The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Reading Level: Ages 12 and Up

Paperback: 312 Pages

Publisher: Flux

ISBN: 978-0-7387-2582-6

My Rating: 4/5

When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed Donna Underwood's father and drover her mother mad. Her own nearly fatal injuries were fixed by alchemy-the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. Now seventeen, Donna feels like a freak, doomed be the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. Only her relationship with her best friend, Navin, is keeping her sane. But when vicious wood elves abduct Navin, Donna is forced to accept her role in the centuries-old war between human alchemists and these darkest outcasts of Faerie. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous guy with faery blood running through his veins and secrets of his own, Donna races to save Navin-even if it means betraying everything her parents fought to the death to protect.

It took me a long time to read this book just because I'm in school. And normally I have the worst memory in the world and forget everything. I'd usually have to go back over the book and skim through it to kind of jog my memory I guess you could say. I didn't have to do that with this book which was great. It really stuck with me and I very much enjoyed the story. The characters were likable for the most part and it was very well written.

Characters: The only thing bad I can say about the characters is that I didn't get enough of them. Donna is a great character...she's well developed, makes the story very engaging, has a good personality. She has a lot of great qualities and likable assets. Navin we don't learn too too much about other than the fact that he is Donna's best friend and stands by her no matter what. He's a very endearing character and I really liked Xan...he was probably my favorite character.

Plot: The plot is great in this story. It's basically Donna struggling with her...abnormal physical attribute and hiding it from everyone. She doesn't go to high school anymore because of something that happened and now none of the kids like her and they all think she is a freak. Eventually she meets Xan very early in the book and they start this weird kind of...relationship I guess you could say. Anyways, it all boils down to Donna trying to save Maker and Navin from the wood queen.

After going back over this I realized I rambled a bit haha. I have a hard time explaining  things without giving away too many details. I don't like to ruin books for people because I hate when they are ruined for me. Anyways! haha. It's a great book, if you haven't read it yet then you should pick it up, it's really good. The characters were admirable, the plot was engaging, and overall it was amazing! I loved everything about it and it stuck with me even though I had to take a break from reading for a while.

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up

Paperback: 496 Pages

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 978-1-59514-366-2

My Rating: 4/5

Rose's life will never be her own. She has been outrunning death ever since the accident that forever bonded her to her best friend, Lissa-whom she's sworn to protect no matter what. But with Dimitri stalking her, Rose can only run so far.

It should come as no surprise that I love the 'Vampire Academy' series by Richelle Mead. In fact, she has easily become one of my favorite authors; however, I found 'Spirit Bound' to be least favorite book of the series. I still really liked it and contemplated giving it a 3/5 but the ending was good enough to boost my rating back up to a 4 out of 5. It makes me extremely sad to say that I almost gave a VA book a 3/5 but let's discuss why.

Characters: The characters were still the same. Rose was still Rose, Lissa was still Lissa and so on. I did notice that there were some character differences though. Rose seemed weak to me in Spirit Bound. Normally she has the strength of a bull but in this particular novel she seemed to rely too heavily on other people. And Lissa was tougher than normal, which is great!

Plot: As much as it pains me to do so, I have to admit that I found the story line to be very predictable. I knew what was going to happen before it did. And not just one or two things here or there, pretty much everything. The plot was still adequate enough to keep me interested but it was slow at times and highly predictable.

Those were really the only two things I took issue with. I love to read a book or watch a movie and speculate what is going to happen; it's part of what makes it fun for me! But being able to almost always know what is going to happen makes things a little tough to read-or watch. Overall, it was still a good book and I'm definitely going to read the final book 'Last Sacrifice.' Even though I didn't enjoy this book as much as the others, it's still a series I highly recommend to everyone! Happy Reading! :)

A little update

I just wanted to write a little post to let people know a few things. First, I am still here and desperately trying to read and post as many reviews as I can. It seems pretty normal lately that I am only doing one or two a month. It makes me super sad to say that but I'm doing the best I can for right now. I'm just starting a new semester/year at school so I know I will have even less time than I do now. I'm really sorry for that and I hope you all can be understanding and know that I appreciate you remaining to be a follower of Fay-Bay's Books! :)

Second, to any authors or publishers, I am not accepting any books for review. I may make the rare exception and take on a book if I feel I can read it and post a review within a timely matter. I already have a ton of books to read and some to review for people, I feel I just can't take on any more at this time. I'm very sorry for that! If you think that your book might be the rare one that I'll take on or if I have worked with you in the past, please feel free to email me and I'll see what I can work out.

Thanks everyone! :) On a side note, I'm hoping to host a small giveaway soon. I realized that I missed my one year mark because I was so into my school work, OOPS! So maybe I'll do a back to school type of thing... :)

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up

Paperback: 312 Pages

Publisher: Graphia

ISBN-13: 978-0547417301

My Rating: 4/5

Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and on the day she was born her grandmother proclaimed her to be the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. No, seventeen years later, she spend most of her time at boarding school in Manhattan, where she can at least pretend to be normal. But during the summers, she's forced to return home and work at her family's bookstore/magic shop. One night a handsome young professor from New York University arrives in the shop and mistakes Tamsin for her extremely Talented older sister. For once, it's Tamsin who is being looked at with awe and admiration, and before she can stop herself, she agrees to find a family heirloom for him that was lost more than a century ago. But the search-and the stranger-prove to be more sinister that they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the past sins of her family, and unleash a power so strong and so vengeful, it could destroy them all.

When I first started reading 'Once a Witch' I thought it wasn't going to be a book that I enjoyed but boy was I wrong! I liked it a lot...actually more than a lot. It had so many different elements in it that made it such a great read. It had witches, (obviously) magic, sibling rivalry, a blossoming romance and lets not all forget the unforgettable bad guy! I only gave 'Once a Witch' a 4 out of 5 because it started off really slow for me an it took me a little while to get into. It has a slow beginning, at least for me. Sometimes the sheer epicness of a book can overshadow a few flaws but this book wasn't one of those.

'Once a Witch' tells the story of a young girl named Tamsin. She finds herself to be the black sheep of her family because they all have a Talent and she does not. She was born Talent less and no one lets her forget it....well at least her sister Rowena doesn't! She lives in New York City where she attends school but travels home on weekends to visit her family and help out at their bookstore; and that is where she meets Alistair. A little white lie because a monstrosity and soon Tamsin's world is completely upside down!

If you can read through the slow beginning (which I highly suggest) 'Once a Witch' is absolutely incredible! It's written very well and thought out. There aren't any inadequacies and the way MacCullough wrote the book makes you want to keep on reading! If you haven't had the chance to read 'Once a Witch' yet, I suggest you do! I'm glad it's part of my collection and I will definitely be getting the second one.