“But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.” – 5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: pigs, wine, exile, goddesses, nynphs, stars, minotaurs, jealousy, monsters, boats, nectar, heroes, trojans, lions, messengers, power, molly, motherhood, beauty, mortals and witchcraft.

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child – not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power – the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

THIS WAS SO GOOD! I’m so happy I finally picked this up. The hype made me do it… again.

This book reminded me why I was always fascinated by greek mythology. I learned so much about characters I never heard about (Glaucus, Scylla, Perse,…), and also saw others in this book that I knew my whole life (Zeus, Helios, Hermes…). I personally never heard about Circe before this book so I was curious to hear her story, and now I understand how important she was especially to Odysseus. I really liked her story, more than I thought I would!

Madeline did an amazing job writting this book. She had the ability to put together different main stories from greek and roman mythology in this book, and she knew exactly how each character would fit in. It was beautifully done and very well written. I don’t have enough good words to describe this novel. What can I say? I completely fell in love with this book.
This is without a doubt a must-read for anyone interested in mythology. Such a treat! I’m definitely picking up “The Song of Achilles” soon.

xoxo,

“Do not go gentle into that good night.” – 3.25/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: paint brushes, canyons, maps, blue tablets, poems, secrets, boats, the society and the Rising.

The Society chooses everything.

The books you read.
The music you listen to.
The person you love.

Yet for Cassia the rules have changed. Ky has been taken and she will sacrifice everything to find him.

And when Cassia discovers Ky has escaped to the wild frontiers beyond the Society there is hope.

But on the edge of society nothing is as it seems…

A rebellion is rising.

And a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy everything.

Crossed is the second book on the Matched series by Ally Condie. You can read my review on the first book Matched here.

It took me so much time to finish this book! I admit I had some trouble finishing it, but I finally did it! Even though I loved this dystopian concept since the start of the series, I found the second book very slow and difficult to go through. Sure, the story keeps developing… but at a VERY slow pace. A big part of the book occurs in the same spot – the canyons – and almost nothing exciting happens! The most interesting event that happened in my opinion is when we discovered that Xander has a secret of his own. I wasn’t expecting it to be honest, it was a great twist!

One thing I liked is how we followed not only Cassia’s point of view but also Ky Markham’s point of view! I really liked this change in comparison to the first book, I was curious to see Ky’s thoughts and feelings.

I also loved the new characters, they added some spice to the story, for sure. Specially Indie and Vick!

So, what can you expect from this book? My answer: there’s a lot of poetry and art, a lot of slow running and searching… and more poetry and art. 

Overall I still enjoyed it, I just wish there was more happening in the story. The ending was satisfying and it made me excited to grab the last book of this series! I’m hoping the last book has more action and surprises.

xoxo,