Top 5 Nostalgic Ships

The prompt this week is to "discuss the first fictional couples you ever got butterflies over, or couples you used to be really into when you were younger" which is super interesting to me because my taste in ships has completely changed over time! 

1. Katniss and Peeta

The absence of any acceptable ship name aside (seriously think about it) - these two were one of my first ever book ships! And actually is one of those that stood the test of time. I still think Peeta was the best (and only) choice here - I have zero patience for Gale. I mostly enjoyed how different they were and how it complimented their relationship rather than distancing them from each other. Plus they were just cute.

2. Alina and The Darkling

DID NOT stand the test of time. I re-read these recently and mostly just got annoyed with later book Darkling. I still think he is one of the best villains ever and I of course have a book crush on him. But as a ship I no longer see anything there. Not that I like Mal either - I saw someone recently describe him as soggy bread and yes, exactly that. (I'm all about Nikolai now thank you).

3. Harry and Draco

Look the Harry Potter fandom was a weird place way back when. You ever read My Immortal? Cause yikes. Oh now I'm nostalgic for that as well. But in the dark recesses of my teenage mind Harry and Draco made all the sense. I still now, and forever, will maintain that Draco was the product of abusive parenting and had potential to grow (which I hope he did), but he was in no way in a place for a romantic relationship and teen me was weird. Side note though - I will forever believe that Draco had an unrequited crush on Harry and was very confused about it. 

Here are some other genuine ships that I was not into thank god: Hagrid/Hermione, Harry/Dumbledore, Draco/Apple (I mean what?) and of course the ever good Harry/The Floor. Just, what the hell was happening. 

4. Tessa and Will

I remember getting really needlessly worked up over the whole Will vs Jem debate. Now I'm like "why not both" and seriously - why not. There's even a line about them being perfectly fine with her loving both of them so I reckon they'd have been totally down for polyamory. I still love Will best though. Just saying.

5. Percabeth (Percy and Annabeth)

Forever and ever. Literally every relationship in every Riordan book tbh, including the best friendships. But Percabeth are the original and most nostalgic. I love them so much and I've put The House of Hades as my book to represent this because frankly them going through Tartarus was basically one of my favourite book things ever. 

Leave a link or a comment below so I can check out your Top 5's!! 

Ann Reviews: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: 
Format: Paperbacks
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5/5
Blurb:
'Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.'

I only recently read this series for the first time during the summer and I immediately fell in love with it. I have now read it about 4 times and would definitely recommend it to you. Kind of annoyed with myself honestly for not reading it after every time Clare would try and recommend it to me. 

One of my favourite things about this book is the main female character who is shown to be so strong and determined in just the first few chapters of the book and you are able to grow to love her more and more as the series continues and as she develops as a character. The main male love interest of this story is how I would imagine a perfect guy could be, he was protective but still let the her do her own thing and knew that she was perfectly capable of protecting herself. However the male love interest in the first book is the kind of man who I really hate, he was so possessive and controlling and just got worse and worse as the series continued doing some not very nice things later on in the series. Its important that this behaviour is shown as toxic as too often "protective" guys are seen as romantic.

The detail and description that went into the world in this series is incredible, I found it so easy to picture the places and the layout of the world and despite its problems throughout the books I would personally love to live in a place anywhere as nice as the fae world described in this series.

I love Sarah J Maas, her writing is amazing and not just in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Series but in her other series also, which I have read and loved almost as much as ACOTAR but not quite. ACOTAR has quickly become one of my favourite series with excellent writing that makes me feel like I am right there with them. My favourite thing about this series is that the description and writing is done in a way that makes me feel more like I am watching a movie than reading a book.

Overall I would definitely recommend you read this book as you will most likely love it, and if you've already read it feel free to comment down below your thoughts on the series or give me any recommendations for something similar I might like, seriously I need something else to read I have reread it so many times I could quote whole sections.

Sunday Post: WE'RE BACK (no really this time)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, it's a chance to post a recap on the past week, show the books we have received and share what we plan for the coming week. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality and the aim is to show our newest books and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops or downloaded on to their e-reader.

Happy belated New Year everyone!! We have both been on a ridiculously long hiatus for personal reasons.Ann: I have taken a very long time of blogging and at first it was for exams and then some personal stuff happened that its taken me a while to come back from and I am still not 100%. On top of that, I have been having a lot of health problems currently with my spine(Scoliosis) and also my heart but I am coming back to blogging and I am very excited to get back into this! I am sorry I took so much time of but I am now back.
Clare: I have been taking time to focus on my mental health. I was recently diagnosed with PTSD (previously just called it anxiety) and I've finally been getting the right counselling for me which has been working wonders but has also left me permanently drained. Turns out talking in depth about the worst experience of your life is tough who knew huh?
But now we're both back and super excited to start blogging again. I'd like to apologise to all the books and authors and publishers whose reviews have been put on hold whilst I got my shit together! 


Now back to the fun stuff!! 

Books Clare Got This Week:

So obviously since AUGUST (yikes) we've got quite a lot more books! But who has time for that? So here are the books we got in just the last week (it's still a lot for a week)! 

 

These are all exciting books and I feel sorry for 5 of them because KING OF SCARS IS FINALLY HERE AND I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE! It may be my most anticipated book of the year and it may be the most beautiful physical book ever and it may be signed SIGNED. But these other books deserve attention to so...

This Splintered Silence looks kinda scary/fun which is definitely my thing at the moment, Overshare is also signed which is exciting because I love Rose and Rosie and their relationship, Playing for Keeps is the latest book in the Heartbreaker Bay series by Jill Shalvis - the whole series is freaking adorable and I love it, I'll be honest I bought Dragon Pearl primarily because of the cover combined with Rick Riordan Presents but it looks soooo good and A Curse So Dark and Lonely is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and Ann has already tried to steal it from my shelves! 

Next Week: 

• Ann Reviews: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
• Top 5 Wednesday! 
• Friday Reads