Book Review: Opal

"Opal" by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux series #3)

Genre-Young Adult, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, and romance

Paperback Edition-382

5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes! If you loved the first two books, you'll love this one!


Hey guys I'm back with a quick review. I am reviewing "Opal". This is the third book in the "Lux" series. I started reading this series two years ago in 2014. I don't know why I never continued on with the third book after loving the first two. I'm so glad I finally read this book because it was amazing! I really liked the first book "Obsidian", loved the second book "Onyx" and this one is definitely my favorite so far. I'm not going to describe the plot because I don't wanna spoil it for those that haven't read this series yet. Just know that this book was so amazing! I love this series. I love everything about it. The best part of this series is definitely the characters. I love all the characters that Jennifer created. I love Katy and Daemon so much!! Their relationship is just so sweet and incredible, I just love them. I love Daemon, he's one of my book boyfriends now. There were parts in this book that broke my heart. The ending killed me! The ending was so bad, I cried my eyes out. If you read this book you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway I loved this book so much! I obviously gave it 5 Lily Pads. If you haven't read this series yet you need to! If you liked the first two books, please pick up this one. I can't wait to read the next book "Origin". Hopefully I can finish the series by the end of the year. This series is definitely worth a buy. I recommend buying all the books together at the same time because it's an amazing series and also because each book ends with a cliffhanger. So yeah that's my quick review. Stay tuned for reviews for the last three books coming soon. Thanks so much for reading this review and happy reading! :)

Book Review: We Were Liars

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Genre- Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller

Hardcover Edition-225 Pages

5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes
Beware of Minor Spoilers!!

Hey guys I'm back with a review. Today I am actually reviewing a stand-alone novel. It's been a while since I've read one because I've been reading so many series lately. I am reviewing "We Were Liars". I'll admit I was never really interested in reading this book. I didn't think it would be for me and I heard really mixed things about it. I decided to give it a try because it was in the bargain section of Books-a-million and the plot sounded really good so I decided to give it a shot. I'm so glad I did because I really enjoyed this book. A long time ago I actually read another book by her called "The Boyfriend List" and I remember not liking it. I'm surprised I liked this book. 

I'm not going to describe the plot a lot because it's one of those books where you should go into this book blind not knowing much. It just makes the reading experience so much better because it's a very mysterious book. I thought the plot sounded very interesting though. It's about a teenage girl named Cadence and every summer she goes to her Grandfather's island and she spends time with her cousins. She has her own group there, she hangs out with her cousins Johnny, Merren and their friend, Gat. Her relatives are rich. That's all you need to know about this book. I'm not going to spoil anything. 

My Opinion

I actually really enjoyed this book. It was a very short book. It took me 4 days to read just because I haven't been reading much. It's one of those books where you can read it in one sitting. 

I liked the author's writing style. It didn't really stand out to me. It was just very simplistic but she added in tons of metaphors and at times it was like reading poetry. 

I really liked the plot of this book. I love reading books about rich families, and the wealthy lifestyle in general. 

The pacing of this book was fine. I'll admit that not much happens in this book. It's basically just the characters living their every day lives during the summer. The ending has some action and it's intense though. I was never really bored reading it. It kept my attention the whole time. 

Finally I wanna talk about the characters. I had mixed feelings about the characters in this book. The character development was good but not great. I didn't really get attached to the characters. I liked the main protagonist, Cadence but she was an unreliable narrator. I liked her but she didn't stand out too much for me. I just didn't love her but I just liked her. I liked Johnny and Merren but they weren't that great either. Over time I liked them more but they were just plain. They were just regular teenagers, they didn't stand out to me either. My favorite character was definitely Gat. I don't know why but I really liked him since the beginning of the book. He was a good guy and I just really loved him. As for the romance, it was pretty good. There's not a lot of romance in this book but I liked reading about it. I didn't really care for the side characters that much. Her grandad was just okay, I didn't love him. I didn't care for her mom or Carrie or the other characters. Like I said the character development just wasn't that good in this book. I liked the characters but I didn't love them. I just wasn't very emotionally attached to them and that's why I didn't get sad at the end of the book. I didn't really care what happened to them honestly.    

What really threw me off with this book was, I knew there was a plot twist at the end. I've heard that and I think it sort of ruined the experience for me. I didn't predict the ending. However, since I knew there was a twist at the end, I was sort of rushing through the book trying to find out what the twist was. It got me to guess and think about what it was and my theory was totally wrong. I wish I didn't know there was a twist, and when I got to the end, it didn't shock me at all. I was like "that's it?" "that's the big plot twist?". Also, after I finished the book I was very confused about what happened. I watched some reviews for it on Booktube and it got me to understand the whole book and what happened at the end. I'm still confused though. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't amazing and it definitely wasn't the best book I've ever read but it was a good book. I gave it 5 Lily Pads because I didn't have any problems with it. I would probably reread it in the future so I can go back and try to find all the clues that led to the twist at the end. This book didn't stand out to me which is why it's not my favorite book. I would recommend this book though. If you love books with mental illness and unreliable narrators, I think you would like this one. My advice is to go into it with low expectations like I did. I think this book is worth a buy but I would recommend getting it from the library first just to make sure you like it. I think this book is worth a try and it's a good book to read around Halloween because it's very mysterious. Thank you so much for reading and I will have more posts coming soon so stay tuned for more. Bye and happy reading! :)

Series Review: The Infernal Devices

Beware of spoilers!!

 
Hey there bookworms I'm back with another series review. Today I am reviewing the trilogy "The Infernal Devices" by Cassandra Clare. I finally finished this trilogy! I never wrote reviews for the first two books so I decided to combine them all into one review. Let's get started!

"Clockwork Angel" 

Genre-Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Pages-448 

 Rating-5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes!

  "Clockwork Prince"

Genre- Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Pages-502

Rating-5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes!! This is my favorite book in the trilogy. If you loved the first book you have to read this one!

   "Clockwork Princess"

Genre-Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Pages-568

Rating-5/5 Lily Pads

Would I Recommend It? Yes! This was an amazing conclusion and if you loved the first two, you need to read this book

The Plot(from Wikipedia)

  

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean from New York to find her brother, her destination is London, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, Nephilim warriors dedicated to keeping the world free from demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own, by marriage.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by and torn between two best friends: Jem, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy all Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping the Nephilim save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

This trilogy was just so amazing! I've read the first five books in the "Mortal Instruments" series and really enjoyed them. Years ago I discovered the "Infernal Devices" trilogy and I heard it was even better than TMI. I was interested in reading the series and now I finally finished this trilogy last night. I just love this series so much! It is definitely a favorite of mine and it will always hold a place in my heart. These characters will always stick with me. 

The Writing

First of all, in case you guys don't know, Cassandra Clare is one of my favorite authors. I just love her books so much!! I always liked her writing style. Her writing is very beautiful and can be poetic at times. It can be descriptive but not too descriptive and she's very good at describing things in a beautiful way. I love the way she writes dialogue in her books, it's just so natural! I feel like I'm just talking to these characters and the words are just so funny and witty. Her books have the best quotes ever! Most times while reading her books I'll notice lots of amazing quotes. In this trilogy there are so many words and quotes that the characters say. I just wanna write them down but I always forget to. Her writing is just so clever, like I said the dialogue in her books are just so sweet and witty. There were times where I was laughing at what the characters said and I never really laugh while reading books. Overall, I love her writing style and I can't wait to read "Lady Midnight". 

The World

Since I love the "Mortal Instruments" obviously I love the world she created. I think it's really cool how she set the books in real places like "London" and "New York" but she added in supernatural creatures and magic. My favorite setting was the Institute. I loved reading about it. I just found it interesting reading about all the characters staying there. I also like that this trilogy takes place in the 1800's. It's like reading historical fiction and I haven't read many of them. It was cool to read about this time period to see what it was like back then. 

The Characters

The best part of this series was definitely the characters. They were so amazing! Cassandra Clare did such an amazing job developing the characters, I also love the characters in TMI too. 

First let's talk about the main protagonist, Miss Theresa "Tessa" Gray. First off, I just loved her so much!! She is one of my favorite female book protagonists. She's just so kind and sweet. She's also witty at times and very intelligent. She's supposed to be Sixteen but I found her very mature for her age. I just loved how caring she was, she's just such a wonderful person and I would love to be friends with her in real life. I also loved that she was so passionate about books, I could definitely relate to her.

Next I'm going to talk about my two husbands, Mr. William Herondale and my baby, James "Jem" Carstairs. Oh my gosh, I love these two so much! They are both just so amazing!

First off, I love Will of course. I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of him in the beginning. I thought he was mean and a huge jerk. But then I read "Clockwork Prince" and I learned why he always acted the way he did and I totally forgave him. He comes off as this mean, heartless, careless guy but underneath he's the complete opposite of that. He's very kind and selfless and he'll do anything for the people he loves. I agree with Tessa, that he's a very good man. His love for Tessa was just so sweet! I loved how romantic he was and he loves books, how can you not love him? His bond with Jem was just so incredible! I loved their relationship. Their friendship was just so perfect. They love each other and they were always there for one another. They are true best friends and always will be. Their love for Tessa was also awesome because even though they both loved her, they never fought for her. They each were willing to give her up to make the other happy. I loved that there was no jealousy between them. 

Jem has officially made it up to the top of my book boyfriend's list. He is just the perfect guy! I always love the nice guys so of course I loved Jem. I really wish he wasn't a fictional character because I totally wanna marry him in real life. He is just the sweetest character I've ever read about. He is so sweet, kind and patient. I love that he is always nice to everyone. I also love him because he plays the violin. I love guys that are musicians, that's my type of guy. I love how shy he is and he's not cocky at all. I felt so bad for him because of his illness, he really didn't deserve it at all. I can't believe he was Brother Zachariah! I freaked out while reading "City of Lost Souls" because he was in the book! I can't say more about why I love Jem, you'll have to read the books to understand why. He's the kind of person that everyone loves, and he's so caring and selfless. 

I love her books because she's also great at creating really likable side characters too. I loved all the side characters in this trilogy. I loved Charlotte, Henry, Jessamine, Sophie, Cecily, Magnus, Gabriel and Gideon. They were all amazing characters! I loved reading about them. 

I got spoiled for "Clockwork Princess" so I knew everything that happened. It sort of took away the experience for me because I didn't cry like everyone else since I knew what happened. The ending was very satisfying. I loved that Tessa married Will and had the perfect marriage with him. They were just perfect for each other and I'm so glad they ended up together and had kids. It was really sad when Will died. I thought it was so sweet that he died with Tessa and Jem next to him. Their bond and friendship was honestly the best part of this series. I loved the three of them together, and their love for each other. I was so happy that she ended up with Jem too! I really wanted her to be with Jem. They are also perfect together and Jem deserved a happy ending. I'm so glad they are married now and I hope I can read more about their marriage in future books. I just loved that Cassandra made Tessa end up with both of them, it makes sense because she loves both of them equally. I wouldn't be able to choose between them either. I just thought that was so cool because I've never seen that happen with love triangles. Usually the girl only ends up with one guy but the fact that Tessa ended up with both of them just made this series even more special and unique!

Overall, this trilogy was just so amazing and I'm so sad to see this series end. I really wish it could go on forever but it ended really well. Like I said before this is one of my favorite trilogies now and this series will always hold a special place in my heart. I actually reread the first two books this year and I can't wait to reread this trilogy again in the future, for the rest of my life. If you haven't read this trilogy or the "Mortal Instruments" you need to! Both series are amazing! I am so glad I jumped on this bandwagon years ago. I started reading TMI when I first discovered Booktube in 2012. I just have to read "City of Heavenly Fire" and then I'll finally be done with that series. I can't wait to read the "Dark Artifices" series soon. That was my very long review. Obviously this trilogy is worth a buy so go buy this series now! You won't regret it. Thanks so much reading this long review. Stay tuned for my full series review for the "Mortal Instruments". I'm not sure when that will be because the last book will take me a long time to read, but I will post the review sometime in the next year. Thanks again for reading, have a great day and happy reading! :)