The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

"Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin's Guild, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam." -Goddreads synopsis

This review will be a little different from my others for several reasons. This is a series we are way too deep into for me to go over each character or plot. I won’t me writing a super detailed review for each one, just a small summary, my favorite quote, and the rating.

The Assassin's Blade is a bind up of five novellas for the Throne of Glass Series. I’m just going to say this right way... I wish I would have read this right after Throne of Glass. I wish I wouldn't have waited till I was four books in to pick this up. This book would have changed the way I viewed this series, and I mean that in the best way. These stories changed the way I see Celaena, answered both little and big questions I had, and ultimately decided whose "team" I'm on... but I'll get to that part in a few. These stories cover everything from young Celaena up until the point she ends up at Endovier (a salt mine prison).

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord- 10/10
Celaena is sent with Sam to meet up with a Pirate Lord (obviously) to set up a deal for her boss. This is the first time we really get too see her and Sam actually interact. If you’ve read any of the other books, even just the first, then you know how sassy Celaena is and we get a look into why she is this way. Especially towards Sam. We get to see how she got her start, and how their relationship actually started. I know we’ve heard bits a pieces in the other books, but these start filling in all the cracks. After a twist in the plan is presented the two they have to deceive what path they want to take, and pick whose side they are going to be on.

Favorite Quote: “You want my advice?” he asked her. “No.” “I’d watch my back around Sam. You might be the best, Sardothien, but there’s always someone waiting for you to slip.” Sam, the traitorous bastard, didn’t hide his smirk. The other pirate captains chuckled. Celaena stared hard at Rolfe… “You want my advice?” He waved a hand, beckoning her to go on. “Mind your own business.”

The Assassin and the Healer- 9/10
After returning home from her mission with the Pirate Lord she is sent to the Red Deseret. This is where she will spend her summer as punishment. Before arriving to the Red Desert she is stuck in a small town waiting for her boat to arrive the next day. She finds herself helping a barmaid and teaching her how to defend herself. This was my least favorite story in the book. I also believe it is the shortest one. I didn’t hate it; it just didn’t have the same effect on me the other ones did. I didn’t feel like it gave me as much. I did like that it had a lot of the bitter angry Celaena that I love so much.

Favorite Quote: “Let me give you a bit of advice, from one working girl to another: Life isn’t easy, no matter where you are. You’ll make choices you think are right, and then suffer for them.”

The Assassin and the Desert- 10/10
Celaena finally arrives at the Red Desert to spend the summer training with the Mute Master as punishment. While she is there she has to go through a Kill Bill style training to redeem a letter from the master before she can return back to the Guild. While there we learn how she got to be as good as she is, how she is starting to feel for Sam, and we get to hear about the “first real” friend she’s ever made. This is the story that I feel lays down the foundation for why Celaena became the softer version of herself that we have all grown to love so much. Think this is where she goes from villain to something more. Some might disagree or think it happened at some other point, and some might think it hasn’t happened at all.

Favorite Quote: “Go to Hell” Ansel chuckled “I’ve been to Hell.”  

The Assassin and the Underworld- 10/10
Celaena is back from the desert and ready distract herself from owning up to her feeling. Not just the feelings she has for Sam but towards everything. She decides throwing herself fully into a mission is the best way to do this. The Underworld was the biggest surprise read to me. Out of all five this one was my favorite. Everything finally clicks, things really starts happening, and everything we’ve been waiting for is slammed into us. This story will always have a special place in my heart, and in this series. The best part is we get so much Sam and Celaena time. I thought that the last story was going to be the one that choked me up, but this is the novella that got me. I was sneak reading at work and had to cry on the inside like a winner. So many feels.

Favorite Quote: “and from today onward, I want to never be separated from you. Where you go, I go. Even if that means going to Hell itself, where you are, that’s where I want to be. Forever.”

The Assassin and the Empire- 10/10
If you’ve read even just the first few chapters of Throne of Glass, then you already know what is going to happen in this story… I would like to say that you’ll be ready for it… but I won’t lie. You won’t be. This story has everything in it. The emotions, the fighting, the betrayal, the answers about what really happened to Sam that terrible evening, and how Celaena ultimately got caught. This story will break you. Second favorite in this bind up.

Favorite Quotes: “Deep down, she said, “I’m a coward.” His brows rose. “I’m a coward,” she repeats “And I’m scared. I’m scared all the time. Always.”

“I am Celaena Sardothien… and I will not be afraid.”

This book had me laughing, crying, swearing, praying, and completed me. I thought it would help with the pain of waiting for book five, but all it did was make me crave it even more. I love Celaena, she is my favorite literary female. She falls in this area of being a villain and being a hero. She is everything I want from my leading lady. She is fire and smoke. She is hard and soft. Loving, strong, and weak. She is changing the game when it comes to Ya/Na females...

I thank Sarah J every day for this series. I finally want to end this long review with these two statements: (this isn’t a spoiler it’s just my theory) I in no way shape or form believe Sam is dead. I might be in denial but I just don’t. I think the biggest twist in this series will be that he is still alive. Also for the question I left hanging at the beginning of this; whose team am I on… Thought it was Rowan, but then again something always felt like it was missing. That’s because Sam is what was missing. I am officially and 100% on Team Sam. If he really turns out not to be an option, then I want Celaena to stand on her own. This series is beyond phenomenal.

Overall Star Rating- 10/10 Stars
-Angela

Angela's Top Ten Book Boyfriends

Here I give you my top ten picks of my favorite fictional guys aka the hardest list I've ever had to make. Yall know we love any and everything to do with fictional book boyfriends. So we decided to comply a list of our favorites and then put them in order... Some people might have read that first sentence and thought I seemed a little nutty for saying this was difficult, but for true die hard book lovers you will completely understand why this task was so daunting.

10) Wren- A Wicked Saga 
9) Rowan Whitethorn- Throne of Glass Series 
8) Tamlin- A Court of Thorns and Roses 
7) Roth- The Dark Elements Trilogy 
6) Ridge- Maybe Some Day 
5) Noah Shaw- The Mara Dyer Trilogy 
4) Evan Walker- The 5th Wave Trilogy 
3) Daemon Black- The Lux Series 
2) Warner- The Shatter Me Trilogy 
1) Miles Archer- Ugly Love 

My list consist of a lot of Jennifer Armentrout, Sarah J. Maas, and Colleen Hoover men... what can I say those ladies sure know their guys. Complete shocker on who my number one was right?!?! Yeah, I'm just kidding. How could I not pick Miles Archer. Not only is Colleen Hoover one of my favorite authors, Ugly Love also happens to be my favorite book, so it's only fitting that it house my favorite man. All the fellas on this list have a lot of things in common. They're strong, supportive, witty, charming, and more. BUT none of them ever come close to giving me as characters what Miles Archer gave me, and that was shock. No character has ever surprised me quite like he has. He went from this mystery, handsome, non romantic too this super deep super touching character that I just didn't see coming. Yes Warner does come close, but Miles still manages to pull ahead because he also manages to be a very believable character. The moment you meet him you hate him. However, much like things go in the real world once you start getting a person's back-story you start to see them in a new light. The more we got into his story the more I started to fall for him. By the end of the book every heart string I had had been pulled because of his character. He goes from being just this pretty face (looks like he was sent down from the heavens might I add) to being someone you find yourself rooting for and heart breaking over. Though there might be other guys on this list I would have been completely fine with making Miles Archer my numbers 1-10. With 2016 slowly creeping up on us meaning the Ugly Love movie will be here before we know it! Which mean there will be a face to put the the Archer name... And I don't know if I've ever mention this but the face they've casted just happens to be my number one celebrity crush... So yeah basically once this movies over I can die happy.

 

 

Annnnnnnnd I just got pregnant! Whoosh... Ladies and gents I rest my case.

Since we had such a hard time narrowing everyone down I do wanna mention three that didn't quite crack the top ten and those are... Trey from The Kricket Series, Kaden from The Remnant Chronicles, and Ansel from Sweet Filthy Thing.

Dream-Cast Ladies Addition

If you follow us on any social sites than you should know that once a month we put up a post about our choices for Fictional Book Boyfriends/Dreamcast... Well we thought it would be fun to show yall some of our lady choices. Hopefully this will be something we can continue in the future. Same as with our other post, if we have a review on our blog for these books just click the titles.

The Selection by Kiera Cass
35 girls are chosen to be a part of a bachelor style contest to marry the prince.

 

Holland Roden as America Singer

Legend by Marie Lu

Girl has to choose to fight for either her country or love.

Hailee Steinfeld as June Iparis

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas 

Female assassin must compete against fellow criminals in hopes to win freedom.

Natalie Dormer as Celaena Sardothien

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover 

Girl moves in with musician neighbor. 

Imogen Poots as Sydney 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi  
Government seeks untouchable girl to use as weapon. 

Odeya Rush as Juliette

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Like some other recent releases, this is probably one of the most hyped books we will get this year. Sarah J. Maas rocks out with her Throne of Glass series, so this separate novel was promoted like crazy. I won't like, I was pretty skeptical. I waited until after the book had been released and had a respectable number of reviews before deciding to buy it. In some of the reviews, the story was compared to Beauty and the Beast and/or the story of Hades and Persephone. I'll just go ahead and throw it out there that I don't like fairytale retellings. I haven't read Cinder or any of the likes because I really just don't like retellings. It's just one of those things. But because I love SJM and Angela read and loved the book so much, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I actually really, really liked this book. As I was reading, I didn't find myself comparing it to other stories as you might in a normal retelling because the plot and characters are SO unique. Feyre is one of those characters who is super relatable because of the struggles she has faced in her life. Basically, her life has sucked. She has been given the D end of every stick because of this bogus promise she made to her mom on her deathbed. When things start getting crazy after Feyre kills a Fae wolf and one of the Fae's friends comes to claim the person who took his life. From there she gets whisked away to the land of Fae and has to spend the rest of her life living with this guy as punishment. She is very realistic in the way that she worries about her family, but also selfishly worries that no one will remember her. That tugged on my heart strings because I think it is a fear of pretty much everyone that they will die or disappear and no one will even remember they existed.

You can kind of guess where the story is going to go right from the bat (as far as the romance). You know that Tamlin is going to be her love interest, so there is no spoilers there. The love story is SO sweet. What these two do for each other is breathtaking, and I will absolutely add it to my list of best love stories. There is a part of the book where everything is laid out on the table by a different character and everything is explained..... and it was just beautiful. The sacrifices that are made and decisions that are made really show what true love is.

The book dragged on a bit during the middle, but I get it. During the meaty part of the book, there is a lot of relationship building so it is a necessary thing. Once you get over the hump of the slow parts, things start going crazy. Whatever you think is going to happen, just go ahead and throw it out the window. The direction that SJM takes it was completely not even on the realm of anything that I could have possible thought when I started the book. I kept asking Angela questions and trying to get her to give me spoilers, but everything that I asked or predicted that was going to happen was immediately shot down. I saw why once I got close to end. I really liked how I had NO idea how it was going to end.

One of the best things about ACOTAR is the sub-characters. Lucien, Alis, Nesta, and so many others really took things to the next level. They added so much depth to the story and really made the picture of their world feel complete. There was one character in particular that I didn't care for that I know a lot of people liked which is Rhys. I just didn't like his part of the story. I like him as a character and I really hope he has more about him if there is a sequel. I just didn't like how SJM incorporated him into Feyre's life, and I feel like it could have been left out of the book and been fine. I think having him there and how everything goes down at the end, it left me with more questions than answers for the big picture.

That brings me to the ending... I love the HEA, but things sort of just end. Leading up its like BANG BANG BANG ACTION ACTION ACTION then the big thing happens and everyone is like "k it's over bye!" It was just kind of an odd ending, especially the last paragraph that deals with Rhys. Again, I think this is going to be a series instead of a standalone so I'm sure things will make more since in the sequel. I was just super into it and read like 300pages in two hours and was completely absorbed in the story and then it just.... ended. I was just left feeling like "oh...... ok. That's cool, I guess."

Overall, this is an excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of high fantasy or if you just love SJM's writing in general. This book was no exception to her beautiful writing. You'll find yourself on the edge of your seat at times, wanting to go jump in the shower during the scandy times, swooning over the hotties, and yelling at the book when the plot takes an unexpected twist. While it isn't one of my absolute favorites that I have read this year, the love story is one of my favorites. I would recommend reading it for Feyre and Tamlin's love story alone. It'll have you swooning all over the place. Hearts hearts hearts.

4/5 stars

Fictional Book Boyfriends pt 7

It's that time again!!!!! We put some faces too the names in our books!  Here are our June picks for "fictional book boyfriends" or as some call them "dream-cast" and most recently "IfList". We basically pick a few of our favorite titles and show you who we imagined the leading men to be.

Click the titles to go to the reviews and click here for past post.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Love triangle forms between shadowhunting best friends and a mystery girl.

 

 

Joe Collier as Will Herondale 

We'd gladly go into a Vampire party if this slice of handsome was escorting us.

Mario Maurer as Jem Carstairs

We'd like to be the ham in this man sandwich.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas 

The smutty and oh so good version of Beauty and the Beast 

Ken Bek as Lucien 

Not even a robotic eye could keep this guy from looking all sorts of fine.

After by Anna Todd 

Girl and guy go back and forth in a non-stop love hate relationship.

Joshua Anthony Brand as Hardin Scott

We just wanna Live While Were Young with this babe.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover 

Two musical neighbors lust after one another, but of course something is keep them apart.

Brendan Dooling as Ridge

Someone please tell us how to sign "I want your babies".

 

YALLFest Day 2!!!

Yesterday was the second day of Yallfest, and IT WAS AMAZING!!! I (Angela) was off work so Leah, Richard (Leah's husband) and I were all able to go out there together and see everyone!

For those of you that follow us and are from Charleston, out of state, or out of town just to catch you up, YALLFest is a once a year two day YA book festival. It's located in Leah and I's home town of Charleston, SC. It's actually the largest YA book festival in the country. It's hosted by the cutest little local book shop called Blue Bike Books that is located in downtown Charleston. It's spread out over several streets with multiple hours of signings. Along with the signings there are Keynote speakers, a YA smackdown, and several panels you can attend. You can also purchase books, shirts, and get lots of free goodies.

The weather outside is flawless this time of year so it made getting up at 5:30 in the morning so worth it. And that's how we started our early and by rushing around to make sure we got there early. We knew that James Dashner and Veronica Roth were both only seeing select number of fans so we knew we had to plan perfect and....

I'm pretty sure we did the impossible because we were able to see both Veronica Roth and James Dashner! They were both only seeing the first 200 people and we somehow managed to get wristbands and see both of them in like less than two hours!

James Dashner was who we choose to see as our keynote speaker and we're so glad we did! He was super funny, charming, and probably one of the nicest authors we met. His panel was all about how he became and author, what his writing process is, and how he's handling everything now that the movie is out. Being able to get a wristband and meet him was amazing. He took the time to not rush his signings and talked to every single person on a personal level. He also didn't have a one book limit and was willing to take photos with everyone.

 

That was the only downside of seeing Veronica Roth. She was only allowing one book to be signed and no pictures to be taken with her, I mean we get it she's freaking VRoth and people would probably want to take a million pictures, but it was still a little bit of a bummer about the one book thing. The positive side about her "strict" signing was that it went super smooth and we were able to see her, talk for a few moments, and then go to our next signing with no wait time. Just being able to meet both of them was such a pleasure.

The other authors we saw were Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout.The line for Sarah J. Maas was insane (theres a video on our insta)! Once again we lucked out and got there super early. We were in the first 15 to go in. She was so sweet and also allowed any amount of books to get signed and personalized.

 

  

I will say seeing Jennifer L. Armentrout was the biggest highlight for both of us. She was so funny and sweet. She is our my favorite author and was our #1 must see. I really think she took book signing to a whole new level! She had no limit on how many books you could get signed and she actually asked to take pictures with us. Plus she personalized every book we brought in. I know it might be a little hard to see in pictures but my book seriously says "#TeamRoth cant even stand it :)".

 

Like it's been a full day and I'm still coming down from my fangirl high from seeing her. The fact that she had no limits on books, wanted to take pictures, and did it all with such positive energy just shows why she is the best! She was also signing in a train museum which really made it interesting. We sadly didn't make it out to Marie Lu's line since it was crazy insane and was at the same time as JLA's.

As far as Swag Bags went Leah and I made out with posters, buttons, shirts, bookmarks, and a ton of book samples. The girls from EpicReads were out there hooking people up with posters and totes. Also the folks from TheNovl where hooking everyone waiting in line to see James Dashner with hot coffee and water bottles!

 

Overall our experience at Yallfest was amazing. Everyone, even the people visiting from out of town were so polite, and caring. It was not only amazing seeing the authors, it was amazing talking and meeting new people. We are so excited to go again in 2015! All that being said we will definitely be bringing rolly-bags instead of totes next year, gonna be feelin the book burn for the next few days!

I've posted some pictures here but to see more go to the contact section of our blog and check out our instagrams!I'm also going to put a list below of who all we saw over the two days. If you'd like to read their reviews they'll be located in the A-Z section of our blog.

Day 1:
Kiera Cass: The Selection Series 
Michelle Hodkins: The Mara Dyer Trilogy

Day 2: 
Jennifer L. Armentrout: The Lux Series, The Covenant Series, The Dark Elements Series, etc.
James Dashner: The Maze Runner Trilogy, The Eye of Minds
Veronica Roth: The Divergent Trilogy, Four
Sarah J. Maas: The Throne of Glass Series


I also had a super awkward and hilarious run in with Gayle Forman while we were down there too.

Let us know if you went, who you saw, and what you love! Sorry if we didn't get to meet you there but hopefully we'll meet more followers in the near future!

<3
A&L

Heir of Fire: Sarah J. Maas

Heir of Fire: Sarah J. Maas 

Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the death of her best friend. As the King’s assassin, she is bound to serve him even though she hates him... but he will pay for what he did. Celaena's only hope to destroy the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but there's so much there that he would have never expected her to find. If she can discover the truth she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat. While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. With Prince Dorian off fighting his own demons, and with the introduction of a new Fae ally, Rowan, will Celaena be able to stand her own and get the vengeance she deserves?!


First off does anyone else think that the covers for book two and three should have been switch? Maybe it’s just me. Either way I’m really loving the covers for this whole series so far. But to the point...

I will say that I didn’t like this book as much as book two, because I loved Crown of Midnight so much, mainly because this book had so much “setting up” to it that will be important later on. I was really hoping for some more badassassin like there was in the second novel, but there really wasn’t a lot of that going on. With all that being said the Throne of Glass series is undoubtedly one of the best series I have ever read. I read so many reviews where people were saying “oh the first half of this book is like a 2 compared to the second half which is like a 5 star”, and I think people were right. The first half of this book was like pulling teeth. It was brutally slow!!! Trust me when I say PUSH THROUGH IT, IT'S WORTH IT!

I thought that I had my girl Celaena all figured out from reading the first two books... Nope. She is a broken, restless, and a guilt ridden girl in this book. Which is a complete turn around from how she was in the other two. Your heart will hurt just seeing how shattered she is. I think that everything that has broken her is what makes her go from the bottom to the top by the end of the book. After dusting herself off she decides its time to take control of her destiny. Celaena starts really revealing her memories and a lot of her past. Her memories are hard to hear and gruesome. She goes from being this strong tough cookie, to this brittle pastry of a person, back to a brick wall. I have never wanted to be a book character as bad as I've wanted to be her. She even gets all tatted up!!! Choal and Dorian are still swoon worthy and relentless. Dorian I started to love even more in this story. He has moved on from Celaena and I want to tell you so bad about their story but I just can't! All I can give you is her name, Sorscha. He has also really matured a lot more in this book. When he starts standing up to his D of a dad you'll find yourself hardcore cheering for him. Choal however went from one of my top book boyfriends to the bottom real fast. Yeah he still sounds smokin hot but that's all he really has going for him. I might just be holding a grudge, because of what he did to my girl idk. Either way he is indecisive and whiny this whole book! 

There is the introduction of some new characters as well. Rowan! As soon as he is introduced I was like Choal who?!?! Rowan is a dick turned sweetheart, and I'm definitely #teamfae. He starts to train Celaena to see her aunt and doesn't go easy on her. He thinks she is a Diva, but has no idea of her back story. When he finds out though sparks fly and a potential romance starts. Did I mention Rowan is sworn to serve Celaena's aunt for all entirety... Because he is! Her aunt isn't the only family member that is introduced in this book. When he shows up it’s really obvious. Her cousin and childhood best friend Aedion Ashryver comes into play. He is all deadly smiles, hot face, and bad attitude. He makes it very clear that when he finds his cousin he is going to help her take the crown.

There are a lot of twist towards the end of the book which totally made suffering through the first half worth it. The plot of this series is SO strong! 
The one big thing this book had going for it was its ending…OMG WHOOSH!!!! THAT ENDING!!!! THE ENDING... THAT ENDING... THE END! HOLY COWS IN SPACE! THE

ENDING!!!! BOOK FOUR IS GOING TO BE CRAZY!!!  I can't stress this enough...The last few chapters more than make up for the uphill battle you face during the first half, and you will have no idea what is going to happen. It will basically feel like you got hit by a bus by the time it's all over.

Overall I loved the second half of this book so much and can’t wait to get my hands on book four! And I think I, like everyone else have switched teams and are really hoping that Celaena and Rowan end up having something going on (even though she's blowing through boyfriends like the Kentucky derby I don’t care because I liked him so much.) I secretly think Maas is trying to kill us while we wait for the rest of this series to come out. The suspense of waiting for the final books to come out is unbearable! It don't think series get much better than Throne of Glass.

9/10 Stars for the second half of this book
-Angela