Heartless | Marissa Meyer

I am SO thankful because my best friend allowed me to ship my copy of this gem to her so she could get it SIGNED FOR ME. I have a slight obsession with signed books but that's okay. I saw a copy at walmart and oh my goodness. I took the dust jacket off and that thing is gorgeous! GORGEOUS. 

I downloaded an ebook copy so I can go ahead and read it because I have no patience and I have problems.

Okay, so update. I got my copy in the mail from my friend and I am now obsessed with this book and it holds a lot of meaning for me now. I opened it and there was a Marissa Meyer/best friend BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT. What the heck. Seriously, I screamed and I'm really excited and I feel like this is the way to tell your reader friend you're having a baby.

ANYWAYS. On to the actual book thoughts. Like every other Marissa Meyer book I have had the pleasure of reading, I LOVED THIS. I loved the story of Caath and how all she really wanted to do was open a bakery and how in the kingdom of Hearts she wasn't allowed to do that and everyone wanted her to marry the king that she had zero feelings for. I'm trying to not spoil it, but at the end, I really felt like I understood why Cath did the things that she did. The way things happen.. you feel terrible for her. 

Also my owlcrate for novemeber was totally Alice themed but I'm keeping both copies I have because look at this exclusive cover!? It's so pretty! That, and I think I'm going to collect a another or two from other countries because I loved this book and it does hold now special memories for me.

4.5/5 stars. 

Trapped in Silver | Emily Sowden

Okay, so first let me start this review by saying I have the flu and I'm supposed to be going to work right now but instead, I'm in bed writing about THE BEST DAMN YA FANTASTY I HAVE READ IN QUITE SOME TIME.

Let me start with a good ole fashioned goodreads synopsis:

Courage comes from a shadowed place in our hearts; a blurred line that straddles love and sheer stupidity.

To seventeen-year-old Ava, wild woodcats, hungry stragglers, and simple-minded townsfolk are the evils she’s grown accustomed to. But when Ethan, an unusual man with eyes of smoke and fire opal, enters her world she quickly understands that there are worse things out there than drunken men and carnivorous forest creatures. She’s a specialised liar and a hell of a fighter, but against a group of animalistic men called Berserkers she struggles to survive the encounter as the desperate swing of a dagger is all it takes to change her life for good.

Half-dead and hunted by the Berserker’s leader when he forms a monstrous obsession with her, Ava escapes his pursuit in an unfamiliar land full of impossible creatures, unlikely allies, and the man she doesn’t know whether to kiss or kill.
But after dreadful news of her missing brother surfaces, Ava becomes more involved in the centuries-long war and begins to unravel the reasons behind her relentless nightmares, discovering truths long-buried in a violent history of love, loss and betrayal.

Okay, so I am planning a much more spoilery blog post for when after this book releases in February, because I have to talk to someone about certain events that go down. I'm going to try to avoid them spoilers. That, and not knowing much about this book besides that you need to read it as soon as it's released, is the way to go into it.

This book does follow a YA trope that I usually find annoying but it was done so different in this book, that I didn't mind it at all. One thing about the ebook formatting that I loved was before each chapter you get a blank page with the characters name that the chapters perspective is written from. That made it much easier to follow unlike some high fantasy books that I have enjoyed but could have enjoyed much more (example: Game of Thrones) I've noticed a lot more YA books doing this lately and I am so not complaining about it!

Ava is an AMAZING main character. There were some things that she does that I didn't agree with but I loved the fact that in a world where women were expected to act a specific way, she was like "Um, no, I don't think so, I'm going to do this instead."

The creatures in this book are something else. I love my high fantasy to have something a little different that really makes it stand out in all the others books I go after and this book DEFINITELY did that for me! I just love the authors writing style, mainly because it reminds me of other authors that I absolutely enjoy such as Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard.

Now, let me tell you a little story that has to deal with this book. I was reading this book on my phone at work and I finished it right around the time of shift change, and I kind of started freaking out to the point where one of my coworkers (who shall remain nameless) offered to tranquilize me. Obviously, I didn't accept their offer but that should let you know just how invested you will be in this book. <3

5/5 stars

Release date: 02/07/17
(I don't want to wait for the second novel in this series, may I please have it now? PLEASE?)

Also, if you preorder this bad boy, be sure to email your receipt to oftomes@oftomes.com for some sweet looking preorder swag.

FTC disclaimer: I was provided an egalley of this book from oftomes publishing in exchange for an honest review. #teamBERSERKERS

A List of Cages | Robin Roe

Goodreads Synopsis:
When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years.

Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what's really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives.

I don't think I will be able to recommend a more important to book for anyone to read ever. This is one of those books that will stay with you for the rest of your life. I am pretty sure that this will be the hit YA book for 2017. I read this book in one sitting last night and I don't think 10 minutes went by where my heart wasn't ripped out and stomped on into a millon little pieces. This is a debut novel by Robin Roe, but with her writing style, it doesn't seem that way at all.

Told from dual perspectives, I actually didn't do the whole "I don't care about this character, I can't wait until I get to read more the other characters perspective!" I cared about Julian and Adam equally. As a former guardian ad litem, what happens to Julian completely broke my heart and I felt so bad for him, I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him that it would all be okay. Adam on the other hand, is one of those friends who you are glad to have. His love for Julian so genuine and real. While there is a minor romantic interest with two character in this story, I am so glad that it took a backseat and focused on this wonderful friendship.

I don't want to ruin the plot of this book for anyone, but I'm going to tell you this: I feel like everyone and their moms best friend needs this book in their lives. I always do volunteer work for guardian during the summer, and I'm already planning to buy a few extra copies for the older kids that I help. Sometimes they won't tell you what's really going on in their lives because they're scared and I feel after reading this, they will be more perspective to me trying to find out what's really going on their lives so they don't get sent back to a unhealthy environment.

This book is going to change so many peoples lives, and I'm excited for it to hit shelves on January 10, 2017.

5/5 stars. Duh.

FTC: I recieved an advanced reading copy of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Disney Hyperion in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls | Emma Cline

I have heard SO many people talking non stop about this book. This was the "it" adult book of the summer, if I am not mistaken. I joined Book of the Month Club on cyber monday because they had a super sweet discount code where you got a couple of extra credits for books. I had heard so much about it, and I am trying to get into reading more adult books, so I decided to give this one a chance.

This book takes place in northern Cali in 1969, and the main character is a 14 year old girl named Evie. I had heard before I got this book that this was  fictional retelling of the Manson Murders which peaked my interest even though I knew nothing about them.
This book takes place the summer before Evie begins high school, which for her, is going to consist of a baording school. The beginning of the book, Evie has several friends that are around her age, which is cool. Only problem is that they end up having a falling out. This is where she runs into Suzanne at. They never really give me Suzanne's age, but I feel like she is MUCH older than Evie. Anyways, Suzanne's involved in a cult that a character Russell is in charge of. I hate to say it this way but I feel almost as if Suzanne may be Russells main bitch during this time. Most of the book is about the things that Evie does to get on the good side of these people so they will come to accept her as one of them, this mainly involveds lying and stealing things.
One thing that caused me to almost put this book down several times was the sexual content between Evie, a 14 year old girl, and other characters that would be much older than her (I'm talking 40 plus). This bothered  me to the point where I felt dirty reading this book, and I'm not really a prude so if you decide to pick this one up, I would watch out for that.

I didn't really connect with this book until I was less than a hundred pages from finishing it. The murders were supposed to be the climax of this book but I feel like they were really rushed though and that disappointed me. One thing I didn't get it, is that Evie knew excatly who did it when she saw the murders hit the news but she kept her mouth shut, and months later Suzanne went to her boarding school to threaten her about them. OBVIOUSLY they find out about them, and how she was with them on that fateful night but she didn't say anything. I want to know why she wasn't punished for knowing but keeping her mouth shut. The book kind of just eneded adruptly without telling me why that happened the way it did.

I LOVED the writing style in this book and because of that it's a strong 4.5 out of 5 stars for me, and I'm probably going to pick up Helter Skelter next year so I can really learn about this gruesome event in history.

"That was the part about being a girl, you were resigned to whatever feedback you'd get. If you got mad, you were crazy, and if you didn't react, you were a bitch. The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they'd backed you into. Implicate yourself in the joke, even if the joke was on you."