Top 5: Authors We Want to Read More From!

In order to bring some life back to this blog, (it’s exam revision time and that means that all blogging motivation is zapped right out of our system by evil flashcards and quote tests), we thought it might be time again to participate in the classic weekly ‘Top X No.’ posts! This week’s is all about authors you’ve read marvellous books from already and want to devour more…not a hard list to make when there’s so many books on our TBR that fit the bill!

Richelle Mead
Maddie: I’ve been meaning to pick up the Bloodlines series for the last…forever. When did I finish Vampire Academy? *checks Goodreads* November 2015?! Oh wow. Yep, Bloodlines needs to be my next series to conquer. The whole six book thing is a little off-putting, but if I’ve done it once, I’ll do it again, and I absolutely love how much voice Richelle Mead manages to give her characters. They really leap off the page!

Victoria Schwab
Maddie: This fabulous woman keeps coming out with new books and I’m tripping over the little V TBR pile I have. This Savage Song, Vicious, A Conjuring of Light…all books I’m itching to get round to, especially because Our Dark Duet is coming soon and there’s nothing sweeter than finishing a series. Two is way more manageable than six! (You hear that, Richelle Mead?)

Josephine Angelini
Bee: Maddie has already read the Starcrossed series, and we own all three of the World Walker books so it’s about time I got round to them. Starcrossed comes with a glowing recommendation (if I’m willing to put up with some angsty romance!) and World Walker is all about witches, my favourite of all the supernatural beings and a total buzzword.

Cat Clarke
B & M: Between us, we’ve almost managed to read all of Cat Clarke’s books, and already have our hands on Girlhood, her next release, but we’d both really like to read the ones we’re missing. For Maddie, that’s The Lost and Found, about a girl who’s sister went missing when they were kids and has suddenly returned to a media frenzy around the family. And for Bee, that’s Undone, about a girl dealing with the loss of her best friend to suicide. Heavy stuff, but from what we’ve already read, it’s guaranteed to be good!

Nina LaCour
B & M: The only thing we’ve both read from this author was her short story in the Summer Days and Summer Nights collection, edited by Stephanie Perkins. But, that little taster was enough to have us hungry for more, especially because her most recent release We Are Okay has been getting a lot of praise, and it’s focused on a college-student which is awesome because finding YA set out of high school is almost impossible. Nina La Cour’s first book Everything Leads to You is also on our radar because of the lesbian protagonist (and the set designing career) because we can’t get enough of diverse books!

Review: A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab

31671570A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab
Genre:
Fantasy
Publisher: Titan Books
Pages: 666
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Series: A Darker Shade of Magic (#1) | A Gathering of Shadows (#2)
Note: We received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. 

I have been in love with this series for a year, and the time has finally come: the release of A Conjuring of Light. I also don’t want this to be a spoiler review and that’s going to be hard so I’m just going to do what we always do on Heart Full of Books when it’s a book we really liked and make a list. I’m going to do this slightly differently and work through some of my thoughts whilst I was reading, let’s go!  Continue reading “Review: A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab”

Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

234034021A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Published by: Titan Books
Pages: 386
Format: e-book
Rating: ★★★★
Series: A Gathering of Shadows (#2)

Oh goodness. This book was AMAZING. *round of applause* THIS is what fantasy is SUPPOSE TO READ LIKE. No flimsy faux-badass girls, but an actual bad-ass girl. Lila and Kell will steal your heart and once you read A Darker Shade Of Magic you will never want to go on adventures with any one else. I read a chapter sample thing ages ago, but couldn’t really get into it. Now I’ve read the full book I realise that’s because there’s so much world building and gradual character introductions that it does take some dedication before you can really get into it, but if you stick with it you will get out what you put in!

This is not the kind of book you can read quickly, it’s the kind that needs to be savoured and loved till the final page and beyond.

Continue reading “Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab”

Review: A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

25400972A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Published by: Titan Books
Pages: 508
Format: ARC Paperback
Rating: ★★★★.5
Series: A Darker Shade of Magic

I received this book from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review. 

After LOVING the first book, I knew I was in for a treat with this one, and what can I say? V.E. Schwa is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors, and I will be investing in pretty much all of her other stuff soon!

A Gathering of Shadows is the absolutely magical and tantalising – there’s a lot of teasing! – sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic. And if you, like me, had no idea where the series could go from ADSOM, then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by this direction. A Gathering of Shadows comes with added pirates, stress and a dangerous magic competition.

I have truly and completely fallen in love with this series and V. E. Schwab’s writing, could it have been 500 pages longer?

Continue reading “Review: A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab”

Sneak Peek Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E.Schwab

A Darker Shade final for Irene

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy, ARC
Published by: Tor Books
Pages: 150
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads

I have heard nothing but good things about Victoria Schwab’s writing, and although I enjoyed the excerpt of A Darker Shade of Magic, I’m unsure on whether or not I would continue reading.

The concept is imaginative and original, if a little hard to keep up with. The majority of the sample that I read – which I think is the first 150 pages – is mostly world building. There are four different ‘worlds’ including White London, Red London, Grey London and the mysterious Black London, all of which the main male character Kell can transport himself too. Did I mention they were all different parallel universes?

There are two main characters, Kell and Lila, and I have to admit that I had to find the blurb of Godreads to actually understand what was happening, and who they were. Kell’s story was a lot easier to determine, but because Lila was dressed a guy, I’m still not entirely sure what her relevance is.

The ending was a definite cliff-hanger, and as a novel excerpt they definitely had a good cut point. Because there was so much world building, it was hard to really connect with any of the characters, so from that perspective I would be interested in the rest of the story, because I feel we’ve only scratched the surface of their personalities. Yet, for a 150  page excerpt I was expecting a lot more to happen, it feels like this was almost a pre-novel novella so that all the explanation is out of the way, and now the real story can begin.

Before I think about reading the rest of this novel, I think I should start with something like The Archived, just so that I have a better understanding on the author’s writing style. As I wasn’t overly invested in the plot or the characters, and because it was only a sneak peek, I’d only give this excerpt about three-ish stars.

Sidenote: the cover gets five stars.