Books Via Ashley

Here I was, thinking that I wouldn't have as much time to read in May, with the two busy vacations that were planned this month, and yet I read eleven books. That brings my current total of the year up to 44! I actually changed my book goal on Goodreads. It was originally 80, but I moved it to 100 since that's obviously the track I'm on. I hope to beat my record of 101 from last year! This month, I read a LOT of good books: To All The Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han (4 stars) A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas (4 stars) Beneath a Burning Sky - Jenny Ashcroft (4 stars) The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas (4.5 stars) Defy the Stars - Claudia Gray (5 stars) The Hundredth Queen - Emily R. King (4.5 stars) Ensnared - Rita Spalding (2 stars) Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey (4 stars) Flame in the Mist - Renée Ahdieh (3 stars) Illuminae - Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman (5 stars) PS: I Still Love You - Jenny Han (4 stars) I started the La...

Defy The Stars - Claudia Gray Synopsis  ( from Goodreads ) "She's a soldier. He's a machine. Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true." Review This was my first Claudia Gray book and now I have to go read everything she's ever written. But seriously, this was some great sci-fi fun. I loved every minute of this book! The book is told from two viewpoints: Noemi and Abel. They start off as enemies, learn to trust each other, become friends, and fall in love. Both characters start off one way and through each other grow and become better and realize important things about themselves. This is what I love to...

The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King I was able to get this book before its release date through Amazon First. This book comes out June 1, 2017. Synopsis ( from Goodreads ) "As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she’s an unlikely candidate for even a servant’s position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood’s mountain temple. But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda’s life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home, set on a desert trek, and ordered to fight for her place among the rajah’s ninety-nine wives and numerous courtesans. Her only solace comes in the company of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik. Faced with the danger of a tournament to the death—and her growing affection for Deven—Kalinda has only one hope for escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidde...

Ensnared by Rita Stradling I received a free ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis ( from Goodreads ) "Alainn’s father is not a bad man. He’s a genius and an inventor. When he’s hired to create the robot Rose, Alainn knows taking the money is a mistake. Rose acts like a human. She looks exactly like Alainn. But, something in her comes out wrong. To save her father from a five year prison sentence, Alainn takes Rose’s place. She says goodbye to the sun and goes to live in a tower no human is allowed to enter. She becomes the prisoner of a man no human is allowed to see. Believing that a life of servitude lies ahead, Alainn finds a very different fate awaits her in the company of the strange, scarred recluse." Review The premise sounded very interesting: Beauty and the Beast retelling in the near-future with robots and AI. But it really really fell flat. I read the first few chapters, then put it down for a couple of  months . ...

Beneath a Burning Sky - Jenny Ashcroft *I was given a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*  Synopsis ( from Goodreads ) "When 22-year-old Olivia is coerced into marriage by the cruel Alistair Sheldon, she leaves England for Egypt, his home and the land of her own childhood. Reluctant as she is to go with Alistair, it's in her new home that she finds happiness in surprising places: she is reunited with her long-estranged sister, Clara, and falls - impossibly and illicitly - in love with her husband's boarder, Captain Edward Bertram. Then Clara is abducted from one of the busiest streets in the city. As Olivia sets out to discover what's happened to the sister she's only just begun to know, she falls deeper into the shadowy underworld of Alexandria, putting her own life and her chance at a future with Edward, the only man she's ever loved, at risk. Because, determined as Olivia is to find Clara, there are others who will...

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas Synopsis ( from Goodreads ) "Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life." Review I loved this book for two reasons: 1) I think this is a very important discussion that we need to be having r...