REVIEW: THE WRATH AND THE DAWN BY RENEE AHDIEH.

Title: The Wrath and the Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1
Edition: Hardbound
Publication: May 12th 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Source: Bought
Pages: 404
Genre: Retelling, Fantasy, Romance

Synopsis:

One Life to One Dawn.

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?

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:
ISBN: 0399171614 (ISBN13: 9780399171611)

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My heart just cannot fucking handle all the emotions The Wrath and the Dawn gave me. It's astonishingly good that I cannot - for the love of me - wrap my mind around how fucking extraordinary this book is! I hate myself so much for waiting this long to get into it but also proud of that I picked it up at my own pacing. I am also trying my best not to capslock for intensity but damn, I'm gonna fail right about now BECAUSE TWATD WAS FREAKING SOLID PUNCH IN THE GUT!

Shahrzad plans to kill the monster that murdered her best friend. Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan, marries and kills his bride by hanging each dawn. In order to avenge her best friend's death and stop the killings, she volunteered to be his bride. She knew she only had a day to live but Shahrzad being the clever person she is, made way for her death to be postponed for a day. She tells the King a story and ended it in a cliffhanger so she could continue the story the next day. And the next. She has to kill the Caliph and she has to do it fast. But unbelievable turn of events occurred and she's now faced with dilemma: the monster isn't the monster she thought he was and very much conflicted with her feelings.

I felt strings of emotions I never knew I am capable of feeling. I don't even know how to summarize this without spoiling but guuuuuuuuuuys, TWATD is definitely one of the best YA Fantasies I have ever read in my life! HANDS DOWN THE MOST THRILLING EVER! I know I've used "left me on edge" before so let me rephrase this as "made me shut the book and take a breather" kinda book! Ahdieh surely knows how to build up scenes and is confident to know exactly where to drop the bombs! Her writing is music to me and gosh, I was shrieking and giggling and crying and it was all wonderful. The story was certainly bloody and dark and I want more.

I have nothing but praises for this story. It legit made me fall in love with it. The absolute perfection of each character (HI, KHALID MI BABY LOVES), how blood weaves its way to love and how love produces magic, how each chapter holds so much anticipation and action? OUT OF THIS WORLD KIND OF GOOD! Aware of all the feels even, I am at a loss for words, really.

I heard that it's inspired by Thousand and One Arabian Nights but I haven't read that one yet. So the best way I could describe this is Beauty and the Beast-ish x 1000000 of amazing feels. Khalid has a very dark past but he's not a jerk at all and didn't use it as an excuse to be a jerk. He's very much to swoon for. He's interesting to the core, charming, passionate and self-less. Most especially, he's a true leader.

Khalid took me by surprise a lot and Shahrzad was simply mesmerizing! A beautiful queen indeed. She knows how to come out of situations she hasn't anticipated and she's very clever! She's stubborn and doesn't let anyone own her plus, she carries herself pretty well. She's not afraid to admit if she's hurt or if she wronged people. She's brave to have accepted her vulnerability and wise enough to have used her weaknesses as her strengths. I loved how her character developed and the progress of her relationship with her husband was perfectly executed.

ALSO, I CRIED LIKE A BABY AT PAGE 350. MY GOSH.

The Wrath and the Dawn is currently sitting at Number 1 in my Best Books of 2018. Thrilling and intense, it isn't that so hard to fall in love with this book! Absolutely enchanting and perfectly intoxicating!

"Some things exist in our lives for but a brief moment. And we must let them go on to light another sky."

"You have a beautiful laugh. Like the promise of tomorrow."

"There is no one I would rather see the sunrise with than you."

"I know love is fragile. And loving someone like you is near impossible. Like holding something shattered through a raging sandstorm. If you want her to love you, shelter her from that storm…And make certain that storm isn’t you."

BLOG TOUR (14): WINGS BY ELIZABETH RICHARDS + INTL GIVEAWAY.

I simply could not believe that another fantastic series is about to end. Here I am, reviewing an awesome Advance Reader's Copy of a book I seriously don't want to end yet want to have. The struggle of saying goodbye and devouring this book all at once was pretty hard core because well, I want to claim that I've seen this series from the beginning. It is truly one of those series that is so dear to my heart. Thank you Elizabeth for allowing me to tour all three books here in the Philippines. Your books are not only beautifully created but your generosity and kindness struck me hard. *wipes tears* I will never say good bye to Black City because it holds a part of me and recommending it wouldn't do it justice.

Title: Wings (Black City #3)
Author: Elizabeth Richards
Edition: Paperback
Published: June 12, 2014
Publisher: Putnam/Penguin Teen
Pages: 382
Source: ARC provided by the Author
Category: Paranormal, Romance, Dystopia
Trailer: Here

Synopsis:

Following the cliffhanger ending of Phoenix, Natalie finds herself separated from Ash and unexpectedly reunited with her parents, including the father she thought was dead. But she can only think of Ash. She hasn't heard a word of him since she and Elijah were brought to the underground headquarters of the Sentry Rebellion. But she vows to find him.

Ash, meanwhile is back in Black City; it's the perfect place to hide from the Sentry government. But not for long. He won't give up on Natalie or bringing an end to the terrible reign of Purian Rose.

A pulse-racing end to an exciting series.

**JUST LITTLE SPOILERS**

Phoenix, the sequel to Black City, left me so broken I thought I will never recover. Not only the cliffhanger ending did serious damage, but the entirety of the story did it. It left me with serious book hangover for weeks and I kept catching myself staring at nothing wondering what the book did to me. After a year of waiting for Wings, here I am again, lost for words. I got damaged for the second time. You know what they say about love being sweeter the second time around? Well, pain is horrible the second time around. No kidding.

Wings started off stronger that I had anticipated. I was introduced to a new character who sounded so familiar yet I couldn't put a finger to it. The war is still on going and Nat and Ash's determination to put down Purian Rose transitioned smoothly. I thought I would have to skim through Phoenix because I've partly forgotten what transpired but Richards did a remarkable job in incorporating small details from Black City and Phoenix so the reader could remember. The events were consistent and I honestly didn't find any loopholes. At first I was like, "here we go again, the teens will save the world when the adults couldn't". I always have this notation in my head when I read Young Adult Dystopia or Paranormal genres. But with Wings, I wasn't disappointed. Each character, especially the adults, did a lot of "saving" and the young protagonists were only highlighted because the point of views are their voices. I was amazed how no one was left out and each of them have seriously wicked vital roles. Yes, everyone was given fair chances to share their histories or even their current contribution to the story. The book is three hundred plus pages but I just couldn't get enough. I want more. I want more Ash. I want more Edmund. I want more Black City. The pacing is just the perfect blend and honestly? There were no dull moments. Each chapter produced the right amount of adrenaline rush so you can go and read the next one immediately. Wings is undoubtedly one of the unputdownable books I've read this year. Even if it is the conclusion to a series so close to my heart, I want to devour it in one sitting yet slowly take everything in at the same time. If that even makes sense.

In Wings, I learned to love and forgive Purian Rose. Yes, I did. Unbelievable really. He's one of the villains I hated so much to the extent I wished him tortured twenty times over. Wings is partly about the war the Darklings are fighting for and partly about Nat and Ash's romance. In my opinion, it is mainly about Purian Rose's past. How he truly became the meanest, soulless and heartless antagonist we've all learned to hate. I would have to leave it at that because this review will turn to be too spoilery if I try to explain why I said that. But his past pinched and took a small part of my heart I didn't know I could give him. His character was clouded with and blinded by misinterpretation, pain and environment's morbid influence. He was just a young boy who fell in love and .... But still, he didn't have the right to do all those hideous things he did. But honestly, Purian Rose's background put a stunning spark in Wings.

Richards might have planned it during her outlining/plotting days, but I wasn't prepared for the shocking pain waves I received while reading Wings. I felt like every flip of each page I would lose a limb. The revelation and the magnitude of loss left me astounded with awe, pain, mostly pain, whys and nos. There were definitely screaming in between and tsunami tears. The rawness of it all brought so much emotion that I had to pause reading for a few hours just to breathe. It was that intense. I also wasn't kidding when I said "magnitude" of loss. It wasn't only one or two but multiple characters gave up lives to help with Ash's cause for the Darklings. That alone not only took me by surprise but caused ugly tears to flood my face. The pain felt like someone's aiming my heart and stabbed it with a machete or something over and over again.

Wings is the perfect conclusion to such amazing series. I will never have sufficient adjectives to describe how Wings gave euphoria and all sorts of unnamed emotions to me. Highly fitting to be the last installment (because there is nothing that would top this), every fiber of Wings suited the need for answers and satiated the cravings for action. Gripping with blood and vengeance, Wings turns out to be the key to all the madness. Treacherous, dangerous and brutal it may appear but Wings is by far the best part of the series. Breath taking and breath stopping altogether!

Again, thank you Liz for sending this in for review/tour! Love, love!

"But the Darklings are different. They don't just kill you, they play with you first. They drug you, make you think you are in love with them, so you willingly let them feed on you, until there's nothing left of you but an empty shell. It's sick."

"It's easy to hate. The truest test of our hearts is to forgive."

"Forgiveness is the only way you will ever find peace."

If you want to check the blog tour, just visit #WingPHBlogTour on Twitter or Facebook!

And that is not all!! We are giving away awesome stuff!!

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THANK YOU SO MUCH ELIZABETH RICHARDS FOR MAKING THIS TOUR POSSIBLE AND TO ALL #BlackCityPHTour , #PhoenixPHTour and #WngsPHBlogTour PARTICIPANTS!! THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!! *wipes ugly tears*