Top 5 Sundays

Top 5 Sundays is a weekly blog meme created by Larissa at Larissa's Bookish Life.

Every Sunday I will post a TOP 5 list on the blog. It can be about anything and every week I'll have a new theme {You can vote on next week’s theme on my left sidebar!} and I will ad the Mr.Linky bellow the post so you can do a list with the theme and add you link to it.

Rules:

1 - Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.

2 - Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.

3 - Feel free to use the Feature's image (there is a smaller size version of it bellow)

4 - After you've finished your post, add you link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.

5 – If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments =)

This week's topic is: Favorite Re-Told Fairytales

*in no particular order

NOCTURNE

by Syrie James

I see this one as a definite retelling of Beauty and the Beast! It very much was a romantic story with a vampire twist.

SNOW

by Tracy Lynn

 One of my absolute favorite retellings! Obviously this one was Snow White! One of the few books I actually reread several times! There was a whole line of fairytale retellings in this series, Once Upon a Time, all by several different authors.

SCARLET MOON

by Debbie Viguie

A Red Riding Hood one, and my first one to have the big bad wolf being a werewolf! Naturally he and Red have a romance going on!

WICKED

by Gregory Maguire

Totally changed my way of looking at the Wizard of Oz!! Loved it!



SHADOW BOUND
by Erin Kellison

Can't quite remember which fairy tale(s) this one retells. A lot of Erin's books have elements of different fairy tales and I find them fascinating! It's not a traditional retelling, but when reading you get the sense and "airs" of remembered fairy tales! Loooove her books!

Mini Review--Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene Frost

Originally appeared in the print anthology The Bite Before Christmas.

'Tis the season to join Cat and Bones for some holiday cheer in this Night Huntress novella by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost.

They were looking forward to a normal holiday—at least as "normal" as it gets for vampires Cat and Bones and their otherworldly friends and family. But their yuletide plans are shattered when a mysterious stranger shows up and reveals long-buried secrets that threaten to take a bite out of their holiday cheer … and lives.

This was the perfect time to read Jeaniene Frost's Home for the Holidays, for this is the time when it takes place! Just before Thanksgiving and leading into Christmas! I was able to devour this one in under a day as well as my previous novella read. This too was quite wonderful! Probably moreso because it was a Night Huntress Novella starring Bones and Cat along with Ian (YES!) Denise, Spade, Mencheres and Kira! 

Bones gets quite the surprise when a mysterious vampire comes to him with a shocking claim! I don't even want to get into that claim because it was quite the jawdropper, so I am avoiding naming words and terms! But there is definitely something odd about this newcomer. Everyone is acting strangely, except for Cat, Denise and Ian, they are the only ones immune to this weirdness.

Soon the three band together to figure out the what's and why's and all the complicated questions as to just WTF is going on! It gets deeper and messier than you think. This is definitely the perfect read for the holiday, bloody guts and all! ;) (Okay, there's really not that much guts!)

I could've sworn I heard that the events here will lead us into Up from the Grave, but I can't be sure now. But it was definitely a fun read with a happy ending naturally, for we all know that Cat and Bones will get out of this scrape, Up from the Grave tells us that just with its very existence! 



Overall Rating 5/5 stars

This read was read for the Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge

Mini Review--The Wild Adventure of Jasper Renn by Kady Cross

In this companion novella to The Girl with the Iron Touch, American cowboy Jasper Renn finds himself in a situation his lightning-fast skills cannot rescue him from…

After surviving a triumph-turned-tragedy in New York City, Jasper is determined to secure a happier future with his gifted band of friends. So when the group's mechanical genius Emily is abducted, he'll plunge into England's darkest places to rescue her….

But his old flame Wildcat is turning London town upside down to find her missing sister, and Jasper finds the attraction between himself and the fierce beauty as tempting and dangerous as ever. Their trail leads deep into the city's most unusual circus. Soon, Jasper will find his loyalties—and future—tested more than he could ever imagine….

And don't miss Jasper's continuing exploits in The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross, available now from Harlequin TEEN.

The Wild Adventure of Jasper Renn is a short novella that takes place during Kady Cross' The Girl with the Iron Touch! I love this series and Jasper has definitely been one of my fave characters since he first stepped onto the page. His heartache over Mia and all that happened between them broke my heart as well, it seemed Jasper might never find what Griffin has with Finley.

Then there's Cat, half black, half white and has the abilities of her namesake. She's an oddity, much like her sister Sparrow--you can guess what abilities she has--who has gone missing. Cat has come to London in order to find her sister, but she doesn't know the city well and she needs the help of the man who broke her heart, one Jasper Renn. She's leery of trusting him again, but a part of her does still care for him, much to her dismay.

The two eventually work out a way to work together in order to find Sparrow. And along the way, old feelings get rekindled and explored! I was very pleased with this tiny tale from Kady Cross's Steampunk Chronicles! Jasper is definitely a fave character as I mentioned. He's quite witty and funny! I was glad to see him find his bit of happiness as he's been in a funk since Mei died and betrayed him.

It was quite a fast paced read as most novellas tend to be! Since it's been too long since I read The Girl with the Iron Touch, I cannot explicitly remember Jasper doing this during those particular events, but it's no matter really! I'm sure when I read The Girl with the Windup Heart, enough of my memory of the previous book will return!

This was a fun read that was doable in one sitting and I would highly recommend it to fans of The Steampunk Chronicles.


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

This read was read for the Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge

ARC Review--Pawn by Aimee Carter

YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

I received this ARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


I fell in love with Aimee Carter's Goddess Test series, so I was eager to read her newest Blackcoat Rebellion series starting with Pawn! After an agonizing wait, I finally got approved for review! It was quite the fast read too! Nearly a one day read, but right about where I had like 5 pages left, I was suddenly overcome with tasks that had to be done asap and then bam, the night was done and I was tired.

Pawn is set in a dystopian setting, once again we see what our dismal future might be like and told that it is good. In this society you strive to do good for everyone. You work hard and you'll get the status you deserve. Once you reach seventeen, you take the test that will determine the rest of your life. Kitty takes her test and gets a 3. 4 is the basic average and what a good percent of the people get. But sadly, Kitty can't read and her "helper" with the test wasn't very helpful and Kitty ended up leaving a good portion of the test blank.

Her boyfriend, Benjy still has a month til he takes his test and he's likely to get a 6, the highest rating anyone can achieve. Only the Harts are 7's. The Hart family is basically who rules the country. And when Daxton Hart approaches Kitty and offers her the opportunity to trade her 3 for a 7, she really can't say no. Kitty is a complete lookalike for the now dead daughter of Celia Hart and Daxton's niece, Lila Hart. And instead of letting her stay dead, Daxton thinks the people will be better off with her alive, and Kitty will take on that role.

But as Kitty soon learns, Lila had her own secrets. She was starting a rebellion against her uncle Daxton. Possibly trying to put an end to the whole number thing and have everyone live together and work together, that kind of peace and harmony, live and let live kind of thing.

The Blackcoats are the rebellion group and where the series name comes from. We learn a bit about them. There are quite a few players in this game, but I still feel like we don't really know enough about them.

Knox was Lila's fiance and also a player in this game. He and Celia are both Blackcoats and are trying to get Kitty to pick up where Lila left off. But Kitty doesn't like being used. The plans they have don't really mesh with what she wants to do with her life. She didn't realize that agreeing to play Lila meant giving up her freewill.

Knox was definitely one of my favorite characters. I don't know why, but I just liked him a lot! I don't think he and Kitty are meant to be, since she loves Benjy. Benjy also plays a role in the story as well. And while I liked him, I felt like I didn't get enough of his character to care about him. Kitty will do anything to keep Benjy safe in the dangerous game she's playing where nearly any life if forfeit. I'm hoping that in future books, we get to see more of him so that I can get a better grasp of who he is. The general picture I get now is that he is a great guy, he helped Kitty out a lot in the past, but I want to know more about who he is now.

Aimee Carter is just one of those authors who's story just sucks you in! I was eating up the pages in this one and not even realizing that I was practically done with the book by the end of the day! Her world building is always so visual. You can see what's going on and what the world looks like. The future in dystopians are always bleak, and we can definitely see the horrors of it here in Pawn. And of course, continuing with the dystopic theme, there is still a ray of hope on the horizon that our heroes will have to fight to get to.

The ending was really good! Lots of action in this read and the whole mystery and intrigue going on. Not everyone escapes this one unscathed and there are still lots of secrets to be learned about still! This is going to be one incredible series!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars


Pawn releases November 26, 2013

Review--Blood Born by Jamie Manning

Waking up in a coffin hungry for blood is only the beginning for sixteen-year-old Ava Blue. When Chance Caldon, the hottie who dug her up, tells her she's half vampire, Ava's world really turns upside down.

Half vamp? Ava can't believe it...she doesn't even know what that means! Not until Aldric, a thousand-year-old vampire, shows up and tells her it's true--and that he's the one who turned her. Then Ava truly begins to believe what she is. Now she has to deal with a sudden and powerful bloodlust, the desire to see Aldric dead, and her growing crush for Chance. Ava knows she's a monster now, she can feel it; and her life is over.

But redemption isn't lost. Aldric is giving her a chance to regain her humanity. The price? Kill 100 vampires, or remain a bloodsucker forever.

So Ava sets out to get her life back. But killing vampires begins a battle that could destroy everything she is working toward. In the end, Ava's decision will forever change her life and the lives of those she loves.

Jamie Manning's Blood Born is yet another read, I've had for quite awhile that I am just now getting to! It was quite a surprising read as well in a lot of ways. I was lured in by the cover, there was just something intriguing by it. I'm a sucker for dark colors and graveyard backgrounds!!

Ava literally wakes up in a coffin buried underground, as a vampire. It was quite the start to the novel and she is dug up by a strange boy named Chance. There is a definite connection going on between Ava and Chance. The beginnings of a budding romance maybe? Ava has no recollection of her past life as a human. Somethings like television or other mundane things come back to her, but nothing really that was apart of her life and who she was.

Then in walks her vampire creator. Aldric turned her to save her, we learn. Save her from what, we don't know. But Ava doesn't want to be a vampire so Aldric offers her a deal, kill 100 vampires and she can become human again. This deal is a bit confusing to me, especially when her first vampire kill was really killed by Chance, she was there fighting it, but didn't make the killing blow that led to its death and yet it still counts as 1 kill. Plus, the whole reversal process of going from vampire to human always confuses me because I don't see how it's possible. But it has been done, so we'll just have to wait and see how Jamie does it.

A few other things that kind of nagged at me, was this constant feeling that Chance was someone from Ava's past. Like they knew one another, but yet again, this never really gets answered to my fulfillment. There was one brief answer, but I didn't feel like it really answered my question of who Chance was to Ava and not just who he is in general. Confused yet? The other nagging part was something minor and that was how Chance's mother never really questioned why Ava--this teenage girl her son barely knows (or maybe not?)--is going to be living with them for awhile. And Ava is still in high school, she gets enrolled at Chance's school and basically Chance becomes her friend of sorts or a guidance counselor...really struggling for words here, because Chance is human, not a vampire and yet he seems to know how to handle vamps and is there for Ava to help her through her time of need.

Ava also meets other teen vampire hunters and sort of becomes friends with them. They teach her how to kill vampires since she's going to be needing that bit of info for her task. She makes friends among them and even a frenemy too.

The ending was pretty surprising, yet as the events were happening I sort of foresaw this last event happening. There was a good deal of action in the end as well with a good old fashion brawl among vampires and vampire hunters, plus two vampires--Ava and Aldric.

Overall it was an interesting read. There were a few grammar errors and another placement error of sorts, but it was an enjoyable novel. Yet, I can't help but feeling let down in some ways, as I felt there was so much building up--especially with Ava and Chance and the feeling that I got that there was definitely something more going on between them than what we saw--and yet nothing was answered or resolved. True, this is only the first book in the trilogy and I can only hope that the second one will have some answers for me. I just read what it was about and it does look intriguing as news problem are being added to Ava's plate. So eventually that one will have to make it to my reading queue as well!


Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

This read was read for the Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge

Follow Friday

This is a weekly blog meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts and any one else you want to follow on the list

2. Follow our Featured Bloggers

3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.

4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments

5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers

7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!

8. If your new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

 

 

This week's question is: You Are It! We are playing #FF tag this week. Comment on as many blogs as you can, even if they aren’t participating in #FF. Just say Happy #FF! At the end of your comment. Keep a running total if you want and update your post with it. The bigger the number the more impressed we will be!

 

 

 

MY ANSWER: Here I come!

 

 

 

 

 

Random Thursday

So in my midst of cleaning out my closet, I found another treasure trove!

It's my line ticket for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!! Number 28, thank you very much! That's for getting to Borders like 3 hours before the store opened! Some other people had me beat! But I was still in the first group!And look! You can see the Borders logo! And their slogan for the kids section or possibly just young readers in general: Reading is Magic! And that is oh so true!

And I had "accidentally" reserved 2 copies at a special preorder price, because I can remember the first time I reserved a copy it didn't look like it went through properly, so I ordered it again. Good thing too, because it turned out at the release party the price was a little higher, but I reserved 2 the super good price and my friend who was with me at the time was able to get my other copy!

Waiting on Wednesday

I hate waiting...

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

Who do you run to?

Out in the forest, tensions are blazing like forest fire. The ancient rivalry between the Fenner and Gaudin packs has reached fever pitch, and only a battle will quell the blood lust.

Katelyn is caught in the middle, her pack loyalties tested like never before. The person she needs the most - strong, sexy, loyal Trick - has no idea about her dark secrets. And while werewolf wars are raging, the Hellhound is still out there, stalking her every move.

It's time to take control. It's time to get savage.

My fear with this one is that the release date is this December, yet all the links take you to the websites and they say things like unavailable...unknown...all very scary stuff! Hoping it changes in the next couple weeks! Fingers crossed!


TITLE: Savage
AUTHOR: Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
PUBLISHER: Doubleday Childrens
GENRE: Paranormal YA
RELEASE DATE: December 5, 2013

Top Ten Tuesdays

No teaser today. See post from Monday as to why. 

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
 
Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To My Best Friend

*in no particular order

This one's easy as I already have a few titles to give her for her Christmas presents.

1. 13 TO LIFE

by Shannon Delany

2. OBSIDIAN

Jennifer L. Armentrout

3. ONCE BURNED

by Jeaniene Frost

4. DIVERGENT

by Veronica Roth

5. THE COLLECTOR

by Victoria Scott

6. BORN AT MIDNIGHT

by C.C. Hunter

7. DEAD WITCH WALKING

by Kim Harrison

8. MY SOUL TO TAKE

by Rachel Vincent

9. INTERTWINED 

by Gena Showalter

10. FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT

by Darynda Jones

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Read:

Dead Suite by Wendy Roberts (5 stars)

Drop Dead Beauty by Wendy Roberts (5 stars)

Fate by Amanda Hocking (3.5 stars)

Flutter by Amanda Hocking (4 stars)

Wisdom by Amanda Hocking (3 stars)

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest (4.5 stars)

Review That Was Posted:

World After by Susan Ee (ARC) (4.5 stars)

Not Currently Reading, See Previous Post as to Why

What I am Hoping to Read this Week:

Blood Born by Jamie Manning

The Wild Adventure of Jasper Renn by Kady Cross

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Waiting on Wednesday

Random Thursday

Follow Friday

Top 5 Sundays

Stacking the Shelves