Tag Archives: Cinda Williams Chima

October 2013 Releases

1 Oct

So I get a little faint just thinking about all the books that are coming out this month.  Seriously, every time I look at my printed out list of books this is me:

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And not just October, but November releases too. There is just much awesomeness jam packed into these next few months I can’t handle it.

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So let’s just look at the glory that will be our next two months shall we?

 

How to Love Katie Cotugno 10/1/2013
Killer of Enemies Joseph Bruchac 10/1/2013
Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles, #2) Kresley Cole 10/1/2013
BZRK Reloaded (BZRK, #2) Michael  Grant 10/8/2013
Bang (Visions, #2) Lisa McMann 10/8/2013
Resist (Breathe, #2) Sarah Crossan 10/8/2013
Blythewood Carol Goodman 10/8/2013
These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1) Amie Kaufman 10/10/2013
Across a Star-Swept Sea (For Darkness Shows the Stars, #2) Diana Peterfreund 10/15/2013
The Fall of Hotel Dumort (The Bane Chronicles, #7) Cassandra Clare 10/15/2013
UnSouled (Unwind, #3) Neal Shusterman 10/15/2013
The Enchanter Heir (The Heir Chronicles, #4) Cinda Williams Chima 10/22/2013
Perfect Ruin (Internment Chronicles, #1) Lauren DeStefano 10/22/2013
Allegiant (Divergent, #3) Veronica Roth 10/22/2013
Arbitrate (Daynight, #2) Megan Thomason 10/29/2013
Altered (Crewel World, #2) Gennifer Albin 10/29/2013
Horde (Razorland, #3) Ann Aguirre 10/29/2013
Champion (Legend, #3) Marie Lu 11/5/2013
Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School, #2) Gail Carriger 11/5/2013
The Course of True Love (The Bane Chronicles, #8) Cassandra Clare 11/19/2013
World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2) Susan Ee 11/19/2013
Brooke (Under The Never Sky #2.5) Veronica Rossi 11/26/2013

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Best Of 2012 – Not just the boring categories!

2 Jan

Hello and Welcome to the year 2013!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! 2013 has some amazing book releases so I am SUPER STOKED for this year. Now, like all book lovers and bloggers, I just had to create a Best of 2012 blog. While most people do one in December, I read lots of books over the holidays so I wanted to wait until the year actually ended before I created my list. You never know what gems you can find in the last weeks of the year! I also wanted to add some variety to the blog so I asked my book soul mate Amy to pick her favorites in each category. You can read her Top Ten Books Read of 2012 here.

Please note that these books are not only the books that were published in 2012. We wanted to included all the books we read so some of them are a few years old. I hope you all enjoy and please add your favorites in each category in the comments!

Favorite Book of 2012

Sydney                     Amy

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The Selection by Kiera Cass     Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Favorite Author of 2012

Sydney               Amy

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Cinda Williams Chima         Neil Gaiman

Best Female Protagonist

Sydney           Amy

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Penryn – Angelfall by Susan Ee          Beatrice – Divergent by Veronica Roth

Best Male Protagonist

Sydney         Amy

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Han – Seven Realms Series        Po – Graceling Realms Series

Best Romance

Sydney         Amy

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America and Maxon, The Selection               Katsa and Po, Graceling

Most Resourceful

Sydney         Amy

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Gaia, Birthmarked  by Caragh M. O’Brien    Viola, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Best “Come to Jesus” Moment

Sydney         Amy

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James, Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater    Katy, Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Most Badass Character

Sydney         Amy

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Deuce, Razorland Series by Ann Aguirre       Katsa, Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Favorite Series

Sydney                Amy

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Seven Realms by Cinda Williams Chima      Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Best Fantasy Book

Sydney                Amy

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Graceling by Kristin Cashore            Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Best Dystopian Book

Sydney                Amy

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline      Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Best World Building

Sydney                Amy

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Seven Realms by Cinda Williams Chima         Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

Best Cover

Sydney                Amy

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Angelfall by Susan Ee                   Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Most Looking Forward to Release of 2013

Sydney                Amy

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Prodigy by Marie Lu                       Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima

3 Dec

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Book Two of the Seven Realms Series

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Be prepared for another one of my swoonfests here because

I LOVE CINDA WILLIAMS CHIMA.

She is one of those authors I want to watch write the outline of her book so I can just view art as it’s being created. I want her to be my coach at world building and character creation. And when some day I write my own book, she will be atop my greatest inspirations along with J.K. Rowling, Christopher Paolini and Kristin Cashore. I just want to crawl into her imagination and live there for a while. Oh wait… that’s what I do when I read her books….

Alright, so steering off the path of my lady crush, this is another incredible book by Chima. The world is tangible and real and the characters are relatable and lovely. I was disappointed that Amon didn’t get to narrate like he did in book one because  is such a dynamic character and offers a very different viewpoint then Han and Raisa. It makes the story much more rounded and complete in my mind. I also would have loved to have experienced his feelings toward his forced but not forced relationship. Although we can experience his feeling towards the situation through Raisa, I would have liked Amon to have more of a presence in this book.

Han has officially become my fantasy boyfriend. The whole bad-boy-gone-good-but-kick-ass thing is my ultimate dream man. He’s like the Edward to my Bella and the Jace to my Clary. *sigh* I just love him and love Raisa/Han make-out scenes. (I did warn you about swoon-festing right?) Raisa, like always, does female heroines proud. She’s smart and feisty and yet still a girl. She reminds me a lot of Hermione: totally badass and yet still unarguably female.

Well done, Master Chima. I would recommend this series to everyone. Romance, magic, action, passion and just a damn good story? No one could pass this baby up.

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

7 Nov

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Book One of Seven Realms Series

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I read The Heir Chronicles in one week flat so when I was bopping around Goodreads one afternoon at work and found out she had another series, I. Was. Pumped. And now after reading the first book in the Seven Realms series, I am happy to say it’s even better than the Heir books.

The Demon King (which is a badass title, btw) instantly captures your imagination. I love a book that comes out swinging without confusing the crap out of you with way too many details. The story starts out slower initially but the world she creates within the first couple chapters is like a picture being painted before your eyes. Even now, books later, I can still put a pen to paper and draw all Seven Realms, the city, the clan, everything. The world she creates is so real and tangible I feel as though I could get on a plane and fly to it.

One of my favorite things about Chima’s writing is her ability to create realistic characters. And she never just creates one, she creates two or three or four and each one has depth and a true and separate personality. I hate when authors have changing POVs and yet only fully develop the one or two main character’s emotions. But from Han and Raisa to Amon and Bird, Chima’s gives each one motivations, fears, dreams, and worries. The diversity of characters leads to a much more colorful and captivating story because the plot never becomes bland or stagnant. They each have their own prospective (usually very different) that gives the reader multiple view points so they can understand all aspects of issues and problems. Hell, she even makes you feel pity for asshole Micah at one point when she spent the whole book making you hate him!

The way she ends her books is another gush point of mine. She doesn’t leave you dangling on the edge of a cliff hanger but makes you salivate for another bit of the story. She peaks the story with enough time for you to calm your breath without wrapping up loose ends. She tidies up the story just enough to not make you mad at her for ending the book (you know what I mean by this I’m sure). It’s truly an art.

Simply put, read this book. If you like fantasy and want a vacation from the real world, this is a great getaway.

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