Book Review: The Miniaturist-Jesse Burton

I enjoyed reading this book a lot and i couldn't put it down at all, I finished it in one day and that's a record for me considering it's more than 400 pages but really, it was so powerful, as if it had this super power that pulled me towards it and left me turning page after page.

Patronella moves to her new house, to a man she married on papers and didn't see only to be shocked of what her life would be with him. Busy all the time, travelling and sailing from country to another to sell goods and make money, he hardly have the time to greet his wife. But Johannes brings his wife a gift, a cabinet of the house she's living in to keep her busy while he travelled and worked. This gift becomes her obsession when she starts receiving miniature figures of the house she's living in telling her or warning her of what will happen in the near future, after asking a miniaturist to do some pieces to her.

Nella unfolds the deadly secrets of the residents of the house she's living in. Her husband's and his sister. She tries her best to live among those secrets noting that she's only 18 years old. Bella tries to find out who is the miniaturist, she does but she never gets to meet her. But is she the really miniaturist? I don't know, I feel like she might be but how did she know about the secrets of that house of the or the Meerman's? How could she? I'm sure she had a spy and I feel like it was Cornelia who was feeding her with all the secrets of both house and this lady having nothing to do she starts sending them these miniatures, or maybe Cornelia knew of these secrets, wanted to do something but was afraid to talk for she's only a maid so she used the miniaturist to find a way to Nella's life. These are my thoughts!

Book Review: Sleeper's Castle-Barbara Erskine

"Little Welsh children, taken away to England by order of the king".

Reading this book while I'm in Wales and knowing more about the history of this city has been an exciting experience.

This book has it all; Dreams, Day Dreams, Time Travel, Romance, History, Heroes, Two Worlds, Psychology, Crime and more.

Can you imagine reading a book that has everything you like in one place? I enjoyed reading this book a lot, I can't describe my feelings about this, I'm overwhelmed and can't get all the characters out of my mind.

Andy dreams of the past and Catrin dreams of the Future. They cross path in their dreams and meet each other. Shocked by the discovery but not afraid of the abnormal activities happening in Sleeper's Castle where everyone has his own share of dreams. Both woman will deal many things to reach for peace and settle in harmony after struggling with grief and agony.

I loved all the characters, especially Catrin and Edmund; their story was beautifully written and developed. The mains character Andy was ok, didn't have that emotional attachment to her, not like Catrin. I felt that Catrin was stronger and more in control of her life considering the time she has lived in and what she has faced in her life by her father. I guess I wanted to know more about Andy and Bryn but that is left for the reader to imagine and enjoy after finishing this book. And the final discovery about Bryn, didn't see that coming but I LOVED IT.

Book Review: Shades of Magic- V. E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic


"Rhy hated it when Kell was forced to use blood magic, because he felt personally responsible-- he often was-- for the sacrifice that came with it. He had caused Kell great deal of pain once, and had never quite forgiven himself for it"

I was very skeptical of this book, I was worried that I will not come to like it and that my money would be wasted for nothing (I bought the 2 books together), BUT I'm glad that I did and I can't tell how deep I'm drawn to the story, characters, plot and everything related to this book. I can feel that I'm living in Red London and witnessing all these event, if not moving from one London to another (LOL). Yes, the book is that strong, the style of the writer (this is my first read for her) and how she describes the scenes, feelings, the setting and surrounding is just beyond amazing. Some books you try very hard to picture what the writer is trying to show you but not in this book, everything was easy to read and picture especially the faces of the characters. 

Let's talk about the characters, and I want to talk about the VILLAINS first because I loved them all, yes I love crazy lunatic villains especially Astrid, I thought she is awesome, loved everything about her and how freaky she is. Her brother Athos was a psycho, a very lovely psycho hehe. And last but not least Hollan who I felt sad for and sympathised with him. I kind of felt that there is good in him but the evilness controlled him.

The heroes of this book are of course Kell & Lilah. I loved those duo and thought that they'd make a great couple (maybe in the 2nd book? Can't wait to read it). Lila had this wittiness in her which made her more attractive to the reader, the stubbornness in her was well written and described, she irritated me in the first pages when she met Kell for the first time but then I fell in love with her. Now, about Kell. He is a great character/ hero but I felt that he was beaten up and felt guilty a lot. I mean, i love beaten up heroes, it makes them more sexy but not all the time. If V. E. Schwab had had cut down some of the beaten up/guilty scenes, I would have given this book 5 stars.


A Gathering of Shadows


I was going to give this book 4 stars for the lack of events but the ending made me change my mind. Don't expect this book to be as enjoyable as book one for this one lacks the great events that book one had, but this book was all about building characters and giving us a clear picture about the story. It focused more on Delilah Bard but we also come to know more about The Royal Family, about Rhy and new characters; Alucard and Ojcka. I loved Alucard a lot, i thought he's the male version of Lila and that's why they've become, let's just say friends on the ship. They don't say they are friends but you can feel it, i loved what was going on between them.

The story has been shaped in a good way in this book. We see countries/kingdoms coming together in a game to compete and show the best Magician out there. But also, we see some kingdoms eying the Antari (Kell) who has special powers and for that the King & the Queen become worried that Kell's life will jeopardise Rhy's. I felt really upset for they didn't care about Kell as much as they did for Rhy.

I can't wait for book 3 to come out at the beginning of 2017 to know what will happen in White London <3 

Book Review: The Invisible Library

"It was about finding unique works of fiction, and saving them in a place out of time and space."

It's really difficult not to like a book about Libraries, Spies, Unique Books, Magic, Alternate Worlds, Beast, Demons, Fair Folk and many many more. The book has all the elements, characters and everything to be really awesome and unique but it lacked something which I'm trying to figure out.

In this book, there is the Library and many other libraries in alternate worlds, how many are there? It's not mentioned. And they are not organised or anything (not as in Shades of Magic; where we have 4 Londons). Also, there is a special Language, it's in English but not really English, those who sees it can read it but can't understand its real meaning. Confusing right? I wish she had put more effort in the special language and created something unique or special for this book.

The characters; I liked Irene and Bradamant, especially Bradamant, she's so badass but I wish we saw more of Irene and Kai (maybe in Book 2?). Alberich is someone who didn't catch my attention till the very end. Loved the idea of the story, i wish book 2 will be more enjoyable.

Book Review: Red Queen

"For thousands of years the Silvers have walked the earth as living gods and the Reds have been slaves at their feet, until you. If that isn't a change, I don't know what is" 131

"Only this is for music, not battle. Life, not death"217

"This isn't a spark of destruction but a spark of life" 228

I really wanted to read tis book from the day it came out because of it's beautiful cover but i was very skeptical. I was worried that it might disappoint but it was totally the opposite. I loved it. I felt my heart dancing reading this book, as if i was on cloud 9. The writing style was so smooth and easy to enjoy and comprehend, nothing too complicated to understand. The story itself was very nice, not unique or new, but it was written in a different way. Something very similar to The Hunger Games but in a different way.

All the characters were beautifully written and developed through out the story. From the beginning of the story you can feel that this book was planned to be in sequels because to the very half of the book you can feel yourself getting attached to the characters, it was all about developing characters and the story was kind of moving slow but not that slow. It lacked a bit of action. It had some action but not the one you'd expect. I loved it anyhow.

The story is about the Silvers ruling Norta and the Reds doing all the work and being treated as second class citizens if not slaves. Mare finds herself in the heart of the palace working her way to a revolution for the Reds to be treated better equals to the Silvers, but how this will turn out when she finds herself falling for the prince!

A world full of magic, royalty, palaces, luxury, war and more! 

Welcome to Books.Paper.Mania Blog

Hello world, my name is Sarah and I'm 33 years old. I already own a personal blog but I thought of creating a new blog just for books and stationary to share my obsession with you all <3 Hope you'll like it.