Hype. It can totally ruin a book, which is why I hate it so much. Hype can set the expectation for a book way too high, and just make what you actually get just seem disappointing. And I Darken is a supremely hyped up book-- seemingly everywhere I look there's someone ranting about how fantastic this book is. It did pique my interest, because the general consent was that this book was absolutely fantastic. A ton of authors also had bright words for the book. Therefore, I could not avoid reading this book at risk of actually missing out on something good. 
And boy, am I glad that I didn't miss out on this book. Once in a blue moon, a book actually lives up to its hype. I guess it's a blue moon, because And I Darken absolutely lived up to, if not surpassed its hype. 
While the beginning of the book started out a bit slow and weird (there's no way someone could remember things & events down to the exact word at the age of three), soon enough the book just took off and I was completely enthralled in the plot and its characters. 
For those of you who have been living under a rock, (or are just aware of the main going ons in the book community) And I Darken is a historical fiction novel following Vlad the Impaler... If he had been a girl. Yeah, sounds kind of stupid, I'll admit.  That was one of the reasons I was reluctant to pick up this novel, along with the fact that it was super hyped  up and I am almost always disappointed by overhyped first books in a series. 
Interesting fact about me: I absolutely love history. I find it fascinating, and like its own book with characters and storylines. Therefore, I do quite enjoy the historical fiction genre (A particularly good one aside from this that I read recently is Here Be Dragons). While I know a lot of historical figures and facts, Vlad the Impaler is one of the (many) holes in my historical knowledge. I'd heard his name before going into the book, but other than knowing he was associated with the Ottoman Empire, I knew absolutely nothing about him, or why he's famous. Well, I could guess he was violent from his name, but other than that I had no idea. I still don't, though, I plan on doing a little bit of research on him while I wait for the next book to be released. 
From what I've seen, most people who read this book were pretty unfamiliar with Vlad as well. Therefore for all of you who love Vlad's story or already know it, I'm not exactly sure how you'll react or like this book. I don't know how accurate it is to Vlad's life. Of course, it can't be that accurate, because the author changed Vlad's gender, and as I'm sure most of us know, women had a very different position in society than men in that time. 
A spectacular element in this book is the imagery. You can really see the Ottoman Empire's buildings and lands in your mind's eye while reading the descriptive writing. It doesn't take you out of the reading, but flows perfectly well with the story, and, if anything, pulls you deeper into this brutal world. 
Not only is the imagery great, a lot of it gives off information about the Ottoman Empire. So while you're enjoying this book, you're also unconsciously learning new little historical facts. I'm not talking about the events, but about the places and the way the people lived. 
Most people (including me) expected a lot of darkness and violence in this book. Not so much, well, it might be for some people, but as for me, an avid Game of Thrones fan, this book barely had any violence at all. I'm assuming that part comes later, because And I Darken is the first book in a trilogy, and is basically the origin story of Lada (Vlad the female). 
Lada, the main character, is a fantastic protagonist. She's no sappy push over for love, or damsel in distress. Lada is a force of her own, constantly battling against the expectations of her as a women and pushing to do what she wants. One of my favorite things about Lada had to be her constant drive to get things she wanted done. Lada is willing to make hard sacrifices for the benefit of herself or someone else, a characteristic that makes her even more likable. She is physically a very strong protagonist, able to stand up to most people in her time with her fierce nature and even fiercer fighting style. Though, to balance that out, her character can also be very naive and is unable to actually get anything done through people, because she's not able to make herself very likable to anyone. Making it extremely hard for her to get out of tough situations that can't be fixed with a dagger or sword. This quality made her both more endearing and annoying at times. 
The other protagonist whose perspective we see from is Radu, Lada's little brother. At first, I was just as annoyed by him as Lada. A protagonist who cries all the time is not exactly the most endearing for me. But, like Lada, I started to warm up to Radu and eventually loved him. I especially loved how his and Lada's relationship grew and evolved. I liked watching them get closer. Radu is Lada's foil, as in he's her exact opposite. Radu is beautiful, and learns to become an expert manipulator. But he's peaceful, violence is not in his nature. It's something that Lada cannot totally bring herself to understand. 
Radu also had to be the character that irritated me the most in this book. I still love him greatly, but some choices he made and overall thoughts and emotions he felt just irritated me. For those of you who have read the book, you'll probably know exactly what I mean. Though, he did redeem himself in my eyes near the end. 
The third "main" character is Mehmed. He is not given a perspective in the book, but he's around an awful lot. I am conflicted about how I feel about Mehmed. He's fun when he's a boy, cute and jesting. But when he gets older almost everything Mehmed does annoys me. First off, he holds a double standard for women. While it's a normal thing for the time, it doesn't mean it doesn't annoy me greatly for one of the main characters to feel that way. He also just does things that he claims is "his duty." And while that is also normal for the time, I just can't get myself past it. Therefore, I can't say I really liked Mehmed that much by the end of the book. He seems to act selfishly often, which aggravated me greatly-- especially when he got jealous. 
My favorite character of the books (aside from maybe Lada) had to be Nicolae. He's hilarious, often being light-hearted to try and make dark situations better. Just thinking about him makes me smile. 
Other than the weird beginning, my other (slight) issue with the book was that it could feel kind of jumpy at times. Like sometimes I just felt like a smoother transition was needed, or some extra details were necessary. For example, at one point in the book a fake letter is received and you never actually find out if the receivers told the "sender" about it. That was just a little bit of information I would like to know. 
Each character has a bit of a different motivation. They might be similar, but there's always something that's different. And I loved how cruel they could get to achieve their goals. You get to watch these characters grow up, and learn to use their skills to their advantage. For Lada, that's her brutality, and for Radu it's his smiles and looks. I really hope that in future books we get to see Lada and Radu working together more, for combined? These two would be almost unstoppable. (though, in real life Radu and Vlad didn't really get along well) Their main issue separating the two of them (aside from *cough* people) is their inability to understand how the other shows their love. They're so different that each shows it in a different way, which leads to a lot of separation between the two. :(  
I'm giving And I Darken 8/10 stars. I really enjoyed it, and highly recommend the book to all you historical fiction//fantasy lovers out there. It's been a while since I read a book like this, and I look forward to reading the next books in the series. 

Synopsis: 

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

Thanks for reading :) 
​Anj

A new and exciting fantasy world filled with magical lore, mystery and strong (ish) protagonists. It's got to be perfect... right? 
Not so much. While the basic plot ideas seem to be right down my alley, Ever the Hunted was just not the book for me. For me, this novel felt like it was trying to hard yet hardly at all. How do I explain that in better words? I'm not entirely sure. My point is, there were a lot of good ideas behind Ever the Hunted, they just weren't portrayed in a way that was appealing to my taste in books. 
That is to say, I am especially picky when it comes to my fantasies these days. Since the position of my favorite book has been filled by a fantasy, I've come to expect a lot out of this genre. Sometimes maybe a little too much. Part of the reason I didn't feel particularly attached to this book may be because I didn't feel particularly interested in it when I started. Then again, that has worked the opposite way with some other books (Better off Friends comes to mind... Love that book.) As soon as I started the first few chapters, I immediately knew that I would not be falling in love with this book. That may have ruined a bit of the experience, I'll admit, but... I don't think I would've liked this book overly so even if I had not made the decision that I would most likely not enjoy this read. 
Why did I make this choice from the start? Because of the protagonist. Britta Flannery. I just... Ugh. I had several issues with her even from very close to the beginning of the book. To start off, I thought I would be getting a bad-ass huntress protagonist from the feel of the synopsis... Instead I got Britta. She does have her moments with her arsenal of witty lines, but that's pretty much all she has going for her. Her narrative felt somewhat childish, which was one of the main reasons I found myself rolling my eyes for 90% of the book. Not only is she childish, but Britta is also just plain out naive. There are situations and just things in general that took me  .00001 pages to figure out what was going on, but Britta took about two hundred to actually realize something. It was irritating to say the least. 
Another component of my "DUH" feeling the entire time was because of how predictable the plot of this book is. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind cliches, especially when it comes to hot cocky boys who have a soft underside and a sad background about the way they act (it's my favorite), but I don't like every single component of the story to be a cliche that I could predict about a hundred pages beforehand... And I did predict almost every single part in the story wayyyy before it occurred. Most of the time I like the predicability to be something subtle-- something I can feel feel proud about figuring out. Like subtle foreshadowing is great, this is fore lightening. Even without my previous book experience (I've become really good at picking up subtle foreshadowing) I could've predicted every plot element and twist. Most of the time I save my leniency for predictable plots for contemporary romance novels, because then YES I WANT THEM TOGETHER and it's perfectly fine, but in a fantasy? No, please give me at least a few surprises here and there. 
Another one of my issues with this book was how easy everything was. Almost all the conflict was resolved fairly quickly (like the whole Cohen issue which is supposed to have driven the entire plot), and the author didn't even toy with the relationships of trust-intrust or anything. No, it's basically either trust 100%, 50% or 0% in this book. There is no in-between. The relationships, solutions to situations, and situations in general all just felt way too easy. Like along the lines of if most other protagonists had it that easy the book would've ended 400 pages ago easy. 
While reading, I found myself more looking forward to the end than actually finding out what happens. Never a good sign when reading a book. I have a "book honor code" that forces me to keep reading a book until the end before picking up a new one (only broken once), this is one of those times that I resent and am incredibly grateful for said code. It means I wouldn't have another book stuck in my mind while starting a new one, but it also means I have to finish this one before getting to start a new one. This book was very reminiscent of Vampire Academy (Richelle Mead) and Shadow Queen (C.J. Redwine). Mostly Shadow Queen, the only thing that reminded me of Vampire Academy was the powers in it, and the connection some of the powers gave. 
For those of you who follow my reviews (first off, thanks! love you!), you'll probably know that I read Shadow Queen last spring and found myself feeling supremely disappointed and bored while reading it. The protagonist thought she was a badass when in reality she was a pretty annoying, naive little girl. Hey! Britta and Lorelei have that in common. Also the plot for that story was predictable and way to easy feeling... All in all these two books basically mirror each other in terms of the issues I had with them. Personally, I wouldn't recommend either book, but if you liked one, I'd say you might like the other, so why not try them out? 
All in all, I'd give Ever the Hunted 5/10 stars. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but it's far from being the best. It barely tugged at my interest and I just found myself wishing it would end already. Sorry if you liked the book, since this review was basically just me bashing it. These are just my opinions, and I will respect whatever you have to say about the book as well. I just personally did not find this read enjoyable. 
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.

Oh. Also ps, I also didn't enjoy the romance at all... and romance is usually one of my favorite parts about the book, unless it's instalove. This romance, like so many other things in this book, had my eyes rolling and me thinking, "DUH" most of the time. 
Thanks for reading :) 
Anj

Windwitch, a book I've been looking forward to reading ever since I completed its predecessor. I cannot explain how excited I was to launch myself back into the world of the Witch Lands. How excited I was to see more of my belatedly snarky characters. How excited I was to see exactly what everyone was up to after the dramatic events of the first book. 
Windwitch was good, I practically devoured the book-- finishing it the day I got it, despite the gargantuan pile of homework waiting to be completed. But was it great? Unfortunately no. I would have to say it fell a bit flat in the shadow of Truthwitch, which started and ended with a bang. 
This book was filled with interesting characters-- both new and old, with compelling motivations. A little bit too filled, if you ask me. There wasn't enough time to develop or introduce all the new characters well enough for me to get attached to them. While I decided that I liked (and disliked) some of the new characters, I can't say that I could rave about any of them. I just don't know them well enough. It's like those loose acquaintances you have in real life. You know you like them, and you want to get to know them better but you don't. 
Safiya remains to be the best character of the series (in my eyes). She remains to be the sassy, hilarious character we all fell in love with in the first book. I was a bit disappointed where her story went in the book. That is to say, she didn't really get that far from where she ended in the first book. Her storyline definitely was not the most interesting, but it remained to be a fun read solely for Safi's spirit. It went well with Vaness' very serious attitude, but I can't say I didn't miss having Iseult and Safi together. 
One of the biggest things I was looking forward to reading about in this next book was seeing the gang all reunited after the events of the last book. (slight spoiler) they weren't. And I found that to be rather disappointing. I was especially looking forward to seeing a specific windwitch reunited with a specific truthwitch. I guess this is going to go the Game of Thrones route, where they're all together. Then separated, and eventually, after a lot of trials and tribulations and books, they're all finally reunited. (If they're still alive.) I will be waiting impatiently for that reunion. 
Merik had a mediocre storyline as well. It wasn't particularly interest grabbing for me. While I did find myself excited and enjoying some of it, most of the time I didn't find myself looking forward to his bits. A new character was introduced in Merik's storyline as well-- Cam. I am not the biggest fan of Cam. I found the character to be annoying at times and just boring in general. But who knows, maybe I'll find myself liking Cam in the next book. Like I said before, there wasn't much time to get attached to the new characters. 
Another new character: Vivia, Merik's power hungry sister. At first I was determined to dislike the Princess/Queen because of her conflict with my beloved Windwitch. I wasn't able to accomplish that-- her character is just too compelling. I look forward to seeing more of her in future books. 
The best storyline of the book by far, had to be Isuelt and Aeduan's. Am I spoiling you that their storyline intertwines? I would have to say I don't think so, since it's in the description. Maybe the reason I enjoyed their storyline so much was because it was a reunion of sorts, or maybe it was just because the tension between the two characters was interesting or maybe because they were just in more interesting situations. I don't know, I just found that I was most looking forward to their parts in the story. There was a very very random addition in their story near the end though, I have no idea where that came from and still don't exactly see the point of that addition. 
Another character we meet in this story is one that is mentioned, briefly, in the last book but had a very big part in setting the entire first book in motion. I found this character to be extremely interesting, and with the little bit of time we had with them, I became rather interested in their character. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them and finding out more about the lore surrounding their people/species.
All in all, Windwitch was a pretty good book. While I was a bit disappointed after reading it, I can only really blame my (extremely) high expectations for that. Expectations can ruin a book, luckily that didn't happen here. Take away my expectations and you have a pretty good book here. 7/10 stars, I really enjoyed reading it and can't wait for the next one. 

Synopsis: 
Sometimes our enemies are also our only allies…

After an explosion destroys his ship, the world believes Prince Merik, Windwitch, is dead. Scarred yet alive, Merik is determined to prove his sister’s treachery. Upon reaching the royal capital, crowded with refugees, he haunts the streets, fighting for the weak—which leads to whispers of a disfigured demigod, the Fury, who brings justice to the oppressed.

When the Bloodwitch Aeduan discovers a bounty on Iseult, he makes sure to be the first to find her—yet in a surprise twist, Iseult offers him a deal. She will return money stolen from him, if he locates Safi. Now they must work together to cross the Witchlands, while constantly wondering, who will betray whom first?

After a surprise attack and shipwreck, Safi and the Empress of Marstok barely escape with their lives. Alone in a land of pirates, every moment balances on a knife’s edge—especially when the pirates’ next move could unleash war upon the Witchlands.

Thanks for reading, 
Anj :)

The Rose & The Dagger is the second, and final book in Renee Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn duology, a loose retelling of A Thousand and One Nights. While the rest of the world seems to be crazy about these books, I personally don't find anything extremely interesting about the story being told. The best part about these books is the imagery. It's astonishing how well written it is, these books really do seem to take you to the Arabian desert. 
While these books possess a lot of good ideas and potential, I don't really think they were portrayed in the correct manner for my taste, nor did they have enough time. It feels like a third book might've been helpful to the telling of the story. This second book started out extremely slowly, and then it seemed like the author just remembered she only had one book left and just decided to cram everything in the last bit. There are so many loose ends that never really seemed to get the payoff moment I was expecting, and there are so many characters and choices that seemed to need a lot more attention than they received. 
I did enjoy the first book, it was interesting, if not entirely original in the relationships and romance. My biggest issue with the first book was the instalove that sparked between our two protagonists, Khalid and Shazi. I really just don't like instalove. It's a major turn off from a book because instalove leaves no time for the reader to develop an investment in the relationship because it doesn't take time to build a great relationship. I was able to slightly look past the instalove in the first book, this one? Not so much. 
In the first few chapters both Khalid and Shazi seem to be thinking about their one great true love. While reading those lines I just wanted to slam the book shut and pull out my hair. HOW CAN YOU REALLY BE IN LOVE WHEN YOU'VE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR TWO WEEKS? (or less.) Maybe they're attracted to each other and growing to love, but I did not for one second believe that it was a great love. Sure, people in situations can develop feelings quickly, and sometimes in books I'm even able to accept a fast insta-lovey feeling romance (but not often.), but here? No, I felt that Khalid and Shazi could not possibly be as deeply in love as they claimed to be. I actually found myself rolling my eyes most of the time that they mentioned just how deep in love they were. 
My favorite character from the first book had to be Jalal. There was a disappointing amount of him in this book. He's probably in about 5% if not less of it. Personally, I believe that was a pretty bad waste of such a great character.
The book basically revolves around Shazi and Khalid. While the author seemed to try to introduce Shazi's sister as another protagonist, it just didn't seem to work that well. I barely cared much for Khalid and Shazi's storyline in this book, much less for Shazi's little sister. Then new characters with mysterious pasts and all were introduced and I found my interest piqued. I wanted to find out more about them, or at least see them show up more. Did that happen? Haha no. That's one of the many wasted opportunities in this book. It just made the book seem like it had more it wanted to tell, but couldn't fit, so it was scrapped. 
Basically all the drama in the story was resolved in about a chapter or even a page. Betrayal? Haha that issue is fixed five pages later. Attacked? No need to worry, it'll all be okay in the next paragraph. And then, there's this HUGE issue at the end. Yeah, there wasn't enough time to actually go through the drama of all of it, so that of course, was resolved in the next page. My point is, almost everything in this book felt completely pointless. 
Even though almost all, if not all, of the drama of the story felt pointless because of its quick resolve or left open loose end, there was a TON of drama. To the extent that this book felt more like a soap opera than an interesting fantasy read. 
Sorry if you actually liked this book, I'm just bashing it left and right. I actually just finished it just to get it over with, not because I was interested in the story at all. 4/10 stars. Unfortunately, The Rose and The Dagger just was not the book for me. 
Here's the synopsis: 
​
The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.

Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.

The saga that began with The Wrath and the Dawn takes its final turn as Shahrzad risks everything to find her way back to her one true love again.