Owl Post (57)

Owl Post is a weekly feature at Owl Read It where we show you what books we've gotten in the past week, as well as recap reviews posted during the week. It is inspired by The Story Siren's In My Mailbox Theme.

Jenn's Haul:

Nothing for me this week :)

Meghan's Haul:
I definitely got spoiled this week! I bought two books for myself at the start of the week, and then my Hubby got me 3 new books when we were celebrating our anniversary :). Married 6 years as of today! <3

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Joyland by Stephen King

(sorry this is sideways, it won't upload properly for some reason)

The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Kristal's Haul:
I got one book this week - an arc of a romance novel (Gambling on Love) from an author that I work with.  Thanks, Nancy Fraser!

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Reviews from this week:

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
A Castle of Sand by Bella Forrest

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What new reads did you get this week?

Review: A Castle of Sand by Bella Forrest

A Castle of Sand
A Shade of Vampire #3

Author: Bella Forrest

Publication Date: June 26, 2013

Thank You Bella Forrest for the review copy!

Genre: Paranormal

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Synopsis:

What Sofia has with Derek feels like a sandcastle; temporary and something that the waves of life and time will soon ruin...

Since the return of Gregor Novak, the island has turned several shades darker. His hatred toward Sofia and thirst for fresh blood lead to a brutal war igniting between father and son.

Meanwhile, the hunters are gaining formidable strength and resources by the day; they know that the safety of The Shade hangs entirely on its ability to remain hidden from them.

And a sinister secret lies in wait for Sofia within the bowls of an Egyptian desert ... a secret that threatens to crush her sandcastle much sooner than she could have expected.

My Thoughts: I love the Shade of Vampire series.  I think it is different and I really like how the vampires are portrayed in it - like real vampires, not some idealistic envisonment of them.  Every time that a new Shade of Vampire is being released I get super excited.  I love the world that Bella Forrest has created with the vampires and hunters and the more I read about it the more I fall in love with it.

In this novel, we start out where the last one ended - much like the previous one.  I love that I can just pick up these novels and know exactly what is going on and not even miss a beat.  The story floods back to me the moment I start the book.

I love, love, love Sofia Claremont in this book.  She really does come into her own more than either of the previous books.  She seems to find where she belongs and what she needs to do.  Her and Derek's relationship really does become a partnership, vastly evolving from the first book. Sofia stands by her beliefs and doesn't let anyone deter her - even Derek himself.

Derek is just as awesome as ever.  I totally love him.  Just as much as Sofia comes into her own in this one, so does Derek.  Despite being hundreds of years old, he really hasn't been able to grow into the person that he needs to be in order to fill the destiny set out for him.  I feel like he has come a lot closer in this novel.  In many ways, he may have grown into himself more than Sofia.

I am really looking forward to the next installment in this series.  Although this one had tragedy and triumph, I feel like the next one may indeed be the best one of the whole series (which is saying a lot if you have read my reviews on the other two as well).  I really applaud Bella Forrest for creating such a unique and awesome world for me to escape to.  I am definitely staying tuned for the next one!

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publication Date: February 5th, 2013

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Genre: YA/Romance/ReTelling/Dystopia

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Synopsis:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

My Thoughts: Marissa Meyer has mastered the ReTelling genre! You will not find any others in the genre  that are nearly as unique, imaginative, adventurous, and creative as The Lunar Chronicles. Meyer has breathed the most fresh breath of air possible into stories that we all know so well. She has all but turned these stories on their heads and emptied their pockets and stripped down to their bare essentials. She then rebuilt them in a way only she can, with every page and character becoming something even better and more astounding than it previously was.

I'm sad that it took me so long to read this. I read Cinder last year and I absolutely loved it. You can read my review for Cindre here. It should not have taken me this long to get my hands on the sequel, and if it weren't for my great friend Jenn here passing me on  her copy I would probably still have it on my to read list. So big thanks to Jenn for being so generous and giving me the encouragement I needed to get this book read!

Scarlet is a female heroine we all can't help but love. She has a  fierce loyalty to her loved ones and a determination that never quits. I fell in love with  her just as easily as I fell for Cinder in the first book. Both are female leads you will be rooting for right from the start.

I was especially happy to find that Cinder was in this book. I had assumed that it would be a brand new re-telling with all new characters. This is because I have a habit of not reading the synopsis to sequel books because I just love being surprised too much and I don't want the slightest surprise to be given away. But yes, you can imagine my delight when Cinder was amongst the pages. This delight only intensified to the max as Cinder's and Scarlet's stories intertwined.

The way Meyer has weaved these two fairy tales together is nothing short of incredible. She obviously has a gift for this genre and I would say her books are the yardstick that all others in the genre are measured against. You don't want to miss out on these books. If you have not looked into the Lunar Chronicles yet you seriously need to hop on that train! Pick up these books and prepare to fall in love with the stories you've always known, only this time around, they are revved up, and totally kick ass!

Teaser Tuesday (68)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by  MizB at Should Be Reading

To Participate you:

-Grab your current read

-Open to a random page

-Share two 'teaser' sentences from somewhere on that page

-BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS

This week's teaser comes from:

Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer

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Teaser:

"Hello little girl," he said, his voice too human-like, too re-strained. "I believe my queen has been looking for you."

My Thoughts: I am loving this sequel just as much as I loved Cinder! Freaking awesome, look for my review later this week :).

Review: Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

Dark Triumph

Author: Robin LaFevers

Publication Date: April, 2013

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction

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Synopsis:

Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in 15th-century France forces her return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this thrilling sequel to Grave Mercy.

Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?

My Thoughts: I read Grave Mercy last year and I loved it. I was pretty excited for Dark Triumph and when I received a surprise copy for review I was so happy I did a little dance in the street. Don't judge me. Well I finally got to read it and I loved it even more than Grave Mercy. Dark Triumph follows around Sybella this time and there is less politics and more personal story this time. Which I think is one of the reasons I liked this one so much more.

Sybella had run away from home and gone to the convent to escape her evil father (is he ever evil) and the convent sends her back to his household to be a spy. Who better than family? Someone who will be allowed free reign in the household. Her father doesn't really trust anyone though, he is of course D'Albert. All Sybella wants is to kill him, he's evil and deserves it, but she never sees a marque on him. She begins to lose faith in Mortain, since he is allowing such evil to live and is debating even going against her god to ger her vengeance.

Then there is Beast, the love interest. I can't help but like him. He's a warrior with a soft spot and he make a great team with Sybella when they are travelling. The two of them together are extremely deadly.

Once again, Robin LaFevers writes amazing scenes that you can get lost in, characters that you love, others you hate and takes you on a ride that keeps you wanting more. I just love her writing style so much! This is not a small book, about 400 pages, and I found myself tearing through it. I'm slightly disappointed that I have to wait so long for the next book! This is one of the best series that I've ever read and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, or even anyone looking to try something new.

*A review copy was provided from the publisher for review*

Owl Post (56)

Owl Post is a weekly feature at Owl Read It where we show you what books we've gotten in the past week, as well as recap reviews posted during the week. It is inspired by The Story Siren's In My Mailbox Theme.

Jenn's Haul:

So I had a good week of books this week, I got a $20 gift card for Chapter's as a thank you for watching a little girl all year after school a few days a week and I got credited enough Plum rewards to my account for $5 credit, so I had $25 to spend! I also went to a yardsale and got 3 books for about $0.12 each! I felt like I had robbed them when I left with a huge pile of books for my daughter and some for me.

Meghan's Haul:
I got one book this week. Found it in a used bin at a thrift store and I was pretty excited about it haha. I forgot to take a pic though so I'll  just post the cover :).

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander (J.K Rowling)

Kristal's Haul:
I got a book this week! Thanks to Bella Forrest for an ARC copy of A Castle of Sand:

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Reviews from this week:

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Extras by Scott Westerfeld

***

What new reads did you get this week?

Review: Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Extras

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Publication Date: October 2nd, 2007

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre: YA/Dystopia/Romance

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Synopsis:

It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of "American Idol." Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules. As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn't care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself. Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity...and extreme danger. A world she's not prepared for.

My Thoughts: So here I am with the fourth book in the Uglies series and I unfortunately have to say that I didn't like this one nearly as much as the others and found it to be a little disappointing. It wasn't a bad read, I did like it but it didn't have that same drive and fight that the other ones had. It was missing the umph I have come to expect from this series.

First of all it wasn't told from Tally's point of view this time. And while that's an understandably OK thing to do in a series, change the POV,  was upset about it. I have my reasons, one of them being that Tally was getting so kick ass and awesome and I was not ready to let her go yet. Not only did we have to leave Tally behind just as she was finally discovering her real self but we got a very mediocre replacement. Aya fuse was a lying, manipulative, petty girl. She would admit to herself that she would say what needed to be said so she could get what she wanted. Not the kind of hero I had grown accustomed to and definitely not making me feel better about losing out on Tally.

We didn't completely lose out on Tally, we do get to see her. But when we do everything about her and the old characters we had grown so attached to everything is so cryptic and a lot is left unknown about their present situations and what they've been up to. And that might be OK as well if I knew there was going to be a sequel for us to catch up with them later. But considering this book was released in 2007 I don't think that is going to  happen.

Which brings me to the next thing that bothered me. If this book is supposed to be the last in the series as it would seem to be, I'm really not positive, it didn't really have a nice final ending. We didn't get any closer or finality that we need to move on to a new series. It's like all those characters are just sitting there waiting behind the curtain for the next show to start and we're all waiting out here in our seats but nothing is happening.

I didn't overly enjoy the new city this story takes place in. A place where the main goal is to be as popular as you can no matter what you gotta do to get there. Not my cup of tea. Although it does give a kind of taste of what our own social media is coming to, I get enough of that in my real world, I don't need to re-experience it in a book.

All I seem to have done here is talk about why I didn't like this book. But it wasn't all bad, I did have an alright time reading it, I just felt it to be a poor addition to the series and not the best book for the ending of a series either. But it wasn't slow or boring, it had good surprising plot twists, and some decent suspense. But I guess this one just wasn't for me. I wish the series could have stopped off on a better note.

Teaser Tuesday (67)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by  MizB at Should Be Reading

To Participate you:

-Grab your current read

-Open to a random page

-Share two 'teaser' sentences from somewhere on that page

-BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS

This week's teaser comes from:

Blood of the Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts

Author: Mamoru Oshii

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Teaser:

With no warning whatsoever, a rock could hit you, smashing a body part, shattering bones, The riot police were protected by reinforced-resin helmets and duralumin shields, but tp advance into a torrent of flying rocks was beyond courageous - it was pure recklessness.

My Thoughts: I found this book randomly on the new books shelf at my library and it grabbed my interest right away. I'm hoping it plays out to be as good as I imagine it will be :).
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Review: The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

The Testing
(The Testing #1)

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Genre: Dystopia

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Synopsis:

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same?

The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.

Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one.

But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

My Thoughts: So I had heard a lot of good things about The Testing. A lot of people say that if you like The Hunger Games, to definitely give this one a try. Well am I ever glad I did! I loved The Testing even more than THG. Now I know dystopians are getting old (they really are getting a bit overdone, even for me, the person who read a million of them last year) BUT The Testing was just so good!

Cia is a a great character who is obviously smart, since she's been picked to compete in the Testing for one of the 20 available University spots for the year. Cia is extremely excited because all she's ever wanted was a chance to attend the University. However, after her father, who was also in the Testing, tells her that he has no memories of his time in the Testing, just nightmares, she begins to worry. When she arrives for the Testing and her roommate commits suicide shortly after because of the stress, Cia wonders if maybe her father's mind created the nightmares to replace memories of students crumbling under the pressure. Soon enough, she learns the difference. Maybe the Testing is more dangerous than she thought.

While Cia is smart, she definitely has her faults, one being that she trusts too easily! She's in a competition here and really shouldn't be trusting anyone, but she does anyways, and more than once she almost comes to regret it. She has a bit of romance with a fellow competitor from her home, Tomas, which might possibly blind her to him. He seems okay for the most part, but I just couldn't trust him.

The Testing was a book that I had a hard time putting down. I can't wait for the next book to be released in the series. It's going to be a long wait. I really enjoyed Joelle Charbonneau's writing style, although at times the world building could have been improved a bit, I wasn't sure what had happened to the world for awhile. But, she made up for it with action and a story that kept me sucked in. Overall, it's a great read that I will for sure be recommending, especially if you're a fan of The Hunger Games.

*A Copy was provided for review from the publisher via NetGalley*

Owl Post (55)

Owl Post is a weekly feature at Owl Read It where we show you what books we've gotten in the past week, as well as recap reviews posted during the week. It is inspired by The Story Siren's In My Mailbox Theme.

Jenn's Haul:

I got a few books this week! It's finally yard sale season again and we had a community yard sale yesterday, so I went searching for books!

Meghan's Haul:

So I definitely made up for all my empty handed weeks this week! This was a surprisingly great week for me and I did quite a happy dance with all the books I got. They're all used, but I love used books just as much if not more than new ones :).

Bought:

I got a ton of goosebumps books this week to add to my collection, Im not going to link all those cause it would be crazy lol. But I will link the others :).

The Time Machine by H.G Wells

Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

Son of a Witch by Gregory MaGuire

The Mammoth Book of Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories - Multiple Authors

The Storm of the Century by Stephen King

The Bachman Books by Stephen King

It by Stephen King

The Stand by Stephen King

Library

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Blood of the Last Vampire

Re-discovered

I found a box full of all the Hardy Boys books I used to read in my parents attic last weekend! I was so excited to bring them home with me. I found a bunch of my Goosebumps and Choose Your Own Adventure books too, but I forgot to take a picture of them :(. 

Kristal's Haul:

I feel lacking this week, I have nothing. I have been working all my weekends and have yet to hit a yardsale this year :(

***

Reviews from this week:

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

The Watcher by Lisa Voisin

***

What new reads did you get this week?

Review: The Watcher by Lisa Voisin

The Watcher

Author: Lisa Voisin

Publication Date: March 4, 2013

Publisher: InkSpell Publishing

Genre: Fantasy/Angels

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Synopsis:

Millennia ago, he fell from heaven for her.
Can he face her without falling again?

Fascinated with ancient civilizations, seventeen-year-old Mia Crawford dreams of becoming an archaeologist. She also dreams of wings—soft and silent like snow—and somebody trying to steal them.

When a horrible creature appears out of thin air and attacks her, she knows Michael Fontaine is involved, though he claims to know nothing about it. Secretive and aloof, Michael evokes feelings in Mia that she doesn’t understand. Images of another time and place haunt her. She recognizes them—but not from any textbook.

In search of the truth, Mia discovers a past life of forbidden love, jealousy and revenge that tore an angel from Heaven and sent her to an early grave. Now that her soul has returned, does she have a chance at loving that angel again? Or will an age-old nemesis destroy them both?

Ancient history is only the beginning.

My Thoughts: Oh my God, I really loved this book.  I love angel/nephilim books and this one was out of the ballpark for me.  Angels actually acted like angels and demons like demons.  I liked that the mythology in this one stayed close the the known mythology.

This book is about Mia Crawford, a seemingly ordinary girl with an obession with wings and ancient archaelogy.  Then, Michael Fontaine comes waltzing into her school and her world is flipped upseide down.  She starts seeing things that can't be real, bad things start happening to the people around he and she keeps getting flashes and feelings from a time that she couldn't possibly remember. That is, until she finally discovers Michael's true identity.

I liked Mia.  She was actually a pretty normal teenage girl.  All of the ways that she reacted to each situation just left me cheering her on, since most of her reactions are the way that I envisioned myself reacting to her weird situations - which is rare to find for me.  I guess I am strange.  But that is okay, because Mia was strange with me.  :)

Michael was... enigmatic.  For quite a long time I wasn't sure whether I liked him or not or what his deal was.  I mean, Mia warmed up to him but it took a but for me to.  That was okay though because when I finally did warm up to him man did I ever!  Love this guy!

I loved this book and I can't wait to grab the next one in the series.  I liked the way the story flowed, I liked the plot twists and all of the villains.  At first, I didn't think that this was going to be a book that I was going to enjoy but I am SO glad I finally picked it up and once I did I did not put it down.  This series is definitely on my watch list.

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publication Date: March 22, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: YA/Dystopia/Romance

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Synopsis:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

My Thoughts: This book sat on my shelf for far far too long! I think it was one of the first books I ever won in a blog hop and I have always wanted to read it, but I'm sure you understand how so many other books get in the way. But now that I have finally picked it up and given it a read I am so mad at myself for putting it off for so long. This book surprised me, in the greatest way a book can. I did not expect to love it as much as I did, and I love when a book unexpectedly yanks you right in.

As far as Dystopians go I tend to be quite a fan. This one is definitely keeping to that routine. I went into this book with no idea whatsoever what it was about. I like doing that every now and then. If you pick up a book that you have heard of but don't really know the synopsis of, do something fun and don't read the synopsis, it's fun! So that made the book even more interesting and fun for me because I had no idea what to expect and this book constantly surprised me and kept me on the edge of me seat.

Rhine is a young lady who was kidnapped and forced to be one of three brides to a rich young man named Linden. In this world Women only live until they are 20 and men live until they are 25. So men usually have many brides so they can reproduce lots while trying to work on a cure for this infection that is killing everyone off at such a young age. But being a bride and a baby maker to a cruel, kidnapping, controlling man is the very last thing Rhine wants to do. Luckily Rhine does make friends with the other two wives, each one of them completely different and unique in their own ways and individual back stories.

Even though Rhine is given a life of luxury and protection  to enjoy for the rest of her few years, it is not what she wanted. She is prepared to do what needs to be done to find a way out. The longer she is there the more dark and terrifying things she discovers. She thought things were already pretty darn terrible and devastating, but under the surface is much more darkness than she anticipated.

Will Rhine be able to find a way out? Or will she be forced to perpetuate the cure that Linden's family is looking for so desperately. With only a few short years left and some incredibly tough decisions ahead she has to move quickly. I adored Rhine's character. She was incredibly selfless and could see the good things in even the worst of people and always found a silver lining for the most terrible situations and that is definitely something to be admired.

I really enjoyed this book, I read through it fairly quickly and I immediately went online to order the next in the series :). I would absolutely recommend it to others, especially any dystopian fans !