These Books Have it All

It's amazing what book vouchers and cheap books can do.  Being overseas, I've been forced to only read books bought, not borrowed, and it's done quite a bit to my book selection.  There's no second-rate books or books that bore me to death.  No.  Since I've been here I've read three books in a row that seem to have the whole package.  They've all got mystery, new societies or universes, a forbidden romance, deception, ethics and very very good concepts.

 The first of the three is a book called The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski.

The protagonist is a girl named Kestral, a Valorian, daughter of the powerful wealthy general who took over the Herran land.  Despite her father wishing for her to be a soldier, she's not a natural fighter and would much rather turn to music.  She is, however, very deceptive, able to win any game, able to strategize perfect plans.

One day she goes into the markets and finds herself bidding for a Herran slave, and winning.  And just so you know, he's the love interest.  But he's not quite who he says he is.  He's pretty deceptive too.

It's a story set in a world of court policies and military plans.  It's a story of power.





The second book I read is called The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel

One small town survived the war.  In it were two sides.  One wanted a monarchy, with presidency passed down the bloodline.  They wanted to live life for the good of the group, with arranged marriages and women producing children for the good of the population.  The other wanted a democracy, with the rights of each individual in mind. The monarchy side won.  And from that year onwards, the daughters of the losing side were forced to marry the sons of the winning side, a sign of peace.

Ivy is being forced to marry the son of the president, Bishop.  All her life her sister and her have been home-schooled by their father, turned against the system of their current society.  All her life Ivy has felt second best to her sister.  And for two years she's been dreading and preparing for this moment.  Her mission is to kill Bishop.

But maybe things aren't as they seem.  Either he's a really good actor or Bishop's not as bad as she thought he'd be.  Maybe her father isn't completely right.  And maybe the president isn't completely bad.  Maybe there is no wrong or right.  But then, what's right?

This one's a story of ethics and morals.  What's the right thing to do?


The third book I read is called A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray.

Marguerite's the daughter of two fantastic physicians.  All her life she's lived amongst science, taught that anything's possible.  She's had her sister and the extra family of all the grad students coming in and out.  Most importantly and recently are Paul and Theo.  Paul is large, a little awkward, and kinda quiet.  He's brilliant though, and he's the one Marguerite likes.  Then there's Theo, who's arrogant and flirty.  He's smart, but not quite as brilliant as Paul.

Marguerite's parents have just made a breakthrough.  They've created a device that can jump between dimensions (but all the stuff explained about that is too complicated to tell you here).  But before they're even able to test it out, Marguerite's dad is murdered and the prototype is stolen, the murderer and thief being Paul.

Soon Marguerite and Theo are on a quest after Paul, hopping from dimension to dimension.  But what happens when Marguerite meets a different version of Paul?  What happens when what happens is not quite what it seems?

It's just one confusing jumbled up story, containing everything, that you will greatly enjoy.


And you know what?  I could've made it four in a row if only I'd remembered to bring this book.

Oh well.  But guess what else these three books have in common?  They all have a sequel that hasn't come out yet.  Ugh.  I hate waiting for anticipated books.

  

 

Love,

M