I really need to stick to doing these every Wednesday....but despite missing every other week, I'm finally actually doing this on a Wednesday. I probably should have typed this a few days ago BUT I like to procrastinate and wait until the last minute. 

If you didn't know T5W was created by gingerreadslainey and every Wednesday there's a topic in which we choose our top 5 to it. If you want to join, check out the discussion page!

I'm going to be honest here, there are A TON of books I am never going to read. So I chose the first five that popped into my head. 

1) Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

Do I even need to say why I'm not going to read this? 

2) Beautiful Disaster by Jamie Mcguire

I have actually tried reading this book when it first came out, but I wasn't feeling it. A few years later, I watched a video about the book and the abusive relationship between the two characters. The women talking about the book went into such great detail and because of her, I will never read this book. 

3) Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I know I know. Everyone loves this series and I'm just here like I ain't never gonna read it. Just like the other two books, I've actually owned this book, tried reading it, and never got into it. It just doesn't seem like something I'm going to get to any to anytime. 

4) The Selection by Keira Cass

The only thing I hear people say about this book is how annoying the main character is. I get annoyed easily with characters and if America Singer (I think that's her name) is annoying as they say, I'm never going to start this.

5) Pheonix by Elizabeth Richards

I was actually contemplating reading this after I finished Black City but I really could not stand that book. I thought about it and I'm just never going to read it. 

I actually had other books on this list (The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, and one of the books of The House of Night series but I cannot remember where I left off in that series...). SO many books, so little time to read them. 

Series: Black City #1

Published: November 13th 2012

"A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-old Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths." -Summary taken from Goodreads.

I think I m going to eat my words.

Yes I have been pretty vocal about the fact that I was not a big fan of the series but that was until I read wings. I wish the author had used the power of plot that was in wings in her previous books as well

Lets go back to the previous books. Black city, the very first book was nothing but a different version of twilight set in dystopian world with pretty much nothing new to offer and I still stand by that. Phoenix, the second book was a cliché romance but somewhat had a little plot in working very discretely in the back.

Now the third and the finale book, Wings was like the author gave the entire series a 360 degree makeover (that or I just came back to the series in the new year with a fresh mind after a long hiatus)

Wings had finer and interesting plot than the previous book. So much that I wish we could escape the first two and jump into the third directly but the fact is that the events in wings had all been a gradual progress from the previous two books. There are whole set of old and new characters that bring so much to the plot that you instantly forgive the author for the lack luster prequels.

I am still miffed about the whole dystopian world that forms the backdrop of the story. The reason being the inability of the author to shed the stark similarities to our present world and making it impossible for me to fully believe that this is a post apocalyptic world. Also by the third bookthere are a whole set of jargons and terminologies meant for the dystopian world which comes without any explanations.The plot halts in between to describe dresses and surroundings which is like stopping your car right in the middle of a heavy traffic because you wanted to stretch your legs … which is something you never do

The romance part still irks me with insta-love syndrome plaguing it

Natalie the female character is still a struggle for me to cope with but hey there are always weird characters in real life too. In fact some are so bad that I quiver with the sight of their mere shadows but still I survive and hence I survived Natalie through the book as well.

Also I felt the narration and scene settings were a bit “movie-ish”. Fit for screen but not a bright idea when it comes to a book. Both have a complete different style of narration

Hold on before you roll your eyes and say that then how come the book is good

The book is good because the series finally has come out of cliché romance and have actual solid plot which is filled with so much thrills and turns that it is nothing less of a roller coaster ride. I love as how towards the end the author completely threw in a new revelation making it so damn good that I was bouncing like a monkey on my chair for having rewarded for sticking with the series.

Yes the book has stuff I hate like an annoying female lead, creepy romance stuff but in spite of that Wings is the best in the entire black city trilogy with a rock solid plot filled with elements that you could not possibly imagine would happen. So many revelations, twists and turns made this book good and I am finally happy that I stayed with the series with a truck load of patience. Wings survive because of its plot. 


how was it?

I know it might be the perfect book for the paranormal romantics, but for someone who has been devouring this genre; this is plain repetition and nothing else. I understand that the book has every element that worked in twilight, hush hush series and every other successful paranormal genre. yet for me it was ….Nah!!!

Let me be honest, this book is not bad but not good as well. There is nothing to the book even if it has managed to shelve out three books (god knows how and why). The book reminded me of Legend series by Marie Lu so much that I actually wanted to go back and read Legend.

The story in the sequel is at least better than Black city but yes the romance crap still irks me to the core but then this is a romance novel so I can’t exactly complain about the book based on that sole reason. While I can still cope with the male lead “ash” it’s the female “Natalie” that irritates me in the book. The girl is a disaster coming from lack of brains or “weepy and fragile heroine” syndrome. Either ways that is not someone that can carry this book very far

The second book comes up with a love triangle
… Bravo!!! For bringing up such a brilliant, stupidest and the lamest trick ever in book writing…

I am amazed at our self sacrificing, altruistic girl getting attracted to the next guy that comes along after prophesying eternal love throughout the first book and using big bold words like “love” only to redefine its meaning in the sequel.

Best part. ?
Barely at 15 or 17 years, our leads are getting married….
Yippie !!! (please excuse me, while I bash my head against a wall)

Once again let me say that “ its not you. but me “. The book per say is not that bad, its just that I could not digest it. The problem with the book was that it was kind of cliché in the romance department and if I may say was totally vomit inducer for me. But other than my obvious hatred to teenage romance and marriage, the book actually has a better story line than the first one and the narration technique and the language is simple and good. Then again like the first book, the dystopian world crumples because of weak foundation. Romance novel fans will definitely swoon over this for obvious reasons. Dystopian and paranormal fans on the other hand will die of prolonged puking.

Basically the book is equally bad as much as it is good… The book died for me because of its predictable story plot and lack of proper background.

How was it?

When twilight came out, so did the obsession with vampires. Edward Cullen became the ultimate poster boy for quintessential lover and “vegetarian vampire” and just like every other girl, I was also drowned deep in the world of Team Jacob and Team Edward ( not gonna mention which team…I m taking that secret to the grave ) but times changed, the phase slowly got over and I moved on to better monsters, “angels” (yup girls if you did not realize angels are the hot new lover commodity in the fiction market). But apparently some are still clinging on to their twilight phase a little too hard like our author, I guess



Black city is kind of “twilight” set in dystopian world.
If any of you guys have read “legend series” by Marie Lu then let me tell you that the book shows a strong traces of that world and so much that I thought Marie Lu has written this book with a vampire protagonist ooops I mean darkling (as per the book).

The book is actually a mix and match of various popular paranormal books and the plot is more or less predictable but I will give that there are certain elements that kind of give it a bit of individuality but not enough to say that it is “something different”.

The book is not bad but it is nothing new and that is bad by my rules. But fans of twilight or similar genre will definitely find their love rekindled in the black city series but people who are looking for new and improved substances will scratch their head till it bleeds over the cliché and annoying pair of central character.

On a personal front, I hated the female protagonist “Natalie” and I have my reason for that but I am not gonna discuss it here for everybody has their own rights to love or hate the characters and I m not gonna feed you about how you should take the characters. It will be unfair.

For a dystopian world novel, the book kind of goes impromptu and picks up elements from here and there failing in proper setting. The dystopian world of Elizabeth Richards is still hanging in our present without much change and trying to convince us that it is set in a post apocalyptic world. Not working. How will it, when you are clearly referring and portraying to present day traditions and lifestyle. The world is not credible enough.

Black city has a predictable story line and more or less is a dystopian version of “twilight” without anything new to it. Though it is not bad, it is kind of a compilation of various paranormal books read and talked about. The dystopian world is not sharp enough and kind of felt picked up from the “legend series” without much work done to it. It’s the cliché ‘boy meet girl versus the world armed with their weapon of love…blah blah… you get the point. Fans of romance especially paranormal romance, twilight and vampires will love this one. Other people like me… not so much