August Wrap-Up

Summer is in its last breaths, Autumn is approaching fast.
Uni has't started yet. I was spending my Summer Break on my aunts farm without an Internet connection. Because of that, I had a lot of time to read. In total I read eight books this month, so we have got a lot to get through. Lets get started!

IN A GLASS DARKLY: CARMILLA
by Sheridan Le Fanu

This book contains a collection of short stories by the Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu. I mainly bought it because I watched the web series: CARMILLA. Which is inspired by his work. After watching the series I did a little bit of research in the source material and decided to read it myself. 

Carmilla tells the tale of a jung noblewomen named Laura. She lives in a mountain range in Austria, far away from civilization. With only her father and two governesses as company, she is very lonely. Due to that she is looking forward to the visit of a neighbor girl. The meeting falls short due to the neighbors sudden death. But Laura does not stay lonely for long, as her family takes in a sick noblewoman called Carmilla. A sweet and intelligent girl, with a lot of odd habits. When a mysterious illness befalls Laura, Carmilla seems like the one to blame. 

Carmilla was the first gothic novel I ever read. And I quite enjoyed it. The way the scenery was as important as the characters which was new for me. I really liked the gloomy feeling that the book conveyed. Because I watched the series I already knew about the plot twist in the end, but I still liked it. It was fun to visit the early origins of the vampire mythos.

One negative thing I must mention: The language proofed to be very challenging. But that was mainly because I am not quite fluent in old english.

Overall I gave Carmilla 3,5/5 stars.   

BLACKHEATH 

by Gabriella Lepore

Blackheath is a small but mysterious town. Witches live there. One of these witches is Joel Tomlins. Second son of the Tomlins Coven. His beloved older brother is destined to be the chosen one who will bring back honor to the family. His junger brother hates the family, while his jungest gets neglegted by everyone but him. Joels only chance to escape his home is the school he visits. 

There his childhood friend Maggie is cursed by a series of bad luck. The two of them do not talk anymore but maggie sees no other way as to ask the witch for help. And maybe Joel isn't that after all, at the very least he ist very handsome.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It was a total surprise for me last month. The concept is so very genius. Both main characters are actually not the chosen ones. Their stories exist right next to the the typical storylines. In its core the concept is nothing new, but I have never seen it so well executed. I can not recommend this book enough. especially if you like not so typical stories.

I rated Blackheath with 4/5 stars.      

CARRY ON

by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On tells the tale of Simon Snow. Chosen to save the world of the Humdrum a magic eating monster. We would do that, if he would be any good at being a chosen one. As it turned out he is not very god at anything right now. His relationship with his girlfriend it going downhill, his best friend is super annoying and his mentor tries to keep him save by ignoring him. The only good part of his last school year is, that his nemesis and roommate Baz did not bother to show up. Or it would be good if Simon wasn't super worries about and maybe even missed him.

Carry On is a spin off from Rowells book Fangirl. There the main character writes a fanfiction about these characters. Ever since reading fangirl, I wanted to read Simons story. I loved Harry Potter and the parallels between the two ist immense, so I thought why not give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised. 

When I tell people about this book I say: its basically Harry Potter, but everything that was bad about it gets fixed. Oh and there is gay romance in it. I think I can leave it at that. 

I gave it 4/5 stars.    

CARAVAL

by Stephanie Garber

Caraval is the biggest and best festival in the world. A chance to leave your boring life behind for a few days. Loose yourself in a different reality. Scarlett wishes nothing more as to participate one time. Every year since she was a child she writes a letter to Legend, the founder of the festival, and asks him for tickets. He never replied. Then Scarlett gets betrothed to a count she never met, just to escape her violent father. She takes her last chance and writes one last letter. This time she gets a reply, and three tickets to the Caraval. She plans to go with her sister, Tella. The third ticket goes to Julian, a sailor seemingly infatuated with Tella, who helps them escape their fathers island. Everything takes a turn for the worst, when Tella vanishes and becomes the grand price of the Caraval. Scarlett now has to beat out all the other players as well as her own heart to win her sister and her freedom back. At least she has Julian to help her, but can she trust him? He seems to know a little to much about the Caraval and her.

Caraval is a hyped book. I now get why. At first I did not plan on reading it, but when it was on kindle sale for 0,99€ I decided to give it a shot. Oh boy am I happy that I did. 

Have you ever read a book, and wanted to read it again as soon as you were finished? This was Caraval for me. It was not the story stat hooked me (although its very good), it was the writing style. I have never read a YA book this beautifully written. Almost every sentence read like it was poetry. Usually I handletter my favorite quote from each book, this time that was not possible because there were so many. Here are a few of my favorites:

"Her word ushered Scarlett into world that only existed in the delicate land of lucid dreaming."

"The girl was that hot sunny day in the middle of the cold season, either unaware or uncaring, that she did not belong."

Read this book. Please. I gave it 5/5 stars.

THREE DARK CROWNS

by Kendare Blake

Imagine an Island, where every generation the Queen gives birth to triplets. They are raised together until they are six. Then they are split up and get raised by a tribe each, as every child has a different gift. One can control the elements, one is immune to poison and one is a naturalist. The three get raised by their people until they are sixteen. Then they have a year to kill each other. The survivor gets the crown.

This time around things are looking fairly certain. Mirabella, the element queen, is stronger than her sisters. Both of which have not shown their gifts yet. But their tribes are not going to let their queens die. A game of politics, power and deception begins.

I am still unsure about this book. I love and hate it at the same time. I was pretty sure I would not like it while I was reading. But after I was finished, I could not stop thinking about it. I even dreamt about it. The longer I thought about the story the more I started to like it. It was kind of opposite to Caraval, which I liked because of the way it was written. This one I liked because of the story. It isn't bad writing wise, but it is also not very good. But the concept of a matriarchal society build on blood was interesting. And to see the way each of the queens cope with their doom is intriguing. The plot twist at the end has me very exited for the second installment. 

I rated the book with 5/5 stars.      

A GATHERING OF SHADOWS & A CONJURING OF LIGHT

by V.E. Schwab

I wont say to much story wise, since these are the second and third installment of Schwabs A darker shade of magic series. I will give some spoiler free bullet points though:

• THAT. SEX. SCENE. OMG 
• Love is in the air, generally speaking
• Oh and there is darkness
• and death
• and pain
• I loved this series.

Yeah, that wasn't helpful was it? 

I loved this series. I read it in three days! And I was so impressed by the way Schwab builds her worlds and characters. Reading this book made ma want to write more. I loved how the storyline overarched three books while still leaving a place for substories. Schwab created a masterpiece here. 

Both books get 5/5 stars.

THIS SAVAGE SONG

by V. E. Schwab

Every crime creates a monster and a sinner. But what if the monster wants to be human. And what if a human wants to become a monster?
This book is the first installment in the this savage song duology. It follows two main characters: Kate Harker. The daughter of Callum Harker. Ruler over Half of Verity, a human with bloody hands. His daughter wants  to become like him to earn his approval.
And August Flynn, adopted son of the Ruler of Veritys other half. August is a Sunai, a monster feeding on sinners souls. He wishes for nothing more than to be human.
Their paths intertwine when the truce between the two city parts starts to break and August is send to spy on Kate.

This book is hard to describe. It was kind of hard to get into. The world is very different to anything I have read so far, which made it hard to grasp all the rules. Once I got into the book I liked it.
I gave it 4/5 stars.

I hope you all had a wonderful reading month!
Have you read any of these books? Let me know!
Thanks for reading.