BOOK REVIEW | The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski (#3)

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Publication Date: 24th March 2016
 

My Rating: ★★★★★
 

Goodreads Page
 

Goodreads Summary:

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.

But no one gets what they want just by wishing.

**No Spoilers**

I received a copy of this book from the Bloomsbury Publishing, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I read the first two books in this trilogy earlier this year and found them to be wonderful fantasy novels, full of political intrigue, and fascinating and complex characters. They reminded me of a YA version of Game of Thrones. I often don't have high hopes for the final instalments of trilogies as I have found them to be let-downs in the past; however, this book was a brilliant finale to this trilogy and I absolutely loved it.

I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to spoil it, but I loved the direction this book went in. I didn't see any of it coming and found it to be extremely refreshing. I actually found myself enjoying the main relationship more this book as it didn't have any of the angst of the previous book and many things were finally revealed. Kestrel and Arin both developed so much as characters throughout this trilogy and the final book really does them both justice. They both end up doing things that neither would have done in the first book and it's great to see such development in only three books.

The relationship between Arin and Roshar definitely has to be one of my favourites, and Roshar himself ended up becoming one of my favourite characters of the whole series which surprised me. He is funny, rude, and spoilt, yet is extremely loyal and likeable. Rutkoski does a fantastic job of writing such complex, and very human, characters. I found myself really hating some of the characters in this book (which the reader was supposed to!), and I felt the frustration of these characters through Kestrel so much. There was only one this I disliked in this book and it was the use of memory loss - it just felt like it was used as a way of moving the story along and I felt the book could have been equally good without it.

The ending was epic and fantastic. It was so fast-paced that I ended up reading the last 70 pages in a very short time. I didn't see the twist coming at all and found it to be such a satisfying conclusion. I loved how each characters storyline's ended up, especially Verex's, and all of the loose ends I wanted to be tied up were.

Overall, I absolutely loved this trilogy and the final book was definitely the best for me. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy books. This trilogy isn't very long but it contains so much. An easy 5 stars to give.

Top Five Wednesday | Worst Love Interests (male or female)

This week's Top Five Wednesday is worst love interests (male or female). I'm not going to lie, I found this one quite a difficult topic. I'm often quite happy with the love interest the author gives the main character/side character and it's infrequent that I go against the grain with this. However, I managed to think of a few where I just couldn't understand the love interest at all.

1. Wesley Rush - The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book, but my only issue with it was that the main character seemed very strong and independent to begin with but she ended up falling rather flat in some ways, and I attribute this to the love interest. To be honest, I'm a bit fed up of books where the main female character falls for the 'bad boy' that just needs to learn how to change. Life isn't like that and guys who are willing to call you ugly and fat every day are not worth anyone's time; it just really bothered me that Bianca still falls for someone who verbally and mentally abuses her when she's already gone through so much.

2. Jacob - The Twilight Saga

When I first read the first couple of books in the Twilight saga I remember liking Jacob a lot and thinking that he was good for Bella, etc. It was only when he forced himself one her and later used blackmail to get her kiss him that my blood really began to boil. Not that Edward is realistically a great love interest, but out of the two, Jacob really bothers me.

3. Perry/Aria - Under the Never Sky Trilogy

I was a bit underwhelmed by this trilogy and the two main characters didn't really help. I found them both to be a bit dull and neither really grabbed my attention. Ultimately I just found them to be the same as many other YA couples, with nothing new about them.

4. Lola Nolan - Lola and the Boy Next Door

I loved this companion trilogy, but I definitely found the second book to be my least favourite. Although still enjoyable, I just didn't really like the character of Lola, or her love interest. I couldn't relate to her and just found their romance to be underwhelming compared to the couples in the first and last books.

5. Art Crevan - Flawed

I know this book hasn't yet been released, but I read an advance copy recently and found the main/initial love interest to be rather underdeveloped and just lacking in any character. This is mostly because he speaks to the main character approximately 4 times throughout the book and the relationship just doesn't feel established. I know it's still the first book in a series though so I imagine he could get better.

These are my Top Five! Let me know what yours are below, or if you did a Top Five Wednesday then feel free to link it below!

Just in case anyone is new to this, Top Five Wednesday was created by Lainey (Gingerreadslainey on YouTube), so that people can share more of their favourite (or sometimes least favourite) books in an interesting way. She creates weekly topics for each month so Bloggers and YouTubers alike to discuss books. The group which lists the monthly topics can be found here! And if you want to see more of my previous Top Five Wednesday Blog posts, you can click here!

BOOK REVIEW | After Impact by Nicole Stark

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Science Fiction

Publication Date: 10th February 2016

My Rating: ★★★.25

Goodreads Page

Goodreads Summary:

At first, HOPE (Humanity's One Plan for Escape) habitat appears to be a well-oiled machine, preparing 5,000 carefully chosen inhabitants for a new Earth. However, a medical assistant named Ilium reveals that certain members of the habitat have been falling ill from a mysterious virus they were inoculated against. Soon, HOPE habitat's tranquil illusion is shattered as Avalon plays a perplexing message left by her father. If Avalon is to survive this dangerous new environment, she will have to find the strength to navigate a habitat enveloped in secrets.

**No Spoilers**

I was sent a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I'm always interested in reading sci-fi/futuristic novels so when Nicole approached me with her debut novel I was extremely interested in giving it a read. The book focuses on a girl named Avalon who wakes up 100 years in the future after being cryogenically frozen, as one of the few inhabitants of earth chosen to survive the end of the world. 

 

This book was a very enjoyable read, it was action-packed, filled with twists and suspense, and is a solid first book in a series. The writing definitely suited the tone of the book and it had me turning the page to find out what happened next. I particularly became engrossed during the matching process, which I didn't see coming and was very well written; I thoroughly enjoyed reading that chapter. The book took me less than a day to read and was a very quick read.

I did have a few issues with the book, one being the main character who irritated me slightly. I can't quite put my finger on what it was but I think she just wasn't fleshed out enough for me. Quite a few of the characters felt rather two-dimensional and I felt as though we didn't get to know some of them enough to start caring about them. However, with this being the first book in a series I think the characters will develop further in the next novel and I look forward to seeing more of them and how they grow. I think I would've preferred to see more of Avalon's character  (and some of the other characters) before all of this happened, so we could get more of an idea of who these people are, and I think it might have built up some of the relationships more. Having said that, I really loved Ilium's character, he was very realistic and it was nice to see from his perspective at times, although that did jump around occasionally.

One issue I had was a trope that is used in pretty much every YA novel I've read (barring a few), and it's also one of my biggest pet peeves: immediate dislike/jealousy between female characters, and also having a female protagonist with zero female friends. It's just not realistic, even in this unusual circumstance. Skylar takes an immediate jealous dislike to her for absolutely no reason and makes it pretty obvious. It's not a fault with this book in particular but just something that bothers me when I read most YA books.

I found that a lot of this book just seemed to happen so quickly because of how action-packed it was. The twist at the end happened so quickly that I'm still not sure what happened, but I'm definitely intrigued to find out more! I'm definitely going to pick up the next book as this one was a very enjoyable, suspense-filled read, and, overall, a good sci-fi debut. I'm very interested to continue the rest of the series to see where it goes and watch the characters and story develop. It's very refreshing to read an indie novel with such a unique concept. 
 

BOOK REVIEW | Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Dystopian

Publication Date: 24th March 2016

My Rating: ★★★.5

Goodreads Page

Goodreads Summary:

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

**No Spoilers**

I was sent a copy of this book from HarperCollins via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was definitely interested in the concept of this book as I had heard it described as a cross between Divergent and The Scarlet Letter. The latter is one of my favourite books so I was very intrigued to see how the story would play out in a dystopian setting.

Although unique in some aspects of the book, it is quite similar to other YA dystopian novels: good girl who follows society's rules notices there's something wrong with the status quo, goes against it and is in trouble; a resistance against society comes to light; the girl  has a love interest who follows society and one who doesn't. Having said that, this is a great read. It's very fast-paced and I read most of it in one day. I liked the politics of the society and the reasons why it was, in itself, 'flawed'.

I did have some trouble with Celestine as a main character, I really didn't like  her dictionary definitions/preciseness of everything (to be honest, I'm very bored with the 'quirks' of YA protagonists where the do something that no other teenage would ever do). She also started to sound like Spock from Star Trek at times, saying things like 'It would be logical to finish' despite knowing that she could get seriously hurt and others would be affected or hurt by her actions. The start of the book was slightly repetitive with Celestine often repeating something from a couple of pages before. However, these things didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

 

I liked that this book wasn't particularly romance-heavy. In fact, the love interests are hardly in the book at all. I much prefer a slow-burn romance rather than the usual rush YA books tend to treat romances with. However, I didn't quite understand Celestine's attachment to Carrick. I would have preferred them to at least talk more than one word to one another throughout the book. I also really liked the direction the book was going in with the political side of things, where she no longer knows who she can trust. I also love the character of her grandpa - there was just so much character about him and he was very believable.

The Scarlet Letter aspects of the book were definitely my favourite and I liked that some of the situations were written as dark as they would be in real life; a lot of people would lightly write over some of the more disturbing scenes but Ahern successfully writes very vivid and dark scenes while maintaining the YA genre. I do wish we'd got to know some characters better, but there's definitely time for that , and more character development, in the next book.

I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series as I'm very interested to see where this book is going. If you're a fan of The Scarlet Letter or dystopian YA's then this is definitely for you, and I highly recommend picking this up when it comes out next month.

 

Top Five Wednesday | Best Suggested Books I Loved

This week's Top Five Wednesday is best suggested books you loved (books recommended to you). I really like this topic - it showed me just how many great books have been recommended to me and who I should be grateful to. So these are my top five:

1. Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi

I've talked about this book a lot on here so I won't go into too much detail. My sister recommended this to me last year and it was easily my favourite book of the year. A very fascinating true crime book on the Manson murders. If you want to see more of my thoughts you can click here!

2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

This is another fantastic book, recommended to me by both my sister and my colleagues at work. It's full of mystery, suspense, and is so vividly described I could picture every soon. Such a fantastic book and you can read more of my thoughts here if you want to!

3. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

This was recommended to me by one of my old university housemates. She insisted I should read this to take a break from my dissertation and I'm so glad I did. I had never read a Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman book before this but it's got me constantly wanting to read more by them now. This book was hilarious yet full of action. It takes a lot for me to laugh out loud while reading but this book managed to make me. It takes a serious and rather scary idea and flips it on its head. I highly recommend you read the blurb of this book to see if it's your kind of thing because it's great.

4. The Initiate by Louise Cooper

Another great recommendation from my sister. This is a trilogy that I know not many people have heard of but I recommend them to any fantasy lover. The trilogy follows the life of Tarod, someone who had the power and manner to become a great hero, but other people's fear turn him into someone different. He is one of the most complex characters I have ever read and these books are beautifully written. They're not too long and I highly recommend them.

5. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

My friend, Hollie, lent this book to me a few years ago and I couldn't be more grateful to her for this. I'm sure most of you will already know about this trilogy so I won't go on about it too much. The books are so full of suspense and deep mystery that it keeps you hooked from the very start, and the strange black and white pictures which are shown throughout only intrigue the reader to read more. It's quite creepy and a very enjoyable story

Those are my Top Five Best Suggested Books I Loved! Let me know what yours are below and if you did a Top Five Wednesday then feel free to link it so I can check it out!

Just in case anyone is new to this, Top Five Wednesday was created by Lainey (Gingerreadslainey on YouTube), so that people can share more of their favourite (or sometimes least favourite) books in an interesting way. She creates weekly topics for each month so Bloggers and YouTubers alike to discuss books. The group which lists the monthly topics can be found here! And if you want to see more of my previous Top Five Wednesday Blog posts, you can click here!

Top Five Wednesday | Books You Were Spoiled For

This week's Top Five Wednesday is books you were spoiled for. This was quite difficult for me to think of five (thankfully, in a way!) as I go out of my way to avoid spoilers at all costs, unless I wasn't planning on picking up the book anyway. I also feel like if I'd heard any major spoilers I would definitely remember it. So some of these are books where I accidentally found out the end - either because someone spoiled it, or because I didn't turn off a YouTube video fast enough - and some I found out, but was less bothered about. Also, just a quick disclaimer, don't worry there are no spoilers in this blog post!

1. Mad About a Boy by Helen Fielding

I remember when this book came out and, at the time, I hadn't read the Bridget Jones books so I wasn't too bothered about part of it being spoiled for me. What did bother me more was the fact that the British media decided to make it headline news across the country (and I know a lot of people were annoyed about this). It doesn't spoil the whole book, but it spoiled enough to make me not bothered about reading it. Maybe one day I'll pick it up but I'm not as interested after everything I've heard about it.

2. Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

This is the third and final instalment of the Under the Never Sky trilogy. The ending of this book wasn't spoiled for me, thankfully, but there were a few details that were. This is partly my fault as I was watching a YouTube Tag video and the youtuber said 'Spoilers ahead, skip to [minutes] now so you're not spoiled' and, unfortunately, I was too far away from my laptop to do that. By the time I'd got there and skipped ahead I'd heard some of what happens in this book. I found this trilogy just okay, so it wasn't the worst thing in the world to be spoiled for, just a bit annoying!

3. IT by Stephen King

This book wasn't spoiled for me in one moment like the other two were, and I don't feel annoyed to have been 'spoiled' for this book (I'm using the term spoiled here loosely and you'll see why). There are some books that are so famous before you are at an age where you'd want to read them, that you already know the plot points or ending (for example, in film, I knew all the plot twists of Star Wars by the age of 6 thanks to popular culture, well before I ever got to watch them myself!). This is one of those for me. I had a vague notion of the plot for years because my sister enjoyed the film and book of IT, and then I gradually heard more about different details and plot points as I got older. I'm not too bothered as I'm still looking forward to reading this at some point!

4. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Again, this book wasn't exactly spoiled, but part of the ending was, which was rather annoying! While I watched a review of a different book on YouTube, the youtuber said it had pretty much the exact same ending as Ender's Game. This meant that when I got around to reading this book, the ending was no longer much of a twist/surprise. It was a bit frustrating, but I still enjoyed this book so, so much!

5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Similar to IT, this is another book that just seems to be in the collective consciousness of popular culture. I have since read/watched and enjoyed this play, but I knew the ending well before then! I think that this is probably true of most of Shakespeare's works.

These are my Top Five Books I was Spoiled for! I really struggled with this one, let me know if you did too. Let me know what your Top Five are and if you did a blog post or video, please leave the link below so I can check it out!

Just in case anyone is new to this, Top Five Wednesday was created by Lainey (Gingerreadslainey on YouTube), so that people can share more of their favourite (or sometimes least favourite) books in an interesting way. She creates weekly topics for each month so Bloggers and YouTubers alike to discuss books. The group which lists the monthly topics can be found here! And if you want to see more of my previous Top Five Wednesday Blog posts, you can click here!

BOOK REVIEW | I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Genre: Young Adult Fiction / Contemporary / Mystery

Publication Date: 2002

My Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Page

Goodreads Summary:

Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery.
That's when the first ace arrives in the mail.
That's when Ed becomes the messenger.
Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?

**No Spoilers**

Did I think that this book would be anywhere near as good as The Book Thief? No. Was I proved wrong? Of course I was! This is the second Markus Zusak book I've read and I was certainly not disappointed. Although this book was more contemporary than The Book Thief, it was equally beautifully written and had one of the loveliest storyline's I have ever read.

The book follows Ed Kennedy, a young man who doesn't feel as though he's doing much with his life. In one day his world gets flipped upside down and the mysterious cards start arriving in the post. This book is so full of mystery and intrigue that it keeps you hooked from very early on. The main characters are all so likeable and three-dimensional from the very beginning, and the entire setting is so vividly written that I felt as though I could picture every scene in my head.

This story is just so unbelievably heart-warming. I loved the various different people that Ed met up with; I think my favourite would have to be the elderly woman and what he does for her, it was just so moving. Not only was this book so powerful and deep, but it was also funny , with a witty main character, and remained light to read. I loved the Doorman and the conversations Ed had with him. This book definitely had me chuckling aloud at times, which doesn't happen very often with books. It was also so quick to read - I finished it within a day (probably about 4 hours of reading) yet the story has still stuck with me and I keep thinking about it.

Each section of the book was just more powerful and moving than the last, and the message at the end of the book was so simple yet very true. I definitely recommend giving this book a read, it's not too long and if you enjoyed The Book Thief, then I think you'll probably enjoy Zusak's writing in this book. A lovely story and one of my new favourite books.

 

Top Five Wednesday | Biggest Badasses

This week's Top Five Wednesday is Biggest Badasses. There are so many characters to choose from when it comes to this topic but I did notice that most of the one's I could think of were female characters, so I'll be interested to see everyone else's blog posts to see if you guys found the same!

1. Celaena Sardothein (Throne of Glass Series)

I can imagine that a lot of people will say Celaena for this list and I can definitely see why. She's a young assassin who's had to live through so much suffering, pain, and loss, and yet still always comes out strong. I know there's a lot of people who didn't enjoy the first book in this series, but the books get so, so much better as the series goes along. Not only that, but the characters develop so much that you can hardly believe they are the same people you read about in book one. Celaena is a fantastic character: witty, smart, fierce, and loyal throughout.

2. Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter Series)

There is just no way that Neville couldn't be on this list. Throughout the series he is bullied by classmates and teacher alike, called a coward, and is put down repeatedly, and, in spite of this, he stands up against his own friends when he thinks they're wrong, and takes Hermione's advice to stand up for himself. He attempts to keep the prophecy from the death eaters; fights alongside Harry at every opportunity; he is one of the only students who later stands up against the Carrows and Voldemort despite that meaning he gets tortured repeatedly; and he destroys Nagini/a horcrux so that Harry can defeat Voldemort. If that isn't a badass character, then I don't know what is.

3. Paige Mahoney (The Bone Season Series)

I recently read the only two books that are out in The Bone Season series and I really enjoyed them. I know many people didn't like them because the magic system too complicated, but I thought it was brilliant and not at all difficult to follow. Paige is a tough character who manages to stand up for what she believes in, whether it's against her worst enemies or those she thought were friends. Not only that, but she's also a fierce fighter and has an incredible ability. She's definitely one of the more unique female characters I've read and generally a badass throughout!

4. Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles)

I couldn't write this list without including someone from The Lunar Chronicles series, and for me it definitely had to be Cinder. She turns the story of Cinderella entirely on its head and manages to fight through everything, despite never having had anyone help her before. She is a force to be reckoned with once she sets her sights on something and is also incredibly loyal to all of her friends and to the cyborg community - particularly Iko! She is so resourceful throughout and never shows any jealousy towards anyone else. Such a brilliant character.

5. Rose Hathaway (The Vampire Academy Series)

Rose Hathaway would be described as a badass by pretty much anyone who read this series. She is the stereotypical female fighter that we see in most urban fantasies but I still love these books and her character. Although she can be frustrating at times when she charges headlong into things without thinking, she's also an incredibly strong fighter and protects those she loves, even if she has to go to extreme lengths to do that. I want to watch the film soon to see if they did the books any justice (especially to see how Rose is in the film) - has anyone seen it already and would/wouldn't recommend it?

Those are my Top Five Badass Characters! Let me know what you think and who yours are, or link to your post or video below so I can check it out! I'm looking forward to seeing other people's lists (especially to see which characters I forgot about!).

Just in case anyone is new to this, Top Five Wednesday was created by Lainey (Gingerreadslainey on YouTube), so that people can share more of their favourite (or sometimes least favourite) books in an interesting way. She creates weekly topics for each month so Bloggers and YouTubers alike to discuss books. The group which lists the monthly topics can be found here! And if you want to see more of my previous Top Five Wednesday Blog posts, you can click here!

Book of the Month and Reading Wrap Up | January 2016

I've decided to start a new segment on my blog called 'Book of the Month', where I will list all the books I've read that month and select the one I enjoyed the most, and do a short review for it. I might also include a runner-up book if it's a lose call between two. I think this will help me remember what I loved most about the books I read each month and will make it a lot easier to choose my Top Books of 2016 at the end of the year. Let me know what you guys think!

I read some great books this month and I'm very happy with my reading of 2016 so far. I've read some fairly chunky books this month (three of them were over 600 pages), and I managed to read 11 books, so I'm still ahead of my Goodreads goal, which I'm happy about! Here are the books I read this month:

1. Before the Dawn by Lindsey Fairleigh and Lindsey Pogue ★★★.5

2. Soundless by Richelle Mead ★★★★.5

3. The Secret History by Donna Tartt ★★★★★
4. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski ★★★★.5
5. The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski ★★★★.5
6. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black ★★★★
7. Winter by Marissa Meyer ★★★★★
8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood ★★★★.75
9. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak ★★★★★
10. Duma Key by Stephen King ★★★★★

11. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin ★★★.5

Some of these books already have review written for them and to read those just click on the books above.

Winter by Marissa Meyer! (#4 Lunar Chronicles)★★★★★

**No Spoiler Review!** How could it not be Winter? This book was simply brilliant. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this book, Winter is the fourth and final book in the Lunar Chronicles series; the first in the series being Cinder. This set of books are re-tellings of different fairy tales with a sci-fi twist to them. 
I won't say much about the plot because I don't want to spoil anyone, but I will say that one of my favourite things about this book was definitely the characters development and interactions. In Cress I found Cress to be rather predictable and boring, but in this book she developed exponentially, and I loved her. Thorne also quickly became one of favourite characters and I couldn't have been rooting for these characters more. I enjoyed the previous books but this tied them all up so beautifully that it made me love them all so much more.
The entire series is spectacular and the fairytale elements were incredibly interwoven in with the story. The friendships between the male characters and female characters was just lovely; I love that there was no angst and that the female characters could actually be friends without all the jealousy and pettiness that is so often seen in YA literature. Not only this, but all eight main characters are so unbelievably unique. It's hard to write characters so that they don't blend into one another but Meyer does it seamlessly. The book also has a very realistic villain and the exploration Luna made the story so much better.

I could gush more about this book but I think that's probably enough for now! If you think you might be interested then definitely pick up Cinder and give it read; the series gets so much better as it goes on.

And this month I definitely have a runner up too, which is ... 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt ★★★★★

I'd heard a lot  about this book from different people, and especially my sister as it's one of her favourite books, so I thought it was about time I picked it up. I could not be happier that I finally got around to reading this. Donna Tartt's writing is both beautiful and detailed, and so realistic that I could image absolutely every scene and place she described. I don't really know how to describe what this book is about, as I think it's best to go into it without knowing too much about it. But I will say that it  focuses on a group of Classics students in a college in America, and their exploration into something much deeper and darker than they anticipated. The book had so much mystery throughout and it kept me hooked from very early on.  This book will linger in my memory for a long time and it's really stayed with me since I read it.  The characters were all so interesting and so human in their flaws that it made them relatable even if they weren't always likeable. I enjoyed everything about this book and I recommend this anyone, even if you've not enjoyed anything else by Donna Tartt. This book was just amazing.

That's all for my wrap-up this month! Let me know what you think of the books I've mentioned here and if you did (or didn't) enjoy them. If you did a wrap-up this month then let me know below and leave your link so I can check it out!