Raisa's Recap: Best Books of 2016

I haven't had much time to blog lately... but I've been trying to get back into the habit. I never discussed my favorite books of 2016, nor did I reach my goal of 100 books read on Goodreads (but I was pretty close!). Better late than never, no?

Favorites of 2016

[Review] Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Version: Paperback FC

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: February 6th 2012

Goodreads Summary:

I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine - and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.
He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I'm going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France - an Allied Invasion of Two.
We are a sensational team.

"Kiss me HARDY! Kiss me QUICK!"

This book tore apart my emotions. It wasn't even from angst or romance, but from how beautifully portrayed the friendship between these two very different girls was. Verity is beautiful, poised, and a smooth-talker with the men. Kittyhawk is passionate about flying, devoted to the task at hand and what she has to do. And yet, despite their differences, they are the closest of friends. Why can't we have more books about friendship?

Raisa Reads Historical Fiction

As my marathon of historical fiction draws to a close (at least for now), I'd like to sum up the books I've read and talk about one of my favorite genres!

Historical fiction is a combination of both fact and fiction. Fact because authors are pulling details about specific eras or events to craft their story, but also fiction because some details and characters may be warped or created to the author's liking. But the more real and close to history it seems, the more I seem to like it. The line between fact and fiction can be so blurred that it's hard to tell that what I'm reading isn't real.