Nil Unlocked Review

Alright so I won Lynne Matson's Nil Unlocked in a Goodreads giveaway which I never thought would happen but was awesome. It was really exciting because it is the sequel to Nil, a book I read during the summer and actually really enjoyed. Nil Unlocked is from the point of view of a different set of characters than the first book so technically you don't have to read Nil, but I strongly suggest it. The setting and characters will make a lot more sense.

Nil Unlocked is from the joint point of view of Rives, a character from the first book, and Skye, a new character. Nil is an island where mysterious gates take only teenagers to. They have a year to find a gate back or they die. When Skye's uncle was young, he ended up on Nil and wrote in a journal about it upon his return, until he died. While everybody thinks he was delusional, Skye's father believed him and dedicated his life to finding Nil and rescuing the kids. Skye is trained by her father to essentially be a survivalist and is roped into her father's adventure. Rives is the leader on the island and is trying to keep the City together and alive. When they come together they must race to save everybody and uncover Nil's secrets.

I really liked this sequel, I thought it was extremely well done. While I loved the first book, it was more focused on the romance and the two main characters. This book made Nil the main character. It is dark and mysterious and I was unable to put the book down multiple times. The island was a beautiful, but deadly place. I loved this balance. Especially because throughout the book there was such an emphasis on keeping the balance. I thought that was an awesome continued theme. Skye was an awesome new character because it does show that some people did believe in this island. I thought it answered so many questions from the first book in this way. It goes more into what Nil is and how it came to be. However, I was also left with more questions! I seriously hope there will be another book because I need to know why something happened and what it means! I can't even say what my question is because it's at the very end of the book!!!! Sometimes I thought that the relationships moved a little fast, especially in the first book, but that is kind of the point. They have a year on this island or they die. They have to seize each day and have "no regrets".

The one thing that kind of bothered me though was that there were these occasional time skips that had stuff happen within them. For example, one character died in a time skip. I just wanted more detail I guess. Maybe I just didn't want to miss anything about this book, I wanted to read each part. That's probably why I want a sequel so badly!!!

Nil Unlocked comes out May 12 and I will definitely be buying a copy so you should too! You should also read Nil though because it's awesome too!

Awesome Bookstore!!!!

This weekend I was in Washington DC visiting my older sister and we went to this amazing bookstore called Capitol Hill Books. Outside the store they have a table that is free books and then it has three levels just filled with books, even the bathroom had shelves in it! The basement was a little confining though because the ceiling is really low and the shelves are pretty close together, but I had to go because that was where Outlander was! Every shelf was packed with books it was incredible, there were also cards in some of the books with funny little comments on them.

Here are some photos I took while there:

Here was a shelf in the bathroom:

SOKY Book Fest Haul!

While some of these I brought with me to Kentucky last week, this was what I had to haul back home! Needless to say, my bag was quite heavy...

The Girl at Midnight Review

Melissa Grey's The Girl at Midnight is about a human girl adopted by the Avicen, a secret magical race that has feathers for hair. Echo is a thief and when she finds a map hinting at the existence of the Firebird, which is prophesized to end the war against the Drakharin, she sets out on a journey. Old friends and new friends will collide in dangerous ways, as Echo sets out to steal the most important thing yet.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was very entertaining and it didn't take me long to read it. However, it also strongly reminded me of Daughter of Smoke & Bone and The Mortal Instruments at times. There were some very similar themes I noticed between them and I saw on Goodreads that some other people who reviewed the book could see the same similarities. I also didn't really like Daughter of Smoke & Bone though, so I thought The Girl at Midnight did some things better. Putting the similarities aside, here is what I enjoyed about this book.

Echo is a very loyal character and I definitely saw in her something everybody wants, the desire to belong. Since she is human, a lot of the Avicen refuse to accept Echo. This causes Echo to want to prove that she does belong and sets her on a quest that questions everything she thought she believed. Echo's best friend, Ivy, is an Avicen. I think she might be my favorite character because she is a healer and is probably the most kind person in the book. I don't remember the exact quote but she even said the world needed no more evil which is why she is so kind. I just wanted to protect her from anything and everything. I also really loved the development of her relationship with one character which I hope continues to grow.

The Avicen are in a ceasefire with the Drakharin, but both sides want to finish the war. In the book you can see from both sides' perspectives, which was awesome as you can see the good and evil in each side. I also saw some character development into the dark side, which I really hope is addressed more in the sequel, as I hate when main characters are still made out to be the perfect protagonist (The Vampire Diaries).

Random thing I couldn't visualize that annoyed me was how the Avicen had their feathers... At times I pictured the feathers looking like dreadlocks, but I think they're also on their faces and hands? I had no idea how to picture this. It was easier to picture the Drakharin cause they have scales, but I just could not for the life of me figure out the feather placements.

The Girl at Midnight officially comes out on April 28th. I enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the sequel to see if it branches away from Daughter of Smoke & Bone and The Mortal Instrument themes.

Currently Reading

Coming back from Kentucky I have started reading an ARC of Melissa Grey's The Girl at Midnight. I've heard a lot of people mentioning this book, so I'm excited to find out if this is going to be one of the next really popular books.

Rites of Passage Review

Sam McKenna can't turn this dare down because it's the last one her brother gave to her before he died. She's to join the Denmark Military Academy, as it's the first year girls are allowed to enroll. Except, the boys aren't too happy about their traditions being "ruined". Even though Sam is better than the majority of the boys, some of the boys will do anything to get her to leave. While trying to make her military father proud and complete her brother's dare, nearly everybody is against her.

Joy N. Hensley's Rites of Passage was so good! It's funny how annoyed I got with Defiance about the romance and then I read this book where the romance is definitely not the main focus. Instead, the characters really have their priorities straightened out. Sam, or Mac as she's mainly called, is an extremely strong willed person. I don't have half of her will power. I even started crying a couple times just from reading what she was put through. I loved her and Drill so much! There are some seriously misogynistic guys in this book though. It made me really mad and want to join the military to prove them all wrong even. I was talking to my mom about the book too and apparently something similar actually happened when a military school turned co-ed and the girls suffered from brutal hazing.

I loved Mac too because it ends up not being all about the dare, she also becomes motivated by knowing she has to show the next year's girls that they can make it through. She wants to succeed for future generations. I seriously loved this about her. She ended up doing it for herself instead of just for her dad and brother, which I thought was really empowering.

Like all books, there were some flaws. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me and the romance was left a little hanging, but part of me liked how it was done. I don't want to spoil the ending though so I don't think I can say what I liked about it. The romance was more realistic than a lot of YA books in my opinion, is what I will say.

This book really pumped me up to want to do a lot of push ups and obstacle courses. However, I probably won't end up in the military...

Twitter!

I just created a twitter! My username is @AdarlanBooks and I'll probably be tweeting when I post a new review or pictures when I go to Kentucky this weekend! It'd mean a lot for you guys to follow me!

Defiance Review

Sorry for the long review! I started rambling...

C.J. Redwine's Defiance takes place in a post apocalyptic world where the Cursed One, a monstrous being, has driven all the world's survivors into walled cities. The Commander took charge and all of the women are trained to be docile creatures, not allowed to do anything. Except, Rachel was trained by her father, a tracker, to fight and survive. When Rachel's father goes missing and announced dead, Logan, the boy she confessed her love to and was turned down, is assigned as her protector. Logan and Rachel must go through the brutal Wasteland trying to find her father, they discover there is a lot more going on than what there seems to be.

Alright so first of all, the cover... I don't think it's a very good cover but I also think she looks really cool in it. She has a truly awesome cape and armband thing. I was actually really pleasantly surprised about this book. I didn't have any expectations for it, so I was surprised with how dark it actually ended up being. I really liked Rachel because so many terrible and awful things are happening to her, but she fights so hard to make it through. I could see her emotionally breaking and I'm curious as to if she'll have ptsd or something in the next book. She really kicked butt though and I thought she was awesome.

I have a problem with a lot of books though, and that's when the romance moves to darn quickly! So while this is a spoiler, I think we've all read enough YA books that we know they will get together. They were also confessing their love to each other. I think this book was in the span of like 2-3 weeks or so. I'm a strong believer in that love does not work that quickly. It bugs me when in every single YA book, they confess their love within two weeks of knowing each other. Yes, Rachel and Logan have known each other for years, but they also did not truly know each other and talk until the events in this book. While I liked both characters and I thought they could have a romance, I found myself rolling my eyes at their dramatic love realizations. I like a slow burn, one that's built up and is truly made through friendship and trust.

I've previously said that Sarah J. Maas is one of my favorite authors and she does a really good slow build for romance/friendships. In Heir of Fire, which is my all-time favorite book, Rowan and Celaena are a friendship that's built slowly and then they eventually learn to trust each other with everything. I think they should end up together because he knows everything about her and still trusts her. I could talk about this book and the relationships in it, but I won't cause maybe I'll do an Heir of Fire book talk when I reread it (which I'm planning to do soon) and this review is really long now! Oops!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book, but I just keep seeing YA books move so quickly on love and it bugs me so much!

Currently Reading and SOKY

I am currently reading C.J. Redwing's Defiance in preparation for the Southern Kentucky Book Fest, which I will be attending with my friend Sasha! Super excited to go, so I'm trying to read as many books as possible for it. Hopefully, that means a lot more reviews in the next week!

Bookshelves and Reading Party

Sitting in my friend Sasha's bedroom with some friends and we are all just reading together. It's best when you have these kinds of friends! Also, this is only part of Sasha's bookshelf... I am so jealous of it.

A Monster Calls Review

At 12:07 a monster calls Conor's name. However, instead of the monster from his nightmare, this monster is an ancient being. As Conor's mother is going through treatments, this monster wants what Conor can't give, the truth.

I probably made that summary overly dramatic, but I'm never sure on what to put in summaries. Anyways, I absolutely loved A Monster Calls. I sobbed my eyes out and it was extremely painful, but I thought it was beautiful. The back of my copy described it as "an extraordinary novel of love, loss and hope." I most definitely found this to be quite true. Throughout it I wanted to scream at bullies and then hug my mom. I don't even know if I can describe the characters and what I liked about them. I just feel really speechless and emotional right now. Since finishing the book about a half hour ago, I've cried three different times and then when describing it to my mom, I started to cry again. I definitely found it to be a quick read, but still very profound. Ugh I'm having so many feelings about this book right now. You should all read it.

There's also a movie being made that is set to be released in 2016 and I can't wait but I don't know how I will get through it.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns Series Review

Every hundred years, a chosen person is born with a Godstone. Elisa is one of these chosen. Except, she is a failure of a princess and chosen. Godstones are widely desired and many would kill her and rip it out of her or would love to be able to control her. Thus, she is secretly married to a king whose kingdom is in dire need of some saving. She's also desired by revolutionaries and a mysterious magical and savage enemy. Elisa must fight for her life and love, all while knowing most of the chosen die very young.

So that's mainly a summary for the first book, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, the second is called The Crown of Embers and the third is called The Bitter Kingdom. I figured I could do a series review as I just finished the last two books! I read the first a while ago and took the last two to California with me so I could finally finish the series. It's one of my friends favorite series and she's been pushing me for forever to finish, so I promised her I would during Spring Break.

I really enjoyed these books. It's extremely female empowering and the main character isn't perfectly thin and beautiful. She actually starts off quite overweight and she's hispanic! Not many YA books have overweight and hispanic main characters. It is high fantasy and I thought the world building was great, I could definitely picture each country by the third book. However, despite all of these positive aspects of the series, it's not one of my favorites. I definitely really liked them, they stood out, and I gave them all five stars on Goodreads, but I also found the third a little anticlimactic. I don't know if that was just me though. The first is definitely really different though compared to most YA books, which I really liked. Elisa is really strong, but can be a little annoyingly stubborn at times. However, I also really admire her and everything she went through (which was a lot!). There are an incredible amount of strong female characters. There is also a character who only has one eye but is still completely able to kick butt! Oh great character development as well!

I'm really happy I finished the series, but it's just not one of my favorites unfortunately. However, I still say you should all read it cause it's really unique and empowering! I feel like I should love this series so much, but I'm not sure why I don't.

Amazing Book Store

A couple of years ago we discovered this beautiful used bookstore in California and now we go whenever we're out here. The shelves are ginormous and are all completely filled. I purchased As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain (it's a novella about Satan and it's awesome). Here are a few pictures of the store!

(This was just the science fiction/fantasy room)