REVIEW: The Crown by Kiera Cass

This shall, without a doubt, be one of the most emotional book reviews I ever write. The Selection series has come to a spectacular, fireworks-display of an ending, and I don't know what to do with myself. I spontaneously picked up the first book when it had just come out and I was so hooked. I read the next one, and the next one, and thought it was over. And then it wasn't. And I was so happy. This series is addictive in the most fantastic way. Let's just get into this finale because boy oh boy was it a good one.

The Short Story:

I obviously cannot give too many details because spoilers are too easy to give away in the case of a final book, but I can say I never knew where the story would go until it got there, I laughed out loud, I cried actual tears, and I swooned HARD. I don't care what people think of Eadlyn as a character, I think she got everything she deserved. Long live the Schreaves!

The Long Story:

Let me take a breath here. 

I waited a year for this book, pining over these characters and waiting, needing, to know what became of them (especially due to the CLIFFHANGER OF THE CENTURY in The Heir, sheesh) and when this book finally was in my hands, it was everything I wanted. Kiera Cass never once let me believe I had figured out the ending of this book. Never once! Every time I thought I had a wavering guess, she shot it down quicker than I could think it. And that quality in a book makes me keep reading and keep loving it. She creates characters that make you want to love them... or throttle them, whichever it appropriate at the time. Overall, Kiera made a world I could have stayed in forever. 

I was happy with the ending. Happy is actually not a strong enough word. I kicked my legs and squealed and laughed and cried and LOVED EVERY WORD. I know some people question the way the story and the relationships went, but I think it had to go this way and I'm so glad it did. Everything wrapped up in such an amazing and heart-wrenching way, but everything really did wrap up. I feel no loose ends, no questions, just closure. 

Kiera Cass, thank you for giving us Selection fans everything America and Eadlyn needed. We wish we could have Maxon, America, Eadlyn, Marlee, Erik, Brice, May, Aspen, and all their friends in our heads forever like you will. 

5/5 stars. No, 6/5 stars.

Now I need to add a spoilery section because I can't NOT for this book. Please stop scrolling now if you haven't read The Crown and plan to.

Really. Please come back later :) Happy reading!

SPOILERS TO COME:

I am so over-the-moon happy Eadlyn chose Erik, er, Eikko. When I was reading The Heir, I considered this as a possible ending but thought it would be too predictable of a plot twist. I thought it was Kile. I wanted it to be Henri because he's cute like a baby duck. Then I thought Hale (AND BOY WAS I WRONG ABOUT THAT GUY). Then Marid appeared and I stopped in my tracks (once again, WRONG WRONG WRONG). I never thought it was Ean and I was so glad when his story took another turn. Eadlyn and Erik is so right. They balance each other, but they also challenge and complete each other. I loved Eadlyn's moment with her dad in those last seven minutes at the end of the book, where she drops all pretense of being a queen and asks her dad for help in this matter of the heart...and politics. I just loved it. Eadlyn made all the right choices and I'm ecstatic at the end of this epic story. Feel free to discuss in the comments, I'd love to chat with you about it!!

REVIEW: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

If I love anything as much as I love books, Disney would be that thing. I may be graduating from college and heading off into the "real" world, but play any Disney song and I revert into a five-year-old singing every word and quoting every line. 

So you can imagine how I reacted when I saw someone had written a retelling of Disney's Aladdin. There was a lot of squealing and fangirling and magic-carpet-riding and what not. And upon finishing said book, I had "A Whole New World" and the end credits music running through my head (yes, I even recognize the credits music, because it's amazing so there). 

BUT that is not fitting for this "Twisted Tale". Let me tell you a thing. Wow.

The Short Story:

This book is unexpected, shocking, romantic, epic, magical, and hilarious. Be prepared for exact quotes from the movie. The story will take you on a journey you absolutely do not see coming and characters will tackle moral dilemmas much larger than in the movie. If you liked the movie, I think you'll like the book, too. I certainly did!

The Long Story:

The tagline for this book is "what if Aladdin never got the lamp?" Just think for a second. What happens if that question is true? BAD THINGS, that's what. This book, guys. This. Book. It was not what I was expecting but it was also everything I wanted. This story follows the movie extremely closely up to a certain point...at which it simply skips to "and the bad guy wins" and everything goes bananas. Aladdin and Jasmine meet in the marketplace, have the same goofy flirty banter, and things go along as we Disney movie viewers expect. Then the story takes a turn and the characters are forced to turn with it. This does mean that the characters grow in a different way than in the movie. 
This book is a huge adventure. Aladdin is our goofy and golden-hearted main character and Jasmine is our fierce and vivacious princess. The synopsis tells us that Jafar gets the lamp. Jafar is not meant to rule and his flaws are well-executed and really weave into his motives. There are many other characters who have such huge personalities that I can hardly call them side characters. Agrabah falls to pieces under Jafar, as anyone would expect, and it is up to the underdogs, the Street Rats, to fix it. But goodness knows, there are some issues with just "fixing it".
I wish I had known ahead of time how much certain parts would parallel the movie because it made it hard to separate the two while reading. Certain relationships and back stories were a little hard to follow or seemed irrelevant and I wish we had gotten more about Jafar because he is such a ridiculous villain. Since I am a wuss, there were some scenes that were too graphic for my taste and I wish I had been prepared for that. They don't call it a "twisted" tale for nothing, apparently.
If you like heist stories or political stories or Disney or fairytales in general, try this book on for size. I think you'll enjoy it. I really liked this book and retelling fans will, too.

4/5 stars.

Let me know if you've read this book and what you thought of it! 

Happy reading!