Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing well! I took it easy last month and read two books and listened to two audiobooks. As usual, you can find all my English reviews here and all my Dutch reviews here.
Hi iedereen, ik hoop dat het goed gaat met jullie! Ik heb het afgelopen maand rustig aan gedaan en twee boeken gelezen en naar 2 audioboeken geluisterd. Zoals altijd zijn mijn Engelse recensies hier terug te vinden en mijn Nederlandse hier.
books read in December /
boeken gelezen in december
Believe Me (Shatter Me #6,5) – Tahereh Mafi // ★★★
Synopsis –
Juliette and Warner fought hard to take down the Reestablishment once and for all. Life in the aftermath isn’t easy, as they and their friends at the Sanctuary work with their limited resources to stabilize the world.
Warner has his sights set on more than just politics. Since he proposed to Juliette two weeks ago, he’s been eager to finally marry her, the person he loves more than anything and has endured so much to be with. But with so much chaos around them, it’s been nearly impossible for them to have a wedding. And even Juliette has been distracted by everything they need to do.
At long last, Warner and Juliette’s future together is within reach, but the world continues to try to pull them apart. Will they finally be able to be happily, officially, together?
Lore – Alexandra Bracken // ★★★
Synopsis –
Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.
Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory. For years she’s pushed away any thought of revenge against the man–now a god–responsible for their deaths.
Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.
The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore’s decision to bind her fate to Athena’s and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost–and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.
audiobooks listened to in December /
audioboeken beluisterd december
An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) – Sabaa Tahir // ★★★★
Synopsis –
Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) – Sabaa Tahir // ★★★★
Synopsis (spoilers for the first book in the series) –
Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.
Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.
But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.
Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.
my favorite read of the month /
mijn favoriet boek van de maand
An Ember in the Ashes! I was a bit scared to start it since the book was released in 2015, and I’m not really into YA books that were released in that period. But it was actually less YA than I thought and I ended up liking it very much!
n Ember in the Ashes! Ik was een beetje bang om eraan te beginnen aangezien het boek in 2015 uitkwam, en ik niet zo van de YA-boeken ben die in die periode uitkwamen. Maar het was eigenlijk minder YA dan ik dacht en ik vond het uiteindelijk heel erg leuk!
what I am planning on reading in January /
wat ik van plan ben om te lezen in januari
The City of Brass – S.A. Chakraborty // Dutch hardback
Gods & Monsters (Goden & Monsters) – Shelby Mahurin // Dutch paperback
Did you read some interesting books this month? If so, which one was your favourite? Let me know in the comments.
heavenlybookish 