May Wrap-Up (and June TBR)

Another month is over, another wrap-up of the books I have read this month. This one will be quite short since I have only read three books. Mainly due to a reading slump, in which I have been caught. May also flew by. I had so much going on academically, that I barley had the time to read (I can see a pattern). But now, without further ado: The reviews of the books I have read in May.

Inherited

by Freedom Matthews 

I bought this book because one of my favorite bookstergrammers (@benjaminoftomes) recommended it on his account. The summary of the story had me hooked right away. The book is about a group of pirates that inherited a curse from their parents, who done wrong with a fairy. To whom they confess their love will die. They now try to find the other heirs to break the curse. The main protagonist of the story is a girl called Lennie. She has a troubled past of growing up a brothel. Up until the story starts she never had a problem with the curse since she has never been in love. That is, until another heir arrives. She is immediately fascinated by Nathaniel and her live becomes more and more difficult as their relationship evolves. 

Overall I liked the book. Besides Lennie there were a whole bunch of strong women, each strong in their own way. The male characters partially lacked some depth, but each had their own sub-storyline.

I also enjoyed the pirate setting and most of the mythical elements. A thing that bothered me was, that most of the mythical elements were explained as the story progressed. Every chapter there was a new pice of background information on the curse, the ship or the characters which got quite confusing at some point. Some the the open story lines were left open at the end of the book. 

Even though it was a tad confusing at some points I really liked the story, until the ending came around. Since the ending bothered me that much I have to write about it. 

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!    

Lennie takes a long time warming up to Nathaniel. Mainly due to her past as a child-prostitute. This though topic is handled quite good. Nathaniel gives Lennie all the time she needs. When the curse is finally broken, the two of them marry. After their wedding night, the ship is attacked and in this last battle Nathaniel is killed. After his death Lennie decides to leave the crew to live a quiet life. The books ends on a epilogue: showing Lennie as a mother of Nathaniel's child living on a lonely island. Usually I don't mind characters being killed of. As long as their death is relevant to the plot. Nathaniel's death wasn't. He only got killed because all the other love interests from the other women were killed. His death was the last straw in Lennie's very shitty life. 

But his death isn't even the most upsetting part for me. It really bothers me, that Lennie get's pregnant after her wedding night. Thats close to impossible. But ok. Nathaniel is dead, she is pregnant, that stuff happens. The thing that I can not understand is why she is leaving everyone she considers family. She is mourning the death of her love. In this instant staying with her friends would have been so much more in character for her. 

!!!SPOILER ALERT OVER!!! 

Overall I rated the book 3.5/ 5 stars. 

BETA

by Rachel Cohn

I honestly don't even know how to start this review. To make a long story very short. I hated it. There have been some books this year, that I did not like or was disappointed by, but this book is by far the worst one.

The book follows the main protagonist Elysia. She is a beautiful teenager clone. Which are very rare because Teenagers are hard to clone due to their changing hormones. Clones are supposed to be soulless and serve the people of Demesne, an paradise on earth. As the story progresses we come to know, that Elysia has, in fact a soul and with that come many problems. She falls in love, has wants and needs and finally gets kind of sucked into a revolution against the humans. 

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!    

Here are my main problems with the book:

1.  Rape is used as a crucial plot point. Elysia is raped by her "brother" a character that has been nothing, absolutely nothing but nice and supporting of her. She proceeds to kill him when he tries to rape her again. Even though up until this point it was said, that Elysia is unable to get pregnant because of her being a clone. She gets pregnant. 
2. She gets saved by Alex, her second love interest. He FORBIDS her to have an abortion because is it against his personal believes. When Elysia asks the healer to which Alex took her, to help her, the healer refuses because Alex has told her so.
3. After Alex has saver her, only to strap her of her own reproductive rights, she falls in love with him. Strange enough but she falls in love with him in one sentence. 
4. Drug abuse and romanticization of drugs. 
5. The writing style. 

!!!SPOILER ALERT OVER!!! 

I honestly don't know why I even finished this book. I rated it with 1/5 stars. Do yourself a favor and spend your time wiser. This is also a book that I would not want young girls to read since it sends a completely toxic message. If you want a more in depth review of why this message is so toxic, please read this review on goodreads: Megan's review of BETA

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls 

Speaking about young girls: This is a book that I wish I had when I was little and I am so incredibly happy that this book exists. 

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls consists of 100 stories of real women that shaped our world in one way or another. While reading it I started crying multiple times. This book really struck a cord within me. It took me a day to finish it and I can see myself re-reading passages over and over again. Once it it is out in german, I will buy it for my youngest cousin, so that she can grow up with a plenty of role models. 

My favorite quote: "I am a young woman. You can't scare me."

Overall I rated it 5/5. One of the best books I have ever read.

TBR for June

Since two of the books I read last month were a bit of a disappointment I decided to declare June a re-read month for me. I have set the very ambitious goal for myself of re-reading a few of my favorite series:

1. Rebel of the sands 1&2
2. The Six of crows duology  
3. The Ruby Red trilogy 
4. The graceling trilogy

A very ambitious list, but lets see how I will do. I am traveling quite a bit this month so there will be enough reading time.

What books have you read this month? Do you share my opinions on the books mentioned?

Thank you for reading-

Miett