spending some time talking about things like that, because I do think that it can help with the world building for the series. I simply think that this book and the series as a whole could definitely benefit from there being a better balance between describing some of the details that help establish the series’ setting and the society that the characters live in, and actually progressing the various storylines at a satisfying pace.

Book Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book #3 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

Right off the bat, I have to say that while I thought that A Court of Mist and Fury was a bit of chore to get through, and I ultimately didn’t like it very much, I thought that A Court of Wings and Ruin was definitely an improvement upon that book. However, even though I liked A Court of Wings and Ruin a little bit more than I liked A Court of Mist and Fury, there are still a lot of things about this book that I don’t like, and that I definitely found this book rather frustrating and disappointing in a lot of ways.

When I finished reading A Court of Mist and Fury, I have to admit that I wasn’t too crazy about the fact that the book ended with Feyre returning to the Spring Court in order to spy on Tamlin and the others, with the intention of bringing the Spring Court down. However, I ended up really enjoying how that storyline ultimately played out in A Court of Wings and Ruin. I’m really glad that Sarah J. Maas didn’t make it easy for Feyre to carry out her plan, and that she actually ran into some problems along the way, because I think that it would have felt incredibly contrived if Feyre had been able to carry out her plans without a hitch. I also love that Feyre ended up having to work with Lucien in order to carry out her plan, because I feel like that added a very interesting dynamic to that particular part of the book.

While the blossoming romance between Feyre and Rhysand in A Court of Mist and Fury was definitely one of the bright spots of the book for me, I thought that the writing for their relationship in this book was for the most part more frustrating and annoying than anything else. The way Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship was written in A Court of Mist and Fury made their relationship a relationship that I really enjoyed reading about and could root for, especially considering the way Rhysand really encouraged Feyre to better herself and gave her a greater sense of freedom; unlike Tamlin who really seemed to try to shelter Feyre. Sadly, the way Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship was written in this book really made their relationship come across as being incredibly shallow and primarily about sex and constantly flirting with each other.

Personally, I really hated the fact that there’s some kind of telepathic bond between Feyre and Rhysand. I didn’t keep count of how many times the phrase “down the bond” was used throughout the book when it came to Feyre and Rhysand flirting with each other, or just communicating with each other in general through the use of their telepathic bond; but I’m pretty sure that if people made a drinking game out of how often the phrase “down the bond” was used throughout the book, they would probably die of alcohol poisoning before they had even read a third of the book. If Sarah J. Maas had actually used that bond between Feyre and Rhysand for reasons besides it being a way for them to constantly flirt with each other, I might not have necessarily minded there being a telepathic bond between them. Maybe it could have been used to help progress the plot more often than it was; but the fact that Feyre and Rhysand’s telepathic bond for the most part really seemed to serve no other purpose aside from it being a way for them to flirt with each other, really annoyed me quite a bit throughout the book.

Book Review: A Court of Mist and Fury (Book #2 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

Right off the bat, I have to say that while I absolutely loved A Court of Thorns and Roses for the most part, I sadly thought that A Court of Mist and Fury was a rather disappointing follow-up to it. That being said, I have to admit that I was really surprised by the aspects of the book that I ended up liking the most.

While I ultimately thought that A Court of Mist and Fury was a rather disappointing book, I did think that the book started out on a relatively strong note. I thought that Sarah J. Maas did a pretty good job of showing at the beginning of the book how the events that happened “Under the Mountain” in A Court of Thorns and Roses had definitely traumatized Feyre in a variety of ways. For example, it was established that she had apparently been getting sick and throwing up during the night on a regular basis, and it was also established that she had been hiding that fact from Tamlin. While I thought that the trauma that Feyre was experiencing at the beginning of the book was all very interesting, I really wish that Maas had explored that more than she did. I especially wish that Maas had really delved into how the trauma that Feyre was experiencing affected her relationship with Tamlin in more detail. 

One thing that really bothered me about the beginning of the book is the fact that much like Maas had the tendency to give what I viewed as being important conversations that took place between Feyre and Tamlin in A Court of Thorns and Roses the “Yada Yada” treatment, she also kind of did the same thing when it came to giving the details about how Tamlin proposed to Feyre. I was really surprised by the fact that Maas kind of glossed over the story of how Tamlin asked Feyre to marry him. That’s something that I really thought that Maas would have wanted to flesh out more than she did since Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship was such a central element of A Court of Thorns and Roses; and Tamlin proposing to Feyre is also something that I personally think that Maas definitely shouldn’t have glossed over like she did.

One thing that really surprised me about A Court of Mist and Fury is that it really made me hate Tamlin in a lot of ways. While Tamlin did do a few things in A Court of Thorns and Roses that bothered me, I ultimately thought that Tamlin was a very nice guy, and I was rooting for Feyre and Tamlin as a couple. However, as I was reading this book, I really started to feel like Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship was rather problematic, and I couldn’t entirely blame Feyre for not wanting to go through with the wedding. Given the way Tamlin was written in A Court of Mist and Fury, I honestly felt like Maas almost completely assassinated him as a character, as well as the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin.

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses (Book #1 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

Right off the bat, I’d like to start off this review by mentioning that A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book by Sarah J. Maas that I’ve ever read, and Maas definitely made a phenomenal first impression with this book. It has been a goal of mine to read at least one of Sarah J. Maas’ books for about a year now, since I’ve heard a lot of great things about her books from people on BookTube. The reason I chose to start with A Court of Thorns and Roses, instead of her book, Throne of Glass, is due the fact that A Court of Thorns and Roses is very loosely based on the story of Beauty and the Beast, and I’m a HUGE fan of fairytale retellings. Once Upon a Time and Grimm are two of my favorite TV shows, I love the movie Into the Woods, and I’m also a huge fan of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series. As for A Court of Thorns and Roses being somewhat of a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, I thought that this book was a very clever take on the story.

The overall pacing of the plot of the book was definitely handled very well, in my opinion. The book starts on a very interesting note, and I thought that Maas did a great job of not taking forever for the plot of the book to really get moving after Feyre kills what she thought was a wolf, but was actually a faerie in disguise, and unwittingly breaking the treaty that exists between the humans and the faeries by doing so. When a wolf faerie shows up at her family’s home, demanding retribution for Feyre killing the wolf faerie, she chooses to willingly go live with Tamlin, who’s the High Lord of the Spring Court, at his manor for the rest of her life, as payment for breaking the treaty.

Now that I’m an adult, when it comes to the story of Beauty and the Beast, there’s always been a part of me that has felt compelled to make jokes about the relationship between Belle and the Beast, and her falling in love with him being a case of Stockholm syndrome. That being said, I honestly can’t say the same thing about Maas’ writing for the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin. There’s definitely quite a bit of tension between the two of them when Feyre first comes to live with Tamlin, but I still feel like he acted fairly civil and accommodating towards her. I really like the fact that at the beginning of the book, when Feyre is first getting to know Tamlin, it’s clear that she has come to believe a lot of lies and misconceptions about faeries that she was probably raised to believe. I found that initial tension between the two of them rather interesting, and I felt like Maas handled the progression and evolution of their relationship throughout the book very well. Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship definitely isn’t a case of insta-love. Personally, I think that’s great to see, because a lot of YA and New Adult books seem to be plagued with cases of insta-love, which is pretty much always beyond frustrating. In my opinion, the relationship between Bella and Edward from the Twilight series is one of the worst cases of insta-love that I’ve ever encountered, but I digress.

Empire of Storms: Sarah J. Maas book signing Q & A @ Fenton, MO Barnes & Noble

Here's a Q & A panel that Sarah J. Maas did at an Empire of Storms book signing at a Barnes & Noble in Fenton, Missouri. The panel was moderated by YouTube personality, Jesse the Reader. I actually haven't read any of Maas' books yet, but I'm hoping to read the first two books in her A Court of Thorns and Roses series fairly soon. I'm also planning to check out her Throne of Glass series at some point as well. This video is the first time I've ever watched Sarah J. Maas do an interview, and I have to say that she sounds like a really fun and interesting person. Watching this Q & A definitely got me even more excited to read Maas' books than I already was. :)