Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter

The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury 

Published by Scholastic Press March 1, 2015

336 Pages

Source: Library 

I am the perfect weapon.
I kill with a single touch.

Twylla is blessed. The Gods have chosen her to marry a prince, and rule the kingdom. But the favour of the Gods has it's price. A deadly poison infuses her skin. Those who anger the queen must die under Twylla's fatal touch.

Only Lief, an outspoken new guard, can see past Twylla's chilling role to the girls she truly is.

Yet in a court as dangerous and the queen's, some truths should not be told...

The Sineater's Daughter was oddly dry. My favorite librarian had highly recommended it as one of the best books she had read lately, but personally I just couldn't stomach it well. It followed my checklist for how I usually like books with a set plot and character development, however I didn't find any new twists in the book. The worldbuilding itself is fine, yet the world was almost stereotypically high fantasy with a country struggling with a neighbor country who is richer. The country has royalty that backstabs each other and has magic. The characters who betray each other are also totally expected as all uou have to do is flip every character's initial portrayal. Personally I did not love this book, but I see the advantage of if you want a classic Scholastic high fantasy.

Rating: 2 Stars

MiniReview: The Conspiracy of Us

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall Goodreads|Amazon

Published by Putnam Juvenile January 13, 2015

336 Pages

Source: Library

Bookologist Analysis: A thriller of a spell binding world full of Prada and ancient history was too much for me to resist.

A fast-paced international escapade, laced with adrenaline, glamour, and romance--perfect for fans of Ally Carter

Avery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.

To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle—beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family--but between the boy who might help her save the world, and the one she's falling in love with.

The Conspiracy of Us was a thriller that I say was the first one in a while to entice me. The idea of twelve families based off of Alexander the Great was an idea which was one I enjoyed a lot due to the fact of my obsession with ancient history for a while. It also gave off some Illuminati feel (maybe we need the term “The Twelve confirmed"). Mystery like the stars at twilight was the wonderful feeling of this book, since there was the mystique of secret societies and puzzles even depper. The romance in this book was also quite orderly due to the consequence of romance being very clear.Also the splendid of lay out of the book was the clear and logical order was well presented. The Conspiracy of Us was a delight to read and quite addicting with devilish characters.

Books//Poetry

I'm a poet (that sounds odd rolling off my tongue). I felt inspired to blog for the first time in a long time, so here is something different.

Leaves of pages

Ink done

Type set

A smell only when aged

Death by water

Ancient knowledge conceded by internet

Still holding

By the jacket sleeves

Reserved for us

A select many

The literate

Once an elite

Now a commoner

Still waning

But not conceding

This love will be mine

No matter how far-fetched

Thou shall not depart from me

If done

Crumbling ash shall be my name

For once hold still

As I hold on

To world not real

A life not my own

But a dream and wish

Rendered never

But who shall

Leave me and you in the raven night

With a light

And a comforter

To spill secrets

From an editor’s computer

To my small hands

MiniReview: Red Queen

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard Goodreads|Amazon

Published by Orion February 10, 2015

320 Pages

Source: Library

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

Red Queen… too much for words. Aveyard created a world that was intricate with superb worldbuilding. The Silvers and Reds were divided and yet still held in equilibrium. Somehow the characters were intangibly linked, but at the last minute turned backs and created a showdown that was unexpected, yet opened unheard of doors for the sequel. The no-nonesense writing style of Victoria Avyeard was inexplicably used that let for a quick, simple read and no over analyzation of the text. The plot was the starring role in the book however showing what weight the feels carry with how I slapped my head for not seeing the twists and turns headed my way. 

Room by Book//Red Queen

Red Queen is set in a futuristic world that makes the reader feel totally foreign, but in reality is supposedly our future. The furniture shown here is both modern and a revival of more traditional forms of art-- how I imagine the Silver palace. The fox and the coffee table both have silver accents meant to be nod at the Silver culture in this book and are quite modern. Yet the ottoman and wallpaper both feel like they belong in the 1920s with the ottoman having bobbin legs which were the rage in the Victorian times, but the ottoman has a very clean cushion. I liked the darker theme of the wallpaper hinting at how controlling the Silvers are of Reds. The fox was supposed to be representative of Cal and how he is always changing with the reader never knowing what sly side of him will come next. The coffee table I imagine can also be spread with war maps and everything a prince needs. Overall I just wanted this furniture to exude coldness and detachedness of Silvers. Also my review of Red Queen is coming out soon. 

Red Queen (book cover) by Victoria Aveyard
Laundry for Hygge & West - Diamante in Gold by Hygge & West from Design Public
Hines Coffee Table Walnut by Apt2B

Bobbin Ottoman by Serena & Lily 

Silver Fox Ceramic Object by Jonathan Adler 

Book Club//When You Reach Me

­­­­Welcome to this month’s edition of Book Club with YA Bookologists. This is a feature where I talk about what the book club I attend discussed. I do this to perhaps share new insight into popular books that you might’ve read before.  Recently we read When You Reach Me by Rebeca Stead. Here are some of the points we came up with. SPOILER ALERT

•  The lack of defining time travel was very frustrating as we have no explanation for how the essence of the book works. This is distracting from the main focus of the book which are relationships.
• The homeless man (old Marcus) should not have to die in the end because of all the others way possible to save someone from a truck. The ending of the book was rather sudden with no real closing for Marcus.
• The romance in this book was disastrous. Simply perplexing. Miranda and Collin have short, snippets of kissing and followed by several, longer paragraphs of being friends. Without the romance When You Reach Me still would’ve been completely realistic.
• New York City in this book was very realistic. The description a setting of only a few square blocks resonated with many of us in the book club. There were details about which places to avoid, bad landlords, and tips on how to live in the city all really brought the setting alive. 

February Round Up

Via Wikimedia

That picture pretty much summed up weather where I live with snow and cold. I went into February knowing it was going to be stressful, but I didn't realize just how stressful. I've taken two weekend trips this month (both of which required airplanes), won an award for an essay I wrote (yay!), and had to rewrite a script for a part of the play I'm producing. I'm quite sad that I didn't write more and fell out of touch with reading, but towards the end of the month I got to more of my reading habits back. I'll keep this post short without chronicling all my blogging for once, so simply this is a checkin.