The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy #1), by Marie Rutkoski

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Dystopia, Science-Fiction

Rating: 4/5 stars

Publication: March 4, 2014, by Farrar Straus Giroux

Format: Hardcover Edition





Goodreads Summary: Winning what you want may cost you everything you love.

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. 

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. 

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. 

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

Review:

"If you think it's stupid for me to go to the Firstwinter ball," she said, "you can be certain that it is far worse for me to take you along." He lifted one shoulder. "Or it could send a bold message of what we both know to be true: that you have nothing to hide."

  

   The worst thing that I care to admit: I hate historical fiction. It's basically the only genre that I hate that's been given so many chances by the boss ME. But of course, although I hate it so much, I still love to pick up those books that fall in the genre and have gorgeous covers. And obviously, you can see that I've picked this one up, and really liked it, according to the star rating system. 

    Marie Rutkoski has really made me proud to read this book. It had the mixture of many genres all in one, and it didn't give us loads of info-dumping, which I cannot stand in books. The Winner's Curse was one of those books that you will want to read every single paragraph, over and over again to catch every detail and feeling, because it's just that good.

     This story all begins with Kestrel, the general's daughter, going off into the village, where she's not supposed to be in. There, she finds a young male slave ready to be auctioned. Kestrel ends up buying the slave but all she doesn't know is that she's going to fall in love with him. Kestrel has a choice: to be married or join the war. Either way, it's a tough decision, and it's all said with one word.

      Wise words for Kestrel: 

  

    Kestrel spent this whole book trying to find out who she is and what she wants her life to be. And she had to go through some tough decisions. It's not easy when you're stuck in the situation that she was stuck in. I guess you could say that that was the point and concept of the book, but it was also about her and Arin's tough relationship. A slave and a general's daughter falling in love? Hmm... probably not so easy to deal with in their world. 

     Kestrel was a wise, willing character. I've read reviews that have noted that she was stuck-up and selfish, but I think otherwise. Kestrel had a capability in her that most protagonists don't show that fast in the novel or sequence. She was kick-ass and didn't care what the other characters thought of her. She just could blast her country off the Earth's surface and still could be walking out of there like a boss.

      I had issues with Arin. This time around (which rarely ever occurs with fictional men) I didn't like him. He was so rude most of the time and acted like he was the "boss" around. He thought that he was the best around and treated Kestrel like a loser. If you don't treat a girl right,

     The romance in this book was real cute, though. 

     "If her heart were truly a scroll, she could burn it. It would become a tunnel of flame, a handful of ash. The secret she had written inside herself would be gone. No one would know."

      In the end, I realized that Kestrel and Arin had a connection that most people don't have with each other. They understood each other and had an insta-love that was too powerful to tear apart. Together, they could rule the fictional world, right next to Tris and Four. :')

      The other flaw that this book had was the plot. It was kind of slow through the middle, but I had a bigger problem with Arin. Nothing could beat my anger with that man. Grr. But overall, this book was great. I recommend it to lovers of Game of Thrones, although I didn't get to read that yet. It has a medieval/dystopia feel to it and is very unique compared to others. I am looking forward to the thrilling sequel! 

Also Known As, by Robin Benway

Also Known As (Also Known As #1), by Robin Benway

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Mystery, Chick-lit, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: 4/5 stars

Book #: 1

Publication: February 26, 2013, by Walker Books for Young Readers

Format: Hardcover Edition



Goodreads Summary: Which is more dangerous: being an international spy... or surviving high school?

Maggie Silver has never minded her unusual life. Cracking safes for the world's premier spy organization and traveling the world with her insanely cool parents definitely beat high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. (If it's three digits, why bother locking it at all?)

But when Maggie and her parents are sent to New York City for her first solo assignment, her world is transformed. Suddenly, she's attending a private school with hundreds of "mean girl" wannabes, trying to avoid the temptation to hack the school's elementary security system, and working to befriend the aggravatingly cute son of a potential national security threat... all while trying not to blow her cover.

From the hilarious and poignant author of Audrey, Wait! comes a fast-paced caper that proves that even the world's greatest spies don't have a mission plan for love.

Review:

  "As you can tell, I've never had a boyfriend, but whatever. It's cool. After all, most girls who have boyfriends probably can't say that they helped to bring the Peruvian government, right?"

    So my girl here, Maggie, is basically saying:

      And guess what? It's true. Maggie Silver and her story was just crazy hilarious and the most fun (as in chick-lit and haha's) I've had with a book in a long time, and that makes the book 10 times better. So yay for that.

       I really enjoyed this book. I had so much fun reading it and it made me laugh so much. I'm a very serious reader and it would have to take a lot to make me laugh, but this book certainly did. It was such a light read that is so easy to read and to make you smile. 

      This is about Maggie Silver- daughter of two spies and is a spy herself. For all of her life, she has travelled all across the world with her parents on missions and is part of the Collective-- a spy agency. When Maggie goes back to New York, a place where she once lived, she is thrilled, until she finds out that she will be attending a private school on a mission-- to find out more about a guy and his father so she could help her parents out. What happens when she realizes that she actually loves Jesse and makes real friends, delete the quotation marks? 

       I loved this book! From the beginning, I was barely bored but I had a few upset times with the book because of the idea and guy character, Jesse. Other than that, the book was absolutely great. The plot flew by quickly and everything was written together perfectly. The author's writing style is magnificent and very enjoyable when it comes to a light mystery chick-lit read. This is the type of book that you have to read with a nice cup or tea or coffee, on a rainy or sad day. It'll brighten you up and make you laugh!

        The idea was kind of boring and cheesy. I've read many reviews that have stated that this idea isn't cheesy at all or isn't Nancy Drew-ish, but it is for the cheesy aspect. The book itself was predictable and a little dull in idea. Coming from a chick-lit romance, I expected a little more wow or awe in it, but I just got plain bread and butter. Simplistic and average idea. Nothing else. -_- This is one of those private school- schoolgirl romances when there are mean girls and nice girls and is coming from the perspective of a weird teenage girl with secrets inside that falls in love with the handsome popular guy... Who actually likes her back. That's basically what this was, adding the spy element into it. Nothing really special.

          I absolutely liked Maggie. She was witty, funny and an unique voice for a shelled up spy-detective. You'd expect her to be very mature and selfish but she was hilarious and crazy-- the type of girl that you want to be friends with. What else can I say?

          Roux and Angelo were absolutely amazing friends to Maggie. They were both kick-ass and hilarious and total awesome people. Books usually don't have good side characters, but ones like this are unique and amazing. 

           The next other flaw of this book was Jesse. I didn't really like him. I saw him as a fake all throughout and he showed no importance to me and I didn't really see his love for Maggie shine. He was just there and reminded me of a friend, that's all. 

               Maggie had a large love for Jesse, and you could tell that so many times during the book. It was an one way relationship, and that's so sad to read about. The romance was wrecked, but I loved Maggie's side of it.

                 In conclusion, this book was awesome. I totally recommend it to all chick-lit lovers looking for a change!