Stories & Sweeties

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {5}

2012-05-26T23:59:00.000-07:00

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie's This Week in Books posts) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts) Note: This is not a meme, but I'll be hopping around to IMMs, Stack the Shelves, Book Hauls, or whatever other book-loot sharing posts I come across!

Here's the haul this week:

For Review:
Awakened by PC Cast & Kristen Cast
I don't read this series, but my guest reviewer Amy does--though I think she's a bit behind on it. She may be reviewing this, or I might pass it on to another blogger!
Dark Companion by Marta Acosta
Very excited for this one!

Bought:
Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins (my review)
One of my very favorite books this year. I gave my ARC away so I happily bought myself a pretty shiny finished copy!
The Enchantress by Michael Scott
This series is actually a hubby favorite. :) He's been crazy excited for this book to come out!

New on My Nook:
Entangled by Nikki Jefford
I'd heard good things about this series and this one was free for kindle!

The Weekly Nutshell:
{Sunday} Sweetness on Sunday featuring Tiger's Curse Recipe & Giveaway!
{Monday} Review: Silence by Michelle Sagara
{Tuesday} Waiting on Wednesday: The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

Well, another slow week for posts here! My daily life is taking over right now. With two kids having birthdays and one graduating, there's been some mad planning and cleaning going on here...I've been exhausted and reading soooo slowly. Still, I'm reading Book of Blood & Shadows and The Selection right now and enjoying both! I was so pooped out, I even passed up an awesome signing with Cynthia Hand, Bree Despain, and Brodi Ashton---crazy, I know,..but I just could not bring myself to take on San Francisco that night. Hopefully, after next week, things will slow down a bit and I can give this blog some much-needed make-up time! :D

Happy reading, everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday

2012-05-22T22:29:00.005-07:00

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Dark Unwinding
by Sharon Cameron

hitting shelves September 1st, 2012 from Scholastic Press

description:
A spine-tingling tale of steampunk and spies, intrigue and heart-racing romance!

When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.

Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.

As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.

My thoughts: Since first hearing about this book over at Shannon's site (Stalking The Bookshelves), I have declared myself officially smitten with this cover and synopsis. I mean, come on: England, a gothic estate, a mysterious uncle, a little psychological thrill and romance thrown in, and plenty of cool steampunkery!! This sounds so amazing!

Review: Silence by Michelle Sagara

2012-05-21T23:41:00.006-07:00

Silence by Michelle Sagara

publisher: DAW (Penguin)

release date: May 1th, 2012

hardcover, 289 pages

intended audience: Young adult

series: Queen of the Dead, book 1

rating:

source: from publisher for honest review

description:
It began in the graveyard. Ever since her boyfriend Nathan died in a tragic accident Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that's all it was. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death…

Review: With a great synopsis, some really interesting characters, and a sweet doggie that is such a character, he can be counted as part of the supporting cast, I really wanted to love Silence. For the first 50 or so pages, it moved along at a great pace, the story really took off, was intriguing, had a fantastic creepiness factor---and at first taste, I really thought the writing style was unique, with kind of a mysterious air to it. But eventually, I found myself feeling a bit confused and lost and having to reread several bits to really get the meaning of what the author was trying to convey. It felt really muddled, with the sentences themselves seeming broken up and choppy. Also, the third person perspective sometimes left me confused as to who was speaking at any given time, especially with such a large cast of characters. I definitely think this one might have benefited from a first person POV---or perhaps even an alternating POV between Emma and the mysterious Eric. It would have been great to get into his head a little. I did, however, push through all that and found a good story and some really great likeable characters, which for me, is what kept me reading to the end

Emma is a bit broken, having suffered the loss of her father and her boyfriend, Nathan. There is very little love story here, which I was kind of glad about {spoiler:---once we find out that Eric is meant to kill her I really didn't want them to end up together (that's been done enough, right?)} Eric is intriguing, but kind of stays that way---his actual purpose seems to stay a bit vague. What I really loved is the friendship dynamic between Emma and her circle of friends, Allison, Michael, & Amy. Allison is all support, Amy is a fireball, and Michael, especially, was fascinating to read about, the way his mind worked and how he viewed the things that were going on all around them. While I did think their acceptance of what was happening to Emma was a tad too easy, I loved that they all banded together to help her through it all. About two-thirds of the way through, there were so many extra characters that I was having trouble keeping track of who was who, but it certainly kept me on my toes. There are some really dark moments here, both in action and emotionally, but it added to the story. It's not your everyday, done-to-death story about necromancers--I really enjoyed some of the twists on what we normally see that Silence offered.

While I had mixed feelings about this one, I think I connected with the characters enough to be curious about what they will tackle in the following books.

Visit Michelle Sagara's website: www.michellesagara.com

Purchase Silence at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound