Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige – RANT

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK AND DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED, CHECK OUT MY SPOILER FREE REVIEW.

This is my second one star review in as many months. To be fair, I started reading this book AGES ago. Like, 6 months ago. Yes. I hated it that much! I actually have the perfect gif to sum up my feelings about this book.

I was promised a Snow Queen retelling. This wasn’t no snow queen retelling. I mean, it had some elements, but it had elements of so many different things that it’s irrelevant. It was all over the place. What’s more, to me the Snow Queen was always quite dark and the magic in it was really dark. Especially the mirror. That is the best pat in the story and it was completely ruined in this book. Instead of being a mirror that reflected only ugliness and its shards taking away love and joy from people and all that, it was some weird weapony thing that wasn’t really explained, but everyone wanted it. I just… ugh, I hated it.

When I first started the book and saw it was set in a mental asylum I was so excited. I thought it was going to be this dark, psychological type of story. And then a pretty boy came to our heroine in a dream and convinced her to go through a magical tree by promising to help her find another pretty boy who had been kidnapped and dragged through said magical tree. Or through a mirror? I think it was a mirror? (Yeah, I’m confused too)

And that is when I knew there was going to be a love triangle. But I was wrong. Oh, I was so wrong. No, this wasn’t a love triangle. This was nymphomania. Our dear Snow was attracted to every. single. male. she. met. I wanted them all to die, just so I would not have to read one more agonizing second of her basically being like “Oh, Kai is so hot. But no! Bale, what about Bale?! But he’s so hot. I’ll kiss him, Bale won’t mind.” and then while kissing him “Oh, but Jagger had much softer looking lips.” UGHHHHHHH!

This book made no sense. At all. So, you’re telling me that doctors with a medical license and like… any common sense… lock up a child in an asylum for over 10 years and put her on full blown medication BECAUSE SHE CRASHED INTO A MIRROR ONE TIME WHEN SHE WAS 6? Because fuck logic, right?

And I’m not even going to go into the topic of how mental illness was treated in this book because… let’s just not go there. I will say only this… it was a disgrace. A fucking disgrace. All the patients in that hospital were basically a cardboard cutout of their illness. As if the only relevant thing about them was their illness, and to add grievance to injury, it wasn’t even a particularly accurate portrayal. I mean, I have very little experience with most of those conditions, but even I could tell they were inaccurately portrayed. Just… a disgrace.

But the asylum thing wasn’t the only thing that made no sense. Just the whole book felt so discordant. I have so many questions. It was like Paige wasn’t really sure what she was trying to write. Like she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to do like a magical coming of age, training thing or a heist thing or what? Was her dad evil or not? I guess her mum was evil for sure? Bale was… I don’t know who Bale was, really? He ended up being the Enforcer, but what  does that have to do with him liking to set things on fire? And was he evil or being controlled? Greta was a werewolf? I guess? Why? Don’t know. Who exactly was Jagger? What about the witches? If hr mum was a witch, did the other witches know she was evil? What exactly was that prophecy thing? What exactly is it with the tree? I don’t know, it was just all over the place.

There was no world building. I can sum up the whole world into one word: snow. There was a lot of snow. And the world building wasn’t the only lazy piece of writing in this book. Everything was. There is nothing in this book that is in any way original or interesting, or not a copy paste cliche. Lost princess? Check? Special, special, special snowflake? Check. Convenient family members? Check. Incredibly convoluted, but utterly predictable ‘plot twists’? Check. Insta-love? Check. I feel exhausted just writing this review. It drains me of life and joy.

I hated Snow. Snow was such an entitled, special little snowflake, I could not even. She was supposed to be badass, but she was just a whiny, horny teenage girl who did nothing but throw temper tantrums and think about boys. Also, how exactly she went from having zero knowledge or control over her magic, to conjuring a pack of snow wolves in like a week?

The writing was clumsy and bland and just… bad. It was bad. It felt like a first draft, rather than a finished novel. I don’t understand how this book got published. Honestly, what publisher bought this? What editor let this go through? It had no substance whatsoever. It was just an all around awful book. I was so disappointed. I’d heard only amazing things about Dorothy Must Die. And I have read so many reviews from fans of that series who were just shocked at how appallingly bad this book was. I still might give Dorothy Must Die a shot, but this was a hot mess of a book.

Down the TBR Hole #4

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story. I wasn’t too bad this week. Only dded one book since last week.

Stats:

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Books: #31-40

Last week’s final number: 353 | Current number: 354 | This week’s final number: 350 | Total books removed so far: 11 | Total books kept so far: 29

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The Winds of Winter by G. R. R. Martin

I’ll be reading this. If it comes out while I’m still young enough to see.

Verdict: Stays

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I don’t reach for humour books that often, but I do really enjoy them and this is one that I definitely want to read.

Verdict: Stays

Books 2 & 3 in the Hitchhiker’s  Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Another humour series I definitely want to read.

Verdict: Stays

Shit My History Teacher DID NOT Tell Me by Karl Wiggins

This sounds really fun. I think I would really enjoy it, but at the same time, I don’t see myself picking it up anytime in the near future.

Verdict: Goes

Secrets of the Realm by Bev Stout

Another book that I feel like I would enjoy if I ever got to reading it, but I doubt I’ll pick it up anytime soon.

Verdict: Goes

Words Are Our Sorcery by Karl Wiggins

I don’t even know why I added this in the first place. It’s poetry…

Verdict: Goes

The Abduction of Grace by Anthony Hulse

This definitely sounds interesting. I don’t read as many mysteries as I would like. I love them so much, I don’t know why I don’t read them more often.

Verdict: Stays

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

I think I’m giving up on this one. I’m sure I will love the story, but the book is massive and Victor Hugo has a very descriptive writing style and I don’t think I could commit to reading this. I think I’ll just watch the musical like the rest of the world.

Verdict: Goes

Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis by George Sayer

I’m very torn with this one. On the one hand, I really love Lewis and I’m curious to learn more about him. On the other hand… I don’t know if I’ll pick this up anytime soon.

Verdict: Stays for now

Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige – Spoiler Free Book Review

Rating: 1/5 stars

Genre: YA, fantasy

First published: 2016

Author: Danielle Paige

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Snow lives within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she doesn’t belong there, but she has no memory of life outside, except for the strangest dreams. And then a mysterious, handsome man, an orderly in the hospital, opens a door – and Snow knows that she has to leave …
She finds herself in icy Algid, her true home, with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she’s destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change everything. Heroine or villain, queen or broken girl, frozen heart or true love, Snow must choose her fate

Book Depository | Goodreads

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I requested this book from NetGalley way back in September 2016. And I received it way back in September 2016. And I started reading it then as well. It was so bad, it took me until now to complete.

Where do I even begin. This was advertised as a Snow Queen retelling. But it was more like a weird mongrel retelling of 5 different stories. It was just all over the place. But okay, let’s say I can live with that. It wasn’t very seamlessly done, but okay. Whatever.

But this book has the ABSOLUTE WORST love… can’t even call it a triangle. It’s a freaking polygon. And not only that, but it’s got one of the worst cases of insta love ever… twice. I just wanted to puke.

And then we have Snow. She is so annoying, and whiny, and inconsistent and stupid and I hate her. Mare Barrow from Red Queen, Scarlett from Caraval and Snow from this book…. I want to tie them all together in a nice bundle and throw them in the ocean with a stone tied to them. I hate them so much. As for the other characters… I just could not care less. They were bland and boring and had exactly one personality trait that was basically their entire identity.

I didn’t care about the story either. I didn’t find it compelling at all. I didn’t find it clever or creative or interesting. It was predictable and tried too hard to have many twists and turns and be surprising, but it just ended up sounding like a soap opera except without the paternity discussions. It was confusing and predictable at the same time.

I can sum up the worldbuilding in one word: snow. Basically, the only thing I remember vividly about the world is that there’s a lot of snow. And a tree. It was just nonexistent. So, yeah… there was nothing to redeem this book. I liked nothing about it. Not even one small detail that I enjoyed. I’m really disappointed. I’ve heard Dorothy Must Die is actually good, so I might give that a shot, but I was really disappointed by this. I’ll have a rant about it, if you want to know more details about exactly what I didn’t like, go read that.

February -April 2017 Wrap Up

It’s been an age since I’ve done a wrap up. I think probably the last one was in January. That’s because I didn’t read much in February. Or March. Even April has been only okay. *sigh* Life just kept getting in the way. Anyway, here are the books I’ve read since January. I have reviews for most of them, so I’ll link those if you are interested.

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 Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

5/5 stars

I think this is the only book that I read in February. At least it was a good book. I loved everything about it and I cannot wait for the second one to come out. This book was just badass. I have a spoilerfree review of it, if you would like to know more.

A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab

5/5 stars

The conclusion to her Shades of Magic series. It was SO. FREAKING. GOOD! I love this series so much and Victoria has been announced as a guest at YALC this summer and I just can’t wait to meet her! It was such a good conclusion to such an awesome series. It made me feel feelings, okay? I also have a review of this, if you would like to know more of my thoughts.

 

The Waste Land by T. S. Elliot

3/5 stars

This is not so much a book. It’s just a long poem. I don’t read a lot of poetry, and when I do, I often don’t enjoy it. This was the case with this. I felt that there was too much background reading that was necessary to understand this poem and I didn’t get it. I feel like everyone should be able to take something out of a good poem, regardless of whether they’ve read as extensively as the poet has.

 

Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

5/5 stars

This was a re-read for me. I was deeply into a reading slump and I wanted something light and easy to read, but also kind of clever and engaging. I read this book last year and was surprised by how much I loved it. I really enjoyed it the second time around as well, and it actually helped pull me out of my reading slump, at least a little. I have a full review of it if you’re interested.

 

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

4.5/5 stars

This is the second book in The Raven Cycle series. I liked it a lot more than I liked the first one. I’s not that I didn’t like the first one, it’s just that this one cleared up a lot of the things that had me confused in the first book.  It was a little bit slow in terms of the plot progression, but there was plenty of character development, so I didn’t really mind. I also have a review of this one.

 

Replica by Lauren Oliver

4.5/5 stars

The first Lauren Oliver book I’ve read. I enjoyed it quite a lot, I read it in one day. I thought the way it was written was very engaging and I really liked the themes it explored. It’s almost entirely character driven, so it may not be for everyone. The plot really wasn’t that good. It wasn’t bad, it was just meh. But I got the impression that the plot was more of a backdrop for exploring the themes the author wanted to explore, so it didn’t bother me. Check out my full review if you want to know more.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

1/5 stars

UGH. THIS DAMN BOOK FRUSTRATED ME SO MUCH! I was so disappointed by absolutely everything about this book (except for the cover). I had to skim the final 150 pages. It was just boring and badly written and ugh! I have both a spoiler free review of it and a spoilerific rant, so check those out if you want to know all the reasons for which I hated this book.

 

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

5/5 stars

My newest obsession. This is the first book that I read this year that kept me up until 3 am. I just could not put it down. I loved it so much, I need to read the rest of them ASAP! I don’t know why I haven’t read Brandon Sanderson until now, but I have now joined the fanclub. Give me all the Brandon Sanderson. I have a spoiler free review of it and a spoilerific rave as well.

 

Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

1/5 stars

I hated the guts out of this book. I haven’t reviewed it yet, but you can be sure I will have one hell of a rant about it! It’s coming. I requested this book from NetGalley in September 2016. I started reading it in September 2016. I finished it in March 2017. You can imagine how much I hated it. I almost never DNF books. I push through even when they suck. But I very nearly gave up on this one. It was horrible. I hate it. I HATE it. Stay tuned for my review.

Sabriel by Garth Nix

4/5 stars

This is a pretty old book. It feels like the ancestor of YA. It was really interesting, it follows a necromancer, which was really cool. I really liked the world and the magic and the atmosphere of the book. Unfortunately, I had a problem with the writing style. I couldn’t connect to it, and that made me not really connect to the characters. Still, I will be continuing with the series, as it seems cool. I haven’t got a review of this one yet, but it should come soon.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K Rowling

5/5 stars

I’ve been re-reading the HP series. I audiobooked this one this time around and found I really enjoyed it. I listened to the Stephen fry audiobook, and it’s good. I’m currently listening to Order of the Phoenix. I wouldn’t recommend audiobooking it if this is your first time reading the books. But as a re-read, the audiobook is great.

 

Shades of Anxiety – Orange

Sometimes I do not want to be inside my head.

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Other Shades

Down The TBR Hole #3

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story. I wasn’t too bad this week. Only dded one book since last week.

Stats:

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Books: #20-30

Last week’s final number: 353 | Current number: 354 | This week’s final number: 353 | Total books removed so far: 7 | Total books kept so far: 23

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Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally

I have seen the film several times and books about WWII are some of my favourites! I will be reading this.

Verdict: Stays

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

This sounds like a fun contemp series, but I barely read contemp standalones. I doubt I will pick this up anytime soon.

Verdict: Goes

The Infernal Devices Manga by Cassandra Clare and Hye-Kyung Baek

This is one of my favourite series and definitely my favourite Cassandra Clare series. Reading it in manga form sounds awesome!

Verdict: Stay

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

I AM READY FOR THIS, RELEASE IT ALREADY!

Verdict: Stays

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

See above.

The last Hours series by Cassandra Clare

See above.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – RAVE

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED, READ MY SPOILER FREE REVIEW

This series is my newest obsession. I don’t think I’ve been so absorbed by a book since I read The Name of the Wind. When I first heard about it, the magic system seemed a bit iffy to me and I wasn’t sure I would like it. BOY, WAS I WRONG! The magic system is so cool. Like, ingesting metals and then burning them for powers sounds kind of weird… but it works so well once you start reading it and it makes for the most spectacular action scenes ever. I was reading this book like:

This is one of those books where I really loved all the characters. I really loved the dynamics of the gang, but I especially loved the dynamic of Vin and Kell. Just that father-daughter-like relationship that they developed was so cute and I loved it! And then Kell went and got himself killed and I was like NO! I was so shocked. I didn’t see it coming… well I did, but I was in denial. And Vin’s reaction to it destroyed me more than anything. Oh, and that conversation they have not long before on the roof, where she asks him to promise not to leave her and he says he can’t make that promise because he knows he’s going to sacrifice himself just akjfhaga.

The scene with Kell in the mines gave me chills. Him remembering how it was to search for the geodes, the single, all consuming thought that he needed to find one to survive, not caring that his arms are being shredded open and his memories of his wife and…

Let me tell you about Elend. He is the most adorable, fluffy, clueless cinnamon roll ever. Walking around with his stack of books at parties. I could relate to him so much though. That is me. When him and Vin first meet and he just reads like the giant dork he is. That is what I do at parties too. And then Vin’s all annoyed like “‘Scuse you! I am hot, pay attention to me!”.  I love them so muchhhhhhh! They’re so cute! They gave me all the feels and I was so happy at the end.

Oh, OH! At the end, when Elend comes to ‘rescue’ Vin and she’s just like “Thanks baby. Here, hold my purse while I save everyone’s life like the BAMF that I am.” And he just takes it in stride like “Yup. My girlfriend just decimated 15 grown-ass warriors. Cool.”

The little paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter were so cool! I thought for the longest time that they were written by the Lord Ruler and I was trying to fit all the information together and it was just not clicking and I was so frustrated. But in the good way. I love when I have to figure things out in books and I especially love it when they trick me! And now I’m so excited to find out what actually happened to the person who wrote that diary and what the hell is the Deepness.

 

A-Z Quotes – Q

"The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of 
them." - Queen Victoria

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The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – Spoiler Free Book Review

Rating: 5/5 stars

Genre: Adult fantasy

First published: 2006

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Synopsis: What if the prophesied hero had failed to defeat the Dark Lord?

For a thousand years the ash fell.

For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousend years, the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Every attempted revolt has failed miserably.

Yet hope survives.

An new kind of uprising is being planned, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the courage of an unlikely heroine who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a mistborn.

Book Depository | Goodreads

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I don’t know why I put this book off for as long as I did. If you’re putting this series off as well, you are doing yourself a disservice. Go read it. I don’t even know where to begin reviewing this book.

The premise was so freaking cool and refreshing. The setting is a sort of post-apocalyptic one, a thousand years after the “chosen one” failed to defeat the Dark Lord. I thought that was so cool, because we all know that the Chosen One always wins. We’ve heard that story so many times. And it’s not a bad story. I love Chosen One stories, but still… what if? Well, if you want to find out, this is the book for you.

I loved the characters and the relationships between them so much, they didn’t so much tug as yanked at all of my heartstrings. They’re all precious and I love them. I loved the dynamics of the ‘team’, it reminded me a lot of the dynamics between Kaz and his band from Six of Crows. In fact, the whole thing reminded me of Six of Crows, what with a heist being planned and the magic system as well, where each person had a specific type of ability.

Speaking of the magic system though, it’s really cool. Basically, they draw their power from metals that they ingest and can then burn within their bodies and each metal does a specific thing. It’s really unique and cool and made for some really spectacular action scenes. They were so vivid and dynamic, it felt like I was watching them rather than reading about them. And there are a lot of action scenes. It is so gripping and captivating and it just sucks you in. It had been a long time since a book kept me up until the wee hours of the morning, because I just could not put it down.

Another thing I really enjoyed were the paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter. They’re like little snippets of a different story that add on to the experience, and it almost feels like you’re getting two stories. And the way that those fit together with the main story and how they’re like little hints. It’s really cool. I can’t really describe it any better without spoilers (I will have a spoilerific rave review of this, for those of you who are interested), but it’s awesome. Just go read it and experience it for yourself.

The Who Am I Tag

I was tagged by Sydney @ Fire and Rain Books to do this tag. Thank you Sydney, this tag is really cool. This is a long tag, so let’s jump right into it.

What is the meaning of your name?

My first name is Romana. It means different things in different languages. In Arabic, it means ‘pomegranate’. It apparently also means ‘romantic’ and ‘fascinating’ in Urdu, I believe. In Latin and derived languages, it means ‘from Rome’, more specifically, a woman from Rome. And finally, in Aramaic or some similarly defunct language, it means ‘strong’.

My middle name is Tabita, which is a variant of Tabitha and it means ‘beauty’ or ‘grace’ in Hebrew. And it was derived from the Aramaic word for ‘gazelle’. So, in Aramaic it means ‘gazelle’.

What is my Myers-Briggs Personality Type? (Link)

“THE LOGICIAN” INTP-A (Introvert, intuitive, thinking, prospecting, assertive)

I did this test ages and ages ago, and I don’t remember what I got back then. But I believe it was something similar. Anyway, I’ve been reading the profile for this and it is SO ME! I don’t think I have ever identified with a personality test more than I do with this one. Here are some of the cliffnotes:

The Logician personality type is fairly rare, making up only three percent
of the population, which is definitely a good thing for them, as there’s 
nothing they’d be more unhappy about than being “common”. Logicians pride 
themselves on their inventiveness and creativity, their unique perspective 
and vigorous intellect. Usually known as the philosopher, the architect, 
or the dreamy professor, Logicians have been responsible for many 
scientific discoveries throughout history.

Me, AF.

They love patterns, and spotting discrepancies between statements could 
almost be described as a hobby, making it a bad idea to lie to a Logician. 
This makes it ironic that Logicians’ word should always be taken with a 
grain of salt – it’s not that they are dishonest, but people with the 
Logician personality type tend to share thoughts that are not fully 
developed, using others as a sounding board for ideas and theories in a 
debate against themselves rather than as actual conversation partners.

Yep.

When Logicians are particularly excited, the conversation can border on 
incoherence as they try to explain the daisy-chain of logical conclusions 
that led to the formation of their latest idea. Oftentimes, Logicians will 
opt to simply move on from a topic before it’s ever understood what they 
were trying to say, rather than try to lay things out in plain terms.

The reverse can also be true when people explain their thought processes 
to Logicians in terms of subjectivity and feeling.

Strengths:

• Great Analysts and Abstract Thinkers
• Imaginative and Original
• Open-Minded
• Enthusiastic
• Objective
• Honest and Straightforward

Weaknesses:

• Very Private and Withdrawn
• Insensitive
• Absent-minded
• Condescending
• Loathe Rules and Guidelines
• Second-Guess Themselves (so me!)

Notable Logicians include Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Blaise Pascal (yay! one of my favourite philosophers), Isaac Newton and Maester Aemon Targeryen lol

What is my Zodiac sign?

Libra, I believe. But I don’t really put any store in the Zodiac.

What is my Hogwarts House? (Link)

Ravenclaw, according to Pottermore. Also Slytherin, according also to Pottermore. Let’s see what this quiz says.

What are my learning styles? (Link)

I’ve actually done this exact test before a while back and I believe I got the same result then as well. I have multimodal learning preferences with stats as follows:

• Visual 10
• Aural 10
• Read/Write 12
• Kinesthetic 15

Am I More Right or Left Brain Dominant? (Link)

Left brained

What is My Blood Type?

Hell if I know. I know one of my parents is A and one is B and I know one of my grandmothers is O. So I literally could have any of the four. I can’t even narrow it down. I’ve actually never had it tested. Probably should.

What Career Am I Meant to Have? (Link)

This should be interesting.

Apparently writer. I will make no comments on that.

What Divergent Faction Do I Belong In? (Link)

Now this is a test I have never taken before. Let’s see.

Ahahahahahaha! Amity. Amity! Haha… oh… such a good joke. I would have fit in any of the other factions better than in Amity.

What Does My Birth Order Say About Me? (Link)

The Firstborn

Stereotype: Natural leader, ambitious, responsible.

I guess? I don’t know. Meh.

 

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This was fun. The Myers-Briggs one was spot on. The Hogwarts one as well, I suppose. The rest of them… meh.