Review: November 2016 FairyLoot

Two posts in one week? What is wrong with Jaz you must be thinking. Well I'm on annual leave because IT'S THE FESTIVE SEASON and I also really wanted to share my thoughts on my first ever FairyLoot box!

FairyLoot is a YA book subscription box that centres on sci-fi/fantasy books and they're based in the UK. As with OwlCrate, I made the plunge to try out FairyLoot for November because birthday muahaha. What really drew me to them was their concentration on SFF and what seemed like every box included a book plate (I'm a sucker for signed merch).

Ok let's get right into it.



Month: November 2016
Theme: Royals & Rogues
Price: ~$70 AUD (£26 single purchase + £15 shipping to Australia = £41)
Delivery: Shipped November 19 arrived November 29 (10 days to get to Australia)

My Rating:

The Royals & Rogues themed box included:

• Hardback copy of Nemesis by Anna Banks
• Signed Nemesis bookplate
• Nemesis bookmark
• Nemesis print
• Letter from Anna Banks
• Royals & Rogues themed tea + tea filters by The Tea Leaf Co
• The Wrath and the Dawn mirror by Bookworm Boutique
• Queen of Terrasen notepad by Drop and Give Me Nerdy
• Wolf by Wolf quote print by Read at Midnight
• Queen of Books mug by Read at Midnight
• Red Queen art print + quote (double sided) by Book Otter and Lovely Owls Books
• Spectorium soap crystals by Crafty Ragamuffin
• A Court of Mist and Fury tote by Lovely Owls Books
• FairyScoop

Not gonna lie I nearly shit bricks in excitement when I opened my box. Never have I been so pleased with a book subscription box.

Opening the book bag...

I hadn't heard of Nemesis before but I've read Anna Banks' earlier stuff, and based on what I read of the blurb, this is another mermaid type book which I'm quite keen for. BOOKPLATE. I am so freaking trash for bookplates. Signed guys. SIGNED. This was enough to draw me in to the box haha. It's extremely hard to get signed stuff in Australia so I always jump at the chance. There's also the matching bookmark for Nemesis, a sketch of some... thing... creature... from the book and a letter from Anna herself (I've yet to read this). This all came in the black book bag FairyLoot have started to put their books in to keep them from being damaged. Another lovely idea because my books always get damaged in my bag and I'd been using the Aesop cloth bags up until now. LOVE LOVE LOVE. So that's all the 'official' Nemesis stuff! The FairyScoop which is a newsletter also included an interview with Anna which was really fun to read.

I was a bit wtf at the Spectorium crystal soap (by Crafty Ragamuffin) until I read the interview with Anna Banks in the FairyScoop and the Royals & Rogues card to determine what it was. At first I thought it was candy and I was like wow that's a really huge chunk of candy haha. I'm not entirely sure how to use this (rub it all over myself?!) or if I'll even use it at all as I'm not a soap user but we shall see! It smells really good though. Like candy actually. Yeh if I wasn't told it's soap, I definitely would've taken a lick leeeeeel.

The art/quote prints are really pretty and I especially love the Mare illustration from Red Queen (Book Otter is so talented I was like wooooow). There's a cool Red Queen quote on the back by Lovely Owls Books. The Wolf by Wolf quote print was designed by Aentee omgggg I was flailing when I found out GO YOU AENTEE.

Speaking of Aentee (aka Read at Midnight). THAT MUG. Queen of Books. I'm totally taking it to work with me IT IS SO GORGEOUS. YOU GO FAIRYLOOT. I adore mugs. As a tea lover I am always using mugs and on the lookout for pretty ones. The design is quite floral which is so me and UGH is there a more perfect mug for a book lover? I think not. Apparently mugs have never been done in a box before and it's seriously such a good idea! What's next, drink bottles/thermos?

Tea (by The Tea Leaf Co)! With tea filters/bags to put the loose leaf tea in. I love it when people consider these things. Sadly for me I hate Earl Grey leeel so I'll probably take it to work and share it around. I still think it's really cool though that FairyLoot got tea Royals and Rogues themed :D

As a massive Throne of Glass fan the Queen of Terrasen (by Drop and Give Me Nerdy) notepad really appealed to me but it's so pretty I don't wanna use it *stares at it for life*

Then there's the mirror WITH A WRATH AND THE DAWN QUOTE (by Bookworm Boutique). Y'all know how much I adore that duology? Shazi and Khalid for life. "My queen is without limitations. Boundless in all she does." *SOBS* All the feels.

And then. AND THEN. Sweet baby Jesus I was squealing and nearly screaming when I saw the tote. THE TOTE. THE. TOTE. Designed by Lovely Owls Books it is hands down the BEST tote I now own because RHYSANDDDDDDDDDD. *Heavy breathing* RHYSRHYSRHYSRHYS. ACOMAF ACOMAF <3 Rhysand is book boyfriend #1, A Court of Mist and Fury is my #1 fav book of all time so this was utter perfection. The quote is absolutely perfect and makes me want to cry whenever I think of the scene it happened "That I will bow before no one and nothing but my crown." Shit this breaks my heart. Can't even right now. You guys don't know the feels this brings out in me.

Item price breakdown time:

• Nemesis hardback $24 AUD on the Book Depository
• Crafty Ragamuffin soaps ~$9 AUD on their Etsy store
• The Tea Leaf Co Earl Grey tea £6.99 = ~$12 AUD on their site
• Bookworm Boutique mirror ~$5 AUD ? Guesstimate
• Lovely Owls Books ACOMAF tote ~$27 AUD (RedBubble pricing)
• Read at Midnight mug ~$20 AUD (society6 pricing)
• Prints ???

Total ~$97+ AUD so definitely got my money's worth. This did not include the prints.

Welps this review turned out to be more flailing and screeching than actual reviewing... Royals & Rogues has been so well curated, each of the items fitting the theme (I'm mega mega happy that both the ToG and ACOTAR series made it in the box along with TWatD). The mug is so useful and the tote absolutely blows me away.

How much did I love this box? Enough to take out a 3 month subscription (they're not paying me to say this either). I highly recommend giving FairyLoot a try, because despite how expensive it is, I find that the bookplate and the extra items they pack in make it really worth it. Maybe I was lucky with my first experience and all the extras they included were for books I adore? It definitely added to my love for the box.

Review: Of Triton (Of Poseidon #2) by Anna Banks

Firstly, thanks to Hardie Grant Egmont for this review copy <3



Date Read: July 6 - 7 2013
Release Date: July 1st 2013
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Paranormal
My rating: 

Synopsis:
"Emma is half-mermaid: a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. But she's in love with Galen - a gorgeous Syrena from the House of Triton, god of the sea. If Emma's secret is discovered by the Syrena, she risks being put to death as a Half-Breed.

Emma's heritage comes from her mother - a princess from the House of Poseidon who escaped the sea to live as a human. Aware of the danger her daughter faces, she is determined to keep Emma away from the Syrena. But her reappearance after so many years turns the underwater kingdoms, Poseidon and Triton, against one another.

How can Emma and Galen stay together when their two rival kingdoms, and two different worlds, just want to tear them apart?

Picking up right where Of Poseidon left off, this utterly irresistible story is full of humour, intrigue, and waves of romance."

---

“It is thought that the gifts only occur when there is a need.” 

Of Triton has been a hard one to rate and review as I’m so undecided on how I feel about it. I really enjoyed Of Poseidon back when I read it last year so was extremely excited for the sequel. I thought Of Triton didn’t really meet my expectations – however, when I first read Of Poseidon, I was literally one day back into reading after not having seriously read for probably 6 months and it’s possible my expectations were a lot lower back then which was why I loved it so much. Either way, book 2 was a much needed continuation and I quite enjoyed it.

After the cliffhanger Banks left us with at the end of Of Poseidon, Emma and her mum are on the road. Emma’s having a freak out over the way her mum is acting and it’s a pretty legit reaction when your mum practically drugs you and you wake up driving on some highway far from home. As the book progressed I could tell that Emma was meant to be growing up and maturing, and she was trying definitely, but I felt that despite everything, she was still whiny and selfish. Especially with regards to when her mum was trying to protect her; I thought Emma could have gone about things differently – rather than being rational with her mum, she’d just go and act upon things because she wanted to be with Galen. At other times I admired Emma’s stubbornness and determination to prove her point and protect her loved ones.

“I also hate that I’m allowing myself to have a pity party when clearly bigger things than myself are happening.”

Like with Emma, I’m a bit divided on how I feel about Galen. I think he was a bit more mature as I felt his duty as a royal come through but I don’t know I just felt that his thoughts were constantly on Emma and he acted before thinking at times. I guess in defence a lot of the book is centred around Emma and the fate of the Syrena.

I absolutely loved Rayna and Toraf in Of Triton. I really enjoyed their banter in Of Poseidon but here they were even funnier and it was just great being able to see more of them and their stance on matters. I really hated Emma’s mum though. She’s a complete nut half the time and the stuff she said was not believable nor were her actions relatable. She was also unreasonable in her reactions to people – actually she was a complete hypocrite… She expected something of someone when she technically betrayed them. Yeah just what the heck with that character I’m not sure if Banks made it intentional but Emma’s mum was just horrible.

“Um. It’s a helicopter.”

“What does it do? Triton’s trident, it doesn’t fly does it? Emma? Emma wait!”

The romance was sweet and enjoyable. There was a more serious, intense and desperate edge to it compared to book 1. I admired Galen and Emma’s devotion to each other – call it pigheadedness or whatever you want but those two just HAD to find each other and be together no matter what. You know, just betray a parent here, defy a law there, no biggy. Either way, I do love these two together and I love how at ease they are when they’re in each other’s presence.

“He brushes his lips against mine. Once. Twice. So soft it barely feels like anything. But it also feels like everything”

Plot-wise… A LOT of stuff happened. And I know it was meant to be epic but I felt that it fell short of the huge bang Banks was going for. The events leading up to the highlights didn’t set my heart racing or anything, I was just like “oh ok, so this is happening” and when that moment came where I was supposed to have heaps of pent up emotions and be excited about everything unfolding I was just like “meh”. I don’t know what happened but everything just felt flat. It’s not like the stuff that happened was bad, it made sense but I just thought Banks could have gone about it in a more impressive manner. The Syrena politics were definitely interesting though and I liked how a whole system was devised and explained – I could tell a lot of thought went into how to keep things archaic/traditional but also in democratic way that could justify following these laws that governed a civilisation for millennia.

“It feels like the world suddenly got bigger.”

Banks’ writing style is something I’ve always been uncertain about. In both Of Poseidon and Of Triton, she writes Emma’s voice in first person while Galen’s is in third person. It’s extremely disorienting and I don’t understand why she did it like this – it’s given me doubts as to her ability to write from a male perspective. Other than that, I think her actual writing is pretty good and I liked the way humour is laced into the prose.

Overall, I really needed Of Triton for closure after the cliffhanger Banks left us with at the end of Of Poseidon. This sequel ties up a lot of loose ends and satisfies readers. Whilst for me not as enjoyable and suspenseful as Of Poseidon, I still enjoyed this and finished it in one day!

“No, this is where I belong now.”