Book: The Winner's Curse

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Genre: Teen/Romance/Adventure

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Kestrel is an aristocratic citizen of Valoria, a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers. Here, a girl like Kestrel has two choices: to join the military or to get married. Despite her skills in military strategy, Kestrel's real passion is music. Which is why she feels compelled to buy Arin, a slave sold as a singer, at auction. It's not long before he begins to change the way she sees everything . . . but he himself is not what he seems. Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for him is much higher than she ever could have imagined. The first novel in a brilliant new series,
The Winner's Curse tells of the star-crossed romance of Kestrel and Arin. It is a story of masters and slaves, spies, rebellion, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake. The gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart. -Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014.

"The Winner's Curse" surprised me. It was more than angst and bloody battles. Psychological warfare techniques are strengths for characters in this book. The heroine is not a superb fighter. She has a sharp mind for strategy. Her father, a General, is not one-dimensional either. He feels like a real military leader with many shades of gray.

The relationship between slave (who wants to be free) and owner (who's ashamed of owning slaves) has its complications from the perspective of both sides and wreaks havoc, yet despite their backgrounds they find a delicate balance. It made me wonder how they will things work out if they became a couple. How will it all end? What will it look like? Since this is book 1 of a trilogy the answers have yet to be answered. I won't go into detail about "The Winner's Curse" but between the cover is a meaty story that is very hard to put down.

I just realized I haven't posed my August wrap-up yet!

I read a total of 7 books during August (including two re-reads).

What I read

- Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (5/5)

- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (4/5)

- The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkosky (3/5)

- The 100 by Kass Morgan (4/5)

- The Archived by Victoria Schwab (4/5)

- City of Lost Sould by Cassandra Clare (4/5)

- Dorothy and The Wizard in Oz (4/5)

What I watched

I'm still watching Gilmore Gilrs, I'm currently watching season 3. It's so good!

I'm going to post a haul quite soon and then hopefully some picture of my brand new shelves (I'm moving really soon!). I won't post reviews in the near future, because I'm not reading that much these days and I don't have the energy to go on the computer after 8 hours staring at it at work... That's sad, actually.

Thanks for reading,

Line.

I'm back from Spain where I spent one week with my family. It was short, but great. I finished The Winner's Curse, which was good but not as great as I thought it would be. Then I read The 100 and I adored it, I can't wait to read the next book and watch the TV show. And I'm currently reading The Archived which is really strange but so good right now! I'm almost done with it.

I had no time to write reviews on holiday, and I don't want to write them now. I have my last exam this week as well as a job interview. Here are my ratings:

- The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 3/5

- The 100 by Kass Morgan 4/5

I hope you're all having a great summer! As far as I'm concerned, it was really lazy and now it's time to work. 

Thanks for reading,

Line.