Kurios

Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities
Cirque du Soleil

kurios-show

ATLANTA, GA – April 30, 2016

For the first time in my whole life I got to finally see a Cirque du Soleil show. My brother bought us tickets as a gift for my 22nd birthday and he couldn’t have chosen a better gift. I’ve been highly anticipating this show since my birthday in March! I’m actually amazed he thought of it really. I mean, I love Cirque du Soleil but I’m also a Theatre major and so my brother and I operate on slightly different planes (he’s not into musicals, theatre, overly arty stuff, etc.). Actually he did admit to me that he had no idea what to expect because Cirque du Soleil just isn’t his scene. But he bought us tickets and took me to see them anyway.

I’m really glad I got to go with my brother, and him knowing nothing about it made it even better. It was mind-blowingly fantastic for me, but for my brother, well, his world was shattered, in a good way.  Continue reading

And I Darken

And I Darken (The Conquerors Saga #1) by Kiersten White (2016)
-eARC Review-

and i darken
YA Fiction | Adult Fiction | Historical
4.5 stars
Blurb:

“NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.  Continue reading

Nora & Kettle

Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor (2016)
-eARC Review-

Nora & Kettle

YA Fiction | Historical | Light Romance4.5 starsBlurb:

“What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?”

Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having “one drop of Japanese blood in them” things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.

Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naive, eighteen-year-old Nora the privileged daughter of a Continue reading

The Host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer (2008)

The Host

(NA) Fiction | Science Fiction: Aliens4.5 starsBlurb:

“Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.”
Goodreads  Continue reading

A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)
by Sarah J. Maas (2015)

a court of thorns and roses

NA Fiction | Fantasy | Romance | (TV-14)4.5 starsBlurb:

“When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.  Continue reading

The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter (1957)

birthday party

Theatre | Absurdist | Black Comedy4.5 starsBlurb:

“Stanley Webber is visited in his boarding-house by two strangers, Goldberg and McCann. An innocent-seeming birthday party for Stanley turns into a nightmare.”
Goodreads  Continue reading

Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)

animal farm

Fiction | Historical | Classic5 starsBlurb:

“Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose slogan becomes: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This 1945 satire addresses the socialist/communist philosophy of Stalin in the Soviet Union.”
Goodreads  Continue reading

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

mockingjay

*This post contains all 3 separate reviews for the series so scroll with caution*

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins (2008)

The Hunger Games

YA Fiction | Dystopian4.5 starsBlurb:

Winning will make you famous.
Losing means certain death.

The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The ‘tributes’ are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory.  Continue reading

The Scorpion Rules

The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace #1) by Erin Bow (2015)

The Scorpion Rules
YA Fiction | Sci-Fi
4 Stars
Blurb:

“The world is at peace, said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask?

Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Go to war and your hostage dies.

Greta will be free if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday. Until then she lives in the Precepture school with the daughters and sons of the world’s leaders. Like them, she is taught to obey the machines that control their lives. Like them, she is prepared to die with dignity, if she must. But everything changes when a new hostage arrives. Elián is a boy who refuses to play by the rules, a boy who defies everything Greta has ever been taught. And he opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the system they live under—and to her own power.  Continue reading

Six of Crows

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo (2015)

Six of Crows

YA Fiction | Dark Fantasy5-starsBlurb:

“Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone… Continue reading