Mortal Heart Review

Today's review is about the finale of a series that I've been reading and loving for awhile. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers was a book that combined historical fiction and fantasy into one incredibly well written novel with amazing world building and some incredible character development. I read that one over 2 years ago so I honestly can't give you a detailed review except that it was 4 or 4.5 stars to me, so while the book wasn't perfect I did enjoy it. Today, we're going to be talking about the third book in the series, Mortal Heart. 

*Since this is a review of the third and final book in the series, there will likely be spoilers for the first two books in the synopsis and review* 

Wanderlust in Words - Paris

It's been a year since the first and only time I introduced this segment, but Wanderlust in Words is a series I wanted to do because it combines my love of travel with my love of books. I'm thinking about changing this series up a little bit in the future, but more on that later. For now, let's go explore the city of Paris with a few books!

Die for Me by Amy Plum

This is a series I read ages ago and while I enjoyed the books, what I really loved was how the narrator/protagonist introduced the reader to life in Paris. From sitting in charming cafes reading for hours on end (which sounds like my favorite past time ever!) to meandering about the city, this book was less about the typical Paris destinations and more about how it is to a girl who's more familiar and comfortable in the city.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This is a really well known novel, so you probably already know all about Anna and her moving to Paris. This novel was fun because the reader gets to discover the City of Lights alongside Anna and her friends as they go from place to place and live in the city. It's a fun book that brings the city to life within its pages.

So, here's another long overdue Wanderlust in Words! I hope you all enjoyed, and let me know what some of your favorite books set in Paris are! I'll hopefully be back with another one of these soon, although it might be a little different from how this one is. Let me know your thoughts!

Also, if you want to see the first Wanderlust in Words post that I introduced last year in the 2014 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon, you can check out my post about Prague here.

From the paper world,
V

Book Blogger Love-A-Thon Mini Challenge - Bookish High Fives!

I'm a bit behind on this, but I'm here to share my High Fives for the Love-A-Thon mini challenge! 

This is an awesome event! Definitely check out Alexa Loves Books to see the other posts of people participating!

Now, I'm going to share my favorites for these categories... (I'm picking one to three for each I'm sorry but so many choices!)

Books...

Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers, book three in His Fair Assassin

Genre...

I've been loving so many different types of genres in reading lately! I wrote a post about my reading in 2015 earlier this year and how it's changed lately.

Author...

I love A.G. Howard's Splintered series (no I have not yet read Ensnared and I am so excited to I cannot wait!) and she's always so kind when talking over Twitter and such.

Blogger...

Alexa of Alexa Loves Books is always super friendly and hosts this amazing event!

Cassi of My Thoughts...Literally is always fun to read books with, discuss amazing books that I have to talk about with someone because oh my gosh the feels and the book, and is always infinitely patient when I take forever to do a tag that she tagged me in. (I promise I'm getting around to the tags!)

Rebecca of The Library Canary is really friendly and writes amazing reviews and posts, and talking about books with her is always fun! She's a great blogger!

Bookish Merchandise...

I want a Slytherin scarf. 

So, there's my High Fives! Let me know your favorites in the comments, and I hope you've been enjoying the 2015 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon! 

From the paper world,

V

2015 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon! - Introduction and About Me

Happy 2015 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon!

*throws confetti in the air*

Seriously, you guys, I've been waiting since the end of last year's Book Blogger Love-A-Thon for this. Alright, so, if you're not a part of the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon, let me just share a little bit about this event. 

The 2015 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon is hosted by Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, and this event is an opportunity to interact with other book bloggers, authors, and bookish people alike, share our love of book blogging, participate in fun posts and Twitter chats, and just have an incredible two days celebrating blogging and reading. It's seriously an amazing experience, and sharing my thoughts here isn't doing the event enough justice. This is one of my favorite things I've participated in so far throughout my blogging, and I am so, so excited to be participating again this year! 

So, we're starting off the Love-A-Thon with a "Get to Know You" questionnaire. Here are the questions, and my answers:

no. 1 - What's your name?

I'm Violet of Paper Worlds and Swirls of Ink! For more about me, check out my About Me page!

no. 2 - Where in the world are you blogging from?

My room. In the past. I'm actually writing this earlier on in February. Time travel! (Except not because I don't have a Time Turner.)

no. 3 - How did you get into blogging in the first place?

I followed several blogs for years, always loving reading the posts and such, but never starting one of my own, even though I had a Goodreads. But I would always give my friends recommendations and talk books nonstop, and then one day in late 2013 I was asked by an author if I would review a novella, and I realized that I wanted to share my thoughts about books with everyone. And talk about how much I loved books with everyone. Thus, Paper Worlds and Swirls of Ink.

no. 4 - How did you come up with your blog name?

Paper Worlds and Swirls of Ink is a line out of a poem I wrote for a class a long time ago. Basically, we were asked to write a love poem, and of course mine was to books and bookstores and everything bookish. So, I wrote an Ode to Paper Worlds and Swirls of Ink, and the line stayed with me and it felt like the right fit for the blog.

no. 5 - What genre do you read and review the most on your blog?

For me, I read mainly YA literature of a variety of categories, although previously it was typically paranormal or supernatural type stories. That has been changing this past year and into the current one, as I've been talking about in my Reading in 2015 post. I've been reading more Adult Fiction, and in YA more historical fiction, sci fi, etc. But YA has always been the main focus of this blog.

no. 6 - What other types of posts do you do on your blog, aside from reviews?

I participate in some blogging events (like this one, of course!), some weekly features such as Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I post discussion posts, I share what books I'm excited for that are coming out soon, and I also do several other types of series, some of which I'm hoping to change up a bit and continue on with in the new year.

no. 7 - Best blogging experience so far?

Book Blogger Love-A-Thon 2014. I am so excited for this year's Book Blogger Love-A-Thon!

no. 8 - Favorite thing about the blogging community?

I love talking with everyone, whether it's through comments on posts about our thoughts on a particular book or discussion, or if it's over Twitter, I really enjoy interacting with bloggers and talking about books!

no. 9 - Name the 5 books you're most excited for in 2015!

5? Ok. I can do this. I'm going to say books that are coming out and haven't already been released in 2015 to narrow it down a bit since I have about 30-ish books (My Can't Wait Books of 2015 post has all 30 of those). I picked two honorable mentions.

Top 5:

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han, the sequel to To All the Boys I've Loved Before

The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May, the sequel to The Falconer

Winter by Marissa Meyer, the fourth book in The Lunar Chronicles

Honorable Mentions:

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

no. 10 - What's an underrated book or series you think everyone should read?

Hmm... I have plenty of recommendations so I should probably do a post on this. But some of my favorites are the Poison Study series, Splintered series, and His Fair Assassin series.

no. 11 - Which book boy or book girl would be your book BFF?

book boy BFF - Morpheus of The Splintered series by A.G. Howard

book girl BFF - Cress from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

no. 12 - Apart from reading, what are your other hobbies or interests?
I love to travel, to sing, watch Disney movies, watch Downton Abbey, spend some time with my family, friends, and wonderful pet cat. And sleep.

no. 13 - Apart from book shopping, what else do you like shopping for?

Not much, really. I've never been much of a shopper, but if I see something I like or know I need to get, I can go and find it pretty quickly and efficiently.

no. 14 - At a party, the DJ suddenly changes the song- and it's your song. What song would be playing?

I'm assuming a Disney song wouldn't work very well here. (It would totally be Belle from Beauty and the Beast if it could, though.) Classical music doesn't work either, probably. I love Sam Smith, Marina & the Diamonds, and The Hush Sound.

no. 15 - Pick out either a book you want turned into a film/tv show, or a film/tv show you want turned into a book.
Normally, I'm not a fan of the film/tv to book adaptations I've read, so if I could pick a book to be made into a movie, I'd want to see The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. That would be amazing. The Lunar Chronicles would also be an awesome film adaptation.

So, there's a little bit about me! If you're visiting, hi and welcome to the blog! I'm so excited to be a part of the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon, and thank you so much for stopping by!

From the paper world,

V

Random Acts of Kindness - Day no. 2

Hello again! I'm back with another story for the 2nd day of Random Acts of Kindness. Yesterday, I talked about how I had a friend who helped encourage me when I first started blogging. So, today, I wanted to talk about some other people I talked with and inspired me when I first started blogging. If you haven't heard about Random Acts of Kindness yet, it's a really wonderful opportunity to discuss some people who've made a difference to you or shown a random act of kindness you've noticed while blogging. I'll link the posts by The Perpetual Page-Turner and Rather Be Reading here so you can find out more about this and share your stories as well. Now, on to my second story.

Interacting with authors is something I never thought I would do. I'm a very shy person so I never thought reaching out and emailing an author to tell them how much I enjoyed their novel was something I could consider. However, after I started blogging, I decided to email a few authors and tell them I had enjoyed their novel and ask them a question or two. When I had only been on Goodreads, an author had asked me about sharing my thoughts on a novella and that had been part of what inspired me to share my thoughts on books more. Interacting with various authors throughout blogging has been an incredible experience. 

Today's story is a good deal shorter, but I just wanted to briefly share my thoughts. If you'd like to share a story about a Random Act of Kindness, or have written a post about it, please share it in the comments! I would love to hear your stories as well.

From the paper world,
V

Random Acts of Kindness - Day no. 1

This week, some members of the blogging community have come together to host something very special, and I'm really excited to be taking part in it. If you haven't heard about Random Acts of Kindness yet, here are the posts by the wonderful bloggers of Rather Be Reading and The Perpetual Page-Turner. Basically, the idea is to share some random acts of kindness but to do so without sharing names and links. I wanted to take some time to appreciate some of the wonderful random acts of kindness I've seen, and share some stories with you all. So, here is our first story.

I figured it would only be appropriate to start off with how I began blogging for the first day of this week. Initially, I was super nervous. I'd followed book blogs for years, watched Booktube, and been reading constantly since I was little. But I was scared about several things. The first was- what if I can't do this? That was probably my biggest fear. If I was going to do blogging, I wanted to do it well, and also to be able to stay with it, keep posting, and write reviews and become a part of the book blogger community. However, it seemed like such a big deal and such a big step I was scared to start it.
Enter my friend. She was so encouraging to me. Sometimes it's not easy to talk about blogging with people, and for me in the beginning I couldn't even begin to talk about it much with others. But having someone who I could ask (very hesitantly at first) about blog design, how a post looked, this idea I had, etc. made such a big difference to me. Having a friend I could talk to who understood all this and would be excited with me and for me about blogging made starting this so much easier. I wasn't alone in blogging, I had a wonderful friend who I could turn to and talk about blogging with her. And that made all the difference to me.

So, here's a story about a friend who really inspired me and encouraged me when I first started blogging. I would love to hear about your Random Acts of Kindness stories, so if you've written a post or just want to share it, let me know in the comments! 

From the paper world,
V 

Love in Literature - A Valentine's Day Themed Post

Ok, originally this was going to be a discussion about romance in reading, and what I think of romance in novels, etc. but it just wasn't working for me and then I thought "Hey, it's Valentine's Day, and I kind of just want to talk about some of my favorite couples in books." So, here are my favorite couples! Or couples that I wish were couples. There might be some spoilers for the books mentioned as we're talking about couples and OTPs. To make it a little extra fun for Valentine's Day, here are some superlatives too!

*spoilers ahead for the books mentioned!*

Cutest Couple:

Peter and Lara Jean from To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

This couple is totally adorable. I love how Lara Jean is a little bit awkward and shy yet still has a spunky personality. Peter is a character that you love the more you read about, and throughout the novel I just loved reading more and more about these two. They're really wonderful! 

The Superhero Action Team of Couples: 

Kiaran and Alieana from The Falconer by Elizabeth May

These two are super tough, make an incredible team, and fight faeries all over Edinburgh. Not only are they super skilled fighters, they have a strong dedication to their cause and work perfectly together. And I just love these two with their witty banter. They're like those characters in action movies that can maintain a sarcastic back and forth conversation while fighting the bad guys.

The Couple I Cried Over:

Jonah Griggs and Taylor from Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
This book left me so emotional, and these two characters are incredibly written. They had such an impact on the story and everything in it, and I think that this is a couple that's very unique in YA in that they don't have too many cute or lighthearted scenes but have a lot of genuinely heartfelt moments that speak volumes about their relationship.

"I Can't Wait for Them to Have a Happy Ending" Couple: 

Celia and Marco from The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Celia and Marco are a couple that face impossible odds, choices, and trials in their relationship. Seriously, the universe is basically working against them here. Set amidst the drama of the Night Circus and all that accompanies it, this incredible novel really shows the struggle these two go through. 

Couple Most Likely to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse:
Chase and Ember from Article 5 by Kristen Simmons
I mean, they're trying to survive in a world where trust is already in low supply, and this is one dystopian world where the conditions for these two are already pretty rough and a struggle to get through day by day. Chase and Ember would be the pair that would make it through a zombie apocalypse together, though, with their determination and bravery.

Most Likely to Bicker All the Time:

Harper Price and David Stark from Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
They bicker throughout the book anyways, and their witty, sarcastic banter is one of the book's trademarks. But Harper and David are still also really adorable, and they definitely have their sweet and cute moments.

The Better-as-the-Series-Progressed Couple:

Loki and Wendy from the Trylle trilogy by Amanda Hocking
I loved these two from the moment we met both characters individually. Although you don't see much of Loki in the first book, he's such a unique, striking character that I immediately hoped for some more character development for him and for both Loki and Wendy, their story only got better as the trilogy progressed.

Best Out of this World Couple:
Cress and Thorne from Cress of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
These two are completely adorable. Cress is so kind and excited about the world, and Thorne is this sarcastic, confident space pilot. These two are really great and I loved reading about them as the story progressed on. I can't wait to read more about them in Winter. Another side note, if you've read Fairest, let me know your thoughts about it- I've yet to pick it up but I really want to read it!

The Couple I'd Want to go on a Double Date with:

Anna and Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
These two are adorable yet also down to earth. Anna as a narrator was really engaging and I think talking to her would be a lot of fun. Etienne is a fun, easygoing sort as well and I think this is a couple that would be fun to go on a double date with.

The Couple I Wish Would Happen:

Stephen and Rory from the Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson
The third book came out recently and no I have not yet read it. In the first book, I wasn't the biggest fan of the love interest, and thought Stephen was an interesting character I wanted to know more about. I honestly just think he would be a better match for Rory.

So, there are the couples I thought of. What are some of your picks for these categories? Have you got an OTP from your favorite series? Let me know!

From the paper world,

V

Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake Review

*This is a review of the sequel to Antigoddess by Kendare Blake, so there will be spoilers for the first book in the synopsis and review. You can check out the first book on Goodreads using the link above or see my review of Antigoddess here.

February 2015 - Most Anticipated New Releases

Before I start talking about the books I'm excited about that are coming in February, I wanted to make a quick correction to last month's post, January 2015's Most Anticipated New Releases. I mentioned All Fall Down by Ally Carter, which was released on January 20, not on the 27. I did end up picking this book up and I've been reading it, so let me know if you would like a review! I'm enjoying it so far. Now, on to the books for February! These are some of the books I added as to-read on Goodreads awhile ago, and ones that I've been excited about to pick up and read!

February 3, 2015

Invaded by Melissa Landers, the sequel to Alienated

February 10, 2015

Monstrous by MarcyKate Connolly

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson, the third book in the Shades of London series

February 17, 2015

The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes

February 24, 2015

Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder 

Ok, this is the first in the Soulfinders series, which is a companion series to the Study series, and these two series together with another are called the Chronicles of Ixia)

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas

Let me know what some books that are coming out this month are that you're excited for! 

From the paper world,

V

Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet from My Can't Wait Books of 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet from a particular genre or books you want to read from one. Honestly, I couldn't think of any genre I've read a lot of but am missing some really well known books from, unless it's a genre that I haven't read much of, as I'll talk about in a second.

I thought about doing a post like this when I talked about how January went as a month for me (you'll see that post later this week) but I decided to go ahead and do this since I couldn't think of a particular genre I was missing a lot of reads from, unless it's one that I wanted to read more of in 2015, like I talked about in my Reading in 2015 post. Anyways, I read a lot of great books in 2014, but I didn't get to all of the books I had been anticipating since 2013. Here are ten 2014 releases I was really excited about, but somehow didn't end up getting to in 2014. 

Series Finales

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers, the third book in His Fair Assassin trilogy

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor, the third book in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, the third book in the Mara Dyer trilogy

Sequels

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey, the sequel to The 5th Wave

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas, the third book in the Throne of Glass series

Lady Thief by A. C. Gaughen, the sequel to Scarlet

2014 Debuts or New Series

Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

So, there are 10 books that I can't believe I didn't read in 2014. If you've read any of these, let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

From the paper world,

V