Monday 30 April 2012

Best of the Bunch April

Best of the Bunch is a meme hosted here on the last day of each month, where we can look back over the books we have read and give a Best of the Bunch award to our favourite book of that month.
For more info and to grab the button and stickers visit the BOTB page here and then add your linky to the list below.



April
This month I have reviewed on the blog:

  • Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst- My review 4.5 of 5 stars
  • Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz- My review 4 of 5 stars
  • Hounded, Hexed and Hammered by Kevin Hearne- My review 3 of 5 stars
  • Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey- My review 3 of 5 stars
  • Wither by Lauren DeStefano- My review 5 of 5 stars
  • Partials by Dan Wells- My review 4 of 5 stars
and the award for Best of the Bunch is going to go to...

...*drumroll*...

No surprises really-  Wither by Lauren DeStefano!

This book absolutely blew me away! It is one of those stories that get under your skin and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days afterwards. I always wanted to keep reading a little bit more, even though I had to go to work, or to sleep!
I loved the drama, the constant underlying tension, the scary world the author has created, the characters and the romance. As soon as my book ban is over (I'm really trying not to order any more books until July!) then I need to read the sequel Fever which is out now.
I LOVED this book. All the hype around it is completely justified. I love emotional books that have the power to really move me, and this is one of them. Just beautiful.

Goodreads link



So which book gets your bananas?
Add the link to your post below, and visit some of the other blogs taking part.







Sunday 29 April 2012

In My Mailbox 29th April 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where book bloggers can talk about the books they've gotten the past week- whether bought, borrowed, swapped, or given for review. This feature was started to increase interaction between bloggers and to increase our awareness of all the new books coming out.

I have had an awesome book week this week! Check out these beauties!

Bought:

 

  • Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed by E L James. These books were only just released in the UK this week, and I had to snap them up as soon as I could. I read the first book in the series last week, pretty much within a day, because I just couldn't put it down, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about since. Can't wait to get started on these books.
From the Library:

  • Last Echo by Kimberly Derting. This is book 3 in the Body Finder series. (Is anyone else really annoyed that the cover doesn't match the first two?). I've had this one on order for ages so I'm so thrilled that it's finally come in. I absolutely love Violet and Jay- they have to be one of the top fictional couples ever- surely! 






Audiobooks:



  • The Selection by Kiera Cass, Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris, and Purity by Jackson Pearce. I have had all three of these books on my wishlist for months, they all look incredible, and I can't wait to read them all. 
audible.co.uk

For Review:
(All of these thanks to the publisher via Netgalley)

 
  • Glitch by Heather Anastasiu. This is due to be published by St. Martins Griffin in August. It looks so good- a sci fi horror. 
  • Blackwood by Gwenda Bond. I saw promos for this a few weeks and thought it looked so cool. Exciting and kind of creepy. Can't wait to read this one. It is due to be published by Angry Robot in September.
  • Timepiece by Myra McEntire. This is the sequel to Hourglass, which isn't published here in the UK yet, but I have it on pre-order because I love time travel books and this looks perfect for me! I'm so excited that I now have the second book to start as soon as I can get the first one!  This is due to be published by Egmont in June. 

That was my incredible week- so many amazing books. What books did you get this week? 
Happy reading!
x



Friday 27 April 2012

Unblogged Favourites part five

Unblogged favourites is a sometimes feature here, where I can talk about some of my absolute favourite books from before I started writing a book blog. I noticed when I was preparing my Review Archive that there are many books out there that that I love, and recommend to friends, but that I'd never mentioned on the blog before, simply because I read them before I started writing a blog.

Here are some of them-



The Host by Stephenie Meyer


My rating 5 of 5 stars




Goodreads






I LOVE this book- it is one that I must have re-read a dozen times. I think it is exciting, heartfelt, emotional, and  romantic. It is story about real characters in desperate harsh times.
I can't wait for the release of the film- I only hope it can do the book justice.




    
The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
My rating 5 of 5 stars


This is another one of my all-time favourite series. I especially love the humour and the sassiness of the characters, but the whole world of the Shadowhunters is just genius, and the books are gripping, heartbreaking, romantic, sweet, exciting and clever, all at once. I have loved anything written by this author- her other series is The Infernal Devices series, featuring Shadowhunters in Victorian London. Just brilliant.



The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead




My rating 5 of 5 stars




Goodreads




Oh my gosh, how much do I love this series?! This is another instance where I have loved everything this author has written. These are the kind of books that just suck you in- you don't even notice the pages turning, you are so completely sucked into this story. I love the romance in these books- it is never straightforward. Richelle Mead can make you completely fall for these characters, and then rip your heart out with a new tragedy! All these books are all exciting and dramatic, with Mead's typical clever wittiness throughout. Main character Rose is a tough, feisty fighter, and Dimitri is just *stops and daydreams* ... where was I? Right- I love these books!

Thursday 26 April 2012

The Time will Come #59

The Time Will Come is a weekly meme hosted by Jodie at Books For Company, where we can spotlight those books that we've had sitting on our shelves for too long. Books that we really want to read but never seem to get around to.



This is book two in a series. I had it on pre-order for it's  release at the end of January. I still haven't read it, and with lots of review books coming up, I don't know when I'll get a chance to read it now. I love the sound of it though, and I generally like the second book in a series, when the characters and mythology of an established story are built upon. In book 1 Ellie discovered her powers, and in this one she explores the limits of what she can do. It looks full of action, with a tantalising forbidden romance! One day I'll read this!



Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.
Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.

She’s been warned.
Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.

She’ll be betrayed.
Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay.


Rest of the series


Angelfire - book 1 in the series


Read my review of Angelfire here

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Review: Partials by Dan Wells



Partials by Dan Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Source: e-copy for review from publisher via Netgalley


Synopsis from Goodreads:
Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar GalacticaPartials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.




Partials is an intense dystopian thriller.

This story is non-stop action, with tough characters who will fight for what they believe in a hard world. I liked the setting of the book- a futuristic world where there is very little left, and the population has been cut down to almost nothing. There is no economy anymore- if you want a house there are plenty around to spare, and if you need new clothes a visit to the abandoned malls you can find everything you need. But in addition to this, a virus means that every new baby born dies within a few days. The youngest child in the city is 14 years old, and many people have given up hope that the population will survive after the youngest generation.

Kira is a medical research student searching for a cure to the virus affecting the newborns. I love her for her spunky determinedness, and her passion to keep going even in the face of extreme opposition from governement officials. She is brave, smart and caring, and a fighter, and fiercely loyal to her friends and family.

There are a great cast of characters in this, from rebels and fighters to Kira's kooky foster mother, and sweet maternal best friend Madison. Kira is not always sure who she can trust, as there always seems to be some new twist and betrayal. One of my favourite characters is Marcus, Kira's boyfriend, who obviously cares a lot about Kira, and whose witty one-liners often added an element of fun and humour to the story, but he is too intense for Kira who is focused almost solidly on her job, when he is ready for them to settle down together.

Kira believes that the cure for the virus cannot be found in their bloodstream, or in however many babies they study. She wants to study the virus from the source- from the "Partials" who infected them in the first place- a created race of people who started the war and who broke away from human control to rule themselves.

Getting permission to take and study a Partial proves nearly impossible, but when Kira's best friend becomes pregant it becomes a personal mission to Kira to save the next baby. When Kira does get the chance to study Samm- a Partial, he is nothing like the evil machine she is expecting, and she has to contend with her own suspicions about him, as well as constant oppostion from her superiors. Samm is so much like a person with human emotions and a real personality that she can't help but empathize with him.

I loved the scary dystopian setting, the hard society, and the gritty characters, as well as the non-stop action, drama and suspense. This is a race against time, with dramatic fight scenes, escapes, betrayals and and engaging fast-paced plot. Exciting, dark and dangerous with kick-ass characters- I really enjoyed this new book! Recommended for fans of sci-fi, or dystopian books with an edge.

“Skousen remembered a world falling apart. Kira remembered a world pulling together to save itself. That was the difference. That was why Skousen and the Senate were too afraid to do what it took to solve this. If it was going to get done, it would have to be the plague babies who did it.”
P117

Sunday 22 April 2012

In My Mailbox 22nd April 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we get to show others what books we got during the week, whether bought, given, won, downloaded, borrowed from the library or received for review. Then we can visit each other's blogs and see what new books everyone else has this week! This feature was started to increase interaction between book bloggers, and to keep us aware of all the new books coming out.



So a quieter week for me this week. I got-

Bought:



  • Fateful by Claudia Gray. (Goodreads). Werewolves on the Titanic! I have wanted to read this book for absolutely ages. I finally gave up on waiting for my library to get the book in and just bought it. Cannot wait to read this. 



  • Ascend by Amanda Hocking. (Goodreads). I still haven't read the first book in the series yet, Switched, but I really like the sound of these books and the covers are just amazing. These are the US covers. I won a copy of the first book in a contest, so I have been buying up the rest of the series with the covers to match. 




Those we the books I got this week. What did you get this week?
Happy reading!

Saturday 21 April 2012

Divergent giveaway- UK only

To coincide with the release of Insurgent, (book 2 in the Divergent series), I have 2 copies of the book that started it all off- the fabulous dystopian book Divergent- to give away to 2 lucky winners.
I loved Divergent  (check out my review here, plus it has a 4.39 average on Goodreads), and so I'm excited to be able to share this story with those who haven't read it yet.

These copies have been donated to me and I'm sending them off myself, so unfortunately this giveaway is UK only because I need to watch the purse strings.




To enter all you need to do is fill in the form below, and winners will be notified by email on Saturday May 5th.
Rules:
This giveaway is UK only
You may only enter once
You must be over 16 to enter
2 winners will be chosen at random, each winner will recieve 1 (one) book.

Sorry, this giveaway has now ended. Winners announced here

Thursday 19 April 2012

The Time Will Come #58

The Time Will Come is a weekly meme hosted by Jodie at Books For Company, where we can spotlight those books that we've had sitting on our shelves for too long. Books that we really want to read but never seem to get around to.


I bought this when it was free during a promotion on Amazon months ago. I really loved the Luxe series by this author which was set in glamorous New York in the later part of the nineteenth century, and I think this series also looks like a fun, historical, character driven story, set in the 1920s- a period of history I've never really read much about before. Hopefully I will get time to get around to reading this book at some point.



Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star. . . .

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is ­Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the ­illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

 

Sunday 15 April 2012

In My Mailbox 15th April 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where book bloggers can talk about the books they've gotten the past week- whether bought, borrowed, swapped, or given for review. This feature was started to increase interaction between bloggers and to increase our awareness of all the new books coming out.


I *may* have gone just a little bit overboard with the books this week. My kindle doesn't know what's hit it! But lookie at all these amazing books!










Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James bought the paperback copy- started reading it already. I like it!
Finding Sky and Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling (on kindle)
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsay, The Declaration by Gemma Malley
Remembrance and Vengeance by Michelle Madow (kindle editions)
Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge (on audiobook)
Bourne by Lisa T. Bergren This is a River of Time novella. I finished reading book 3 of the series Torrent this week, and I'm not planning to review the books, but I LOVE this series.
By the same author Glamorous Illusions. This is the start of a new historical series about a young woman on a voyage of self-discovery during a "Grand Tour" of Europe. This is due to be published in June by American publishers David C. Cook. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy.

Those were the books I got this week. What did you get?
Happy reading!

Thursday 12 April 2012

The Time Will Come #57

The Time Will Come is a weekly meme hosted by Jodie at Books For Company, where we can spotlight those books that we've had sitting on our shelves for too long. Books that we really want to read but never seem to get around to.


This is a book I bought months ago after seeing it in an Amazon kindle sale and thinking it looked really good. It's a story about a girl who is kidnapped during Hurricane Katrina and taken into a swampland surrounded by alligators. There is a mysterious paranormal aspect to it as well, as well as elements of the unique New Orleans culture, with voodoo and Mardi Gras. I think it looks great and I really hope to get time to read this sometime.


Hurricane by Jenna-Lynne Duncan

Adriana couldn’t decide what was worse—that Hurricane Katrina was heading for New Orleans, or that she might not survive her kidnapping to see its potential effects. She had trusted Hayden, even fallen for him, and now he and his brother Luke were taking her deeper and deeper into the Bayou. Why had two of her classmates, the mysterious Boudreaux brothers, kidnapped her? Why had Adriana’s dreams started predicting the future? Most importantly, would she make it out of the Bayou alive…



 

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano


Wither by Lauren DeStefano


My rating: 5 of 5 stars 


Source: Bought


Synopsis from Goodreads:
What if you knew exactly when you would die? 

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out. 
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden’s genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home. 
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.





Wow! What a book! This book is amazing! I don't know what else to say! This book is so good- it moved me, and fired up my imagination, it tugged at my heartstrings and made me scared.

Wither is set in a scary world where cancer has been cured but the cost is that women die at age 20, men at age 25. There are extremes of wealth of poverty, and situations where young girls are snatched to be forced into polygamous marriages for breeding.

Rhine is one of these girls taken away from  her twin brother, and married to Linden, a wealthy young man miles away from her home. Rhine is given everything she could ask for in the way of food, fancy clothes, and luxury, but she is a prisoner in the house.

Linden is actually a fairly decent guy- very naive and sheltered from the real world, but he is always good to Rhine and her sister wives- but it is his father who is really terrifying. Always controlling, always manipulating the situation from behind the scenes, and ruthless if things don't go his way. And everyone except Linden can see it.

The fact that got me was that I always wanted to keep reading the story. I was so curious as to what would happen, and so involved in the life of the place. I felt so immersed in their world, like I was right there in that house with those girls. The story stuck in mind, and was so vivid that I was dreaming about it. I picked up the book to try and fit in a few more pages every chance I got, and was just so eager to see how the story would end.

The three girls married to Linden actually become very good friends and I loved the sisterly like bond between them. The three of them are so different, but they grow so close and support each other, with a bond that Linden just cannot be a part of. They even band together to coerce him and manipulate their own way in things.

Then there is Gabriel, who works as a servant in the house, and who catches Rhine's attention. At first he is the only person who treats her with humanity, but he is also someone for Rhine to talk to, escaping into the kitchen with him to help out when she feels she needs to hide away for a little bit. As their friendship develops into something more, earning Linden's trust and tricking her way out of her captivity becomes the only thing on Rhine's mind.

I loved this book so much. It has had a powerful effect on me- moved me, and horrified me, made me fall in love and gripped me in it's scarily vivid futuristic vision. All the interactions between Rhine and her sister wives were so heartfelt and gave Rhine a real tie to her new surroundings. I was pulled in by the drama, the intrigue and the romance. I liked the way that it ended, and am so eager to read Fever now!



Book 2- Fever 
Out now

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Review: Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey


Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Synopsis from Goodreads:
For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won't comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.

The only one who can break his stranglehold on the Faery court is his wife. . . Eloise's aunt Antonia. Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign. Now Eloise must become the rescuer. Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, she must forge alliances with other Fae, including a gorgeous protector named Lucas, and Strahan's mysterious son, Eldric-who may or may not betray them. 




This was a sweet fun and fluffy read with a cute romance. I enjoyed it. I liked the magic and the self-discovery and the whole mystery/ danger aspect to it.

I love the Drake Chronicles series by this author, and Stolen Away has Harvey's typically beautiful way of weaving a story, and I like how the focus keeps shifting between Eloise and Jo, telling different parts of the tale. The description fired up my imagination of this strange faery world, and I thought the was faery realm was a scary and beautiful place.

The characters are all quirky and lovable and there is always an underlying element of humour in the funny banter or a sassy remark about their predicament. I really enjoyed the friendship between them, even though their personalities are so different. I loved extrovert Jo especially- as she is very quick-witted, a little flirty, and very spunky.

Eloise is just a typical teenager when she is abruptly swept up into this world of faery kidnappings, court politics and an ongoing conflict, along with her friends Jo and Devin. Eloise finds out that her aunt might not be who she claims to be. The stroy moves at a good pace, with Eloise quickly needing to accept her new reality, adapt, and start planning a daring rescue mission.

If I had to say anything negative about it I have to admit that it is a little predictable and ultimately rather forgettable. But I did enjoy reading it. This an engaging book, with a sweet romance and a fun supernatural plotline. Recommended if you want a nice, quick light read.


Thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the review copy.

Alternate covers:


Colourful! I like it!



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