Welcome back to my blog! Today, I'm reviewing the book Spells by Aprilynne Pike!

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Blurb:

"And if I don't?" Laurel said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then I guess I'll be waiting forever."

Although Laurel has come to accept her true identity as a faerie, she refuses to turn her back on her human life - and especially her boyfriend, David - to return to the faerie world.

But when she is summoned to Avalon, Laurel's feelings for the charismatic faerie sentry Tamani are undeniable. She is forced to make a choice - a choice that could break her heart.

I read the first book in this series, Wings, a very long time ago, so it has been a while since I have delved into the world of faeries. However, I was excited to rediscover Pike's characters, particularly Laurel and Tamani.

This book, similar to Wings, is a light read - which means it is something that you could get through in a couple of hours. The writing itself, although not completely terrible, wasn't incredible either, as the most irrelevant things were described, instead of the points of the storyline that actually mattered. Pike spent more time explaining that Laurel was trying to make flashcards to study in Avalon (which is completely irrelevant), instead of trying to develop and thicken what was meant to be the main problem she would have to face. (spoiler) What frustrated me the most was that when the antagonist, Barnes, is reintroduced in this story, there is barely any build-up and the conflict and its resolution, which is meant to be the climax of the novel, fell flat. It's almost as if Pike wrote this part of Spells purely because she had too, without really thinking about the importance of the scene.  (end spoiler)

I love reading books revolving around fantasy, magic and mythology - which is why I had started reading this series in the first place. I really enjoyed Wings because I ADORE stories about faeries and I was looking forward to continuing to read Spells, but as much as I wanted to say that I loved the book, I didn't find it enthralling. To be quite honest, I didn't feel apart of Laurel's world. Although Pike explained what faeries could do throughout the novel, there wasn't a lot of actually showing the reader the magic that is meant to exist in the story she had created. This book lacked action and instead was filled with large amounts of wordy explanation, in order to compensate for that. 

As well as this, Laurel, the main character, became incredibly annoying in Spells compared to Wings. 

Laurel is headstrong and stands her ground, which is awesome (go females!), however I found her irritating because she had to constantly defy and question the rules of Avalon, instead of respecting her surroundings. I also couldn't stand the constant back and forth between Laurel and David and Laurel and Tamani. Don't get me wrong, love triangles can sometimes play a pivotal role in a story's development, but in this case, I was desperate for it to end and would've preferred it if Pike focused more on improving other aspects of the story's plot. Laurel was so incredibly self-centred about the entire situation and used both Tamani and David, without really thinking about their feelings, which was very frustrating because Laurel wasn't like that (as much) in the first book.

I know I've been a little harsh about this Spells, but one thing that I did truly like about this book was the feeling that I was left with at the end. Pike is great at ending her story with a cliffhanger, which means that the reader has so many questions. The last couple of pages actually made me want to read the next two books in this series, purely because I want to know what happens next, despite my overall feelings about Pike's storytelling abilities. 

They were rather difficult to find, if I'm being honest, but here are a few quotes that I liked (I guess) and that represented the book as a whole (which I guess isn't a good thing or a bad thing).

• "Tell me David is all you need or want out of life." Ηis face was close to her, his soft breath caressing her face. "Τhat you never think of me when you are kissing him, that you don't dream of me the way I dream of you. Tell me you don't love me.

• “If the time comes and your dream doesn't seem worth it, then maybe it was the wrong dream.”

• “Her two worlds, two lives that she tried so hard to keep separate, were crashing together. And she felt helpless to stop it.” (she actually wasn't that helpless but annnywayyy)

Have you read this book or this series?

What do you think, do you agree or disagree with this review?

Let me know in the comments!

- Tyra x

Blurb:

This book, written by Sara Shepard, was quite honestly just a bit of a bore. The five characters were rather predictable, and the only thing remotely exciting was the back stories of each girl. The main plot however was so unbelievably predictable. Every twist and turn I saw coming from a mile away, and seemed so stereotypical.

I couldn't connect with any of the characters, because I felt like their personalities had been done before - and they reminded me too much of the girls from Pretty Little Liars. Actually, now that I think about it, this entire book reminded me of Pretty Little Liars. Much like Shepard's other book, this was chock-a-block full of beautiful, but bitchy girls, cliches and cliques, rich bullies, evil adults, dark secrets and someone who is out to frame five girls - sounds very familiar. Of course, there's no issue with an author using similar ideas or themes in their books, however, I just felt like it was almost a complete remake of PLL (a series I did enjoy), with a few details changed.

I also didn't understand why people in the bookacted the way that they did - and the reasons for their actions were not explained. Look, I probably can't judge this aspect so quickly, because this is the first book of the series, so maybe some of those things will be explained in another book. Some of the story lines present in the book were unbelievable, and left me thinking - 'Really? Like someone would actually do that'.

Now, don't get me wrong - this wasn't the worst book that I've ever read and it was a 'nice' read because it was light and I didn't really have to think about it! As well as this, I will admit that Sara Shepard was able to expertly weave back-stories into the novel, without it becoming confusing or boring. In fact, it actually helped 'thicken the plot' of the book and it was the part of the book I liked the most.