Thursday 24 October 2013

Tragically Flawed by A.M. Hargrove




I read roughly just over half of this book then stopped.
The story itself wasn't bad, but there was nothing really keeping my attention.
I was continuing to read just because i had started it, not because i wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters.
In truth it just felt like something i have read over and over again.
A girl who has been hurt in the past, therefore she doesn't really trust anyone, specifically men. Then she meets a man who is going to change that, but he has his own past to deal with, so to some extent they heal each other, yada yada yada.
If you're going to write a story where the plot is popular amongst other books then you have to do something to make your book stand out.

For me this just didn't do it.

I actually started this review with three stars and ended it with 2.





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The Assassin's Curse and The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke








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The Assassins Curse
Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.

To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks—all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic, and the growing romantic tension between them.


I recently bought 'The Assassin's Curse' because I was getting a bit tired of reading the same genres, so decided to try something a bit different. It was a wonderful surprise of a book. I literally couldn't put it down and read it along with the sequel in a few days.

Straight away we meet Ananna and i was instantly sorry for her. She was being forced into an arranged marriage by her pirate parents to the son of other pirates to make an alliance.
The thing i loved most about Ananna is that she isn't a girl who is going to let someone else control her life. Which is why she high-tails it on a camel before she can be married off.
The grooms family however, are too happy about this embarrassment and hire an assassin to find Ananna and kill her. This is how Naji is brought into her life.
While he is attempting to kill her she happens to save him life. Putting him in her debt and them both on a journey to break Naji's curse. For if Ananna tries to leave Naji or even puts herself in harms way, it causes Naji unbearable pain. 

Not only is Naji a great character, but the relationship between him and Ananna is brilliant.  He is more than over -protective of her - even going so far as not let her have a weapon - and sometimes you feel it isn't just because of the curse and his worry of being in pain if something should happen to her.

"Give me your sword." 
He slapped the camel's thigh to get it moving again. "Absolutely not."

We continue with these characters in 'A Pirate's Wish.' Ananna knows not without any doubt that she is in love with Naji. But he is an assassin who is forbidden to love. And he does blood magic. Magic she has been told is dangerous. But they still need to break his curse. 
The story continues to take them to dangerous lands and not only is their lives being intrusted to others but their trust in each other is tested. 
Naji and Ananna's relationship is a lot more deeper in this book. Both wanting what they can't have and to some extent not even sure of what each other wants.
Ananna constantly surprises Naji. She trusts easily and always seems to bring out a side in people and creatures that he never thought possible. 

"I think...I think you're beautiful."
 His face didn't move. "I thought you don't trust beautiful people."
"Not beautiful like that. I mean...I don't ever want to stop looking at you."

The conversations they had and they way they acted with each other was the perfect love/hate relationship that had me in stitches most of the time. 

"For Kaol's sake, Naji, I ain't gonna call down the Otherworld. I just want you to leave me alone!" I whipped my knife at him without thinking. He slid away in a blink. The knife thrummed into the wall.
"That was unnecessary." He said.
"Get out!"

Overall, i think both books were very well written. The characters captivated you right from the start. One of the things i like most about the main book was that it started right in the action. You weren't reading three stories waiting for the plot to begin. Brilliant books, top of my favorites list.
5stars!!!

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