Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin

“Snow and Rose didn’t know that they were living in a fairy tale–people never do.”

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Snow and Rose are two sisters. Once, Snow and Rose live with their loving parents in a big house with a spectacular garden. But one day their father disappeared into the woods. Losing her other half, their mother then lost into sorrow. Snow and Rose then have to say goodbye to their house and their old beautiful lives and must live in the old cottage in the woods that has stolen their father. Snow and Rose is a story of two sisters and their adventure in the enchanted woods that have been waiting for them to break a set of horrible spells.

The Dollmaker of Krakow by R. M. Romero

“No one is ever really lost as long as their story still exists.”

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Karolina is a living seamstress doll who lives in the Land of Dolls. When the rat army attack the Land of Dolls and overthrown the king and queen, a kind wind spirit carry Karolina to the human world. Karolina then landed at Krakow, Poland. There Karolina met with the Dollmaker with a dark past, who just finds out that he has magic inside him. Karolina who believes that the Dollmaker might hold the key to save Land of Dolls from the rat decided to help the Dollmaker masters his magic and get over his dark past and reconnect with other humans. While she lives with the Dollmaker, Karolina’s nature pushes the Dollmaker to befriends a Jewish violinist who happens to be a single father and his daughter. Karolina noticed that the Dollmaker life slowly turns into a more positive direction, he smiles more often than before. But then the Nazi invades Poland, and threaten the lives of their friends. And as things getting worse, Karolina and the Dollmaker determine to save their friends, no matter what the risks.

Frostblood by Elly Blake (Frostblood #1)

“Affairs between fire and frost rarely end well.”

First of all, I win a copy of this book from a giveaway that held by FairyLoot, so thank you so much! If you don’t know what FairyLoot is, it is one of the most awesome book box subscription for YA fantasy lovers and they delivered monthly and worldwide. You can check them out on their website here. Now let’s get to the book. Frostblood is a YA fantasy debut novel by Elly Blake. It is also the first book in the Frostblood saga. This book sets in Tempesia, a land governed by Frostblood, people who are gifted with the power of ice. They are ruled by a cruel Frost King who is determined to capture and kill every Fireblood, people who are gifted with the power of fire, their counterpart. Unfortunately for our main character, Ruby, she’s born with a gift of fire. One day the soldiers ransacked her village and then captured Ruby. She lost everything dear to her and she’s start losing hope as she is now imprisoned. But then come two Frostbloods, an old man named Brother Thistle and a mysterious hooded young man named Arcus who offer her a chance of freedom and revenge to the Frost King. Only, Ruby doesn’t know that her freedom and revenge will come with a price.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

“I was a young girl, a virgin, and therefore men denied me rationality just as they denied it to all those who were not exactly like themselves, in all their unreason.”

I will forever be thankful to the person who post a line from this book on tumblr. That post got me so curious and lead me to maybe one of the best fairy tale retellings anthology I’ve ever read. Whoever you are, thank you so much! The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is an anthology of fairy tale retelling short stories written by Angela Carter. Unlike most of fairy tale retellings I’ve read, the stories in this books are dark, sensual, and quite gruesome. The only fairy tale retelling that I feel to have a quite similar dark feeling to this book is Carolyn Sturgeon’s The Fairest of Them All. But, while The Fairest of Them All lacks of subtlety and the quality of power in its characters, The Bloody Chamber managed to deliver it.

The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose by Fabi Ghittoni

I received a free e-copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose tells a story about a 17 years old girl named Prudence Clarke. With her mother died when she was little and never knowing the identity of her father, Prudence lives a seemingly normal life in Cambridge with her best friend’s family. But everything change when a series of kidnapping happened in her city. One day Prudence was brutally attacked, and saved by some strangers who brought her to a world that should not exist. A magical world of elves, faeries, giants and other magical being. Prudence now got tangled into a war where she has to play an important role to save the world. So now, she embarks a journey accompanied by The Company of the Rose, brave warriors that will fight by her side. As a chain of strange events happened on her adventure, Prudence is about to unravel some mysteries that will turn everything she believed about her existence upside down while trying to save the world.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1)

“Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don’t feel anything at all.”

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) is a Young Adult romance fantasy book by Sarah J. Maas. This book is the first installment of a trilogy with the same title. ACOTAR is also a retelling of Beauty and the Beast—not the one made by Disney, but the original fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve—mixed with Tam Lin and East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Since I am a sucker for mythology, fairy tale, and folklore retelling, I was so excited to read this book.

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5)

“You will find that one does not deal with Celaena Sardothien. One survives her.”

This is my non-spoiler review for Empire of Storms, if you want to know a more detailed review about this book you can go here. If you want to go one step further and discuss the theory and prediction for the next book in this series with me, you can go here. If you haven’t read other books from Throne of Glass series, you might want to avoid this post and read the series first. If you need a reason to start reading this series, you can read this post on why you should read Throne of Glass series.

Why You Should Read: Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas

First of all, I would like to thanks the amazing author who has finally make me read this book series, Rick Riordan. These books has been on my ebook reader for almost two years (except for the 4th and 5th book,) and I didn’t think it’s going to climbed up my TBR list if it was not for Rick Riordan’s review on Goodreads. So, for that, thank you so much Uncle Rick.

Now, unlike my other review, this won’t be a one book review, this will be a book series review and suggestion. I was originally planned to write a one book review for each books in this series, but then again adulthood sucks and I got no time to really do it. I REALLY REALLY wanted to though, because this series is THAT good and the story is getting more complex in each books. But, I will write a one book review for the latest book in this series, which is Empire of Storms (hopefully will be up next week.) And it will be at least two posts review and discussion (and a long one, because there are so much things to talk about!)

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1)

“It was an annoying name to have. People tended to spell in Mangus, rhymes with Angus. I always corrected them: No, it’s Magnus, rhymes with swagness.”

Do you feel the sass already? Because I do. God, I can’t even write this without at least chuckling. So, The Sword of Summer is the first installment in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, Rick Riordan’s fourth mythology-based children fantasy book series. After two book series revolve around Greek mythology, and one book series revolves around Egyptian mythology, Uncle Rick finally write something about my second favorite mythology, Norse.

The Armageddon Rag

"What's the use of messing around in things you don't understand?"

The Armageddon Rag is a mystery/fantasy book written by George R. R. Martin, who I’m sure you know by his well-known and most beloved works, A Song of Ice and Fire. This book revolves around Sandy Blair, a journalist turns novelist who investigates the murder of a rock promoter, James Lynch and its weird circumstances around it. This circumstances set off Blair to not only find out who killed Lynch but also launched a suspicion towards Blair’s favorite rock band, The Nazgul, and their connection to Lynch. During his investigation, Blair unfolds many secrets surrounding, Lynch, The Nazgul, and the occult mystery surrounding rock and roll world at that time.

The Night Circus

“You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus.  You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.”

This is gonna sounds so cheesy, but that quote above is exactly how I feel when I finished this book. The Night Circus is a stand alone fantasy book written by Erin Morgenstern. The story revolved between two magicians who set against each other in a magical challenge by their venerable masters with Le Cirque des Rêves as their battle ground. Things get complicated when the two of them start to fall for each other and their thread of fates got tangled with others who live inside the circus.