Archive | January, 2013

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

30 Jan

11556960

Book One in the Crewel World Series

Rating: Three out of Five Stars

First of all, can we talk about that delicious cover? GORG! I love the colors, the swirls, the lips, the face. It epitomizes what this book is about and I adore an author/artist who can capture the feeling of the book and recreate it for the cover. Two Thumbs Up.

I was really excited for this book. I actually requested it from the library but got tired of waiting so just bought it as an ebook so I could start reading it righthisminute. That being said, I am not quite as excited for the sequel to this book. I loved parts and I struggled with parts. So my review is a solid middle of the road yellow dashed line.

My biggest beef I have with Crewel is how intensely different this world is and how there was exactly ZERO adjustment time for my WSOD. I spent the first 35% percent of the book rereading the description to try to get a sense of WTH this world consisted of. Then, once the Crewler sat down and explained everything to Adelice, our main character, it was like the beautiful flower of knowledge bloomed in my head and all was right in my bookworld.

But then Adelice kinda goes crazy nutso and doesn’t really think about the consequences and the trail of awful she’s leaving in her path when she’s making her decisions. Flip two chapters later then she’s awesome and heroic again. Plus three more chapters, she’s a twat. The End? She saves lives.

See? Do you see my problem? It was so hot and cold, love and hate, rooting for and totally against. I felt like the plot was a ferris wheel and it would slowly go up towards amazing, crest, and then move towards awful. Over and over and over. The world, once explained, IS impressive. I really liked the concept of it, science meeting fantasy meeting dystopia!?!  Oh hells yes! The actual concept of this book is completely unique and the storyline is decent. But the characters just don’t jive well. And then throw in an awkward tree point love story and BOOM, it’s all the crap we’ve see before. For once FOR ONCE could the book Lord’s Almighty just have two people like each other and be done with it? I can promise all the YA author’s out there that there are just as angsty teen topics to write about.

All in all, I don’t think I can adequately review this until I read the series because so much hangs on what happens in the next books. Jury is still out. Meh.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

daynight by Megan Thomason

28 Jan

16148038

Book One in HOPEFULLY the daynight Series

Rating: Five out of Five Stars

I have decided self-published books are my new “thing”. After the spectacular debut of Susan Ee’s Angelfall and Megan Thomason’s gorgeous gem of a book we have here, publishing companies need to get their heads out of the Twi-Hard’s  and 50 Shades of Crap’s asses and be smacked in the face with delicious stories like daynight.

My desperate need for all things dystopian novel got a real big present when I scored daynight FOR FREE on Amazon as a Kindle download. As I trudge my way through mediocre books, I like to have little treats as motivation. Daynight went from motivation to obsession in three chapters. This book is enthralling, captivating and I just want to devour and then savor everything about it.

Blake and Kira our the main narrators and hot damn do I feel intimately connected to them. They are magnificently developed. The true talent of an author comes through when I can see their pro-tags in real life and describe their reactions to decision that has nothing to do with the book. I adored Blake and Kira. They are loyal and lovely with so much depth in their characters they became real to me even outside the book’s confines. And then there is Ethan, our third point to the Almighty Love Triangle. While he is a front runner of Kira’s affection, I firmly place allegiance with Team Blake. Either way, the budding romances,  tantalizing affections, and the swooning feelings we get to hear to from all sides is enticing. All three narrators are perfect and beautiful and interesting. This story really captures the unique personalities of the human race; what we will do for love, what we will give up for what’s right, what strong morals and unwavering loyalty can do.

Daynight is dynamic and interesting and has secured a spot in my Top Ten Favorite Dyspotia’s. I am drooling over Thomason’s work and I am aching to read the rest of this series. Please oh please finish this masterpiece off! If only for my sanity 🙂

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

23 Jan

9413044

Book One in the Everneath Series

Rating: Two out of Five Stars

Ugh this book. When I first read the description, I immediately put it down. The whole to-hell-and-back-plot and the dysfunctional romance sounded a little too tweeny Twi-hard for my taste. But then reviews started rolling in and it impressed some of my favorite bloggers so I put it on my “if I get around to it” shelf and was put on the long request list from the library. Then my friends were reading it and really enjoying it and all the sudden BOOM! It’s in my hands.

So then I was stuck with this book I wasn’t really excited about reading, which automatically taints my perception of the book. But even as I started reading it, I knew I wouldn’t like it. I didn’t connect with the characters, didn’t see the vavavavoom in the romance, couldn’t grasp the concept the way I like. It was exactly what I expected, “meh”. Be forewarned, this review does contain spoilers.

Nikki, the main character and narrator, annoys me. She’s “so afraid” of hurting people she just lies and lies and lies to them. Yeah, sweetheart, that makes perfect sense. Nikki spends the whole book trying to “make it up” to her family for ditching them for the Underworld. Which entails handing out flyers for her dad’s mayor reelection and ignoring her little brother, how sweet. Oh and the boy she is just soooo in love with that saved her from going insane after 100 years of being sucked dry of emotions? Way to not even TALK TO HIM for the first 3 months of your 6 months back. WHAT THE HELL. Nikki is spineless. She sits there and says it was  her fault for causing all these problems but she doesn’t DO anything about it. Actions speak louder than words, my friend. And all she did was talk. And whine. And sulk. Nikki only looked things up on the internet, maybe in a book or two but Jack did all the work. SPOILER AHEAD! And then sacrificed himself for her? After Nikki didn’t trust him, ran to another guy to fix things, was gone for 6 Earth months and then when she comes back she lies to him, ignores him, rebuffs all his advances for 5 and 1/2 months and in TWO WEEKS they are willing to die for each other? PUHlease. Shit is so not happening.

Needless to say, not exactly my favorite book. I do not plan on reading the sequel any time soon, if ever. Unless! Unless it has the meat and potatoes and she loves Cole. Because Cole is hot and feisty and deserves Nikki’s selfish self way more than Jack because he is also selfish.. and hot. 🙂

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Beta by Rachel Cohn

21 Jan

10382215

Book One in the Annex Series

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

Beta is like the teenage girl version of iRobot. But instead of robots they are clones (ahh epic sci-fi-ness!) And as my nerd girl status reaches “ninja master”, that basically means LITERARY GOLD in my mind.

Beta reminds me a lot of Glitch. And by a lot I mean pretty much exactly. Sure the characters have a different quirks and different worlds, but the premise of the book is the same: you shouldn’t feel emotions, but you do so now you somehow have to deal with it and if you let people know, you will be deactivated. But since you are a badass, you are gunna stick it to the man and survive with your boymanlover. Yup, pretty sure I could be talking about either one of those books with that description!

Lucky for moi, I loved Glitch so it’s only normal that I would enjoy Beta too. BUT OMG THAT ENDING. I think this is the WORST CLIFFHANGER I have ever experienced.

Seriously, this was me reading the last three paragraphs:

JDKIn

C0pUt

k78zS

And then it ended and I realized book two DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A RELEASE DATE YET

D1nx1

Heartbreaking… seriously. Probably one of the most intense endings I have read in awhile. It’s not even the intriguing ending like Crossed by Allie Condie was. At least she left me with something I could think about, mull over, and let fester in my brain until Reached came out. Oh no, not Rachel. She created this whole world for you and then WHAMBAM thank-you-ma’am turned everything inside out.

I  really enjoyed this book. I flew through it and was bugged eyed the whole time. It’s not a fast paced book but is does have a lot of twists that hold your interest and keeps you engaged in the story.

For the first book in the novel, it’s a great start to an awesome series. It’s dramatic, fast paced, sexy, and intense. But unless you want to be tortured like me for a year, wait until the second book comes out..

Tags: , , , , , ,

Pure by Julianna Baggott

17 Jan

9680114

Book One in the Pure Series

Rating: Three out of Five Stars

Oh my. Where’s my teddy bear?I am going to be completely honest here and say that this book terrified me. It gave me the internal creep crawlies, collywobbles, dithers, whatever you want to call them. 140 pages in I updated my status to

“This book gives me the heebie jeebies. It’s weird and creepy and I don’t think I like it very much because some of this shit is just freaky. Oh well.. power through until the middle and then I will reevaluate.”

In the end, I can’t pinpoint how I feel about Pure. It’s just… gruesome? The whole book is based on violence and horrible human tragedy. It has gag inducing descriptions in a world where I would cry myself to sleep every night. I was just so… uncomfortable.
That being said, and me having a few weeks to process this book (and read must more lighthearted dystopias), as much as the imagery in this book made me want to curl up in the corner and rock back and forth, it was amazing. It was tangible. It was real. It was imaginative. All the underlying YA Dystopia 101’s were there, boy meets girl, girl from wrong side of track, they work together to solve problem. Blahdeblah. But it was sick and twisted and a very probable world they lived. That is what makes me dislike this book, this shit could really happen guys! It was like an even darker version of the Unwind series, which is pretty impressive.

I wish Baggot would have spent less time describing the effed up effects the nukes had on people and spent more time on the story. Now that we’ve spent almost an entire book getting the shivers, I hope Fuse, Book Two will be more about the people and the story and the meat of the issues. She has some interesting characters and personalities to play with and really focusing on developing the dynamics between them could make an extremely interesting plot. I have connections with each narrator and although she bounces through what, five? view points, you really get an understanding of each of their unique minds and personalities. You know their fears, understand their decision making. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of writing, even if it does creep me out.

Pure gave me nightmares yes, but damn, Fuse could really turn out to be a badass book. And I will read it.

And then watch Disney movies before I go to bed…

P.S. Rumor has it the rights have been bought to make this book into a movie. Shit could get real crazy up in hurr if that was to ever come to fruition.

Tags: , , , ,

To-Read Tuesday – Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

15 Jan

10874177

Book One in the Finishing School Series

Previous Rating:  Nadda – new series!

Release Date: February 5, 2013

Why I Am Excited: First of all, who would NOT want to read this book with a title like that!?! It’s like The Luxe series, Graceling, and The Gemma Doyle series all wrapped up into one book of amazing tied with a giant bow of AWESOME! And since I am slightly obsessed with all things late 18th to early 19th century and badass heroines this book is like a dream come true! And apparently its a Steampunk novel?! *dramatic faint* So steampunk + Victorian era + kickass girls + pretty dresses? Gimme Gimme gimmegimmegimmeeeeeeee MEOW!

What I Hope To See: Since this is the first book in the series and I have never read a Carriger novel, it’s kind of hard to fill out my usual to-read standards. But what I hope to see is lots of manners, a good dose of Victorian societal norms being pushed, a devious villain and some nasty catty girls.

My Predictions: Umm… ditto to above. 🙂

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Best Birthday Present Ever!

14 Jan

Today is my 24th birthday.

QZrSL

On Friday, I posted a review drooling over The Crimson Crown and fawning all over Cinda Williams Chima. All my reviews are posted to Facebook and my Twitter account and of course I am following Chima’s Tweets.

CindaTWEETEDmeback

SHE TWEETED ME BACK. CINDA WILLIAMS CHIMA TWEETED ME BACK!!!

vaTIC

5cfp4

Best birthday present ever. I can die happy now.

Tags: , , , , ,

The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima – the most amazing book I have ever read.

11 Jan

The Crimson Crown

Fourth Book in the Seven Realms Series

Rating: Five out of Five Stars

After finishing this book, I am attempting to write my final review for this series. This is almost painful for me because I am so passion about this book, these characters, this author, I want to do them justice. I feel like I need to hone and perfect my writing skills purely to try to make this review captures just how incredible this book is.

I have been a high fantasy lover all my life. I grew up with Harry Potter throughout childhood and went through high school with Eragon. Wizards, witches, and dragons were my mind’s companion and I adore my author’s imaginary worlds more than the bleak, sometimes colorless and cruel world we live in. This book though, has introduced my mind and soul to a completely different delicious culture of imagery.

I wish I could explain just how amazing Cinda Williams Chima‘s work is, but unlike her I lack the language to articulate the emotions she creates in me while I read. Her gorgeous world building, incredible prose, tangible character had me so invested in this series. I laughed, I cried, I hurt with Han and I was desperate with Raisa. I hated and loved right along with everyone in the book. Han and Raisa are more than just characters to me. They are living and breathing friends in my mind. They are the most wonderful, passionate, fierce people I know. They have fears, insecurities, unwavering faith in each other, and a true epic romance.

The pure brilliance of this writing literally has me wonderstruck. I am gagging on my praise because I just can’t focus my mind on one thing long enough to get out all of my swooning. I love that there is heartbreak and deaths because that what really happens in the world. People have awful things happen to them, but this fantasy novel shows that you can overcome even the most insurmountable obstacles if you trust your instincts, believe in your friends, and rely on love to power all.

Basically what I am trying to say, is this is the best series I have ever read. It’s the most beautiful, real, tragically wonderful (although it does have the best ending!) book/series of all time. Sorry, JK, your HP books have been usurped.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To-Read Tuesday – Top 20 To-Reads of 2013!

8 Jan

Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge - Mozilla Firefox_2013-01-07_14-33-42

Goal: 100 books by December 31, 2013

2012 Goal: 75

2012 Actual: 80

2013 is going to be a Fanstadactile!

The year 2013 is probably my most anticipated book release year of all time. There are some really interesting new series coming out and some redic second and third installments in legit badass series coming out. Wow… soo much lingo. But I am just so excited my uber poor use of slang is coming out. Eeeeeee!!!

Anywho… here are my Top 20 To-Reads of 2013

  1. 1/29/2013 – Prodigy, Legend #2 by Mary Lu 13414446
  2. 4/23/2013 – The Elite, The Selection #2 by Kiera Cass 14748094
  3. 2013 – Penryn and The End of Days#2 by Susan EeNo_Cover_
  4. 2/12/2013 – Override, Glitch #2 by Heather Anastasiu14759331
  5. 10/29/2013 – Horde, Razorland #3 by Ann Aguirre10596724
  6. 2/12/2013 – Sever, The Chemical Garden #3 by Lauren DeStefano12383869
  7. 2013 – Annex #2 by Rachel CohnNo_Cover_
  8. 2013 – Crewel World #2 by Gennifer AlbinNo_Cover_
  9. 2/19/2013 – Mind Games, Mind Games #1 by Kiersten White12578294
  10. 3/5/2013 – Requiem, Delirium #3 by Lauren Oliver9593913
  11. 9/26/2013 – Divergent #3 by Veronica RothNo_Cover_
  12. 1/8/2013 – Through The Ever Night, Under The Never Sky #2 by Veronica Rossi13253276
  13. 3/19/2013 – Clockwork Princess, Infernal Devices #3 by Cassandra Clare6131164
  14. 7/2/2013 – Shutdown, Glitch #3 Heather Anastasiu16045008
  15. 1/29/2013 – Asunder, Newsoul #2 by Jodi Meadows13043180
  16. 2/5/2013 – Etiquette and Espionage, Finishing School #1 by Gail Carriger10874177
  17. 3/19/2013 – City of Heavenly Fire, Mortal Instruments #6 by Cassandra Clare8755785
  18. 1/22/2013 – Everbound, Everneath #2 by Brodi Ashton13115995
  19. 7/9/2013 – Dracomachia, Seraphina #2 by Rachel HartmanNo_Cover_
  20. 4/30/2013 – The Program, The Program #1 by Suzanne Young11366397

“Good and evil are a great deal more complex than a princess and a dragon . . . is not the dragon the hero of his own story?”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Promised by Caragh M. O’Brien

3 Jan

13010211

Book Three in the Birthmarked Series

Rating: Three out of Five Stars

I enjoyed this book, but overall I think it’s the weakest in the series. Still, the ties and emotional connections I had to the characters from the previous books makes me want to bump my rating to 3 stars.

Here is my criticism: Why oh why do authors think it will be boring if people have normal emotions? Fo reals. I understand the need for drama and foreshadowing and plot twists blah blah blah. But heavens above! I could not keep up Gaia’s epiphanies or Leon’s brooding love-sick control freak-ness. Gaia seemed to change direction in each chapter and I was so flustered by her mood swings I almost stopped reading. Now I understand men when they deal with PMSing women! For a character who was so steadfast and determined, solid and stubborn in the first two books, she sure does a lot of roller-coasting in this one. And I find it hard to believe that she would just get up after that tragedy happens, shrug and move on. I wish O’Brien would have spent more time focusing on her emotions during that realization. And Leon, oh brother. Just the same old same Cassandra Clare type love interest. All passionate brooding but nothing I could really sink my teeth into until the final chapter.

With my love loss for Gaia and Leon, it was hard to truly adore this book the way I did the others. I was infatuated with Gaia’s bravery in book one and two but her heroism in these books stretched by WSOD a tad too far. I couldn’t connect that way I wanted to. Thank goodness the story was technically well-written or I would have set this down. I would have also enjoyed a quick recap from the first books. I hadn’t read the other two books in awhile and it took me a quarter of the book to play catch up before I remembered everything.

If you have read the first two books (and the bridge), you should definitely read the third to complete the series. The story itself is still captivating, even if its pushed to be unrealistic. Just go into with the notion that the characters are not the same they were when you met them.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries

Straight Mommin’ Bro

Straight Mommin’ Bro

a bookish peach

Cuddlebuggery Book Blog

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience

Just another WordPress.com site

%d bloggers like this: