From the Library:
From the Kindle Store:
What have you added to your shelves this week?
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Stacking the Shelves #1
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It features books that you've recently added to your shelves.
From the Library:
From the Library:
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Waiting on Wednesday #1
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. It features a book every Wednesday that haven't been released yet and you're anxiously awaiting! My book this week is:
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (third book in the Throne of Glass series)
Goodreads Blurb:
Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy.
While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?
While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
I've read and loved the first two books of this series and the last book left off with me wondering a bajillion things!! September seems so far away!
What book have you been anxiously awaiting?
Monday, June 2, 2014
What I'm Excited For In June!
So here's a list of books and movies that I can't wait to read/see in June and their Goodreads/IMDB/Amazon links!
The Fault in Our Stars book link
The Fault in Our Stars movie (based on the novel by John Green)
June 3, 2014
June 3, 2014
The Fault in Our Stars movie (based on the novel by John Green)
June 6, 2014
June 12, 2014
June 12, 2014
June 17, 2014
What are you excited for in June?
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
This is the first book in a series - the second being Hollow City
Goodreads Blurb:
"A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.
A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows."
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.
A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows."
Ok can I just say how long it's been since I've read the world "peculiar"?? I just love that word :)
One of my favorite things about this book is how the author used REAL pictures and integrated them into the story. That made me feel like I could travel where the main character did and everything would be there! Well not there because of the ending... but you know what I mean.
Also, I love this idea of peculiar children living in loops of time. I don't know HOW the author thought of this but I'm glad he did!
After hearing that little speil, you're all probably wondering why the heck I didn't give this book 5 stars. Well the answer is really quite simple. It just didn't take me there. I found it hard to picture the scenery (obviously the stuff that isn't in the pictures). I would often have to go back and reread all the room descriptions to try and form a picture.
I suppose it's really two reasons actually... I was REALLY confused when the whole 'time travel' thing was explained (jumping from loop to loop). I think that could have been elaborated on. Or maybe it's just in the next book... who knows? Well obviously the people who've read it but I haven't gotten that far yet!
Oh and one more thing that I loved! I loved the idea that Miss Peregrine brought up. How the children are actually 80 something years old and yet they still are children. It shows that life experiences are all part of growing up and these children didn't have those.
One of my favorite things about this book is how the author used REAL pictures and integrated them into the story. That made me feel like I could travel where the main character did and everything would be there! Well not there because of the ending... but you know what I mean.
Also, I love this idea of peculiar children living in loops of time. I don't know HOW the author thought of this but I'm glad he did!
After hearing that little speil, you're all probably wondering why the heck I didn't give this book 5 stars. Well the answer is really quite simple. It just didn't take me there. I found it hard to picture the scenery (obviously the stuff that isn't in the pictures). I would often have to go back and reread all the room descriptions to try and form a picture.
I suppose it's really two reasons actually... I was REALLY confused when the whole 'time travel' thing was explained (jumping from loop to loop). I think that could have been elaborated on. Or maybe it's just in the next book... who knows? Well obviously the people who've read it but I haven't gotten that far yet!
Oh and one more thing that I loved! I loved the idea that Miss Peregrine brought up. How the children are actually 80 something years old and yet they still are children. It shows that life experiences are all part of growing up and these children didn't have those.
“She moved to pinch me again but I blocked her hand. I'm no expert on girls, but when one tries to pinch you four times, I'm pretty sure that's flirting.”
“I didn’t know what to call it, what was happening between us, but I liked it. It felt silly and fragile and good.”
“Sometimes you just need to go through a door.”
“How many times have I told you? Polite persons do not take supper in the nude.”
“I did love her, of course, but mostly because loving your mom is mandatory, not because she was someone I think I'd like very much if I met her walking down the street.”
“Forgive me. I continue to underestimate the breadth of your ignorance.”
“Stars, too, were time travelers. How many of those ancient points of light were the last echoes of suns now dead? How many had been born but their light not yet come this far? If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize we were alone? I had always known the sky was full of mysteries—but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was.”
“When someone won't let you in, eventually you stop knocking.”
“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”
Hidden by Sophie Jordan
Goodreads Blurb:
"Jacinda was supposed to bond with Cassian, the "prince" of their pride. But she resisted long before she fell in love with Will—a human and, worse, a hunter. When she ran away with Will, it ended in disaster, with Cassian's sister, Miram, captured. Weighed down by guilt, Jacinda knows she must rescue her to set things right. Yet to do so she will have to venture deep into the heart of enemy territory.
The only way Jacinda can reach Miram is by posing as a prisoner herself, though once she assumes that disguise, things quickly spiral out of her control. As she learns more about her captors, she realizes that even if Will and Cassian can carry out their part of the plan, there's no guarantee they'll all make it out alive. But what Jacinda never could have foreseen is that escaping would be only the beginning....
Loyalties are tested and sacrifices made in the explosive conclusion to Sophie Jordan's Firelight trilogy."
I'm actually going with a 3.5 on this one mainly just for one reason. I really loved the other books in this series but his one just seemed, I don't know... less grounded than the other ones. For example, when Ms. Jordan was writing scenes with any of the characters in their dragon forms, I couldn't distinguish whether they were actually human or dragon. I realize they are the same on the inside and their emotions and all that are the same. Just the way you she wrote it... Like how she didn't use dragon anatomy (is that the sciency word for it?). She would say for example, "he wrapped her into a hug, his hands cupping her face" when he was actually a dragon. This just confused me and I'd often have to go back and see what form they were really in.
Other than that, I really liked this book. It's such an original idea (at least that I've read). The main character retained all her personality and didn't undergo a major unrealistic personality change throughout the books.
Really, I don't have that much to say honestly. I liked the ending although it almost seemed a little thrown together like it couldn't possibly be the end of the series. I loved the ending scene though, that was beautiful :)
3.5 stars.
Oh and P.S. all the covers in this series are beautiful!
"“Hi," I return, gesturing to the fish. "Nice catch."
"Yeah. I'm kind of impressed with myself. I always thought redheads were sexy."
"Ha-ha. I meant the fish."
"Ah. Yes.” "
"“Then again, there’s nothing simple about Will. I think back to what he can do—bend earth, resist shading, his immense strength—and it’s glaringly inaccurate to consider him a human. But then I can’t think of him as a draki either. And this strikes me as sad. Will doesn’t belong anywhere. Not among humans. Not among draki.
But he belongs with me. The conviction is still there, as senseless and dangerous as always, seeping into my bones, my heart. A fact I wouldn’t change even if I could.” "
“Before I sought truth. Now I seek justice.”
Finding What Is by Tabitha Vohn
Goodreads Blurb:
"Willie has always lived an unconventional life. Surrounded by the sensual, ethereal images of her artist-mother, she fantasizes about the half-wolf, half-human, but all-gorgeous face that stares out at her from her mother’s wall, and drinks in her mother’s stories of past lovers and adventures. She shares her home with a man who calls himself “uncle” (who stalks her through the house, naked). Her closest friends are a band of misfits who’ve forged their own way in life-including Xavier, who has carved his name in her soul- and her heart is torn between him and a college professor, a fellow artist who wants more than a student-teacher relationship.
Willie stands on the brink of womanhood poised to follow in her mother’s footsteps, with a gleaming future as an artist looming before her, and a maturity beyond her years that has enabled her to be the protector and caretaker of others, a mender of wounds. But as a devastating illness rips her mother from her life, Willie is left bereft of a home and of a sense of self. Guided only by her instincts, Willie wanders from her Professor’s arms to the home that Xavier shares with his live-in girlfriend Nicole (who insists that they can “share”). Her path becomes a search for peace, for family, for a love that’s real, and for her place in this world.
Finding What Is chronicles the journey that we all must take-to find ourselves, to reconcile our past, and to get back to that place we once called home."
Wow. I mean... just wow. I seriously loved this book. I just... I don't I know ok? *deep breath* Let's do this.
The heartache the main character has to go through throughout the course of this book is incredible. It's people like this that inspire the rest of us to keep going. The main character, Willie, is truly trying to find herself through everything that just keeps piling up on her. You'd think after a while, she'd just say screw it but she keeps going. That was truly amazing to me.
Also, just a little side note, reading this book made me want to read poetry again. I gave it up a while ago but I'm taking it back up again!
I literally could not put this book down. I read until 3am. I actually put off writing a review because really, I don't know what to say.
Now be warned haters-of-love-triangles, there is a love triangle in this book. But it isn't really the typical love triangle. There's art, passion, abuse, and sharing mixed in. It's so much more complicated than the typical "I want you to be mine not his!" and "No choose ME!!". Willie was abandoned and found again. To be truthful, the thing I loved most about this book was the cover and the title and how completely it wrapped up the entire story. I mean, have you SEEN the cover?! Amazing *wipes tear away*
So back to the point, the plot. It was fabulous. Like I already said, I couldn't put it down until it was done. And even then, I had to just sit for a minute and digest everything. It made me cry, laugh, and gasp in total shock. I was completely immersed. That's what a good book does to me. I forget about my world and I'm in the book's reality.
I highly recommend this book. 5 stars.
“I was thinking of how, when we think of loss in our life, how our sense of ‘home’ was the first thing to go. You know, we lose that place of childhood innocence, of feeling protected. And so many of us spend the rest of our lives trying to reclaim that place called home, that life made simple again.”
“Sometimes skin to ground [is] the most comforting place; nowhere to go but up.”
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Just After the Fall by Eric James-Olson
Thank you to the author Eric James-Olson for a free copy in return for an honest review!
I just learned 10 minutes ago that this is the 3rd book in a series.
Blurb:
Before the destruction of Farm-Colony 984, Lawrence and Maria were security guards, lovers, inseparable companions. Maria was positioned in the Main Building during the attack. Lawrence watched the building explode. He watched from a distance and there was nothing he could do. In, Just After the Fall, Lawrence is thrown into a hostile wilderness pursued by Armored Drone Soldiers, befriended by the savages he was trained to kill, and haunted with doubt as to whether Maria was really there when the farm went up in flames. Just After the Fall is a story of betrayal and redemption. It is a story of love and searching for those left behind. Just After the Fall is a novel that exists within the same world as the novels: But the Angels Never Came, Farmers and Cannibals, Whom Cain Slew, and Short Stories from the Year 2065 and the Decades that Followed. The books and stories are written to be read in no particular order. Each story reveals more about the characters during different times in their lives. The roles of the characters are different in each narrative. The protagonist in one may be a minor character in another. Just After the Fall features the characters Lawrence and Maria.
This book was... strange. Not a bad strange though. Just a... different strange. Think a variation of Brave New World.
So I didn't know this was part of a series when I first started reading it. So while I was reading it, I was thinking "where's the world-building?!" because there was pretty much nada in the whole book (there was... 2 chapters I believe). Buuuuut, now that I know that, I think I can reasonably assume there is some world-building in the other 2 books.
Back to the book. I really loved Lawrence and Maria's relationship in comparison with the other people. Like in Brave New World, "everyone belongs to everyone else" therefore there are no true marriages. But Lawrence and Maria were as good as married. They were totally committed to each other. Basically the entire book was centered around Lawrence and Maria finding each other. Somewhat. Which brings me to my next point.
The biggest reason I rated this 3.5 stars is because there didn't seem to be a main plot. There were plenty of co and sub plots but there wasn't a dominant one. Now some people may like this kind of thing. Me? I find it hard to focus on the book then and it isn't as intense for me. So there's that.
The other reason is the flow was kind of... I don't know... off? There was a bunch of jumping backward and forward in time which sometimes made sense and sometimes didn't. The one time change I enjoyed was when it would switch back to the lecture hall scene after or before an important scene in the 'present'. This gave a lot of meaning to the book and made a lot of things about their society and just about the book's message clearer.
So overall, this is a good book, just not really my cup of tea. But as you know, I don't base my ratings solely on whether I like it or not. The writing really was very good as well as the message which is what will matter to all you in the long run!
"'These people were savages before Abraham brought them this religion of his. With El, he has created order. With El, he has created community. With El, he has created morality, a real morality with real consequences for transgressors. With El, he has
pulled this multifarious assembly of desperate fugitives out of a state of nature and into a state of collective peace and cooperation.'”
“'It was a lie,' he whispered. He said this to himself and he said it again with growing intensity, 'A lie. A lie! It was all a lie!' he shouted with his head tilted back, and his eyes wild with savage fervor."
“'I know I know. Even if there were a million other women.'
'That’s right now, you hear. Even if there was a million girls, I’d be lookin’ at you.'
'Silly man.'
Lawrence put his arm around Maria as they continued down the trail."
'When we first came to the wilderness there was only survival. There was no right or wrong. We had nothing. We knew nothing. In the wilderness,' Chet laughed, 'the moralist is the first to die. But Abraham brought our morals back to us. He brought law and order. He brought a belief, a shared goal, a reason to live. For that I forgive him.'"
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