The Time Will Come #23

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 on our shelves for too long. Books that we really want to read but never get around to reading.

I bought Entwined by Heather Dixon when it was published in March/ April because I just HAD to have it. It sounds like such a good story, and wow- just look at that cover!
But it's such a huge hardback book, and books that I actually own usually take me forever to read because I borrow so many library books. I still really want to read this but I think it will take me a long time to get round to.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.


The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.
The Keeper likes to keep things.
Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved this book! Unearthly is a beautiful new supernatural romance story from a debut author. Clara is part angel, and when she starts having visions of a boy in trouble she prepares to leave her home in California and, supported by her mother, moves across the country to try to bring about the events as she sees them in her vision. It is her "purpose" as an angel to try to save the boy- that's if she can find him and find out who he is. I liked the fact that we are plunged straight into Clara's world. There is no discovery that she is part angel, she just knows that she is and has accepted it. When she eventually meets Christian she then has the difficult task of trying to get him to notice her. Clara knows that if she can just get him to be her friend (and girlfriend?), then it will make her task of trying to save him so much easier.


Despite being a quarter angel, Clara is still the typical teenager with problems fitting in, and she lacks confidence a lot of the time to do the enormous challenge expected of her. Clara is flawed and insecure, but a good person, and the kind of girl that you would want to be friends with. I loved all of the characters in this book- from Clara's angelic mother, her annoying younger brother, and her quirky new best friends at the "invisibles" table in the school cafeteria. But by far my favourite character is Tucker- Clara's new friend Wendy's obnoxious brother. Despite a bad start when Clara almost drives into him, and Tucker making fun of Clara at every chance he gets, they do slowly warm up to each other and become good friends.


Tucker teaches her how to ski and fish and hike, and almost manages to distract her from her task of trying to save Christian. Tucker is hard-working, and rough around the edges, but ultimately very sweet. The playful banter between Clara and Tucker provides some of the best scenes in the book. I love the fact that their relationship is not just instantaneous, but built upon spending time with other and really getting to know about each other. Clara is so often torn between doing what she wants to do, and doing what is expected of her, and throughout reading this I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen. This builds up the tension all the way through this book. Clara is very sweet and well-intentioned, but when she is forced to choose between her duty and her heart she has to make some very difficult choices.


The setting of this novel is also fantastic. I was lucky enough to visit Jackson Hole while travelling a few years ago, and so I can really picture the setting- the forest, the unique pine trees, the mountains and the snake river. I really enjoyed reading the lush descriptions of the place and the people brought vividly to life, and the setting became like an extra character in the book for me. (I always picture Tucker in a cowboy hat in his truck with country music blaring from the radio, driving through the forest past log cabin houses.)


Unearthly is well-written, with a relatable and funny main character and excellent secondary characters, plus an exciting mythology full of good angels, bad angels, and part angels, and a well-paced love story, with a twist at the end. This book is also very fresh and not at all predictable. The drama of this story is nicely wrapped up at the end, (no cliff-hanger, phew!) but still left open for a sequel. Of all the teenage paranormal romance books out there at the moment this is definitely one of the better ones- a real must-read for this year, highly recommended, and I cannot wait for the sequel Hallowed next year.




View all my reviews

Review: The Forest Of Hands And Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this a lot better than I was expecting to, after reading some very mixed reviews about it. But I loved the whole idea behind the story and was very quickly immersed in this world. When you hear "zombies" you always think of the characteristic stumbling drones with arms outstretched coming to eat your brains. Ok- yes, this book has zombies in it- but it doesn't feel like the ridiculous comic/ cartoon zombies- they feel like a very real threat, and it feels that the world is genuinely in danger of extinction from this virus/plague. The tension and fear is always there throughout the book.


The Forest of Hands and Teeth reminded me a lot of that M. Night Sharmalarmarlarmarm film 'The Village'. You have this very isolated village in the middle of a forest, surrounded by these monsters, unaware of the world beyond the fences, where the people have fallen back into very traditional ways. There are the Guardians who patrol the fences to keep the village safe from "The Unconsecrated", and the secretive Sisterhood who hold all of the records of the histories. Everyone is trained to fight or run and hide on the treetop platforms if the alarms sound signalling that the fences have been breached. For a long time you don't know if this book is set in a futuristic post-zombie-apocalypse world, or if things have always been this way, because it initially has a very oldy-world feel to it.


The main character in the book, Mary is very strong, and always courageous, but also susceptible to wallowing in despair when things get very tough- as anyone would in the situations she finds herself in. Her dream is to see the ocean, told of to her in stories by her mother- stories which almost everyone else now believe to be myths. After the breach of the fences, when the Unconsecrated pour into the village Mary escapes into the forest with her childhood friends Cass, and two brothers Travis and Harry. Following the paths in the forest, Mary is the only one who pieces together the clues of the numbered paths and snippetts from overheard conversations of the Sisterhood. All the time not knowing if there is anywhere to head to, or if they are they the only ones left alive as they have always been told. Following her dream of the ocean Mary battles down the paths of the forest fighting the undead, hunger, thirst, hopelessness, and trying to sort out her feelings for the two boys- loyalty, love or duty? Throughout the constant fear and despair woven into the background of this story is also a beautiful love story, and a tale of a girl trying to find herself, and find happiness.


I loved this book because it felt so different from anything else out there. It also felt desperate, and lonely, and full of hearbreak and tension and loss. It also felt very real to me (despite the zombies), and like these situations could really be happening. The story kept me gripped all the way through and rooting for these characters, and for a happy ending. This is not your typical zombie invasion story and I would definitely recommend this book.




View all my reviews

In My Mailbox 10th July 2011

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 improve our awareness of all the new books coming out.

 

Wow- I had an absolutely mega-awesome week for books this week, which I am so excited about. I was having such a rough week at work but then at the end of the day there would be a new exciting package waiting for me to squee over, brightening my day!

 

Bought:

•  Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs. This is the sequel to Forgive My Fins which I loved. I pre-ordered this around Christmas time and it finally came! This is mermaids and a love story- very cute.

• Forever by Maggie Stiefvater. Book 3 in the wolves of Mercy Falls series. The last book ended on a bit of a cliffhanger so I'm looking forward to reading this one.

I was in London yesterday, and popped into Forbidden Planet to drool over all the books. I picked up loads of books but forced myself to put them all back again and only left with 3 in the end (willpower!). I got this one and the following 2.

• Heartless by Gail Carriger. Book 4 in the Parasol Protectorate series. These books are so funny! Werewolves and vampires mixed in with Victorian ettiquette and afternoon tea.

• Stolen by Kelley Armstrong. Book 2 in the Women of the Otherworld series. On Thursday I said that I'd had this book out of the library for ages and I just keep renewing it. I really want to read it soon, and loved book 1 in the series, so I have decided to listen to the advice of my fellow bloggers and actually just buy my own copy of the book!

Bought for Kindle
Amazon are having a summer sale on kindle books so I clicked on some bargains

• Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey. I've actually got no idea what this is about (a ghost story I think?) but I've seen it about the blogosphere and I really like the Drake Chronicles books by this author.

• Eden by Keary Taylor. Set in a dystopian future where technology has taken over. Looks pretty cool and is getting great reviews.

• The New World by Patrick Ness. This is a short prequel novel to the Chaos Walking trilogy which I love (Those books so good- read them- seriously!)

• Virtue by Amanda Hocking. I have never read anything by this author yet but I have all her books on my kindle now, and everyone seems to be raving about this author. This book caught my eye- it's a retelling of a fairytale with elements of Snow White and Cinderella, and packed with romance, magic, witches, goblins and a sea dragon. Sounds good!

Won
Prize winnings are like buses- I've never won anything ever before, and then two come along at once!

• Passion by Lauren Kate. Book 3 in the Fallen series. This is the manuscript of the book (which I think is pretty cool!). I'm looking forward to reading this book as book 2 ended on a cliffhanger.

Won from a contest hosted by Carly at Writing From The Tub

• Settling by Shelley Workinger. This is book 2 in the Solid series. I bought Solid ages ago after reading Leanne's review of it and liking the sound of it. Now I have the next one ready to read too! The author has signed it and included a Settling bookmark for me as well.

Won from a contest hosted by Leanne at Magic of Reading






Gifted

• The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore. Sequel to I Am Number Four.

Sophie over at So Many Books, So Little Time received an ARC copy of this which she didn't want and gave it to me. Whoopee! I can't wait to read this book either!
I've said it before and I'll say it again- book bloggers are the NICEST people in the world! Thankyou Sophie!





For Review
All of these I picked up at Netgalley

• Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison. I've had this book on my wishlist ever since I first heard about it- I love the sound of it- a retelling of the German folktale Tristan And Isolde. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this on Netgalley and had to request it!

• Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick. Another dystopian novel set after a cataclysmic event which has destroyed all electronic devices, killed billions and left an army of "The Changed". A band of survivors struggling to get by and discover what happened.

• Blood by K.J Wignall. Book 1 in the Mercian trilogyVampire with a destiny. I just loved the sound of this one!

OH MY GOD!! How many books was that I've got to read?! So many great books there though, I know I'm a lucky girl.
What books did you get this week?  Happy reading!

The Time Will Come #22

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 for ages and want to read but never seem to get round to.

I got Stolen (Women of the Otherworld #2) by Kelley Armstrong out of the library all the way back in  January- and I just keep renewing it! I really want to read this because I absolutely loved the first book in the series Bitten (love my werewolf books!) and I want read about Elena and Clay again, and I just love Kelley Armstrong's writing in general.
I have seriously got to either read it soon or return it to the library! I want to read it but I have way too many books and not enough time in the day!

Synopsis from Goodreads:
It was in Bitten, Kelley Armstrong's debut novel, that thirty-year-old Elena Michaels came to terms with her feral appetites and claimed the proud identity of a beautiful, successful woman- and the only living female werewolf.



In Stolen, on a mission for her own elite pack, she is lured into the net of ruthless Internet billionaire Tyrone Winsloe, who has funded a bogus scientific investigation of the other races and their supernatural powers. Kidnapped and studied in his underground lab deep in the Maine woods, these paranormals- witches, vampires, shamans, werewolves-are then released and hunted to the death in a real-world video game. But when Winsloe captures Elena, he finally meets his match.