The Folk Of The Air Series Book Review.

Hello everyone, Happy Monday! I recently read The Folk Of The Air series by Holly Black. This week is the Folk Of The Air Week! Let’s get into the detailed review!

Author: Holly Black
Books: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, The Queen Of Nothing
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
Age-Limit: 16+
Pacing: Fast-Paced
Trigger Warnings: Murder, Death, Violence, Death of a Parent, Physical Abuse

Goodreads Summary.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Review of all the books.

Reading about faeries was a first-time experience. Hence, from this perspective, I will be sharing my thoughts. The world-building is very magical and intricate. Initially, I found it a tad difficult to understand the world. But, as I kept on reading, this problem did not persist then. If you are a beginner to this genre, then you can definitely pick up this series.

Coming to the character build-up. In the story, there are two main characters, Jude and Cardan. The whole series is written from Jude’s perspective. I really loved the personality of the characters. Jude is a headstrong character, who is a fighter and is not afraid of anyone. While Cardan is a mean, spoiled brat. I liked reading about them but I was not too attached to them.

Now the story. I found it boring at times. If there could have been some more interesting developments and plot twists, then it would have been a hit for me. As I mentioned before, Holly did a great job on the creation of the world and characters. The story, however, could have been made more interesting.

In comparison to the three books, The Queen of Nothing is my favorite one. The ending of the series is really good, so at least that was worth it.

Bonus Books!

The Lost Sisters occurs after The Cruel Prince book. While, How The King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories happens after The Queen Of Nothing book. These two books are novellas, which I will not be reading.

The Stolen Heir is a companion series called The Stolen Heir Duology. It occurs after The Folk of the Air series. The story is about Jude’s brother, Oak. This book was released recently. The review for this book will be out this week!

Music Recommendation

I used to listen to songs from a Spotify playlist created by someone else. The songs were really good, please check out their playlist!

Overall Rating.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Have you read this famous series? Let me know your thoughts on this series in the comments! I hope you liked reading this review.
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson #bookreview

Hello, Bookworms! I am back with a book review. After enjoying A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, I kept the new release on my radar. Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review of the book. Let’s get into the review!

Book: Five Survive
Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Age Limit: 14+
Pacing: Medium-pacing
Trigger Warnings: Death, Murder, Violence

Goodreads Summary:

Eight hours.
Six friends.
One sniper . . .

Eighteen-year-old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realize that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.

A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and work out which group member is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night.

My Review:

The whole story is set in the time frame of eight hours and an RV. This setting was so interesting, and I think the author did a commendable job of narrating the whole story in a small setting, which made the story unique. Now for the six characters. Well, they weren’t likable. I didn’t like the main character and some other characters, like Oliver. Oliver is shown to be the detestable one among the other characters, and normally authors do add those kinds of characters. But after some point, I found it very irritating in the story. It ruined other elements of the story.

The character developments were pretty bland since the story takes place in one setting. I feel that she could have given more backstory, which would have been great input for the main reveal. One thing I liked in the story is that there was one character who was never present in the RV, but through conversations, the author introduced that character.

In the first half of the book, the author was still building the situation and preparing the readers for a climax in the second half. While reading the book, My emotions while reading the book: stress, anger, and cringe. Some scenes really gave good shocks, but throughout the story, the characters made me so angry to the point where I would close the book, take a moment, and then continue to read it. Some moments made me cringe. Coming to the pacing. Around 80 percent of the narrative is dialogue, so it was a quick read. The ending was unpredictable. Hats off to Holly for managing to put plot twists in such a small setting.

Lastly, “What did the curtains remind Red of?” The author never answered this question!

What I Liked:

• The setting of the story.
• Introducing a character through conversations between different characters.
• Shocking plot twists in such a small setting
• Fast pacing due to dialogue narrative.

What I Did Not Like:

• OLIVER.
• There were some cringy moments.
• More backstory could have been given.
• Bland character developments.

Who Should Read This:

If you are starting with the thriller genre, then this book would be perfect for you. If you are in the mood for a fast-paced read which is set in the span of less than 24 hours, then Five Survive is the one for you!

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Hope you enjoyed reading the review. Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.

The Maid: Book Review

Book: The Maid
Author: Nita Prose
Genre: Fiction, Murder Mystery
Age Limit: 16+
Trigger Warnings: Death, Murder, Bullying

Goodreads Summary:

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had united with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

My Review:

Firstly, the main character Molly the Maid. She is a very innocent person who has not seen the true world. When you will be reading, the main character won’t understand the true meaning behind the conversations, but the reader will understand the meaning. I was not a fan of this format particularly. It is like the character is up for a surprise in the case, not the reader. I did not like Molly the Maid since I found her irritating at times. I felt sad for Molly at times as she was not accepted by her co-workers. I really loved Grandma’s advice throughout the book. Molly keeps recalling her dead Grandma’s advice throughout the book which was nice to read.
Coming to the story. I think this was a solid murder mystery. I really liked that the whole story took place in the hotel from a Maid’s point of view. The ending though did not have the wow factor. Throughout, the story was going pretty smoothly (minus the character’s behavior), but I expected a better ending.

What I Liked:

• The whole story is set in a hotel.
• Recalling her grandma’s life lessons.

What I Did Not Like:

• Molly was irritating at times
• The character is up for a surprise, not the reader
• The ending did not have a WOW factor.

What You Should Read Next:

• The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
• The Guest List by Lucey Foley

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

This was an average read for me. Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.

Before The Coffee Gets Cold: Book Review

Book: Before The Coffee Gets Cold
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism
Age Limit: 16+
Trigger Warnings: Dementia, Death, Grief

Goodreads Summary:

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-traveling offer, to confront the man who left them, and receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

My Review:

There are four stories, all set in the cafe, where the characters are the same and known. In each story, some or other character wants to time travel back to the past/ future to convey something to the person they want to meet. These stories are very heartwarming and meaningful. You get so connected to the characters. The author has described the cafe in such a way that it makes it so comforting to read these stories. It teaches an important lesson about time and relationships. Even though they can time travel, after coming back, the present does not change, which was pretty interesting to read as even though the characters were able to experience this magical moment, they still had to come back to reality because it does not change. I got so attached to these stories that I will come back and read them again. They were so impactful with such a beautiful message at the end.

What I Liked:

• The connection between time and relationships
• Got attached to the characters
• the rules for time-traveling
• favorite story: Mother and Child

Other Books In This Series:

What You Should Read Next:

• Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami
• Read the sequels of this book!

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This was a comfort read for me! Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.

Guide To Book Photography!

Hello everyone! Hope all are doing well. So, some of you may already know that I love photography, especially of nature and books. I do not have a bookstagram account, but I take photos for blog post purposes and for Pinterest! You can check out my Pinterest! I was thinking to do a basic guide/tips on starting with book photography. So, let’s get into it!

Equipment

Camera

When starting with book photography, you DO NOT need a costly camera and equipment to start with. Your android phones/ iPhones are sufficient for taking photos. I personally have a camera but I find myself using my phone camera most of the time. I do have a tripod but I do not use it unless I am using my camera. I won’t recommend any phone brand since all phones have good camera quality these days.

Lighting

I personally do not use any external lighting. Natural light is the best way to capture good-quality photos. Lighting in your home is also sufficient for capturing a well-lit photo.

Composition

Composition is the key to every bookish photo. To make a photo attractive and aesthetic, use objects relating to the story or the book cover. If you see the first photo above, the series is a murder mystery, so I used gloves, a magnifying glass, and an old piece for giving character to the photo. Similarly, in the second photo, there are flowers on the cover. So, I covered the background with some white flowers. You can pick some objects lying around your home and use them in your photos.

Editing Process

BEFORE

AFTER

Get as creative as you can at this step! All the options are in your hands at this step and you can definitely elevate a simple photo through some editing. I normally use Lightroom and Picsart for editing photos on my phone. If you see the Before photo, I just stacked those books on an orangish paper. But during the editing process, I used many stickers from Picsart and made it aesthetic! Also, you don’t require a premium subscription for any editing app, the free features are sufficient.

So these were some tips/ basics for starting with book photography. You can actually use these tips for taking photos of other things too! Let me know in the comments if you have any other tips and tricks that you use for book photography!
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.