The Iron King [BOOK REVIEW]

The Iron King
By: Julie Kagawa
Published: Feb. 1st, 2010
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Rating: 4/5 Stars

Summary: Meghan Chase has a secret destiny - one she could never have imagined . . . Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school . . . or at home. When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face . . . and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I absolutely loved this book. I gotta say thought that it took a while for me to get into the story during the first 50 pages or so because it was totally not what I read from the summary. But once the adventure started, there was no way I was able to put it down. The book had so many different adventures with a variety of characters that was both terrifying yet interestiing to read about. There was a mix of faeries and goblins, trolls, and dragons and other worldly creatures like the Redcaps pixies and many more. The world building was terrifying yet beautiful once you read it.

The characters were great. I don't know why but I really like Grimalkin even though he kinda reminded me of the Cheshire cat and that cat absolutely terrified me. But slowly throughout the story, he started to grow on me and I didn't think of him as that evil. Meghan was also a great character because she is kinda different and she also doesn't get on my nerves at all. And Puck was a super funny character because he acted so carefree. Also, I don't really agree with what the summary says about the prince's "icy heart" because of what he decided to do towards the end of the book.

Overall, this book was super awesome, I would list this as my favorite, but I felt as if some characters were not really what I expected. Sort of. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an amazing adventure into the Nevernever with unexpected romance.

Heist Society [BOOK REVEIW]

Heist Society
By: Ally Carter
Published: Feb. 9th, 2010
Publisher: Hyperion Book
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Summary: When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre . . . to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria . . . to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteens, she planned a con of her own - scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected. Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster's priceless art collection has been stolen and he wants in returned. Only a master thief could have pulled off this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and, hopefully, just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's (very crooked) history - and with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

The characters in this story, to be truthful, were kinda confusing to understand. I don't know, maybe I'm just not that used to Ally Carter's writing style yet. But for some reason, sometimes I can understand what the characters are trying to convey and other times, I have absolutely no idea what they are trying to say to the reader. When I did understand, the characters were pretty enjoyable. I loved Kat's personality and what she is trying to do save her father and I absolutely love her spy abilities. There's also a lot of the other character like Hale who was cute but sometimes I felt like smacking him in the head for some reason. There was also Nick and others in her family that were awesome. They are definitely not the normal family you would find lounging in the park on a Sunday afternoon.

The overall plot was great. This is probably the first book that I have read that is about heists and a whole family of thieves and that was something totally fresh. It has the concept of traveling to different countries and such but it doesn't put that much emphasis on the specific places and that's understandable since it's about their plans and how they are going through with their heist. However, the plot didn't completely overwhelm me because I think I was expecting a little more from the idea of going through the different countries. It also had quite a few different twists and turns here and there which surprised me especially when new characters were introduced and the quick problems they had to face and endure.

The reason I did not give this a higher rating was because sometimes I just did not understand what the characters were trying to convey. Sometimes the feelings in the book felt too bland. But I would still recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet romance, filled with adventure, thieves and heists.