Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare // Book Review!

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Publication Date: May 23rd, 2017

Page Number: 701 pages

Format Read: Hardcover (I bought this one!)

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Goodreads synopsis:

Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?

A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?

Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.

When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

My Thoughts:

I’ve finally read Lord of Shadows! Hoorah for me! I don’t know why it took me so long or why I kept putting it off because it was amazing!

I loved reading about my old fam from TMI and the gang from TID were also mentioned throughout and my fav Jessamine was there too!

I love the Blackthorns and how much of a family they are, and hey guess what?! I’m finally starting to distinguish all of their names!

Helen and Mark are the oldest and they’re part faerie

Julian is the kind of patriarch and duh the main character of the book

Livvy and Ty are the twins who hang out with Kit

Dru is the sulky teen who always get stuck babysitting

And Tavvy is the baby 7 year old

I think that’s all right?

Anyway the romance and fighting and general badass-ery was all there and is it wrong that this Christina/Mark/Kieran love triangle is making me want Mark to end up with both of them? Threesome anyone? Cassie Clare even mentioned in the book itself!

Yay for LGBTQ-ness in the book also! I can’t figure Ty and Kit out, are they going to end up as parabatai or a couple? I don’t know!

Emma is such an amazing human and so cool with Cortana! Speaking of Cortana, that sword is powerful!

Can we also just talk about that ending!!!! OH MY GOD! I was reading then I stopped and re-read cause I could not believe my eyes. Oh yes Cassandra Clare has still got it ladies and gentlemen. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book!

Verdict:

I devoured this humongous book and loved every second of it! I’m scared that I’m going to get bored of Cassie Clare and shadowhunter writing one day though, like I did with Uncle Rick and Percy Jackson books. Whatever though, for now I still like!

My Rating:

5 stars!

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Have you read this? Did you love it? Let’s discuss!

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West// Book Review

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: July 2nd, 2013

Page Number: 320

Format Read: E-book (Live-brary Download)

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Money can’t buy a good first impression.

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers learned early that the rich are not to be trusted. And after years of studying them from behind the cash register of her mom’s porcelain-doll shop, she has seen nothing to prove otherwise. Enter Xander Spence—he’s tall, handsome, and oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and the fact that he seems to be one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But just when Xander’s loyalty and attentiveness are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. With so many obstacles standing in their way, can she close the distance between them?

My Thoughts:

Finally! After disliking Kasie West’s other books I’ve finally found one that I can say I loved!

I think it really was Caymen who won me over. As a person who is pretty sarcastic, I loved Caymen and her sarcasm. Easily my favorite character of all of Kasie West’s books and one of the main characters in any book that I really could say I loved and related to. (Other than like Hermione Granger and a few others.

The romance was great though there was that usual oh girl thinks guy has a girl but in reality he doesn’t. But I can forgive that.

The plot was also much better and the writing felt more believable. I wasn’t scoffing at the romance and was actually interested in the story.

I mean the cover is pretty meh, looking pretty much the same as the other books and like the usual contemporary.

I found myself loving Xander and the mom too. There’s a great mother daughter relationship here as well.

I’d say that there isn’t much that separates this book from other contemporaries, and are there better books than this? Sure, but Caymen and her sarcasm is honestly one of the reasons that I’m giving this a super high rating.

Verdict:

The first contemporary of the year that I can say I loved!

My Rating:

5 stars

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Have you read this book!? What are your thoughts!?

Do Other People’s Rating and Reviews Affect Our Own? // Discussion

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about ratings, and what constitutes a 4 or 3 star rating. It was especially apparent after I finished the Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider.

I liked the book, it was pretty good, I was going to give it a 4 star rating. Then I looked at what other people had to say on Goodreads, and there were a lot of low star ratings. After reading why those people rated the book low, I began to agree with them. And that’s when I stopped to actually think.

If I never read the Goodreads reviews, this book would have been given a 4 stars by me, but after reading those reviews, I gave it a 3.5. Is that fair?

I think that it might be.

Let me explain. A lot of the Outlander books by Diana Gaboldon have low ratings too, but after giving Outlander a 5 stars and going to check the low ratings and reviews, nothing that the reviews said would make me change my mind about my 5 star rating.

People ranted at how much they disliked the book and I ignored them and still went with a 5 star rating.

With the Beginning of Everything however, the bad reviews made me wonder if maybe I should lower my rating…

I guess it depends on how strongly the book made you feel.

With the Beginning of Everything I was struggling between 3 and 4 stars, so the other reviews made up my mind because they pointed out the flaws in the books that I remember thinking while reading, but forgot after finishing.

Outlander on the other hand was an absolute 5 stars in my head, and nothing anyone said could change my mind.

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What about you? Do other people’s reviews or ratings ever change your mind about how you rate a book? Though I’m not exactly proud about this, I think it’s very much true in the book reviewing world at times.

Let’s discuss it!

P.S. I proofread this post! -from Calliope’s annoying friend Jem

P.P.S. Haha, my friend’s initials are J.E.M, like Jem Carstairs, I always find that funny