Cova Reviews | P.S. I Still Love You, by Jenny Han

Hi there! So here we are again. Hope you all had a great start of the year wherever you are in the world :) Back at reviewing you will see me, as should be. And for the first review of 2017, I shall write about the second novel to the YA, contemporary To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy by Jenny Han, P.S. I Still Love You. This review will be spoiler-free for both the second and first novels of the series, so don't worry if you haven't read To All the Boys I've Loved Before yet, although I'd advise you to go read the review for that one first? 😛 

I was literally dying to read this novel right after I finished the first part to the trilogy, but I had finals (why?! 😓), and I had to be good - so I left it to read at the end of the month. And, oh boy, was it worth the wait! 

Cova Reviews | The Evolution of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin (Mara Dyer Trilogy #2)

The Evolution of Mara Dyer is the second book to the Mara Dyer trilogy by Michelle Hodkin. The series is a young adult, mystery, paranormal novel about a girl named Mara Dyer who goes through an ultra-traumatic event in her life -her best friend and her boyfriend died when the old building they were in at night collapsed. Only she survived, and now she sees things she should not be seeing. She suffers from PTSD, and her family thinks it's a good idea for them to move to Florida, where she can start a new life away from everything that reminded her of her now-dead friends. There she meets hot Noah -the hot, popular guy who strangely seems to be interested in her. 

Whatever my previous description made you think, this is no regular, cheeky love story. I loved the first book (the review of which you can find here), and I was dying to read the second one. If you haven't read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (the 1st book in the series), I suggest you go read the post about it first. It's not like I am going to spoil anything, but I think there's no point in reading about the second book if you haven't even read what the first is about! hehe

Anyway. Let's start :)

Book Series Review: The Mortal Instruments (Cassandra Clare)

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be talking about and reviewing book series by Cassandra Clare - The Mortal Instruments (yes, I know the picture I posted right above these lines is from City of Bones - the movie, but it's so beautiful!).

10 Books I Loved but Sadly don't Own :(

Hello there! In this week's post I will ramble on about book I have read and I have loved but unfortunately I still don't own. By "not own" I include books I checked out from the library and books I've been lent, but I also include e-book editions as, even though I do technically own them, if I REALLY liked a book I like having its printed version (plus hardcover if possible! hehe).

The books listed here are in no particular order - I wrote them down as I remembered about them :) If you click on the picture of each cover, you'll be taken to the Goodreads page for the book.

1. Forbidden, by Tabitha Suzuma 

Cova Reviews | Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN AROUND TO READ THIS BOOK! Ever since I first heard about it I've been wanting to read it! (just thought you should know about my excitement haha).

As an introductory introduction, Ready Player One is a young adult, science-fiction, dystopian novel by Ernest Cline. It is his first novel and... Holy crap. 

It follows our main character Wade Watts, who lives in the year 2044, in which technology has gone through great changes, but the energy crisis makes the world not a very nice place to live in. Both his parents are dead, and so he lives with his aunt, who steals away his food rations as a payment method for letting him live at her place. The odd thing about the year 2044 is that everyone seems to live inside the OASIS, a virtual reality created by the greatest videogame designer James Halliday. In the OASIS, you can go to school, make your own business, visit thousands of planets and basically do whatever it is you can think of. The thing is now, Halliday dies at age sixty-seven with no-one to leave his insane fortune to, so at the time of his death, a video is released in which he says he's set up a contest inside the OASIS: the first person to find the Easter egg he's hidden somewhere inside the virtual empire will inherit everything he owns. 5 years after the first clue was released by the multibillionaire, after almost everyone had given up, a name appears at the top of the scoreboard.

July Wrap-up

Hello, hello! I'm sure if you've been in the blogging community for a while now you already know what this type of posts is about - a simple compilation of the reads I've accomplished throughout the month. In this case, July - month of heat and beach ;) I've gotten to read a total of 5 books this past month, which is an OK amount. 

So, without further ado, let's get right into it :)

The first book I read last month was... Arena Roja, by Gema Bonnín. 

Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard

Hello everyone! This week's post will be about Glass Sword -the second book to the Red Queen series, by Victoria Aveyard - her young adult, dystopian, fantasy series. As a note, I will tell you that the author has recently announced her plan to add a fourth book to what originally was going to be her first trilogy. The title and release dates of both the third and fourth novels has not been set yet (I don't think even the 3rd one is fully finished, so... :P). What I know is that the third novel will be out in 2017, and I can guess it will be around February - just as the previous two were. Let's hope it's not later than that!

I would advise you to only read the following plot summary if you've already read Red Queen (I won't write any spoilers, but I wouldn't read about a second book if I haven't read the first one). Otherwise, you can read what the first book (Red Queen) is about here. 

"If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. 

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. 

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. 

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul. " (Goodreads)

A Thousand Pieces of You - Claudia Gray

Hello everybody! I know it's been quite a long time since I last posted anything. Being a college student is hard! As you may know if you follow me on Twitter, I have a few reviews to write, so I'll start posting them whenever I get the chance.  

As for this one, it is about A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray. It is a young adult, science-fiction (some even say fantasy, though I wouldn't quite agree) novel - the first part of the Firebird Series.

"Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father's killer through multiple dimensions.
Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all." (Goodreads)

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles 2) - Marissa Meyer

Hello once again! This post will be about the second novel to The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. The first novel of the series -Cinder- already has a review on the blog, which you can find here. 

As you may know, I am taking part in two challenges at the moment: 2016 Finishing the Series Challenge and the 2016 Audiobook Challenge, and Scarlet qualifies for both! I did listen to this novel in audiobook, and The Lunar Chronicles is one of the series I am aiming to finish by the end of the year :) yay!

"Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive. 
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner."(Goodreads)

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Hello everyone :) Today I bring to you Fangirl - a young adult, contemporary novel written by Rainbow Rowell - a book which so many people are talking about. 

Honestly, I had seen Fangirl in bookshops so many times before, but I did not bring myself to buying it until quite recently after I read and watched so many good reviews about it. It is nothing like what I thought it was going to be. It is the first novel I read from the author, and I am really happy I did.

"A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 
Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...
But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?" (Goodreads)

Book Series Review: Bajo el Cielo Púrpura de Roma (Alessandra Neymar)

Hello everybody! So today I bring something new to this blog - a Book Series Review (yay!). As you may already know, I am participating in the 2016 Finishing the Series Challenge, and Bajo el Cielo Púrpura de Roma by Alessandra Neymar is one of the series I was aiming to finish throughout this year. Surprisingly enough, I got to do it during the first month of the year! (yep, sorry I couldn't upload the review until now :S)

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

I was lucky enough to win Amanda's Back to School giveaway at her blog Orandi et Legendi, from which I got this book which I really wanted to read. I am very grateful to her for that :) 

Cinder is a Young Adult, fantasy novel inspired in the classic Cinderella - the first of The Lunar Chronicles' trilogy by Marissa Meyer. 

"Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future." (Goodreads)

Mírame y Dispara (Alessandra Neymar)

Mírame y Dispara is, again, a book that has only been published in Spanish (sorry!); but, as always, if you are not so confident with your Spanish, you can use the bog's translating function that you'll find on the right sidebar to read the following review :) 

Mírame y Dispara was written by Alessandra Neymar, and won the first edition of the award for YA, romantic literature Premio Ellas Juvenil Romántica in 2012. It is the first of the series Bajo el Cielo Púrpura de Roma, one of the series of my 2016 Finishing the Series Challenge, which I posted about a couple of weeks back. As I am planning on reading the rest of the books of the series, I thought I would re-read the first one for the third time to have the story fresh in my head and not miss out on any little detail! So, without further adieu, let's see what it has to offer... (intro Google Translate ;D)

"Kathia Carusso, una joven adolescente de la alta aristocracia italiana, regresa a Roma tras pasar muchos años en un internado. Allí se reencuentra con Cristianno Gabbana, un conocido de la familia con quien nunca ha tenido muy buena relación. Cristianno es terriblemente atractivo, impulsivo, y no parece tener más preocupaciones que las peleas con otras bandas y el flirteo con chicas de piernas largas. Al empezar el curso, Kathia y Cristianno verán que comparten no solo la misma clase sino también el mismo grupo de amigos. Lo que empezará como odio irá desembocando en una tensión cada vez más fuerte... Y, cuando finalmente ambos se atrevan a aceptar sus verdaderos sentimientos, deberán sortear obstáculos que nunca habrían imaginado..." (Goodreads)

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why is a Young Adult, fiction novel which tells us the story about a guy, Clay Jensen, who randomly receives a box with his name on it in which he finds seven double-sided tapes recorded by his deceased friend Hannah Baker, explaining the 13 reasons why she decided to commit suicide. Only those people who made the list will ever listen to the tapes, which leaves us with one single question - what did Clay do to be in the list?

I found this book absolutely refreshing. The story is just so original and creative, and the flow of the story is very good. This is the first book I ever decided to listen to on audiobook, and I think I made such a good choice! I wasn't really sure about listening to something you are meant to read, but if you ever think about trying it out, this book definitely is the right one to do so because the story is mainly the tapes of Hannah Baker explaining her story, so I literally felt as if I was listening to the tapes. Moreover this audiobook has two different voices - a male one for the part narrated by Clay and a female one for Hannah Baker's tapes, which I think is a brilliant idea. The audiobook definitely got a 5/5 from me. If you ever have the chance, please try it out.