Book Review: The Winner's Curse & The Winner's Crime (The Winner's Trilogy, #1 & #2) by Marie Rutkoski + The Winner's Kiss Giveaway

The Winner's Curse & The Winner's Crime (The Winner's Trilogy, #1 & #2)

by Marie Rutkoski

Release date: March 4th 2014 | March 3rd 2015

Published by: Farrar Straus Giroux

Buy on Amazon: The Winner's Curse | The Winner's Crime

Synopsis:

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love...

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

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Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

Review

I cannot even begin to describe just how good The Winner’s Curse and The Winner’s Crime are. Both were such fantastic reads and both left me completely speechless. The Winner’s Curse has been on my TBR list for so long now, but I’m so lucky to have only picked it up now when The Winner’s Crime has already been released and with The Winner’s Kiss being just around the corner, I don’t have to wait for a year to read it (but still, March 29th, please come sooner!!).

I clamored to get a copy of Crime after reading Curse because the ending broke me! Little did I know that Crime would’ve full-on destroyed me. The emotions I got from reading these two were all over the place intense—sorrow, joy, disgust, hope, distress, frustration, longing, anger. Sometimes either, sometimes mix, and sometimes all of them at the same time. It was maddening! And it felt so, so, so good to know that these events and characters could illicit such a number of emotions from me regardless whether it’s a positive or a negative emotion. I loved feeling all of it! And the fact I could connect so well with the characters thrilled me.

Kestrel was quite the interesting character. Actually, her trope is one of my most favourites. Kestrel may not be physically talented in a battle, but she is a genius schemer and that’s about as dangerous if not more. The book already had me transfixed to it from the beginning till end but I always find myself even more enthralled whenever Kestrel is in one of her mind games. Seeing the cogs turn in her head was a joy to read!

I find it interesting that Kestrel’s father would rather she join the army than to marry. The lack of discrimination against women was a breath of fresh air. I mean, in most stories the parents worry a lot about their daughters but in The Winner’s Curse, Kestrel’s father is willing to pitch his daughter in a war because he has so much conviction in her even though she’s not an exceptional fighter because he knows his daughter has a good head between her shoulders. I find it even more interesting though that Kestrel wants neither to join the army nor to marry. She loved playing the piano, but music is frowned upon in her society and is regarded as lowly—something only slaves do. It’s why she bought Arin, albeit on impulse, because he sings though he refuses to.

I really liked the master x slave relationship here. It’s another breath of fresh air that the master is a girl and the slave is a guy because mostly, in other books, the slave always tends to be a girl and the master, a guy with the slave being an impulsive sarc and the master, an overprotective rake. In The Winner’s Crime, Marie’s approach to the master x slave dynamic is different. Kestrel is brilliant and cautious, and Arin is quite and full of hatred. There were no funny banters involved. These books mean serious business. Kestrel and Arin genuinely didn’t want anything to do with each other and at first I was skeptic at the notion of these two being in a romantic relationship. But while I think Rutkoski handled this development quite well, I also think that the romance could have been reduced in some parts in Curse and maybe transferred to the second book because gods I craved it so much In The Winner’s Crime! That said, The Winner’s Trilogy doesn’t focus much on the romance. It’s more about war and politics and I love that it doesn’t shy away from character deaths.

The Winner’s Crime, though, was consistently a frustrating read from start to finish. There were moments when the frustration was too much to bear that I would just cry abruptly. It was torture but in the bestest way possible and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

It already goes without saying that I loved The Winner’s Curse but The Winner’s Crime is just WOW. Everything I loved about Curse all levelled up in Crime with the addition of some more awesome. The political mind games were set to an all-time high and the emotions, ohmyword, so genuine and so palpable. It was so difficult not to feel for these characters especially Kestrel because she suffers the most. And for Arin because he suffers too.

I know I’m lucky for just reading these two close to the final book’s release date but dang, if only I had a time machine!

Rating: 
The Winner's Curse: 4.5/5 stars!
The Winner's Crime: 5/5 stars!

Giveaway

My sister has just pointed out that March is my anniversary month. I keep forgetting that I have an anniversary so I've never done an anniversary giveaway but I'm doing one now so yay! 

Up for grabs is a copy of The Winner's Kiss, the third book in the The Winner's Trilogy, either from Amazon or Book Depository so yes, this is International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can also read a sneak peek of The Winner's Kiss here: https://t.co/gtJ28zdVqD

Book Review: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes #1)
by Brittany Cavallaro
Release date: March 1st 2016
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

Equal parts tender, thrilling, and hilarious, A Study in Charlotte is the first in a trilogy brimming with wit and edge-of-the-seat suspense.

Review

I was counting on A Study in Charlotte to be a cool and fun read because Charlotte and James are supposed to be great great great something children of the Holmes and Watson that we all love even today.

Well, okay, so I admit that I don’t really know the original Holmes other than what RDJ portrayed and I don’t know how different he is from the original, so I really shouldn’t be one to talk, but the point is: I didn’t get what I expected here. I wanted a light, easy and fun read. What I got though, isn’t necessarily bad either.

The journey in A Study in Charlotte is, most of the time, deep and heavy and it delves on issues like drug addiction, rape and possibly mental instability. I just wish they discussed the second issue more because it felt like it didn’t get the hate it deserved despite the circumstances.

The story is told from Jamie’s point of view though I really didn’t dig his voice that much. Not to say that I didn’t like him, however. His character was an okay one, but his voice sounded bland most of the time and while it was perfectly understandable why he seemed to fall in love with Charlotte at first sight, I just didn’t like the way he pined after her. Plus points for him though for trying to stay away from Charlotte but you know, it’s love, so.

The boy had been briefed about the Holmes’ family at a young age and is constantly being updated to news about the Holmes’ as he grew up because why not when the Watson’s and Holmes’ go way, way back in the days and Jamie’s father is somewhat of a Holmes fanboy himself.

Charlotte, however, is a difficult character for me. I couldn’t read her at all. She is riddled by a mysterious past and an even more troubled present. I hated her sometimes for using Jamie and keeping him in the dark in their investigations like she didn’t trust him despite everything he did to help her. I did like her deduction skills though.

I liked the mystery the most. If anything, it was the “it” that kept me glued to the book and it left second-guessing the entire time which is just as well because I’d be extremely disappointed if I found out who the killer was before Jamie and Charlotte did.

Overall, A Study in Charlotte has a well-paced plot and with an unpredictable mystery. It could use some more development in the romance and character department, but other than those, A Study in Charlotte was a good read.

Rating: 3/5 stars!

Book Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

These Shallow Graves
by Jennifer Donnelly
Release date: October 27th 2015
Published by: Delacorte Press
Purchase link: Amazon

Synopsis:

Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon—like all the girls in her class—she’ll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo secretly dreams of becoming a writer—a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly.

Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort accidentally shot himself while cleaning his revolver. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun.

The more Jo uncovers about her father’s death, the more her suspicions grow. There are too many secrets. And they all seem to be buried in plain sight. Then she meets Eddie—a young, brash, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father’s newspaper—and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. Only now it might be too late to stop.

The past never stays buried forever. Life is dirtier than Jo Montfort could ever have imagined, and the truth is the dirtiest part of all.

Review

I haven’t read mystery or historical for quite a while now so These Shallow Graves was definitely a welcome surprise for me especially since it’s both mystery and historical and also because Donnelly wrote this so magnificently that it was seriously hard for me to put it down. Yes, it was that good! The book is a little thicker and bigger compared to my recent reads and with my disappointment with Donnelly’s previous book, Revolution, I was partial about this but a friend told me it was really good, so why not.

The historical setting, 1890’s New York City, in These Shallow Graves was a breath of fresh air. And the mysterIES? I am head over heels in love despite one of them being utterly predictable. But even so, Jo and Eddie as amateur detectives was a fun sight indeed. My favourite part though would be the autopsies. Finding out the manner of death of a person based on the wounds, blood clots, the position of the body, etc. will forever be a source of awe for me.

As well, the romance in this book is breath-taking. There’s no insta-love here and the process of Jo and Eddie falling in love was so natural. I loved their banters—both playful and serious alike. I admit that at times my excitement for the mystery was overshadowed by my desire for them to just talk and be together, which says so much because I freaking love, love, love the mystery here, guys! The problem with their relationship though is that whereas Jo came from a wealthy family, Eddie is a mere newspaper reporter, so he’s basically poor.

On that note, wealth is one of the more prominent issues here, and so is sexism, which is why I hated Jo’s grandmother so much. She firmly believes that a woman’s essence in life is to produce a child and their ultimate goal should be to marry a wealthy gentleman. It wasn’t only she who thought that. Even the teenage girls seemed to have accepted that to be a fact as well. It was sickening how they sometimes compare women to expensive dogs that you can sell on the market, yet it was the reality of the 19th century. I mean even now, there are some people who still think that way.

It is why loving Jo as a character, to me, was inevitable because she’s a very headstrong person for doing the opposite of what the society expected from women like her, and more so because she’s only just a girl in a time when sexism was a real deal.

These Shallow Graves blends mystery and romance in the most spectacular way possible. There was literally no boring part in this book. I loved every pages of it and I love that it touches on issues that are still relevant today.

Rating: 5/5 stars!

Book Review: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Truthwitch (Witchlands #1)

by Susan Dennard

Release date: January 5th 2016

Published by: Tor Teen

Purchase link: Amazon

Synopsis:

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Review

Ohhlala Truthwitch~ It was a spur of the moment decision to pick this up from the bookstore, but I am so glad for that moment because Truthwitch turned out to be one hella fantastic read!

Truthwitch kicks off with a pretty action-packed first chapter. The kind of pilot chapter that will make you think, “Oh, this is about to be good.” We have two headstrong girls, Safi and Iz, and they scream girl power! They’ve been Threadsisters for the longest time and I love, love, love their bond. Their friendship is one of the highlights in this book for me. They complement each other’s personality just as well. Safi is impulsive and spontaneous while Iz plans and thinks things through. Safi tends to be spoiled and self-centrered at times when it comes to other people, but is very protective of Iz and both of them will go out of their ways to save the other.

I do love their relationship and I like Iz alright, but I gotta admit that Safi did get on my nerves though only for a short while. I love that she would do everything in her power to save Iz—and she did but in the process, endangered the lives of other people as well. She exploited Merik’s limitations and most of the time it wasn’t even for something important, but only because she can. I was as frustrated as her as Merik was. But then she had a change of heart and that was when I started to really love her as Safi. Dennard wrote her emotions quite well because I could totally feel her remorse making the change in her character feel even more precious to me.

Another thing that’s worth noting though is the romance. THERE IS NO INSTA-LOVE! Thank goodness for that. I enjoyed Merik and Safi’s banters not because they’re being cute together but because they just genuinely disliked each other, and also because they were cute. They went from enemies to ones who like each other more than friends, haha. That’s another thing I loved about the romance. Truthwitch doesn’t focus on the romance however it’s crystal clear that it’s going to be a big deal in the coming books. The slow burn of it also ensures that readers can see why and how these characters came to feel what they feel for the other. There’s no full on love between the two and it’s just making me crave for MerikxSafi even more.

As for the other characters— gosh, Merik, Safi and Iz aren’t the only interesting people here. I adored Kullen’s loyalty to Merik, but it also broke my heart. Aeduan, also, is not your conventional villain and I do believe that there is more to him than what he showed in this book. Polly as well came as a huge surprise for me. Dennard wrote characters that grow on you and characters that will keep you second-guessing, and then both.

Truthwitch was one hell of a ride for me. It started out good, then meh, then better, then “holy what?!” and then “oh my words please I want more!” It’s one of the most anticipated books of 2016 with tons of early rave reviews so naturally, I tread with it really carefully because me and popular books don’t get along well that much. I didn’t even know anything about the story except for what the title seems to mean, and that only makes me all the more thrilled about this book. So yes, it goes without saying that I am head over heels for Truthwitch. It has a lot of foreshadowing, too, and I cannot wait to see what Dennard will make of them and what more she has in store for us.

Overall, Truthwitch is a story with a fantastic premise, well-rounded characters, interesting villains, and awesome world-building with swoony romance.

Rating: 4.5 stars!