Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Title: Stars Above
Author:Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: February 2nd 2016

Summary from Goodreads:

The enchantment continues....

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

Review

It’s no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. When I reread the series I will be adding the short stories into their (roughly) corresponding order. It was fantastic to be back in the Lunar world and get new glimpse of characters. The stories give a nice background into the individual stories.

Carswell’s story was super cute and fun plus fit his character so well. Jacin and Winter’s story, ahhh one of my favorites. It actually made me love the couple even more!  They are adorable together and Jacin's care for Winter is just great. The Mechanic was my least favorite story but mainly because I felt like it did not provide a lot of new material.  

Stars Above ends on a wonderful perfectly high note.  I loved the Something Old , Something New story.  It was the happily ever after that I was looking for.  If you are on the fence about reading the short stories, do it!  The last one is a wonderful epilogue to one amazing series! 

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Title: Winter
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: November 10, 2015

Summary from Goodreads:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Review

FANTASTIC, PERFECT, ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING SERIES EVER! Winter is a truly fantastic book in the epic series The Lunar Chronicles.  If you have not read the series yet, I highly recommend it.  Here are our reviews for Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Fairest in case you need further convincing.

The series beautifully all intertwines in this last book to make an epic conclusion full of action, crazy battles, and swoony romance. Princess Winter is a crazy yet endearing and sweet character that complements the rag tag group of characters.  Her unique personality gives her strength and allows her to aide the team in ways they never expected.

The relationships from the previous books continue to unfold,the plot is full of kisses and love.  Each character faces challenges that come from going to war and taking on an evil queen.  Meyer does not shy away from hard decisions, she incorporates the honesty and sometimes sadness that comes with the tough decisions that the characters are faced with. There is just so much greatness in this ending :)

Ultimately, Winter was everything I hoped for.  All 827 pages were full of romance, adventure, fantasy, and a fairy tale-ish ending.  I was sad to finish the story but without fail I know that this is a story that I will come back to again and again.

Stacking The Shelves (150) - November 14th

Stacking the Shelves - hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews - features books that you bought, borrowed, rented from the library, received for review, etc.

Upcoming Reads

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Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)by Marissa Meyer
Torched by Andrea Colt

 

What books are stacking your shelves??

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Title:Fairest
Series: The Lunar Chronicles
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: January 27th 2015

Summary from Goodreads:
In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

Review

Marissa Meyer is one truly talented author.  Fairest was a fascinating glimpse into Queen Levana's character which can pretty much be summed in a simple phrase: she is kinda crazy!  As I read, I would feel sorry for Levana then she would do something a couple chapters later that would just take away any sympathy I had for her.  Levana's sister, Cinder's mom, has definitely changed in my eyes; not her biggest fan!

Fairest really allows the reader to get a glimpse of Levana's childhood; I was able to understand why she makes some of the choices she does.  While I do not agree with a lot of her crazy train decisions, I can see her reasoning for making them.  To have a deeper explanation of a villain really gives the character depth and makes her feel more real.  Fairest also explains the dynamic between Winter and Levana which makes me so excited for the last book!

I did really enjoy the background story, the writing is fantastic, and the character history is a welcome addition to the series.  The only reason it is not 5 stars was that it lacked just a bit of punch that the other books do.  I felt like it was nice to have the history but it was merely just a longer short story. (That you should read!)

Battle of the Books (1) - Battle of the Captains

Battle of the Books is a (new) periodic feature that will pit two books against each other based on some commonality (characters, settings, relationships, etc.). The competitors will battle each other by way of theme-related standards, and readers (you!) will vote on the winner! This is solely for fun.

This week's battle is....

Battle of the Captains!

My Pick?

It's a close call, but I'm going to have to go with...

STURMHOND!

He's a little bit more exciting and hilarious :)

Your Turn!

Who's your favorite captain?

Let me know who your favorite captain is in the comments!!
And what do you think of this new feature? Any suggestions for future battles? Thanks!

Thorne picture source

Sturmhond picture source