Review of The Gifted by Mathew Dickerson

Hello Book Bloggers! How've you all been? I just finished The Gifted this pass week and it's about time I get this review out to you! I hope you like it!

I finally made the time to read The Gifted and there's honestly nothing I regret about reading it. Matthew has a striking talent for creating an epic fantasy that's extremely well detailed and well thought out, with overly amazing well rounded characters!
The plot blew me away! There was so much that went on in so little time it made me adrenalized and disoriented all in the best of ways. At the very beginning of The Gifted, it felt slow and prolonged. But after you adapt to the world, it becomes very addicting. Matthew's writing style is very precise, making you really take every word in.
 Almost every line and description plays an important part in his story, which at times was slightly overbearing because there was so much description involved I found myself craving for more action. but don't get me wrong, Matthew Dickerson has a killer talent for world building! I love Tolkien's novels and the world that he created, so to find similar story style here was most impressive. And from going into The Gifted not knowing much, I was completely stunned with how well Matthew tackled creating an epic fantasy!
 Everything about the character development was outstanding, and I just loved how developed all of the characters back stories are. I'm also pretty intrigued as to what will happen with the main love triangle.
I made sure I read The Gifted somewhat slow so I could savor it and not wait too long for the second novel (The Betrayal) to come out!
All I can say is that if you loved The Hobbit or or any Tolkien novels you will not be disappointed with The Gifted.

To learn more about Matthew Dickerson and his second novel in the Daegmon series "The Betrayal" please click here!

Review of Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Hey Book Lovers! Have you read Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo? Or the Grisha trilogy?
Well it just finished the series and it basically killed me. So many twists an turns happened I don't even know where to begin!

So here's my review! I hope you like it! 

I don't know what to say other than that I'm super disappointed that the series has already ended. I feel like apart of me has been left as a remnant in the Grisha world that Leigh Bardugo created.

As I sit here writing my review of Ruin and Rising, I'm holding a big, soft, stuffed bear while I mentally sob about the fact that I won't ever be able to read more about all of the wonderful characters in the Grisha series. But nonetheless all I can basically say is that Leigh Bardugo couldn't have created a better ending than the one she made for Ruin and Rising.

I mentally,emotionally, and physically ate and ripped through the first (Shadow and Bone) and second (Siege and Storm) book in the Grisha trilogy. Now when it came to the third and final book in the series... that's when it became serious!! Because that's when it finally processed in my head, that it was actually the LAST and FINAL book. So I had to savor every second of it. Which in the end, resulted to me reading it super slow (like 10 pages every 3 days, kind of slow)... And it was so worth it!

Alina Starkov totally blossoms at the end of the series. She becomes the fiercest main character I've ever read. I absolutely loved how obsessed and determined she was when it came to saving the citizens of her country. (She may have been too obsessed when it came to finding her third power source). I honestly felt like I was Alina at times from how descriptive Leigh was when it came to emotions. There wasn't much description when it came to the Grisha world. Which was at times made me somewhat down because I found myself really wanting more description of the scenery. But I was also relieved too, because too much description and world building tends to take away from the rest of the wonderful aspects of the story.

I found that the relationship of Alina and Mal wasn't as cliché or overblown as some teen YA relationships are. But at certain time frames in the story I found myself getting agitated at the back and forth issues that Mal and Alina were having. Which I could understand because real life relationships are like that all of the time. But I just got so annoyed at it during certain periods.

That honestly didn't take much away because in the end their relationship was cute. There were no characters that needed to be removed. Each and every character played an important part in every scene. 

Nikolai,Mal,Alina,and The Darkling were all beautifully created and intricate characters! I especially loved The Darkling ( which many of you may hate me for because he's so evil) his carefully deceitful plans were placed extremely well throughout the series. He's the character you truly want to stay away from but in the end you feel somehow attached or compelled to his energy.

I was in awe throughout the entire book from how many plot twists and surprises that Leigh slyly sneaked inside her story and the extra splash of humor was addicting. At the end of the series I felt like there was something missing in the story. I just can't quite pinpoint what exactly it was. And thankfully I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

 But even though there was something missing, I will always be addicted to this series! Every part of it truly was a gift to read! I'm sad and happy that I've finished the series. I have yet to see what's in store for Six of Crows.

I hope you liked my review! If you've read the Grisha trilogy then comment below so we can discuss the series together! 

Best wishes and much love,

Jade Crow 

Wrap-Up

TBR

January 2016 TBR

Hello Book Lovers! How are you this new year? Do you have any NYR? I have several and a couple of them are spending more time on my blog writing reviews and interviewing authors, reading 100 books or more. ( And Hopefully Review Them!!) I want to read and finish the Harry Potter series. I want to spend less on books and read more books.
Last year I just ended up spending way too much on books, not that I don't mind buying books. But I need to be saving and doing less spending.
There are some novels that have been on my book shelves for over 3 years... I really just need to start reading the books on my shelves first. And just being able to interact with authors and book lovers out there!
I have a lot more NYR but, those are just some of them.

What are some of your New Years Resolutions?

Anyways here's my January TBR for 2016. I decided that I'm not going to have anything set in stone about my TBR for the next couple of months. I'm just going to choose several random books on my shelves that I've been staring at for what feels like forever and read them. Plus have some review copies in there! Last year I just felt too stressed from having to pick and choose selected books for the month. Especially when it came to review copies. I want to enjoy my read.. not feel pressured. So that's what i'm going to try and work on for a couple of months and see if I like it or not.

So here are some of the books I'd like to read for the month of January.

Ruin and Rising, The Gifted, Passenger, After The Woods, Shattered Blue, The Curseborn Saga, e.c.t

I'm planning to read most of these books for the months ahead. We'll just see how many I can get to for the month of January!!

Happy New Year book lovers,

best wishes,

Jade Crow

Blog Tour/Book review of Night Fox by Tia Giacalone

Hello Book Lovers! Hope all is well! What are you currently reading? I just finished Night Fox by Tia Giacalone. Second book in the Hey Sunshine series. I went into this series by not reading the first book. And....... it was so utterly, unbelievably, amazing! Tia has a talent for creating a heart wrenching story!
I'm also apart of Tia blog tour she's having for Night Fox! So please check out the other reviews, they are so good!
I hope you enjoy my review!

In Night Fox, we follow the life of a twenty eight year old firefighter (Fox) and search and rescue personal. But he soon forgets everything he knew from a major accident he gets in.

After 5 days waiting patiently in the hospital, Avery (Fox's wife) cannot wait for Fox to wake up out of his coma. Missing his scent,touch,voice, and everything about him, it's a relief when Fox finally wakes up.. Or is it.

After waking up, Fox is in a complete daze, especially when his entire family tells him that he recently got into a motorcycle accident. All this time, he thought that he got severely injured and his best friend died when they were saving hikers from a wild fire.

Everything about his best friend dying and the wild fire was true, but it all happened about a year ago.

And to top that he has a wife named Avery and a daughter named Annabelle.

Fox just can't handle the pressure of everything, especially when it comes to the fact that he can't remember a a single thing about his wonderful relationship with his wife and daughter that everyone says he has.

Will Fox ever regain his memories of his beautiful life he had all before the accident?

This novel was a complete tearjerker that was full of aguish and romance at the same time. I enjoyed how emotional and heartwarming the author made her story, and I loved every second of it.

Gosh.. Fox was the best character I've ever read in my entire life! He's not only caring, but his overall personality was determined to heal his family and his life. Even though he goes through so many emotions throughout Night Fox, it never truly brings him down. His love for Avery and Annabelle is absolutely beautiful.

Avery is so strong throughout Fox's rehab and emotions. And I love the fierceness that Tia created in her character. As for Annabelle... She's a complete sweetheart, I love how adorably cute she is.

Night Fox is thrilling, beautiful, heartbreaking and throughly lovable. I've honestly cried so many times while reading this novel. It shows the importance of not just family, but the connection you have with your other loved ones, and the bonds you all share together. Fox, Avery, and Annabelle's character's personalities have so many traits that I want to have in my future.

I hope you all enjoyed by review of Night Fox. Have you read Hey Sunshine or Night Fox? 

Are you interested in learning more about the series?

Please click here to learn more about the author Tia and her book series.

To view my review on Goodreads please click here!

P.S Thank you Tia for writing such an inspiring novel! Without Fox.... I don't know what I would do!

December Wrap Up

Hello Book Lovers! Hope all is well! I'm actually pretty late putting my December Wrap Up up. But last month I was quite busy with work. And this month is going to be a lot crazier! I found sometime to just sit down and work on some things... And here I am!
So for the month of December I read a total of 7 books! Which I think is pretty good under the circumstances of how busy I was.

5/5 Stars for Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
I really loved the entire concept of Jennifer re-writing the LUX series but in Daemon's perspective!
I honestly hope that Jennifer continues to write the remainder of the series from Daemon's point of view. Because if you read the Lux series, we all know the pain and the feelings we had, when the series finally finished!
I also enjoyed how accurate Daemon's point of view match up with Katy's point of view. The Lux series will forever hold a special place in my heart!


To view my review of Oblivion on Goodreads, please click here!









5/5 Stars for Oppression by Jessica Therrien.
Since it's the first book in the Children of the Gods series, I was a little tentative to start it just because I didn't know much about the premise itself. But I'd heard so many great things about it, I was dying to know more. And gosh this story was absolutely phenomenal! It reminded me of a little like the Percy Jackson series, just because it as the god and goddess aspect in it. But it's such a great, mature, suspenseful novel! I loved every second of it!

To view my review of Oppression, please click here!






5/5 Stars for Unfinished Ink by Joanne Marlowe.
I'm not much of a poetry person. The reason to that is because I've never truly taken the time to read much poetry. It's always been a requirement for english exams. But I've never read much of it for my pure enjoyment. In the end Joanne's collection of poems "Unfinished Ink" changed my perspective of not just poetry but everything in life. There's a certain style she has with her poem that just complexity unravels me and makes me see things clearly. All of her poems are not only a great read, but you can understand them and relate to them at the same time. I'm also doing an interview with Joanne and it should be up sometime this week!

To view my review of Unfinished Ink, please click here!

5/5 Stars for Avalon by Allison Sipe.
Soothsayer (first book in the Soothsayer series) drew me into the magical realms that main character "Violet" had to adapt to. Including having to adapt to the handsome, and charming Robert. We learn things from Violets perspective in Soothsayer.
In Avalon we learn more about Robert. Which is fantastic because I wanted to learn so much more about him in the first book. I absolutely loved that Allison continued the Soothsayer story but from Robert's point of view. Especially since he's been missing. I'm extremely excited for "Trivium" to come out. Third book in the Soothsayer series!

To view my review of Avalon, please click here!








4/5 Stars for The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
I really loved the the gruesome story that Cormac creates and draws you into. If a post apocalypse really happened.. then the world that The Road was created in seems pretty accurate. I loved how deeply both the narrator and his son were connected. The Road is meant to be read in either one sitting or within a couple of days. And since I sadly didn't do that, it felt as though the story was dragged on. But I still loved it. And it will forever hold a heart wrenching place in my heart.


To view my review of The Road, please click here!











4/5 Stars for Instructions for the End of the World by Jamie Kain.
This novel was nothing that I expected it to be. I throughly enjoyed the entire idea of this story. Of how our main characters family basically goes down the hole. And it's about her finding our more about her family and herself, while also trying to survive with her gushing crush she has and living by herself with her sister.
I loved how heartwarming this novel was and how the main character "Nichole"s family life wasn't sugarcoated. I honestly didn't care much for the view changes in this novel. But I'm still super excited to read more of Jamie's works!

To view my review of Instructions for the End of the World, please click here!






4/5 Stars for Shrilugh by Myndi Shafer. I really loved how extremely
unique this story was. I absolutely fell in love with both the main characters Brig and Aydan. The chilling suspense and adrenaline that is in this novel made me fly through this novel! Although I tried my best to read it as slowly as possible because it as such a treat! One thing that I didn't like much about this story was that it could be confusing at times by trying to figure out what Aydan really is. And the cliffhanger was random. And it killed me so much because I wanted to know what happened next!
I throughly enjoyed the romance in this novel! And I cannot wait to read The Darkening!

To view my review of Shrilugh, please click here!



I sadly didn't get the chance to read  some of the other books I challenged myself to read for the month of December. But I hope to read them in my next TBR, and for the remaining months.
What did you read for the month of December? How about for the entire year of 2015?
I read a total of 64 novels. And my bookish related New Years resolutions is to read 100 books or more this year. Spend more time on my blog,interview some amazing people. And meet some amazing authors and book bloggers!


Best wishes,
Jade Crow

Review of Avalon by Allison Sipe

Hello book lovers how has your new year been treating you so far? Hope all is well! Have you chosen any book novels for the first month of the year? I certainly hope so! To start off my new year! I just finished Avalon by Allison Sipe! The second book in her Soothsayer series! Even though it was a novella, there was so much new information it felt as though it was bigger!

In Soothsayer we follow the main character Violet and how she adapts to the magical life she never knew she had. While she begins to absorb all this new information, she starts to create a new journey with the handsome man she ran into named Robert.
Both Robert and her continue to learn more, not just about the prophecy, but also their blooming relationship. Soothsayer ended with a well executed cliffhanger!

In Avalon we learn more information about Robert, and we see things from his perspective. While the story continues on, Violet doesn't know where Robert disappeared to, and Robert lives most of his days behind magically constricting bars while constantly plotting his way out of confinement.
It doesn't make anything easier when both his Ex "Lila Partridge" and her father are plotting for a way to break all hell lose.

While trying to convince his ex Lila to understand that her father is brainwashing her and isn't telling her the truth, Robert is also having a difficult time being a nice guy from constantly being pushed and used as an experiment while being held against his own will.
All Robert knows is that the more time he spends away from Violet the worse it will be when he comes back. Especially if Lila comes back with him too.

Gosh Allison Sipe did it again! I was completely captivated while reading Avalon. We don't learn very much about Robert in Soothsayer, but Avalon most definitely makes up for it. I really liked that Allison continued on with the story from Roberts perspective, it gives you a great insight of how Robert thinks and feels.
Even though Avalon is a novella, it felt as though many important things took place in such a sort amount of time! The side characters were really well thought out, and one of them by the name of Ian really got on my bad side! And because of that it felt as though I got sucked into the magical realms of the story, which was an intense ride!
I'm pretty happy to see both Robert and Lila rekindled as friends. It's quite a comforting feeling knowing that even though they've had a horrible past both of them ended up helping each other. (It's also wonderful to know that Lila will most likely not attempt to kill Violet either)
There are so many cool and new aspects in Avalon that I'm on the edge of my toes waiting for the third book in the series!

If your interested in learning more about the author and The Soothsayer series please click here!

Also if your interested in reading The Soothsayer series you can purchase it here on Amazon.

My review is also up on Goodreads and Amazon!
Thank you so much for reading my review! Enjoy your new year!!!