2016 Reading Challenge

My goodreads reading challenge is to read 100 books this year! Last year I did it :D
In addition to my Goodreads Reading Challenge, I try to do another challenge every year to read books I wouldn't have picked up normally.

In 2015 I did the TBR-Jar-Challenge. This year I thought about doing the Popsugar Reading Challenge. I'm so glad that they published a Challenge again this year so I can participate.

I hope I can read a book for all 40 challenges. We'll see ;)

Review: Dreaming of Antigone - Robin Bridges

Uncharacteristically for me I've read a lot of Contemporary YA lately. In between I also read Dreaming of Antigone. I didn't like it as much as some of the others, but it was still a great book. I liked the way the main characters fell in love with each other and although it was a little bit unrealistic and instalovey it kind of makes sense that they would turn to each other for comfort after what happened before the book. I think there was happening a little bit too much at the same time for such a short book. Which means it was very fast-paced, but some topics felt a little bit rushed and I thought they could have been exploit a little bit more. I liked the characters very much. I love it when main characters are passionate about something. It gives them personality and makes them become alive. Also I often learn something new about hobbies the main characters practice. Still I couldn't quite connect with the main characters. But in the end I really liked the story and especially that it deals with so many serious topics. And even though I kind of guessed the plot twist it was still surprising and very interesting. I just think because of all the serious topics and sad events the characters were just coping a little bit to well and that was the only thing that made me really feel a little bit disconnected and not emotional enough considering all the terrible and heartwarming events. Oh yeah and by the way I LOVE this cover.

Review: Untraceable (The Nature of Grace #1) - S.R. Johannes

I can't decide if I hated or loved this book. The first 100 pages were kind of boring but it got better after that. The last 100 pages were really exciting and thrilling. I couldn't take my eyes of the book, but I feel like it was more like a train wreck. I wanted to stop reading but I just couldn't. That doesn't mean that I didn't like it. There were so many plot twists in the end and I love it if a book is unpredictable. Also I really liked the characters - at least the ones you were supposed to like ;). I would have wished for a better clear up of their relationships in the end. It was just like the emotions described in the whole book where in the end just gone and after three days everything was back to normal.
The end was just the thing that kind of ruined this book for me. It was like the whole book was pointless in the end and I wished it would have been differently.
Also I saw on Goodreads that it was listed as Fantasy and I waited the whole book for something fantastical to happen but it didn't!
I kinda wish I haven't read this book - although it was not that bad - but because of this stupid cliff hanger in the end I feel like I have to read the next one in the series but I didn't like this one so much that I wanna invest the time to read two more books, so I don't know what to do!
If you like mystery thrillers I think you should try it, but prepare for reading the whole series!

Review: Call Me, Maybe - Ellie Cahill

I normally don't read romance novels but it was a nice change. I actually liked the characters and I liked that they had a background story that influenced them til today. It made them human and relate-able. I liked the way their relationship started. It was nice and cutesy and really original I think. Also I liked that you get to know different characters who don't actually show in the book. That made the main characters come to life because they had other relationships in their life like a family and friends.
The story for me was kind of boring. Maybe it's because I don't usually read romance books and fantasy books have a lot more going on than just the romance between the main characters. I waited through the whole book for something unexpected to happen but it was pretty predictable. I still liked the story because it was also very realistic but it just wasn't enough for me I think.
But the writing was great. It was fast-paced and in the beginning I couldn't even put it down. After about 100 pages I realized how far I've gotten and was kind of shocked. That's also why I finished this book in a day. Since it covers only approximately 3 weeks it is easy to read in one sitting and also it is kind of understandable that there wasn't going on that much. I think the main part in a contemporary romance novel is the romance so it was very well done. I think I just don't wanna read romance novels all the time but I'm really clad I did read this book and I'm happy I got approved for this book on netgalley. If you like romance novels you should definitely give this one a try.

Review: Sentinel (Covenant #5) - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Ok first of all: Normally I hate the covers of Jennifer's book. The covers of the Lux series are really hideous, but this series has so beautiful covers. I just adore them!

I did a review of the first book of the series and talked about the resemblance to Vampire Academy. The first one was pretty similar, but as the series progressed it got more and more complicated and develop it's own story and it was very thrilling and captivating. The love story in this book was just amazing and I love how this all wrapped up in this book. I just really like it when a couple overcomes all its problems to be with each other and starts to fight their problems together. Also I liked the "love triangle" in this series. Normally I really hate them, but there are a few series where it's well done and this one definitely belongs to the well written love triangles.

I also love the main character's relationship to the other characters and how they develop and also how she develops throughout the book. You can really see that this book is written for young adults who are as well in the process of changing and finding themselves.

Also as the series progressed I started to appreciate the Greek mythology in this book. You can't really see much of that in the first book, but it definitely adds to the story later.

I really really loved the ending. It wasn't the typical corny and cheesy ending which you have sometimes with happy endings, but it was still a happy ending. I could have never thought about this ending. It was very surprising for me, but it was a nice surprise. And if I wouldn't have had all the feels already throughout the series with this ending I would have had them at the latest. I just wanted to cry and laugh at the same time throughout the whole series. It was heartbreaking and so relate-able and also so sweet and sad and scary at the same time. Really just all the feels!

Also this series is relatively long because there are 5 books and 2 novellas but they are really fast-paced and pretty short so you can read them in a short amount of time like all Jennifer L. Armentrout books but you should read the novellas as well to really understand the whole series and also the novellas are amazing especially the second one ;)

This series is like Percy Jackson for young adults. So if you wanna have a mix between Vampire Academy and Percy Jackson you should definitely try this. Just don't let yourself get scared of by the first one because you feel like you have read this already because there is a lot more to the story later on. 

Review: Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) - Richelle Mead

This book was definitely the best one in the series so far. I really liked the other ones too but in this book the characters develop so much it's amazing. The other 4 books just feel unimportant beside this one. Which doesn't mean that they weren't good or interesting. They built the story but in this book the series reached it's excitement top!
I don't know if I like the series more than Vampire Academy because they are both so good!
I think I like the characters more than in Vampire Academy. Especially the side characters have more depth and their stories are a nice addition to the main plot. If you can even say main plot because in Richelle Mead's books there are always many, many plot strings intertwining and standing out. It was kind of confusing that in the fourth book the POVs started to change but I can see that it was necessary for the story and after getting used to it I like it. Also I like that you can see a lot of different kinds of relationships in this series. Of course there is the romance, but the relationships between family members and friends are also very interesting. I really like how deep the friendships always are in Richelle Mead's books.
I think this book was so far the most thrilling and emotional one of the series.
The first half of the book was hard to read because it was really depressing but it was even harder to put down because it was so exciting. And the end was so heartbreaking and lovely that it was nearly too romantic but at the same time still action-packed which made the book really unique.

Review: Half-Blood / Daimon (Covenant Series #1 / #0.5) - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Before I started this book I've heard that it is similar to Vampire Academy. Normally I don't care if YA books feel similar to other YA books I really liked. I think if I like a book why don't read a similar one because I will probably like that too. So for me it was ok that it was similar although I think there were a little bit too many similarities.
The characters and the whole story were practically the same. I still liked this book a lot and am very interested in reading on with the series. It's just that I often felt like I've already read this book. I think that the next books will be more interesting and new to me, so I'm glad I read this book and look forward to reading on with this series.
Also Jennifer L. Armentrout fulfilled my expectations as always. The writing was really good and the whole world building felt so real. Also I liked the characters a lot and I'm really curious how the relationships between the characters develop throughout the other books. Also it was the perfect book for a readathon because like always I just couldn't put Armentrout's book down. If I have had the time I would have read it in one sitting. It was short and captivating.
If not for the similarities to Vampire Academy it would get five smileys ;)

I also read the prequel to Half-Blood: Daimon. It isn't really necessary to read it but I still liked it as start of a series and it intrigued me into reading the series. It didn't really give extra information to the story or characters but it was a nice story and gave the reader more information about the main character before the events of the first book. I would recommend to start the series with this book but if you don't want to read it it's also ok to start with Half-Blood. If I haven't read it before the first book I think I wouldn't bother to read it later. All in all I think this series has a lot of potential and I really like it so far!

Review: Hollywood Witch Hunter - Valerie Tejeda

So at first I didn't really like the book. The first hundred pages were fast-paced but kind of boring. There wasn't a lot going on except from world building and character development. Since it is an urban fantasy novel the world building wasn't amazing but very relatable. For me the characters were the worst in this book. I mean I liked them but I didn't really feel like I get to know them in the book and that was kind of confusing. I didn't really know who to trust and also I didn't really know much about the main characters' background story. I know that the lack of information regarding the characters was part of the mystery and that the reader is supposed to puzzle over which side is the good one and which side the bad one but I would have liked to get to know some of the characters a little bit more.

The plot was amazing. I was surprised by all the changes many times and it was really gripping. Also there was a lot of action in this book and I think the main character was really sassy and badass. I never knew what was coming next and I really liked that. If you hate predictable books this is exactly what you should read because it was definitely the opposite of predictable.

Also I think for a fantasy stand alone novel it was really great although I really wish that Valerie Tejeda writes a sequel because I think there was a little cliff hanger at the end and a lot of potential for the story to become a series. I also can live with the fact that this was the end but I would be very sorry. I mean it wrapped up nicely and doesn't necessarily need a sequel but there where still a lot of questions left open. Also I would like to see more of the side characters if there is a next book. All in all it was a really quick and refreshing read and the perfect pick for a readathon ;)

Rainbowthon TBR

My Rainbowthon TBR:

I'm planning on reading these 6 books for the Rainbowthon between Feb 7th and 14th. I don't know if I can get through all of them but I will try ;)

I will read them on my eReader so I don' have the physical copies to make a TBR photo, but here are the book covers of the books I plan to read in rainbow order.

Review: Girl of Myth and Legend (The Chosen Saga #1) - Giselle Simlett

I didn't expect to like this book so much but I really, really liked this book. Maybe it's just because I've read Daughter of Smoke and Bone recently but I think it had a similar vibe. I got this book from netgalley and thought why not, sounds interesting.
The characters in this book were great. I really liked the main character. She is strong but not this unrealistic hero you often find in YA fantasy. Also she really acted according to her age I think. Even if she is very stubborn I like her passion about some things. Also I liked the other characters. Even though you get mostly only hints about their backstory you know that they are thought through and that they have a lot of depth. I hope to discover a little bit more history and secrets about them in the next book(s?).
I also liked her relationships to the other characters, especially the one she has with her father. It was not entirely clear what kind of relationship she has to him, but it was nice to develop it together with her. I was amazed at the end when I realized there wasn't really a love story in this book. There is some kind of relationship between the main characters but it isn't just some normal, boring and cliche love story and definitely no insta-love ;)
Also the world-building was amazing. Even though the world is kind of hard to imagine it was really well described. It's a world I would love to really see because I think my imagination do it justice. It seems beautiful and otherworldly.
In the beginning the dual point of view was kind of annoying because it felt like I was ripped out of the story every time the perspective changed. But that was only the case for the first four chapters or something like that. After that it made the story much more exciting and richer. Because of the ever changing perspective the story didn't get boring one time.
I was kind of confused with the sudden action near the end but it was very thrilling. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the end. I hate it when a book ends open and kind of in the middle of the story just because it makes the reader wanna read the next book more. So after the whole excitement I was hoping for a conclusion and a peaceful end.
I also liked the chapter headings. They were kind of poetic and well interlaced in the chapters.
I mainly read this book because of it's cover and I'm glad I did. I just can recommend this book for every YA fantasy fan and I can't wait to read the next one.

Review: The Fountain - Suzy Vadori

The Fountain was a very light, easy in-between read. I liked the concept of a fish fountain. I've never read something like that before.

The first half of the book was a little bit cliche private school but it got better and more exciting really fast.

For me the whole book felt like it would have been better as a movie. It was described more like a movie. For a book there was just a lack of information I think.

The characters didn't really have a background story but they were relate-able. I would have wished to learn more about the past of the characters especially the main character. There were a few things we learnt but it was too little to really get to know her and make her feel real.

Also I think there wasn't any real explanation of her relationships with the other characters. I would have loved to hear more about her mom and dad and also other characters like her boyfriend or other friends in San Francisco. It felt like she didn't had any friends she missed back home and I really didn't know why she loved her boyfriend.

The whole thing with the wish was interesting to read about. But for me the worst part was the end. I kind of guessed the actual end and I think it was okay. What I didn't like was the way it came to this end. It was just kind of sudden. There was a lot of story building before and all the excitement for the climax was built up but then all of a sudden there was the end. If you think of the suspense curve like a mountain. Just right before you reached the peak it was kind of over. I still liked what happened in the end but it felt a little bit too easy for the main characters to come to this conclusion all of a sudden.

So all in all it was an interesting story and a very light and easy read. Also since it's a stand alone you can read it in between other series because there isn't this high commitment of starting a new series. If you look or a very fast and short read I would recommend it to you. I read it for my "A book you can finish in a day" challenge of my popsugar reading challenge 2016 and for that it was just perfect.

Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy #1) - Laini Taylor

This book was fantastic. The world building was amazing. I loved that it was set in Prague because I was already there and it's a perfect setting for fantasy books. I also really liked that it was urban fantasy and high fantasy in one. Because of the setting in the human world you could really put yourself into Karou. Most of the time she was just a normal girl going to school and hanging out with her best friend. But actually she came from another world and this world was very well built. I could imagine the world in my head in every detail.
The mysteries around Karou's life and all the other things in "Elsewhere" were kind of frustrating in the beginning and I could really emphasize with Karou for wanting to find out more about her life and where she came from. But really all this mysteries made this story so gripping and I could never have predicted how all the mysteries were cleared up.
I liked the characters. Karou was the kind of girl I always wanted to be: funny, self-conscious, strong and good at drawing ;). Also Akiva was a great main male character and the mystery around him made him even more compelling. And Zuzana was the kind of girl you want as your best friend because she was fierce and loyal. I wished that we learn more about Karou's "family" because with all the confusing names in this book it was kind of hard to keep track and I would have liked to get to know them better.
I really liked the flashbacks especially the ones about Karou's childhood and I would have liked to have more of them to understand her relationship to her so-called "family" more and what role each of them had in her life but the ones we had were mysterious and enlightening at the same time and that was very interesting.
The love story or actually love STORIES were epic. It was just this wonderful meant-to-be, world-shifting, forbidden love that you want to read about.
And all of this was described so beautiful and magnificently that you couldn't help yourself and had to fall in love with this book. I really liked the metaphors in this book. They made the writing very poetical. When we are first introduced to the different perspectives it was a little bit confusing - I think - because in the beginning it was just one point of view. But after getting into it I could see why the different perspectives were important and they made the story so much richer. The end was discouraging and heartbreaking but also a little bit hopeful and definitely motivating to read on with the series and discover what will happen in the next two books.
By the way I read this book also for the popsugar reading challenge 2016 for a book set in Europe because it is mainly set in Prague.

Review: In The Afterlight (The Darkest Minds Trilogy #3) - Alexandra Bracken

This trilogy is just beautiful. It's poetic. It's a masterpiece.
The writing is so amazing. It's so gripping like you get literally sucked into the book.

You can see how much thought is in every word of these books when you look at these titles. I like it very much that they form a sentence:
The Darkest Minds Never Fade In The Afterlight.
Also they are the perfect titles for this series. They don't spoil anything but after reading it you recognize that they match what happens in the books.

If you look for a light read this is the wrong series for you. These books are devastating. I cried more than once during this trilogy. I was broken and put back together several times throughout the whole series. I thought in between that I don't like the series because it was too much. That the bad feelings outdo the good ones because of all the setbacks the characters had to go through, because after every good experience there happened something bad. But on the contrary the good feelings were even better and more intensive after living through hell. They never lost hope completely. There were times when they didn't know how things could ever get better but even then they fought so hard to come back out of there dark holes and stand up again. It was sometimes a little bit slow to read because I needed the breaks to process what the characters had to go through but it didn't compromise the series in any way. So if you look for a funny, quick read then you should read this trilogy another time. But you should read it!

The world was very visually described. Of course most of it took place in our world. But I could imagine how the abandoned cities, the camp and even HQ and a lot of other places looked like. I almost saw them in my mind like I was there myself.

Even better than the world building were the characters. They were described so vividly and realistic that I thought I knew them. For me they were like real people. Every single one of them. There were even characters only briefly mentioned and first appearing in the end who I felt like I knew. With this series you don't have one or even two main characters. There is a big group of characters who feel like "main" characters, because their background story is so huge. You didn't just know them. You grew up with them. You went with them through good and lots of bad times. You can follow every change and decision they make and emphasize with all of them. And the changes they made were huge. It was like they were completely different people in the end because they learnt so much going through all this stuff but they stayed true to themselves throughout the whole process. They were all very strong characters in their different way in the end. They stood up for each other and even for completely foreign kids who had to go through similar things. They fought for everybody without knowing them.

I liked the side characters so much that I was excited to read the novellas and loved them even a little bit more than the original trilogy. They were fast-paced and a nice supplement to the original books. I guess you can skip reading them but they give you a lot more additional information about the side characters prominent in these books and especially the world. You get to see a lot of the world they live in and you learn also a few things about Ruby while reading these novellas. You should read at least the last one because it tells you a lot of things about the world after the end of the trilogy. And to read the last novella (#3.5) you should have read the second (#2.5) because it is about the same character and written mainly from her point of view. And after reading Never Fade you will want to know what happened in the first novella (#1.5) so it's easier if you include them immediately and read them in between the original trilogy. The novellas were all combined in Through The Dark. Also the titles form a sentence as well:
In Time Sparks Rise Beyond The Night.

Also I loved the message I have taken with me from the book. You don't have to be related to a person for him or her to be your family. You can find people to die for in every situation of your life. The protective instinct was so intensive in the most people of these book. And every time I thought about how cruel the life is for them I was surprised of their reaction to this cruelty. It didn't change them in a bad way. It only made them better people and even more selfless. The ones they didn't see as humans. The ones they treated like animals. The ones they talked into believing that they are monsters are exactly the ones who became the best and heartwarming people. And all the bad things they got through made the bonds they knotted with other people unbreakable.

Top 10 Completed Series I want to read in 2016

I don't like to read incomplete series because I hate to wait for sequels. So I made a list of the top 10 completed series I absolutely want to read this year. Some of them will be complete this year so I will probably read them then. Also they are in no particular order because I hope to read them all this year. I changed it a little bit, didn't realize Talon by Julie Kagawa is going to be a longer series and I wasn't satisified with the list I made at the beginning of the year.

1. The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
   
   
   
2. Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor
   
   


3. Bloodlines - Richelle Mead



4. Seven Realms - Cinda Williams Chima




5. Fire & Flood - Victoria Scott



6. Penryn & the End of Days - Susan Ee



7. New Soul - Jodi Meadows



8. The Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer



9. Firelight - Sophie Jordan



10. The Sweet Series - Wendy Higgins