Recently Read #10: Vampire Academy 1-3, The Storm Crow & Truly Devious

Hello and happy Wednesday, you guys! I recently saw that I had gotten behind on my reading updates on here again so I figured it was about time to let you all know what I’ve been reading and what I’ve thought of the books. And while I would love to say that I’ve gotten more reading done since, that’s not even close to true.

I’m 130~ pages into a reread and that’s all the reading I’ve done since early July. You may have seen the BTS book tag I did the other day which also happens to be the exact reason why I haven’t been reading: I’ve been catching up on years worth of BTS content. xD But I have review copies staring me down so hopefully I’ll get back to reading more again soon – wish me luck!

But now, without any futher rambling, let’s jump into this post!

Books I’ve Reviewed Already

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

What To Expect: main character dealing with depression. female characters in power. great relationships between the women at the forefront. a love interest that gives me Elias Veturius vibes. animal sidekick! an interesting fantasy world and magical crows. banter – and a lot of it. an MC that you’ll root for start to finish. a book you’ll fly through. solid first book in a series!

My full review can be found here. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book early.

Books I Haven’t Reviewed

Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

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As I mentioned recently, I’ve really been in the mood to reread the Vampire Academy series and I’ve made actual progress into that and have read the first three books already and I’m so happy to report that I still adore this series very much.

I actually read both Vampire Academy and Frostbite within 24 hours and then read Shadow Kiss a few days later and in no time too. I had forgotten how early some events took place so it was a wild ride, to say the least. xD

I would say the books still hold up over time for the most part. Rose in Vampire Academy definitely needs to rethink her attitude towards women and what they choose to do and how they choose to dress but that wasn’t really a problem in the next two books, thank god!

This series introduced me to some of my all-time favorite characters (Rose Hathaway, Adrian Ivashkov and a Ben Barnes looking Dimitri Belikov) and I was so happy to see that my thoughts and feelings on them haven’t changed in the years – I actually was reminded just how much I love Rose and what an awesome character she is as a whole. She gets dealt some really shitty cards but she will get through it and she will come out of it stronger. Frostbite especially made that obvious.

One of the funniest realizations I might’ve had was that Rose and Adrian would never work in a romantic relationship – she is very clearly in love with Dimitri and doesn’t return Adrian’s feelings at all and he’s just pining after her, my sweet boy. I’m definitely curious to see how the author developed that in the second half of the trilogy because there were some things put down in Shadow Kiss, at least on Adrian’s part.

Overall and in the end, I ended up giving each of these books 4 stars on Goodreads and I cannot wait to continue my reread (hopefully) soon!

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Up next, we’re going to talk about Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious, a young adult mystery novel that was released on January 16th, 2018 by HarperCollins.

I ended up picking this book up on audio one day to keep me company whenever I was running errands or walking to my parents’ (it’s a 20 minute walk) and I’m so glad I ended up deciding on this book! I had heard Sandra and Caro talk about how much they enjoyed it earlier this year so I was hoping for a similar reading experience too.

Mystery isn’t usually a genre I gravitate towards but since I do kind of want to branch out more, this felt right. Plus, Stevie being someone who loves crime investigations and (I’m pretty sure) Criminal Minds immediately warmed me to her as I love Criminal Minds too, and shows like it in general.

Unfortunately for all of us, my memory sucks and I don’t remember too much about my feelings on this book in detail (it’s been at least a couple of weeks since I finished this), all I remember is that I flew through this and the ending had me shook. Truly. I was listening to the last few minutes and I was just sitting here, unable to believe what I was hearing. That and my mind went straight into theories and conspiracy mode. xD

And while I was sure I would pick up The Vanishing Stair right after, I’ve since gotten way too deep into BTS and haven’t actually read anything since I finished Shadow Kiss in the first few days of July. It’s been fun, y’all.

I ended up giving Truly Devious 3.5 stars (or 4 on Goodreads) and I cannot wait to see how this trilogy continues.

That’s it, those were the last five books I’ve completed and I’m honestly so excited that I’ve had such a good experience with all of them! I mean, they’re all 3.5 stars and up – what’s not to like about that?

Have you guys read any of these books before? If so, what did you think? And if you’ve read the Vampire Academy series, who are your favorite characters? Let me know in the comments down below! 🙂