Great Imaginations

Stacking the Shelves #43

2013-05-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

This week was a pretty good week in physical books. Up until today I had not received any e-books, and then this morning I got approved for a request that I had pretty much assumed was going to go unanswered. I am very excited but man, could you not have approved me sooner? Because now I am even further behind. GAH. Okay, but I'm really excited and I already downloaded it to Kindle so there will be no expiration of THAT galley.

As far as personal stuff goes, this was another rough week for me. I'd love to chat about it more, but I am really trying to move on from what happened and heal. I am trying to maintain a positive outlook and focus on the happiness and excitement I have coming up. BEA! Book Bash and Disney with Karina and Laura! Christina's visit! Vacation to New Jersey! Dan almost being off for the summer! There is a lot of fun stuff coming up to look forward to. I think my summer is more packed than a summer has ever been. Which, if I may be honest, makes me slightly uncomfortable being the hermit that I am, but fuck it. I am really trying to get out more and be more of an extrovert. I will never completely be that person but I do need to find a happy medium.

Okay, I think I rambled long enough. It's time for the booooookksssss.

For review from Macmillan Children's Publishing, I received ARCs of Tumble and Fall by Alexandra Coutts and This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales. Thanks to them and I am so excited to read both of these.

From my lovely, Kriston Johnson, I received my editor's copy of Awakened. It's so pretty! Thanks, Kriston, and thanks for the lovely acknowledgement.

Finally, from my dear friend Jenni at Alluring Reads, I received her ARC of The 5th Wave and I read it already and reviewed it here. It got 4 stars from me, in case you were wondering.

And in e-books this week, I got approved for a copy of Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. This is the one I was whining about up at the top of the page. Still really happy to have it though! And I'm only whining because I am already so behind. I over requested again. FML.

And that's it for me in books this week! Leave me a comment and I will come visit your haul. Until next week...you know the drill.

I didn't think I would have a haul this week, but due to graduation last Saturday, everyone was feeling a little generous, and I was able to pick up some great finds at the used bookstore. The new release shelf was so tempting, it hurt. I also have a wonderful ARC to share, and some new Kindle books. I don't have much to add. It was a highly emotional week towards the end, and I hope to have a steady job by the end of next week. I am also moving, and I will be more than happy to share how many boxes of books we have moved out of this apartment. So, without any further, ado, here is my wonderful haul for the week.

Books:

The Flame in the Mist by Kit Grindstaff - Awww, yeah! I wanted this book in the worst way, and I was lucky that I found it last week. I'm really looking forward to reading this book.

Reboot by Amy Tintera - After seeing a few reviews pop up for this book, I was curious about Reboot. I found it used, thankfully!

Loki's Wolves by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr - YES! I OWN IT!! The pictures really add to this story!

The Divide by Elizabeth Kay - An enticing middle grade book. I have had my eye on this one for a while.

Kindle Books:

I Bring the Fire Part I: Wolves by C. Gockel - I found this by browsing for "Loki" on Amazon's website. I figured it couldn't hurt to give this book a chance. It looks so freaking awesome!

Suicide Watch by Kelley York - This was suggested to me by a fellow blogger (I can't remember who it was - please claim credit!). This book was featured on a TTT, and it sounded like a wonderful addition to my own book collection.

ARCs:

Ink by Amanda Sun - The Holy Terror read this one and loved it, so I thought it would be nice to try to pick it up. Thank you, NetGalley, for approving me!

What did you get this week? Leave a link!

Book Review of The Caged Graves by Dianne Salerni

2013-05-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Clarion Books
Release Date: May 14th 2013
Pages: 336
Genre: Young Adult-Historical
Source: I received a galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

Description from Goodreads: 17-year-old Verity Boone expects a warm homecoming when she returns to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, in 1867, pledged to marry a man she has never met. Instead, she finds a father she barely knows and a future husband with whom she apparently has nothing in common. One truly horrifying surprise awaits her: the graves of her mother and aunt are enclosed in iron cages outside the local cemetery. Nobody in town will explain why, but Verity hears rumors of buried treasure and witchcraft. Perhaps the cages were built to keep grave robbers out . . . or to keep the women in. Determined to understand, Verity finds herself in a life-and-death struggle with people she trusted.

Inspired by a pair of real caged graves in present-day Catawissa, this historical YA novel weaves mystery, romance, and action into a suspenseful drama with human greed and passion at its core.

I'll confess. I probably should have reviewed this right after I finished reading it. Because honestly, I remember very little of what I read. And that's probably because it's not a very memorable book. There are a lot of things you THINK this book will be before you begin reading it, but it actually lives up to very few of those expectations. I appreciate that some of this book is rooted in fact (like there really are caged graves in Catawissa), but the main problem is that this book is pretty boring. I think that maybe readers that read historical fiction more than me may enjoy this one, but for me, this is a period in history that doesn't really interest me. I was going into it expecting the creep factor and a paranormal plot line and it is neither of those. I suppose you could call that a spoiler but I really think it's an important fact that readers should know before picking this one up. It's much more historical than paranormal, and if you are reading it for that, I do think you will be genuinely disappointed.

I also had problems with Verity. She was a fairly unlikable character and I had a hard time rooting or caring for her. She was a snob. Bratty and entitled, she constantly judged those around her and the fact that they weren't from a city and they didn't have all the experiences she had. Of course characters go through growth, and so does Verity, and I liked her more by the end of the book, but she is simply not a character I would have cared for in real life and so why should I care for her in a book?

Also? A love triangle. I feel that it's a decently written triangle and I did care for both love interests, and I was conflicted over who Verity should choose, and that tugged at my heart strings a little, so for me that was a positive. I'm not usually a fan of love triangles. But if they are done well, I can deal, and in this case I did because I felt both characters were developed well and the triangle felt realistic and the interactions between the characters worked for me. So I wouldn't immediately write it off because of that element but I did feel it was something that should be stated. There is a largely romantic element to this book though and I almost feel as if the plot took a backseat. It was at least 50/50. So if you love the romance in your YA novels, I am sure you will enjoy this more than I did. Personally, I can do without romance completely. I don't MIND romance, but I certainly don't need it to enjoy a book.

Good things? The prose is lovely. A lot of the side characters were developed well, particularly Verity's father and the housekeeper. The mystery is fun to solve and go along with but it's hard to focus on that when we are being constantly interrupted by a sappy romance. The plot is slow moving and I never felt fully invested in what I was reading until around page 180, and that is FAR too long. I liked the book enough to call it average but I was not won over in the end. Bottom line here: interesting premise with only an average execution. I wan't impressed and so I move on to the next.

3/5 Dragons

Find The Caged Graves on Amazon

Book Review of Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill

2013-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: October 9th, 2012
Pages: 432
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Source: I own a copy

Description from Goodreads:

The end of their world begins with a story.
This one.

In most fairy tales, princesses are beautiful, dragons are terrifying, and stories are harmless. This isn't most fairy tales.

Princess Violet is plain, reckless, and quite possibly too clever for her own good. Particularly when it comes to telling stories. One day she and her best friend, Demetrius, stumble upon a hidden room and find a peculiar book. A forbidden book. It tells a story of an evil being -- called the Nybbas -- imprisoned in their world. The story cannot be true -- not really. But then the whispers start. Violet and Demetrius, along with an ancient, scarred dragon, may hold the key to the Nybbas's triumph . . . or its demise. It all depends on how they tell the story. After all, stories make their own rules.

Iron Hearted Violet is a story of a princess unlike any other. It is a story of the last dragon in existence, deathly afraid of its own reflection. Above all, it is a story about the power of stories, our belief in them, and how one enchanted tale changed the course of an entire kingdom.

Review: At the start of the book, Iron Hearted Violet had a lot of thing that seemed to promise a great story. Everything I was ready to see in a fantasy novel was combined into one book. The book hit all the right notes, but the pacing, inaccurate illustrations and lack of consistency crippled the storyline from the start.

Iron Hearted Violet raises an interesting point about the common misconception of royalty, especially princesses. Go to the Disney store, and you can see what issues face our little girls from a young age – a true princess is flawless. A true princess is beautiful. Something will be tossed in about bravery or a good heart, but a kind soul doesn't sell dolls. Beautiful hair and a fair complexion drives the money machine. I found it interesting that this issue cropped up when Disney decided to give the Brave heroine a complete makeover to drive Merida’s popularity in the marketplace. Fans revolt. I grew up with Barbie dolls, and Ariel was my inspiration when I was a small girl, but it was nice to see a princess hit the scenes that reflected a realistic look. I don’t want to veer off topic, but this very idea about the aesthetically pleasing princess played a center roll in the novel. Right away, I loved this blatant rebellion against plastic-looking female royal heirs.

The entire voice of the book quickly drove the novel into a weirdly detached and whiny novel that never seemed to end. This book went on forever. I can handle a long book, but the inconsistent descriptions drove up the annoyance factor. The characters all seemed like their personalities were just made up as the author went along. I understand that the book was written from the point of view of the storyteller of the court, but the book would have stood a much better chance if it had taken on the voice of the main character. I am unsure if the author wished to make the book seem inconsistent to follow the realistic guidelines that fable-makers tend to assign feelings and actions to the people of their stories, but the results was a rambling emotional mess that really lost steam about mid-point. The world build was weak as well, and for a majority of the book, I felt a bit lost and struggled to keep up with the information and the people.

The illustrator seemed miss the memo about Violet’s appearance, which rubbed me the wrong way. Princess Violet, in the book, was consistently described as unpleasant to the eye. The illustrations, however, depicted a sweet-looking girl. If you’re going to have the bravery to stand up to this hyped up description of pretty, pretty princesses, then have the courage to take a chance and draw the story accurately as well. It sent the wrong message and seemed to cancel out the moral of the story when the girl in the pictures failed to match the girl in the book.

I wanted this book to be more, and it had a chance to be an outstanding novel. We need more authors telling girls that their worth is not equal to their appearances, and there is nothing wrong with looking different from the glossy and romantic images that are pushed on us from a young age. This novel, sad to say, was neutered from the start, and in the end, the book wimped out on an important message and deflated like a balloon after the party. Was it bad? No. Did I set my expectations high? Yes. Could have it been better? Hell yes.

3/5 Dragons

Buy Iron Hearted Violet From Amazon!

Book Review of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

2013-05-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Pages: 480
Genre: Young Adult--Post-Apocalyptic
Series: The Fifth Wave #1
Source: ARC sent by a friend

Description from Goodreads: The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

I wasn't sure how to feel about The 5th Wave at first. I wasn't a fan of the way the book was written at the beginning, and the first third seems to have a bit of a different writing style than the rest. There is a lot of flashing back and differing POVs and it is hard to tell who is who at first. And then there is the exposition and info-dumping. It just keeps going and going, and though I was starting to feel something for these characters, I wanted THEM to tell me their story, not the author. And that's how I felt. Like it was this happened and then THIS happened, and finally this happened. Even though it is written much better than that, it felt all over the place and disconnected. Where was the plot, and when was it going to get going?

But. Even though there was a lot of jumping around, once I got involved in a chapter--whether it was in the past or present--I was won over. The problem was though that some of them were too short. It felt like the second I got engaged, it would end and then we would be with another character.

It's also at this time that I must mention a really weird quote that I found in the book:

"Forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us." At which point her arch nemesis, the sole atheist in Camp Ashpit's foxhole, a college professor named Dawkins, shouted out, "Particularly those of extraterrestrial origin!"

Was it necessary to name him Dawkins? And what was the point in doing that? I hardly think the author meant the actual Richard Dawkins, so what gives? And only having one atheist in this refugee camp? That's another thing I don't believe because in a time of trauma, most people would choose one side or another. They would turn to their faith or lack thereof. So it actually kind of offended me a little as an atheist to think there would only be one of us. I just don't find that realistic in the least. There are more of us than you think. Maybe not as vocal as I am, but there are a lot of atheists out there. So this made me have a sad face and it kind of hung over my head there for a while as I was reading.

Okay, now I'm angry. Pause for a second.

Moving on. At around page 290, the book really began moving and it got really intense. So if you are a reader like me waiting for something major to happen to yank you into the narrative, that's about when it happens. It's not that I disliked the book before, because I didn't, but that is the moment when I felt truly engaged. Creeped out, uncomfortable, and overwhelmed.

The major problem with The 5th Wave that I could see is that it never stops being predictable. It is all laid out there for you if you just think for a second. And in some cases it doesn't even take that much thinking. It is just so obvious. All the way until the end, I knew what was going to happen. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it's not like it isn't a great story, and hey, Cinder was predictable as all get out and I loved that book, but somehow here I expected more.

But what matters the most in this book is the relationships between the characters. What they do when they are knocked off their feet and all hope is lost. How they fight, what they do, who they trust. What plans they make. Those are the important things. How the relationship between Cassie and Evan develops. I'd like to mention other character but I can't without revealing spoilers. But I did enjoy this part of the book. But it wasn't what I was expecting from the novel, and after watching the book trailer, I expected a story with more action. I got some of that toward the second half and it was definitely worth waiting for, but this definitely wasn't a perfect book for me. A little overhyped, maybe? And I have to be cognizant of that in the future when so many of my friends are loving something and I go to read it myself.

I definitely want to continue on with the story though and read more of this author's work. His writing style flowed well and engaged me for the most part. I loved how he wasn't afraid to write the way teens really speak, and yes, that includes profanity. It's realistic. And it was the right decision to include it, especially in a book like this. As much as I want to give it a perfect rating, I just can't. This is not a 5 star book in my opinion. It is very close to being that for me, but there were just too many little things that bogged it down.

Favorite Quote:

"When the moment comes to stop running from your past, to turn around and face the thing you thought you could not face--the moment when your life teeters between giving up and getting up--when that moment comes, and it always comes, if you can't get up and you can't give up either, here's what you do: Crawl."

4/5 Dragons

Find The 5th Wave on Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday #24

2013-05-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to this week's Waiting on Wednesday. Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we showcase upcoming releases we are looking forward to.

This week I have two kind of random picks, but they are both novels that sound pretty interesting to me, particularly the second. The first one is YA and sounds like it could be pretty scary, though the blurb kind of leaves me feeling lost and unsure what to expect. The second book is middle grade fantasy and that is very much the genre I am enjoying right now. I MUST have that one.

Title: Overpowered
Author: Mark H. Kruger

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Release Date: August 27th, 2013

Pages: 432

Blurb: The world’s safest town might actually be a deadly kind of dangerous. And Nica Ashley is about to learn the hard way.

Nica Ashley is accustomed to traveling the globe with her journalist mother, so when she gets sent to live in a small town with the father she barely knows, she’s in for a bit of a culture shock. Barrington prides itself on being a sleepy, family community with the lowest crime rates in the state of Colorado. There’s even a private security force run by Barrington Technology (BarTech) and a nightly curfew for all residents.

On Nica’s first day at school, she meets Jackson Winters and finds out he went from school superstar to living ghost after his girlfriend disappeared a few months ago. When Nica follows him out after curfew one night, they both witness a mysterious green flash—and the next morning the power has gone out and all the birds are dead.

But secrets are well and alive, and as Nica and some of her friends discover they now have abilities best described as “super,” they also realize that Barrington might not be so safe. And that BarTech is looking for them.

Title: The Twistrose Key

Author: Tone Almhjell, Ian Schoenherr

Publisher: Dial

Release Date: October 17th, 2013

Pages: 336

Blurb: When a mysterious parcel arrives at her family’s new home, eleven-year-old Lin Rosenquist has a curious feeling she’s meant to discover what’s inside.

Much to Lin’s surprise, the ornate key contained in the parcel unlocks a spellbinding world called Sylver, hidden behind the cellar door. Sylver is an enchanting land of eternal winter, inhabited by animals that shared a special connection with children in the real world, either as beloved pets or tamed wild animals. In death, they are delivered to Sylver, where they take on a curiously human-like form and still watch over the children they cherish. While Lin is overjoyed to be reunited with her beloved pet, Rufus, she soon learns that the magic of the Petlings and Wilders is failing, and snow trolls want to claim Sylver for themselves. Lin must discover a way to stop them and save this enchanted world.

Full of charm, suspense, and heartfelt emotion, this memorable classic in the making will leave readers breathless.

Thoughts? Interested in either of these? Leave me a comment and I will try to stop by your posts this week. Happy reading!

Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

2013-05-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic: Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects.

Reading is a labor of love. We invest in characters. We celebrate our favorite authors. We promote and fan girl/boy over our most beloved books. We use them to escape life and live somewhere else, meet new people, and live vicariously through the main characters.

Then there are books that we read for a good dose of reality. This week's topic allows us to discuss the books that cover difficult and painful subjects. I do not have a solid list in one particular subject, so I will include the topic that each book discusses as I go through my top ten this week.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (drugs) - I read this book in high school, and it scared the living daylights out of me, but at the same time, it made me thankful for what I had. Shock lit was huge when this released, but this one stuck with me the longest, thanks to the deep emotional drive in the novel.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (death) - I believe this book has made it on a TTT list in the past. Grief and dying are difficult subjects to approach. It is hard to define and place into words. Nelson tackles this chafing topic with a beautiful story of the people left behind after death.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (victim blaming) - I usually avoid these books due to the the saccharine-induced candy coating treatment of real world issues. However, Anderson's novel came across as genuine and authentic, leaving a bittersweet flavor at the end of the book.

After by Amy Efaw (pregnancy) - A sorely overlooked book, this one needs to be read completely to fully comprehend the message of the story, and the hardships that teens face when they accept the choices in their lives. After was a complete shock, and I found the novel highly compelling and down right gutsy.

One Child by Torey Hayden (poverty) - One of the best school-required books I have ever read. This author worked with a number of severe cases of disturbed children, and this book brings up many difficult emotions and conflicting opinions regarding children, crime, definition of giftedness, and the legal system when considering the rights and the lives of elementary students.

Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones (mental illness) - Watching loved ones suffer through a mental illness is beyond any words I can think up. The best way I can describe it is "heart wrenching". Sones, best know for her What My Mother Doesn't Know series, reflects the pain of becoming a witness to mental disturbances, and what happens to a family in the center of the battle.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexander Sherman (poverty/racism) - I never thought I would enjoy a story about the struggles that Native Americans face today in the current social climate, but the honesty in the writing and the pure, ugly truth of the subject matter made this fiction a must-read book for any age.

If You Find Me by Emily Murdock (kidnapping) - This one has rushed onto the scene and been hailed highly by book bloggers. This includes me as well. On the cusp of recent stories about kidnapped children, Murdock pushes the boundaries by enfolding resent events into the young adult literature. A little bit horrible, and a little bit hopeful, If You Find Me is abrasive and beautiful at the same time.

Me, and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (cancer) - Take a John Green novel and flip it right on its head. Then you have this delightful and often cringe-worthy story about a teenager dealing with a classmate's fight with cancer. It doesn't hold back, and at the end, you don't know if you should throw the book across the room, or sing high praises for the tongue-in-cheek approach to "sick lit".

Speechless by Hannah Harrington (homophobia/bullying) - I couldn't get enough of this book. The main character pissed me off at time, and what she did was horrible, but this book doesn't say "sorry" - it says "put on your big girl panties, because we're going to face the truth." It is quite cheeky how Harrington tackled such a serious subject, and in the end, this book hit so close to home that it hurt and entertained all at once.

What books made your list for this week? I am highly interested to see the results of this week's topic - leave a link below!

KC and the Sunshine Chats (4): DNF Reviews and DNFing Books

2013-05-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, everybody! Welcome to another edition of KC and the Sunshine Chats. Today we are going to be talking about DNFing books, and DNF reviews. For those of you that don’t blog, DNF stands for did not finish. This is a hot-button issue that has been discussed a few times in the blogosphere, but I don’t believe I have ever put MY opinion out there and it’s probably time I do that. I know that this is an important topic to many bloggers and it has caused a few arguments, so it’s a good one to talk about.

So, my first question for Christina is this: What do you think about rating books you don’t finish, and do you do it?

CF: No, I do not rate books that I don’t finish. Actually, I didn’t used to do anything with DNF reviews until I figured out how to add a shelf for DNFs on Goodreads, so that they wouldn’t be on my to-read shelf still. Learning about exclusive shelves was a gamechanger. Now, I do post a brief explanation for why I wasn’t feeling the book for the short amount of it I read, and shelve it as DNF. I don’t rate it, because, personally, I just don’t feel comfortable rating a book I haven’t read in its entirety. This might be why I don’t like anthologies/collections. I have to suffer through all of the crappy stories to feel like I can rate/review.

KM: So you don’t include them anywhere on the blog then? Just Goodreads? That’s usually what I do. I used to post my DNF reviews up on the blog, but then I ran out of space and that was like the least important thing I was doing, so it had to go. I still post them on Goodreads though. As far as rating, I actually DO rate books I haven’t finished, but it’s a really rare occasion when I do this because I save it for the utterly horrendous. Like Alice In Zombieland. I didn’t finish it and I still rated it. That book was ridiculous and unreadable. Ha. So I felt like I almost had to. But again, this is something I don’t do often. I rarely read short stories either. Just not my thing, I guess. So, have you ever gotten shit from other users over writing DNF reviews?

CF: Well, I did do a roundup of my DNFs during the first few months of 2013. I’d not really done that before, just because it didn’t really occur to me, but I’d had some people ask about what I DNFed in 2012, and I had no clue, because I wasn’t recording it at that point. I didn’t link the DNFs in my Review Archive, but they’re there if you look. Bleh, I did finish Alice in Zombieland, and just...no. I can’t. Oh, and speaking of getting shit over DNF reviews: I got my second troll on my blog ever (that I remember anyway) when I posted that roundup of reviews. So yeah. I’m sort of on the fence about doing that again, but then the trolls win.

KM: I haven’t gotten any on the blog, but that’s because I only did it a couple of times, and it was pretty much before anyone knew about our blog. I did get one on Goodreads though one time. I DNFed and rated a book that I had won from a Goodreads giveaway, and I was told by staff that I had to do that or it would mess up my winning algorithm. It’s effed up anyway, but I did what they said, and this woman flipped her shit because I one-starred a book she loved apparently. It was just one comment but it pissed me off. Anyway, I don’t particularly care about trolls anymore, but those were the early days, so yeah. So how do you structure your DNF reviews? And have you gotten positive feedback from other readers about their helpfulness?

CF: Oh, yeah, GR decides if you can win more by if you’ve reviewed the ones you already won. Thus why I don’t enter any at the moment, since I have two reviews outstanding. Oops. I don’t have the stones to not be freaked out by the trolls. This comment was sort of funny, though, because the troll was like “why would you waste your time reading books you don’t like?” on a post about how I didn’t do that. *tilts head*

KM: Weird. I don’t have ANY reviews outstanding and I haven’t won a book from them in over a year now. I guess they don’t like me. LOL!! I remember that comment and it made me cackle like a madwoman. Could they have been anymore obtuse?

CF: The fact that people get so up in arms about them does make me glad that, back before I knew anything about the community when I started my blog, I didn’t include them. It just never occurred to me to do so. However, I do enjoy reading other people’s DNF reviews. Doesn’t mean I will take their word as gold, but if they’ve read half or more that’s enough to make a real judgment, and I can see reviewing it, even if I don’t. Even if it’s just of twenty pages, go right ahead. I do like for DNF reviews to be clearly marked, and even better to say how much the reviewer read (something I’ll add to my next DNF roundup.

Oh, Kara just kicked me behind the scenes because I missed that question about formatting DNF reviews and positive feedback. *rubs shins* Okay, there’s no specific format to them. Usually, it’s just one brief paragraph about what wasn’t working for me (lack of characterization, something rage-inducing early on, bored to tears, confusing). Though I did go all out with my Period 8 DNF review and outline the first 25 pages and how awful they were. Pretty proud of that one honestly. Oh, and, yes, most people respond positively, even when they say “I still want to read it,” which is totally fine by me. Best of luck to you!

KM: I love reading DNF reviews, actually. I find them extremely helpful, especially when they are coming from bloggers I trust. At this point, I pretty much know what I like and don’t like, so seeing something in a DNF review that rubs me the wrong way is usually a pretty big indicator that I shouldn’t be reading it. Last year, I wrote a lot of snarky reviews. I still like to do that, but this year, I am not reading as many books I like, and I am DNFing a lot more often than I have in the past. And you are right. Including how much the reviewer has read is important because if they only read twenty pages, that’s not going to mean as much to me as someone who had read one hundred.

I format mine pretty much the same way you do. I used to take a lot of notes when reviewing, but I stopped doing that because it felt like work. I am thinking I might start it up again in the future though because I feel that my reviews have been lacking in detail lately. Sorry for the off topic. LOL. I loved your Period 8 review. I thought it was wonderful, and that’s part of the reason I want to start taking notes again. So...how do you feel about DNFing in general? How often do you do it? Is it easy for you to DNF a book, and what makes you do so?

CF: I do love reading them too, because they tend to be really hilarious. Plus, they can save me from a book I would hate, if I have similar taste. Obviously, the better I know someone, the more impact their DNF review will have on me. I know that I often agree with you or Giselle or Jenni or April, so if you guys don’t like something, then I’m going to be more likely to pass. In the end, that DNF review is saving the author from additional bad reviews because we can avoid the book which would have made us mad the same way. I’m DNFing more too! A whole 6 books in 2013 already. *pats self on back*

Speaking of only reading twenty pages, I generally DNF by page 50. Otherwise, I feel like I’ve committed so much time to the book that I might as well finish. I thank my lucky stars I haven’t been trolled much since I often finish books I didn’t like from the beginning, because I kept hoping they would get better, and, by the time I was sure that it wouldn’t I was too far in to stop. So, if I’m not feeling a book very early on, generally either because I am incredibly bored or already enraged, I will go look up reviews for the book, both negative and positive and see if I think there are any chances of it improving for me. If I seriously doubt it, I DNF with a swiftness. How about you?

KM: I agree. And I decided not to read How My Summer Went Up in Flames based on one of your reviews. I know you didn’t DNF it, but I have a feeling I would have. I think sending a message to HarperCollins saying I know this book would upset me instead of reviewing and ranting over it is going to be better for me in the long run. I don’t like to be angry when I read, and I am sure the author would appreciate the lack of that review, even though I don’t write my reviews for authors. I just don’t like to read books I hate anymore. At least not lately.

I have DNFed (goes to look) 7 books this year so far. Almost the same as you. I actually thought there were more than that. I usually give a book one hundred pages unless it makes me rage early on. But this changes based on the book so I am sure some of them are 50 like you. Last year, I finished a lot of books I probably shouldn’t have. This year, I am not doing that. Even IF they are review books. If the publisher doesn’t understand (they will), oh well, because I am not torturing myself.

CF: How My Summer Went Up in Flames ended up being a 3 star for me. The main character would piss you off enough that I don’t think it would have been for you. I was able to enjoy that the characters were at least well-developed, even if Rosie is a hypocritical bitch. *coughs* Umm, but yeah, general things.

One hundred pages is too many pages. If it’s really long, I might give it more. It’s sort of a ten percent rule, I guess. If it’s not grabbed me in ten percent, and the reviews praise things I don’t care about or complain about things I hate, then we’re done. Usually though, I’m not that unhappy in such a short period of time, or I’m convinced things will improve against all reason. I never used to DNF review books, because I was afraid the publisher would hate me, but now I will. I accepted some crazy stuff early days and had to write negative reviews that were like “Well, this totally wasn’t for me and I knew that, but, uhhh, it was free?” AWKWARD.

KM: I like your ten percent rule. I generally go about twenty, I think though. If a book is 350 pages, I’ll read 70 before quitting. Unless it makes me rage quit. I know you would hate that though. 70 is a LOT. Hahaha!

And so did I. When I first started blogging, I would take everything that was offered to me. I just wanted stuff to read. I think everyone does that. Now I don’t even answer most of the email requests I get. I just don’t have the time. Totally awkward. I reviewed a lot of self-published books and I am lucky that I didn’t get trolled early on because most of the drama comes from that area of the publishing industry. Not all, mind you, but yeah. And it was torture, trying to finish those books that I hated. And then reviewing them? I didn’t DNF at all in the beginning and I should have. I didn’t want anyone to feel bad and I didn’t want to hurt any feelings. Let’s just say that I’ve changed a LOT. So, anything else to add on this topic, Christina? Or are we ready to wrap it up and ask for comments?

CF: I could say more, but it would be on a tangent. Maybe we need to tackle the early days of review copies in a later chat?

KM: Sure! That sounds like a great idea. I love talking about my early days of blogging because everyone’s experiences were different.

CF: Next time on KC and the Sunshine Chats, find out all the things Christina did wrong when she started book blogging. Are you excited? Yeah, you are!

KM: I can’t wait for this topic! Muahahaha.

Bloggers, what are your policies for DNFs? Readers, do you like DNF reviews? How long do you stick it out in a book you’re not liking before you DNF?

Links for post:

DNF roundup: http://readeroffictions.blogspot.com/2013/04/january-march-2013-dnfs.html

Period 8 review on GR: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/479878850

How My Summer Went Up in Flames: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/412820178

Alice in Zombieland review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/191504566

Stacking the Shelves #16

2013-05-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

This week - WOW! It is my last official week as a student! *party party* Now I must set out to fulfill my obligation to society and find a job. The field is ugly right now, and the job well is running on low, but my huge pile of medication endless cheery attitude will help me find the job of my dreams!

I have all small, digital stack this week. I have a few ARCs and a new Kindle book. I must admit that quality instead of quantity is on my side this week. Let's get to the books!

Kindle:

Frost by Kate Avery Ellison - looks like is could possibly be a winner!

ARCs:

Sworn to Raise by Terah Edun - From Netgalley.

Year of Shadows by Claire LeGrand - From Edelweiss. A lovely surprise from that website. I am ecstatic to have this one!

What did you get this week? leave a link!

Stacking the Shelves #42

2013-05-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

Before I start the haul, I just wanted to say thank you for all the 'feel better' comments I got last week. I AM feeling better, but holy crap did I have some crazy dreams last night. And I didn't even take my Melatonin. I wish I remembered them so I could write a book about them. Because I think if I ever do write a book, it will have to be based off a dream. I don't get very many ideas when I am awake. My brain just doesn't work that way.

Anyway.

This week I got a couple of review books in the mail, another small package from Christina at A Reader of Fictions, I bought a book recommended by Pam at Bookalicious, and I got a few e-books for review. All in all, a pretty big week, but a bit all over the place. Uhhh, let's get started?

So, in physical books this week, I got another package from Candlewick. Thanks again! They alone keep me overloaded with review books. They are:

The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

North of Nowhere by Liz Kessler

From Christina at A Reader of Fictions, I got a copy of Trial by Fire by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts. I am LOLing over this one a little bit. She sent it to me because I used to be a huge fan of Survivor. I don't watch it anymore, but I will give this one a shot because it's short and hey, it's a survivalist story. I think.

In e-books for review this week, I got:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell from St. Martin's Press (Netgalley)

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason from Chronicle Books (Edelweiss)

Enemy Within by Angeline Kace from the author. (This is book two of the Vampire Born trilogy.)

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Angeline Kace, and Chronicle books for these awesome galleys this week!

And then finally, I purchased a copy of Suddenly Royal for my Kindle because Pam at Bookalicious was raving about it for a couple hours on her Twitter one day last week. I already had it on my wishlist, and it was cheap, so...I bought it! I haven't bought a book in a while.

And that's it for me this week! Leave me a comment and I will try to come visit your hauls and leave one. Happy reading!

Book Review of The Circle by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren

2013-05-10T16:55:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Overlook Press
Release Date: May 2nd, 2013
Pages: 608
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher.

Description from Goodreads: On a night after the apparent suicide of high school student Elias Malmgren, a blood-red moon fills the night sky. Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates--Vanessa, Linnea, Anna-Karin, Rebecka and Ida--arrive, compelled the same force. A mystical being takes over Ida's body and tells them they are fated to fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. The park is a safe haven; the school, a place of danger. The six are wildly different and definitely not friends…but they are the Chosen Ones.

As the weeks pass, each girl discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin exploring their powers, but they are not all firmly committed to their mission--to discover the truth about Elias's death. Then a horrible tragedy strikes within the circle. Newly determined to fight the evil forces, they begin to learn magic from The Book of Patterns, an ancient work with a will of its own that reveals different things to different witches.

In this gripping first installment of the Engelsfors Trilogy, a parallel world emerges in which teenage dreams, insanely annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love collide with flirtation, dangerous forces, and ancient magic. An international sensation with rights sold in 24 countries, The Circle is razor-sharp and remarkable from start to finish.

I'm not sure what i expected out of The Circle y'all but it definitely wasn't what I got. First of all, this book is way too freaking long. That could be the translation because the original is only 516 pages, so this one is almost another hundred, but honestly, for this book, even 500 pages is too long. It's not a bad book, mind you, it's just that the pacing is all over the place and there is no excuse for that. It felt like there were entire chapters where nothing happened, and my god the exposition. Oh LORD. It went on forever!

Okay, so first thing you should know is that there are a LOT of characters in The Circle. There are 6 main girls and a whole lot of teachers, principals, parents, and friends to keep track of. It's a lot. As you can imagine, with that many characters, the characterizations were either going to be make it or break it. And I am sad to say that it was mostly break it. By the end of the book I cared enough about them, but once again, this book is 600 pages. That should have happened sooner. This book is so bloated with different POVs and characters that were in the book for all of 5 pages, that there was never any time to get to know them. That, and there is the fact that you can pretty much define each girl by a couple of character traits and that is it. There is the chubby, dorky one (Anna Karin), the popular girl who bullies the dorky girl (Ida), the brainy loner (Minoo), the goth, weird one that has no friends (Linnea) etc. They are walking stereotypes for teen girls and the more I read on, the more that became apparent they really had no depth and were not going to have any.

But. Now that I have gotten the negative out of the way, there ARE good things. The story is incredibly engaging. When the book is not being slow, it's really exciting. It take a while for things to get going, but once it does, I liked it. The problem is that this book needed tightening up. Like a lot. It's a great story, the writing is good, I liked the translation (for the most part--there were a few awkward structural issues toward the beginning), and I think it will make a great film (though it will be foreign, I might see it), but it was easy to walk away from because of the pacing issues. And that's kinda bad because how many people put a book down out of boredom and never pick it back up again? A lot, I would say.

I do like books about witches and witchcraft though, and there were some interesting ideas here that I have not seen in other witchcraft books. But it's not wholly original, no, but I did think that the relationship dynamics worked well in the novel. Yeah, there are come common tropes, but I thought the way they conversed and interacted with each other was well done for the most part. It's a little angsty, but I know some of you like that so that's good to know, right?

So will I read the next one? Perhaps. I have not decided yet. It depends on the length because if it is as long as this one, I can see it having similar pacing issues. But at the same time, now that a lot of exposition is out of the way, it might be a whole lot better. I'd like to see the PLOT take a main focus in the next book, because it was there in this one, but a little hard to find at times. And I know it seems like I didn't like this one, but that is really not the case. It's just the length that keeps it from rating higher. But you would have to find that out for yourself! If you like books about witches, I say give it a go.

Oh, and I loved the Swedish setting. I really did.

3/5 Dragons

Find The Circle: The Engelsfors Trilogy--Book 1 on Amazon

Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today on the blog we have a guest post from Faith Erin Hicks, illustrator of the YA graphic novel, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong. We are happy to be a part of the blog tour, and are delighted to bring you an entertaining guest post which is followed by a giveaway of the book! I haven't been able to read it yet, but I have heard nothing but great things as there are quite a few positive reviews from my blogger friends. I do have a copy of my very own and I look forward to reading it shortly. Before we get started on the guest post, a little background information about the book:

Also, I want to thank First Second Books for asking us to be a part of this tour!

Publisher: First Second Books

Release Date: May 7th, 2013

Pages: 288

Book Description: You wouldn’t expect Nate and Charlie to be friends. Charlie’s the laid-back captain of the basketball team, and Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. But they are friends, however unlikely—until Nate declares war on the cheerleaders. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms—but not both.

It's only going to get worse: after both parties are stripped of their funding on grounds of abominable misbehavior, Nate enrolls the club's robot in a battlebot competition in a desperate bid for prize money. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving to illicitly enter a televised robot death match? Of course!

In Faith Erin Hicks' and Prudence Shen's world of high school class warfare and robot death matches, Nothing can possibly go wrong.

Guest Post by Faith Erin Hicks

Why Write YA comics?

Hi, I'm Faith Erin Hicks, and I write and draw comics for a living. I've been making comics regularly since posting my very first comic page online in 1999, back in the dark ages of the internet. That comic, an angsty, often clumsily drawn long form comic strikingly derivative of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was called Demonology 101, and when I finished drawing it (and graduated from college) in 2004, it was over 700 pages long. I wrote and drew Demonology 101 for one very basic reason: I wanted to read comics that were made for me, a teenage girl who liked comics. And everywhere I looked, there were no comics for me.

(Aside: this is actually a little unfair. Back in the very late 90s and early 00s, there were comics that I would have enjoyed a lot, had I been able to find them. Bone, by Jeff Smith, for example, or Battle Angel Alita, or Love & Rockets. However, I grew up in a small Canadian town without a good comic store, and this was before libraries had embraced graphic novels, so I had little access to comics beyond the superhero variety. I read those, but they weren't really what a socially awkward teenage girl wanted to read. Or they weren't what I wanted to read. I wanted to read Buffy the Vampire Slayer in comic form. And since there weren't any Buffy comics that I knew about, I made them myself.)

Now it is nearly ten (!!!) years after the end of Demonology 101, and I am about to have my seventh graphic novel published. It's called Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, and is about two guys, Nate and Charlie, one's a geek, one's a jock, friends and rivals in a disastrous school election. Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong has everything: over the top comedy, gestapo cheerleaders, vicious robot fights ... teenage me would have loved to read it.

Of the seven graphic novels I've drawn (and written four of them), six have been books that some kind of teenager (I hope) would enjoy. Zombies Calling is about university students forced to battle a zombie invasion using their knowledge of zombie movie cliches. Brain Camp is about a creepy summer camp that might be doing something horrifying to the campers. Friends With Boys is about a homeschooled girl going into public high school for the first time (to keep this comic in theme with the rest of my comics, she's stalked by a ghost). For the most part, I write and draw comics for the teenager who really wants to read comics made for them. And I write and draw them for me at that age, a nerdy girl who wanted to read comics so badly that she made her own, and then made it her career.

I read a lot of YA prose books. I think they're pretty awesome, and I love how vibrant and diverse they are. Different types of stories being told by different characters, a literal bonanza of storytelling choices. I wish for this kind of diversity in comics for teenagers as well, from deeply personal stories like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian to fantastic adventures like The Girl of Fire and Thorns or The Scorpio Races. Comics are creeping towards the diversity of prose ever so slowly: Jeff Smith's Bone sits on the shelf with Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, Nightschool by Svetlana Chmakova and Mercury by Hope Larson, but we need more. Hopefully, years down the road, some other teenager will look at the graphic novels offered to him or her and think “these are not what I want, so I will make my own comics.” And maybe he or she will make comics their career as well.

About the Authors:

Faith Erin Hicks

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr

Born in the wilds of British Columbia, the young Faith frolicked among the Sasquatch native to the province before moving to Ontario at age five. There she was homeschooled with her three brothers, and developed an unnatural passion for galloping around on horseback, though never without a proper helmet (because you only get one skull). After twenty years of suffering through Ontario’s obscenely hot summers, she migrated east, and now lives beside the other ocean in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She worked in animation for a bit, and now draws comics full time. She’s not sure how that happened either.

Prudence Shen

Website | Twitter

Giveaway:

I have one finished copy graciously given by First Second Books for giveaway to US/CA addresses.

Giveaway ends May 20th at midnight.

Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review of Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston

2013-05-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: March 26th, 2013
Pages: 176
Genre: Young Adult-Contemporary
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher.

Description from Goodreads: A teenage girl. A survivalist childhood. And now a bomb strapped to her chest. See the world through her eyes in this harrowing and deeply affecting literary thriller.

I’m Valkyrie White. I’m fifteen. Your government killed my family.

Ever since Mabby died while picking beans in their garden — with the pock-a-pock of a helicopter overhead — four-year-old Valley knows what her job is: hide in the underground den with her brother, Bo, while Da is working, because Those People will kill them like coyotes. But now, with Da unexpectedly gone and no home to return to, a teenage Valley (now Valkyrie) and her big brother must bring their message to the outside world — a not-so-smart place where little boys wear their names on their backpacks and young men don’t pat down strangers before offering a lift. Blythe Woolston infuses her white-knuckle narrative, set in a day-after-tomorrow Montana, with a dark, trenchant humor and a keen psychological eye. Alternating past-present vignettes in prose as tightly wound as the springs of a clock and as masterfully plotted as a game of chess, she ratchets up the pacing right to the final, explosive end.

This review has spoilers. I simply cannot write it without them. If you intend to read this novel, I'd skip this review because I have to talk about the writing, and considering it has an unreliable narrator, it's impossible to not spoil something.

Before I get started, Black Helicopters is not a dystopian novel. It is a contemporary novel. A very disturbing contemporary novel. With a majorly unreliable narrator. Valley keeps you confused the entire time, wondering what is really going on. Thing is, it's really not that complicated. Whatever you think is probably going on is actually probably going on. There are very few surprises here. But living inside Valley's mind while she narrates can be a very confusing place regardless, not to mention, she is a little hard to like because of her viewpoint. I actually didn't mind here though because in most cases you really aren't supposed to like unreliable narrators.

Valley was raised in a cabin in the wilderness away from people. She lived a very sheltered life with a very unstable man who influenced and brainwashed every thought and feeling she had. Because of this, everything she does and says after she gets out into the real world is colored by her experience. She thinks everyone and everything is out to get her. She is afraid of these black helicopters that killed her Mabby.

This is not a novel that will get you a lot of answers. It is very literary in scope. The writing was lovely, but also a bit simple for me. You will finish reading with so many questions. Do the black helicopters really exist? Are they truly bad? What happened to Mabby? Even the ending is not concrete. It is assumed what happened, but you have to kind of lead yourself there. It's sort of open ended. There is some tough subject matter here, and with the things that have been going on in our world lately, utterly relevant and difficult to read at times.

I did like this book. But it was disturbing and I lacked the emotional connection to it that I think I was supposed to feel. So often, reading is influenced by our own personal experiences, and more often than not, the really tough contemporaries don't make me feel as much I I should. I was just left feeling uncomfortable and cold. That said, it does pack a punch and I do think the right reader will enjoy it quite a bit. It just wasn't the right book for me at this time.

3/5 Dragons

Black Helicopters on Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday #23

2013-05-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to this week's Waiting on Wednesday. Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we showcase upcoming releases we are looking forward to.

This week I have two upcoming fall novels that I am looking forward to. One is definitely YA, and I think the other one is middle grade based on the age of the characters, but the cover doesn't look very MG. *shrugs* One may possibly be at BEA, and who knows, maybe the other will too. Either way, I love the covers and blurbs on both of these, and I am excited to bring more attention their way via my posting here today. Hopefully there is something you like.

Title: Until it Hurts to Stop

Author: Jennifer R. Hubbard

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Release Date: Sept. 12th, 2013

Description from Goodreads: When you can’t trust anyone, how can you ever feel safe?

In seventh grade, Maggie Camden was the class outcast. Every day, the other girls tripped her, pinched her, trapped her in the bathroom, told her she would be better off dead. Four years have passed since then, and Maggie’s tormentors seem to have moved on. The ringleader of them all, Raleigh Barringer, even moved out of town. But Maggie has never stopped watching for attacks, and every laugh still sounds like it’s at her expense. The only time Maggie feels at peace is when she’s hiking up in the mountains with her best friend, Nick. Lately, though, there’s a new sort of tension between the two of them—a tension both dangerous and delicious. But how can Maggie expect anything more out of Nick when all she’s ever been told is that she’s ugly, she’s pathetic, she’s unworthy of love? And how can she ever feel safe, now that Raleigh Barringer is suddenly—terrifyingly—back in town?

Okay, a book about bullying. Normally I don't read about this topic since I was a victim of it in middle school, and contrary to what people believe, you don't ever forget, but something about this blurb and cover speaks to me. So I'm gonna try it. Those of you that have read Jennifer R. Hubbard, what do you think of her work?

Title: Wake Up Missing

Author: Kate Messner

Publisher: Walker Children's

Release Date: September 10th, 2013

Description from Goodreads: Meet Quentin, a middle school football star from Chicago... Sarah, an Upstate New York girls’ hockey team stand-out...
Ben, a horse lover from the Pacific Northwest...
And Cat, an artistic bird watcher from California.

The four have nothing in common except for the head injuries that land them in an elite brain-science center in the Florida Everglades. It’s known as the best in the world, but as days pass, the kids begin to suspect that they are subjects in an experiment that goes far beyond treating concussions….and threatens their very identities. They’ll have to overcome their injuries – and their differences – to escape, or risk losing themselves forever.

Okay, first thing that grabs me is the Florida setting. There aren't that many books that use Florida as a setting. Which is weird because you would totally think that would not be the case. Also, I love Sci-Fi thrillers. And the idea that this is middle grade (at least I think it is), kind of thrills me. I need to have this book. Also, this is the one that is supposed to be at BEA so I really hope I can snag a copy.

So those are my picks for this week. Thoughts? Leave me a comment and I will try to reciprocate! Happy reading!

Book Review + Giveaway - Loki’s Wolves by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr

2013-05-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Pages: 368
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Series: The Blackwell Pages #1
Source: Borrowed ARC from Amy at Book Loving Mom!

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarok, that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters--wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds, all bent on destroying the world.

The gods died a long time ago.

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history--because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt's classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke.

However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids--led by Matt--will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen's lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

Review: I have been talking non-stop about this book prior to the release date. Thanks to my constant whining and social media, I was lent this book by a wonderful blogger.

I felt almost happy with this book at times. I do not set out to compare books side by side, but Percy Jackson fans will be thrilled with this book. It was adventurous, fresh, and downright fun. There is a lot to cover, so I’ll break it down into little bits.

Character: The modern counterparts to the Norse gods were a nice touch. I did enjoy Matt’s overall growth as a stronger character, looking to take charge of his destiny. Fen and Laurie were a little more difficult to pinpoint. I ended up having a very high respect for Laurie, and my opinion of Fen fell as the book continued. Baldwin was just flat out awesome. The authors got it right on this reincarnated God. I hope that the next book covers the twins in a little more detail in the next installation. All in all, it was Matt and Laurie who really carried the entire storyline.

Plot: Middle Grade books usually run on team work, and this one was no exception. A trio of young teens set out to overcome an obstacle. The storyline was a bit muddy, and the audience had to wade through quite a bit of info dumping about the Brekkes before the story took flight. The first few chapters are a wreck, but the storyline really picks up and sets up a great adventure when it finally starts to roll. I do love how each of the main characters struggled to find their place in the team. This helps reach a wider range of young children and teens struggling with the same issue in real life. Where do I belong? How can I ever fit in? How can I ever become anything? Throughout the book, we see the three center characters start to develop a stronger sense of what it means to be a part of a pack, and the message that friendship can develop in the most barren places was a nice, sweet touch.

Writing: Not the strongest part of the book. The authors seemed to repeat some of the major elements over and over. Repetition is no big deal, but you can only read about Fen loving Laurie like a sister so many times before you wish to rip your own hair out. I also felt that the authors wanted to rush some parts of the book, and never fully explained some of the characters. They treated some of the plot devices as extra baggage and expected the reader to just accept the major gaps in the story line.

Connection to Norse Mythology: Here is where my nerd reflexes come into play. I was super picky over the Nordic aspect of the book. I will admit that I learned something new, however. I was under the impression that Odin’s Horse, Sleipnir, was the reason we have “nightmares”. I was mistaken after I looked it up. I liked the wolf portion of the book, and how the author’s wound Loki and the Wolves into a modern day retelling. The story of Baldr was also a major portion of the book. I was a little unhappy with the handling of that particular myth. The treatment of two of the characters who represented two of the main gods also riled me up. They were major gods, but the book just pushed and shoved them throughout the storyline. However, this was a story about Thor and Loki, and I could see similar threads in this book that corresponded with the mythology. The one, big huge thorn in my side was the treatment of Laurie by the other two guys. Vikings and Nordic ancestors were HUGE on female rights, but Laurie constantly battled the male egos of the two other characters. No no no. If you write about Norse mythology, then your females are kick-ass awesome. End of story.

Overall, I think this series is going to be wonderful. This book had some of the hiccups of a first tome in a series, but I believe that the story is strong enough to carry a larger arc throughout the entire story line. If you like middle grade adventures and an ongoing series, you’ll like it. Norse and Vikings lovers: give it a chance. It is a nice way to finally add some rivalry to the Greek and Roman mythology that is highly popular in middle grade fiction at the moment.

4/5 Stars

Buy Loki's Wolves on Amazon

Giveaway:

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Book Review of The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

2013-05-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: April 30th, 2013
Pages: 446
Genre: Young Adult-Dystopian, Paranormal
Series: Blood of Eden #2
Source: NetGalley

Description from Goodreads: Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

Ummm, yup. I adored The Eternity Cure. It's a 5 star review, so what do you say? There is gushing, gushing, and more gushing, but it's hard for me to be critical when there is absolutely nothing to be critical about. I can tell you a few interesting tidbits about my reading experience with this book and the first book in the series, and then I am going to express my feelings with a few GIFs and wrap this up quickly. I don't do 5 star reviews well, and that's that.

To be completely honest, I didn't love The Immortal Rules all that much. It was just a very average reading experience for me. I do really like Julie Kagawa's writing style, but her plots have never really impressed me all that much. I didn't like Allison a whole lot in book one, so going into reading book two, I expected more of the same, but I decided to read it anyway because I like The Immortal Rules enough to continue on and I really did want to know what happened. Rarely though does a second book in a series get any better for a reader, but in this case, I was blown away. For whatever reason (not that it matters), I really became a fan of Allison. I remember only liking Kanin when I read the first book. Well. Now I kind of love ALL the characters.

The plot is super exciting. It may start out a little slow for some, but the writing is fantastic, so the slow pacing didn't bother me in the least. It picks up quickly though and once it does, there is no slowing down. Technically, there is nothing else to criticize, and looking back at my other 5 star ratings this year (there are only 6), this may be my favorite book of the year so far. All that there really is left to talk about is the way the book made me feel. And since I promised you GIFs...

I think it is, because I fell in love with this book. It was pure book lust. It made me feel every emotion there was to feel. Except maybe humor. This book wasn't funny. It was fucking terrifying in places. Mole people? Sarren?

In fact, it was so damn awesome and mentally exhausting, and I cried so freaking much over that brutal ending (Julie Kagawa is a demon like her characters), that after I was done...

Yeah, just read it. There are not enough GIFs or words in the English language to express these emotions. Maybe in Japanese. No, probably not even in Japanese.

5/5 Dragons

The Eternity Cure on Amazon

It's only 8.57 on Amazon to pre-order it. Trust me when I say that is a STEAL. It's worth every penny and then some. And if you have not yet started this series, you can purchase The Immortal Rules for $7.39.

The book trailer is down below and I really like it. It's spoiler free, in my opinion, so feel free to watch!

Stacking the Shelves #15

2013-05-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

Depression? Check. Unemployment? Check. Anxiety? Check. I'm weak. I broke down and drug myself into one of my favorite used bookstores to ease my aching heart. The Viking section was well stocked as well. I hit the jackpot this week!

I found some other books I have been craving, and a recent release that caught my attention as well. Nothing new in the Kindle field this week.

Flowcharts understand me

Books:

(From left to right)

The Saga of Erik the Viking by Terry Jones - I have been searching for this book everywhere!

If You Were There: Viking Times by Antony Mason - THIS ONE HAS A BOARD GAME IN THE BACK!!

Madapple by Christina Meldrum - Severely raised my interest after reading reviews!

Dragon Keeper by Carole Wilkinson - I found the fist book in the series! YEAH!

Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki - I am trying to shoulder my way into the manga world, and I loved the artwork in this book!

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - I couldn't pass up this book twice in a row.

The Last Academy by Anne Applegate - I am putting a LOT of faith into this book...

Viking Village Sticker Picture by A.G. Smith - VIKING STICKER BOOK I CAN'T EVEN!!!

Hammer of the Gods: Mortal Enemy by Mike Oeming and Mark Wheatley - A fantastic-looking graphic novel. Why not?

Before I forget....VIKING BOARD GAME IN A BOOK!!

What books did you get this week? Leave a link below!

Stacking the Shelves #41

2013-05-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

This was a pretty quiet week. I am expecting a lot of books but only a couple of them came (one I think got lost and I am going to cry because I wanted it so badly), and I also got one e-book for review.

I haven't been feeling well this week again because of those stupid headaches I get. The migraine part of it is over, but now I am waking up with head pain every day and it takes a few hours to fade. By the time that's over, I'm exhausted. Yes, I have been to the doctor, and no, there is nothing they can do unless i want to go off my anxiety and thyroid meds. So I'm stuck. Hopefully it's a weather thing that will fade soon. It's been raining a lot and humid here.

Anyway, now that I have my complaining out of the way, on to the books. Oh, and Lyn will be back more often now, I think, so yay for that! I am currently editing a manuscript that is kicking my ass with its difficulty but I am close to finishing, so there is that.

Books!

I got a copy of the graphic novel, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks from First Second for review. I'm on the blog tour for this as well but my review will not come until later.

From my dear book habit enabler, Christina at A Reader of Fctions, I got an ARC of How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer.

E-Books

In E-books this week, I got a copy of Ink by Amanda Sun. There have been a lot of mixed reviews on this one, so I don't know what to expect, but I'm still hoping I will like it. I really can't handle anything less than a mediocre book right now.

And that's it for me this week. It's been a pretty quiet one, and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what to expect next week. I do know I have some of my BEA clothes that should be arriving (I went shopping), but other than that, we'll just have to see what I get! Leave me a link and I will try to come visit your posts. And I KNOW I haven't been great at the commenting lately, but I have been swamped with editing. All I can do is apologize. And thank you for bearing with me.

Book Review of The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Release Date: May 21, 2013
Pages: 340
Genre: Young Adult-Science Fiction
Source: ARC provided by Netgalley

Description from Goodreads: THE NEPTUNE PROJECT is set in a future where the seas are rising and global warming is out of control.
Nere Hanson and her teen companions are shocked to learn that they have been genetically altered by their desperate parents to live in the sea. Protected by her loyal dolphins, shy Nere leads the rest on a perilous journey to her father’s new colony. Fighting off government divers, sharks and giant squid, can Nere and her companions learn to trust each other before their dangerous new world destroys them?

Review: I was flat out excited to land this ARC when it popped up on Netgalley. I had my eye on this one for a while, and I finished it as soon as I could.

The Neptune Project targets a young audience wishing to work at Sea World when they reach an adult age (which isn't a bad thing). The author knew her stuff, and the sea creature portion of the book was highly enjoyable. The writing formula, sadly, really crippled the novel, and I wish that middle grade authors would stop stealing Twilight's "secret formula" and focus on a solid book without the cheesy romance plots and shipping wars.

Nere, as a character, was a bit flat. I allow middle grade novels a little bit of slack on this part, but she was borderline dull. Her character growth and minimal whining about her old, unpopular life saved her from pre-teen Mary Sue-ism. Her development as a stronger character was quite enjoyable. There was just a handful of other characters that was wonderfully developed. However, most of the cast in the book was "typecasted", such as the oh-so-common "Mean Girls" clique, the forced love triangle/square male roles, the disliked male leader, the cutesy child role, and the antagonist gang.

While I am on the subject, the possible romances in the book made me literally cringe. There was the old flame, the sweetheart and obvious smart choice, and the mysterious bad boy with a secret past with a face of a god. However, what I saw was this: Checklist, checklist, and checklist, now start an online fangirl war with your FAVORITE Nere pairing! The novel's concept was strong enough without the horribly pasted together romance mess. The popular girl club rubbed me the wrong way as well. In fact, a majority of the book felt like the author was filling in a writing template. The odd lack of emotions from time to time didn't help The Neptune Project's case when I suspected that the book was written with an outline.

So what did I like about the book? It seems that I have picked it apart from the start. The world building was interesting, and I would like to see where this series goes. The author did create a government that was believable and the pacing was just right.

I think the author had a great idea in mind, and I am hoping that she breaks out of the mold and keeps away from the reading trap that has been beating the poor dead horse into glue. Not a bad book, but I want to see middle grade authors kick this writing trend to the sidelines.

3/5 Dragons

Buy The Neptune Project from Amazon

Book Review of The Ward by Jordana Frankel

2013-05-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Release Date: April 30th, 2013
Pages: 480
Genre: Dystopia
Series: The Ward #1
Source: Edelweiss

Description from Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Ren is a daredevil mobile racer who will risk everything to survive in the Ward, what remains of a water-logged Manhattan. To save her sister, who is suffering from a deadly illness thought to be caused by years of pollution, Ren accepts a secret mission from the government: to search for a freshwater source in the Ward, with the hope of it leading to a cure.

However, she never expects that her search will lead to dangerous encounters with a passionate young scientist; a web of deceit and lies; and an earth-shattering mystery that’s lurking deep beneath the water’s rippling surface.

Jordana Frankel’s ambitious debut novel and the first in a two-book series, The Ward is arresting, cinematic, and thrilling—perfect for fans of Scott Westerfeld or Ann Aguirre.

The Ward was one of my most anticipated 2013 reads. I liked parts of it, but the more I think about it, the more problems I have. First of all, you should know that I had a completely different expectation of what this book was going to be about. Which was totally my fault by the way, but it doesn't really matter because that's not why I rated it down anyway. I just thought it needed to be stated. I guess I didn't read the blurb closely enough and saw the awe-inducing cover and just jumped up and down like a fool and that was that. So when the beginning started out with this girl racing up and down buildings, I was like, "Oh $&@# me." I thought about putting it down. But I stuck it out. And I was glad I did, because the story in The Ward is actually incredibly well-written. But the world-building, not so much.

But first, the good things:

The writing. I quite liked it. I thought it was a great balance of sensory language, plot, dialogue, descriptions, etc. It flowed really well and I liked the sentence structure and voice of the author. Technically, here is not a lot to criticize here. I've read some reviews where readers were mentioning that they were having an issue picturing some of the settings, and I didn't have that problem.

I also really liked Ren as a protagonist. I thought she was likable, kind, and determined. She had a lot of depth to her character--she had likes and dislikes, friends, opinions, and everything to me that makes a character great. It was a little unnerving sometimes the way she obsessed over Derek, but it wasn't often and I've seen much worse in other books. If I could put her character on a ten point scale, I'd give her about an 8.5.

The rest of the characters though? Mehhhh. Derek was okay but he pissed me off a lot and his justification for doing things the way he did them didn't work for me. So I really didn't like him much and I am not all about the relationship in this novel the way I am in other books. I can take them or leave them. I don't think they are a really good match for each other but I don't hate them together either. I really don't care, to be honest. I liked Callum a lot more than Derek. But he was kind of boring so that should tell you something. But Aven? She stole every scene that she was in.

But the plot is where The Ward excelled. There's a plague and a search for a cure that takes the reader into some pretty exciting locations and scenes. It's exhilarating and there were times I almost found myself holding my breath in anticipation of what would happen next. I was worried. Worried whether Ren would be able to pull it off and complete all her goals.

Not a fan of underwater scenes? Do they make you claustrophobic? You are going to want to skip this book. I almost lost my mind with the anxiety I had during one particular scene. It was really exciting. There's a fantasy element to this story that some readers didn't care for, but I kind of loved it. I thought it was unique and only served to give the plot even more depth.

The ending though was very disappointing for me. It just had to end on a cliffhanger and I am getting a little tired of those. Sometimes I don't mind, but I feel like this one was done as a clear money grab so the author could write a second book. The Ward would have worked fine as a standalone and I almost feel like boycotting the sequel on principle.

The world-building though is the main reason I rated this one as a 3 star. There just wasn't enough of it. Not enough explanation of how this world got to be the way it was. And then I talked to Giselle from Xpresso reads and she also pointed out that with this much water and this much technology, it's utterly ridiculous that water is in such high demand and no one could figure out the desalinization process. She's right. It's stupid. They have all these high tech vehicles and medical processes, but no way to remove the sale from water when there are already devices TODAY that can do that? 50 years from now they should be able to do that on a large scale, one would think. I am not convinced. Because of that, like a house of cards, the rest of the world-building comes tumbling down. I just feel like the author missed out on an opportunity to really explain what was going on and all we got was a paragraph. So I think you're going to be disappointed if you are one of those readers that really lives for the world-building in your dystopians. But if you are reading this for plot alone, I think there's a good chance you might like it. I'm on the fence still at this point.

There was also some stupid mean girl bullshit that I could have done without completely. And slut-shaming. Because apparently Matahari and Cleopatra were sluts. LOL. No.

3/5 Dragons

Waiting on Wednesday #1

2013-05-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to this week's Waiting on Wednesday. Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we showcase upcoming releases we are looking forward to.

Look! Kara let me take over WoW for this week! And I am super excited! My preorder list is filled with some amazing books, and I am thrilled to share these lovely new releases with the world! The theme for the week: I want these YA books, now.

The theme.

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 25th, 2013

Description from Goodreads: Fans of Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Holly Black's The Curse Workers will embrace this richly drawn, Norse-mythology-infused alternate world: the United States of Asgard.

Seventeen-year-old Soren Bearskin is trying to escape the past. His father, a famed warrior, lost himself to the battle-frenzy and killed thirteen innocent people. Soren cannot deny that berserking is in his blood--the fevers, insomnia, and occasional feelings of uncontrollable rage haunt him. So he tries to remain calm and detached from everyone at Sanctus Sigurd's Academy. But that's hard to do when a popular, beautiful girl like Astrid Glyn tells Soren she dreams of him. That's not all Astrid dreams of--the daughter of a renowned prophetess, Astrid is coming into her own inherited abilities.

When Baldur, son of Odin and one of the most popular gods in the country, goes missing, Astrid sees where he is and convinces Soren to join her on a road trip that will take them to find not only a lost god, but also who they are beyond the legacy of their parents and everything they've been told they have to be.

Publisher: Delacoute Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 14th, 2013

Description from Goodreads: Daisy Goodnight can speak to the dead. It’s not the result of a head injury or some near-death experience. She was just born that way. And she’s really good at it. Good enough to help the police solve the occasional homicide.

But helping the local authorities clear cold cases is one thing. Being whisked out of chemistry class by the FBI and flown to the scene of a murder/kidnapping in Minnesota? That’s the real deal.

Before the promotion can go to Daisy’s head, she’s up to her neck in trouble. The spirits are talking, and they’re terrified. There’s a real living girl in danger. And when Daisy is kidnapped by a crime boss with no scruples about using magic—and Daisy—to get what he wants, it looks like hers is the next soul on the line.

What books are you rabidly waiting for? Leave a link below!

Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book

2013-04-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic: Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book

There are certain topics that just hook me right in the ~~wallet~~ feels. Certain phrases or plots will make me buy the book - ~~money~~ reviews be damned.

We got her now!

Here are the top ten phrases/words/topics that make me pick up a book faster than you can say "Holy crap, you have way too many books!"

Red-head main character - This might seem a little superficial, but I attach to a character with the prized hair color the fastest.

Apocalyptic/Dystopia - We're very near burn out on this subject, but I am a SUCKER for the new world order. I blame The Hunger Games for turning me onto the entire genre.

Texas - It is odd. Sometimes I hate living here, but I do love to read about books set in Texas. I suppose it helps me connect to the book. I love reading about distant lands and other cultures, but a touch of home is sure welcome every once in a while.

Music - I'm far from an mediocre musician, but I love the memories I hold about band. I love to read about characters who love music, or play an instrument. I'm a softie for melody.

Road Trips - Althought I have yet to find the perfect road trip book, I love to see this phrase pop up in the description of any story!

Mermaid/Sea/Ocean - I love the ocean. Mermaid books have burnt me, but I have yet to learn my lesson.

Zoo/Animals/Cats - Those glurge books will get me every time, even though I know an animal is going to die in the book towards the end.

Space - I just love space or space aliens. That would be the dork side of me coming out.

Fairy Tale Retelling - I love love LOVE a new twist on an old classic, or updated fairy tales.

Viking/Norse - My favorite subject. I am hesitantly starting to read more fiction with this element. I feel that I am very judgmental on the subject, because I hope Norse and Viking fiction in such high regard.

What phrases will make you instantly grab up a book? Leave me a link below!

Blog Tour: Book Review of Have Mother, Will Travel by Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine

2013-04-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: April 9th, 2013
Pages: 320
Genre: Adult-Memoir
Source: TLC Book tours-I got my copy from the publisher.

Description from Goodreads: Have Mother, Will Travel (William Morrow) is an entertaining and inspiring mother-daughter memoir by Claire and Mia Fontaine. Set against the backdrop of an unforgettable round-the-world adventure, it movingly captures the changing relationship between a mid-life mother, Claire, and her twenty-something daughter, Mia, as it also looks at the mother-daughter relationship in other cultures, from Nepal to France.

The Fontaine’s 2006 memoir, Come Back, was a national bestseller and Target Book Club pick hailed by the New York Times as "a testament to the power of the love between a mother and a daughter." Their story of Mia’s harrowing teenage drug addiction, and her mother’s attempts to save her, and their relationship, continues to inspire readers around the world.

Now, It’s ten years later and the pair find themselves in a stale relationship based on old roles, and at turning points in their individual lives. To redefine themselves and strengthen their bond, they embark on a five month, twelve country, twenty-two city global journey. It’s a trip that includes mishaps, mayhem, laughter, and unexpected joys; from a passport-eating elephant to a calamitous camel ride around the Pyramids, to finally making peace with their tumultuous past in the lavender fields of France. Seeing how mature and community-minded twenty-somethings are other countries broadens Mia’s perspective on adulthood, and Claire uses the trip to examine her broken relationship with her own mother, a Holocaust survivor.

Alternating between Claire and Mia’s compelling and distinct voices, Have Mother, Will Travel is an extraordinary journey that will allow women to see new possibilities in their own lives, and in their mother-daughter relationship.

I need to stay away from mother/daughter novels, memoirs, and other books that cover the same topic. They just never work out for me as enjoyable reads. And I do think it's because my own personal experiences color and influence my perspective. I thought with this one that maybe I would be able to see it from Claire's perspective and that it would perhaps open my mind and maybe see things differently, but no. You see, I have relationship problems of my own with my mother. I love her to death, but there are times when we just don't get along because we are so alike, so different, and just so opinionated. I think I'm right, she thinks she's right, and neither of us are willing to budge. When I was a child, I used to give in almost always, but now that I am an adult, I see things differently. Point is, I thought Have Mother, Will Travel might help me to become more level-headed and open-minded. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

This is not a bad book at all though. Just because it didn't affect me the way I wanted it to doesn't mean there weren't parts of it that I didn't enjoy. It was incredibly well-written (if a little bloated and repetitive at times--more on that later), and laugh-out-loud funny through a good portion of the book. I thought this would be more travel writing and less mother-daughter philosophical ramblings, and it wasn't, but the parts that did focus on their travel experiences and culture clash were the best by far to me. Because I've always wanted to travel to some of these countries, it was awesome reading about them from yet another traveler perspective. I think I'll skip out on visiting Nepal now, by the way. But I want to go to China and Malaysia more than I ever did. Me and Asian countries. Ha.

So why only three stars? Because of the lack of emotional connection mostly, and I did find myself getting bored and skipping through pages by the end. I was touched by Mia's coming clean about her guilt and feelings, but other than that, much of the France section was a snoozefest for me. The first part was much more exciting, and I even went so far as to look up how to do this around-the-world travel thing they did. It's 10,500 bucks per person. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen for me right now. Or probably ever. If you can afford it, it sounds like a blast and an awesome way to raise money for charity, but for poor people like me, *sticks tongue out*.

I also felt the writing was a bit bloated. Repetitive. I know that during the majority of this trip, Mia and Claire were trying to work out their personal issues and see each other in a new way, and at first I loved reading about that. But then it got repetitive. And I felt that they were saying the same things over and over and never reaching any conclusions. It got to be kind of rambly and disjointed. I think maybe if I had read their first book, Come Back, I would have felt more for these women and cared more. But I didn't. My friend Christina listened to the audiobook of this and loved it. She told me it is read in their own voices, and I think maybe that would have been better because there would have been more feeling behind the writing. I did think that Mia's sections were less repetitive than Claire's sections, and towards the end, my mind REALLY started to wander while reading Claire's parts.

And gosh, I feel so bad writing this review. Especially because it's a memoir and I know these are real people I am being critical of. I dreaded writing this review for that reason. And I feel bad for giving it 3 stars even, because mostly I think I liked it a lot less due to my own personal experiences. And I wonder if it is fair to rate a book based on that. But in this case, I don't know how NOT to. Anyway, I am going to recommend this one even if it wasn't the book I was hoping it would be. If this is a topic that interests you, I think it's worth reading. There aren't too many people like me out there, so hopefully I am by myself and alone on my feelings with this one.

3/5 Dragons

Have Mother, Will Travel on Amazon

Stacking the Shelves #40

2013-04-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

Another pretty big week for me. I got three review books ad a huge package in the mail from Christina at A Reader of Fictions and a giveaway win from Jenni at Alluring Reads. I probably should be filming a vlog, but the last couple of days I haven't been feeling well and I have a blood test this morning (it's unrelated), so I just don't have a lot of motivation to sit in front of the camera right now. So a picture it is again. YOU guys don't want to see me on camera anyway, trust me. I am sooo awkward.

Anyway....books!

From bottom to top:

For Review:

The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth--Thank you to Quirk Books and LibraryThings early reviewers program.

The Bone Season (signed) by Samantha Shannon--Thank you to Bloomsbury USA.

I got one e-book for review from Netgalley. I don't feel like downloading the cover this week, but it's Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne. Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for that one!

Gifted or Traded:

Taken by Erin Bowman--Thanks to Jenni at Alluring Reads. I won it in a giveaway there.

The following books are from Christina at A Reader of Fictions. I sent her a big box last week and these are what I got in return!

Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow

The Murmurings by Carly Anne West

Beta by Rachel Cohn

Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky

Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Violins of Autumn by Amy McAuley

Wildwood by Colin Meloy

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

I'm very excited about a lot of these, particularly The Bone Season. There's a lot of hype behind that one, and the author is a darling person. I wish her all the success in the world. What did you add to your shelves this week? Link me!

Book Review of 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: ATOM
Release Date: April 5th, 2012
Pages: 368
Genre: Young Adult-Science Fiction
Source: Gift for the Kindle

Description from Goodreads: It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.
Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.
Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.
Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.
It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.
In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

Review: I wanted to love this novel with all of my heart. It was an awesome-sounding book: a Norwegian author writing a story with a setting on the moon! Everything was aligned, the mood was set, and love at first sight threatened to fill my heart and make me blow up with rainbows! Sadly, it fell apart early on in the book, and by the end, I was thrilled to just be done with this novel. So many people were rabidly in lust with 172 Hours on the Moon, and I wished I had been one of those many, many people.

The first issue with the book was the lack of any remotely likeable characters. The two female leads never stirred my interest, the male protagonist was bland, and the rest of the cast never made any type of connection for me. It seemed that, in this novel, the world is filled with bratty, selfish people who can’t see past their own nose to care about any of the surrounding people. The emotions were throughly scrubbed away from the whole storyline. The insta-love, and I do mean INSTANT, was a joke as well. I think the “romance” in the book was the final nail in the coffin for the entire thing. No, just no. It wasn’t even remotely plausible.

The storyline made no sense. The threads never came together. Nothing was ever explained, and the “AH HA!” moment never happened. In fact, I felt that the author just stopped writing when the end of the book hit, leaving me feeling like I was kicked to the curb unceremoniously. The shocking ending could be seen from a mile away, but I suppose if you watched the animated Justice League, you knew from the start what was going to happen.

Last, it ruffled me how nothing was ever properly explained. I am going to chalk this up to translation. I honestly believe something was missing from converting the book from Norwegian to English. Even to the end, the characters would vaguely explain what was happening, the other characters reacted as if everything was perfectly clear, and I was left blinking at the screen thinking “What the hell….how do they KNOW what is going on?!” I would have liked some scientific or half-assed attempt to EXPLAIN the enemies in the book, instead of reading a hundred times “This is what is sorta happening, now panic and run for your lives!”

The disappointment was high with this book, and I feel somewhat cheated by this novel. It wasn’t a terrible book, but I was expecting so much more from this fan-girl coverting novel.

2/5 Stars

Book Review of Feral Nights by Cynthia Leitich Smith

2013-04-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: February 12th, 2013
Pages: 304
Genre: Young Adult-Paranormal
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher.
Series: Not sure of the series title, but this is #1 in a new series.

Description from Goodreads: Fans of the Tantalize quartet will thrill to see werepossum Clyde and other favorite secondary characters — plus all-new ones — take to the fore in book one of an all-new series.

When sexy, free-spirited werecat Yoshi tracks his sister, Ruby, to Austin, he discovers that she is not only MIA, but also the key suspect in a murder investigation. Meanwhile, werepossum Clyde and human Aimee have set out to do a little detective work of their own, sworn to avenge the brutal killing of werearmadillo pal Travis. When all three seekers are snared in an underground kidnapping ring, they end up on a remote island inhabited by an unusual (even by shifter standards) species and its cult of worshippers. Their hosts harbor a grim secret: staging high-profile safaris for wealthy patrons with evil pedigrees, which means that at least one newcomer to the island is about to be hunted. As both wereprey and werepredator fight to stay alive, it’s up to mild-mannered Clyde — a perennial sidekick — to summon the hero within. Can he surprise even himself?

Less than ten pages into this book and I wondered what I was getting myself into. You see, one of the main characters is a werepossum. That's right. A WEREPOSSUM. I was thinking this was going to be a major cheesefest and impossibly hard to suspend disbelief for. But surprisingly, it really wasn't. Because this book is humourous. It's supposed to be, and I think the author made the characters this wacky on purpose. I kinda loved that about it.

Yoshi is a perverted werecat that sleeps around a lot, Clyde is a dorky werepossum with bad acne, and Aimee is the human that lost her boyfriend, werearmadillo Travis (LOL), to a murder by a werecat. Yoshi's sister, Ruby, is the main suspect. The main storyline is about solving this murder, but they end up getting kidnapped and then the story becomes much more than that and gets even MORE ridiculous. In a funny way, of course.

It's a surface story. If you decide you want to read this one, do it for the fun. It's a guilty pleasure read that never has much depth. That doesn't mean it's bad, it's just one of those mindless books where you don't have to think much and you read for the enjoyment. Books like that I rarely rate over three stars. That doesn't mean it's bad. It's great at what it does, it's just not going to stick out in your mind as an all-time favorite.

Apparently the characters in this book were sidekick characters in the author's Tantalize series and fans asked her to write a new series featuring these characters, and this is the result. I never read the other series, and I'm not sure I'm going to. I like her writing style enough and I do love her sense of humor, but I just don't think these types of books are for me. I may continue this one, as I am already invested, but that's only if I have time. It's not on the top of my list or anything. I'm just looking for books with more depth these days. I get in the mood sometimes to read lighthearted books and I don't generally turn to the paranormal genre for this. I usually read a contemporary.

BUT, I would definitely recommend this book and author to fans of the humorous paranormal genre. She does it well. There's a small amount of slut-shaming, which I know doesn't bother everyone, but it made me a bit angry, but it's minor compared to other books I have seen in YA. Still, I'd like to eradicate it completely because it's problematic and not okay. Read Feral Nights if you are looking for an entertaining palate cleanser that's fun and short.

3/5 Dragons

Find Feral Nights on Amazon