Review: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Grade: 4.5 Butterflies
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #2
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux


Goodreads Summary

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

It is no secret that The Winner's Curse was one of my top reads of last year. So I was very excited for this book. I am so happy to say that I loved this book so much!! It was just as good as the first one!  I fell in love with the characters, the plot, and the writing all over again! This book was amazingly written, with such in-depth characters, and a plot that had me on the edge of my seat! There was just one aspect that annoyed me a little and this was how god damn frustrating Kestrel and Arin were.

This book starts off a little while after the events of the first book. Kestrel is in the capital trying to wade through the court politics and Arin is in Herran trying to govern. Things progress from there. The first thing I want to note is how glad I was that Arin and Kestrel meet again early on. At first, it seemed that their paths wouldn't cross and I'm so happy that this wasn't the case because Arin and Kestrel together are my new ship life. This whole series is about their romance, essentially this is their love story. So, I am really glad that their meeting again wasn't pointlessly put off.

As I just said, this whole series is focused on Kestrel and Arin. The plot is driven by the political intrigue and tensions but mainly focused on the love story between the two characters. I am totally fine with this because these characters have so much chemistry and they go together so well! Kestrel and Arin are just so well written and the longing they have for each other just leaps off the page making you feel all of their emotions as well! This book gives you such a rollercoaster of emotions and I loved every second of it!

The writing in this book was so wonderful! Marie Rutkoski has a talent for writing! The book was like an elegant poem. Even if everything about this book was horrible I would still read it because I just love her writing! It is just so enjoyable to read! This author can do everything, she can write amazing settings, develop outstanding characters, and create nail-biting stories!

This is the squeal and thus the second book in the series and it does have a tiny bit of a second book syndrome. In hindsight, after finishing the book, it does seem like a setup for the last book. This book focused a lot on the possibility of another war and how Arin and Kestrel's relationship was deteriorating. However, when reading this book I did not get this vibe at all. I was thoroughly enjoying reading this book and stayed up for to late finishing it! Marie Rutkoski somehow made a second book syndrome actually enjoyable. I am kinda shocked!

The only aspect of this book that I found very irritating was how Kestrel and Arin acted around each other. It was beyond annoying. Let me explain a bit because that sentence might have sounded a bit contradictory with all I just said about Kestrel and Arin. First off, Kestrel was bound and determined to keep Arin in the dark. She did not want him involved because she feared for his life, which makes sense. However, I wanted to throw the book at the wall when it got to the point that he was in more danger not knowing and she still insisted to push him away. She was creating more grief than was needed and I was getting so frustrated! And Arin! He was beyond irritating! He kept guessing all the right things about Kestrel but then pushing them to the side. He kept being like "I'm way to stupid for that to be right". It. Was. Annoying! I understood why the author wrote it this way. I am not mad at that at all, I am more just annoyed with the characters. In hindsight, this means that the author did an amazing job connecting me to the characters but it was still annoying to read!

This book was such an amazing book to read! I loved every second of reading it! The setting was great to read, because Rome, The characters were just so developed and in-depth, the plot was freaking fantastic, and the romance was heartbreakingly beautiful! My heart hurts after reading it because of my ship! Kestrel and Arin are my ship life and how their relationship was falling to pieces. I hated how much I loved reading it! I would recommend this series to everyone!


This book got....

4.5 Butterflies

Beautiful, this is a great book. 

Recommended if you like: Fantasy, Love stories, The Remnant Chronicles by Mary. E. Pearson

Happy Reading

May Wrap-Up

So, Its been a while. Before I go on, I am so sorry to all of you guys. It's been a rough few months because I had a lot of things on my plate. It isn't an excuse but it's why I stopped blogging. And I think being so stressed out for so long caused me to lose my drive to blog. I would be so tired by the end of the day that I wanted to read or just sleep instead of going on the computer. After such a long time not blogging its hard getting back in the swing of things and I tried so many times before to start blogging again and failing. I would write two reviews, post them, but never writing any more posts. So, my new strategy was to write a shitload of posts before starting again so I have a buffer while I get back into the rhythm of things. I am so happy to start  blogging again! I am determined to keep it up because I love doing this so much! I love writing posts, I love commenting on other blogger's posts, I just love everything! 

Now on to happier and less guilt-ridden topics like books!

May was a really good month! I read some kick-butt books and started ACOMAF and was instantly obsessed! I finished school for the semester and got accepted into the new school I'll be starting in the fall! I'm so excited!  Basically, everything that was making me stressed ended and I can actually sleep now! Its good! 

-Books Read-

A Darker Shade of Magic by V . E. Schwab

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

NoWhere But Here by Katie McGarry

I finally finished the Winner's Trilogy! It completely destroyed my emotions and I loved every second of reading them! Marie Rutkoski knows how to write a heartbreaking and beautiful love story! I want to go and reread the whole series now, just to experience Kestrel and Arin falling in love again! Also, the covers are gorgeous! Just look at them!

That's how my May went, how'd yours go?

Happy Reading!

Review: The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick

GradeGrade: 4 Butterflies
Series
Author:Author

Goodreads Summary

 Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To:

- find the liquor cabinet blindfolded
- need a liver transplant
- drive his car into a house

Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To:
- well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.

For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard. 

Then the unexpected consequences of Tim’s wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn’t all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted . . . but maybe should have.

And Alice is caught in the middle. 

I was so excited for this book to release! I loved My Life Next Door so much and I could not wait for Tim and Alice’s story. Overall, this book was delightful to read! I loved the story so much and the characters were so wonderful to read! I was blown away especially by Tim’s character arc and story. However, there were two things that seemed out of place.

First, I loved these characters so much! I love reading about the Garrett family and their life. I love it because it’s almost as if you are right there with them. You are sitting in that kitchen with all of them, you are in the midst of their family and it’s great to read! It also says a lot about how good the writing is because that is hard to do.

I especially loved Tim in this book. In the first book we learned that he was an amazing writer and his sister was taking his speeches. I loved his character arc so much! He started out as a very self-pitying self-destructive man and he develops and changes. It was so great to read! It was also so heartwarming! I can’t really explain why this is though because it’s a twist that happens early on and effects the whole story.  However, it is why I loved this book so much!

This book is about Alice’s life and Tim’s life and how/where they intersect. Alice’s is almost drowning because of her Dad’s injury. This was very interesting to read and I loved how that impacted and grew Alice’s character.  However, it often felt like Alice’s character and story were greatly overshadowed by Tim and his story. Half of Alice’s chapters didn’t really focus on her family problems or even went deep into her character; they instead focused on her relationship with Tim. It seemed like everything was centered and focused on Tim and his story. Which was fine and great, but it almost made Alice’s POV seem redundant and put a distance between the reader and Alice.

The last thing I want to talk about is how disjointed the love story between Alice and Tim felt. It almost felt like we jumped into the middle of their relationship. Which, to be fair, we did. This is a sequel to My Life Next Door. However, that one was through the eyes of Sam and Jase. So, even then we never saw the beginning of Alice and Tim’s relationship through their eyes. This just made the story feel….. weird. They were already half way in love and it almost felt like they were an inside joke that we the readers weren’t part of. It just didn’t flow well. Also, I think this aspect prevented me from getting emotionally invested in their relationship. I felt for Tim and I felt for Alice and for both of their lives, but when they were put together I couldn’t have cared less.

Even though the love story felt a little out of place, this was still such a great contemporary! I loved it! What really stole was the twist that happened with Tim. Again, I can’t say what it is because it’s a spoiler, but it was so freaking wonderful to read!! I loved! It warmed my heart so much and I loved how it helped Tim’s character develop. Even if you don’t like many contemporaries I would still recommend this book because of this twist. 

This book got....

 4 Butterflies

Beloved, This is a really good book.

Recommended if You Like: Contemporary and My Life Next Door

Happy Reading