February Wrap Up

These are the books I read in February! 

1. One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles, #3) by Ilona Andrews

This series is just so much fun! Ilona Andrews publishes it in chapters on their website, but I always wait to read it when it is finished. You do notice it's been written in parts but I've gotten over that. I would really recommend this series! I've previously reviewed the first book, if you want to know a bit more.

I gave One Fell Sweep 4 stars!

2. Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie M. Liu

Really enjoyed the first volume of Monstress! You can find my review here. I gave Monstress 4 stars!

3. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 

This book got me out of my reading slump! I liked this one so much! I've started watching the TV show, and so far it is following the book pretty closely. However, I do recommend you read the book first! 5 stars! You can find my review here.

4. Caraval (Caraval, #1) by Stephanie Garber 

I got this book in my second FairyLoot box, which was simply the best box ever! Even though my candle got damaged in the mail.
I really enjoyed the beginning of this book but around halfway through it started to go downhill for me. If anyone is interested, I might review this book more thoroughly, so leave a comment down below! 3 stars! Kind of disappointed.

5. The Forbidden Wish (The Forbidden Wish, #1) by Jessica Khoury

I absolutely adore the main character Zahra! She's amazing! I loved the fact that she's a jinni, which is so refreshing! I'm now searching for more books with a jinni, so if you have any recommendations, please leave a comment down below! However, I wasn't that impressed with Alladin, and the romance, I could have easily done without it. But yes, Zahra made this book awesome and I gave it 3,5 stars! If you are interested in a YA novel about a jinni, please pick this one up!

6. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

This was my very first Shirley Jackson novel and I'm sooo glad I finally picked it up! I wouldn't necessarily call this a horror story, but it definitely was atmospheric and it seriously made me angry as hell with some of the characters. I highly recommend this one, if you want to read a short, eerie novel! 4 stars!



I also started two more books this month (and I'm hoping to finish them soon!): 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Loving this book! I can already tell, I will force a lot of people to read this one!

The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles, #3) by Mary E. Pearson

I was reading this book, which my bookbestie graciously lend out to me, when I got in a big reading slump. I basically didn't do anything but watch Netflix. However, I'm finishing this book in March! I'm currently at page 320, so it's going to happen!


Which books did you read last month? Have you read any of the books mentioned above? Leave your thoughts down below!

Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) by Ilona Andrews

Dina DeMille doesn’t run your typical Bed and Breakfast. Her inn defies laws of physics, her fluffy dog is secretly a monster, and the only paying guest is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head. But the inn needs guests to thrive, and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina's door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, keeping the peace between Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. On top of keeping her guests from murdering each other, she must find a chef, remodel the inn...and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it's all in the day's work for an Innkeeper…

-- Goodreads.com description --

This is the second book in the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews and I LOVED it! This book was so much better than the first one and I NEED the third one right now! But I suspect I'll have to wait quite a while before this will happen.

I didn't get the feeling that this books was just a few chapters that ultimately got published as a whole. No, this book from the start to finish felt as a complete novel, which in my opinion was not the case with the first book, Clean Sweep. There were also less writing mistakes however, there are still some left.

The characters do get more developed which made my day! I love all of them, they're so great! The magic system is interesting and original and Sweep in Peace contains a plot twist I didn't see coming! Once again, this book contains some awesome illustrations.

I need the third book, I NEED IT! This will not come as a surprise that I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars! I recommend this book to every Ilona Andrews fan! Or to anyone looking for a quick fun magical read!

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is...different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, "normal" is a bit of a stretch for Dina.

And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night....Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything. 

-- Goodreads.com description --

Clean Sweep is the first book in The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews. After starting the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews and loving it, I decided to check out some of the other books written by this husband and wife duo. I picked Clean Sweep, and I didn't regret it. Ilona Andrews publishes this series on their website chapter by chapter and ultimately they self publish it. I didn't think much about that before, but I did have some problems with Clean Sweep. I do believe they could have done a better job with an actual editor. The book was riddled with mistakes like for example "solider" instead of "soldier" and several mistakes in the structure of sentences, often missing a word or more. Since the book is relatively short and therefore quite expensive, I did not appreciate all those mistakes, in fact they really got on my nerves. I'm not exaggerating when I say that in almost every chapter a mistake is to be found. I could forgive the occasional oversight but this was more than that. 

Furthermore, I did feel like the structure of the entire book didn't really work. The characters could have been more developed and Clean Sweep did feel more like a collection of chapters rather than a book as a whole to me. 

However, I still liked the story and the characters, but I just expected more of Ilona Andrews. The world building is amazing, though, and the illustrations make for a wonderful reading experience. 

All things considered I still give Clean Sweep 4 out of 5 stars. I'm currently reading the second book in the series, Sweep in Peace and I'm liking it so much more! I've still come across a few mistakes but not as many as in the first book.

Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they suggest a topic and bloggers can pick their top ten. This week's topic is top ten best books I read in 2015. I actually would have liked it better if this was a topic in January because if I read a book at the end of the year I can't add that to my top ten anymore. These are in no particular order:

1. Winter by Marissa Meyer

2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

3. Chew by John Layman, Rob Guillory (Illustrator)

4. The Martian by Andy Weir

5. The Kate Daniels series and The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews

6. Enchanted Inc. series by Shanna Swendson

7. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

8. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

9. Fall on your knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald

10. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Which books made into your top ten this year? Let me know down below!

Top Ten New-To-Me Favorite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is top ten favourite authors you read for the first time in 2015. 

Richelle Mead
Richelle Mead is my most read new-to-me favourite author! I actually read 10 of her books this year. 10! I'm really looking forward to read more of her books next year because I'm definitely not done with her yet!

Shanna Swendson
I've read 5 of her books this year, all part of The Enchanted Inc. series and I loved all of them. And Owen! Probably one of my favourite characters this year!

Margaret Atwood
I've only read The Blind Assassin but I was completely blown away with it! I've been wanting to read an Atwood book for a while now, and I'm glad this one was part of my Canadian Literature class! Looking forward to reading more of her books in the future!

Jeffrey Eugenides
The Virgen Suicides. Do I need to say more? Absolutely fantastic! I've purchased his two other books and I hope to read them soon!

Ilona Andrews
The Kate Daniels series was the perfect way to end my summer! Currently, I'm actually reading Clean Sweep and I'm really enjoying it as well! Review to come!

John Layman 
Chew is my favourite comic ever!

Rosamund Hodge
Impressed by Cruel Beauty, loved Gilded Ashes and looking forward to Crimson Bound!

Naomi Novik
Uprooted fit perfectly in my fairy tale retelling mood and was in my humble opinion one of the best books I read in the genre!

Laini Taylor
Really, really enjoyed Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It was so original and refreshing although I haven't really felt much desire to pick up the other books in the trilogy yet, it will happen soon! (Hopefully).

Anthony Doerr 
All the Light We Cannot See. Beautiful book. Kind of wanted a different ending but I can see why it ended the way it did. 

Andy Weir
After reading The Martian in September, I became unable to leave Andy Weir out of my top ten lists. Therefore, as an extra I'm adding him to this one too.


Which authors are on your list? Let me know down below!

September 2015 Wrap Up

I've read 7 books and 3 novellas last month. I'm quite pleased with that number, in fact I actually read a few extra texts for my Hispano American literature class but I'm not going to discuss those, so I'm not adding them to my wrap up.

I've been in quite the urban fantasy mood lately and as you will find out from this wrap up, I mostly read books by Ilona Andrews and I loved them! I'm hoping to write a series review of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews very soon!

Without further ado, here is my September wrap up (in reading order):

1. Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews -- 4 stars
2. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews -- 5 stars
3. Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews -- 5 stars

4. Magic Mourns (Kate Daniels 3.5) by Ilona Andrews -- 3 stars
5. Magic Dreams (Kate Daniels 4.5 by Ilona Andrews -- 4 stars
These are two novella's in the Kate Daniels universe.

6. Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews -- 5 stars

7. Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella -- 5 stars
I wrote a review for this book and you can view it here.

8. Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews -- 4 stars

This is a spin-off novel from the Kate Daniels series written in the point of view from Andrea. This book is set between the events of the fifth and sixth Kate Daniels novels.

9. Magic gifts (Kate Daniels 5.4) by Ilona Andrews -- 4 stars

My copy of Gunmetal Magic actually contained this novella as bonus content.

10. The Martian by Andy Weir -- 5 stars
If you want to know my thoughts on this book, here is my review.


In the first part of the month, I was really into the Kate Daniels series, I'm know going to take a little break from the series although I do own book six and seven. Ultimately, my favourite book of the month was The Martian, just because I didn't expect to like it so much. Maybe I should say it was the surprise of the month.

So this was my belated September wrap up! Let me know what you read in September down below! And if there are books on this list that you want to see a review of, just let me now!

Also, this is the first time I ever posted a wrap up and I would like some feedback on it. So if you have thoughts on my wrap up, don't hesitate to let me know!