Wicked by Jennifer L. Armentrout ~ Review

Wicked (A Wicked Saga #1)
By Jennifer L. Armentrout

Genre: New Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Recommend for: 18+

My rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars


'"Who is it?"
(...) "How would I know? But she kind of looks like that chick from the movie Brave. You know, the one with the really curly red hair."

What. In. The. Hell.

"She's got really pretty blue eyes, though."

Though. Though? As if that somehow made up for the fact that I had frizzy red hair like a Disney character.

"S**t," said Harris. His footsteps thudded down the stairs. "That'll be Ivy Morgan."

Seriously? That's how people know me? They could say I looked like the chick from Brave and they were like oh, that's Ivy?

I needed to dye my hair stat.

Wait, why was this dude watching Disney movies?''


My thoughts on the book:

Before I begin, I want to let it be known that Wicked made me fall head over heels for a guy who watches Disney movies.

And by now you're probably thinking, "Oh, Booknut, who is this fantastic hunk who sounds too good to be true?" Well guys, he's a stunning specimen of manhood that goes by the name of Ren Owens.

And if you want to know more about him, you're in luck - 'cause I'm here with the 'Top 4 Things Fangirls Need to Know About Ren Owens!'

#1: He loves the movie Brave (correction: he's in love with Merida)

'I reached under my pillow, grabbing the iron stake I always kept there. Before he moved, I placed the very pointy end against his throat, right over a very important artery. "Role reversal, b**ch." 

Ren let his arms fall to the mattress as he stared at me through impossibly thick lashes. "That move was really kind of hot." I narrowed my eyes. "You really are Merida." 

"Who in the hell is Merida?" 

One side of his mouth kicked up again. "The chick from the movie Brave with-" 

"The frizzy red hair. Got it. Thanks. I'm seriously going to stab you." 

"She didn't have frizzy hair," he argued. "And besides, she was hot." 

I stared down at him. "You think a Disney character is hot?" 

"Have you seen some of those Disney characters?" 

"She was not hot." 

(...) His brows lifted. "She could kick ass, therefore she was hot. 

(...) "This conversation has taken a weird turn."'

#2: He has a great sense of humour (which is not often appreciated by those around him)

"I belong to the Elite, an organisation within the Order. No one outside of the Elite know about us. We put the secret in Secret Squirrel."

#3: He's a good kisser (NB: It's kind of a requirement for all of Armentrout's boys!)

'Ren cupped my cheek, his hand gentle as he titled my head back, and before my heart could take another beat, he kissed me. 

It was no slow or seductive kiss. 

He claimed my lips as if he were laying claim to my body, to my soul, and every part of me.'  

(Please excuse me while I fangirl)

#4: He blushes when he's embarrassed. 

Which is so, so cute! 

'She took a sip of her tea as she eyed him over the rim of the glass. "Renald Owens." 

"Renald?" Looking at him, I raised both brows. "Your full name is Renald?" 

Was that two splotches of pink I saw blossoming across his cheeks? Ha! He was blushing. "Why do you think I go by Ren?" he replied drily.'

As for the rest of this amazing book, there are so many things I simply loved about it. 

The main one being Tink, Ivy's roommate (a.k.a a magical, flying brownie).

True, Tink isn't Ren. But Tink brings a whole heap of comedy (most of it inappropriate) to Wicked...as well as the following awesome things:

• Harry Potter references:

'Grabbing a scarf off the chair, I threw it at him. 

He caught it, clutching it to his chest as he flew into the air. "You gave Tink a scarf. Tink is free!" he flew out into the hallway like a little cracked-out fairy, screeching, "Tink is freeeee!" 

Ren looked at me. "What in the actual f**k?" 

I sighed. "He's obsessed with Harry Potter. I'm sorry." 

Tink darted back into the room, holding the scarf to his bare chest. "There is no reason to apologise when it comes to Harry Potter." 

"You do remember what happened to Dobby, right?" I said. 

"S**t." Tink's eyes widened and then he dropped the scarf.'

• Vague LOTR references:

'Tink lifted his chin. "Your guardians basically only guard those gates - their positions are virtually useless except for the fact that they hold knowledge of the location, and that makes them only valuable to the fae. One does not simply walk to a gateway and open it."'

• Supernatural references:

"I've been fooled by a Winchester wannabe." He clasped his hands over his chest and swayed before toppling over onto his side. "There is no way to save face. I shall off myself now."

• Tink's army of troll dolls (don't ask)

Overall, I can safely say that Wicked is a brilliant addition to Armentrout's collection of tales and to any bookshelf. So grab your iron stake and get ready for an adventure!

Have you read Wicked or do you plan to? What was your fave quote? 

Let me know below!

The Boy with the Hidden Name by Skylar Dorset ~ ARC Review

The Boy with the Hidden Name (Otherworld #2)
By Skylar Dorset 

Rating: 5+

'I look at my aunts, hesitate, and then say, "What-"

My aunts have gone back to knitting, even more furiously than before.

"You're going to be late for school," Aunt True says, and that is the end of that attempt at conversation.

My aunts hate it when I ask questions. It tends to destroy the world.'

You can't hide from your destiny forever.

Selkie Stewart has been through the adventure of a lifetime. Now, all she wants to do is be a normal girl who does normal things - such as eating ice-cream and complaining about unreliable faerie quasi-boyfriends.

The only thing standing in her way? The Seelies who are planning to take over the world when the clock strikes twelve. 

With the end of Thisworld drawing closer with every tick of the clock, Selkie has not choice but to leave all thoughts of a normal life behind as she sets out on a journey to find the key to saving the world.

Because if anyone can find something, it's Selkie. Whether she knows it or not.

Plans, prophecies and painful predicaments lie ahead.

Selkie needs to find the other three fays - and fast - if they want to fulfil the prophecy and keeping the invading Seelie at bay. But the only person who might know where those three fay are is Benedict Le Fay's mother. 

The same woman that Ben left Selkie to search for. A woman not exactly known for her trustworthiness, and who has been missing for many years.

With mixed feelings where Ben is concerned, Selkie joins her friends on a trip to the Unseelie Court to search for Ben's mother and Ben. 

But the line between friend and foe isn't clear cut, and there's more than one Otherworld creature who would gladly manipulate or even kill Selkie to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. 

Never trust a faerie...especially with your heart.

With the fate of the world on her shoulders, Selkie's only hope is the prophecy. She needs to be the girl everyone seems to believe she is, no matter what it takes. This fight is no longer about her, or about the Seelie Court. It's about the people she loves and the people she can't leave behind. 

But one little secret will change everything.

Because those around her have kept a part of the prophecy secret - a part that not only predicts the loss of someone she loves, but that also fractures Selkie's faith in her own destiny.

Is Selkie the one who'll save the world? Or is she the one who'll brings it to its knees?

With spot-on humour, Wonderland-esque logic, and magical twists and turns, Skylar Dorset's The Boy with the Hidden Name is an example of YA fiction at its best.

The Girl Who Never Was ~ Review

The Girl Who Never Was (Otherworld #1)
By Skylar Dorset

Rating: 4.7



'Maybe no one should claim me at all(...) Maybe I'm just me. Why has no one considered that ever, in my entire life? I'm more than just a pawn in some stupid prophecy.'


Hold on to your magical sweater & get ready for the ride of a lifetime!

This book was fantastically, wonderfully, confusingly perfect. 

I cannot describe it in any other way but this: reading The Girl Who Never Was is like picking up an apple, biting into it, and discovering that it's actually filled with your favourite ice-cream (for those who are curious, my favourite ice-cream is Gelatissimo's lime gelato. I'd take that over an apple any day!)

Weird. Intriguing. And amazing!

But more importantly, it's filled with 'double take' moments. Times where I had to turn back the page and re-read a section a few times before it fully sunk in. Because let's face it - not all of us were born as faerie princesses/faerie travelers/wizards/ogres.

Some us are utterly (and miserably) mundane.

And for us mundane beings, it's sometimes hard to understand a book whose plot is deeply embedded in many, many riddle-like explanations.

I don't believe that the heroine receives even one straight answer to any of her (a.k.a the reader's) questions during the entire book.

I feel the heroine's frustration. Because hip hip hooray - every other character knows what's going on! Isn't that swell...for them. But hey, I'm here too. And I don't have the faintest clue what the hell is going on.

Does she have a mum? Oh, wait, her mum's trying to kill her? Ok...but hang on, how come when she meets her mother, she doesn't kill her? What's the deal with escaping inescapable places? Do promises count for anything with faeries? Why aren't all debts stitched?

In the words of the King of Siam from The King And I, "Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

The list of confusing questions goes on and on. But what remains is a weird sense of understanding.

This may just be the first book ever where being confused has made sense, besides A.G. Howard's Splintered series. It's like...we're never meant to know everything. And that what we know isn't true and is ever-changing.

There are no rules.

And we, as readers, have a strict set of rules when it comes to what we expect books to do and/ contain. But the thing is, this world that the author has created has no rules. It takes on a life of its own and even the main characters are left confused as the tables are turned time and time again.

It's part of the weird and wonderful magic this book possesses. I finished the book feeling a mixture of emotions - ranging from "What the hell just happened?" to "I want more!"

That said...I want more!

That cliffhanger had me as angry as a cat dunked into the middle of a pond. Not at the book - but at that lovely character who decided to forget everything they'd gone through and threw everything away for nothing.

I mean, I finished that book at 1am...so perhaps I wasn't totally rational at that point. But I really did think that the character of the character who 'turned', so to speak, really did a 180 spin during that last chapter.

Has that ever happened to you guys - where a character just out of the blue changes dramatically in the course of a few chapters? It reminded me of the drastic change in Adam in Ignite Me. And it annoyed me a little, especially since I was really starting to like that character, too!

Not to mention I just looked up Book #2 on GR to find out it comes out in December! So close and yet so far!

So if you're a fan of Alice-In-Wonderland-ish, fae-inspired stories, I really recommend giving this book a shot. In the meantime, happy reading! <3