Calendar Girls: May

First of all for all of you who don’t know about this, it is a brand new tag created by Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile and Melanie @ Melanie Noell Bernard Books. It’s a monthly blog event inspired by Neil Sedaka’s 1961 song Calendar Girl, where every month a specific theme will be picked up and you’ll have to read a book you find fit into that theme and then incite discussions with other bloggers.

This month’s theme is Best Sequel!!

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It’s been a couple of months since I took part on Calendar Girls! My own fault, for not reading that much and not having where to choose from without being super repetitive!! 🙂 😋

Let’s get started!! This one could be a controversial prompt given that it is worldwide known that sequels are never (or usually they are not) as good as the originals, right?¿?
A random though that just crossed my mind, if the sequel(s) isn’t as good as the previous one maybe it is because there was no need of a sequel?¿? Or definitely not a need of extensive sequels?¿? Yes, I am looking at you The 5th Wave 👀👀 (just to name one)

Leaving that behind, searching my story I’ve read quite a few of series and I have to choose because in more than one case they got better and better and better!!! List on contenders: The Royals (I found the second to be better than the first one, but the last one was a mess…), Jacaby series (the first and second were OK but the third one was an improvement and I can only hope even more for the fourth and last one!), Reboot duology (another clear improvement! Yes, duologies do exist!! 😂😂), The Grisha Trilogy (this one got much better with every book, I still don’t love it like people do but I liked it), Bridget Jones (another case of the royals, the second one ↑↑ but the third one ↓↓↓), If I Stay (another pleasant surprise, that writing…), You duology, TMI series…
Sorry for all of this rambling!! These up here may be some clear examples but I had very clear in my head there were only two contenders…

  The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger and Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. How to choose between this two… were that was another story…

For once, I think The Parasol Protectorate is the never-ending story. In each novel, we get a bigger glimpse into this lovely arrange of character (that I completely love and miss so much, if you hadn’t noticed) and the story evolves, where things get harder and riskier. Yes, I liked better the second book (ehem… Scotland… ehem) and the rest of the series got even better (although maybe I am not entirely objective with this one 😚😚😚). But thinking about it know, maybe there wasn’t such a huge step from the first book, to the second and so on?? I am so indecisive!! The main plot changes along but the central point in this series are the characters, whose evolution is so patent and the most important thing, for me. You can find my reviews in this thread 😉 !!

On the other side (but still with vampire involved?¿? Umm…) there’s Vampire Academy. This series brought to life one of my BFs, Miss Rose Hathaway!! And only for that I’ll always be grateful, Read 😉 .  Int his case the series got more complicated, the relationship evolved in this action packet series in a way I can’t  make my mind forget about it. The character evolution was so clear and although my favourite one (I think, didn’t I say I was indecisive?¿) has to be the 4th Shadow Kiss (ehem… Russian adventures… ehem), where everything gets even darker, but in the second one (the proper sequel) we also get a lot of action, darkness and dread. I adore this whole series and like the previous one this is a clear example of a series done right, were you get more that you bargained for and the plot and characters keep you engaged 100% !!!

I think I reasoned/rambled enough, so let’s give it up for Mr. Drum Roll !!

Vampire Academy !!!  Frostbite by Richelle Mead !!!

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Next month’s theme will be Best Shakespeare Play!!! 

[Hard?¿? No, more like impossible!! I’ve never read a play, and even lest Shakespeare, so if I have to I’ll go reasoning with some movie… although I am not sure if I haven’t watched one!haha]

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Other participants you should definitely check out!!

Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile  with ACOMAF by Sarah J Maas

  Melanie @ MN Bernard Books with Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Deanna @ Deanna Writes About with Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

Mandy @ Book Princess Reviews with A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

Lauren @ Two Birds, One Blog with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Thai @ Read Breath Repeat with Unleashed by Sophie Jordan

Shanah @ Bionic Book Work with Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Darque Dreamer Reads with Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

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All images and gifs taken from Google.