The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 388

Type: #1 in The Wrath and the Dawn duology

Published: May 2015

My Rating: 5/5 

Synopsis: Khorasan is ruled by an 18 year old boy-King Khalid who marries a girl every night only to murder her the very next day. When 16 year old Shahrzad's closest friend falls to prey to the brutal King, she volunteers to be his next wife with a thirst for revenge. Each dawn may very well be her last. 

Review: 

Va-va-voom! This book was everything that I had been aching for. It was pure bliss. 

To further explain: The Wrath and the Dawn is a very unique tale following two very interesting and entertaining characters. Ahdieh has really made this truly amazing. With a world set in an imagined Arabia, the setting itself proves to be phenomenal not to mention the want to know why Khalid kills girls for no reason at all. The entire idea is one to hook the reader and reel them in. I know I was. ;)

Shahrzad proved to be a very sarcastic, witty and clever character. She is strong, bold and not afraid to do the most daring of tasks. This makes her a very fun character. Someone you want to continue reading about. 

Khalid, on the other hand, is much more mysterious and confusing. His feelings aren't translated well because of the stony mask that is constantly his face. He makes a good opposite to Shahrzad's personality. Khalid is menacing, with a hard demeanor. He has been through a lot at a very young age and that makes him very vulnerable on the inside. By the way, my father's name is Khalid too and it was SO WEIRD reading a book splattered with his name all over. 

The book has a very fascinating element of magic that is as of now very unclear but I trust that it will be playing a major role in the development of the story. 

Many witty side characters doubled the fun of reading the story. Jalal was truly a fond character. He cares much for the King and his witty sense of humor never grows old. Apart from him, Despina, Shahrzad's hand-maiden is endearing too. She is the only feminine support that Shahrzad receives and it is extremely refreshing to see the two of them together. 

The ending ended at a major cliff hanger so I really can't wait for the next installment to come out.

Overall: 

Shift all of the books that you wanna read next aside and pick this one up. You will not regret it. With a story this alluring and the characters this witty, you will have no trouble enjoying this book to smithereens. 

One Lovely Blog Award

Guuuuuyyyys! Long time, no see. It's my fault, I understand that fully. I've just not been in a mood to sit and type down all the things I want to say. You could say I've been in a bit of a blogging slump. So yeah, sorry. But I'm sorrier for not having done this post for a very long long time. Sania @ GrapeFruitBooks nominated me to do this, unfortunately, I failed to do it. So I'm extremely apologetic. Forgive me.

Rules:

• You must thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
• You must list the rules and display the award.
• You must add 7 facts about yourself. 
• You must nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on one of their posts to let them know they have been nominated.

7 Facts About Moi: 

1. There was a point in my life when I used to hate Harry Potter and Hunger Games. Don't ask me why. But I of course, love them now. 

2. I hate insects and reptiles. 

3. I am a big time procrastinator. I'm procrastinating right now. I need to study. Shit. 

4. I am a very out of sight, out of mind kind of person. 

5. I LOVE bitter orange juice. 

6. I also love dark chocolate. A lot. 

7. I love arguing and arguments. They're my favorite things. 

So there you have it! 7 facts about me. Comment down a fact about YOU and let me know if you share a fact with me. Also, I'm so sorry, but I won't be nominating anyone for this award. But. If you'd like to do it, go ahead. 

Finding Audrey by Sohphie Kinsella

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Anxiety Disorder, Family
Pages: 288
Type: Standalone
Published: June 2015
My Rating: 3.5
Synopsis: An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.
My Review: 

This was the first ever book I read for my goodreads book club so I think this book will always have a special place in my heart. We read this book for September and I had a lot of fun!

Anyways, for the book itself.

I had a good time reading it. I was fairly unsure about what to expect since Sophie Kinsella has only ever written adult novels. I love those, no doubt, but what about YA? With these thoughts I went in and I have to say I wasn't very disappointed.

Kinsella used the same humor that she has always used. Fun and quirky. I liked the characters that she created since they were all unique in their own way. You can distinguish between them quite easily.

For example, you'd think that two gamers would be pretty much the same character wise. Like, Frank and Linus but no, they were poles apart. They were very different; Frank is kinda harsh while Linus is softer. Frank seems kinda immature but Linus seems very mature.

I did like who Audrey was in the story. She definitely grew a lot in the whole duration of the novel and I really appreciate that. I did think she was kinda annoying at times though. She seemed very selfish but she knew that she was selfish and she tried to correct it and that's awesome. I think that self-realization is very important in a person's growth and it played an overall major role not just in Audrey's life, but in her entire family's.

Now, for the things that I didn't particularly enjoy:

The overall idea that I think radiates from the book is confusion. I don't think Kinsella really knew what she was going to write about. The story was quite poorly developed because while reading I really didn't think that Kinsella knew the back story herself.

It seems like she had a big bomb planned and she was progressing towards it but she didn't really know what the bomb was yet. And then when the time came to reveal the big secret, she just didn't know what could fit and be dramatic enough for the story.

So the ending was obviously very unsatisfying. I was very meh about it.

Apart from this, I also felt that Kinsella really didn't have a lot to add to Audrey's situation so she kept throwing in Frank and the situation he and their mom were in. This topic I'm pretty sure went on for at least a quarter of the book. The story started with Frank and his problem and it ended with Frank to some extent.

It is extremely annoying as I'm here to read about Audrey, not about how Frank's computer is going to be thrown out of the window. Like, I get that he is comic relief, but the situation never really needed all that comic relief.


So yeah, overall, I did enjoy the book but these problems definitely stood out to me. I liked it, but I definitely don't think that this is Kinsella's best work. Read it if you would like a novel that is fluffy, but is potentially a sad story.