Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

 

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

WOW. That is the only word to describe this book, it’s absolutely amazing!

First off, the writing is beautiful and descriptive there were an abundance of adjectives constantly describing things you didn’t know could even be described so beautifully! Seriously, it’s enchanting it definitely will keep you reading and hanging on to every little word. It’s also very cultural, there are a lot of Arabic terms and phrases used to give a very authentic feel. But it also doesn’t leave you feeling confused or have you constantly looking up words while you’re reading.

The characters are so well written and developed. Believe me when I tell you, if Renee Ahdieh wants you to like a character, you like them. If she wants you to hate a character, you hate them. I developed so many feelings towards all of the characters in this book it’s unbelievable, I grew attached to every single one. I found myself constantly changing my mind about how I felt about certain people, it’s all very conflicting. You’ll love all of the characters for very different reasons, but they’re just so good!

And that romance! Now let me tell you that I am NOT a romance reader, I hate it. I prefer books with little to no romance. But “The Wrath and the Dawn” is absolutely heart-warming, I LOVE Shazi and Khalid. I LOVE THEM I TELL YOU! I was sniffling my way through parts of the book because it gave me the warm and fuzzies. There is NO insta-love, which is perfect. However, there is a sort of love triangle but you can easily disregard that notion since you really have to think about it to realize it’s there. I can’t gush enough about how much I love the romance though, I really can’t. It’s sweet, endearing, and touching.

And the plot/story is very engaging, it’s fast paced, it’s perfect. It’s a good mix of YA romance and YA fantasy, since there are subtle hints of magic throughout the book that are very intriguing. If you’re wanting answers for some of that though you’ll have to wait for the next book in the series like the rest of us! One minor complaint I have about the book is that it didn’t have as many stories within stories as I wanted. This is a sort of retelling of One Thousand and One Nights so I was expecting to read some of the stories Shazi uses to keep herself alive! There are a couple and I loved them, so I was disappointed when I wasn’t graced with more throughout the story. There are also plenty of secrets and surprises along the way to keep you guessing and entertained.

I can’t recommend this book enough! Even if you’re like me and you’re put off by the notion of a very romance driven story please consider pushing it aside and giving this book a go. It really is worth it!

I think while I wait for the sequel I will be ordering a beautiful hardcover of this book, it’s gorgeous.

Links: Goodreads / Amazon

Mini Book Review: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

 

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

This book really is just decent, it’s not anything special and it’s not anything game changing. It’s just kind of “Meh, whatever”, but I still enjoyed it enough.

This isn’t really a normal genre for me to be reading, so there wasn’t a whole lot of anything for me to be excited about. This review will more than likely be short and sweet.

So “The Husband’s Secret” was an interesting enough story, I mean I finished it quite quickly, but the whole “mystery” that is supposed to be the center of the book isn’t really that much of a mystery. The “secret” that the ENTIRE book is about is revealed way too early. If you read the blurb for this book then you know that the whole climax for “The Husband’s Secret” is the reveal of the husband’s secret! So there is about zero suspense after a quarter of the book is done. However the writing is fast paced enough that reading this book isn’t very time consuming.

The characters are all women, upper class and very privileged women.  I found them all to be extremely self centered and annoying. Seriously, that description is all of the characters dead-on. Also I definitely didn’t feel attached to any of them. I mean bad shit happens to them and I’m over like “Good. You deserved it.” Which is really horrible but also true.

The only thing that really made this book decent, and easy to read was the writing. Liane Moriarty writes very, VERY well. It’s simple enough to understand and entertaining enough to keep you reading. Even though I disliked the characters, they were very well written for what they were, selfish and troubled. Their stories are weaved and entwined together rather perfectly too.

So in the end the book is just adequate, it’s not really the kind of book I would go around recommending to everyone.

Sorry if my review is too short and not filled with enough opinion and info but this is what happens when I read outside of my genre comfort zone.

Links: Goodreads / Amazon