The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath and the Dawn
by Renee Ahdieh

Read: March 27-29, 2017
Published: May 12, 2015
Genre: Fantasy

        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?
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Why did you read this book?
It was the cover art that got me. It's an intriguing book just to look at. I've also had it on my 'to-read' list for quite some time now and just impulse bought it a week or so ago. But really, 80% of my rationale for reading this book was "ooh, pretty cover..."

What did you like about this book?
The romance in this book was excellent. It was believable, and beautiful and just raw and heart wrenching. I didn't want Khalid and Shahrzad's story to stop (lucky for me, there's a second book). I also loved the magic and suspense. It was one of those books that you have to keep reading in order to get all the answers. And I still have unanswered questions (again, thank goodness for book 2). The characters were also a major strength in this book. I loved watching Khalid and Shahrzad grow and I adored Despina and Jalal. Even Tariq wasn't one of my favorite characters, I understood him. He was a very real character and I could feel his pain. As you may have guessed by now, I am very fond of fairy tale retellings. The only encounters I've had with them though have been princess ones (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) This is the only one I've read based off of One Thousand and One Nights. It made me want to go back and read the original. Another thing I liked was the Middle Eastern setting, characters, and culture in this book. The only other books I've read with any clear Middle Eastern influence are The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, both by Khaled Hosseini. While both of those were very good, they also had a high emotional intensity and they were brutally realistic (both excellent qualities in a book), so it was nice to read something that was a fantasy/romance while retaining the Middle Eastern influence.

What didn't you like about this book?
One big beef I had with this book was the point of view switching. I'm usually okay with it, but in this book, the point of view would switch mid-chapter, sometimes multiple times a chapter. It was just jarring and it interrupted the narrative flow. I can understand interrupting a scene for dramatic effect every so often, but this writing technique was over utilized in this book. My other complaint is actually with the romance (I know, I know, that was one of the things I liked). I liked the romance once it got started, but I'm not entirely sure how it got there. One day Shahrzad wanted to kill Khalid with her bare hands and the next she was softening towards him and looking past the fact that he murdered her best friend. I would understand that if Khalid was kind and warm and inviting, but he's not, especially in the beginning of their relationship. He's cold and unforgiving. Shahrzad just didn't seem to have the appropriate amount of desire for revenge once she became Khalid's wife, especially considering she was willing to give up her life to avenge Shiva's. Lastly, the biggest issue I have with this book is the consummation of Shahrzad and Khalid's marriage. It is only mentioned briefly in the book, a matter of only a few sentences. This should be very important very many reasons. 1) Khalid never entered the bedchambers of his other wives before he killed them. The first night of their marriage, he was still planning on killing her when he went to her. Was he just getting off? Which brings me to my next point. 2) It seemed very out of character for Khalid (as we found out what his character actually is later in the book). We find out that he actually has feelings and feels great remorse for what he's had to do. So why would he do this? And 3) this should be a big deal for Shahrzad. Like, this is life altering event for her. This man, who is planning on killing her, is taking advantage of her and it's all just glossed over. I just feel like it could have been handled in a much better way.

Bottom-Line:
Don't let the large dislike paragraph fool you, I really did love this book, I just had a lot to say about Khalid and Shahrzad's relationship. I am absolutely looking forward to reading the next book and I would recommend this to my friends. I had to go back and re-read my favorite parts because I wasn't ready to leave the book.



"You are not weak. You are not indecisive. You are strong. Fierce. Capable beyond measure." -The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Love Letters to the Dead
by Ava Dellaira
Read: February 19, 2015
Published: April 1, 2014
Genre: YA, Fiction
Series: NA

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more -- though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was -- lovely and amazing and deeply flawed -- can she begin to discover her own path in this stunning debut from Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead. (Amazon)

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Why did you read this book?
Honestly, I put this book on my 'to read' list primarily because of the cover and the title. I didn't even read the synopsis in the front cover, which, in a way was an exciting way to read a book. Generally, I choose my books very carefully, researching it on Amazon and reading both positive and negative book reviews before I ever even pick it up. This one, however, I grabbed on a whim. The cover and the title drew me in and I lost myself in it's pages. And that is why I read the book. 

Format:
This book was written completely in letters, from Laurel to famous dead people. At first, I was a bit put off by the letter format. I was worried that it would be too much like reading a diary and less like living through the protagonist (which is what I like to do). I was worried that I wouldn't really get to know the other characters, because I would only find out about them through Laurel's letters. Needless to say, I shouldn't have worried. If it weren't for the mini history lessons about who she was writing the letters to, I might have forgotten that she was writing letters in the first place. I think this story could have been written without the letters, but it wouldn't have been as poignant. 

Loss:
Love Letters to the Dead is primarily centered around loss and what happens afterwards. Laurel lost her sister and then her mother moved away. She was left with her father, who tried to be there for her, but couldn't. Not only does she feel like she has to deal with this loss on her own, she also feels like it was her fault that her sister died. Can you imagine trying to live with that? The worst part about her loss, is that Laurel does what most people who have lost someone close to them do. She puts her sister on a pedestal, as this perfect person and remembers her as a much better person than she actually was. Throughout the letters, Laurel begins to realize that this actually wasn't the case.

Fearlessness:
Laurel looks up to many of the people she wrote letters to because she believed that they were fearless. She also saw her sister and Hannah (her friend) as fearless. I loved the progression of seeing characters as fearless to being stripped of their walls and seen as the vulnerable, scared people they really were. I also like watching Laurel realize that these people weren't fearless at all, but rather, they were full of fear, just like her.

Bildungsroman:
I felt that this was very much a bildungsroman novel for young girls. The protagonist in this story deals with much more than a kid should have to deal with. Awful things happen to her and she has to grow up before she's ready. There is also a huge element of loss of innocence that was written so well it felt real. I experienced this character lose her childhood and it was powerful. Good job, Dellaira.

Pain:
My favorite part about this book was, hands down, the pain of it. I don't know why, maybe I'm a masochist, but I love pain. I love to write painful scenes and I love to write about pain. I love books that are so painful they make me cry. This book turned me inside out and Laurel's pain felt so much like it was my own that I felt raw by the end of it. And although I had never lost a sister, my parents are both happily married, I've never felt the pain of a breakup, and I have led a truly blessed life, I knew her pain. I knew the pain that she couldn't talk to anyone about. In the book, she talks about feeling too much, she said, "I feel like I am drowning in memories." And I felt like she understood. Sometimes, you feel too much and you can't breathe. You drown. Dellaira did a marvelous job capturing that pain in words.

Love:
I suppose, where there is pain there must be love. And with the amount of pain in this book there was also so much love. Laurel loved her parents, her aunt, her friends, May, and Sky. She had so much love, but she didn't know how to handle it. There were so many relationships in this book that deserve to be written about, but I'm only going to write about Laurel and Sky. What I loved about their relationship is that it was a slow burn. It took them awhile to actually get going. And I loved that Sky saw what Laurel was doing to herself and he couldn't stand it. Although, I'm not a fan of how things were handled, I think it made their relationship much more realistic.

Bottom Line:
This book was beautifully written. However, I do not think I will be reading again it anytime soon. Right now I feel at loss with what to do with my life, because this book is over now and I don't get to be over with the characters. I have to keep going and find a new book with new characters. I just got very emotionally invested and I can't do that again in the near future. That being said, I would 100% recommend it to anyone who asks about it. It very much reminded me of Speak  by Laurie Halse Anderson and (now that I've actually looked at reviews to see what other people thought) I've also heard it is reminiscent of Stephen Chobsky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is a book that I want to add to my shelf. 

Quotes:
There were so many beautiful quotes in this book that I couldn't just pick one! So here's three of my favorites...

"[about Amelia Earhart] I know that's the wrong way to feel about someone who died tragically, but it wasn't so much the dying I was jealous of. It was the flying, and disappearing." -Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

"I think Hannah must be afraid like I get afraid, the way I did when I heard the river yesterday, the way I do when I don't even know where the shadow is, but I feel it breathing." -Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

"A lot of people want to be someone but we are scared that if we try, we won't be as good as everyone imagines we could be." -Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Writing Challenge Day 28

          So I was at work today and I started writing this really awesome, thought provoking blog post in my head. Of course, I'm sitting there thinking, 'Man, this is really deep. This could actually be pretty good. I don't need to write anything, I'll remember it.' And you know what I did? I went and forgot every single detail of whatever it was I was writing in my head. I don't even vaguely remember what it was about. I'm actually pretty disappointed. You should be too...this was going to be a pretty awesome post. And now it's just me rambling. Don't worry, I won't ramble the whole time. In fact, I'll move on with the writing challenge now. (Can you believe it's almost over?!)

Writing Challenge Day #28: Something You Always Think 'What if...' About
          Three things pop into my head instantly when I think of 'What if...' situations. One of them occurred at the end of Eighth grade. That year I had mostly abandoned my usual group of friends in favor of hanging out with the popular girls. It was very exhilarating, being part of the 'cool kids' niche. Although, underneath it all, I was still me. I was still a quirky band kid that loved to read. That was me. So at the end of the year, I was invited by one of the popular girls to an 'end of the year' party. This party was to be a boys and girls party (which I had never done. Still haven't, actually.) None of the girls in my previous group of friends had been invited. To me, this was the moment when I decided whether or not I would be popular or not. I chose not to go and I was never invited to another party again. My friends took me back (thank God!) and I have never regretted my decision. But I have always wondered what would have happened if I had gone to that stupid party. Would I have ended up being popular in high school? Probably not, but it's an interesting concept to think about...how different I could have turned out if I had said yes.
          'What if...' scenario number two...remember that guy? Yeah, that one. The one that made me cry and laugh and do both at the same time. I loved him in only the way a young teenage girl can...slightly obsessive, completely irrational, but still genuine. I always wonder what would have happened if I would have told him how I felt. I still wonder what would happen if I told him now. I don't love him, not in the same way. I still think about him all the time and I wonder if telling him might bring me closure. But I don't want to tell him. Because it's just awkward, you know? We're not even really friends anymore. He didn't even wish me a happy birthday (which was Friday), and it kind of sucked because I know he doesn't think about me nearly half as much as I think about him. So this 'What if' is kind of a past and present 'What if'. Maybe, if I told him, I could completely get over him, once and for all and be done with this whole mess.
          My last 'What if...' scenario hasn't really happened yet. It has to do with the Ireland trip. If I get accepted to go, and decide not to, I will probably regret it and be wondering about all the 'What if's' for the rest of my life. I almost don't want to be accepted because than I don't have to make the choice. Don't get me wrong, I would love to go to Ireland. But doing this, on my own, completely terrifies me. I guess we'll know more about that after Thanksgiving. I'll try to find other things to write about once the Writing Challenge is over. We only have two days left...I feel like I just started it a week ago. Funny how slow time seems to go, but how quickly it passes.


"I must stop wishing for things to happen. Because something will happen eventually, and when it does , I'll be bound to wish it hadn't." -Fire by Kristin Cashore