eBook Review - The Cruel Prince

I read this on the last few days of my Cyprus holiday, on my plane ride back and the day after. Yes, this was read in April and we are now in May but I pushed this back a few weeks (though if you look at my Goodreads and NetGalley, I have put the review up) because I didn't want to overwhelm you guys with reviews/write-ups and I don't like posting things up on the weekend (I know, I am weird book blogger) so it's now here, in May. 

And before I go any further, I'm not much of a fairy fan. I don't mind reading them - I read Cassandra Clare and her books have fairies in them, have read the first two books in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series many years ago (here are the reviews for Iron King and Iron Daughter) and a year or two back, I did read Holly Black's Darkest Part of the Forest, which was ok - I can't honest remember much from it barring it having a dark fairy tale quality to it and having an gay romance at its twisted heart, which I liked. 

But everyone has been excited and raving over Cruel Prince! Even I got catch up with the buzz and requested an eProof of this, but due to my fantasy reading slump, I haven't gone near it. But, before I went on holiday to Cyprus, I was chatting to Olivia from That Fiction Life on instagram about Taken Moon candles and Cruel Prince was mentioned. When I was on holiday, and was finishing Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, I wondered what to read next when, out of nowhere, my brain started chanting "Cruel Prince!" 

So, I read it. And here we go! 

Cruel Prince is the first book in a new series set in the world of the Fey, which sits close to ours but not quite. In it, we follow Jude who, at the age of seven, saw a fairy kill both her parents and steal her, and her two sisters into the High Court of Faerie. They are now teenagers and Jude wants to fit in desperate. Shame the fey won't let her forget her mortality and the worse is Prince Cardan. But to win a place in Court, Jude has to defy him and her "father" and face the consequences...

But Court is full of backstabbing and political twistings of truth (fairies can not lie, but they are experts in telling the truth that reveals everything and nothing), and Jude will have to do unthinkable things to protect her sisters and Faerie. 

Where do I start with this? This book is crazy. I kinda expected this as I was reading a fairy book and in most books that contain fairies, they are dark and tricksters. But these fairies are violent and terrifying at times, while hugely political and the twists/betrayals kept the book moving fast and I never felt settled on anything the characters said or did. 

The characters themselves are intriguing. The fairies, like I said, are dark, blood-thirsty and manipulative. But so are the humans. Jude, our main character who's telling the story, is hugely flawed and manipulative herself. She's more of an anti-hero than I expected (no one warned me out that!), but she is so flawed and damaged that she does things then changes her mind with no real thought, she made reading this novel unpredictable and in an unpredictable world of the fey, this makes this a gripping, terrifying and compelling read. 

Most twists, I saw or suspected coming, but there was a few near the end that made my jaw drop and I have to give Holly Black a huge applaud as I was so blindsided by them, I knew I had to read the sequel, The Wicked King, just to see how on earth the characters were going to recover from them! 

Most things worked for me and made me click through my kindle over a course of four/five days. However, there were one or two things that did grate on me slightly. 

The first was names. For the first 15-20%, I found it really hard to connect with the characters. It was because it was dark and I had to find my "in" with Jude, but the main thing was the names. There are so many names to get in your head and to keep straight in your head. I imagine the Court to be small so everyone knows everyone, but it took a good while for the names to sink in my head and them to stick. Once they did, I was flying! 

The second was the romance. Yes, there is a bit of romance in here. And it's hard to describe how I feel about them. One made me go "Yuck" over it and the second was so complicated that I am weirdly intrigued to see what Holly is going to do with the characters. It can go one of two or three ways. None of them are good. 

But even with the flaws that Cruel Prince have, I couldn't put this down and I know that I will be desperate to read Wicked King when it comes out at the beginning of next year (so I might need to reread Cruel Prince before the year is out - just to keep it fresh in my head)

Wanna Win "The Darkest Part of the Forest" by Holly Black?

Sorry for my lateness, everyone on this! Sorrysorrysorry!!!

Anyway, I forgot to write this as part of my #bookishWISHES post (if you haven't read it, please go here) and because I was away from all of this week WITH NO DECENT WIFI (will write blog post about this), I didn't realise my mistake till now. You can blame me appalling memory!

Anyway, the lovely people at Indigo had asked if I wanted to give a copy of The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black. I said yes... and then completely forgot I had said yes until today! I know, I suck at blogger! But, here I am, going to ask if you guys fancy winning a copy!

If you do want to win a beautiful hardback edition of The Darkest Part of the Forest (And why not? LGBT characters, dark fairytale that Disney will never make and fay - but not as we know them), all you have to do is fill in the form below...

The winner will be picked at around 7pm THIS SUNDAY (Sunday 15th February 2015) via Random.org. I know it's a short time-frame contest, but I want the winner their copy ASAP! I am very intrigued over what their reactions are over this book...



To all of you that are going to enter, GOOD LUCK! And because I was so... well, me... with this contest, here is gif of Lord Voldermort that you will NEVER GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD!!!

GoodRead - The Darkest Part Of The Forest

Ok, I am writing this in 2014 (the last of 2014, I think) but am leaving this to now due to the request from the publisher so, while I am writing this in 2014, you have to request that my opinion MIGHT have changed (if it has, I will note it at the bottom) but this is my reaction within a few hours of me finishing the book...

In the forest of Fairfold, there is a boy that sleeps in a glass coffin, never woken for generation. But this boy isn't a typical boy - he has horns on his head, ears as pointy as knives. He is a fae, and the town of Fairfold lives side by side with the fae. It's an uneasy existence - tourists believe in the seemingly harmless but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be. Her and her brother, Ben, know how to stop them.

Or used to.

One day, something shocking happens to the town of Fairfold: the horned boy wakes up and is gone. Both Hazel and Ben, both who were in love with the sleeping fae when they were children, have to find a way to save him and the rest of Fairfold. But something is happening. Something dark. Hazel spent most of her childhood pretending to be a knight and now, this is it. Her moment to be a knight in shining armour. But will it be enough?

This is my first real Holly Black - yes, I know I audiobooked White Cat, the first book in her Curse Workers series, but this is the first time I have read her - and I found myself feeling oddly mixed on this. There were things I really enjoyed over it but one or two things I found grated on me.

Let's start with the positives. I really enjoyed the story - I liked the idea of how a town would be if it had to live alongside the fae. What would the people be like and how would they cope and carried on with their "normal".

It was refreshing to have a fairytale-type story where we have a young strong female taking the lead and you have an LGBT characters and romance (which wasn't forced down your throat!). And with The Darkest Part of the Forest having a dark twist, it's not something you'll see in a Disney film anytime soon...

But, I had problems. Well, I had two problems. And am pretty certain these are "me" problems. The first was the writing style. For some reason, I didn't click with it in a way that other people have. And I'm not sure why. I liked this story, but I couldn't settle with Holly's writing.

My second issue is Hazel. I didn't like her for a while. It was over half way before I felt I could warm to her and understand why she did the things she did. But by then, I had wondered if the story would be better told from Ben's point of view or Ben's best friend, Jack. But once I got use to her, I liked reading her but, for me, it took a while to get there.

So while it wasn't a perfectly dark fairy-tale liked I hope, I think Holly Black fans will really enjoy this and I am intrigued to try another of her books... maybe The Coldest Girl in Cold Town as I know several book blogger pals who LOVE that book a lot!

GoodRead - White Cat (Unabridged Audiobook)

I've been meaning to read White Cat for AGES! I have a US copy long before I knew if it was coming to the UK (the joys of online shopping!) and I actually started reading it. I got up to about chapter 10, before I stopped. At the time, I found myself in a real reading-rut. I couldn't seem to read anything that I could stick to. I started reading this, Clockwork Angel, Infinite Days and others. All started, none finished (something I will have to change sooner or later!)

So, when Holly Black's US publishers were giving away the audiobook version of White Cat for free, I downloaded it and slapped it onto my iPod. I wasn't sure if it was available to UK listeners but it was allowed. So... yeah!

White Cat is the first book in the Curse Workers series where we meet Cassel Sharpe, a young man bought up in a family of con artists. You can say he's one too. He is not, however, a Curse Worker unlike his family. He's not a Death Worker like his grandfather, a Emotion Worker like his mother (who is in jail due to using her skills to get money out of a rich old geezer), or a Luck Worker or a Pain Worker like his brothers, Barron and Philip. He's not a magic worker, and no one is going to let him forget it. So when he sleepwalks onto the roof of his school dorm, Cassel has no idea of the events that will unfold before him. And soon, he begins to wonder if his own family have been conning him. If so, how can he outcon conmen?

Now, before you go feeling all sorry for Cassel, don't. He killed a girl when he was fourteen. A girl that he was suppose to be in love with...

Now, a while ago, I said that with an audiobook that there are several types of reader. The first is someone who is passionate about the story and, because of that, the listener clicks with it (aka David Tennant and My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece). The second is a reader that you don't like at the start but you warm to them as the story takes its toll (Eliza Dushku and Prophecy of the Sisters). The last two can be muddled -up so be on your guard - The third is that the reader is just reading the audiobook because of the money and the listener knows it, while the fourth type is that the listener just can't connect to the reader and, because of that, can't connect with the story.

I suffered from the fourth type. I'm sorry, reader of White Cat - Jesse Eisenberg - but I just couldn't warm to you. I think it's because I read the first few chapters so I had a vague idea of what Cassel sounded like. But even if I hadn't, I couldn't warm to you. You didn't sound right in my head.

This book is very much a starter book. Yes, it is the first book in a series so there are going to be some level of world-building and lying down the ground-work. And while there is a plot to this, which introduced you to the different type of magic each worker can do, it was very much showing you this dark world where you are basically on the wrong side of the law. The best way I have heard someone describle this book is "It's like the Sopranos. But with magic. And gloves." and that's probably the best way to describe it. You are on the edges of criminal underworld so you see hints of it, but I sense that in the next book in the series, Red Glove, we're going to get deeper into the dark world of cons, the underworld and curses.

But there were times I was thinking "Really?". So, this book does have good and bad points, but I am wondering If I have these good and bad points due to the audiobook reader...

I will be intrigued to see what happens next to Cassel with Red Glove, espically after how it was ended with Cassel and his mother (oops! SPOILER!) as that was a relationship I will be interested in reading. I just might not listen to the audiobook version, however, if Jesse Eisenberg is the reader...

GoodRead - UK Cover Vs US Cover

I AM going to finish reading White Cat, the first book in the Curse Workers series by Holly Black. I PROMISE (damn, reader's Block!)! But, I just saw the UK cover of the sequel, Red Glove, and thought I better show you!!!

Right, here is the UK cover...



And here is the US cover...



I like them both! NOT FAIR! But, unlike the UK cover for the White Cat, I really like the UK cover to the Red Glove. But there's something about the US cover I like to.

Am torn! What do you guys think???

GoodRead - UK Cover Vs US Cover

I entered a competition to win this book. Plus, I found what the UK cover looked like yesterday and due to lack of time, I didn't blog it. So, here I am, blogging it now.

Today's UK Cover Vs US Cover is for the book "The Curse Workers: White Cat" or "White Cat" (depending where you live) by Holly Black.

Now, I have heard good things about this book so I want to read this. And this would be my first Holly Black novel, so this book has A LOT to live up to.

But enough about me book-lushing, let's get on with the covers.

Here is the UK and (I think) the Austrialian cover:


And here is the US cover:


No contest here. The US cover wins for me! I think it's more dramatic looking compared to the UK cover.

But what do you think? The UK cover or the US cover? Leave your comments below! And while you do that, here is a trailer for the book! ENJOY!