gracielleberry's reviews
254 reviews

Initially intrigued by the beautiful cover of Daughter of Smoke & Bone, I flipped it open and was greeted by this:

"Once upon a time,
an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well."

I flipped and flipped still, curious as to how "it did not end well", and soon, I was captivated.

That was two years ago.

Then a month ago, there I was, sifting through my Kindle when I spotted Dreams of Gods & Monsters. After reading just a few pages did I start mentally beating myself up for not reading the final book sooner. Not only were some of the details already sketchy, but I was reminded of how I love Laini Taylor's style of writing. And how I missed it.

Eretz. Earth. All.
Karou. Akiva. Liraz. Ziri.
Chimaera. Misbegotten.
Dominion. Stelian. Faerer.
I loved everything about it. It has its ups and downs but I happily - and even unwillingly at times - rode through all of them. The ride was well worth it and I hope it won't be the last.

Laini Taylor, you amazing person, you. I don't know how you envisioned, created, and penned a trilogy as epic and magical as this one, but you did. Thank the godstars you did.

Aaahh, my heart's a mess and in a flutter; I just finished Blood of Olympus.

Ten books. Ten indescribable books with first the Greeks and then the Romans. Rick Riordan became my second favorite author because ever since Harry Potter, no other author has taken me to such an adventure. Sure, I've read other good fantasy/adventure books, but there's just this uniquely fascinating oomf in Rick's works. Both his Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus book series truly are works of art that deserve the highest of honors from the gods of Olympus themselves.

I will surely miss them all, but the good news is, I could always go back and see my dear demigods once more. They're safely and happily living in between the pages of these books I truly deeply love and cherish. I know they're not gods but for me - and for everyone else who have gone with them in their quests, fought monsters, defeated seemingly impossible antagonists, found love, felt hurt, formed friendships - they continue to live and they are immortal.

I don't know, but this was actually a lot better than I expected. See, I've had quite a bit of a love/hate relationship with The Mortal Instruments while I absolutely adored its prequel, The Infernal Devices.

TMI's first three books were a little sloppily written for my own liking but not so much that I couldn't stand reading them. Then Clare's writing got better with TID and the second half of TMI is part of that era. But TMI got a lot darker and got even more complicated and had that dash of cheesiness that just made me go "ugh" from time to time.

But - and that but is very important! - for me, it slowly got better, especially with this last book. I don't know, maybe its because I haven't read the five previous ones for quite some time now, but I truly enjoyed City of Heavenly Fire.

I first opened this big arse book that contains a little over 700 pages on New Year, read a few chapters, and then got distracted with mundane life. Then I got back in the city and I read the rest of it in just two days. Two. Days. While school is ongoing. I eagerly breezed through it, which I did not expect at all. So for that, I am giving my salutation to Ms. Clare. And get this, she even made me look forward to the sequel series, The Dark Artifices, that's coming out on fall this year! You sneaky writer, you!

Will. Tessa. Jem. I've said my goodbyes to.
Clary. Jace. Izzy. Simon. Alec. I'm saying my goodbyes to now.

Come fall, I'll be saying hello, again, to Emma and Julian and I won't mind stepping back into the Shadow World with them this time around. I'm pretty sure these two will break my heart like the rest of them did, but I won't mind that either.

'Til then, I once again say, Ave atque vale. Hail and farewell.

This book has been in my to-read list for quite some time. The cover art was one of the things that drew me to it and when I read the synopsis and reviews on Goodreads, I'm gonna be honest, I lost some of my initial interest.

A Cinderella cyborg? How odd! ...and corny.

So I pushed it back in my shelf, let it gather dust, and immersed myself in all the other books I have.

One rainy day though - and with the persistent coaxing of my best friend - I couldn't say no anymore. I picked Cinder up, blew the dust off of it, and began to read. I didn't put it down for the entire day and I finished it! Here are my thoughts...

Don't make the same mistake I did and let the premise of a Cinderella cyborg put you off. It is NOT like that at all. It could have stood up on its own, really, even without the sprinkled details from Cinderella. The Lunar Chronicles series looks to have more depth and a richer world than that of the silly children's fairytales we've all come to love, and this first book was a great start.

The next book, Scarlet, is said to be inspired by Red Riding Hood and I'm excited to see how they will add that up to the world of Cinder.

Incredible. I am astounded.

First off, have you seen the cover art? Come on, look at it. Look at it! It's gorgeous! According to an old adage, we must not judge a book by its cover, but for this one, you may openly do so: the contents are as beautiful as the cover!

Falling Kingdoms is like an MMORPG coming to life. Which basically translates to "all my dreams coming true" since I was a casual gamer. It is set in a distant land, divided into kingdoms, and ruled by royalty. There is war, bloodshed, and of course, magic! ...oh, and also romance. There's romance but it's not the sickening kind. What a relief.

I love how many characters there are! The book even has a "Cast of Characters" section so we won't get lost! If handled well (and judging by this first book, the author is doing great so far), more characters offer a magnificent story since there are more personalities to play and mess around with. And don't get me started with their land! They have a map! I highly appreciate it when the author is able to come up with a fictional world with such a rich history pervaded with myths and legends. Ooohh, just thinking about all the possibilities for this series is making me giddy and excited.

If I were to be honest, I am quite shocked I've only found this book now. It's a hidden treasure buried in all the other more popular fiction books and I am so pleased to have accidentally dug it up. It's fate! But in all seriousness, it deserves all the gushing and praises out there and I intend to tell everyone I know, whether they want to hear it or not, about it.

Sorry, not sorry. x

I've stumbled upon another dystopian world! ...not that I'm complaining or anything.

People said that if you liked the Hunger Games, you would also enjoy the Maze Runner. And in a way, it's true. I'm a fan of the Hunger Games, but for me, that kind of dystopian world is more in line with the Divergent series. I found the Maze Runner... different, but in a good way.

This book made me think! And I like doing that!! I enjoy mysteries and solving them. I felt like I was a Glader inside the Maze. I was racking my brain for answers and trying to find my way out and it can be quite frustrating since like them, I have no memories whatsoever. I have no clue and I was grasping for anything to solve the Maze. It was pretty exciting.

Basically, this is a story that sounded really interesting and promising so I decided to read it and I don't regret doing so. Okay, so it's not a perfectly written piece of literature, I know, but the analyst in me is oh, so happy with it. So despite the negative reviews I've read about it here on Goodreads, I'm giving it 4 stars.