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And I Darken Review

8/25/2016

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​Title: And I Darken
Author:  Kristen White
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher:  Delacorte Press
Publication Date: June 28th 2016
How Did I Get This Book: ARC from the publisher
Format: ARC Paperback
Why Did I Read This Book: it sounded badass, and the ARC cover was just to pretty and tempting for it's own good!
Review Written By
: Lisa Golding // City of YA Books

Synopsis 

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

Review

Can we just take a moment to appreciate this ARC cover? It's stunning and beautiful in all the right ways. Using the names of all the great female characters really resonated with me! There was even Rory Gilmore on there! 
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Our main character Lada is very much an anti princess, being vicious and unladylike while her brother is softer and more docile. Basically the stereotypes were reversed in a cliche we've seen a few times, but alas it was done well! This book comprises of politics, religion and self worth as just a few of the themes. The story line pulled me in and I devoured this book pretty darn quickly. I remember thinking at the time of reading that this book is so screwed up but in the best way possible.
Brutality is present throughout the whole book, and while trying to avoid spoilers I will say this book reminded me of Game of Thrones only it appealed even more to me, which I didn't really even know was possible. The book is written superbly - my only fault is that at times I got some characters names mixed up. Then again that may be due to me staying up until 4am reading this book, not the writing style... 

While kick ass female characters are not a particularly new trend in YA books, Lada is possibly the first I have really seen as a hard, gritty character. She leaves the likes of Celaena Sardothien and Tris Prior in the dust!
Over all I would highly recommend this book! Kick ass female characters with a dark and interesting plot line. 

Final Thoughts

If you have a thing for bad ass ladies, then you will love Lada.
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Top Ten Tuesday

8/8/2016

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Today is Top Ten Tuesday Rewind! Today we can pick a topic we missed or didn't want to do at the time and want to do now! So I chose stuff I want to see more of in books!
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Stitching Snow and Cinder are both Science Fiction Fairy Tale Retellings and I need more of them in my life! Other than the rest of the Lunar Chronicles and R.C. Lewis other book I have not seen one science fiction retellings.
Falling Kingdoms and The Young Elites both have Anti Heros or Villains as one of the protagonists! These books are so hard to write well which is why there are not many of them out there but I need them in my life!!
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Both of these are books written in the format of emails, transcripts, interviews and so much more! I LOVE these types of books and they take a lot of work to write and put together but the end result is so freaking entertaining!
Dystopians with caste systems are my favorite but the YA community is seriously tired of dystopians so there are not many published anymore but I cannot get enough of them!
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TIME TRAVEL!! I need all the time travel in my life! I am a huge Doctor Who fan a History buff so anything that travels to different points in history is right up my alley!
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