Review: Marrow

Marrow by Tarryn Fisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“People will ignore every warning sign when blinded by their thirst for something. It’s better to not be thirsty.”

“You have to be willing to be happy. Despite the mess of your life—just accept what’s happened, throw away your ideals, and create a new map of happiness to follow.”

“Be bold about your right to be loved.”

Marrow is real, dark and haunting. It's nice to escape into fiction and forget about the world around us, but this isn't the book for escape. It reminds you how cruel humans can be, and how many people suffer silently from their cruelty.

Margo was born and raised in the Bone, where drug dealers, meth addicts, whores and ex-convicts reside. As the daughter of an addict and a whore she somehow manages to be oddly optimistic. She befriends Judah who is wheelchair bound and the two of them make plans to leave. When a young girl from their neighborhood is murdered, Margo is determined to find the killer. The answers she finds changes her. Maybe she would have always turned out that way, or maybe it was the combination of too many terrible things happening at once. I wanted to hate what Margo became but I inwardly cheered her on. I guess that makes me a bit twisted myself.

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Review: F*ck Love

F*ck Love by Tarryn Fisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I could not put this book down! I finally had to make myself go to bed at 3:30 am which only left a few hours before I had to get up and about fifty pages remaining. As much as I loved the book and was sucked in by the storyline, I couldn't help wonder what the hell was wrong with Helena. She completely rearranges her entire life based on a dream. A dream! Who does that? She seemed a bit desperate and I felt a little sorry for her. Her best friend was such a bitch, I didn't have much pity for her even though she did deserve it. Even with the few wtf moments I experienced while reading F*ck Love, Fisher is a truly talented author and I think most people would enjoy reading her books.

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Review: The Story of Us

The Story of Us by Lesley Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I detest insta-love.. I especially dislike it when the protagonist is freakin eleven. I mean really boys and love were the last things on my mind at eleven, I definitely didn't think any of them were my soulmate. I don't even believe in soulmates now. Carnage is so cliche with it's insta-love, rock & roll singers, love triangle, etc. I think maybe the author looked up the most overused elements to typical love stories and put them all in one book. I wanted to quit this book so many times but for some reason, I stuck it out. I wish I hadn't.

                “I was eleven years old, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt I
                  was staring into the eyes of the boy I was going to love forever,”

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Review: Crooked Kingdom

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Maybe there were people who lived those lives. Maybe
this girl was one of them. But what about the rest of us?
What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible
girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns.
We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was
how you survived when you weren’t chosen, when there
was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed
you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway.”

Thank goodness this is a duology because I couldn't wait a year for a third book. Other than one glaring tragedy, Bardugo wrapped up things nicely with Crooked Kingdom, and maybe it's best to leave well enough alone. However, a spinoff with Nina would be welcome! Crooked Kingdom lived up to its predecessor and I couldn't put it down until I knew how things played out with the crew from Ketterdam. Bardugo was fantastic at keeping me on my toes, and just when I thought all hope was lost she'd turn things around. The complexity of this story, this world, and these characters comes together to make a fantastic whirlwind of a ride for the reader.

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Review: Six of Crows

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Every now and then you stumble across a book that reminds you of why you fell in love with reading in the first place. Six of Crows is one of those books. Bardugo manages in 500 pages to create a world unlike any other, filled with people who despite their criminal profession you can't help but root for. I fell in love with all of them and as I slowly learned each of their backgrounds, how they came to be the person they are, I only loved them more. Bardugo uses an alternating third person point of view so that each of the six main characters contributes their own perceptions. Though Six of Crows is set in the same universe as Bardugo's Grisha series you don't need to read it before starting this one.

"A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who has become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse."

All six of these characters are from different parts of their world, different races, and different cultures but trust me when I say that each of these characters has something of their very own that makes you admire them. With that said, Inej and Nina are my very favorites. I can't decide which I like better but for very different reasons. Inej was kidnapped as a young Suli girl and sold into a brothel. Kaz bought her indentured contract and turned her into a lethal ally known as the "the wraith". She longs for the girl she once was and the family she left behind, but she is powerful in her own right, and won't be broken again. Nina is a Grisha, beautiful and deadly but the mouth on this one is phenomenal. She's a sassy little thing that makes even the Fjerden soldier trained to kill the Grisha fall in love.

“A good time needn’t involve wine and … and flesh,” Matthias sputtered.
Nina batted her glossy lashes at him. “You wouldn’t know a good time if it sidled up to you and stuck a lollipop in your mouth.”

“It's not natural for women to fight." (Mathias)
"It's not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall,
and yet there you stand.” (Nina)

“Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns you heart.” Inej's father's words to her as a young girl.


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Review: Full Measures

Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Obviously, I'm in the minority with Full Measures. All of the reviews and overall ratings are excellent, but it just didn't do it for me. Don't get me wrong, there were a few instances dealing with the loss of Ember's father that got to me. Witnessing the anguish the family suffers when their loved one doesn't come home from war is heartbreaking. On the other hand, the protagonist is naive, and a bit annoying. Her boyfriend is a douchebag and I seriously can't deal with insta-love. Love doesn't happen in 23 pages, that's called lust. Josh and Gus are the two redeeming factors here. Josh is obviously gorgeous because no male lead is ever unattractive, but he's also super sweet without being a pushover.

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Review: Monster in His Eyes

Monster in His Eyes by J.M. Darhower
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Naz is the epitome of the alpha male and he makes me think I need a bad boy. Then I keep reading and realize why I should stay single because that's the kind of losers I'm attracted to! :) Just kidding.. kind of. lol He warned her "I'm not a good man, Karissa, and I never will be. So don't think you can fix me, or that I'll ever change, because I won't. I can't." but she chose to stay. Granted, she didn't know the full extent of his deceit, but unfortunately, she's already in. There's no going back even when she wishes she could.

Naz:
"You have to know, if this goes any further, if you ask me to stay, I'm not going to be able to let you walk away."

"I love you. Promise me you'll remember that. Good, because I'm about to fuck you like I don't"

Karissa:
"He’s a drug, an addictive one, and I’m not sure it’s a habit I can kick. All it took was one hit. One strong, euphoric hit and I was hooked."

"He fucks me like he means it, like he needs it, like being inside of me is more important than anything inside of him, and every cell in my body calls out to him, craving more of it."


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Review: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm obviously in the minority with this one. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is captivating from the very beginning and I didn't want to put it down. The writing and the raw emotion is five-star quality. Even with all of that I still couldn't love it because of the content.

Wavy is deeply damaged from her life with two abusive drug dealers/addicts as parents. The things she's witnessed in her short time on earth leave no question as to why she is the way she is. When she meets Kellen (who is somewhat slow but he's still a grown man) he takes care of her in a way her parents never have. The two of them develop an unlikely friendship that would never be allowed outside of this toxic family. As disturbing as I found their relationship, I was also glad that Wavy finally had someone who was looking out for her best interests. That inner conflict made it hard for me to determine how I felt about the book in general. As she gets older their relationship naturally progresses and it's that turning point that happens a little too soon that prevents me from absolutely loving this book.

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