Book Review · Books

The Cruel Prince (The Folk Of The Air #1) – Holly Black [BOOK REVIEW]

The Cruel Prince Holly Black book review blog diary of difference diaryofdifference

★★★★★

I asked you guys on a Goodreads poll to decide what should be my next read. And a huge number of you have decided that The Cruel Prince should be the one! And here I am, one week later, saying THANK YOU, for giving me a reason to read this book now!

Now, before I say anything else, I want you to know that I don’t have much experience living and reading about the Faerie world. I know fairies exist, and I know about that world, but I wasn’t too involved when I grabbed this book.

And I am glad for that, because…

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black is a great book to start your experience in this magical world. It starts with a great statement that there won’t be any fish sticks, or ketchup or TV Shows (believe me, that is Chapter 1), and it gives you a wonderful introduction to what turns out to be a beautiful place.

The Cruel Prince Holly Black book review blog diary of difference diaryofdifference

Follow me on Instagram – @diaryofdifference

We follow the story through Jude’s eyes. Jude and her two sisters witness the murder of their parents. And not just that, but they also get dragged into the Faerie world because the person that kills their parents is the father of Jude’s oldest sister.

And living in the Faerie world as a human is not easy at all. At school, Jude and her sister Taryn are constantly being bullied, and the biggest bully of them all is Cardan. He is the prince, the last son of the king, and he is so evil and self-assured. *gasps* And I love him!

‘’The odd thing about ambition is this: You can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed.’’

While Taryn is calm and tries to avoid trouble, Jude is restless and keeps talking back to Cardan. She won’t let him win, and she won’t let him humiliate her. And that brings her a hell of a trouble.

And one day, she had enough. She decides to be even more fierceless and brutal, because that is the only way of survival…

‘’If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.’’

I love Jude, with all my heart. I loved her bravery and the way she never gives up, and keeps going for what she wants, even if people think she is being silly. I strongly agree with Jude – we should all strive towards our goals, no matter how difficult or ridiculous they may seem.

I also love Cardan. He is not a mean person,even though he is really cruel, but the background story is so harsh, and the reasons behind it are so strong. I could understand where he came from, but I am not in any way encouraging his bullying. I think that’s not acceptable under any circumstances. He was amazingly described, and there is the fight between good and evil going inside him.

‘’Love is a noble cause. How can anything done in the service of a noble cause be wrong?’’

The love and hate between Jude and Cardan is something you need to read about. Only Holly Black is able to describe the way they are towards each other. But this is the best love-hate game I have read in a while.

When we enter this world, we also see it from the eyes of her sisters Taryn and Vivi, and what I loved was that we get told the pro’s and con’s of the world, and why Taryn would decide to marry a faerie and get her place in the Court, or why Vivi would leave and go back to the human world. And sometimes, when you are a human in a world so beautiful, but so cruel, you realise that you can’t live with it (all that have read the book will know exactly to which scene I am referring to…).

If you haven’t picked up this book yet, please do so. I could not recommend it enough! It is filled with a lovely scenery of an amazing world, great adventure, great characters and stories around them. I read it in almost one go, as I couldn’t put it down!

A masterpiece, where faeries would give up their immortality to have this on their bookshelves, I am sure!

‘’And no matter how eager you are for it, you cannot make the moon set nor rise any faster.’’

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest

Books · Down The TBR Hole Tag

Down The TBR Hole #2

down the tbr hole book books blog diary of difference

Hi Lovelies!

The second edition of the Down the TBR Hole. On my previous attempt, I have managed to clear 3 out of 10, and I am eager to see how this one will go.

How it works:

  • Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.

  • Order on ascending date added.

  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.

  •  Read the synopsis of the books.

  • Decide: keep it or should it go

Here’s the next patch:

#1

#2

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol and Origin are the only books I haven’t read from the Robert Langdon Series. I am eager to finish what I have started.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

As my previous comment, with already two books on my TBR from Dan Brown, I will remove Digital Fortress from my TBR for now.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

A classic I have always been trying to get my hands on, and a must-read book. Staying!

Verdict: KEEP  ☑

Приказни од Мјаукедонија by Igor Dzambazov

This is a Macedonian book by one of the most popular show-men in our country. As I have no chance of getting this book in my hands right now, I will pass.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

I have wanted to read Sophie’s World since childhood, and I love philosophy. This one is staying, and I will actually push this to be one of my reads in early 2019.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacton

I actually don’t know what this book is doing here, or why I have put it. Needless to say more?

Verdict:  REMOVE ✖

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

I am half-way through the second season of the TV Show, and I know that 90% of the times books are better than movies, so I will give this one a go.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

I have put this on my wishlist 5 years ago. Now I realise why. Unfortunately (or luckily), this is not my taste anymore. I think I’ve grown up.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

All I want for Christmas by Amy Silver

I don’t remember adding this book to my list. It seems like a great read, and I love Christmas books. I thought I should keep it in case we run out of new Christmas books, but who are we kidding… As I don’t own this at the moment, I will let it go.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

The Nanny by Melissa Nathan

I love Nanny books, this subject has a great meaning to me. I am not sure if I will read this in a near future, or ever read it, but I will keep it in my TBR for now.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑

flower-divider-flower-dividers-clip-art-flowers-line-divider-stock-vector-illustration-of-elegant

This time it seems to be 5 staying and 5 going. I think I am getting better at this. My TBR already looks smaller (who are we kidding? :D). Let me know if you have read any of these, and if you want me to keep or remove any of these books from my list! I look forward to see what you think!

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest

 

Books

Quarry’s Climax – Max Allan Collins [BOOK REVIEW]

quarry's climax - max allan collins - book review - diary of difference - reader blog - seo - digital marketing

Quarry’s Climax is the 14th book of the Quarry series, and even though I only had the chance to read this one, the rest of the books are certainly something that I have put on my TBR list!

The plot is simple – until, of course, it gets complicated:

Quarry is a Hitman – he kills people for pleasure, I mean, money! He works for this guy ‘’the Broker’’ and his new mission is to protect a chairman of an underrated Porn magazine and strip club – The Climax. When this task might seem easy, suddenly everyone hides something and everyone has secrets. And then our man Quarry – who usually goes on the spot and just kills whoever he needs to, now has to play the role of a detective, find out what the hell is going on in this rat hole, and eliminate any danger.

Now – first things first – I am not usually a person that reads these types of books – Pulp fiction, hardboiled fiction, entangled harsh noir stories, but this book pleasantly surprised me with its light reading experience and admirable description of the characters.

Quarry – now that’s one interesting character! Quarry is what happens when you mix a Cowboy personality, with a bit of witty humour, no respect for ladies and egotistical appearance. I happened to actually kind of like this guy!

Though the part I didn’t like it how he treats women and talks about them as they are a piece of meat with no brain whatsoever. I am not a feminist, but I mean – you couldn’t have tried harder, I guess. He would just go to a scene, let us know how irrelevant and thick this lady is, he would sleep with her, never call her again, and then continue with his life as nothing happened. Wonderful, isn’t it?

This is one of a kind book for me, and even though I wouldn’t put it on my favorites pile, it has a special place in my heart. I greatly enjoyed it, and it made me smirk at times. I will definitely explore this genre in the future, and I am sure that Quarry’s Climax was a great beginning for me on that.

I received this book by winning a Goodreads Giveaway from Max Allan Collins and Hard Case Crime.

Books

Read and Gone – Allison Brook [BOOK REVIEW]

This is the second book of the series, and even though I haven’t read the first part, I was able to follow this book quite easily. There are a few references to the past and you can quickly realise what happened. Though, if you wish to read the series, don’t start with #2, because there are a few spoilers here that you wish you hadn’t read if you read book #1. I won’t be reading #1 because the spoilers kinda ruined it for me. But I am sure it’s an amazing story as well.

Carrie works in a library and has a cat that brings with her at work. Her father is a famous bad guy, that spent all her childhood in jails. One day, he returns to town, trying to get his share of a box of jewellery that he stole with another man. But a murder changes everyone’s plans, and Carrie has to make some dangerous decisions. It is a wonderful story about family, love, Christmas and tragedy that ends well. 

This is a book full of mystery and crime, but it also is warm and family-oriented. I loved the mystery – crime part of it, I loved the scenes where everyone, mostly Carrie plays out to be a detective, but there were also scenes where things were so obvious, and she made terrible choices that made me cringe.

I struggled a lot to understand and like Carrie –  I didn’t like the way how she gets quiet and doesn’t talk and just cries, and suddenly when she leaves the situation, she bitches about everything and how things should’ve been done differently. WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE, THEN? But then, there were also moments when she would come up with some interesting hypothesis and actually succeed into making a right choice, and I would think – YEAH, that’s my girl.

All in all, definitely a beautiful read, with a few tweaks here and there. I would love to read something similar to this, and for you that love chick-lit and detective stories, you would most probably enjoy this read 🙂

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books  for giving me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

                           | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest |

Books

Wide Open – Amy Bodossian [BOOK REVIEW]

Wide Open is one of the few books of this kind. I personally am not a huge fan of poetry, and I don’t enjoy reading it too often, but sometimes a book comes and makes me wonder I act this way. Amy Bodossian truly wrote something beautiful and unique, and I look forward to reading more poems from her.

I have to say a huge thank you to Outside the Box Press, for letting me have a copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review.

Wide Open (Published by Outside the Box Press) is a book that contains poetry written about love and sex. Amy writes with so much emotion and oh, the feels! It can be very straightforward and harsh at times, and it can be warm and loving as well, and it is a perfect blend of feelings and emotions that make you see the art of love and sex in a completely different and unique way. In the book you can also see a lot of amazing illustrations made by Amy, which perfectly represent each poem.

I wouldn’t say I loved it, because I don’t easily love books, but I have to mention that this one did surprise me in a very pleasant way. It is incredibly open and very thorough, and I believe it deserves a place on your shelves as well. It makes your body shiver from her words in an unusual way, and it helps you realise to always keep your heart open – to new loves, to new experiences, to new adventures, to new opportunities!