February Wrap-Up

I read a total of six books this month! Woohoo! I'm four books ahead of my goal! Ok, so one of the books was a  hundred page novella and only counts as a third of a book at best but still. I'm going to be excited while I can because I'm pretty sure next month my book count will be two, maybe three, books. Got to get into that study mode. I've already started reading at snail's pace in the last week. Anyway, here are the books. (Also I won't to review summaries like I did last month cause... ain't nobody got time for that... no, really because I already reviewed them but also:

So let's get to business.

 

That's a pretty good reading month and four out of five from my TBR isn't bad either.

Neverfall (Everneath #1.5) : Review

Neverfall by Brodi Ashton

Rating: ★★★★

The Gist
This novella follows Cole during the time period of Everneath as he tries to figure out how Nikki survived the feed.

The Overall Opinion
A quick read that was enjoyable. I'd only read one novella prior to this one and it wasn't that great which turned me off to novellas (to be fair that entire series was kind of hit and miss for me). Since that first experience, I avoided any and all novellas until now and I'm glad that I read this because I love Cole and it was nice to get more of an insight to him and see things from his POV. We travel to London and are introduced to the Delphinians and the Fates who have an interesting history with the Everneath. The story was written in the same style as the novels in the series which was great because one of the things I love the most about this series is the way the story is told. I love the flashbacks. I wanted to read Neverfall before I started Evertrue, the final book in the trilogy, and good thing I did because my memory of Everneath is now refreshed. If only there was a #2.5.

If you like this series I would recommend reading this novella and if you haven't read the series then I strongly recommend reading it. Everneath is a mythology inspired series which centers around a retelling of the Persephone myth but the retelling isn't an obvious one. This is one of my favorite series. Read it!

Characterize It {5}

Welcome to Characterize It, a meme held every Thursday and hosted by http://theyabookbutterfly.blogspot.com/

As usual for memes, link the meme back to the host page so that other can join in!

There's a different "theme" every week and you have to pick a character that you think best fits that theme. This week's theme is Wild Card- Any character from any book!

 

I'm going to try and pick a character from a book that I haven't already featured. 

Okay I got one!

Cole Stockton from the Everneath Series.

 

I love Cole. I don't know how to describe him. I was rooting for him and sympathizing with him and just when I thought things were going great he goes and does Cole-like things and I'm sitting there thinking "Oh My God! Cole! Why!??" You just have to read the books to understand.

 

I've already read Everneath and Everbound and I have my copy of Evertrue waiting to be read as soon as a I finish my current read. 

Waiting on Wednesday {7}

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

 

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

 

Publication Date: March 18, 2014

 

I've read a couple books by Colleen Hoover, Slammed and Hopeless, and I've loved both of them (I'm talking 5 star ratings), so I'm excited to read something else from Ms. Hoover. So far she hasn't led me astray and I have complete faith that she won't start now. 

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance—and the enchanting music that inspires one young woman to put her life back together.

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) : Review

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Rating: ★★★★

The Gist
Mara Dyer is sole survivor of an accident that killed her friends, she doesn't remember what happened or how it happened or why she's the only one alive.

The Nitty Gritty
Soon after the above mentioned accident, Mara and her family move to Miami for a fresh start. Mara is now enrolled in a private school where she meets Noah Shaw and his infamous reputation. Mara and Noah develop an attraction and soon get to know each other better. They are both well aware of that the other is surrounded in an air of mystery and the rest of the story follows Mara as some of that mystery is cleared up. Worry not, the story is not as two dimensional as I just described it to be. There are a lot of other things going on, a whole cast of interesting characters, and some fun stuff that adds a bit of humor into the mostly dark novel.

The Characters
Mara Dyer- the female protagonist who comes with a lot of baggage. The girl's got issues but very appropriately so. I liked Mara and I understood her and sympathized with her which is as much as you could ask for really.
Noah Shaw- the classic bad boy with a soft center that only the special someone can discover, of course the special someone has to be Mara, right?
 
The Ending
 I asked myself, and the universe in general ,"What is going on with Mara!??" several times and the answer didn't really come until the very end and even then it wasn't a crystal clear one. I wasn't expecting to find out the whole answer by the end of this book, there are two other books to consider plus the fact that there didn't seem to be a focused plot for this book, just the introduction of the series plot, but I did want to find out a little earlier than I actually did. Those last few pages were interesting.... somewhat satisfying.... yet, I wasn't fully pleased. I don't like when books climax too early or too late and this one climaxed too late. Does that make sense? Because I don't really know hoe to explain how I felt about that ending. Also, I don't know about everyone else but I definitely saw that coming. I'd heard about this cliffhanger ending so I was expecting something big and I guess this would have been big if I wasn't already expecting it to happen.

The Overall Opinion 
Initally, there is no obvious plot for the story (atleast, not one that I saw). There were things happening and the overall plot for the series starts becomes obvious, the mystery of Mara. I asked myself, and the universe in general ,"What is going on with Mara!??" several times and the answer didn't come till the very end and even then it wasn't much of an answer. It was just enough to hold me over and make me want to read the next book. I would have liked to see more of a plot for this book because it really just felt like a bunch of things were just happening, as life goes, without really a purpose. This is both good and bad because, well, in real life things aren't always happening for a reason we're aware of, they're just happening. The bad is that in a novel, AKA made up story, I'm used to seeing more purpose behind events and I didn't quite see that with this one and in all honeslty I don't actually know if it's a good thing or bad. For all I know it will all start making sense as the series goes on.
Despite me going on and on about the things I didn't like, I did give the book a four star review which means I did enjoy it so let's get to the positive stuff shall we? I liked Mara. I like Noah. I like Mara's friend who's name I cannot remember... Jeremy? I like the mystery around Mara and the accident and that we get to find out little bits and pieces about the accident as Mara starts remembering them and that these memories feel like puzzle pieces that don't initially don't fit together. I loved the first chapter because that definitely sucked me in. Ominous Ouija boards anyone?  I liked the mystery surrounding Noah and his bad boy image. (Noah Shaw, if you keep it up you will definitely be on my favorite book boyfriends list ;-) !)Also, can we take a moment to admire the beauty of the cover. This is by far one of the favorite covers ever and the next two covers are just as good!

Though this book had some of my bookish pet peeves, at the end of the day I enjoyed it enough to overlook the pet peeves and continue with the next series. I'm looking forward to what the series has to offer.

Reviving Izabel (In The Company of Killers #2) : Review

Reviving Izabel by J. A. Redmerski

My rating: ★★★

The Gist
Izabel takes action into her own hands and gets herself into trouble of the lethal kind.

The Nitty Gritty
This is the sequel to Killing Sarai. It continues a few months after where the first book ends. Izabel is unhappy with the things that took place towards the end of the first book and decides she is going to take care of it herself. She goes off to try to kill someone but, being as unskilled an assassin as she is, fails at the job. This makes her a target and of course she's going to need Victor's help to get herself out of this mess she's made. She convinces Victor to train her and thus the story continues.

The Ending
I was actually pleased with the ending. Sometimes the conclusions to stories in a series are disappointing due to the high expectations I tend to have. This conclusion didn't disappoint me though which is a huge plus.

The Overall Opinion
I liked this book but I didn't find it to be nearly as exciting as the first one. Killing Sarai was unique because I'd never read an assassin book before and I'd never read any book like what Killing Sarai was about. Of course, I set the bar high for the sequel but my expectations weren't fully met. I was excited that Sarai/Izabel got to train to be an assassin but I was hoping the training process would be in more detail than it was. I'm glad that we got to see a different side to Victor and that Victor and Sarai/Izabel's relationship developed. I actually liked the romance in this book even though it wasn't the typical type of romance. Victor and Izabel did not have typical lives so they shouldn't really see love and romance in the typical way. Makes sense. We get to see more of the assassin occupation in terms of interrogation and spying. The interrogation, as conducted by Frederik, was gruesome but fit perfectly with the book.

Reviving Izabel serves as a good sequel but did not leave me with the same level of amazement and post-reading awe as its predecessor.

Waiting On Wednesday {6}

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

 

Half-Bad (Half Life Trilogy #1) by Sally Green

 

Publication Date: March 4th, 2014

 

This is one of my most anticipated debut novels/first-in-a series novels of 2014. It's an urban fantasy which is perfect because I've been really into fantasy lately. Who knows. This might be the next big series!

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and fifteen-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan’s father is the world’s most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his sixteenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch—or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust—not even family, not even the girl he loves?

In the tradition of Patrick Ness and Markus Zusak, Half Bad is a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive, a story that will grab hold of you and not let go until the very last page. 

Waiting on Wednesday {5}

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

 

 

Take a Chance by Abbi Glines

 

Publication Date : February 25th, 2014

 

Abbi Glines is a huge New Adult author who has written several popular books over the last few years. Fallen Too Far. Vincent Boys. Existence. Never Too Far. Twisted Perfection. You know who I'm talking about. Taking a Chance is the sixth book in the Rosemary Beach series and first in the Chances subseries. It follows Grant and Harlow, both of whom I loved in the previous books, and I can't wait to read their story. I loved Rush and Blaire and I feel like Grant and Harlow can match or even better that chemistry. We'll see. 

 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

 

When Harlow Manning's rocker father goes on tour, he sends her to Rosemary Beach, Florida to live with her half-sister, Nan. The problem: Nan despises her. Harlow has to keep her head down if she wants to get through the next nine months which seems easy enough. Until gorgeous Grant Carter walks out of Nan's room in nothing but his boxer briefs. 

 

Grant made a huge mistake getting involved with a girl with venom in her veins. He'd known about Nan's reputation, but still he couldn't resist her. Nothing makes him regret the fling more than meeting Harlow, who sends his pulse racing. Yet Harlow wants nothing to do with a guy who could fall for her wicked half-sister even if there are no strings between Grant and Nan. Grant is desperate to redeem himself in Harlow's eyes, but did he ruin his chances before he even met her?

Deeper We Fall (Fall and Rise #1) : Review

Deeper We Fall (Fall and Rise #1) by Chelsea M. Cameron

My rating: ★★★½

I read this book last summer so the review isn't going to be too in depth. (Actually I'm pretty much re-posting my Goodreads review for this book).
The main reason I wanted to read this book was that I'd previously read Chelsea M. Cameron's My Favorite Mistake and absolutely loved it so when I found out that she had a new book coming out I wanted to read that too and see if I would like it just as much.

The Synopsis (from Goodreads):
 Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.
Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.
Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face.
Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves To Kill a Mockingbird as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen.
The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

The Overall Opinion:
This book had its good parts and bad parts. There were parts that were just perfectly great but then there were also parts that were completely bland. Sometimes there would be this build up of suspense but then the climax was totally not worth that suspense. The end (or second half) of the book got a bit sloppy, in my opinion. Things were happening out of nowhere, Zan all of a sudden had this secret that had been eating him from the inside but there was no mention of such secret in the first half, it came out of nowhere. I mean, I guess I should have expected it... but I didn't because there was no mention of it until randomly towards the end. I was pretty disappointed with Zack's conclusion and, well, the entire conclusion in general. Another thing was that there were so many characters in the beginning half, and I loved that, but most of them sort of disappeared towards the middle and I completely forgot about them until the end when they started showing up again. 

The book wasn't as bad as I might have made it seem above. It was a good read and the beginning, especially, was fantastic. I just wish the second half had more substance and oomph to it.


UPDATE: This review was originally written soon after I finished reading the book so these are my initial thoughts before I let the story sink in. I do remember this book in bits and pieces and I did enjoy it; I was just not fully satisfied with the conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley, All Night Reads and Chelsea M. Cameron for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Waiting On Wednesday {4}

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Transcendence by Shay Savage

Publication Date: February 14, 2014 

I had to pick this one because it sounds so strange but interesting. I think this is one of those books that is either going to be great or its going to suck. Lucky for us, the early reviews seem promising. It's a ... are you ready for this... caveman romance. Seriously!

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

It’s said that women and men are from two different planets when it comes to communication, but how can they overcome the obstacles of prehistoric times when one of them simply doesn’t have the ability to comprehend language?

Ehd’s a caveman living on his own in a harsh wilderness. He’s strong and intelligent, but completely alone. When he finds a beautiful young woman in his pit trap, it’s obvious to him that she is meant to be his mate. He doesn’t know where she came from; she’s wearing some pretty odd clothing, and she makes a lot of noises with her mouth that give him a headache. Still, he’s determined to fulfill his purpose in life – provide for her, protect her, and put a baby in her.

Elizabeth doesn’t know where she is or exactly how she got there. She’s confused and distressed by her predicament, and there’s a caveman hauling her back to his cavehome. She’s not at all interested in Ehd’s primitive advances, and she just can’t seem to get him to listen. No matter what she tries, getting her point across to this primitive, but beautiful, man is a constant – and often hilarious – struggle. 

With only each other for company, they must rely on one another to fight the dangers of the wild and prepare for the winter months. As they struggle to coexist, theirs becomes a love story that transcends language and time. 

Ruby Red (Precious Stone Trilogy #1) : Review

Ruby Red (Precious Stones Trilogy #1) by Kerstin Gier

My rating: ★★★★★

The Gist:
A novel about a girl who unexpectedly discovers that she has the ability to travel through time.

The Nitty Gritty:
In Gwen's family, the time travel gene is passed down through the female line. Everyone thought that her cousin, Charlotte would be the bearer of this gene so they trained Charlotte her entire life for time travel while Gwen was left to live her life as she willed. While everyone waits for Charlotte to travel for her first time, Gwen travels back to an unfamiliar time period and realizes that she has the gene instead. She is quickly introduced into this world of time travel, which is filled with mystery, only to discover that she may be playing a smaller part in a bigger event.

The Characters:
Gwen- protagonist with a very likeable personality. I can't really pinpoint a specific reason but I really liked Gwen's character.
Gideon de Villiers- male protagonist. I'm assuming that he is meant to be the Gwen's romantic interest, she is in fact crushing on him, but I'm not yet rooting for the two of them. Gideon is also a time traveler, in the de Villiers' family the gene is passed through the male line.
Count Saint Germain- potential antagonist. This guy gives me the creeps. He seems like he's up to something. Actually, he most definitely up to something. He's a time traveler, ancestor of Gideon, and first to actually study and document time traveling in the two families.

The Ending:
I loved the plot twist! I didn't see it coming until later on but it was still good. 

The Overall Opinion:
This book basically set up the world and the story for the next two books. There wasn't any grand plot line or anything like that. It pretty much just introduced us to the main characters and some of the dark and mysterious things that are going to be central to the plot of future books. It really just introduces things for the sake of posing potential questions that will be answered in the remainder of the series. I think it might be better to think of this book as a prequel to the next book rather than the first part of the series (do you get what I'm trying to say?) I still enjoyed it though. It was a quick and fun read. I'd never read a time travel novel before and I would consider this a good introduction to the YA time travel genre. There wasn't much romance going on in this book which is fine because there are other things happening. I can't really come up with any negatives. I'm not quite obsessing about it nor was I suffering from a book hangover but I enjoyed the story and that's all you can really ask for, right? Everything else is just a plus.

BookTube and Me and The Beginnings of a Love-Hate Affair

About a month ago, I discovered the world of BookTube. For those who don't know, BookTube is a community on YouTube where book lovers, like you and me, make videos about books. They talk about books. The haul books. They review books. They do everything based on books. I don't know how it took me so long to even discover it but I have discovered it. I basically spent the last month of my YouTube quota watching videos about books. I have now watched hours and hours of videos. My TBR has increased by about 60 or so books and I have started off my New Year's goal of starting my book collection/library with a bang.

Here's the thing, I don't know why but there is just something about watching people show you their books that is addicting. On top of that, I'm one of those people who totally falls for the hype around a book and so if I hear multiple BookTubers talk about a certain book, I will want to read it. Yup. That is why I managed to add around 60 books to my Goodreads TBR shelf in one month.

Another thing is that BookTubers do a lot of haul videos in which they show you all the books that they bought in that month and in these haul videos you will often hear about the different places that they bought these books and it seems that nearly every single one of these haul videos talks about a website called BookOutlet.com. It's a place where you can buy books for "read-iculously cheap." There's also Abe Books, Better World Books, and Book Depository. The first sells used books, the second sells used and new and also donates a book for each book bought and raises money for literacy and has free shipping and the third sells brand new books with free worldwide shipping. Discovering these sites was both good and bad. The good thing is that now I have several ways of buying books, often for cheaper and I don't have to drive anywhere to do it. I can just be lazy and sit in a chair in front of my laptop or lie in bed with my laptop and do my book shopping in the comfort of my own home. The bad thing is that often the books are cheaper. Its harder to control yourself and say no to a book that you've wanted to read when it's cheap. I mean, $4 for a copy of Cinder by Marissa Meyer which everyone talks about and has been sitting in TBR forever!? Yes. Please. I will take that. Buying these books that are oh so tempting is oh so difficult to resist. I know because I'm speaking from experience. I bought a LOT of books this month. I completely blame it on BookTube. I bought more books this month than I've bought in any month in my entire life.

I bought a grand total of... let me do the math... 16 books in the month of January. I might be developing a new addiction, potentially unhealthy (definitely unhealthy for my wallet), and I don't even care.

 

Leo knows how I feel :D

In my defense, they were all books that I've been wanting to read for a long time or books that I've already read and loved.

I'm pretty sure my book collection has doubled. (Not really, but lets pretend for the sake of dramatic effect.)

Because I have so many new books, 13 of which I haven't read yet, I will probably not be buying any books in the month of February. But who knows? Never say never, right?

Also, due to the excessive amounts of books in my TBR I have put myself on a book adding ban on Goodreads through the month of February. I've been on this ban for a few days now and I'm already finding in difficult to stick with it. We'll see how I do in another 25 days. Maybe, in the meantime, I can move some books out of that shelf.

What are your book related addictions and weaknesses?

Good February reading to all!

Reading Bingo 2014

I found this over on Tumblr and I thought it was fantastic. I'm definitely doing this challenge. I can already mark off some of the squares. Sounds like fun!

Here is my updated board:

Add your link below if you're participating and I'll be sure to check out your blog. Also, feel free to leave a comment below letting me know what you think of Reading Bingo or about anything at all.

February TBR

I've got big reading plans for February and I'm super excited. By big I mean authors who are amazing, first books in huge series, sequels to amazing first books and books that I've been wanting to read for a really long time.

Here is my anticipated reading for February:

I'm not sure if I'll get through all five books but I figured five is a nice, well rounded number so I picked five. I may read more or less and I may even read books that are not on the TBR. It all depends on how this month plays out and what my reading mood is like.

What are you planning on reading this month?

January Wrap Up

Without even realizing it, I read eight books this month. I don't know how or when or why... well, I know why, its because I love reading but I don't know how or when. Overall I would say it was an average or maybe slightly below average month. Though, I have a feeling that the book that there's one specific book that is dragging it down.

Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver
If I get into what I really thought about this book, it would be a while before I stopped. In short, it didn't live up to my expectations. At all. I feel like there was so much potential and the story didn't reach that high. The love triangle situation was not dealt with very well. The aftermath of the awesome ending to Pandemonium was practically non-existent (well, it existed but it was really lame so I think it's just better to pretend that it didn't happen). The ending of this book and thus the whole series is by far the WORST conclusion I have ever read.
 ★★

Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I tried reading an alien book before and it just didn't work out. The synopsis for this sounded similar so I was a bit unsure about it but I'm glad I picked it up because I ended up really liking it. A good example of "don't judge a book by its cover," Obsidian is actually better than it looks. Yes there are cheesy moments but the cheesiness works.

★★★★

Onyx (Lux #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
It didn't live up to the expectations I had for after reading Obsidian. I felt like the story progression kind of stopped at points and though things were happening, the story itself was going nowhere. It was just okay but good enough to make me want to read the next one.

★★★

Opal (Lux #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I felt pretty much the same way about this book as I did about the last one, Onyx. The story would stall at points throughout the book and I felt like it could have been shorter than it was because of this. Kate/Kat's character annoyed me a bit in this installment. The ending though was really good! I really liked that. I will be taking a break before I read Origin because I might just be suffering from a bit of Lux overload at this point.

★★★

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carelson
I received this through NetGalley for review. I didn't really know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. This is a story about a girl struggling to find her identity. I found myself relating to Laila, the main character, in several ways throughout the book and reading this book was just an overall positive experience.

★★★★

Hex Hall (Hex Hall #1) by Rachel Hawkins
A quick and fun read. It really reminded me of Vampire Diaries and Harry Potter. The main character, Sophie, is very similar to Rose Hathaway, especially in her wit and don't-care attitude. There are plot twists that I probably should have seen coming, yet I didn't. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

★★★★

Ruby Red (Precious Stones Trilogy #1) by Kerstin Gier
I read this because I've heard people rave about it on BookTube (YouTube). This book did not disappoint. It was fun and exciting. The reading was quick. It's a great intro to the time travel genre and though nothing extraordinary happens in this book, I am excited to read the rest of the series and see where the story goes because there is definitely plenty of potential.

★★★★★

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
I'd wanted to read this for a long time, especially because I'd read some of the quotes from this book that I absolutely loved. Thought it felt a bit slow at times, the story got better and more exciting as it went on and the ending was beautiful and fully satisfying. I blame the slow pace (my only critique) to the fact that I'm used to YA books which tend to go at a much faster pace than this contemporary Adult novel does.

★★★★