|ARC REVIEW| Best Kind of Broken by Chelsea Fine

BEST KIND OF BROKEN (#1)
Review by: Kaede
Release Date: March 4th, 2014
Publisher: Forever
Pages: 336

Pixie and Levi haven't spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are... awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they're forced to share a bathroom, and therefore a shower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

 

*An advance copy of this book was provided for review purposes. However, all opinions remain honest and my own.* 

There seems to be a recent large amount of love interests in books be given the name Levi, and while in reality I've seen probably like three, it has been a constant source of stress for me. Some of you might know that I'm one hundred percent in love with Levi from Attack on Titan, and he is no lovely person with a kind heart. And then Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell came along, with it's wonderful praise and I was all for it until I saw that the love interest's name was Levi. And he was supposed to be really nice. 

And then it was like CONFLICTION, CONFLICTION, CONFLICTION. 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN PEOPLE CAN HAVE THE SAME NAME?

The Levi from Attack on Titan and the Levi from Fangirl are two different, individual characters. But I couldn't fathom reading a book where somebody with the same name would be the complete opposite of the Levi I knew and loved. It's taken me a long time to finally give in to my desire to buy Fangirl, but I have yet to read it still. 

For some reason though, I didn't have this problem with Best Kind of Broken. In fact, I was excited  to see that the love interest was named Levi and all I hoped for was an enjoyable story. 

And enjoyable it was, because as soon as I decided to start reading it, I couldn't put it down. I didn't expect to read it all in one morning in bed. I had started a bit of it before, but the very beginning of this book was easy to put down. But it was a Sunday and I couldn't be bothered to get up out of bed to find something new, and I didn't feel like reading the book I was reading at the time, I pulled up my Kindle app on my phone (since obviously my e-readers were too far too and I am simply pure lazy) and started reading Best Kind of Broken from when I left off and I didn't stop until there was no more. 

I've read my fair share of New Adult before, and most of them are very heavily centered around the romance and heavy make-out scenes. And yes, I have liked reading those books, but I thought the Chelsea Fine pulled off her story in a bit of a different, yet just as enjoyable way. There's no excessive amount of drama but it takes us some time to figure out Pixie and Levi's story. To figure out what exactly left them so broken inside. 

Best Kind of Broken is a sweet story with a great all around cast of likable characters. There was aspects of the book I felt could have been worked on or more developed, and it definitely wasn't perfect. There's also a certain predictability in New Adult books from having been exposed to so many similar versions of damaged pasts and characters. This also wasn't a complex read, but rather a story on the simple side with serious moments. But it was a simple book that was extremely entertaining to read and a bit heartbreaking. 

“Because love isn’t something that needs to be said out loud!” Her face flushes with passion. “It’s something you just know. It’s an unspoken thing..."

There wasn't a doubt in my mind that Levi and Pixie were meant to be together, and I had fun on the ride of watching them realize that too. There's obvious chemistry between both of them and I love reading witty back and forth comments between characters. One of my favorite type of relationships is the one that comes from being best friends, and that is the relationship Pixie had with Levi. (Despite what they might have thought at first, you could see that relationship never went away.) It seems like my preference when it comes to New Adult is for it to be told in dual perspective, because I'd like a look at what the male interest is doing and how he feels too. I could tell that if this book had been told in just Pixie's point of view, I wouldn't have liked it as much since I seemed to favor Levi's chapters more. 

Chelsea Fine mixes lighthearted fun and serious moments in Best Kind of Broken, and if you are looking for a solid, great New Adult, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one. There is a lot of potential for this series to get better and better until I can say that it is up there with my absolute favorites like Wait For You. Daren sparked a bit on interest in me with his appearances as well, so I definitely want to see where his story goes in the next book. 

And overall, if I were to give points for just one thing, it'd be that Best Kind of Broken had me in bed all morning telling anyone who dared interrupt me to tell me that breakfast was waiting

4 coffee cups!

~♥~

BUY THE BOOK:

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE

~♥~

Contact Kaede: 

Email: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

Goodreads: Kaede
Twitter: Kami178xx

|ARC REVIEW| The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen

THE RUNAWAY KING (#2)
Review by: Kaede
Release Date: March 1st, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 331

A kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction. A king gone missing. Who will survive? Find out in the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer A. Nielsen's blockbuster THE FALSE PRINCE!

Just weeks after Jaron has taken the throne, an assassination attempt forces him into a deadly situation. Rumors of a coming war are winding their way between the castle walls, and Jaron feels the pressure quietly mounting within Carthya. Soon, it becomes clear that deserting the kingdom may be his only hope of saving it. But the further Jaron is forced to run from his identity, the more he wonders if it is possible to go too far. Will he ever be able to return home again? Or will he have to sacrifice his own life in order to save his kingdom?

The stunning second installment of The Ascendance Trilogy takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of treason and murder, thrills and peril, as they journey with the Runaway King!

*An advance copy of this book was provided for review purposes. However, all opinions remain honest and my own.* 

Warning: Spoilers for The Runaway King will be properly marked, but I would not recommend reading on if you have not read The False Prince for reasons you will understand if you read the fabulous first book. But if you are curious what I thought, if you were within distance from me I would force you to sit down and love this series because it is wonderful. 

I am quite fortunately not literally drowning in a puddle of feels (because that would be embarrassing since puddles don't reach very high), but I certainly feel like I am. I wish I could write my entire review in fangirly .gifs because it would be so much easier, but alas, it is impossible and not the reason you might think. So I shall have to go the old-fashion way with words. And I don't think my reading experience was fair. I was not mentally prepared for The Runaway King and nobody thought that warning me would be nice. Sure, go ahead and tell me how good the next book in this series is and how if I loved The False Prince, I'll love the rest of them but coincidentally leave out the mess I'll be in when I finish it and realize the next book is the last. There will be no more Jaron. No more. No more. No more. No more. I can't believe there's no more. I am obviously not handling this well. 

From the day I finished The False Prince, I knew that I was going to love this series. I didn't quite dawn on my how much I would love this series though, and if you haven't guessed, I love it a lot. I really enjoy reading middle grade books, but a lot of the times you can tell that the novel is written in a particular style because of it's targeted audience. There are a few select middle grade series that I do feel are written so well they can appeal to a wide audience of all age and The Ascendance trilogy is one of them. 

"I know you've got some heavy concerns," Mott said. "But we are friends. You can tell me everything."

I shook my head. "No, Mott. Not everything, because you are my friend."

I think we'll just get started on how much I love Jaron. I loved all of the characters in this book, the familiar faces and the new ones - except for the people we're supposed to hate. But I have a particular, special place for Jaron and his hilarious sarcasm in the worst situations. Jaron reminds me a bit of Ciel Phantomhive, in that he has seen a lot and knows perhaps a bit too much of how cruel the world can be. Jaron is very cleverly witty, so much so that the things he can't help but say end up getting him in bad situations. But then you realize that some of the things he says are very deep and can make you think. For me, the particular quote above actually made me put this book down - it was upsetting to do so, I promise - and think a little about how sometimes you don't share everything with a friend you value. And it's because you value you them that you don't want them to share the burden you have, or sometimes you just can't bring yourself to let them feel what you are feeling. For Jaron, who cannot call many people true friends, he'll do anything he can to protect the ones he has. 

I DO NOT CARE. I am adding him to my list of fictional boyfriends, and I would've done it just because he's damn awesome with a sword but of course I have other reasons too, because obviously my list isn't that easy to get into....

You know what they say: Honesty is the best policy.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Spoiler: [Mild]
When Jaron defects Devlin's knife with the flat side of his sword so easily, OH MY GOD MY FANGIRL FEELS. Nothing says boyfriend material like easily defecting incoming dangerous knives from a pirate king, right? 
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Mott was my second favorite character because he has all of the wonderful traits. A certain protectiveness, an invaluable loyalty to his king and country, and a willingness to sacrifice himself for Jaron that I hope we will never need. I have a hard time picturing Mott as anything but a mid-20 year old man though, and when Erick mentioned that he was bald, I went

For a second I didn't believe he was talking about Mott, even though it made no sense for him to be referring to Harlowe. I knew that Mott wasn't in his 20s, but for some reason I was really surprised to hear that he was bald. 

I'm considering every character that isn't Jaron a secondary character, and the ones we were meant to like, I loved. In the beginning, I even liked one of the characters that didn't turn out to be very likable in end. I was a little hesitant to like Fink and Erick in the beginning, but I ended up really liking them. They were great characters who just needed the chance to do the right thing. I definitely wasn't much of a fan of Rowan at first, for obvious reasons, but when he makes a re-appearance I started liking him towards the end. And you know, he was pretty badass too so it didn't hurt. 

Because this is a middle-grade novel, the romance doesn't dominate as you would expect in young adult. The romantic aspects are there, but it's far from the main focus. I'm not in love with the romance, but I do like to see our main couple together because I think they complement each other well. 

"If he's the boy I knew at Farthenwood, then his people will follow him to the devil's lair and back."

In the beginning of The Runaway King, Jaron is no longer that boy who didn't have much of anything. He's a king with people who serve him, and he definitely doesn't hesitant when ordering people around, and I can definitely see how it might come off the wrong way to some people. For some reason, I personally wasn't very bothered by it. But even if you didn't like Jaron in the beginning, he goes through so much that by the latter half that I think most people will at least start really liking his character again. I definitely respected Jaron as well, for his extreme loyalty to his country, that in turn inspires loyalty from the people around him.

You know how much I seem to love drawing manga references these days, so I'll make another one. Whenever pirates come into play, the first thing that naturally comes to my mind is One Piece. And if you remind me of One Piece, then I automatically like you. And these pirates in The Runaway King aren't all show and no game, but I liked that they drew the line at women and children because it was interesting that even people like the pirates have a system of moral codes. 

There was a point where I felt like the way something was done was a bit strange, but Jennifer A. Nielsen definitely didn't let me down. There was a reason I had some of the minor problems I had, and that was surprising, but satisfying. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________
 Spoiler: [Mild]
When Jaron's attacked in the beginning of the novel and his Captain of the Guard sees his injury, his lack of much concern threw me off. I thought it was strange, but I certainly didn't attribute that to him being disloyal, because I'm picturing in my head this character that reminds me of Chaol from the Throne of Glass series that everybody loves. And if you're loved, you usually aren't evil, right? It was a bit sad at first to see his betrayal, but pfft, we all know Rowan will be a better Captain then you in time. :P I also really liked that Jaron becomes "Sage" again in this book too.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

“You wouldn't want to be king of my country," I said.

"Why is that?"

"Well, you're rather fat. I doubt you'd fit onto my throne."

There's great sarcastic humor in The Runaway King, and action to match. There are also fun characters to guide you on this journey filled with lies, pirates, and enemies to face. I definitely questioned some of the choices Jaron made, but Jaron is a very calculating and smart character, and some of the obvious mistakes I thought he made were planned from the start, which left me a bit impressed. If you are a fantasy, I'd definitely recommend this series for all ages. I'm not sure if I liked the first book more, or this one, but I think we all know the important thing here is that war is coming. 

5 coffee cups!

~♥~

BUY THE BOOK:

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE

~♥~

Contact Kaede: 

Email: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

Goodreads: Kaede
Twitter: Kami178xx

|WAITING ON WEDNESDAY| Wings by Elizabeth Richards & Attack on Titan Volume 12 (18)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine. It is a way to spotlight books that have yet to be released and it is awesome and you should join. 

COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE.

My book pick of the week is…

WINGS (#3)

Release Date: June 12th, 2014

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile 

Pages: 400

Following the cliffhanger ending of Phoenix, Natalie finds herself separated from Ash and unexpectedly reunited with her parents, including the father she thought was dead. But she can only think of Ash. She hasn't heard a word of him since she and Elijah were brought to the underground headquarters of the Sentry Rebellion. But she vows to find him.

Ash, meanwhile is back in Black City; it's the perfect place to hide from the Sentry government. But not for long. He won't give up on Natalie or bringing an end to the terrible reign of Purian Rose.

A pulse-racing end to an exciting series.

Wings is probably my favorite cover, with Black City right behind it. I'm really excited to have all the books in my collection so I can stare at the pretties and not actually do any of the work I'm supposed to. Because work is so overrated, you know? You want me to w-work on the things that are due in a day? Work? 

 

But nevertheless, I am super excited for Wings, especially with the way Phoenix ended. And no, this is not me reading endings of books I haven't read. OKAY, yes it is but I had to make sure I wouldn't be devastated after reading the first two books and not having the third, and I have decided that I would be. DON'T JUDGE ME. I SEE YOU JUDGING. But a binge read on these pretty, pretty books is definitely happening soon when Wings is released. 

~♥~

BUY THE BOOK:

AMAZON| BARNES AND NOBLE

~♥~

My manga pick of the week is…

ATTACK ON TITAN (Volume 12)

Release Date: April 29th, 2014

Publisher: Kodansha Comics 

Pages: 192

THE CHASE IS ON!

Erwin and the Survey Corps desperately mount a rescue operation to take Eren back from the Colossus Titan and Armored Titan. But without the numbers to form up properly outside the walls, how can the humans catch up before they're all slaughtered? Just whose side is Ymir on? And will Eren ever see his friends again?

If you are a fan on Attack on Titan, then you'll probably understand that I can not not want this. I am determined not only to have the entire series, but every manga spin-off that comes out that is related to Attack on Titan. Especially the Levi one. Because I have all of the Levi feels that I barely contain. 

My poor friends who are subject to it constantly. I CAN'T HELP IT. :3

I really love Attack on Titan though and a girl can only hope that season two isn't to far away. And that the Levi spin-off becomes an anime because I will be all over that in full fangirl mode. Warning: That mode can be scary and hazardous to people not expecting it. 

 ~♥~

BUY THE BOOK:

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE

~♥~

What are you waiting for this Wednesday? 

~♥~

Contact Kaede: 

Email: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

Goodreads: Kaede
Twitter: Kami178xx