"We Met Sarah J Maas!" Story Time with Jessie

Alright kids, lets roast some s'mores and sit around a campfire, IT'S STORY TIME.

Jessie's POV
A long time ago (five weeks) in a galaxy far, far away (our local bookstore) we met Sarah J. Maas. It wasn't certain that we were going to be able to meet her since we were both in the middle of our work experience but we managed to carve out some time and leave work early to meet her. She also came to our school, but that was something that we definitely couldn't attend which was annoying, we were told that she gave a great presentation.
The bookstore was completely crowded and we weren't even sure if we would get a front row spot since people were already arriving two hours early, it was kind of impressive. Some of the topics which she covered were ACOTAR and she also answered some fan written question about the characters which got pretty funs. We would of loved to video tape it to show you guys but we weren't allowed to at Sarah's request but we did get some pictures which I will post bellow.
When it came to answering questions I actually got one of mine answered, well it was Angelina's question, and it was kind of awkward how they came to notice my hand being up. They could answer about five questions and I had put my hand up each time but they were mostly answering from the other side of the room. When they said that they could only answer one more question of course my hand was still up but then I felt someone behind me raise my hand hire and point to me. They called over to the moderator "Here take this girls question, she's had her hand up the whole time." for everyone to hear. I can't even describe how much I was blushing and I just wanted to hide behind Angelina. They took my question, of course, it would be kind of awkward if they didn't. It asked if Celeana and Nox (if you don't remember him he was a thief in the first book) would ever get together at some point- they are Angelina's ship. Sarah said that it would never happen and if you wanted to get on that ship you should wait at the docks, sorry to any Celeana/Nox shippers out there but you're on the Titanic that never sailed.
We of course, also got our books signed. The line almost made a full loop around the bookstore, it was absolutely crazy and to make it worse it didn't move. I ended up leaving the book store with Angelina in line to go get us some snacks because we would be there for a long time. I don't know how long we were in line but it felt like forever. As soon as we got our books signed we left, it was 10:00pm and we both had an 11:00pm curfew. We didn't quite make it home on time....
So in summary, we met Sarah J. Maas, it took forever, it was extremely awkward, and I was hungry the whole time.... it was awesome.

Pictures:

"A World Without Heroes" (Beyonders #1) by Brandon Mull

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Jason Walker has often wished his life could be a bit less predictable--until a routine day at the zoo ends with Jason suddenly transporting from the hippo tank to a place unlike anything he's ever seen. In the past, the people of Lyrian welcomed visitors from the Beyond, but attitudes have changed since the wizard emperor Maldor rose to power. The brave resistors who opposed the emperor have been bought off or broken, leaving a realm where fear and suspicion prevail.
In his search for a way home, Jason meets Rachel, who was also mysteriously drawn to Lyrian from our world. With the help of a few scattered rebels, Jason and Rachel become entangled in a quest to piece together the word of power that can destroy the emperor, and learn that their best hope to find a way home will be to save this world without heroes.


My Review
This was an amazing book. I loved every single page and every second reading it.
I have wanted to read this book for quite a while already. Basically anything to do with magic, evil emperors who need some overthrowing and an epic quest. Everything about this was awesome.
This book A World Without Heroes  tells the story of how a normal boy called Jason gets sucked into a magical world called Lyrian. There he accidentally stumbles across the beginning of a secret word that could defeat the tyrannical ruler but marks him for immediate execution. On this world he meets Rachel and together they desperately try to save their skin.
The world-building itself was done excellently. Nothing was too rushed or anything. It was amazing to see a complex world being created without any info-dumps. I could imagine the world passing by around me through Jason's eyes, even though it is vastly different from our own world. The author made  a great job of continuously introducing new elements to this new world to always build on the experiences.
The characters were also very three dimensional and I could relate to them. I loved Jason's wry sense of humour. He is sarcastic and his narrative voice made the book very entertaining to read. There was a wide variety of different characters though. Rachel was mostly serious but she could be sweet and sincere if she wanted to be. Both of them care a lot for their friends and family, which was a nice touch. Despite all that, I think that I still like Jason the most. His attitude was just really endearing.
The book was a joy to read from start to finish. The excellent writing style made it exciting and not boring at all. Even the beginning was a pleasant start and intro to the story. I can't wait to grab the second book! I really recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and an exciting adventure that will pull the reader into the story and never let go.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!

The Darkest Part of the Forrest by Holly Black

Book Blurb (from goodreads)
Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.
At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough? 

My review:

I would like to just start this off by saying how great the book trailer for this book is, if you haven't seen it yet you should defiantly check it out. It's so creepy and the song gets stuck in your head for days. It's the main reason that I read this book.

This book follows Hazel, a young girl that lives in Fairfold, a magical place with monsters in the forest. Hazel has a brother who was cursed/blessed by a Fae, which gave him extraordinary musical powers. Following a desperate need to hunt the monsters that snatch tourists when they stray too far from the path they go out to be 'knights', using her brothers musical abilities to lure the monsters out so she can slay them, until there was an accident which stops them going out all together. This links to the coffin in the woods where a horned prince sleeps (kind of like sleeping beauty). One day he wakes up, and becomes the forests most wanted. Hazel and her brother have to find him before the monster does and he dies in order to get answers about what is going on.

Hazel is a character that knows what she wants, but not how to get it. A string of events in her life leaves her unable to think clearly and caused her to make irrational, impulsive decisions which can often hurt herself and those around her. She so desperately wants to play knight, but by no means has the skills to do so and doesn't have enough smarts to realize that she is going to get herself hurt.

Ben is insecure and doesn't know what to do with his musical gift, so he begins to neglect it, vowing to never play his music again. However, if he could of just taken a deep breath and attempted to get over this fear of making a mistake he could of been a greater help in this book. The thing that I loved the most about this character was that he was gay, and Holly Black just mentioned it and moved on. There was no conflict around it, he had normal romantic relationships just like anyone else. It was really refreshing to see, and I hope that more authors take note of this.

All in all I give this book three out of five stars:

First Chapter Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday #12 - "Goat Children" by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek

Every Tuesday Diane @ Bibliophile By the Sea hosts a weekly meme called First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros. Basically, this is when you share the first and maybe the second paragraph of the book you are currently reading or want to read soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is a meme hosted by MizB @ Books and a Beat, where you need to open your current read to a random page and pick two spoiler-free sentences.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Chapter 1 
Bodies crushed against each other, a blur of hair and clothes, in the mad dash to exit the subway. The air smelled of the greasy restaurants above and felt stuffy, despite the bitter cold that rattled through the damp subway tunnel. My mouth watered as I sniffed roasted chestnuts. You haven’t eaten dinner yet, my rumbling stomach scolded. I slipped past a man speaking rapid Spanish to board the train, grabbed a pole, slid on to a seat, and pulled my green bag higher towards my chest. The two paperbacks inside jammed into my ribs. With a groan, I shifted into a new position, wondering what glorious worlds awaited within the glossy covers. “Whoa ho, ho, ho.” More people ranting on the subway. It could never be a quiet ride. I opened my bag to peer at the fantasy novels. I’d chosen thick books because they lasted longer and made the reading more rewarding.

Teaser
“Sorry about this.” I shut the door and followed Oma into the kitchen. “Her name was Lauren.”
Oma threw the dust bunny into the garbage and shook her head. “What happened to my little Keziah?”
“I’m still your little Keziah!”
~18%