Sunday, June 29, 2014

Stacking The Shelves!


Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga's Reviews that is all about sharing the books that are being added to your shelves. It could be physical books, ebooks library books, or review books.

I am really bad about posting my hauls, they are so sporadic but, I am going to try harder to post each week, so enjoy!

Physical Haul:



I just finished Defiance and I loved it so I cannot wait to continue on with the series. I also recently watched a panel from BEA that featured Alex London and Veronica Roth and after listening to him talk about his book I just had to pick it up. 

Netgalley:











She is writer for The Originals on the CW which I love so I am definitely curious to see how she writes a novel.


Edelweiss:





Friday, June 27, 2014

Review: Defiance (Defiance #1) By: C.J. Redwine



Title: Defiance (The Couriers Daughter #1)
Author: C.J. Redwine
Published: August 28th, 2012
Source: Bought
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:

Defiance by C. J. Redwine is rich postapocalyptic YA fantasy perfect for fans of Graceling and Tamora Pierce.

While the other girls in the walled city-state of Baalboden learn to sew and dance, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. While they bend like reeds to the will of their male Protectors, she uses hers for sparring practice.

When Rachel's father fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the city's brutal Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector: her father's apprentice, Logan—the boy she declared her love to and who turned her down two years before. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book! I was definitely in the mood for a fantasy read, I picked this one for my TBR Thursday read because I have had it on my shelf forever and I knew that the series was coming to an end and I wanted to start it. Redwine created a bad ass, fiery red head that I loved and a simple but, interesting world around her. I did not want to put the book down, I was feeling everything right along with Rachel, I don’t think that this book was completely new and different in YA but, the story was so engaging, action packed, and exciting that I didn’t even care!

Rachel’s father is the courier of the walled in city state of Baalboden, he doesn’t return from his last mission and he is declared dead by the manipulative and evil leader of the city state the Commander. Rachel is to her surprise given to the custody and protection of her father’s apprentice Logan, who Rachel has despised ever since she admitted her love her him years ago and he didn’t return her feelings. But, Rachel doesn’t believe that her father is dead and she is determined to find him whatever the cost.
I don’t think that the world or the plot was completely original, the city of Baalboden doesn’t let women go around the city without their husband or protector, Rachel is of course not your typical girl. Her father has taught her to fight and defend herself and she is always wanting to prove herself and go against the beliefs of women and the laws that the city requires. She is definitely tough and has learned so much from being raised by her father. She is headstrong and at times you just wanted to tell her that she needed to be patient and not let herself get into situations that she can’t get out of. Unlike the rest of the citizens of Baalboden she wants to bring the Commander to his knees, and she doesn’t care how she does it. She reminded me a lot of Celeana from the Throne of Glass series which I absolutely loved.

Logan was someone who I loved, he made all kinds of interesting inventions and experiments that without him Rachel and the city of Ballboden would have been lost, and he was an orphan who owed everything to Rachel’s father. His mother had died for being disobedient to the laws and the Commander of Ballboden, I could definitely tell that all he wanted to do was protect Rachel and he understood the importance of the laws and the rule of the Commander.


Overall, Defiance was definitely everything that I hoped that it would be. I was definitely kicking myself for not reading this one sooner and letting it sit on my shelf for so long. I just got the second book and I cannot wait to continue on and find out where Rachel’s story goes next. 

Thursday, June 26, 2014

TBR Thursday #2



So fellow awesome blogger Sarah, from Words With Sarah created her own meme to help cut down on her TBR pile by, featuring a book each week that she will be reading that has been on the bookshelf for three months or more. I love this idea because that is definitely an issue I have with books sitting on my shelf for way too long.

My read for this week is:



For Darkness Shows The Stars By: Diana Peterfreund
Goodreads Summary:

It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.


Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's PersuasionFor Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

I have heard some great things about this book, granted I haven't read Persuasion but, I started this one yesterday and it is really good so far although the worldbuilding is a bit confusing at times, I am definitely hooked!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Waiting On Wednesday!



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, that highlights upcoming book releases that everyone is waiting on.

This weeks selection is:



Title: Vivian Apple at the End of the World
Author: Katie Coyle
Published: January 6th, 2015
Goodreads Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple never believed in the evangelical Church of America, unlike her recently devout parents. But when Vivian returns home the night after the supposed "Rapture," all that’s left of her parents are two holes in the roof. Suddenly, she doesn't know who or what to believe. With her best friend Harp and a mysterious ally, Peter, Vivian embarks on a desperate cross-country roadtrip through a paranoid and panic-stricken America to find answers. Because at the end of the world, Vivan Apple isn't looking for a savior. She's looking for the truth.

My Thoughts:

I don't know why but this one sounds so interesting, I am so curious about it and really looking forward to reading it, it seems like a more contemporary/realistic read which I don't read enough of. 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Review: Splintered (Splintered #1) By: A.G. Howard


Title: Splintered (Splintered #1)
Author: A.G. Howard
Published: January 1st, 2013
Source: Bought
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

My Thoughts:

I had high expectations going into Splintered, I had heard so many great things about it since it was released. I was excited because I hadn’t read an Alice retelling yet and I was really looking forward to seeing if I would enjoy it as much everyone else seemed to. I definitely did love it, the retelling was different and creepier then the normal Disney story that I am familiar with and I did read Carroll’s story so long ago but, I don’t remember much. I loved everything about it!

Alyssa has started hearing the flowers and bugs whisper to her, she has kept it hidden because of her mom, a part of the curse of her family is that they become crazy because their ancestor was Alice from the story of Alice in Wonderland. Alyssa finally realizes that everything that she has been told is real. She journeys into Wonderland that is much more dangerous and creepy then the story every reveals. She is doing this all to save her mom and the future women of her family forever.

I loved Alyssa, she was fearless and determined. She wasn’t afraid to jump into the world of wonderland to save her family. I think that if I was in her place I definitely would have been completely freaking out. Especially when she had to face some of the obstacles of Wonderland she didn’t cower in the face of danger, she has completely determined to set things right for her family. I definitely got the vibe from her character that she was more of a tomboy who liked to skateboard and I pictured her with a wild and crazy style.

There was a bit of a love triangle going on with Jeb, Alyssa’s neighborhood and lifelong friend and Morpheus who was her guide through wonderland and as she remembers more from her childhood something more to her. Morpheus was a character that I never completely trusted, and with good reason although I kept going back and forth throughout the book with his intentions he definitely kept me on my toes throughout the book. Jeb on the other hand was steady and completely true throughout the entire book. He loved Alyssa and was willing to go to the ends of the earth for her and I loved how she could always count on him no matter what.


Overall, Splintered was amazing! I cannot wait to get to the next book and find out what happens, I am dying to know because you are left with a bit of a cliffhanger. It was a retelling done well and it was definitely different from the original which is something that I think is so important when doing it that it feels like it can stand on its own completely. 

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Review: The Vanishing Season By: Jodi Lynn Anderson


Title: The Vanishing Season
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Published: July 1st, 2014
Source: Edelweiss Galley
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:

Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell.

The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both.

All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

From bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes a friendship story bound in snow and starlight, a haunting mystery of love, betrayal, redemption, and the moments that we leave behind.

My Thoughts:

I had heard some really great things about Jodi Lynn Anderson’s writing and I have to say everything was completely true. I loved her writing, it was so beautiful and lyrical but, honestly the plot had me bored. The beautiful writing couldn’t make up for my lack of interest in the story. I was expectiong more of a mystery and in the end we did finally see a bit of the mystery but, by then I wasn’t too interested in it.

Maggie and her family have just moved to Door County with her parents from Chicago. They moved into an old house that belonged to their family and she meets her neighbor Pauline, who is different from Maggie in every way.  But, as Maggie and her family move in, a hush falls over the town when girls go missing in a neighboring town.

As I try to think about how I want to describe our main character, she kind of timid and sometimes was a bit boring. I wanted her to stand up for herself more and be more outgoing. When it came to Pauline she just kept letting her outshine her and made sure that the reader knew that she outshined her.


Overall,  The Vanishing Season was beautiful writing but, the plot and characters bored me, but I will say that I love Jodi Lynn Anderson’s writing style. 

Thursday, June 19, 2014

TBR Thursday #1



So fellow awesome blogger Sarah, from Words With Sarah created her own meme to help cut down on her TBR pile by, featuring a book each week that she will be reading that has been on the bookshelf for three months or more. I love this idea because that is definitely an issue I have with books sitting on my shelf for way too long.

My read for this week is:




Title: Defiance (Couriers Daughter #1)
Author: C.J. Redwine
Published: August 28th, 2012
Goodreads Summary:

Defiance by C. J. Redwine is rich postapocalyptic YA fantasy perfect for fans of Graceling and Tamora Pierce.

While the other girls in the walled city-state of Baalboden learn to sew and dance, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. While they bend like reeds to the will of their male Protectors, she uses hers for sparring practice.

When Rachel's father fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the city's brutal Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector: her father's apprentice, Logan—the boy she declared her love to and who turned her down two years before. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

I have heard so many great things about this book and series, I love fantasy and I definitely think the covers make the series seem bad ass and the last book in the trilogy comes out in August so, hopefully I enjoy this one and want to continue. I also just realized that their is an image of a castle in her cape dress, awesome! Have you guys read this book? What did you think?

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Waiting On Wednesday!



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, that highlights upcoming book releases that everyone is waiting on.

This weeks selection is:


Title: Captive (The Blackcoat Rebellion #2)
Author: Aimee Carter
Published: November 25th, 2014
Goodreads Summary:

For the past two months, Kitty Doe's life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate the Prime Minister's niece, her frustration grows as her trust in her fake fiancé cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoats keep her in the dark more than ever. 

But in the midst of discovering that her role in the Hart family may not be as coincidental as she thought, she's accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape. 

As one shocking revelation leads to the next, Kitty learns the hard way that she can trust no one, not even the people she thought were on her side. With her back against the wall, Kitty wants to believe she'll do whatever it takes to support the rebellion she believes in—but is she prepared to pay the ultimate price?


My Thoughts:

I loved Pawn so much and I cannot wait to see where the story goes next, I am seriously dying to read this one! What are you waiting on this Wednesday?


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR List!


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's topic is Top Ten Books that are on my summer TBR list. I have a million books I want to read like always. 


1. Heir Of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) By: Sarah J. Mass

I read the first two books in like two days, I loved them so much and I can't wait to see where the series goes next, I miss me some Chaol!





















2. Trial Of Fire (The Worldwalker Trilogy #1) By: Josephine Angelini

I loved her Starcrossed series, although I still haven't read Goddess and I am so excited to start this one!





















3. The Vault of Dreamers By: Caraugh M. O'Brien

I really enjoyed reading Birthmarked and I also have the last two books in the series that have been on my shelf forever! But, this one sounds so good and is intriquing. I can't wait to check it out. 




















4. Of Metal and Wishes (Of Metal and Wishes #1) By: Sarah Fine

I read the first two books in Sarah's other series which was sooo good, I am definitely excited to check this one out. I love the cover, it seems so mature to me for YA.




















5. Mortal Danger ( Immortal Game #1) By: Ann Aguirre  

I haven't read any of her other books yet but, this one definitely intrigues me. Although the cover doesn't seem to fit the summary. 





















6. Afterworlds By: Scott Westerfeld

I read the entire Uglies series and I loved it, I have been meaning to read some of his other books because I really enjoy his writing, so I was definitely excited about this one and I can't wait to read it. The plot sounds different and I am definitely curious about it. 


















7. Dissonance By: Erica O'Rourke

I do have to admit that I love alternate realities and worlds, it's one of my favorite things to read about and I can't wait to check this one out. 






















8. Through To You By: Lauren Barnholdt

Who doesn't love a good summer romance, I haven't read anything by her before so I am definitely excited to see if i enjoy it. 




















9. Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) By: Richelle Mead


I always look forward to the summer for the new Bloodlines book to come out and this summer is no different. Richelle Mead is my favorite author and I love me some more Sydrian!





















10. Magnolia By: Kristie Cook

Another romance, a southern romance. All of her books look so cute I definitely want to check out one of her books and this one looks cute for sure. 
































































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