#the bookgoddess book reviews

[jaicarbonilla]

Manacled by SenLinYu

Goodreads:

Harry Potter is dead. In the aftermath of the war, in order to strengthen the might of the magical world, Voldemort enacts a repopulation effort. Hermione Granger has an Order secret, lost but hidden in her mind, so she is sent as an enslaved surrogate to the High Reeve until her mind can be cracked.

Review : (Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

Okay, I normally don’t review fanfictions before, but it’s a new year, and same old me who loves Dramione to bits, and it’s still amazing to me how I can still find old fanfictions regarding them that I haven’t read yet.

If you’re not one for Dramione, that’s okay, you don’t have to read this, but if you are, I highly encourage you to check it out, mind you, it is 18+ fanfiction, for mature audience only, triggers are rape, violence, psychological trauma, and death. You can read the fanfiction here > Manacled.

On to the review with spoilers!

I don’t even know where to start! Like, y’all, this was a 70+ chapters fanfiction, and the chapters weren’t short! I wouldn’t have reviewed this if it was like a childish concept but here we are. 

It starts off, right of the bat, Harry is dead, The Order has lost the war, Voldemort won and The Deatheaters just rule the entire Britain wizarding world, and even expanding at that point. Hermione got captured and was locked in this cell for a very long time by Um-freaking-bridge, it was a closed cell, no windows, no human interaction, nothing. Just her and the damn walls.

This concept isn’t really new for Dramione fanfics, I’ve read a bunch with this kind of thing but the author really dragged us to the darkness with this one. Usually you don’t get a Dramione fanfiction that was this good without losing the war, or at least having Draco switch sides during the war, but the author took it to another level.

It’s one thing to make Hermione go through all of this shit, the torture, the rape, the deaths that she witnessed, and still fall in love with Draco, but it’s another to read the flashbacks and realize how much Draco was willing to sacrifice anything, even himself, for Hermione, just to save her from all of these, but Hermione, being her usual Gryffindor-y self. wants to save everyone else including Draco, and makes all his plans flushed out the door. 

I love the concept of psychological trauma here, it’s depicted really well, plus I don’t see any break from their canon personalities all through out the fanfiction. Like you still have Hermione as this girl who would do everything for her loved ones, even if she is casted out, even if people disagree with her way of thinking, she still stands by it because she is constantly learning and taking everything in perspective and she believes in her facts and the things she see, not just feel, and she still wants to see that good in people, but as the plot goes on you can see her trying and failing to hold on to that hope. Now you have Draco who is still a jerk, he stands by his pride, he is still a coward at certain points you can see it, but he is also still intelligent. Everything wouldn’t have worked out the way it did without his intelligence, without his take on it, and as I said he would have been able to save Hermione if it wasn’t for the fact that Hermione wants to save him as well. I can go on and on about this, but you get the point.

The whole plot about the repopulation was amazing. Like you can definitely see  how it came to that and how the author used it as a catalyst for everything. The trauma was a big deal with it as well, especially since it revolved around Hermione, and how she is having these panic attacks centered around open spaces since she was left to basically rot in a closed cell. I loved how it wasn’t depicted as something easy to overcome, I liked the fact that even till the end you can read that she is still suffering from it. I liked how Draco’s conscience was shown especially during the rape part of the repopulation, though I would have love it more if it was explored further. 

The whole ending was perfect. I know there are fanfictions out there that shows how Draco and Hermione can be accepted publicly, but for this one it wouldn’t have been possible. With everything that they went through, and with everyone’s concept of them individually, it wouldn’t have worked out. Plus points for the 10 years later epilogue, it was spot on. Sometimes you don’t have to make everything work out well to have a happy ending.

5 stars. That’s it. I don’t care anymore. My Dramione heart has been reopened.

[beautifulpaxielreads]

22 in 2022

Rules! Choose 22 books you want to read or goals you want to achieve in 2022. That’s it! It can be a mix of books and goals, or 22 books, or 22 goals…. it’s up to you. Then tag some friends to play along.

I was tagged by the lovely @storytime-reviews. Thank you!

1. Read at least one book from my TBR each month, according to @bookbandit's annual TBR Buster Challenge. Can be fiction or non-fiction.

2. Read all the books I own that are on my TBR.

3. Reread The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins.

4. Reread The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner in preparation for the sequel, Beyond the End of the World.

5. Read Beyond the End of the World.

6. Have another go at reading The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough.

7. Participate in more book photography challenges. I always forget to do them but I'm going to try a little bit harder this year.

8. Read at least some of the books on my TBR that are available at my local library.

9. Read more diverse books by #ownvoices authors.

10. Read more books by Australian authors.

11. Be more generous with my star ratings (thanks for the inspo, @storytime-reviews!).

12. Read more nonfiction.

13. Interact more with the Booklr community (when I feel up to it).

14. Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers.

15. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

16. A Single Thread of Moonlight by Laura Wood

17. The Yield by Tara June Winch

18. Read at least one book by a trans or non-binary author

19. A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor #1) by Christelle Dabos, translated by Hildegarde Serle

20. We Can't Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon

21. Read at least one (1) graphic novel.

22. Burn by Patrick Ness

That's it!

I'll tag some of my newer book-blogging followers to participate (only if you want to of course - no pressure): @the-bookgoddess, @jazzieam,@welsh87,@anonymouse-the-asian, and@mosscoveredpages plus anyone else who wants to have a go.

Happy reading all!

[jaicarbonilla]

Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi

Goodreads:

The explosive finale to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Shatter Me series. Juliette Ferrars. Ella Sommers. Which is the truth and which is the lie? Now that Ella knows who Juliette is and what she was created for, things have only become more complicated. As she struggles to understand the past that haunts her and looks to a future more uncertain than ever, the lines between right and wrong—between Ella and Juliette—blur. And with old enemies looming, her destiny may not be her own to control. The day of reckoning for the Reestablishment is coming. But she may not get to choose what side she fights on.

Review : (Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

Okay...okay. Let me just clear my head because I have a lot of frustration right now, and it’s a mixture of good and bad frustration, but mostly bad, and I dislike that. Anything beyond this contains spoilers so...

Remember how I said I liked how Kenji was added into the POVs? Yeah... Now I’m just extremely annoyed by the fact that Aaron was completely wiped out of that, and was just left at the epilogue. It took me a few seconds, I literally had to double check while I was looking at the table of contents, and from that I was already disappointed. I got why she had to do it in Defy Me, because we needed that POV to see what was actually going on the rebellion base but now, sweetheart, Aaron is there, why not use him? He is your male main character, why couldn’t you show us his POV, like girl, he is mentally deteriorating by the beginning and it would have been a lot better if we knew what was going on in his head. This is not something you should leave out for a something .5 book, it should have been here, he is your male main character for crying out loud. Not to disregard Kenji, but like if you’re going to add his POV in that length, wouldn’t it have been better to just have his POV as the novella? I mean, yeah, I guess his timing in everything, he was at the right place at the right time, but it shouldn’t have been the whole book!

Second, plot-wise was excruciating to read, I get what she was planning and envisioning but there are just some things you shouldn’t do. It sort of made me think she wanted all of these twists and turns included in all of it that it just seemed so rushed. I mean, the whole thing was okay until Juliette woke up from that thing Emmaline did to her, after that it was so.... meh.

Again, why can’t just Anderson die? Then you got to go through this creepy infatuation of Juliette to Anderson when she turned into this super soldier? Like, man, why? I swear if that crossed the line, especially when he made her kneel in front of him and made her call him master, I would have closed the book and just remember it as a trilogy again. 

Another thing! That whole spectacle of having Aaron and Juliette fight? It was good, it made sense, but damn! The aftermath? The whole I gotta take my shirt off and make you touch me to make you remember me, even though you’re a super soldier right now and you have been ordered by your master, by my father who you have a crush on now, to kill me? You gotta feel my abs babe so you can remember, like WTF? Why? I just... can’t.

I am so pissed off, you can’t even imagine. But still, your girl got to read it till the end. It was freaking anti-climactic, wait, it shouldn’t even be considered anticlimactic at the end actually, the whole book was!

Yeah, kill Emmaline, that was the whole point, you got to kill the source and Juliette has to be the one to do it, check, make the whole Oceania base crumble by your grief, check, but then BAM, it becomes two weeks later and Juliette is getting married, oh! And don’t forget Kenji, he ruined her wedding dress, which was specifically made for her by Alia who has all these time on her hands because essentially they are not at war right? Now what? Oh! She’s popular now, oh! and don’t make Adam not have a moment as well, he got to be okay now with all of them even though he offered his powers to The Reestablishment to use, but it’s the finale, no more reconciliation needed for that.

Happily Ever After, the end. 

Freaking 2 stars. One for the cover and one for the whole beginning part. That’s it. I don’t even know now what to do with this.

Till next time!

[jaicarbonilla]

Two Dark Reigns and Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

Synopsis of Two Dark Reigns:

Queen Katharine has waited her entire life to wear the crown. But now that she finally has it, the murmurs of dissent grow louder by the day. There’s also the alarming issue of whether or not her sisters are actually dead—or if they’re waiting in the wings to usurp the throne. Mirabella and Arsinoe are alive, but in hiding on the mainland and dealing with a nightmare of their own: being visited repeatedly by a specter they think might be the fabled Blue Queen. Though she says nothing, her rotting, bony finger pointing out to sea is clear enough: return to Fennbirn. Jules, too, is in a strange place—in disguise. And her only confidants, a war-gifted girl named Emilia and her oracle friend Mathilde, are urging her to take on a role she can’t imagine filling: a legion-cursed queen who will lead a rebel army to Katharine’s doorstep. This is an uprising that the mysterious Blue Queen may have more to do with than anyone could have guessed—or expected.

Synopsis of Five Dark Fates:

After the grim confrontation with Queen Katharine, the rebellion lies in tatters. Jules’s legion curse has been unbound, and it is up to Arsinoe to find a cure, even as the responsibility of stopping the ravaging mist lies heavy on her shoulders, and her shoulders alone. Mirabella has disappeared. Katharine’s reign remains intact—for now. When Mirabella arrives, seemingly under a banner of truce, Katharine begins to yearn for the closeness that Mirabella and Arsinoe share. But as the two circle each other, the dead queens hiss caution—Mirabella is not to be trusted. In this conclusion to the Three Dark Crowns series, three sisters will rise to fight as the secrets of Fennbirn’s history are laid bare. Allegiances will shift. Bonds will be tested. But the fate of the island lies in the hands of its queens. It always has.

Review : (Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

As soon as I decided to return back to reading after almost 3 years of not reading at all (except for mangas and webtoons), I figured I should finish the series that I put on hold before I start and read new series. I remember reading Three Dark Crowns and One Dark Throne like immediately as soon as it was available in the bookstore where I used to work at. I fairly remember liking both of them enough to make me still know that I have yet to finish it and here I am, finally done with this series.

I’m going to review both of these books as a whole because I have very little to say about Two Dark Reigns, and I figured well I can just do Five Dark Fates with it. (Spoilers ahead)

First of, I remember rooting for Mirabella since the start, not because she was more powerful than her two other sisters, but because she was definitely queen material, and she was intelligent and cared for the people and the island as much as she can, but then again she loved her sisters more.

I have glimpses of memory of the first two books but I know the plot enough to remember where I left off when I started reading Two Dark Reigns. This book starts of with Katherine as Queen Crowned, who is inhabited by the dead queens when she fell in the Breccia Domain, then you have Mirabella and Arsinoe in the Mainland with Billy, hiding since they abdicated their rightful claim to the throne.

The plot basically is just a build up for the upcoming war, I mean, yeah, we get this Queen Illiann and Daphne / Blue Queen backstory, but that’s about it that excited me. I do like, however, Jules’ role, how she is this Legion-cursed but people still believe enough in her that they make her the Queen of this rebellion that would like to overthrow the triplet queens line. So that’s Two Dark Reigns, in summary Katherine is reigning in Fennbirn where she deals with the revolting mist that is actually Queen Illiann, on top of the dead queens trying to ultimately control her, and the fact that the people are starting to get uneasy enough to finally question her ascend to the throne, and then you have Jules reigning as the legion cursed queen for the rebellion.

Then you have Five Dark Fates, the last book in this series, thank God. I’m sorry, it was just very tedious to go through the two books, I’m just happy enough that I finished it and now I can just move on.

What can I say...

So they discovered how the mist can be stopped, and how they can get rid of the dead queens in Katherine. Mirabella sets off to be with Katherine because she still believes in the goddess and the triplet queens line enough that she was not ready for Jules to be the one on the throne, she believed that she can save Katherine and ultimately stop the war and the mist, but she doesn’t really know how to I believe she never got that knowledge till the end.

Then you have Arsinoe who was at the beginning trying to heal Jules with low magic or her poisoning gift, I don’t remember, from the legion cursed that was broken by the death of Madrigal. When she finally realized that Mirabella was gone, she didn’t believe that it was on her own choice, so as soon as Jules was up they set out to free Mirabella.

What was Katherine doing at this point... I believe she was unravelling the Blue Queen’s secret, and Arsinoe and her both discovered the way to stop the mist like at the same time, but both of them did not want to do it, since it required the sacrifice of an elemental queen, which in this case is Mirabella.

Then a lot of shit happens, Pietyr, Katherine’s love, tried to get rid of the dead queens using low magic but failed and was in a comatose because of it, Billy got captured by Rho Mutra who Katherine shared the dead queens with, and then the shittiest shit happened when Mirabella died. I’m biased, I know that, because I was rooting for her, but damn, I wanted her to at least have an extravagant ending, no matter what it was, like I didn’t care if she was going to be sacrificed, I just wanted it to be good, like fitted for her, I mean I get the point, it fairly follows the plot but the way it was executed could have been better, could have been more dramatic. I just didn’t like the execution of her death that’s it.

So past the ongoing war, where you have Jules and Rho fighting off each other which is basically, I guess, the main face off there. You have Arsinoe, Katherine, and Pietyr in a standoff, well not really because Katherine was willing already at that point which is a good arc for her character. Some shit happens and then the only redeeming factor for me was the end of the dead queens, because by then you have the redemption of Kathrine when she sacrificed herself for Arsinoe, and then you have the mist which has Queen Illiann, Daphne, Mirabella (I hoped it was a greater comeback but good thing I expected less), and Katherine at that point finally getting rid of those dead queens. 

That’s it, I mean you have this epilogue where weeks past the war has everyone trying to rebuild everything and then you have Arsinoe by the end going back to the mainland to try and fix things with Billy. Yeah.

3 stars. I just didn’t like it enough, but it was enough for me to get through the series. So some plots were good, some were not, and in the end it was just... meh.

[jaicarbonilla]

Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

Goodreads:

The gripping fifth installment in the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Shatter Me series. Will Juliette’s broken heart make her vulnerable to the strengthening darkness within her? Juliette’s short tenure as the supreme commander of North America has been an utter disaster. When the children of the other world leaders show up on her doorstep, she wants nothing more than to turn to Warner for support and guidance. But he shatters her heart when he reveals that he’s been keeping secrets about her family and her identity from her—secrets that change everything. Juliette is devastated, and the darkness that’s always dwelled within her threatens to consume her. An explosive encounter with unexpected visitors might be enough to push her over the edge.

Review : (May Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

Posting two reviews in a day just because I couldn’t put the book down! My eyes definitely needed a break but I just couldn’t. This is what happens when I get hooked on a series, I can’t seem to stop myself from flipping to the next page.

I’m gonna go ahead and skip how I love the cover of this book because you all know by now how much I like the concept over all with the changing designs of the eye.

So let’s go on with the plot, and as I said in my Restore Me Review we get to go on this whole new adventure of finding more details of The Reestablishment and how deeply involved Juliette Ferrars is in this plan. The review further to this contains spoilers, you’ve been warned.

I loved how Kenji was added into the POV concept of the book, it was really necessary since Ella (Real name of Juliette) and Aaron were far away at the beginning, and we still needed that point of view within the rebellion group and I just like how you can see the difference of the thought process of each character, like Aaron’s way of conceptualizing the things around him is deeply influenced by his military training, while Kenji has this very random, fast-paced kind of thinking especially when he’s with Nazeera, I just love how the two are still trying to cover up the fact that they work so well together.

And then we have Ms. Ella Sommers, taken away by her real parents to be experimented again and she’s back to being a mere test subject like... WTF. You’re breaking the girl Ms. Tahereh Mafi, her mental health is not the only thing broken at this point. I can’t help but feel sympathy for this girl, her life just sucks. Her real parents are psychopaths, her adopted parents are abusive, she got experimented on for years, her whole life is basically a lie and was manipulated by Anderson to his liking, who is very much still alive and maybe plotting Ella and Aaron’s death at this point, I don’t know, why can’t he just die, why can’t they just all die?

Emmaline, oh my gosh, dear Emmaline. She basically turned into a Siren. Like, why?! Why would a parent do that to her kid? If you think Ella has it bad, Emmaline has it worst and more. I think there was a line there where it was so descriptively accurate, like Ella is lucky that she forgot all of those things in her past, she didn’t know how twisted her real life was, but Emmaline remembers everything, EVERYTHING. All those experiments done to her, all that happened, from being taken to Ella being taken, to snippets of their parents talking about them, from the day she lost her sight, her ability to hear and even talk, she remembers it all. This poor girl!

I love the ending though, it was a very happy one, everything is good, but you know, it’s the calm before the storm. You know that shit’s going to happen, and the author just needed you to have this moment to relax and take a breather from all the things she made you go through. I am currently already holding the next book in my hand, and I don’t even know if I plan to sleep at this point.

Without any hesitation, 5 stars. It’s the perfect plot before the finale (now I’m really sure that we’re by the end now), I have nothing else to say, just... I got to go read Imagine Me! 

Till next time!

[jaicarbonilla]

EVER THE HUNTED by ERIN SUMMERILL

SYNOPSIS: Seventeen year-old Britta Flannery is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. She spends her days tracking criminals alongside her father, the legendary bounty hunter for the King of Malam—that is, until her father is murdered. Now outcast and alone and having no rights to her father’s land or inheritance, she seeks refuge where she feels most safe: the Ever Woods. When Britta is caught poaching by the royal guard, instead of facing the noose she is offered a deal: her freedom in exchange for her father’s killer. However, it’s not so simple. The alleged killer is none other than Cohen McKay, her father’s former apprentice. The only friend she’s ever known. The boy she once loved who broke her heart. She must go on a dangerous quest in a world of warring kingdoms, mad kings, and dark magic to find the real killer. But Britta wields more power than she knows. And soon she will learn what has always made her different will make her a daunting and dangerous force.

review : (may contain spoilers) Continue if you dare. *purely my opinion, and i understand if yours is different from mine.

First and foremost, what about that cover huh? It really attracted me, the title itself intrigued me, the plot hooked me even further. So when I picked up this book, I had no one else's opinion about it, it was solely because I saw it and from what I've seen and read, I liked it.

The difficult part now is explaining why I just stayed liking it and not loving it. I personally love sci-fi/fantasy novels. I like a hardcore bad ass feminine lead role. I normally don't mind the romance in them, I just like the build up of having the girl not knowing how powerful she is into harnessing those powers and eventually taking control not only of herself but of the lives of the people around her, you know protecting the people she loves, stuff like that, and I really thought that this book would bring that to me.

It did not, well... sort of. It just didn't satisfy me as well as I imagined it would have. No one hyped me over it, no one gave me huge expectations over the book, it just fell flat itself. 

The huge problem for me was the pacing of the book, I just found it so slow. I had to like skip a few pages because it dulled me out. The thing is it was making me sleepy, and I hate feeling that way about a book, I don't want to sleep because I was reading and having a... boring (I can't find another word for it, sorry, being honest here) time. It irks me that I felt that way. It took me a while to finish the book and honestly I don't know, I want to give the sequel a try, but I'm having a difficult time doing so. But I will give it a chance, for sure, I just don't know when.

Okay, let's talk about Britta Flannery, she is the heroine of the novel. The book starts off with her having to get away after mourning the loss of her father, who was like the head bounty hunter of the king. It shows how strong she is, how smart and how she can survive on her own, thanks to everything her father taught her. Eventually, she was needed to find the killer of her father by the king's men, so that's the start of her adventure.

Now, Cohen McKay was the apprentice of Britta's father. He is now the alleged killer of the man. So Britta has to hunt him down, even though she doesn't want to because he was the only friend she had before. Cohen and Britta learned from the same man so they know each others' strengths and weaknesses, Cohen knows how great of a hunter/tracker Britta is. Britta knows how smart Cohen can be when it comes to survival. Eventually their paths will cross in the novel, and you should go and find out what they do next by reading the book.

Yes, I am still willing to go forth and have you godlings try it out, because you might actually love it. I am still giving it three stars because it was an okay book for me, and the ending would actually entice you to read the next one because of certain changes with Britta. 

So yeah, I don't have anything else to say about it, but I hope you godlings will (hoping that it would be great things actually), and I really wish the sequel would satisfy me more, so that I would be hooked to finish the series and see Britta's adventure through.

[jaicarbonilla]

The Right Thing To Do and All The Wrong Things by Lovesbitca8

Synopsis of The Right Thing To Do:

Hermione felt the pounding in her ears again. She would see him for the first time since the Great Hall, gaunt and stricken at the Slytherin table with his mother clutching his arm. She hadn't meant to look for him. Not in the corridors, not beneath the white sheets of the fallen, not on the way to the Chamber of Secrets with Ron, but she was a stupid girl.

Synopsis of All The Wrong Things:

Sequel to "The Right Thing to Do" - Draco's POV. Part 2 of the "Rights and Wrongs" series. Friday, August 27, 1999 They’re murmuring again. Trying to keep their voices low so the prisoner can’t hear. But the prisoner is fifteen feet away, and they are failing. I wish they would take me out of the room if they need to discuss. Bring me back to the small room I was in this morning. But, of course, they let me stand in this cage in the middle of them. On display. I pick a spot four feet in front of me and maintain my gaze. I don’t want to look at them and I don’t want to fall asleep. I feel a yawn. “Mr. Malfoy. Your next witness is here. Are you ready to proceed?” I almost smile. Do I have a choice?

Review : (May Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

Yes, I’m doing another fanfiction review! And yes, it’s another Dramione fanfic, because it’s the only fanfiction I read. So if y’all don’t like this pairing, that’s fine with me, just let me love them. If you want to check it out, you can read them here -> Rights and Wrongs , the first two which are the ones I’m reviewing here, is set after the war and is sort of canon in that sense, but of course there are bits and pieces in the backgrounds that are not, especially revolving the two main characters, the first one is in Hermione’s POV, and the second one is in Draco’s. And if you know this series, yes, I’ve read The Auction and I’ll make a separate review on it.

First, I appreciate the fact that the author included this history of a secret love, a love slowly burning through the years, and just gives you these bits and pieces of information on the secret glances, the maturing of their infatuation, like even Lucius and Narcissa, and Henry and Jean (If I remember correctly) knew from the start when Draco and Hermione were still kids and how Draco’s irritation for this single girl cannot just be from annoyance but from intrigue and infatuation. I just love the snippets of backstories that the author gave, it just adds to the whole star-crossed lovers vibe.

Next, I imagined that happening canonically, how Harry and Hermione eventually testifies for the Malfoys, accounting their resistance in actually going through the tasks given to them by Voldemort, and their help to the Order of the Phoenix. How their every move were motivated by their love for family and self-preservation, because it was a war not everyone will have the guts to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, some just has the strength to save themselves and their family no matter how they do it or the consequences after. Not everyone can be sorted to Gryffindor and save kittens from trees. 

Before I dive into the main characters let me start of by saying I just love the growth of the characters, everyone, like they no longer have this war shadow looming over them, they can just be free. Their teenage years were taken away from them by this war and they had to mature fast, but this, post-canon, shows how if things were different, Draco and Harry might have been friends, Hermione and Pansy might have gotten along just fine, like, heck, Pansy, gosh, I think this is the first Dramione fanfiction that I can honestly say that I like Pansy’s role. She’s usually the bitter ex along with Astoria, but here, mature fashion icon Pansy is perfection. Hands down my best Pansy portrayal for now.

Harry and Ginny? Did we ever doubt that? I mean, they just work together for me. I love how supportive they both were of Hermione and her “obsession” with her little project. Although they were not the stars of this fanfiction, their role was one of the keys to actually give that little push for Draco and Hermione to finally get together. Then we have Blaise, he’s the perfect mix of a flirt and the best wingman for Draco, he gives these little nudges (irritating for Draco but hilarious for me) that makes Draco move towards Hermione more whether to protect or claim what he deems is his. Narcissa, gosh, this loving, adorable mother, our cupid. She is just this sweetest scheming woman there is. Then Lucius, he is just manipulative. Although, he’s that, I appreciate that he was looking out for his son’s “best interest” at hand, he’s just going about it all the wrong way. Love that ending though, serves you right Lucius. 

Now, Draco and Hermione, what can I say, I am grateful for the slow burn, I love how Draco deemed himself underserving of her and her love, thus his actions towards her, but still he does this things that makes you just want to shout at him to just tell her, just confess idiot. Hermione, on the other hand, just has this bit of celebrity non-celebrity demeanor, like, she knows she is the Golden Girl, but she rather she was not seen as that important, makes her humble, makes her reachable, makes her attainable for Draco. They are these two lovesick persons that should have been busy flirting and getting to know each other when they were kids if circumstances were more amicable, but since it was not, everything is awkward and every action is doubted, it makes for a cute light story.

The three best parts for me were the New Year’s Gala, that toast by Draco, he sure knows how to make a woman feel like the center of attention, he knew the exact words, the exact timing to look at Hermione, to get her. The way Hermione felt singled out, and how that speech urged her to drop everything, every future career plan she had, to work for him, that resume, just gives me goosebumps. The second one was the other event, I think it was called the Governor’s ball, I love how Draco made Hermione felt that empowerment of getting the things she want. He led her, introducing her to high influential people, teaching her the ways of how a simple conversation and slight nudges and teases can land you a big sponsorship or anything about their business. I mean, Hermione could do it all on her own, but I believe she’ll be too stiff, too critical, too straightforward, and just too business-y, while Draco with his smooth talk gave her those cues when to talk business, when to not, made her relax and seemed as if she barely cared if you agree with her or not, but by the end, he’ll make sure of it that you agree with her. The last one was the end, that visit to Lucius, and that list. Oooh! Perfect ending I believe.

5 Stars, I don’t remember a bad comment in my head while reading it. I just love it. I don’t know what else to say, it was a good feel fanfiction. I appreciate it being post canon, I appreciate the maturity of the characters, I love the dog-cat fight teasing that this showed, because they’re Draco and Hermione, they’re bound to clash at some points. But even the fights I love. That’s it!

[jaicarbonilla]

The Auction by Lovesbitca8

Synopsis:

In the wake of the Dark Lord’s triumph over Harry Potter, the defeated must learn their new place. Hermione Granger, former Golden Girl, has been captured and reduced to human chattel. Sold to the highest bidder as the top prize at an auction of Order members and sympathizers, she is thrust into the rabid, waiting hands of the Death Eaters. But despite the horrors of Voldemort’s new world, help—and hope—seem to arise from the most unlikely of places.

Review : (Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

This is the AU for the Rights and Wrongs series of Lovesbitca8 where Voldemort won and the women and men who were on the other side of the war were captured and sold in an Auction, bided on by the Death Eaters or any influential family for that matter who is on the side of the Dark Lord. You can read this on its own or after the first two parts of the series since this is an AU. I preferred and what I did was read the first two before this one since it gives more of that impact on what could have been or what would have happened if things were different. So you can check out the fanfiction here -> The Auction (do read the trigger warnings)

The Auction was tackled on the TRTTD/ATWT story, it was a catalyst for “The Wall” that Hermione made, and I’m glad that the author made an AU diving into this darker reality of going through that event. Having said that, let’s get on with the review.

Okay, I’m just going to let it out, maybe it’s because I read one after the other but I don’t really know the published date of The Auction versus Manacled, but I find them vaguely similar in terms of the whole vibe of it. Manacled was just a bit darker especially at the start and the way it dived into the rape and trauma content. Comparing The Auction to it, this had parts that were darker but never really involving the two main characters, it revolved in their surroundings though. Both had explicit non-consensual sexual content but they gave it in different manners. You can read my review on Manacled here. So enough about that, I just wanted that to be out there.

Focusing mainly on The Auction now, knowing what I read on TRTTD/ATWT, this AU gives just the right amount of light and dark in a fanfiction. It’s not too heavy, and it’s not flimsy either. It starts after Harry dies and Hermione finds herself following Narcissa Malfoy searching for her son and urging him to leave with her and hide from all of the things about to happen. Just from the conversation they had, you’ll find already the conviction of Draco to not leave Hermione behind especially knowing about the auction that the Death Eaters were talking about.

I find that this harsh reality of sex slave trade a bit stretched but not impossible, knowing that these men and women were focused on revenge and suppressing the good from overtaking them again. Of course they would want a continued humiliation and that showcase of power to all to remind everyone that they won. Reading that the Dark Lord wasn’t really interested in the trade rather was invested in claiming all the other countries and was just tolerating or just turned a blind eye to it just so that he can give that moral boost to his supporters was a possibility, and I’m glad that the author thought about it. He was no longer human, barely has a soul left, but his focus was on spreading his reign throughout the other countries, that’s what driven him from the very start, power, and I’m just glad that there wasn’t an explicit content on whether Ginny was raped by him, it was just noted that she was his pet and was most of time with him. I don’t think I would have read further if there was a descriptive story on that. I just can’t imagine, and I won’t.

I don’t know why, but I kind of respect Lucius here. Like, he’s doing his best to give Draco what he wants and what he needs, but also doing enough so that he doesn’t get into trouble. I like that concept of him knowing that Draco loves Hermione and would do anything for her, and Lucius would be there to make sure that Hermione is safe for Draco, and would do anything for them because that is Draco’s happiness right there. That scene after Edinburgh raid, where he went into Hermione’s mind and saw that Hermione loves Draco, that line where he said if you love him stop trying to get him killed, or something like that, was perfect. He is still that man who can kill for Voldemort and would do any of his biddings as long as it doesn’t cross with Draco’s safety, but now he is also the man who loves Narcissa so much, loves Draco so much, that he knew when to act harsh or act smart. 

I still love Narcissa here, not as much as I love her in TRTTD/ATWT, that was cute and light, here it was deeper, more motherly, more mature, you can see her struggle on trying to maintain composure at all times while her husband and son is out there on the battlefield. You can see her trying to still act harsh but defends Hermione as much as she can when needed. She knew when to let Draco and Hermione choose their own paths without any second opinion from her, especially when they were trying to get the antidote for the tattoos. But you can’t change the fact that Draco is her son, and would beg Hermione to let him leave with her so that they can be safe until everything is settled. I love that the author gave that.

Plot wise, I like the fact that there was an Edinburgh plot. I don’t like what was happening, but I love that it was there. Because that is what to be expected, once you have these slave girls, there’s bound to be a club of some sort, where they display them like trophies and show how they broke these women into the shell that they now are. There wasn’t any detailed plot on the men side, but there were snippets, like Seamus and Justin’s fight.  On the women side, you can read how they can trade girls for galleons for a night, and how they are reduced into this waitress/prostitute beings, how they are forced to do all sorts of things for these men in power.

I don’t want to go too detailed about it, because this will be a lengthy read if I did but yeah, the flow of the story was so good, the parts where Draco and Hermione slowly started to trust each other, ultimately missing each other and confessing their love for one another had a great timing overall. Draco’s possessiveness and protectiveness of Hermione was just the right amount to play on both sides, like it was enough for the dark side to think of it as some ploy about being an only child and not learning how to share, and enough for Hermione to think that Draco actually cares for her. I love how the author thought about the ways Draco prevented any suspicions on Hermione’s lifestyle in the Manor, how the whole family actually kept with the charade. It was all well thought. Even the ending, that was smart. I believe with this plot that it was fairly possible that the epilogue would have been the best case scenario. I love that it was in Cornerstone, like it just tugs at my heart.

Overall, there were parts that I skimmed through, but it was a great read. 4 stars!

See you soon!

[jaicarbonilla]

Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi

Goodreads:

Juliette Ferrars thought she'd won. She took over Sector 45, was named the new Supreme Commander, and now has Warner by her side. But she's still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch—and now she's got the whole world in the palm of her hand. When tragedy hits, who will she become? Will she be able to control the power she wields and use it for good?

The only critic that I can say is, that ending was very anti-climactic. I was like “What, wait? Am I missing some pages? That’s it? That’s the ending? omg.” The book brought me to the very top, and then just BAM, The end.

So yeah… It’s such a great book. A great trilogy. I would re-read it over and over again if I can. That is why my final rating for Ignite Me is 4.75 stars.

- AN EXCERPT FROM THEBOOKGODDESS’ IGNITE ME BOOK REVIEW FROM 2015

(see what I did here?)

WHY DID I THINK IT WAS A TRILOGY BACK THEN? I DON’T KNOW. DON’T COME FOR THE YOUNGER ME. THAT WAS SEVEN YEARS AGO.

Review : (May Contain Spoilers)

*PURELY MY OPINION, AND I UNDERSTAND IF YOURS IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.

First of, I always talk about the covers of Tahereh Mafi’s books, and this one did not disappoint! The blue-green vibes with the white-grey background is such... hmmm...

I had to re-read the last chapter of Ignite Me just to refresh my memory but when I got to the zone of this world again, I was in it for the long time once more. This basically continues on to the rebellion they were doing and ultimately ending Anderson’s reign.

What happens next are a series of events that leads to the unraveling of Juliette’s past, and partly Aaron’s side in all of it. I still like how she changes POVs in a sort of way that doesn’t really confuse the flow of the story. It just gives more impact on how the characters are living in that moment, how they interact and how their way of thinking, influenced by how they were raised, differ from one another.

The revelations from this book was a shocker to me. I did not expect the depth of how intricately twisted Juliette’s life is to the very beginning of The Reestablishment, should I even be calling her Juliette? I don’t know, but yes I’d rather do.

And a long-lost sister? who is still being actively tortured? I cannot wait how that reunion will unfold but that’s for me to find out in a few minutes since I’ll be reading Defy Me as soon as I’m done with this review. But, yeah, how do you cope up with that? Imagine fighting this war for just a few months and your only drive is your revenge and the sympathy you feel for the rest of the people who you barely even know, and accomplishing massive destruction and overthrowing the Supreme Commander. Now imagine having that knowledge of someone blood-related to you, someone stolen from you, from your memories, by your own real parents? I cannot even start how.... dude, The Reestablishment better gear up, cause Juliette Ferrars is coming for them.

To sum it all up, this is a great transition book from Juliette’s life in the asylum, knowing herself, knowing her powers, and realizing how little of the world she actually knows, to untangling these knots in her past, which by the way I don’t think she’s half way through it, and discovering and learning more about her life and the expanding world she has brought herself into.

If Tahereh Mafi’s plan was this book to be just that, a transition book, then yeah, I’ll give it 5 stars, cause she played it well. If not, then it’s almost like half of the book is missing, you can’t just stop there and leave us hanging, but isn’t that the case for series? Cliffhangers so you’ll have the urge to read the next one. (Guilty here.)

Till next time!

[jaicarbonilla]

You’re Not Enough (And That’s Okay) by Allie Beth Stuckey

Goodreads:

Is the pressure to "lean in," "wash your face," and believe you are a "badass" actually making you miserable? Well, there's good news: you don't have to give in. When faced with disappointment, self-doubt, and failure, we rely on positivity mantras and upbeat Bible verses to relieve our anxiety. But instead of easing our emotional burden, the pressure to love ourselves more actually makes it worse. Even so, the idea that unconditional self-love can cure all that ails us is tempting and easy to rationalize. It's time to admit to ourselves what we already know: we are not smart enough; we are not beautiful enough; we are not tough enough; we are not good enough. And that's okay, because God is. Allie Beth Stuckey, a young mother, Christian, and conservative thought leader, was once herself sucked into the Cult of Self-Love--and knows that you probably have been too. In this book, she shows you how to identify and combat the toxic, exhausting myths our culture encourages with Scripture and traditional values like personal responsibility, self-sacrifice, and grit. For instance: Myth: There is no objective truth. Truth: We'll never feel personally fulfilled if we have no moral benchmark at which to aim. Myth: Life is all about me. Truth: When our highest priority is our own comfort and success, we end up alienating family and friends. Myth: Happiness is the goal. Truth: Since good vibes don't last forever, they're not sufficient criteria for personal purpose and meaning. Blending timeless wisdom and biblical truths, Stuckey shows how these sneaky, pervasive myths threaten women and fuel victimhood culture--from social justice warriors to radical feminism and the new wave of socialism. Stuckey dismantles these myths step-by-step and offers strategies that can help you move past them--and undo the damage they've done.

*purely my opinion, and I understand if yours is different from mine.

Where do I even start? It’s been a while since I reviewed a book and a first that I’ll be doing it in a non-fiction genre. But here we go!

First the title of the book, this was something that really intrigued me. Nowadays, self affirmation has been a constant aid to everyone who needed that push from themselves to get over something or “love” themselves more. Especially to women, we have been continuously hearing the words “you are enough”, “do you.”, “you’re perfect just the way you are.”, and so forth, all of these self-love mantra has been giving us that momentarily satisfaction on a day to day basis. So for a book title that contradicts all of that, for an author to make you question what has been being drilled into your mind by influencers really made me grab hold of this book.

The curiosity to know why was enough for me to not even read and research anything about the author or the contents of the book. So it was a surprise for me when I started reading it and saw that it was actually a Christianity based book. Just a short background, I have struggled with my faith for quite some time when I was about 24-25 years old and I was clearly a mess back then, but a few years before that, my mom actually invited me to a Sunday Service and introduced me to Christianity, and for a while I was open to the changes that were asked for in terms of following Christ’s teachings, and then when it came to the vices that took hold of my life I gave up following and just went about my way again. Fast forward to 2 years ago, when I was 26, I came back and was welcomed wholeheartedly back.

So for me to renew my habit of reading as a resolution this year and having the first book to be centered around Christ’s teachings was enlightening to me. The fact that I didn’t even have to purposely search for that kind of book, and just have it pop out of nowhere and attract me to it was sort of a revelation to me, but enough about that. Pretty sure, I rambled on already.

This book tackles on 5 Myths of Self Love Affirmations that we have been constantly hearing, they are:

You are enough.

You determine your truth.

You’re perfect the way you are.

You’re entitled to your dreams, and

You can’t love others until you love yourself.

I don’t know about you, but my quarter life crisis was all about my identity and my purpose in life, and I don’t know how many times I have heard of these words repeated to me by everyone that I know. But the way the author debunked all of these, how our self-love will never reach that assurance for one self, that no matter how hard we try we can never get that long-lasting satisfaction, how blinded we are with what we compare our lives to, and how much God loves us  compared to the love we are trying to push within ourselves was very reassuring.

I have taken a lot of notes from this book and I can go on and on about all the quotes that I have highlighted, but I’ll just choose a few. One of the things that struck me was when she said that “The self can’t be both our problem and our solution.”, I momentarily paused when I read this and reflected on it, and I was like that makes perfect sense. How did that get past me? How can you solve a problem by the problem itself?

Another was when she said “While all valid feelings are real, not all real feelings are valid.” And I’m like huh, why you got to go at me like that? The author has this way of conveying her message like you’re actually right there talking to her and she’s lecturing you on all of these things and you’re just sitting there wondering if your life has been an open book all along and she’s just dissecting every little thing that you’ve done. And the fact that this is not only just my problem but a whole lot of other people have the same one at different points of their lives just makes me think how we never came across about the toxic side of self love. (And I mean side because, not all of the ways you conjure self-love is toxic.)

Lastly, because I don’t want this to turn into a book essay instead of a review, is I like how she included Bible verses in assuring us her points, plus she has written the verse itself or like a summary of the whole message of the Scripture so that you don’t even have to search for the verse to figure out what she’s talking about.

All in all, I have to say that this was worth the read and I’m lucky enough to have read this first at the start of the year and the beginning of my resolution to go back to reading books. Not gonna lie though, I had to skip a few parts especially by the end since it was about motherhood, and I am not at that stage of my life yet so I can’t relate, but other than that, I give it four stars.