Character Spotlight: Shahrzad from The Wrath and the Dawn

I loved The Wrath and the Dawn when I read it last year, and then I loved it even more (if that's at all possible) when I read it again about a month ago.  After reading the sequel, The Rose and the Dagger, I keep thinking about this story.  The main character, Shahrzad is such a strong and powerful female character.

If you'd like to check out my reviews of the two books, please click on the books below.  Otherwise, scroll down for Shahrzad's character spotlight.

                            

Shahrzad
The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger
Renee Ahdieh

Shahrzad has a mission and she will be successful.  After her best friend died at the hand of the Caliph, along with hundreds of other young girls the morning following their wedding. Shahrzad volunteers to be the next wife of Caliph.  She plans on killing Khalid, the Caliph, before he can have her killed.

Shahrzad is a strong woman, who has been taking care of those she loves for awhile now.  Her mother died and her father sank into a deep depression, losing his job and Shahrzad took care of them.  She was unable to take care of her best friend, but she's determined to make it up to her.  Throughout both books, her mind is on her family and how she can make them proud as well as keep them safe.  She's especially concerned about her younger sister, and hovers over her, unable to accept that she is growing up and more capable than Shahrzad would like to admit.

In addition to her love and loyalty to her family, Shahrzad is loyal to her friends.  We see this as she tries to exact revenge on Khalid for the death of her friend.  By volunteering to be his next bride, she knows that she's volunteering to die.  Even if she's able to kill him, she'll be surrounded by his guards in moments, and die not long after.  We also see her loyalty to her friend/boyfriend Tariq when he arrives at the palace.  She is very careful not to give him away to Khalid because she fears for Tariq's safety, but she's also annoyed at him for even being there.

That's another thing I really like about Shahrzad--she gets super annoyed by men in her life trying to protect her when she can do something herself, if given the chance.  There are times when she definitely needs the guards around her, or someone with knowledge of swordplay, but Shahrzad is cunning.  She can find her way out of situations without the help of others, and she's really annoyed by people who assume that she cannot.

Also, she has a mouth on her!  It's not that she curses, but she just doesn't stop to think sometimes and is snarky and witty and can cut someone down with her words.  She's smart.  It's no wonder that Khalid doesn't kill her the morning after they are married.

If you liked this post, please consider following me!  

Book Review: The Rose and the Dagger

The Rose and the Dagger
Renee Ahdieh
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2016
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

What It's All About

Shahrzad has been torn apart from Khalid, but is reunited with her family and trying to find a way that she can make her way back to her true love.  The problem is that she has found herself in the company of Khalid's enemies and must make them believe that she is with them and not Khalid.  In secret, Shahrzad begins testing new found powers, hoping to find a way to use them to help end the war and the curse that keeps her from her caliph. But finding her way back to him, may mean abandoning her family.

My Thoughts

I was very much looking forward to reading this book and I enjoyed it for the most part, but it wasn't what The Wrath and the Dawn was.  We started hearing from Shahrzad's sister, but I wasn't really excited about that.  She ended up being more annoying.  Also, Shahrzad lost her zest and her bite, becoming lost a bit in all the many things that were happening.

There was a lot of mysticism that came into play in this book, but I never felt like it really played out.  Shahrzad goes off in search of help to break the curse and begins training to help control her powers, which seems like a big and important thing.  It seems as if this should be part of the plot, leading us to her being able to command her powers, but she doesn't seem to really use them.  It all gets pushed to the back burner and I'm wondering how necessary it was at all because it pulled me out of the story.

The ending was perfect, though!  The number of twists and turns!  All I have to say is that there were at least 3 times I had to stop reading and walk away because I was so worked up over what had happened.  Because things really go crazy at the end.

Overall, if you read The Wrath and the Dawn, you need to read The Rose and the Dagger.  Just be prepared for some heavy doses of mysticism that was only hinted at in the first book.

If you want to check out my recent discussion re-reading TWATD, then click here.
If you want to check out my original review of TWATD, then click here.

Please consider following me if you enjoyed this review!

Anxiously Awaiting...

I'm looking forward to reading a few books this spring.  I will be dropping all my other reading obligations in order to read them.

First, I will be re-reading The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh later this month.  I just ordered a hard backed copy of it because my original was on my nook and I no longer use it, plus I LOVED it so much that I have to have a hard copy.  And it's gorgeous.









I am re-reading it because on April 26th The Rose and the Dagger is supposed to arrive!!! How exciting is that?  I don't often order books before they're published (because I'm behind on the times and I don't hear about them until they've already been out for months) but I ordered this back in January.  I made myself wait until the new year.  I need to know what happens to Shahrzad immediately!  I've been waiting to find out and I must be ready and prepared when it gets to my house to read it immediately.






I'm also receiving another pre order on the same day!  I heard about The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi a month or so ago and decided to jump at and it pre order.  Like I said, I don't usually do that, but I loved the description and what everyone has been saying about it.  So as soon as I'm finished The Rose and the Dagger, then I'll move onto The Star-Touched Queen.  







What books are you waiting to arrive this spring?

Four Not-too-Romantic Reads for Valentine's Weekend

Not really big news here, but I'm not a fan of Romances.  

In my more formative years I got hooked on the squeaky clean teen romance series Sweet Dreams.  I owned so many of these books it was ridiculous!  And I loved them.  P.S. I Love You by Barbara Conklin was the first one I ever read. Here's the link to it on Goodreads.  This was in the sixth grade or so.  I continued reading NOTHING BUT TEEN ROMANCES until I was in high school where I branched out a little bit.  Even in college I still loved a good romance with cheesy characters and a love story that melted the heart.

Somewhere along the line I became cynical and it all just makes me roll my eyes and groan out loud and bang my head on my desk.  But it's Valentine's day this weekend.  So what if you want something with a little romance?  Because a little romance is perfect, but I prefer the story to be something more than just romance.  For me, it needs to have something else there to the story.  Something else to help ground it in reality.

So here is a list of "love stories" for the non-romantic person to delve into this weekend.

1) These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Really this is mystery.  Jo Montfort is prepared to marry the most eligible bachelor and begin her life as a wife and mother, but what she wants is to be a journalist like Nellie Bly.  When her father is found dead in his office from an apparent accidental gun shot, Jo doesn't buy it.  So she gets Eddie--a young journalist at her father's paper--to help her find out the truth.  The story revolves around Jo's search for the truth, but there is something between her and Eddie, despite Jo knowing that soon she will be expected to get married and start a proper life for herself.  The romance is not what keeps this story going, but it is important and not eye-roll-inducing.

For more info, check out my review here.



2) The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Not so much the love story you're thinking of--unless you're somewhat familiar with the A Thousand and One Tales. Shahrzad's best friend was chosen as a bride for the Caliph, and just like all the others she was killed the next morning.  So Shahrzad offers herself up as the next bride, with the intent of ending the nightly deaths by killing the Caliph.  Each night she tells him stories, keeping him intrigued until she can find an opportunity when his guard is down.  But he's not at all who she thought he would be and she finds herself just as intrigued by him, making her job even more difficult.  I don't know, maybe you would label this a romance, but it doesn't feel that way at all.  Plus it's fabulous and the second one (The Rose and the Dagger) comes out in May, so you should probably read it soon anyway -- if you haven't already.

Want to find out more about this book?  My review can be found here.


3) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

So this one is a romance.  It's the story of two high schoolers who meet on the bus and become a couple.  Only it's much more than that, too.  Eleanor has just moved back in with her mom and her stepdad is awful, awful, awful.  She and her four or five (I can't remember) siblings all sleep in the same room.  She has only a few items of clothings and they're falling apart.  And she has to go to highschool and get through the day there.  Park lives with his over protective mom and dad, his grandparents next door, and his younger brother who is exactly the type of son his father wants--not at all like Park.  I never once rolled my eyes during this book.  Instead, I was truly drawn into their lives and needed to know that they would both be okay.  Check it out.

Need more?  You can find my review right here.

4) Legend series by Marie Lu

June and Day.  Although this is not really about them, it is.  You have to read the entire series before you can truly appreciate their relationship.  The books are set in a future society of The Republic in which Day is a wanted criminal who is just a kid, but has managed to evade capture for years already.  June is at the top of her class in the military academy.  The Republic needs June to figure out who the criminal is that they're looking for and capture him.  It's a matter of national security.  Meanwhile there is a plague affecting citizens that is deadly and when families contract the disease, there is little hope for survival.  Read the entire series and get to know both June and Day a bit better.  If you're planning on reading this for Valentine's Day weekend, you might want to start immediately!!

I don't have a review of this one written, but here's the Goodreads page.

What are your romance suggestions for readers who aren't really into the whole romance thing?