Stacking the Shelves

This weekly meme is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!


Well I had a good week this week! Only added 1 book to the TBR pile. But yet, I fell victim to book shopping towards the end of the week. I already have some preorders set for next week and then I added more books to the mix. So while I did well this week, next week is going to be one of those good/bad situations because I added wayyy too much and yet I will have LOTS of new books!

See, good and bad!

Anyway, what I bought was:

 Bad Blood by Lucienne Diver

What did you get?

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: Best Book Titles!

*in no particular order

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD

by Kim Harrison

Pretty much this ENTIRE SERIES has awesome titles! Love that they are like the Dirty Harry movie titles! This is probably one of my faves, besides Dead Witch Walking!

ONCE BURNED/TWICE TEMPTED

 by Jeaniene Frost

 This is a combo deal! I like how the titles relate to once another and are a play on words! Can't wait for the title to the third one!

THE IMMORTAL RULES

by Julie Kagawa

This is an awesome title! Since Allie has to learn the rules to being a vampire, aka immortal. Plus it just has a nice ring to it!

STRAY

by Rachel Vincent

One-word titles kind of rock sometimes! Rachel Vincent's Shifter series is all about the one-word titles! The first is probably my fave just because and it sets you up for the awesomeness that is the series!

QUEEN OF ZOMBIE HEARTS

by Gena Showalter

Another trilogy that has just had some awesome titles! Words from the beloved classic Alice in Wonderland revamped with the word Zombie! I mean, you can't go wrong with that!

Cover Copy Reveal--The Beautiful Ashes

Holy hot damn! Jeaniene Frost has released the cover art for her new New Adult series that will be debuting later this year! I think it's totally awesome!

In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate.

Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.

Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…

The Beautiful Ashes releases August 26, 2014

 

Review--Black Heart by Christina Henry

As a former Agent of Death, Madeline Black is no stranger to witnessing violent ends. But being the one to cause them is an entirely different story…

Despite her having saved Chicago from a vampire invasion, the Agency wants to get Maddy off their payroll—permanently. With the deadly Retrievers hot on her trail, she has no choice but to trust Nathaniel to port her to safety. But even the exotic and dangerous world that she winds up in is not as peaceful as she would have hoped. Caught in a turf war between a group of fae and a disturbingly familiar foe, Maddy soon discovers that the twisted plots of her grandfather, Lucifer, and his brothers extend even into this unknown realm.

Now, with enemies gathering on all sides, Maddy’s fate is looking darker than ever. And to protect her unborn son from her adversaries, she may have to tap into a power she hoped never to access…

Christina Henry's Black Heart continues the saga of Madeline Black's life and the chaos within it. Maddy has been having it rough lately. Ever since she lost Gabriel really. The darkness inside of her that has been showing its face more and more continues to grow. Enough that it has pushed all her friends away from her. Other than Nathaniel that is. 

When we last left Maddy the Retrievers were coming for her and she had very little time to escape. Nathaniel quickly created a portal for her to exit through in the nick of time and she finds herself in a very strange place. Not a world she's ever visited before. It's not long before Maddy realizes that this place is too dangerous and that she's better and safer back home where she at least knows what the dangers against her are. But before that can happen, she is taken hostage by a group of fae who live in this land.

But there are more dangerous creatures in this world than these fae. Strange and yet familiar looking "monsters" inhabit this place and attack the fae near daily. They are called Cimice and are just mindless creatures and Maddy feels that destroying them all is the only way to protect the fae. And its while in this world that she meets the fourth brother of Lucifer and Puck's lot. Daharan even helps Maddy out. He seemed like a nice guy and I can only hope that he's the "black sheep" of the three other more evil and conniving brothers.

When Maddy finally returns home--about the halfway point--much has changed in her city. Her house is gone, burnt to a crisp. The city seems to know of most of the paranormal beings that walk the streets. Things are tense. You can pretty much feel it in the air. And now that Maddy is home, three months after she jumped into the portal, the game is about to start up again. She's still wanted by the Agency she once worked for. But she isn't going to go down without a fight.

I'm really starting to worry for dear Maddy these days. The darkness inside of her that we saw come to fore last time around, was scary. And that stuff is still inside of her, ready to leach out again at any moment. Beezle even worries for her, yet he did come back this time around to continue to help and protect her...in his own way. He's still the same lovable, hungry gargoyle that I enjoy each and every time he opens his mouth...to speak, not eat!

Maddy's love life remains utterly complicated. Although there was a lovely scene in Chapter 9 that pretty much had me in happy tears! Or nearly, since you know, I don't cry too much when reading! But then there's Nathaniel and he's a complicated guy. I hated him pretty much the same moment Maddy did, but then he was just there. He was there for Maddy, protecting her and helping her. Trying to become a better person. I enjoy the romance between the two, because it was just surprising and kind of nice for Maddy. But the skeptic in me still feels like I shouldn't completely trust Nathaniel yet. I don't know why. There wasn't any hints to it that I was aware of. Just a feeling I get since he wasn't a character I expected to like several books down from meeting him.

The ending was epic! Needless to say things went down, big time! In the game changing epic-ness sort of way! This series is definitely not over, not by a long shot! (Unless fate is being insanely cruel, then Christina, please self-publish what you have in mind for the finale. I will buy any and all said books!) I wouldn't call the ending a cliffhanger, not like we got in Black City when the s**t was about to hit the fan, but it's sort of a nice settling ending...with danger and action just on the horizon. The calm before the storm is the best way of explaining it. And that calm is definitely momentary! 

The Black Wings Series is an insanely amazing series that I recommend to all Urban Fantasy fans! Maddy is a lovable and realistic kind of heroine and she's just fun to be around--or read about! Plus, Beezle is there and who doesn't love a smart-mouth, hungry-all-the-time gargoyle?!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

ARC Review--Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

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


Victoria Scott's newest series starts off with a bang with Fire & Flood! Told in a very different kind of place from her Dante Walker series, here we follow Tella and her journey going through dangerous escapades in order to find a cure for her brother who's dying. Only thing is, there are other people in this competition all fighting for the same thing...the cure.

Fire & Flood is yet another amazing read, proving how truly awesome Victoria Scott is! At first, Tella kind of bugged me, just as Dante did. She was a little spastic with some of her thoughts, randomly bringing something up in her head and thinking sarcastically. At times, it was funny, others I felt like asking her to just calm down. And yet as the book progresses and the danger grows more dire, she does settle down, a lot in fact. She transforms into an entirely different girl fighting with all she has to get to a cure that over a hundred people want but only one can win.

Tella isn't completely alone, she ends up teaming up with a few other people, everyone here has a common cause. Someone they love is dying and this cure can help them, heal them completely. Joining them also, is an "animal friend". No, these aren't the talking animals of Disney, instead they are animals that look ordinary but have an incredible powers that can help their human gain victory. Tella, though, is a little unsure of her tiny, gray fox looking animal, but Madox--as she names him--proves he's worthwhile!

Friendships are made, enemies are made...and people die! Seriously, I wasn't expecting such tragedies in book one! But Victoria continues to blow me away with what she does! There's also a bit of romance, and go Victoria for going the buildup way! Yes, it's not an insta love connection at all. In fact, I was wondering how these two were even going to get along since the guy (heh heh!) barely speaks to her and gives her these frowny looks.

Guy, as he's named, is truly a remarkable surprise and I felt myself swooning a little. Seriously, where were these YA books when I was a teen? I feel so deprived of more attainable fictional guys! Moving on...;)

Guy proves to be a remarkable asset to helping Tella get through the challenges. There are four of them and we manage to get through two of them in this first book alone! And we learn quite a bit about this organization that recruited these people to participate, but there is still more yet to learn and I am eager for more!

The pacing was pretty good. Not too rushed or too slow. The beginning gets a little tripped up because you're getting to see who Tella is and what her family situation is like and then BAM! The adventure starts and the first piece of the puzzle is presented to us before she even begins! Seriously, you guys, I want MORE and this is me reading the book a month and half before its release!!

Fire & Flood is the perfect action/adventure YA read with a bit of a mystery/conspiracy going on, and I mentioned those bizarre animals. It has comedy, romance, and terrorizing moments where you're holding you're breath and waiting to come back down from the thrilling high, and by the end...you're kind of still hanging there, but it's breathable, but yeah, you definitely want more!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

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: What was the last book that made you cry?

 

 

 

MY ANSWER: Oh uh...well I'm afraid to say it, because I know not everyone's read it yet. And those that have read it were pretty angry about the whole thing. But since it has been a few months, I'll stop hedging and say it.

The last book, that I can recall at this moment, that made me cry was Allegiant by Veronica Roth.

It was definitely a book that just totally shocked my world and before I knew it, tears were springing to my eyes! Of course when I say that, I just mean my eyes got watery. I rarely break down and cry like a blubbery mess with books or movies. But I do get watery-eyed and a tear or two may stray down. But that is crying in a sense.

ARC Review--Grim edited by Christine Johnson

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins

Amanda Hocking

Julie Kagawa

Claudia Gray

Rachel Hawkins

Kimberly Derting

Myra McEntire

Malinda Lo

Sarah Rees-Brennan

Jackson Pearce

Christine Johnson

Jeri Smith Ready

Shaun David Hutchinson

Saundra Mitchell

Sonia Gensler

Tessa Gratton

Jon Skrovron

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

Grim is the ultimate anthology for all fairy tale lovers! Even better if you like YA, because this is written by YA authors! There was only a small handful of authors in this one that I already enjoyed, but overall I loved this anthology! The fairy tales retold or totally imagined in the fairy tale world were all enjoyable on some level. A few were about tales that I didn't know, so it sometimes made it harder to grasp the story, but overall, this was an incredible anthology!

Since anthologies are always hard to review, I'll just say a few things about each of the stories. And I already reviewed Julie Kagawa and Rachel Hawkins' stories earlier since they were free reads from Amazon!

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready was an intriguing tale. I am not quite sure what creature it was that was involved. But it was a nice story that dealt with good luck and what an inspiring musician does with it when it falls into his lap. 4/5 stars

The Twelfth Girl by Malina Lo is a retelling/spin on The Twelve Dancing Princesses! One of my favorite fairy tales! True to the story, in some sense twelve girls go to a magical place and dance the night away. But Liv, the newest girl was unaware of the cost that was paid in order for them to go there. 3.5/5 stars

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron is a story much in the sense of classic fairy tale telling. I am not sure if this one already exists, but it was just beautifully told. A princess was cursed to be a raven and then a young man is determined to do everything possible to help her break the curse so that she may be human again. It was quite the tale and had some twists I didn't expect! 5/5 stars

Thinner than Water by Saundra Mitchell was a Princess in Disguise retelling, yet another fave of mine. It's the creepy one where the father wants to marry his daughter because his dying wife asked him to marry none other than a woman who's beauty surpasses her own. And naturally the king realizes that's his daughter. Creepy, right?! But this one didn't go as far as I thought it would and had a very interesting twist at the end! 5/5 stars

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins is a retelling of the Snow Queen. It pretty much felt like a simple retelling. It's been awhile since I read that tale so I couldn't figure out what was different from it. Other than the spin with demons! 3/5 stars

Beauty/Beast by Tessa Gratton is a retelling of the classic and favorite tale! It was quite surprising too, because Beauty tries to escape multiple times. There were some other differences going on, and its ending too was another shocker, but I liked it overall! 5/5 stars

Untethered by Sonia Gensler was an intriguing story about a mother and daughter mourning the loss of their sister/daughter. I felt like I knew what was going on all along in some sense. But there was a "knowledge" of sorts that a character had that kind of confused me in the end. But still a very enjoyable tale! 4/5 stars

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson was a sci-fi story in the extreme. We're talking a colony of people living on a spaceship looking for a planet where they could live without the Disease that is running rampant on the ship. A girl was created to help the scientist in finding the cure. She's not human but close to it. It was a bit odd sometimes, because I wasn't fully grasping the whole going ons, but it was still an intriguing and chilling story! 3.5/5 stars

Light it Up by Kimberly Derting is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel and oh how I loved it! Kimberly already wrote the chilling Body Finder series so I was eager for her tale. And to have a modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel was just awesome! I especially liked some of the hat tips to the classic tale throughout the story! 5/5 stars

Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson was an intriguing tale. I'm not sure if it was a retelling, but it goes to that a pair of sisters were gifted/cursed by their neighbor. One spills forth flowers and gems when she speaks and another snakes and frogs. You can bet which one the drunken mother wants to keep. It definitely had a decent set of fairy tale elements, but I felt like it ended too soon. 4/5 stars

A Real Boy by Claudia Gray is a Pinocchio retelling and it was done quite well! Instead of a magical puppet, we get a robot who's so very nearly human! But it's in a futuristic world where robots are little more than slaves. And you can bet there's something brewing between boy and girl in this one. It was quite intriguing and I liked how our heroine was named Blue. Felt like another hat tip to the Blue Fairy! 5/5 stars

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire was another odd tale. This one was definitely creepy and that going for it, but I was left confused with what we were dealing with. A group of boy (teens) spend their time singing in a band and then skinning people. See this is where I got a mite confused, I didn't know what they were and what precisely were they doing with said skin. It tended to be girls that they skinned and naturally, one of the band members is falling in love with a girl who one of the others wants to be their next target... 3.5/5 stars

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan was another Beauty and the Beast retelling but so fun and unique! I was a bit confused at first with the Chad, but I soon was able to figure out the twist. This Beast is not like any other we've dealt with and I really enjoyed the twist of our fairy tale world mixed with modern world! 5/5 stars

The Pink: A Grimm Story by Amanda Hocking is another recreated or retold fairy tale that I am unaware of. Unless it's a totally new idea! It is another one that has all the fairy tale details down to a tee! Magic, enchantments, spells, girls turning into girls from a flower and back again! Quite the stuff of magic! But yet, I found it lacking a bit in some areas, but it was still an enjoyable tale. 3.5/5 stars

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce was a retelling of Snow White. Another modern setting, but still filled with magic. Wherein the "prince" isn't a prince, but a guy who has magic powers and can bring back the dead to life with a kiss and they are restored. When his next assignment is the girl who tormented him throughout his school years, he has a tough choice to make. I thought this one was okay, but the ending soon became a bit rushed and the ultimate decision that was made didn't make sense to me in some ways. 3.5/5 stars

So overall it was an incredible anthology. I suppose I ought to add up the numbers and then divide to create the official rating, but that's not what I'll do. This one was really good and while I may not have loved every story, I did think those were still pretty well told! This is the perfect anthology for all lovers of fairy tales and I urge you to buy a copy as soon as possible, as you won't be disappointed! Now if only I had the time to freshen up on my fairy tales, then I could go back and maybe understand a few of these that confused me...

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

Grim releases February 25, 2014

Review--Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR DNA...EVEN WHEN IT SAYS YOU'RE A MURDERER.

When Davy test positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, aka "the kill gene," she loses everything. Once the perfect high school senior, she is uninvited from her prep school and abandoned by her friends and boyfriend. Even her parents are now afraid of her--although she's never hurt a fly. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.

Without any say in the matter, Davy is thrown into a special class for HTS carriers. She has no doubt the predictions are right about them, especially Sean, who already bears the "H" tattoo as proof of his violence. Yet when the world turns on the carriers, Sean is the only one she can trust. Maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems.

Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

And so we enter the world of Sophie Jordan's Uninvited. A far cry more different than her Firelight world. It's the year 2021 and the HTS testing is already in effect. Davy is your typical teen prodigy--note the prodigy--and has everything going for her. She's extremely talented in music, she's got good grades, attends a prestigious high school, is already accepted for Julliard, and has the best boyfriend ever coupled with great friends.

Then in Chapter 1, all that changes. Davy learns that she test positive for HTS when the school enforced the students to be tested for it earlier that year. Now why it took so long to get the results or how long it's even been is never mentioned. Regardless in one moment, everything changes for Davy. She is immediately "uninvited" from her high school, they don't use the word "expulsion". Her college immediately withdraws her acceptance and pretty much everything changes for Davy. She has the kill gene. Automatically society at large believes she will kill one day because of this gene.

And so begins the debate of nature vs nurture. Davy has lived all her life, believing herself to be a normal person, albeit musically talented normal person. She's never lost her temper or hurt anyone. But no one seems to care about that. She's pretty much fits the "princess" nickname Sean gives her the first time they meet. The idea of her being capable of being a killer is ludicrous.

I was actually shocked by how horrible Davy was treated once everyone learned that she has the kill gene. Her best friend immediately hates her after she learns. She thinks Davy should be locked up somewhere for the good of the world. Heck, she probably be okay if someone else killed Davy. She was just that cruel! And her boyfriend was no better. Try as he might to accept Davy as Davy, and not a HTS carrier, his true colors eventually shone. I was actually surprised when her brother, Mitchell, the problem child of the family, was the most understanding and considerate one of the family. Of everyone really. He was there for Davy and tried to keep things positive. He even suggested that he and Davy run away when the US calls for all HTS carriers to be put into concentration camps.

I was rather surprised by the pacing. For some reason, everyone seemed to have me thinking the first half of the book was a more normal life for Davy. In fact, Davy's life changed in Chapter 1. We have but a moment of Davy in her normal life before everything changes. She continues to cling to it while she can, but eventually lets go. 

Davy is surprised by some of the other carriers she meets. In her new class room, which is more like in-school-suspension, the carriers she meets are almost normal like her. One or two anyway, the rest she can totally see being killers one day. Then there's Sean of course. He's the mysterious boy who already bears the H tattoo on his neck. So he's hurt someone already. He watches out for her time and time again, and at one point seems put out that he's doing such. He tells her, he can't always be there to protect her and yet he is. And it becomes obvious when a love connection develops. And it wasn't too bad as far as romance goes. At least it took time to build!

My review is getting longer than I intended here, so much to talk about with this one! The second half of the book shows Davy, Sean and their friend Gil going into a special training program with other carriers who will be trained to basically be assassins for the US government. They all have potential. And yet, it is still a dog-eat-dog kind of world in this camp.

Overall Uninvited was a pretty good read! It was intriguing seeing how "normal" people treated the HTS carriers. Granted, some of the HTS carriers were a bad sort. But you could see that some of them might have just decided to be what society expected of them. So why not give it to them?  I didn't have too many issues with this one. Although one thing that nagged at me, knowing it's set in the future, was that Davy had no idea who actor Brad Pitt was, but knew the Beatles and their songs by heart. Go figure. Guess it was a music-related thing.

Davy is the kind of character that grew on you. There were times when she bugged me, being a little too "princess" like, but she started to grow on me as time moved on. She found a strength inside herself and did what she could to survive. She had help and that was good. She definitely surprised me in the end. Definitely look forward to seeing how things wrapup in the end. Wondering if other characters might reappear in Davy's life. Purely speculation of course, there were no hints at anything. Just that Davy and her friends have a plan and they intend to make it work. Yay for no cliffhangers!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars

Random Thursday

So here's a fun little fact brought to you by the 2014 Disney Desk Calendar!

Did you know that in Disney's Dumbo, the circus that Casey Jr. pulls along the tracks to all the towns it visits, is called the WDP Circus? And that the WDP stands for Walt Disney Productions?! This was a "little joke by Disney's animators" that was put into the film!

Perhaps I should've known this by now, but I haven't watched Dumbo in a few years. I always got sad when the circus separated Dumbo from his mom and called her a "mad elephant" when she was just trying to protect her baby!

But you gotta love the Disney Desk Calendar for these fun little factoids!

Review--3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Josie Byrne's life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she's betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can't get worse. Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo's life is everything Josie wants: she's popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they're just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.

Josie and Jo are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day. But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo's boyfriend, he hates her. Jo's mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.
 
Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?

From master of suspense Gretchen McNeil comes a riveting and deliciously eerie story about the lives we wish we had – and how they just might kill you.

This was my first Gretchen McNeil novel! I had heard lots about this book when I was at RT last year. So much buzz surrounding it. So I decided to finally give it a try--been on a book buying binge lately, hoping its over since I am buying books that weren't on my release list and I am only adding to the TBR mountain madness. But that's likely not going to happen anytime soon!--and OMG, 3:59 was freaking fabulous!

Now I am pretty much a paranormal reader, but I do enjoy a good suspense, especially one where there's something "odd" going on. And what's more odd than parallel universes and doppelgängers?  Exactly! I was totally blown away with the awesomeness of this book. Granted, Josie is a bit of a science nerd--all in good fun! Her mother's a scientist--actually, she has another job title, but it's escaping me at the moment--so she kind of grew up with it. And let me tell you, science is soooo not my subject. So when we got to talking the "science language" and explaining the impossible, well, I got a little confused! Nothing wrong on Gretchen's part of course, just me not being able to understand science. That was my worst subject all through high school!

Anyway, Josie's life is falling apart. Her parents separated, her boyfriend cheats on her, her friend betrays her, she got fired from her part time job, her mother has been overly distant since the separation. Everything seems to fall to crap at once. So when Josie starts having dreams about Jo--the girl who is so like her, but has what appears to be a better life--well, Josie craves it. Then when she and Jo discover that their "magic" mirror can allow them to enter the other's world, they are all for a day in the life of the other.

But what Josie doesn't realize is that nothing is what it seems in Jo's life. Jo left out quite a bit in their "briefing". When Josie is ready to go home at the appointed time, she learns that Jo has tricked her and blocks the mirror against a wall, so no one can go in or out. Now Josie is stuck in this other world riddled with monsters--yes monsters that eat people at night!--and no way of getting home. She ends up finding some unlikely help from Nick, her ex-boyfriend's doppelgänger and his friends.

The pacing to this one was good! Granted, when it came to the talking about science-related things, like the time travel and other words I cannot recall at the moment, that's when it became sluggish for me. Science and me have never really been compatible. So the slowing down was probably just something that might happen to me, because I was doing my best to understand what the characters were talking about. It doesn't read like a textbook or anything, but when it comes to science I just feel like a big dope, especially physics. Pretty much like Penny feels whenever Sheldon speaks!

All I keep thinking about this book is wow! I mean, freaking holy cow wow!! It was just so awesome! It was an incredibly tense read as Josie continually tries to find a way home. The magic hour of course is at 3:59 am and pm, and the mirror is only open for one minute. It's so intense! Then we even learn more about what's going on and the intensity blows through the roof! It was definitely the ultimate thriller! I love these kinds of reads! And the ending, oh wow! That one definitely threw me through a loop! It kind of makes you wonder if the story isn't done yet, but at the same time, it does have an air of finality. You know, one of "those" kinds of endings!

Gretchen McNeil has definitely caught my eye after this incredibly awesome read! Definitely going to go check out her other reads that are out! If you're looking for that chilling, thriller kind of read, with a sprinkling of paranormal (ie: the parallel universe angle) then 3:59 is definitely the read for you!


Overall 4.5/5 stars--had to dock a half point because of the science talk. That's when the pacing really slowed down for me since it was always my worst subject! Other than that, I loved it!

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.

Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all-popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend.

Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it's one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took "mean girl" to a whole new level, and it's clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She's getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she's falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash.

But Cassie is still missing, and the facts about what happened to her that night isn't just buried deep inside of Sam's memory-someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?

Loooove Jennifer's books! This sounds like a really good thriller and I love thrilling type reads! I put a request in at Netgalley back in December with still no response. I swear these websites were designed to drive me crazy with the waiting! As if waiting for the book release itself wasn't enough!

TITLE: Don't Look Back
AUTHOR: Jennifer L. Armentrout
PUBLISHER: Disney-Hyperion
GENRE: Thriller YA
RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2014

 A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

And speaking of thrillers...I LOVED Kimberly Derting's Body Finder series and am sooo eager to read her newest series! Sadly, I was repeatedly denied for it on Edelweiss, so it looks like I'm waiting til April to get a copy!

TITLE: The Taking
AUTHOR: Kimberly Derting
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
GENRE: Thriller YA
RELEASE DATE: April 29, 2014

 

Cover Art Reveal--Eternal

The second book in C.C. Hunter's soon to release series has been revealed! I am soooo excited for Della's story! Plus I love the cover! Della's series is going to rock, I can feel it!

And I always feel extra teased when the cover for the next book is released even before the first one's out, but oh well! It's only a 3 months and 2 day wait (until the first one releases)! No cover description, obviously, but will pose once its revealed!


Eternal releases October 28, 2014

Review--Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

"You can't touch me," I whisper. 

I'm lying, is what I don't tell him.

He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him.

Please touch me, is what I want to tell him.

But things happen when people touch me.

Strange things.

Bad things.

Dead things.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but the Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.

But Juliette has plans of her own.

After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovered a strength to fight back for the very first time--and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

So I finally read Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me, after all the rave reviews and explosion of the final book coming out I had to see what it was all about. And finding the first hardcover in the bargain section for $4 helped too! And after reading it, I find myself at lost for how I feel about it. I recall reading one or two reviews where the reader didn't care for it at all, and now I see why they had those thoughts.

Juliette is an unstable character, but I get it. When her parents discovered she had this lethal touch as a baby, they pretty much locked her in her room to fend for herself. I was actually surprised that they continued to raise their daughter and send her to school. Until one fateful day, she touched someone without thinking and ended up killing them. Then she was taken away from her parents, with no fight from them, and sent away. For awhile there were tests run on her and then she was put into captivity for nearly a year.

Then one day, she gets a roommate, Adam. And she's shocked to discover that she knows this boy. From long ago when she was in school, before she was taken away, he was there. And surprisingly, he was the closest thing to a friend that she had, even though the two never once spoke a word to one another. It was an odd friendship.

Then Juliette is released from her prison to meet Warner--the Warner everyone was talking about--and learns he has plans that involve her and a sort of "taking over the world" montage. For this world is broken, another dystopian where we see how devastated the world has become and society is crumbling and every day is a struggle to survive. Warner wants to use Juliette and her "power" to torture out confessions of the enemy in this ongoing struggle.

I guess one of the things that bugged me was the repetition. Juliette is our narrator and she isn't too stable mentally, I don't think. Which I can understand. Her parents never once showed her love or affection. She never really got affection from anyone. So she's unstable. But she repeats things a lot, like three or four times. And then there's the whole crossing thoughts or possible dialogue out. Like she was going to say one thing, but then changes her mind and says something else. That part didn't bother me too much, but it was the repetition she uses, kind of drove me batty. Like: "He looks so familiar so familiar so familiar to me." And then that's crossed out as well. I didn't understand the thoughts being crossed out so much.

That was my biggest issue with the book, otherwise, I did enjoy it for the most part. Of course, I am still left confused as to the world order and some of the revelations at the end. Guess that means I need to keep reading the series.

As far as romance goes there was a nice dose of it here. I was surprised, but yet not, based on what people were saying about Warner some time ago, that there was a love oddity in place. I say oddity, because it's not a love triangle. One of Juliette's "pursuers" only goes one way where Juliette has no feelings for him at all. So it was an oddity, I guess you could say.

I didn't really get a grab onto the plot so well either. Besides Warner having plans for Juliette and her wanting no part in them, there wasn't much direction for the story. But I can kind of see where it's going now that it's finished. At least in part, I'm sure there's lot more to come since our characters now might have a direction to go in their journey. Now it just comes to the debate whether or not I want to read the last two books in the trilogy. I did enjoy the second half more than the first. Juliette's mind, as I said, was a bit chaotic in the beginning, but I think the more time she spent around people, the more stable she became. The repetition became a little less as did the crossing out the thoughts, so she's at least becoming a more reliable heroine in some sense. As I said, the matter is up for debate. I might look into the second book and see if sounds intriguing enough, but as of now I remain undecided.


Overall rating 3.5/5 stars

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

Finally reading Shatter Me! It's a bit of struggle so far. Juliette is definitely a damaged heroine, but she does have her moments, like in this one...

"'I like my clothes,' I tell him. I'd like to punch you in the eye, is what I don't tell him." p 75

TITLE: Shatter Me
AUTHOR: Tahereh Mafi
PUBLISHER: Harper
GENRE: Dystopian YA
RELEASE DATE: November 15, 2011

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 Reasons I Love Being A Blogger/Reader

*in no particular order

 1. Books! Love getting review books, love talking about books! Anything book related goes!

2. The Community! Love finally having people who share my love of reading, especially paranormal books!

3. Reviews! Love writing them and reading them!

4. Making friends! I've made so many new blogger friends and it's just been incredible!

5. Meeting authors! Even meeting new authors! Of course I met Maria V. Snyder before blogging, but the idea is still the same!

6. Excitement! Who else can I get excited about books over with than my blogging pals in the blogging world!

7. Learning about new books from other bloggers! Be they NEW or new to me books!

8. Learning about new authors! Such as Danielle Paige and the upcoming, awesomely new Dorothy Must Die!!

9. Sharing the love! Truly, bloggers are some of the nicest people ever! I can't count the times how many of my blogging pals loaned me their ARC of a book I wanted to read and they let me borrow it by mailing it! And of course there's all the contests we bloggers are always doing on our own part! That's a lot of love going around and I love that!

10. Because blogging is fun!