Lanaia @ The Temporary Escape

Another great sequel that easily outruns the first book in series. First I should probably confess that I’ve read The Girl of Fire and Thorns in May 2012 and therefore forgot almost everything about it. Even when Elisa recollected a few incidents from book one, it all remained hazy to me. But that didn’t spoil this book at all, it’s a story strong enough to stand on its own. And while I had a few issues with The Girl of Fire and Thorns, this one didn’t disappoint me.

*Beware of spoilers for book one!* The story takes off a few months after the first book ended. Elisa now leads Brisadulce on her own with the help of her court that she can’t trust. There are traitors and enemies lurking around every corner and Elisa finds herself fighting for her life. Her country and people are still recovering from war and they’re becoming increasingly unsatisfied with Elisa’s reign. She’s also learning to control her Godstone’s power and realizes she could be The Chosen One. With the help of her guard’s captain, Hector, and her two maids, Ximena and Mara, she takes a perilous journey across the sea to fulfill the prophecy.

The story is full of intense moments, without a single moment of boredom. From beginning to end, I found myself turning the pages one after another. I actually liked the court intrigue, even though some enemies were downright obvious and Elisa didn’t saw what was right in front of her. While there were a few predictable turns, story still managed to surprise, especially with the ending which I really didn’t see coming. I love it when author isn’t afraid to kill off a few characters, and Carson already surprised me with her harsh turn of events in book one, and she continues with it in this sequel.

I had a few issues with Elisa in [b:The Girl of Fire and Thorns|10429092|The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1)|Rae Carson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1323448113s/10429092.jpg|13282366], because she had a very low self-esteem. She wasn’t skinny and she referred to her as “a pig” a few times. But after she lost her weight, she became more confident and I disliked this connection, I wish Elisa would be a great, confident leader despite her looks. It would be nice to have not-so-perfect heroine for a change. But anyway, while Elisa develops as a character in first book, she really grows up in The Crown of Embers. She surprised me a few times with her wisdom and great thinking. She became very likeable character. I also liked Hector a lot, I enjoyed watching their trusting friendship become a great romance. There was no insta-love, yay! The story made me smile a few times, mainly because of dialogue between Mara and Elisa, I think these scenes were my favorite.

I’m glad I gave The Crown of Embers a chance, even if the first book didn’t impress me that much. Carson managed to avoid several mistakes that she made in book one and I really hope The Bitter Kingdom will live up to my now-higher expectations. This time I won’t wait too long to read it, since it comes out it a few weeks and The Crown of Embers ended with big cliffhanger. The author is full of surprises and I hope the ending to this trilogy will be amazing!

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Actual rating: 3.5

Despite my rating, I was actually surprised how much I liked this book. I'm not into YA/NA contemporary romance much, but I like to give it a try once in a while, just to see if it can change my mind. I chose Easy because it’s very popular, it has almost 80.000 ratings with 4.26 average on Goodreads and little to none sexism, which is almost a miracle in this new New Adult genre.

The story is pretty cute. Jaqueline just broke up with her boyfriend a few weeks ago, when she gets attacked by this co-student who tries to rape her. Thankfully Lucas saves her and suddenly she starts to notice him everywhere. Lucas is supposed to be a “bad boy” which means he’s got a lip piercing, tattoos and drives a motorcycle, but in truth he’s an intelligent, nice and sweet guy. He’s got a tough past and he’s afraid of commitment. I liked him a lot and if I would fangirl about book boyfriends I would choose him. Jaqueline was not your tipically broken whiny girl, she stood up for herself at right time and even though she liked Lucas, she didn’t lose her wits because of him. She felt like a real, usual girl who makes mistakes sometimes but tries to do her best. I liked the story as a whole, the ending was nice and sweet and I really like that this is a stand alone, because this is one of the books where there’s no need for sequels.

There were some parts in the story where it all became very predictable. I loved e-mails between Jaqueline and Landon, but I guessed the story behind Landon right away. Other than that, there were no other major turns or surprises. I liked that this book mentions some real issues and also deals with some feminist themes. But there was this scene when a girl gets raped and she’s afraid to report the guy because she was drunk and she wasn’t a virgin before that. I got angry because it didn’t even cross my mind before that being a virgin or no has any point when it comes to rape. Of course it’s still a rape if you were drunk and OF COURSE it counts as a rape if you weren’t a virgin before! It doesn’t mean that once you’re not a virgin, every guy can do with you whatever he pleases! This was ridiculous to me, but I’m glad this book pointed it out. What bothered me was some slut-shaming. It is never okay to slut-shame someone and it instantly lowers my rating.

Maybe I’m not the right person to even review contemporary romance books. I can read them and like them, but they never impress me the way good fantasy and sci-fi stories do. I won’t fangirl over book boys or enjoy in soppy romances. But if you like YA/NA contemporary romance, I highly recommend Easy. I can understand why so many girls love it and it really is a good read.

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This story has one of the most believable and terrifying society structure. Every family in Community consists of mother, father, and two kids - a boy and a girl. They share their fears and dreams with each other every day. Jonas is a 12-year old boy who has a caring family, interesting school and good friends. At first sight, life in Community seems perfect - there’s no war, no hunger, no death or pain, everything is perfectly predictable and safe.

Birthmothers are selected women who deliver babies they never even see. Newborns are given to a new family at the age of 1, along with their Comfort Object (usually a stuffed toy) which is taken away at the age of eight. They are given bicycles and new clothes (uniforms) at certain age. Old people are Released from Community but nobody knows or even cares what that means. The most important age is when a person turns 12 and he’s assigned a certain role in Community. Jonas has no specific skills or interests so he’s unsettled and even scared of which role he’ll get. Everybody’s shocked when he gets assigned as a memory Receiver, which is one of the most important roles in Community. During the sessions with The Giver, Jonas sees memories from previous generations and realizes how deficient the community he lives in truly is.

This story hit me really hard. It made me feel grateful for everything we have in our society, especially free will and individuality. What at first looked like a perfect world - utopia - soon turned out to be full of shocking flaws. I suspected some of these, but realization was so harsh and cruel I could barely continue reading and at one point I cried a little. We all wish for a world of peace and happiness where there’s no war, pain or hunger. This book gives you that world - but also its cost. The one thing that really got me thinking was when Jonas learned some hard things about his society and The Giver asked him, if he could change anything, wouldn’t he want this life for the people he loved?

I need to point out some things that bothered me. Firstly, the Community is very small so I was wondering how the rest of the world is structured, but we don’t get the answer to that question. I also think the ending was a bit weird. I didn’t know what’s going on and what happens next. It was very confusing. But I still liked this story a lot.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves the concept of dystopian fiction. Lowry made this world very believable, the society frightening and dehumanized. There’s no romance, so it’s not like other YA dystopias coming out lately. It deserves being tagged as a dystopian classic and I’m glad this book is a school read, though sadly not in my country.

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It was a few years ago when I saw Coraline the movie. I remember it because I didn't know then what's it about so I expected a cute animated fairy-tale, but what I got was a terrifying horror story that gave me nightmares. I liked it - I like dark fantasy filled with creepy images so now a few years later I decided to read the book.

Coraline is a young girl who has just moved into new house with her parents. She likes to explore outside but the summer is cold and rainy. She's often bored and heir parents work at home but they don't have much time for her. One day she discovers a door, but when her mother opens them there's only a brick wall. Coraline finds this very unusual and once when she's alone at home she opens them again and finds a long corridor that leads to a house just like hers. Everything's the same, except the people. Her other mom and other dad have black buttons instead of eyes and they're much nicer to her - they want to play with her, do all kinds of fun stuff and her mother will only cook food Coraline likes. Coraline finds new parents very exciting, but soon she starts to miss her real parents. The problem is the other mother won't let her go back and wants to sew the black buttons to Coraline's eyes. With a helping black cat, Coraline must save her real parents and herself. The real adventure has just begun.

Coraline is a creepy tale about a brave girl who finds out the truth of saying "be careful what you wish for". She wished for parents who would pay attention to her more and she got them. Gaiman has managed to create a dark and unsettling atmosphere in this nightmarish world. I liked how he portrayed the cat's attitude perfectly and if cat's could talk I think they would talk like this. There were also other interesting characters - two old women living in bottom flat, who were actors when they were younger. They were a little demented and talked only about acting. And an old man living upstairs, who has circus with dancing mice. They kept mistaking her name for Caroline and she constantly had to remind them she's Coraline. I think details like that made this story special.

All in all, I really liked this whole story. It was gripping and intense with unreliable ending. It's a fantasy, but some aspects of it were very realistic. I also liked the illustrations, they were really creepy. The only thing that bothered me is that it started off a bit slow and I also had a problem at first to get involved. It's a short and fast read, so I would recommend it. I will also watch the movie again - this time it won't be that shocking since I know what I'm in for :)

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The Infernal Devices was one of the most beautifully written series, where love triangle actually didn’t ruin the whole story. There were times when I was laughing but also a few times when I was crying. Cassandra Clare is really good at writing heartbreaking love stories, and this is coming from somebody who’s not a big fan of romance in general. But she just gets it right.

This is a short review because I don’t know what to say about this book that wasn’t said already. I loved both Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince, so my expectations for Clockwork Princess were very high. I expected this last book to be spectacular but I was a little disappointed. There were many questions opened at the beginning and though the story started off slow, when we finally came to actual answers I felt they were dealt with matter-of-factly and without any intensity. While there were some great actions throughout the book, I missed the big fight when it came to dealing with the main villain. I thought it was over too fast and happened too little. Unlike in the two previous books in series, the plot in Clockwork Princess was without any major turns and more predictable, at least for me.

Now onto good things although I wrote about these in reviews of previous two books so I may repeat myself. I highly enjoyed reading this book. I loved Clare's descriptions of 19th century London and Wales, I'm a sucker for Victorian era and her writing style is magical. I liked little poems at the beginning of each chapter and also Will's funny songs, even if everybody said he's not good at writing them, I loved them. Character's development was great - I liked Tessa and Will more with each book. Jem was always his perfect self. Charlotte, Henry, Sophie and Cecily were also among my favorite characters. A few of love couples formed in this book but I didn't feel the romance was getting too much attention. Since there are teams I should say I’m not neither Team Will nor Team Jem, I liked both of them and I’m happy with the way it all ended. At first I didn't know how to feel about the ending, I didn't expected it and it left me a bit confused. But now that I look back I see Clare could hardly write it better. Although it did left me needing more.

This is one of my favorite series and I’m really glad I got to read it. I highly recommend these books to every fan of fantasy. Will Herondale, Jem Carstairs and Tessa Grey, thanks for these wonderful adventures. And now I also thank the Angels I still have The Mortal Instruments series to read :)

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For those of you who haven’t read the first book in this series - start now! Now that I finished Clockwork Prince, I can say this is going to be one of my favorite series. And I’m actually glad that I got into it this late, because now I can start the third book right away. I recommend it for all YA fantasy fans, I can’t find a single flaw in these books. This review may contain spoilers for first book, so don’t read any further if you haven’t read it yet!

The main plot of this second book is finding The Magister after he disappears. It looks like he has his informants everywhere and he’s always one step ahead of our Shadowhunters group. They need to get to know him and his past more in order to understand his actions. Again there are new secrets uncovered and new traitors revealed. The story was action-packed and unpredictable with many heart-breaking moments. There were many surprising twists. I couldn’t believe who the traitor was and I was surprised who joined them in the Institute. Although there wasn’t any major battle at the end, there were many important turns and there are still lots of questions left unanswered for book three.

We get to see more from Will’s point of view which I loved. He’s a sweetheart when he’s not pushing people away and we finally learn why he’s acting the way he does. I wrote in my review of the first book that he better have a really good reason for his attitude, and I was happy that he DID have a good reason. It broke my heart and I instantly forgave him all his rudeness towards Tessa. The love triangle got a lot more complicated for me because I really like both Will and Jem. I don’t think this is just another stupid love triangle that we find in many other books. Tessa is not just a silly teenage girl who can’t decide between two gorgeous boys. I can actually understand her and what is more, I admire her for her heartbreaking choice she makes in the end.

Another thing I liked in this story was the romance between Charlotte and Henry. They are adorable and are rapidly becoming one of my favorite book couples. I always found Henry adorable despite him being absent-minded. I loved how they finally told each other the truth and the news Charlotte told in the end - I saw it coming way earlier, but I was still happy when the moment came.

I’m already Cassandra Clare’s fan. I love her descriptive writing of Victorian era. She’s great at making all of the characters very consistent and believable. Many of them are so likeable they will stay with me for a long time. There are many serious and sad moments, but there are also funny dialogues, usually at unexpected times. I loved it and I only need to love the third book now - then I can say this series is a perfection.


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I received this e-book via Read It & Reap feature at Shut Up & Read Goodreads group. I think this is the first short story collection that I’ve read and I’m glad to say I discovered the appeal of anthologies. Here’s my opinion on each story:

Ghost Story - Two friends, Jessica and Michelle go to abandoned house, after Jessica’s grandma warned them not to go. This house is known for it’s ghost, who dwells on the window...and Jessica finds him. This was one of the creepiest stories in this collection. I liked it very much, but I found the ending a bit too rushed. 4/5

The Awakening - A story about girl Sabrina who is dying and is lost in another girl’s dream. This was a haunting story, with only thin line between reality and dreams. 4/5

End of the Line - My favorite. Amazing story about depression, chilling and sad. Cassie wants to die and stands on the tracks waiting for the train. Instead of an instant death, she finds herself on a “Death Train” along with it’s other passengers. I have no words to express how much I loved this story. It was heartbreaking to this point that I cried. 5/5

Milsa Loris - Milsa Loris is a city that’s been ravaged by war and death. Upcoming annual festivities will bring it’s people back together even if for one night only to offer some hope for better times. But King’s witch Noraleen wants to save them all. And for that, she brewed up a special potion. I loved the idea behind this story. It also had a touch of high fantasy in it, which I loved. It would be great to see this story set in a novel, I would happily read more about Milsa Loris and it’s inhabitants. 5/5

The Old Vampire - Hailey has been a fan of paranormal creatures from her childhood to an old age. She daydreams about ghosts, vampires and monsters to the point where she finds herself old and alone. And then finally He comes. But it's a bit late for Hailey. This was a really depressing story. It chilled me to the bone. 3/5

The Knocking - Teenager Alison is looking after her depressed grandfather Paddy. He doesn’t care much for the world anymore, only waits for his end. Somebody’s knocking at the door but Alison doesn’t see anyone, only Paddy seems to know who it is. I liked this story, but disliked the cliffhanger at the end. 3/5

The Boy on the Beach - Grandmother warned Kate not to listen to the boy in the sea with green eyes. Over the years Kate forgot about her gradma’s warning and returns to the beach. He tricks her just like grandma knew he would. I liked this one and I wouldn’t mind reading more about it. 3/5

Snowglobes - Cabin works at his cabin and he collects all kinds of snowglobes. Then a young couple arrives for vacation, trying to mend their relationship. Cabin will make sure their love never end... The end took me by surprise and kind of freaked me out. It was really scary. 4/5


The main strength these stories have over normal-length novels is the constant anticipation what’s going to happen next. You know the story will end in only few pages, so something big can occur at any moment. The main character could very easily die, which you know in novels can’t happen. When you add paranormal elements in this constant uneasiness, you can have intense and scary experience. Short stories have a difficult task to make readers feel for the characters in only few pages. I think Emma Meade managed to accomplish this. When an author makes me care for a character to this point that I cry a few tears - in a short story! - I know I’ll be reading more of his/her books. I think Meade is a very talented author with that amazing power to break your heart.


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I started reading this book because I needed something short and sweet to lift my moods and I was sure I would like this book. I’ve read some great reviews and I was expecting nothing less than a five-star book. Sadly, I expected too much. This certainly wasn’t a “meh” kind of book for me, when I forget everything about it in few hours. There were things that I really liked, but there were also things I highly disliked.

First, there’s Charlie. He’s supposedly an intelligent, introspective, shy 16-year-old. As a shy and introverted person myself, I didn’t find him shy at all, but he is a bit socially awkward. Sometimes he couldn’t read the most basic social or emotional signs in other people, but at other times (a LOT of times), he got very emotional. It doesn’t say what is the reason for him being this way, so at the end I decided he might have some sort of Asperger syndrome. The main reason why I didn’t like this book as I could have is that I had to keep reminding myself that these letters (the whole book is composed of Charlie’s letters to an unknown person) was writing a 16 year old teenager. He sounded like he was 10. He discovered masturbation at almost 16, which is quite late. He also described his feelings very simplistic, like “I was very sad”. Then, he had thoughts like this: “The commercial said that the whole movie was about him trying to prove that he was innocent and how he could go to jail anyway. That scared me a lot. It scared me how much it scared me. Being punished for something you did not do. Or being an innocent victim. It’s just something that I never want to experience. I don’t know if it is important to tell you all this, but at the time, it felt like a “breakthrough”.” I’m pretty sure I had “breakthroughs” like that a lot earlier in life. I mean, you learn that life isn’t fair quite early, right? I remember when I was around 9 when I asked my father what would he do if I was a lesbian. He answered that he would kick me out of the house for sure, and I was thinking how that’s not fair, since it’s not my decision if I was going to be a lesbian or no. But that’s just one memory and I remembered it for no reason. Anyway, back to the book...I felt like Chbosky wanted to fill this book with great inspiring quotes (which he did), but he forgot to consider Charlie’s age and his intelligence. If Charlie was ten and there weren’t as many sex and drugs as there were, I think this could all work and I would like the book a lot better.

There were mentioned many serious issues - suicide, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, drugs, homosexuality, sexual abuse - but it failed to elaborate them further or give them any conclusion. They were forgotten very soon, or dismissed right away with Charlie’s words “I think this is bad/wrong/really sad.” I mean, if you write about those things, give them the kind of attention they deserve! Again, I felt like the author just threw all those things in to appeal to bigger public. It was frustrating.

Okay, now onto good things. I like the song near the beginning of the book - the suicide note. That was the only time this book brought tears into my eyes. While I found the middle of the book a bit boring, I got sucked into near the ending- approximately the last 10%. We figure out Charlie’s memory he unconsciously tried to keep hidden. Again, it’s a big issue and I think it would be better if it wasn’t dismissed that fast. I think this could be a problem, since a lot of kids have these issues but when they read this book, it just doesn’t give them appropriate attention. And they might think that if Charlie has accepted his past that fast, what’s wrong with them that they keep struggling with it? It’s a bit unrealistic to just forgive everyone they ever hurt you in a few month’s time, especially when they hurt you that bad. Sometimes it can take years to heal, to accept yourself, both your past and your future, and I wish this book would say that. But then, I guess it could be inspirational to kids who feel alone in the world and if it gives them hope, then that’s worth a lot. Since I was one of those lonely kids, maybe if I read it a few years back, I would like it more than I do now. Now I’m more of a “filter”, even if I want to “sponge” the book, I can’t help myself :)


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What?! Is this happening?? Am I seeing right? J.K. Rowling wrote this book under a pseudonym in April this year, and the truth only now came out??

Way to go, J.K.Rowling, I loved all your books, and I'm definitely reading this one. Even if it's only because I know you wrote it and I never heard of it before now.

First, I need to point out that Clockwork Angel was the first book by Cassandra Clare that I’ve read, so I can’t compare it with the Mortal Instrument series. It was about a year ago when I got really interested in history, I still can’t quite understand why, considering I always hated it in my teen years and it was among my least favorite subjects in school. But now here I am, researching history through books and internet. Anyway, when it comes to fiction, I’m most fascinated by Victorian era. Consequently, steampunk is one of my favorite genres, so when I was deciding whether to first read City of Bones or Clockwork Angel, I chose the latter.

Clare’s writing is beautiful and the world building was rich and had some actual historical elements. The atmosphere in the book was dark, but occasional witty remarks lightened it. I enjoyed reading this book a lot.

The characters in this book were great, I loved every one of them. Tessa wasn’t only thrown into the world of nephilim, vampires and warlocks, that was previously unknown to her, she also discovered her own power - the power to Change, to transform her body and access the mind of other people. She wasn’t a usual kick-ass heroine, she was like an ordinary person. I liked that she had some flaws, but she also stood up for herself when she needed to. Will with his witty-but-rude nature and Jem with his gentle kindness both won me over right away, though Will did make me angry sometimes I will not forget and forgive what he said to Tessa towards the end!. I really liked all characters, even Jessamine that got on my nerves a few times, I could understand her and I didn’t think she’s a bad person. The Magister and the Dark Sisters were perfect villains, sinister and deadly. And the clockwork human-like automatons really increades the creep factor.

I liked the short poems at the start of every chapter, it added to the Victorian era feeling of the story. There were also multiple point of views that I didn’t mind, it even made the story more intense in my opinion. During the story I thought the plot was fairly easy and predictable, but I was wrong in the end. There was a turn I really didn’t see coming, and after that things got more and more interesting. The romance was great, even if it was a kind of love triangle, I didn’t mind it at all. I think Tessa will have a hard time choosing the right boy in next books, they are both very different but very desirable.

I definitely recommend this book, if you haven’t read it yet. I will get to second book in this series as soon as possible. Of course I will also read The Mortal Instrument series, I heard the movie City of Bones is soon coming out so I’ll have to hurry!


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Although I've read Cinder three months ago, when I didn’t yet have a blog, I feel like I need to write a review now. It’s one of my favorite books and it definitely deserves 5 stars from me. At first when it came out and everyone was making big deal out of it, I didn’t even look twice at it. A mechanic, cyborg girl? A Cinderella retelling? A SHOE on the cover? Pfff, no no. But then I found out this great genre, steampunk (yes, I’m at steampunk again, but I won’t mention it again in this review since this book is not really that steampunk-ish), which I fell in love with. And Cinder was tagged as “steampunk” on Goodreads, and also "dystopia", two of my new favorite genres. I decided to give it a chance then and it was love at first page.

I won’t be talking about plot too much. In a few sentences - Cinder is a cyborg girl, living with her stepmother, who never stops to remind her that she’s a second-class citizen. She also has two stepsisters and one of them, Peony, is Cinder’s best friend and the other, Pearl, is spoiled and cruel. Cinder works as a mechanic at the Market, where she meets handsome Prince Kai. There’s a plague on Earth that’s killing increasingly more people. Evil Lunar queen decides to visit Earth and Prince Kai to make peace, but that doesn’t come without consequences. Cinder finds herself in the midst of all drama, not knowing yet what kind of power she possesses.

This was actually my first fairy-tale retelling book and I expected an easy plot, without major turns, because we already know what happens, right? Well, I was wrong. It had great world building, which is always an important factor for me. There were lots of details to the story - events, characters, plague, androids - that made it magical and not too light at all. There were some twists of events I didn’t see coming at all. While some of the characters were very tipical for fairy tales, like evil stepmother, there were some who were complicated and original. I loved Cinder. She could feel very lonely in a big city of New Beijing with her family suppressing her, but she never felt sorry for herself. She’s a strong girl, trying to fix her leg with her own skills (literally). I loved her right away and basically the same was with Prince Kai - he’s a sweet, funny boy and I loved watching their romance slowly develop - but there wasn’t a “happily-ever-after” ending from Cinderella, this book is so much more than that and I loved how romance wasn't the whole point of the story.

The Lunar people were very captivating and I can’t wait to read more about them in second book. They live on the moon and have the power to manipulate their looks, along with feeling they rouse in other people. That makes cold Queen Levana very dangerous, when she comes visit Prince Kai and the people on Earth realize that. They fear and dislike Lunars and don’t want to unite with them, but Levana has her own cunning intentions.

The ending leaves us with a cliffhanger but simultaneously introduces us to a different story. Scarlet is the main character of second book, but we get to see more of Cinder, too. I can’t wait to start the second book to see what happens next. The cover of third book, Cress, is already out and it’s gorgeuos, the most beautiful of the three! I recommend this series to every fantasy fan. I’m really glad I gave it a chance, I would miss a great book otherwise.

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This book ruined me. I was crying and shaking, and now I'm completely ruined.

Oh-My-God, I am seriously in love with this series!
I've read a few reviews how this book is a let down and so much worse than Soulless, so I was afraid I'm not going to love it, but YEAH, I did! A lot!
And the ending...it was both heart breaking and such a cliffhanger.
I love the writing style, Gail Carriger is truly genius. It was funny and witty and the characters are so great.. I've really enjoyed reading this book.

I was really excited when I won this book through Goodreads First Reads. I don't enter giveaways if I don't find the description of the book very interesting. I thought this book could be somewhat similar to Khaled Hosseini's books, which are amazing, so I was really looking forward to read it.
With the book I also got a message from the author: "May the battles that we fight be for the advancement of humanity". Only now that I finished the book I actually realize what she meant with these words.

The main story is about Ichmad Hamid, an Arab child who lives in a village in Palestine that is constantly oppressed by Israeli army. With his brilliant mind he wants to make a change, a better life for his loved ones. I can't say this book was easy to read, there was brutality and violence and I cried, I was angry and I was happy at moments, too. The characters were so real, there are good and bad people on both sides and the author is never one-sided. The story is fictional, but it could easily be a true story, it's written that good.

This is a book with message, it makes you think and leaves you with a pure wish to be a better person and to change the world for the better.

New Khaled Hosseini book coming out in May??! Wooo, can't wait!

The setting of Etiquette & Espionage takes place in Victorian England, about 25 years before the Parasol Protectorate (PP) series and it was nice to see younger selves of some of the characters from PP. Gail Carriger got a special place in my heart as soon as I finished reading [b:Soulless|6381205|Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)|Gail Carriger|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1314020848s/6381205.jpg|6569140], so I was all giddy and excited when this new book came out. While the PP series was written for more mature audience, Etiquette & Espionage is a young adult book, the main character Sophronia is 14 years old.

The world building was really thorough - wonderful victorian dresses, clockwork robots that work as household servants, dirigibles. Also, vampires and werewolves are nothing unusual and they cohabit peacefully (well, more or less) with normal people.

Sophronia is by all means a normal girl, but she’s a handful for her mother. She is interested in clockwork mechanisms, she likes to climb the trees. She doesn’t care much for manners and how to behave like a proper young lady. So her mothers sends her to finishing school, which turns out to take place on a travelling dirigible. But what they don’t know is that this school doesn’t just provides an education in manners but also in espionage and how to finishing everything - including other people and paranormal creatures.

In Carriger’s style, this book was full of hilarious moments. Dialogues are witty, sarcastic, but written matter-of-factly. Sophronia and her classmates are all great as characters, I liked them right away. There is a certain boy, so I think we’ll see some more romance in the book’s sequels.The plot is quite straight-forward and rather predictable, which is the only weakness of this book in my opinion.

Etiquette & Espionage is a fun-packed book with light plot, that I highly recommend. I had some problems with the language which is very 19.century English, but I still enjoyed every word of it.


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