Fall has finally made its appearance here in the Mid-West US... it took a while this year... in fact my little area had five straight days of more than 90-degree weather setting many records.  And it exhausted me!

Don't get me wrong, I love hot summer days... when the pools are open!

When you are doing the soccer mom thing for fall season you don't expect to need your own giant bottle of water to stay hydrated in the heat!

Anyway... cool weather has arrived, and I'm making lists of spooky reads for Halloween, pulling out the cozy sweaters & blankets, and preparing for NANOWRIMO - all staples for me in the fall.

But before I get too caught up in the next, I am reflecting on some recent reads!  Here is a list with quick, sometimes silly, reviews of books I've finished recently... I hope you can add at least one to your to-be-read pile.

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a case of Bookstagram made me do it... picking up this book...

And then it was rough for a long time... very confusing as I had no idea who was who... but with the help of some bookstagrammers, I really got into the story...

I'll write more of my thoughts soon...
Actually, I wrote quick reviews on the rest of the series... so while this was a confusing start, this series is totally worth it...

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The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a second book... full of action and some major twists... and the heartbreak....

I can't say much because it gives away the entire point of book one, but this is such a great second book... no middle book syndrome here. Push through book one because this series is amazing

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The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely adored this series.

Lia is the kind of character that is easy to love, easy to attach to.

And as the story of her battle gets more and more complicated, well... let me just say I adored this series.

I appreciated the development of so many side characters, I mean three long books, there needs to be a great cast of well-developed characters...

But all that being said, I wish the ending would have been better balanced. The resolution is so short and tight that the build-up to it seems uneven...

AS far as this book as an audio - it was good. I enjoyed the fact that for the main POV characters there were different voice actors, plus a narrator. It helped the lure of Venda remain more mysterious as it seemed the point of the entire plot.

Overall I highly recommend this to fans of The Winner's Curse, or Deception (which are totally two of my favorite dystopian/fantasy YA series).

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The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, Book 2): Book 2 of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alright... where do I begin...

Everyone I love who loves books enjoys this series... they go mad over these boys and the nature of their friendship...

And I see that. And I'm a huge fan of friendships in stories, in fact, I often say there needs to be more...

But nothing is really happening... I feel like there should be more happening... like what's up with the leylines and Blue's cryptic destining with her love?

Don't get me wrong I actually was very curious about Ronan and his dream powers but... I don't know the pace is too slow for me.

On the upside, I love these as audiobooks because the narrator is amazing... seriously...

Needless to say, I am going to finish this series slowly, and only in audio format

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Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review in a tweet(for now): Unbelievable addition to the series so full of twists... 💔💔💔

Rowan: 💞💕💟
Aelin: 😯🙈
Aedion: ❄️😳💗
Elide: 😩😔💗💔
Lorcan: 😯💞😔💔
Lysandra: 😳😯🌟


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Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just some quick thoughts...

I only picked this up because of all the complaints about it... and I am not sure they were as glaringly obvious as some reviewers made it seem.

The worlds were interesting... the way Cyra's magic interacted with everyone was crazy and the way Akos was able to negate so much made it more interesting...

But the biggest plot point that kept me curious was how Ryzek used Elijah...

I'm going to think on this one more and maybe add more here...

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Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a perfectly sweet summer read... light with enough humor and plot to keep a reader interested... yet exactly what one would expect from a YA chick lit.

I'm not sure I can say there were any big and surprising twists but for a light contemporary, I'm not sure I expect them.

The pace was good and I enjoyed the chance to see a variety of characters. As far as the fact that Anna is at a boarding school in another country... well you know it's a story!

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