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Sunday, December 20

Best Books Of 2015

December 20, 2015 0 Comments

2015 is almost at an end, so today I am going to walk you through my 5 favourite books I read this year. Not all of these books were released this year, these are just the books I picked to read this year that I enjoyed most. I didn't describe the actual stories of the books, so you don't have to be afraid of spoilers. 

#5 Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
It took me literally forever to pick a top 5 book, but I ended up going for Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi, the final book in the Shatter Me trilogy. I loved the entire trilogy, but Ignite Me was by far my favourite, mostly because Warnette, but let's not start with how much I ship them together. Overall the story line in this book was great, although I did think the ending was very open, like Tahereh might write a fourth book after this (which I wouldn't mind at all).

#4 City Of Glass by Cassandra Clare
At the moment I am still making my way through the Mortal Instruments (currently reading City Of Lost Souls). I don't know if this book will stay my favourite, because I heard City Of Heavenly Fire is the best one, but at the moment I am writing this blogpost, this book is my favourite. 
I loved that we spent the entire book in Alicante, Idris. It was so nice to see the homeland of the Shadowhunters and all the uses there. One of my favourite characters, Sebastian, was also introduced in this book. I know everybody thinks he is the biggest asshole there is, but I always fall for the bad characters. So much happened in this book. I won't be going into spoilers, but it was amazing and I was hooked from the start till the end.

#3 A Clash Of Kings by George R R Martin
The longest (1009 pages) and one of the best books I read this year was A Clash Of Kings by George R R Martin, the second book in the Song Of Ice And Fire trilogy. I can't even begin to explain how amazing these books are. For me it was a very slow read, but it was worth every second. The world and characters George created were amazing as always and he just keeps on surprising me. Of course, I already knew what was going to happen, since I have watched all the seasons of the TV show about five times now, but so many things are left out. That's why everybody who loves reading and Game Of Thrones should definitely pick up these books, the tv show is amazing, but the books are even better and far more detailed. 
The only thing I dislike about the Song Of Ice And Fire books is that when you read a chapter by a certain character, it takes about 100 pages till you return to that character. The story line and all the events that happen make up for that so well, though. 

#2 A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas
If you have been following this blog or my Tumblr for a while, the next two books won't be a surprise. I read A Court Of Thorns And Roses right when it came out in May, and as always, Sarah did not disappoint me. She always amazes me with the worlds she builds and the characters she creates. I loved the story in this book. I didn't know what to think about a fairy tale retelling, because I had never read one before, but she used the Beauty and the Beast story so beautifully and she added so many of her own personal things. This is how she, to me, kept the book original. As always, I also loved the cast of character she created and how they developed throughout the story. 

#1 Queen Of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
My number one, is obviously my most anticipated book of 2015: Queen Of Shadows by Sarah J Maas, the fourth book in the Throne Of Glass series. I have already talked about this book so many times on this blog and I am going to again.
I have heard some people say this book was boring and slow, which I didn't think was the case AT ALL. All the events I thought were going to happen throughout the three last books (including Queen Of Shadows) happened in this novel alone. Right from the start I was hooked on the story and every second I could not spend reading I was thinking about it. I even thought about skipping school so I could continue (which I kinda did...). 
SPOILERS
ROWAN AND AELIN, ROWAN AND AELIN, ROWAN AND AELIN, ROWAN AND AELIN, ROWAN AND AELIN. I can't.

~ Amber
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Tuesday, December 15

Top 5 Tuesday's: Books You Have Been Meaning To Read Forever

December 15, 2015 0 Comments


As every Tuesday (except for a few because we are horrible bloggers) we are back with a Top 5 Tuesday's. This week we chose for the subject ''Books or series we have been meaning to read forever'', because we have quite a lot. 

Amber's #5
The fifth series I have been dying to read forever and actually already own the first two books of, is the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. These are fairytale retellings, but with a very special twist. A deadly plague threathens the world and the lunar people watch from space, waiting to make their move. Cinder, the main character in this book is a cyborg. She's a lower citizen with a mysterious past, but as she meets the charming Prince Kai, she finds herself in an intergalactic struggle.
I have never read a sci-fi book before and usually don't really like movies or books in this genre, but this concept sounds so interesting and I love fairy tale retellings, so I really have to read this.



Shania's #5
Okay, I got this book for Christmas last year, so that literally means I got it a year ago, The Mortal Instrument: City of Bones. And I just never came down to it. Then Amber started the series not so long ago and I realized that I have been waiting way to long. I made it into the first quarter of the book but put it down for some reason...

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?



Amber's #4
The fourth series I have been meaning to read literally forever, is the Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes. In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has been gone for a very long time and peace has reigned ever since, but a deadly threat is coming. As the three Kings try to grapple power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed. 
I have heard that this series is basically the young adult version of Game Of Thrones, and that is my favourite show, so I really want to read this series, especially with the fourth book, Frozen Tides, releasing today.



Shania's #4
One of Amber's recommendations, Throne Of Glass. And I seriously love the book. I have read the first one like halfway through, but I just have a thing for replacing books with other books. So, I seriously need to sit my ass down and read through this book, so I can both make Amber a really happy fangirl and treat myself with some good fantasy.

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.



Amber's #3
The third series I really need to read are the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I actually started reading this book and got to page 50 or something, but I was in a massive reading slump at the time and this wasn't the good book to read, since it's pretty long and complicated. 
In the first book, The Name Of The Wind, we look back at the tale of Kvothe, told by himself after it all happened. Kvothe is a young man gifted with magic, who grows to be the most dangerous and notorious wizard of the whole world.The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.



Shania's #3
Odd Thomas, okay don't judge me but I fell in love with the movie and wanted to read the books ever since. I know that Odd Thomas comes with many. I don't know how many so far. I don't even know if there are still books coming out. But there is one thing I know for sure, I WANT TO READ THESE BOOKS SO BADLY.

"The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn.



Amber's #2
The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is yet another series I really need to read...I recently started watching the show and I love it so much, so of course, I have to read the books as well. Although I already wanted to read the books before I started watching the show. 
In Outlander, we follow main protagonist Claire Randall as she accidentally travels back in time from 1945 to 1743. She is thrown in the middle of the Scottish rebellion against the English. Here she faces many treats, such as her husbands ancestor who turns out to be a sadistic bastard, but also meets charming new people, Jamie Fraser for example. She desperately tries to get back to her own time, but when she finally has the chance, does she still want to?



Shania's #2
The Lorien Legacies is yet another series I have badly set my mind upon. Too bad for me, cuz I'm too broke to buy the books. It's also not as popular is books like Divergent and The Hunger Games which I am really fond of. I prefer the lesser known books. But when I say, I Am Number Four, everyone probably knows what I am talking about. Anyway, Six is a babe, just saying.

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books--but we are real.



Amber's #1
Okay so here comes the shame: I have never read the Harry Potter books. Yes, I haven't. I want to though, please don't hate on me! There were just a lot of books I wanted to read a lot more...But I will say this: in 2016, I WILL read Harry Potter, I will!



Shania's #1
I HAVE BEEN DYING TO READ THE LORD OF THE RINGS. NUF SAID!
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Thursday, December 10

Let's Talk | Writing A Book

December 10, 2015 2 Comments

A year ago, my friend Shania and I decided to start writing a book. We chose to start this project, because we have always loved reading and felt the urge to write what we had never read before. During this process, I came across some things I felt that were really special to me, and I would like to share this with everyone. Of course, every author’s experience writing a book is different.


The Beginning
The idea we first came up with was completely different from the actual story we are writing. First, we wanted to write a book in the horror genre, our idea was to let the cast of characters we came up with experience terrible things. After writing the first four chapters, we realized that the idea we came up with was not very original and that we wouldn’t enjoy writing this. Another reason why we decided to change up the idea was that we felt really connected to our characters and didn’t want them to experience horrible fates.

Shania and I sat down and did some brainstorming. After hours of thinking, went back to the genre we both love the most: fantasy.  This was when the story started to evolve rapidly. We kept coming up with good ideas for future events and soon the entire book and a set up. We were incredibly excited due to the fact that we had overcome the hurdle of creating a better story line. This made us so enthusiastic that we directly started to write everything down


Creating Aessolyn and its citizen
When we got to chapter 8, we came across another problem: the World. This would be the chapter our beloved characters finally got to the world we had been longing to write about. Soon we realized that we hadn’t spent much time on World building, so before continuing we had to develop our world further.

And so we sat down again and spent days on world building. We made a map to help us visualize it better and came up with cities and towns for our characters to travel to. We also dove further into the history of the great families of Aessolyn (our world) and events that happened to these families in the past that brought them to where they are now. Besides all of this, we also worked on the history of our world: why is the King like he is now and how did he get the powers he has?

It also seemed fun for us to throw in some special days for the citizen of Aessolyn to celebrate. This is when we developed the Elves and their traditions further. The biggest question we came across was: How do the Elves get their immortality? After some research, we still didn’t quite understand how exactly Elves aged, because they aren’t all babies, so they do age, but they are immortal. This raised a lot of questions for us so we decided to come up with our own idea: Elves earn immortality by doing something truly good, because they mean it. We came up with the story of Gaeadir and Luthriel, the first Elven King and Queen, who united the different races of Elves as one. Their beloved Queen was taken by a filthy mundane King and tortured to death. After the tragic of losing his mate, Gaeadir took his own life. His spirit now blesses every Elf who does something good and brave from the heart with the gift of immortality.

After finishing the Wold building and the creating of more characters, we could finally continue on with our story. More and more ideas were coming out of us and we started to make a set up for what we wanted to happen in the second book, because there is no way the entire story is going to fit in one novel.


The weirdest part
When we weren’t writing, I actually found myself wondering what was going to happen next in the book and wanted to continue reading. This was the weirdest part for me, because Shania and I were the ones actually deciding what was going to happen next. This was when I realized, that even though we made a big setup for the book, the smaller details and events in the stories were actually not decided by us, the writers, but by the characters in the book. This is their story, we only write it down. I don’t even know if this makes sense, but this is the way I experienced it.

It’s very strange that you create a cast of characters that, for you, actually come to life. We don’t think about what we want to happen next, we write down what our characters would do. It’s bizarre that we know these fictional characters so well that we know the decisions they would make with all their different personalities, without needing us to decide what happens next. To me, this is the most beautiful part about writing.


The Writing Block
We recently came across something every author experiences: A writing block. Currently, we are in the middle of a massive battle between the Dark Elves and the Humans that we have been working towards for a while and we have no idea how to wrap it up. Because of this, I noticed that we started writing less every day and when we had time to write in class or at home, we were doing anything but write. I think the best thing to do in this case is just leave your story alone for a while, you will eventually find yourself wanting to write again.

During this break from writing I came up with an idea I really liked for a different book and shared this with Shania. She was just as excited as I was and we started the setup for the story. Since we learned a lot from the process of writing The Nameless, we immediately started with creating a well structured cast of characters and did the World building before we actually started the story. This book is still in very early stage and we only wrote the Prologue so far, but we are just as excited about this book as we were about The Nameless.
Update: We have BEAT our writing block and are back to writing every day again! :)

While we were working on the setup of this new book, we also started to get new ideas for our first book and this is how we beat our writing block. I don’t know how many and what kind of problems we are going to face in the future, but the most important part I learned about this whole experience: Never give up on your story.



 Editing and the final chapters
Our story is now 108.000 words long and we are about to write the final chapters, the epic finale of this first novel. It's so strange to me, finishing this project we have been working on for almost a year now. I have grown so fond of the characters we created and all I want is for the world to experience their journey. We have already made a set up for the second book, since there is no way we can fit the tale we want to tell the world into one novel.
Besides the writing, editing is also a huge part of an authors work. I have spend the past week editing what we have written so far and already added about 5000 words to the story. You come past so many stupid mistakes or bad grammar when rereading your first draft and sometimes I find myself thinking: did we really write this shit? Luckily editing only makes it better, even though it's a lot of work and a huge pain in the ass. 

When we finish the first novel and the editing, we're off finding a literary agent and a publisher who wants to give us the opportunity sharing our work with all the readers out there. It's everything I've ever dreamt of.

Check the book here! :)   
Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/41792207-the-nameless
Fiction Press: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3265164/1/The-Nameless

 ~ Amber
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Wednesday, December 9

Most Anticipated Books Of 2016

December 09, 2015 0 Comments


What it's December already?! 2015 went by so incredibly fast. The best thing about a new year, is of course new book! Today I will share all my most anticipated books with you, Make sure to share your most anticipated books of 2016 in the comments!





Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (January 5)

 On a certain night, prodigy Etta Spencer is trust into an unknown world by an unknown stranger. One thing is certain: Ella didn't go miles, but years from home and she has inherited a legacy she knows nothing about...Until now. Nicholas Carter is happily living on the sea, free from the powerful family Ironwoods. Until an unknown passenger comes onto his ship and the Ironwoods claim there is a stolen object of great value that only his strange passenger can find. In order to protect her, he has to make sure she finds it and returns the object, whether she likes it or not. 
The two of them start a journey across centuries and continents, while trying to find clues left by the traveler who is willing to do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods hands. As the two get closer to the truth and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta from Nicholas and from her path home.

 Goodreads Link

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (January 5)

In a land devided in three empires, some people are born with the gift of witchery, a magical skill that sets them apart from others. In the Witchlands, there are as many witch types as ways to get in trouble.
Safiya is a truthwitch, which means she is able to tell truth from lie. It's a powerful sort of magic and many others would kill to have her on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safiya was born. She must keep het gift hidden to not be used as a weapon in the tensions between empires.
Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see invisible ties that bind and entangle lives around her. Her friendship with Safi has taken her from being an outcast, to going on an epic adventure. Both the girls just want to be free and live their lives the way they want to, but war is coming.


 Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard (February 9)
Mare Barrow has red blood flowing through her veins, which means that she is not supposed to have powers like the silver blooded, but she has. Mare was born with the power to control lightning and it has turned her into a weapon the royal court tries to control.
The former crown prince and Mare manage to escape their public executions and flee to the place where the rebels hide. Mare now sets out on a journey to find more Red and Silver rebels to join their cause against the crown. King Maven is on her heels though, still trying to find her. 
On her path she finds herself struggling with not turning into the monster she is trying to defeat herself. 

 Goodreads Link

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (March 8)


In Lady Midnight we have yet again returned to the Shadowhunters world, this time following a Shadowhunter from the Los Angeles Institute, Emma. It has been five years since the events of the Mortal Instruments and Emma Carstairs has lost her parents. She has now made it her goal in life to find out what it was that killed her parents and seek revenge. 
Emma is raised with the Blackthorn family and is paired with her best friend Julian Blackthorn for Parabatai. A series of murders in the city catch her attention, they seem to be having the same death as her parents. Emma wonders if the murdered might be the same person. The Shadowhunters of the Institute have to race against time to catch the killers and at the same time, Emma finds herself falling in love with the one person is absolutely forbidden to love according to Shadowhunter law. Emma must now learn to trust her head and heart as she investigates the plot that stretches from the warlock nightclubs to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica.

 Goodreads Link
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (April 26)

 This is the last book in the Raven Cycle and after waiting literally forever, we will finally find our how the story of Blue and her boys ends. All her life, all Blue has been warned that if she ever kisses her true love, she will kill him. It wasn't a big problem for Blue, she didn't believe in love. Now that she is on a quest to find the ancient King Glendower with her Raven Boys, she is not so sure anymore. 

 Goodreads Link


 A Court Of Mist And Fury by Sarah J Maas (May 3)
Feyre has survived her impossible mission Under The Mountain and freed everybody from Amarantha's clutches. She now had the powers of a High Fae, but her heart will always remain human and it cannot forget the terrible deeds she had to perform in order to save Tamlin's people.
She also hasn't forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, the High Lord of the Night Court: He would heal her arm if she would live with him at the Night Court one week every month. Feyre is thrown into a web of politics, passion and amazing power, while a greater evil looms over the world. She might be the key to stopping it, but only if she learns to control her gifts that came with her new High Fae body.

 Goodreads Link
Throne Of Glass #5 by Sarah J Maas (September)
We don't know anything about the fifth installment in the Throne Of Glass series yet, but it is already my most anticipated book of the year. There isn't a summary either, but this is what I will be expecting from this book: Now that Aelin and her gang arrived home, she is going to take back her throne and do her duty as a Queen. In the mean time the threat of the Perrington with the Valg King inside of him is becoming bigger and bigger, and more Vlag are let into the world.

As you might already know: Rowan and Aelin is my biggest ship ever and I hope their relationship developes further. Sarah already said Aelin's endgame is revealed in Queen Of Shadows, so she SHOULD en up with Rowan, if what Sarah said is true. I hope so.
I also hope for a Manon and Aelin reunion, I loved the scene between those two in Queen Of Shadows, even though it wasn't very pleasant for either of them.

 Goodreads Link
Magnus Chase And The Hammer Of Thor (October 4)
The second book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series doesn't have a cover or summary either, and I honestly have NO idea where Rick will go with this. I do hope we get to see more of Loki in this book, because I always loved Loki and I just need more of him. I actually loved the entire cast of characters in this book, not only Magnus but also the side characters like Samirah, Blitz and Hearth. 
Goodreads Link

 Ever The Hunted by Erin Summerill (December 27)


This is actually a book that comes out at the end of 2015, but I still really wanted to include it in this list, because it sounds like a book I highly enjoy. 

Seventeen year old Britta spends her days in the woods, tracking criminals with her dad, a famous bounty hunter. Her life goes well, until her father is murdered. Britta has no rights to her fathers lands or inheritance and seeks the place where she feels most safe: the woods. When she is caught poaching by the royal guards, instead of being sentenced to death, she is offered a choice: Her life in exchange for her father's killer.The choice isn't easy, though. The boy who supposedly killed her father was his former apprentice and Britta's ex-lover. 
Britta crosses kingdoms on a dangerous quest, facing dark magic and insane Kings to find the real killer of her father. What Britta doesn't know, though, is that she is more powerful than she knows herself, which makes her so much more dangerous.


Goodreads Link



 The Winds Of Winter by George R R Martin (???)
The Winds Of Winter, here we go again: Will it be released next year? I read an article that said George wants to release it before season 6 of Game Of Thrones comes out, but I have no idea if it's true of not. It might just take him 7 years to write this again, with this series you never know. 
(SPOILERS) 
The thing I want to find out the most is whether Jon Snow is alive or not, because that season finale literally wrecked me, I cried for 45 minutes straight just because I couldn't believe he'd kill Jon. I believe the theory that Melisandre will resurrect him. 
Speaking about theories, I can't wait to see whether or no the R+L=J theory is correct, I really hope it is!

 Goodreads Link

~ Amber
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