Victoria Moschou's Blog, page 104
January 31, 2019
BOOK REVIEW: Empress of All Season, by Emiko Jean ~ Why is this just a standalone? *SPOILER FREE*
~ Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons
[image error]
Hello awesome people and welcome to the last book review for the month of January!
I am really happy I started this year’s reading challenge with this amazing book, a book I’ve been thinking about since last year and I’m really happy that I actually listened to the audiobook for this one, because… BOY! That was amazing! It was like Mortal Kombat met Girls of Paper and Fire and they created a MASTERPIECE together.
As you’ve probably already figured out by the title of this post, I’m talking about Empress of All Seasons, by Emiko Jean; a YA Fantasy novel, inspired by Japanese folklore, which I thought it was going to be a series and yet… It was just a standalone. 
January 29, 2019
Just a Little While Longer
Hello awesome people and welcome to a guest post, quite different from the ones you’re used to.
It’s been exactly one year since I lost my grandfather, yet there are times it seems only yesterday. They may say that time heals everything, but I suppose that I need a little more time to actually realise what happened back in January 29th, 2018. For grief doesn’t start and end exactly when we want to. It’s constantly with us, reminding us of what we had, of the people we loved and still do, and yet can’t see them.
That’s the reason why I wrote this piece of flash fiction, back in June 2018, and the University of Kingston was kind enough to publish it on its blog.
Fair warning, dearies. You may cry once you read this little story. I know I still do, every single time I read it.
Finally, a huge THANK YOU to my tutor, Dr. Heidi James, for reminding me that I need to pour my very soul out every time I write something. After all, no tears for the writer mean no tears for the reader.
Thank you all so much for being here once again, awesome nerds! It means the world to me and I most certainly don’t take your presence here for granted.
Please let me know all your thoughts and feelings in the comment section down below, once you read the flash fiction piece, by following the link below.
Till next time… Toodles! 
via Just a Little While Longer – flash fiction by Victoria Moschou
January 28, 2019
January Wrap Up
Hello awesome nerds and happy Monday everyone!
January flew by so very quickly and I managed to read the first five books of the year, for which I’m so excited! Though I decided to go with 40 books, as my annual goal, it’s still good to know that I only have 35 books left to reach that goal. 
January 27, 2019
GUARDIAN OF THE AURAS ~ NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
[image error]
Hello awesome nerds and happy Sunday!
And it is indeed a happy Sunday as… GUARDIAN OF THE AURAS is now available for pre-order (Kindle edition) on Amazon!
For those of you who don’t know what the Guardian of the Auras (The Auras’ Chest, #1) is all about (and speaking of which, why don’t you know?), here’s the blurb:
“Everyone is the villain in someone else’s story.
In a realm where hearts have been frozen for centuries, feelings are nonexistent and logic dominates. The unleashing of ancient emotions can either save or doom the entire realm.
Aurora, the youngest Priestess of Rondure, finds out the Creators of her homeland, the divine Valiant Four, have weaved a different destiny for her from what she had in mind. For even though elemental magic is what her kin has been controlling for centuries now, there’s also a different, far more dangerous kind of magic, almost forgotten from the world. And she could be its master; if she manages to survive, of course!
After a long and arduous journey, Aurora finds herself deep inside the forests of her realm, ready to enter a cave everyone seems to have forgotten. Inside that cave lies a box, a little chest, that when she opens it, all the Auras and feelings of the word are set free; and Aurora realises this wasn’t what she was meant to do. Because feelings can be catastrophic to those who never learned to listen to their hearts…”
If you guys love elemental magic, Greek myths, schemes and shady characters, here’s the book for you. A book where FURYBORN meets GAME OF THRONES.
Just follow that link to pre-order your copy and well… make an author happy! 
January 26, 2019
February TBR
Hello awesome people and happy Saturday everyone!
Though you guys know I’m not very good at sticking to my TBR pile, that “little” guy has gotten so out of control, that I’m planning on taming it a bit, if that’s even possible. So, since I managed to read a fair amount of books this January, I’m planning on reading some books that have been resting on my nightstand since last year.
So, without further ado, let’s get to the books I’m planning on reading during the lovers’ month! 
January 24, 2019
BOOK REVIEW: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1), by Holly Black ~ The book I should’ve read back in January 2018! *SPOILERS & DISCUSSION*
~The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black
[image error]
After having read my ACOTAR book reviews, my A Court for Fairies review, as well as my endless ramblings regarding faeries in general, you probably know by now that I’m always in for a new Fae Folk tale. Especially if this is the one I wanted to read during the entire year of 2018 but never had the chance to! Luckily, I got to listen to the audiobook of The Cruel Prince back in December, just in time for the release of The Wicked King and now I can share all my thoughts and feelings about this novel.
*FAIR WARNING! THIS BOOK REVIEW WILL CONTAIN HECTIC SPOILERS SO IF YOU GUYS HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK YET, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE SPOILERY PART OF THE REVIEW WILL BEGIN. THANK YOU!*
With that being said, let’s get to the review!
SUMMARY:
“Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.”
[image error]
Starting with the general idea of this book, I have to admit that I was bewitched by Holly Black’s mind. The whole “stealing humans to bring them to the Faerie Lands” kind of thing reminded me so very much of Peter Pan and the Black Fairy from Once Upon A Time, that I instantly disliked some characters (I dare to say I even hated some of them) and I felt sorry and sympathetic for some others.
The book was so very eerie and whimsical, it had all the elements a good Fae-related story has to have, at least in my humble opinion, and it was full of passion, sexual tension, political schemes and plot twists. I loved the fact that there was some LGBT representation in it, though I’d like it to be more apparent and not simply mentioned from time to time throughout the book.
As for the writing style, this is the first Holly Black book I ever read and I can assure you, it will not be the last! I loved the pacing of the story, the word choice and the unfolding of the plot. I enjoyed a lot the narration and the lengthy descriptions (you know I am a long-description-junkie 
January 21, 2019
If you liked this, then you’ll like that… *BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2019*
Hey awesome nerds and happy Monday everyone!
During the Christmas giveaway I hosted last month, I asked what kind of content you’d like to watch from 2019 onwards here on the blog, and many of you mentioned the “If you like this, then you’ll like that” kind of posts, which are basically book recommendations, revolving around books that are more or less similar with one another. So, here I am with my first ever book recommendations post, focusing solely on YA fantasy.
Sit back comfortably everyone and get ready to make your TBR piles HUGE again!
[image error]
1. If you liked A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES , by Sarah J. Maas, then you’ll like THE CRUEL PRINCE , by Holly Black, and A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY , by Brigid Kemmerer!
With A Court of Thorns and Roses being a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, you will definitely like a story that has to do with Faeries, whimsical places, schemes and curses.
Both The Cruel Prince and A Curse so Dark and Lonely have everything that made the ACOTAR series such a success. They are fast-paced, well-written, with amazing characters and great storylines.
2. If you liked FURYBORN , by Claire Legrand, then you’ll like HEART OF THORNS , by Bree Barton!
[image error]
Both of these novels have some serious girl-power and a lot of elemental magic. They are both full of unexpected plot twists and some heart-breaking scenes. They talk about values such as bravery and honour, honesty and friendship, the importance of being true to who you really are and the catastrophic consequences of making decisions without thinking of the possible outcomes first.
3. If you liked WICKED LIKE A WILDFIRE , by Lana Popović, then you’ll like THE WICKED DEEP , by Shea Ernshaw, and BLANCA & ROJA , by Anna-Marie McLemore!
Again here we have some super intense, original stories, revolving around the lives of strong-willed women, and how some wrong decisions of the past keep haunting the next generations.
Both The Wicked Deep and Blanca & Roja will confuse you (in a good way) and they’ll make you crave for more.
4. If you liked ERAGON , by Christopher Paolini, then you’ll like THE STORM CROW , by Kalyn Josephson, and FIRE & HEIST , by Sarah Beth Durst!
Who doesn’t love a good, old-fashioned tale about shape-shifters? These books will give you elemental magic, crows, dragons, adventure and passionate female leads, that try to do the best for their families and their people.
By the time you’re reading this, I’ll probably have finished both of these books. I didn’t enjoy Fire & Heist AT ALL, but I highly recommend you guys pick up The Storm Crow once it is released this July!
5. If you liked FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS , by Julie C. Dao, then you’ll like GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE , by Natasha Ngan!
[image error]
Scratch that last guys… You’re not gonna like the GIRLS… You’re gonna WORSHIP them!
I feel like whatever I say about this particular book won’t manage to cover how much I ADORED it and how impatiently I wait for its sequel! Let me just say that I didn’t mind giving my heart to the fictional hands of this novel and letting break it into hundreds of tiny pieces!
I dare you to pick it up! And you can thank me later! Because this book is EVERYTHING!
So, this is my first book recommendations post and I really hope you guys enjoyed reading it, just as much as I loved writing it.
Have you read any of the books mentioned here? If yes, which ones did you like and which ones you didn’t?
Thank you all for stepping by once again. It means the world to me and I do want you to know that I most certainly don’t take your presence here for granted. I never will!
Love you all to Pluto and back, awesome people! 
January 19, 2019
Winter Biannual Bibliothon 2019
Being an avid member of the bookish community over the past few years, I realised there are many reading challenges that can help me fulfil my ultimate goal every year: read as many books as possible.
One of the challenges I really enjoy is the Biannual Bibliothon, where twice every year, the participants challenge themselves to read a total of seven books in a week. In more detail, the Biannual Bibliothon is a readathon hosted by seven well-known BookTubers, each of whom post challenges on YouTube, Instagram, as well as Book Blogs, and the participants need to complete these challenges. Most importantly though, they need to have fun and enjoy the book they’ve chosen to read.
[image error]
This year’s Winter Biannual Bibliothon consisted of seven challenges. Those were:
Read the book group, which for this round was the Empress of All Seasons , by Emiko Jean.
Read one of the hosts’ 5 star reads, and I chose The Graveyard Book , by Neil Gaiman.
Read a book that got you into reading, and my choice for that was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix .
Read an adult genre, and for this one I chose Red Sister , by Mark Lawrence, though I still deliberate whether it’s actually Adult Fantasy or not. I mean, I could always have gone with Nevernight , by Jay Kristoff, right?
Combine your favourite genre with your least favourite format. For this one, I chose (of course) fantasy and audiobooks. Though the audiobooks are super handy when driving, cleaning the house, being at work etc, etc, still they’re my least favourite format because I’m old-school and I want to hold the physical copy in my hands and smell the pages and do all that weird stuff. Still, for this challenge I chose the audiobook of Empress of All Seasons , which was the group book as well, and it didn’t disappoint AT ALL! Plus, I managed to complete two challenges thanks to that.
Read a book with a cover you don’t like. For that, I chose Fire & Heist , by Sarah Beth Durst, and not only I didn’t like the book, but I also didn’t like the book as a whole. So, stay tuned, folks, for there’s a really long review coming up soon!
Read a book by an author you’ve never read before. And for this final challenge, I chose The Storm Crow , the Kalyn Josephson.
Though this whole process was super fun, I only managed to complete 3.5 challenges.
January 17, 2019
BOOK REVIEW: Blanca & Roja, by Anna-Marie McLemore ~ My introduction to Magical Realism! *SPOILER FREE*
[image error]
Hello awesome nerds and welcome to the first SPOILER FREE BOOK REVIEW of 2019!
It’s been a while since I posted a book review (the last one was published early in December and it was about Girls of Paper and Fire, by Natasha Ngan) and so I thought I should write my thoughts and feelings about this standalone novel by Anna-Marie McLemore, Blanca & Roja, considering that it was the first audiobook I listened to after the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy and it was one of the books that I couldn’t stop thinking about, even after finishing it.
SUMMARY:
“The biggest lie of all is the story you think you already know.
The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan.
But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them. Blanca & Roja is the captivating story of sisters, friendship, love, hatred, and the price we pay to protect our hearts.”
[image error]
With that being the first 100% Magical Realism novel I’ve ever read, I loved the writing style, still the multiple POVs right from the beginning were a lot to process. It took me a while to get to know every single character and everyone’s motives, thoughts, feelings, hopes and fears, but I did enjoy very much the complexity of each character, the representation in that novel, as well as the fact that nothing could be taken for granted, at least not from halfway onwards.
At the end, I got to see the full picture of this story, as well as the reasons why the four main characters made the decisions they did, and for that I am very pleased.
Though every character was different and unique, each of them in their own way, the character that stack with me though was (of course) Roja!
I don’t know whether I loved or hated her at the end of the day. What I do know though is that this girl made all the wrong decisions for all the wrong reasons!
She chose to become the villain in her story, and in others’ story, too, simply because the world saw her as such! What she forgot was that everyone is the villain in someone else’s story.
January 14, 2019
FAIRYLOOT UNBOXING ~ DRAGONS ~ DECEMBER 2018
~Neil Gaiman Coraline
[image error]
Hello awesome nerds and welcome to the December 2018 FairyLoot unboxing.
For those very few who don’t know, FairyLoot is a monthly-subscription box in which every month you receive a monthly-subscription box, in which every month you receive a new release, as well as a bunch of bookish items, focusing on a specific theme.
The theme for December was DRAGONS and you can bet all your money that it was the most spontaneous purchase I’ve ever made since the day I discovered this AMAZING company!
THE ITEMS
An exclusive dragon themed READING JOURNAL for the first six months of 2019. Designed by Fictiontea Designs and featuring artwork by Bianca Montiel.
A PIN FLAG, created by FairyLoot, perfect for enamel pins, badges and even iron-on patches.
A GLOW IN THE DARK DRAGON NECKLACE, again brought by FairyLoot. The necklace is nickel free and its wings glow in the dark.
An exclusive BOOK SLEEVE, designed by Sweet Sequels and inspired by the escape scene from Gringotts Bank, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows .
An exclusive ADVANCED READING COPY of The Storm Crow , by Kalyn Josephson. This book won’t be released until July 2019, so it’s a quite early ARC. The story has elemental crows, rebellions, romance and so much more.
An exclusive MOTHER OF DRAGONS MAGNETIC BOOKMARK SET, obviously inspired by Game of Thrones and designed by Taratjah. (This item was missing from my box so it’ll be sent separately.)
An exclusive DOUBLE-SIDED PRINT, featuring Abraxis and Manon on one side, and Toothless on the other one. It was designed by Diana Worak.
Click to view slideshow.
THE BOOK
The featured book for the month of December was Fire and Heist, by Sarah Beth Durst. It has shape-shifting wyverns, heists, magic and wonderful characters. This edition is actually signed by the author and it came with and exclusive character art of Sky, the main protagonist, by Taratjah on the back of the author letter.
[image error]
“In Sky Hawkins’s family, leading your first heist is a major milestone–even more so than learning to talk, walk, or do long division. It’s a chance to gain power and acceptance within your family, and within society. But stealing your first treasure can be complicated, especially when you’re a wyvern–a human capable of turning into a dragon.
Embarking on a life of crime is never easy, and Sky discovers secrets about her mother, who recently went missing, the real reason her boyfriend broke up with her, and a valuable jewel that could restore her family’s wealth and rank in their community.
With a handpicked crew by her side, Sky knows she has everything she needs to complete her first heist, and get her boyfriend and mother back in the process. But then she uncovers a dark truth about were-dragon society–a truth more valuable and dangerous than gold or jewels could ever be.”
BONUS ITEMS
This month FairyLoot included for the first time ever two tarot cards, inspired by the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. At first I thought that everyone got different cards, but I released that every subscriber got the same: Amren and Cassian.
