tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57617247125577809112024-03-13T05:46:16.998-05:00Joyous ReadsRecommendations. Reviews. RantsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.comBlogger794125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-13734963663664844492014-04-03T06:00:00.000-05:002014-04-03T06:00:00.769-05:00The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb97vUvfbzE/UzeKZ3luv1I/AAAAAAAAKuk/939Ecjc4v_Y/s1600/18296016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb97vUvfbzE/UzeKZ3luv1I/AAAAAAAAKuk/939Ecjc4v_Y/s1600/18296016.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18296016-the-ring-and-the-crown"><b><span style="color: #073763;">GOODREADS SUMMARY</span></b></a><br />
Disney Hyperion | Uncorrected Advance Proof, 362 pages<br />
Publication Date: April 1st, 2014<br />
Young Adult | Historical Fantasy | Fiction<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 1 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></b>
This review is not going to be pretty. It's not going to be<br />
rant-y, but it sure as heck not going to be good either.<br />
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<b>Exhibit 1</b>: Page 1 includes a quote from a Beyonce song. Now, this is an ARC so I'm not allowed to re-quote that in my review. Just keep in mind that this is a historical fantasy; so the quote from a modern pop song is a little jarring. Okay, <i>a lot</i><i>. </i>Unfortunately, that's not the end of it.<br />
<i><br /></i><b>Exhibit 2</b>: There is a population problem in London, ladies and gents. A plethora of characters that you would need to keep track of, and it's exhausting! Four girls and four boys all vying for your attention. After a while, the novel became some sort of anthology; one where I pick and choose which story to read. Needless to say, I skimmed a lot. And that's the unfortunate thing. I was ecstatic to receive this book for review. I now have the thankless job of going back to the publisher with a less than stellar feedback. <br />
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<b>Exhibit 3</b>: Magic. Well, just like Houdini, it disappeared! Okay, slight exaggeration. There is magic - one that is used to create beautiful gowns, make the ladies' hair shiny, and magic that works better than Proactiv! Magic is used to enhance looks, and that's about all it was good for.<br />
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<b>Exhibit 4</b>: The romances here (spoiler) <span style="color: white;">suck. There's just no way around it. If you're going in expecting a happily ever after, don't even bother. Run. Run away.</span> (end of spoiler)<br />
<b>Exhibit 5</b>: Another pop song quote; this one from Lorde. *eye roll*<br />
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I wish I can add another section to this review where it would highlight the good things, and or the potentials. Unfortunately, the only good experience I had with this book is when I shelved it to my <b>read shelf</b>.<br />
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If you're a fan of magic, and you know exactly how great it could be when it's done well, you'll be disappointed.<br />
If you're a fan of strong women who has a chance at changing the world's sexpot perceptions of them as a whole, keep walking. You will not find it here. The funny thing is, both quotes from those pop songs depict of women empowerment. <br />
If you're one of those fools who believe that <i>love conquers all</i>, then keep on living the pipe dreams. Because this book will tell you that "love" means nothing. Cynical? Yes. <br />
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This is my first Melissa de la Cruz read; but if she keeps writing about excess, the rich, and the privileged, then this will probably be my last. It's just not my thing. I like a cast with a lot more heft in the characterization department. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-66906769545877667632014-04-01T07:51:00.000-05:002014-04-01T07:51:52.426-05:00Murder of Crows [The Others, #2] by Anne Bishop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17563080-murder-of-crows"><span style="color: #073763;">GOODREADS SUMMARY</span></a><br />
NAL | Hardcover, 354 pages<br />
March 4th, 2014<br />
Adult Fiction | Urban Fantasy | Paranormal<br />
<strong><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</span></strong><br />
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Murder of Crows began with a prophecy of literal murder of the Crows: black feathers in the snow, blood and gore in the hands of humans. If you’re wondering why this seems curiously cataclysmic, it is because animals of any kind are supposed to be treated with deference and fear in this series. They held such an importance because they serve as the Others' first defence against attack.<br />
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As per any other prophecies that Meg Corbyn foretold, the Others and the human police department had to piece her vision together before the horrors of war (between humans and Others) escalates into nightmares unimaginable. The illicit and deadly drug,“gone wolf” are being used against the Others, and with that, the revelation that girls that has the blood of a cassandra sangue are being grinded and mixed in with meat sold for public consumption. Needless to say, the results are fatal and catastrophic. The bright light in the horizon is that the end of the Controller is at hand. In some way, this was both a reason to rejoice, and as well, a disappointment. I will have to let you read the novel so you can find out what happens.
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Anne Bishop’s second offering to her Others series kept up with the majority – if not all – of what was engrossing in Written in Red. While the action/conflict happened away from the Courtyard, the intensity and suspense prevalent in the first book continued on here as well. More human civilization is at risk of disappearing due to mankind’s inability to accept the status quo; but that didn't stop them from trying to eliminate the Others. Fools.<br />
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The readers are given a more in-depth insight into Meg’s abilities, and her former life as an enslaved blood prophet. It is through “Jean” that we see exactly how horrific their lives were. Jean has taken to harming herself to see what was in the cards for her, and the method she used to cut without having the Walking Names (blood prophets’ minders) know was nauseating. Readers will also know the extent of torture and punishments the cassandra sangue went through; disturbing, sickening, and gruesome are just a few words that come to mind. <br />
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I’m a huge fan of the progression of Meg and Simon’s relationship. At the most, these two are circling each other, trying to get a feel for what the other want. One thing’s for sure, where Simon is more often ill-at-ease with wearing his human skin, it’s pretty obvious that he’d rather be in his human form while he’s with Meg. Meg, on the other hand, uses his wolf form as an excuse to get close to him, to nuzzle him, and pet him. It’s pretty cute and grin-inducing when these two are alone. They’re all kinds of awkward but man, the sizzle is pretty palpable. I cannot wait to see where these two are headed. <br />
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If I haven’t been obvious enough, I am completely, utterly, desperately in love with this series. I wish I’m privileged enough to receive the next book way ahead of everyone. Oh well. I guess I’ll wait on bended knees.
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-65221422004294507042014-03-31T13:48:00.000-05:002014-03-31T13:49:01.843-05:00Fool for Books Giveaway Hop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rDMVYZ1K_Ps/UzdnzzTFaQI/AAAAAAAAKuQ/UHoeuBDlWMU/s1600/unnamed-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rDMVYZ1K_Ps/UzdnzzTFaQI/AAAAAAAAKuQ/UHoeuBDlWMU/s1600/unnamed-1.jpg" height="320" width="236" /></a></div>
It's been ages since I've done one of these! I thought perhaps it's time.<br />
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So here's the deal:<br />
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I've got a $30 Amazon gift card on the table for all of you. This is open to everyone! All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter below.<br />
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<b><u>Rules:</u></b><br />
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<ul>
<li><b>INTERNATIONAL</b></li>
<li><b>Must be of age to enter (at least 13 yrs old)</b></li>
<li><b>Winner will be notified by email, and will have 24 hours to reply or another winner will be drawn. </b></li>
</ul>
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2c7c6241/" id="rc-2c7c6241" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>
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<br />
Follow the Linky links bellow for your chance to win some awesome stuff from some awesome people!<br />
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<!-- start LinkyTools script --><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=226823" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com56tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-77941410917668143452014-03-31T08:14:00.002-05:002014-03-31T08:14:09.645-05:00Scared Shitless<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Adventures of a clueless blogger.</span></div>
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So there I was, on a Sunday afternoon. I just got home from watching Divergent for the second time in a week. I sat on my desk contemplating about how long it's been since I implemented some changes on my blog. I have a pretty basic design; one that I absolutely love. </div>
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Then I thought about all the bloggers migrating to Wordpress. Now, I never claimed to be a trail blazer; I'm not one to lead. I also never claimed to be pragmatic; more often, I get into so much trouble when I act first before I think. So on this Sunday afternoon, when I saw an ad for Go Daddy. com, I didn't resist the urge to check out their prices. Surprisingly enough, they were fairly reasonable. I sat there for a while, just thinking. But once an idea takes root in my head, it's pretty much a done deal. </div>
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I once was terrified of Wordpress; I thought that it was not an easy site to navigate. I was a reviewer for a site that uses this host, and I managed to submit three reviews in my short tenure. Let me tell you, every time I draft a post, I'm a chicken with my head cut off. I know it's going to be a challenge. But with practice, I know I'll be proficient at it in no time. </div>
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So, migrating to <a href="http://joyousreads.wordpress.com/"><strong><span style="color: #073763;">Wordpress</span></strong></a>. </div>
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Yeah. That was not easy. <a href="http://joyousreads.wordpress.com/"><strong><span style="color: #073763;">But I did it</span></strong></a>. I'm a little disorganized at the moment, and I don't know exactly when I'm going to make it official. Just bear with me, if you could. Things just might be a little chaotic for a while, but I'm trying to do this all on my own. </div>
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It's Monday morning, my alarm went off per usual. I've slept a total of 3 hours, tops. The drive to work was a haze. I'm told that I have to create a post letting y'all know of my migration before Bloglovin' can recognize the new blog that I recently claimed. If this is not making sense to you, don't worry about it. I'm not making sense to <em>me.</em><br />
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<a href="https://creativewhim.com/"><em><strong><span style="color: #073763;">Ashley of Creative Whim</span></strong></em></a><em> </em>is on a mission to help me with this process. She's going to fix whatever it is that I didn't do properly. Let's all wish her luck. In the meantime, let this be my notice. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-437522042054867482014-03-29T06:46:00.000-05:002014-03-29T06:49:15.465-05:00Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 105<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello there.<br />
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Things have certainly calmed down some for me here. I'm learning the ropes at work, and adjusting to the limited time I have left for reading and blogging. I say, the past week has been good.<br />
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On the reading front, I discovered a wonderful series that I never thought I could like. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15711341-written-in-red?from_search=true">Anne Bishop's The Others </a>reminded me of when I first discovered <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/41963-black-dagger-brotherhood"><b><span style="color: #073763;">The Black Dagger Brotherhood</span></b></a>. I was completely swept away, and consequently left wanting to read more. So this week, I found some recommendations from other bloggers that could be worth checking out. I'm going to slowly ease my self into them, though. So perhaps, I'll read one book from this genre per week. Details below.<br />
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I would consider this haul still within my budget (?) as three of these books cost $5 each (Zero, Violence 101, Out of the Wild). So technically, I only paid full for five of these. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.<br />
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The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman | Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci<br />
Zero by Tom Leveen | Violence 101 by Denis Wright | Out of the Wild by Sarah Beth Hurst<br />
The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton<br />
Year of Mistaken Discoveries by Eileen Cook | The Well's End by Seth Fishman<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Net Galley</u></b></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cXgEsTlJAxM/UzY29tdWdHI/AAAAAAAAKtc/FG3Phx35_g0/s1600/17375787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cXgEsTlJAxM/UzY29tdWdHI/AAAAAAAAKtc/FG3Phx35_g0/s1600/17375787.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wS0jCVjWdb8/UzY29vHSmcI/AAAAAAAAKtg/ejZc_6lBkRQ/s1600/18453185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wS0jCVjWdb8/UzY29vHSmcI/AAAAAAAAKtg/ejZc_6lBkRQ/s1600/18453185.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17375787-the-rules-for-breaking?from_search=true"><b>The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston</b></a> | <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18453185-nantucket-red"><b>Nantucket REd by Leila Howland</b></a><br />
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I have disciplined myself by requesting only a couple of books at a time on Net Galley, so my choices has to be something that I really, really want to read. I haven't requested any books for at least a month; I thought I was due for a couple. While I know quite a bit about The Rules for Breaking, I've never read <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13597696-nantucket-blue?from_search=true"><b>Nantucket Blue</b></a>. I've heard good things about it though.<br />
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Because of Anne Bishop's The Others series, I've developed quite a taste for the paranormal. So I bought a couple of books which I've seen at <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/271380822?book_show_action=false&page=1">Nocturnal Book Reviews</a>. I wanted to start somewhere and dive into some unexplored paranormal territory.<br />
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Something Secret This Way Comes and A Bloody Good Secret - both by Sierra Dean. </div>
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I really hope I'll enjoy these! </div>
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Anyway, looking forward to seeing all your goodies this week. Leave me a link! </div>
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Thanks for reading, y'all. :)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-38214390401350757462014-03-28T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-28T18:16:18.851-05:00Confessions of an Addict 22: Preserved Reads<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-COBHQHEmzl8/UzTj-I8bubI/AAAAAAAAKss/KpKgVeHdfks/s1600/DSC_0439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-COBHQHEmzl8/UzTj-I8bubI/AAAAAAAAKss/KpKgVeHdfks/s1600/DSC_0439.JPG" height="200" width="170" /></a></div>
So question: Do you give a book an expiry date? As if you borrowed it from the library, and they gave you a time when you're supposed to give it back? Do you abide by a certain rule that when a book has been sitting unread by your nightstand for an undetermined amount of time, you shelve it back for future read?<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vGXr4BBPiTQ/UmIUHhF51OI/AAAAAAAAKD0/LVgfBUbY94A/s1600/1393986_10151655887411428_1594361858_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vGXr4BBPiTQ/UmIUHhF51OI/AAAAAAAAKD0/LVgfBUbY94A/s1600/1393986_10151655887411428_1594361858_n.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a>Right now, I have two books sitting prettily on my current reads: Che Guevarra: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson and Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. The first book has been sitting there since last year (October 17, 2013). While Cruel Beauty and I just can't move on from where we stalled. I've yet to pick it back up since I put it there a over a month ago, and have read 18 books since then.<br />
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The thing is, I already know that reading a biography novel would take a bit of time, and with Che being as huge as he is (over 800 pages), I already anticipated that it's going to be even more challenging. This is my first attempt at reading a non-fiction (I've read and finished one since then). I'm sad to say I haven't gotten past page 5.<br />
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I really would like to finish this book sometime in this century. He's a political and historical figure that has intrigued me since I've heard of him many years ago. The text is such a huge stumbling block for me as well (teeny, tiny texts).<br />
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Cruel Beauty is a book that I could've read within days of picking it up, but my problem is, I just couldn't find the motivation to start over again. I've been told that I needed to be patient; that the book will show its greatness if I'd just keep reading. But I'm bored, people. It's a boring book. At this point, I've only read about 16 pages of it. While I more than likely read Che, Cruel Beauty is another matter entirely. I just don't think I have the time to wait for this book to blossom - so to speak.<br />
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I hate to quit on books, but seeing them on my night table - unread, makes me feel so guilty.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So how long do you let a book <i>ferment</i> in your currently-reading shelf? </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-22610893675155756182014-03-27T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-28T05:49:20.532-05:00Written in Red by Anne Bishop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DnUBIorQAoM/Uy8qrAjiPgI/AAAAAAAAKsU/Lp5TPF98_C0/s1600/15711341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DnUBIorQAoM/Uy8qrAjiPgI/AAAAAAAAKsU/Lp5TPF98_C0/s1600/15711341.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
NAL | Hardcover, 433 pages<br />
March 5th, 2013<br />
Urban Fantasy | Adult Fiction<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Set in an alternate universe where humans are the less dominant creatures, The Others series, is perhaps one that can easily be bypassed by readers of this genre. After all, shapeshifters and vampires have been written and reinvented many times over. So what else can it offer for readers and non-readers alike? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meg Corbyn escaped from prison that held beings like her: <i>cassandra sangue. </i>She's a blood prophet; foretellers of the future read through blood that they'd spilled. They are slaves, used for profit by a man called the Controller. Their prophecies are worth a fortune, and their blood can be both a source of bliss and violent death. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When she stumbled upon Lakeside Courtyard, she saw a chance to hide among the <i>terra indigene</i>, the earth natives who rule the continent. She will be virtually untouchable if she's under the protection of The Others. But first, Meg will have to gain their trust, beginning with the disdainful leader of the pack, Simon Wolfgard. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When she was hired to be the Human Liaison, no one expected for her to last a day. But Meg is determined to make some semblance of life, and escape a nightmare. To their surprise, Meg became more than just <i>clever meat</i>. She started out as an amusing curiosity, then she slowly snuck her way into everyone's lives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With prophecies thrumming in her blood, Meg will have to find a way to release them without letting anyone know what she truly is. But when human forces determined to bring down the Courtyard, and the Controller hot on her heels, Meg will have to heed the call of bloodletting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is indeed, a rarity for me. To have enjoyed urban fantasy immensely - let alone read one - is astonishing. I procrastinated reading this for the only reason that I've never been a reader of the genre. Over the last few years, The Black Dagger Brotherhood is the only series that prevented me from being a reader-non-grata. That is an annual read, dear readers. Otherwise, I know nothing about the ins and outs of this field. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Written in Red have been widely enjoyed by a lot of trusted friends on Goodreads, but I still had doubts. So last week, while I was packing for the weekend, I decided to take a peek to get a feel for the book. Well, colour me happy when a couple of chapters went by without my noticing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let me be clear, I am not knowledgeable in this genre. I don't know what makes for a fantastic Urban Fantasy read. What I can tell you is it has the clever ability to captivate until you've practically read the book in one sitting. The Black Dagger Brotherhood has the same characteristic, and why I am up to date with the series ( 12th book coming out next week). The world, the characters, and their stories are highly immersive. Anne Bishop perfected a formula wherein abject suspense, and ominous terror was blended with heaping spoon of humour, and the characters are the proverbial cherry on top. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love Meg's innocence and determination; I love Simon's ferociousness, and Tess's mysterious and fierce ability. I love the seemingly familial dynamics of the community, and the reluctant trust they placed on the humans that they let into their fold. I even love the Elementals, which I thought were the most powerful beings in this world. I love stepping into a different kind of universe where humans are subspecies that have to live and abide by the paranormals' rules. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's so exciting to find a series that I could love. I know it's still early in the game (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17563080-murder-of-crows?from_search=true"><b><span style="color: #073763;">the second book just came out</span></b></a>), but like I mentioned above, Urban Fantasy is pretty much unchartered territory for me. I have very little doubts that I will tire of these books easily. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do yourselves a favour and pick up Written in Red. Guaranteed to keep you up at night, not from terror but the book itself will not allow you to put it down. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-64377089817438351392014-03-25T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-25T06:00:01.083-05:00Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 104<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I really haven't got much to say but apologies today, everyone. It has been such a crazy week, but I'm hoping things will be quieter this time around (hmmm…is there an echo in here?).<br />
<br />
Despite my incredible failure to post anything or visit your blogs, I feel that I really should just start anew. So this week, I planned on being a good little blogger/reviewer that I haven't really been and try to accomplish something. Prepare to be annoyed. Lol.<br />
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Last week, Simon & Schuster Canada sent me a couple of books for review. I cannot. Wait. I think I've seen Since You've Been Gone on so many WoW posts that I couldn't help but feel the same way as y'all.<br />
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So much love for you, S & S. :)<br />
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It's been a slow couple of weeks. I've been really good. I think it's because I don't work near any bookstores anymore that I'm not able to do a lot of books shopping as I used to. Anyway, thank you all for sticking around.<br />
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Thanks for reading!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-87570258498463573592014-03-24T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-24T06:00:00.677-05:00Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dial Press | Trade paperback, 327 pages<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17162148-tell-the-wolves-i-m-home"><span style="color: #073763;"><b>GOODREADS SUMMARY</b></span></a><br />
July 4th, 2013<br />
Young Adult | LGBT | Fiction<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">At a time when AIDS is a disease the world was just waking up to, Tell the Wolves I'm Home is the story of a fourteen-year-old girl coping with the recent death of her most-beloved uncle. A painfully shy girl who'd had to live in a world where everything that was good reminded her of him. On the surface, you’ll wonder how someone would take his death so hard. But see? You need to understand the relationship between uncle and niece. What June felt for Finn was a love deeper than what nature dictates. On Finn's side, I would even go as far as to say he considered her as his daughter. However, that’s only adding more confounding elements to what’s already a muddied emotional bond June has with her uncle. </span><br />
<br style="color: #181818; line-height: 19px;" />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">It is about grief, and finding the means to transform the debilitating heartache into something positive and well meaning. So she shifted her focus onto Toby, a mysterious man who knew her uncle Finn better than she knew him. The story culminates into a love just as profound; she would learn to accept the many facets of love, and find comfort in the thought that love is something that can't be defined. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">This is one of those few novels that had rendered me speechless. It explored a love that was both forbidden and against the law. There wasn’t anything physically immoral that happened, but June’s feeling toward her uncle was scandalous just the same. Towards the end, June realized that it was possible to love two men just as equally. It’s still a love that’s difficult to explain, </span></span><span style="line-height: 19px;">however. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"> It’s one of the best things about this book: the innocence of June’s perspective and how she sees the world was quite inspirational. Though it was tainted by what she'd had to accept about AIDS, her detachment as she told her story makes for a sometimes unsettling honesty. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">It took me to an era where AIDS was feared as the Black Plague. It introduced me to a girl who was every bit courageous as she was scared. She let the world run her over; tell her the only person who thought her worthy was her uncle, and when he died there was no one else. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">This is an emotional book; where a reader would be defenseless against the onslaught of feelings the characters would provoke. It’s a book full of lonely people trying to live life the best they can; trying to ignore the gaping hole left by a person that the readers would only know posthumously. And even though he was dead, his presence overwhelmed the pages of the novel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">June does not have a typical young adult voice; it wasn’t wrought with all the pains of growing up. The aloofness about her was a choice, and certainly not one that she held a grudge against the world. This distance was prevalent as she told her story. But for once, I wasn’t pushed further away from her plight. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">Finn’s story could make your tears roll down your face unaided, Toby’s story would make you howl at the sadness of it all. Theirs is a story that lasted years, and yet seemingly unfinished. There was so much love that simply couldn’t fit in one measly book. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-55362935863176517122014-03-17T00:00:00.000-05:002014-03-17T00:00:01.096-05:00The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Picador | Paperback, 180 pages<br />
Publication Date: February 12, 2009<br />
Fiction <br />
<strong><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #073763;"></span></strong><br />
<em><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="color: black;">"Eternal truths are ultimately invisible, and you won't find them in materia</span></span><span style="color: black;">l things or natural phenomena, or even in human emotions. Mathematics, however, can illuminate them, can give them expression - in fact, nothing can prevent it from doing so." - ( Chapter 7, page 116)</span></em><br />
<em></em><br />
I have never appreciated poetry in numbers; nor have I ever found it to be romantic. Mostly it's because my brain is an utter wasteland when it comes to Math. I hated it - with a passion. If it were compared to poetry, I'd say Math is composed of a series of foreign words that were simply incomprehensible to me. Now that I'm older, however, Math ceased being an intricate puzzle I couldn't solve. It simply became part of my daily life.<br />
<br />
If only I'd paid more attention in lectures, then perhaps I'd have been more inclined to have a better grasp and understanding of numbers. Because with terms like amicable numbers or twin primes, Math becomes this thing that sounded less daunting, and less complicated. In fact, the reader and the part-time writer in me would've probably appreciated it a bit more. However, when you start adding equations and formulae, my mind simply couldn't process.<br />
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I think that's what happened in the book. I loved the human elements and emotions in the story but towards the end, it required the analytics that had little to do with those aforementioned.<br />
<br />
However, this book isn't all about Mathematics. This follows the story of a housekeeper hired by an old lady to look after her brother in law. He's a retired professor with a brilliant mind. Unfortunately, that brilliant mind is addled by a memory that only lasts for about 80 minutes. He gets by with little notes of reminders clipped on to his suit: people he knows, things he did, things he's supposed to do. He's a walking reminder board. His is a very sad existence. He quickly forgets the people he knows in less than two hours, and on top of that, he only retained memories that had happened before his accident; because of that, he goes through housekeepers as anyone goes through shirts. He needed to be handled with understanding and patience as one would a child. And that is ultimately how I perceived him throughout the story. He retreats inside his mind with numbers for company.<br />
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Enter the housekeeper and her son. Every morning, the professor would ask her the same question:<br />
<br />
<i><b>"What's your shoe size?" </b></i><br />
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And that becomes the diving board for which their day would begin.<br />
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Furthermore, the Professor did not like that idea that her son was left alone for hours until she gets home from tending to his needs. The son's affinity to baseball, and the professor's love for statistics made for a bonding like that of a grandparent and grandchild. Thus begins a relationship between three people that transcends the scope of familial dynamics. It was such a touching thing to witness, considering the only way the professor could remember them was through a drawn caricature of their faces.<br />
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It is difficult to manifest into words exactly how I feel about this book. I can sit here and tell you about the poignant relationship between the professor and the housekeeper, but I feel it simply wouldn't be enough. There are books that a person cannot understand simply by reading someone else's review. This novel is one of them. I think it's not for everybody. And if you were like me who was drawn to the book by some romantic notions (the title certainly implied something), you will be disappointed.<br />
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Yoko Ogawa's writing style is hard to pin down. Perhaps it's because they're translations of her original work. I always feel like I'm missing the true essence of her writing, and that something gets lost in the process. In the end, this book did not appeal to my Math-deficient mind. You need to have an appreciation for numbers; you need to find the joy in finding solving Mathematical theorems. And most of all, you need to appreciate poetry in numbers. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-308835074612244472014-03-15T07:20:00.000-05:002014-03-15T07:20:01.865-05:00Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 103<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello.<br />
<br />
Welcome to this week's edition of Hoarders; where the madness of book hoarding is justified by saying, <b>"hey, at least my vice is not drugs!"</b>.<br />
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I've accepted the fact that a good blogging week for me is posting 3 to 4 posts per week, and that if I visit Bloglovin' at least twice a week, I still can get to your posts and comment on them. The thing is, with my new job (that I'm loving, by the way), I'm just not able to do a heck of a lot of my hobbies. I think I'm okay with this. So bear with me. I don't let a seemingly infinite number of unread posts bog me down.<br />
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Last week, I posted a couple of reviews (<a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-originals-by-cat-patrick.html"><b><span style="color: #073763;">The Originals by Cat Patrick</span></b></a> and <a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-winners-curse-by-marie-rutkoski.html"><b><span style="color: #073763;">The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski</span></b></a>). I also posted the 21st edition of <a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2014/03/confessions-of-addict-21-quality-reads.html"><b><span style="color: #073763;">Confessions of an Addict</span></b></a>, where I featured a couple of readers who inspire me to read better. I'm glad for all your input, dear readers. I'm thankful that you understand where I was coming from to a certain point. I love you all for placating me, and for making me feel like I have nothing to be embarrassed about with my reading choices. And I really don't. I was just having one of those days when I feel just a bit inadequate. I'm over it. :)<br />
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Anyway, this week was a quiet week on the book-buying front.<br />
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Perfect Lies by Kiersten White</div>
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A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin</div>
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Archetype by M.D. Waters</div>
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The Orenda by Joseph Boyden</div>
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Taste Test by Kelly Fiore</div>
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Unforgotten by Jessica Brody</div>
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Have a great week, everyone! And thanks ever so much for reading. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-9479469823044887512014-03-13T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-13T21:51:53.833-05:00The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Publication Date: March 4th, 2014<br />
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux BYR | Hardcover, 355 pages<br />
Young Adult | Fantasy | Romance<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></b>
<i><b>"The Winner's Curse is when you come out on top of the bid, but only by paying a steep price."</b></i><br />
<br />
This book is hardly worth reviewing, to be honest. After all, what else could I say that hasn't been already said? With a barrage of 5-star ratings on Goodreads, would anything I say persuade another reader to read this book? I think not. My opinion is just going to get lost in the void of awestruck reviewers; those who fumbled awkwardly, aimlessly for the right words to say. Oh well. I'm going to try my best to articulate my reading experience, nonetheless.<br />
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I've never been a devoted fantasy reader; heck, I'm not even a hobbyist reader of the genre. See, I'm not very adept at reconstructing worlds beyond what my feeble imagination could muster. It tends to bring on bouts of headaches and the odd times, nose bleeds. I think this is why I ADORE this book. I mean, sure, it's a fantasy novel, but the world building is not complicated that you won't even miss the requisite map on the inside cover normally found in books from this genre. <br />
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I'm also wary of the detailed description the authors go through when they describe the people's wardrobe of the era. It's not that I'm not interested in it; I just wish there was a subtle way of doing that without having a page dedicated on the outfits alone. <br />
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I think the reason why this world is easy to follow is due to the fact that it's based on one that we've read and seen in films before. That is, if you're into Greco-Roman war, and the politics of the time, then reading this book would be flawlessly easy. The Herrans staged their bid for liberty the way the Greeks delivered the nails to the Trojans' coffin: in a very covert fashion. They didn't see it coming. <br />
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<b><i>"As a General's daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions."</i></b><br />
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I know what you're thinking: Great. Just another girl forced to marry or suffer the consequences of her choice, whatever that may be. But you would actually be wrong. The easiest way to appease its readers is if:<br />
<br />
a. Kestrel does choose marriage, and only if she marries the man of her choosing.<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
b. Kestrel chooses service in military, therefore cementing her name in the YA Hall of Fame in the Female Kick-Assery Category. <br />
<br />
But no. This girl only ever wanted to play the piano. <br />
<br />
Pretty lame, right?<br />
<br />
Uhm no. Kestrel is one of those selfless characters who fights for what she wants, and by using what she's got. She's one who sees the lies and frauds that people try to perpetrate. She has a heart for the abused (which is how she ended up buying a slave to begin with), and one who will stand up for them even if it meant taking part in a very lopsided duel. She uses her smarts; she uses what she knows about people in order to manipulate the outcome of a dire situation. This girl kicks ass in a very subtle way.<br />
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Now, if there's one thing that's troubling me about this book, is the potentially messy romance that's about to unfold in the coming books: [Spoiler alert]<span style="color: white;"> she got engaged to the emperor's son (to save Arin's people), she's in love with Arin (the slave), and Ronan remains imprisoned (and we all know this girl cannot resist rooting for the underdog).</span> [End of spoiler]<br />
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In a way, this book instantly reminded me of how much I love <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4932435-finnikin-of-the-rock?from_search=true"><strong><span style="color: #073763;">Finnikin of the Rock</span></strong></a>. While the latter ripped my heart into slivers of unrecognizable mess, The Winner's Curse spells a probable doom that I will suffer the same fate. I'm not one to look forward to an impending torture, but I can say with all honesty that I will gladly lay down my defences, and declare, <em>I volunteer!</em> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-7832302981288788752014-03-11T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-11T06:00:03.727-05:00Confessions of an Addict [#21]: Quality ReadsDo you ever find yourself visiting another book blog, then somehow leave feeling like the books you've been reading are a joke? Not because they're badly written but you feel like you haven't gained anything of substance from the hundreds of books that you've read? Do you ever feel inadequate?<br />
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I have those days. </div>
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I've found a <a href="http://instagram.com/jenbebookish"><b><span style="color: #073763;">reader</span></b></a> on Instagram whose choices simply blow me away. She started a blog but she hasn't updated in a while. From the few reviews that she'd posted, I can tell how intelligent this reader really is. I was a little shock (star struck was more like it) when she followed me on Instagram. And to be honest, I felt a little intimidated at first. </div>
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You know how they tell you that you shouldn't feel embarrassed for the books that you chose to read? Yeah. I keep telling myself that. But somedays, I feel so inferior - especially when I see what she's read, what she recommends, and how she interacts with her followers. This girl can write a very detailed, unbiased, smart book recommendations on the tiny screen of her phone without flinching. I can guarantee you that she's read at least one or two books on the annual Booker list or maybe even Printz. </div>
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Through her, I also found this man: <a href="http://mattviews.wordpress.com/"><b><span style="color: #073763;">A Guy's Moleskine Notebook</span></b></a>, who reads literature like I read Erotica. You want to talk about a well-read person? Matt is the guy. He's got a no-frills blog, with incomparable book reviews that make me feel such a hack.<br />
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Last Saturday, when I was at my bookstore, I spent most of my time browsing than picking up anything. I found myself just over thinking which books I should purchase. I know I shouldn't feel guilty for being stuck on a certain genre, but sometimes, I get this overwhelming feeling of inadequacy.<br />
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I know I shouldn't compare myself to anyone, but do you ever feel like <u>reading should be more than just being entertained</u>?<br />
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Sometimes, reading bad books make me feel like I've just had dirty sex with an unknown person. It left me satisfied, sure. But I feel completely empty afterwards.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone is thinking." - Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood</span></i></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-91094311609666474042014-03-10T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-10T21:47:25.066-05:00The Originals by Cat Patrick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n7V1TqzQrjg/Uxu9UAbpNkI/AAAAAAAAKpk/PqnsjIoiIw8/s1600/15790886.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n7V1TqzQrjg/Uxu9UAbpNkI/AAAAAAAAKpk/PqnsjIoiIw8/s1600/15790886.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
The Originals by Cat Patrick<br />
Little, Brown | Hardcover, 304 pages<br />
May 7th, 2013<br />
Young Adult<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
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Very cool concept. I'd have liked it more if the author gave it a little hint of suspense. I read it in four hours, tops - which goes to show that it had me by the nose, regardless.<br />
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<b>Quick Story:</b><br />
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Clones, Lizzie, Betsey, and Ella Best have lived a third of their lives since they've learned they weren't triplets. They were a product of the only successful cloning hidden from the world. Every day, they take turns living the life of one Elizabeth Violet Best; which was working for the most part, until Lizzie meets Sean Kelly.<br />
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Lizzie felt cheated of a life to call her own. When the complication of living one person's life in three bodies arises, the sisters start breaking the rules set by their mother. Rules that were created to protect them became their shackles. They start doubting the real reason why they couldn't come out as triplets as they did when they were kids. Little by little, the seeds of doubt sprouted budding leaves of lies that will ultimately reveal who they are and the truth about their own mother.<br />
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<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
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I've always had this preconceived notion that clones are like robots; automatons who can't think for themselves but for what they were initially programmed for. In this respect, the sisters can be likened to those machineries. They did what they were told without questions. It all changed when the heart (and hormones, for that matter) became part of the equation.<br />
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I have to admit that I was plagued with questions in the beginning. It started to irritate me that they would live this way when they could easily pass themselves off as triplets. But as I delved deeper into the story, I grew to understand why: they were essentially on the run because they were technically stolen genes. So my first thought was that they will be chased; that there'll be some bad people who would try to find them, take them for the purpose of experiments. Unfortunately, there were no suspense here. No chases, no men in black. There was a woman, and that was it. Even that turned out to be nothing.<br />
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The mother gave me the impression of having some hidden agenda from the get go; that her purpose for totalitarianism-like upbringing holds a different meaning other than for the girls' protection. In the end, I wasn't placated - much like Lizzie had some lingering doubts to the bitter end.<br />
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I really think this book could've used a bit more thrills. I was hooked to the story but it was lacking, somehow. The revelations were anti-climactic, and to be honest, I couldn't even gather enough "care" in the world to be disappointed.<br />
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My opinion? Read it; not for the story itself but for your chance to meet Sean Kelly: the Clark Kent in disguise if Clark Kent fronts an indie band. So dreamy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-40095813223802335852014-03-09T09:15:00.000-05:002014-03-09T18:02:19.604-05:00Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 104<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q_B1Yhf3JDw/UfXanP3HBPI/AAAAAAAAJhI/OJQGvyH588k/s1600/Hoarders.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q_B1Yhf3JDw/UfXanP3HBPI/AAAAAAAAJhI/OJQGvyH588k/s1600/Hoarders.png" /></a></div>
Good morning!<br />
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I hope you all had a great week, and is having a lovely weekend so far.<br />
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Last week on the blog was pretty quiet. I only managed to put up two reviews [ <b><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-sound-of-letting-go-by-stasia-ward.html"><span style="color: #073763;">The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe</span></a> , <span style="color: #073763;"><a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2014/03/notes-from-ghost-town-by-kate-ellison.html"><span style="color: #073763;">Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison</span></a>] </span></span></b>and a Photo Vomit post where I featured some pretty cool <b><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2014/03/photo-vomit-8-penguin-vintage.html"><span style="color: #073763;">Vintage Penguins</span></a>. </span></span></b><br />
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I started my new job, and moved to a new office so my week was pretty hectic. I also started going to the gym again, which pretty much shortens my reading time when I get home. I'm pretty bushed by the time I hit the hay.<br />
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Amidst all the chaos, I managed to submit my poems to the publisher! I was on tenterhooks as I waited for verdict whether or not he will include them in the collection of poems he was going to publish. The next morning, he sent me an email saying that he loved them all! I'm so excited! I know there are a number of us but I can't wait to see my poems in print. He said the expected publication will be September of this year. I don't know what kind of marketing the publisher has planned but I sure will annoy friends and family to buy a copy. Lol.<br />
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Okay, back to this post. I mostly bought Adult Fiction this week. There really wasn't anything in YA that I was looking forward to reading. I also got one book for review from HBG Canada (much love!).<br />
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The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz</div>
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Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop</div>
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Wake by Anna Hope</div>
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The Troop by Nick Cutter</div>
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Microserfs by Douglas Coupland</div>
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Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood</div>
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Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott</div>
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Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens</div>
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The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski</div>
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That's my haul from last week, and thanks for reading!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also, let's pray for the victims/survivors(?) of the Malaysian flight that's gone missing. So profoundly sad, and scary. :/</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-11867834656687388562014-03-06T09:27:00.000-06:002014-03-06T09:27:54.683-06:00Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fNq6X3-Esds/UxhWltMyYuI/AAAAAAAAKpU/5XbzZ8z6BAc/s1600/15792589.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fNq6X3-Esds/UxhWltMyYuI/AAAAAAAAKpU/5XbzZ8z6BAc/s1600/15792589.jpg" height="320" width="214" /></a></div>
Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison<br />
Edgmont USA | Hardcover, 336 pages<br />
February 12, 2013<br />
Young Adult | Mystery | Suspense<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
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I struggled with this book; it turns out, I don't have the capacity to be patient when the book I'm reading contains a much more evolved mystery. And boy, did this book ever tried my patience.<br />
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<b>Quick Story:</b><br />
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Notes from Ghost Town is a story about a girl whose realization that she was in love with her best friend came a little too late. Because a week after they kissed, he was murdered. As if that's not enough to push her into a tailspin of emotional and mental chaos, the accused murderer (and admitted guilty party) was her mother.<br />
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Olivia Tithe is a talented painter; but when a sudden onslaught of colour blindness took away her ability to paint, she lost interest in everything else: food tasted bland and everything turned grey. A week or so before her mother's sentencing, she starts seeing the ghost of Lucas Stern, her best friend. Proof that she's well on her way to insanity. She's always known it's in her blood; after all, her mother is suffering from Schizophrenia herself, and why she admitted to being guilty of killing Stern. But Olivia knows her mother is innocent. She could never kill a boy whom she'd loved as though he were her own son. She has nine days to prove her innocence, but with everyone dissuading her from delving further, it will be difficult to find a someone who would sympathize. Time is running out for her mother, and for Lucas, who is slowly sinking into a realm where the restless dead exist without peace.<br />
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<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
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I didn't think it would be possible to grow bored with a mystery novel. It's supposed to keep you flipping the pages until you unravel all its intricacies. At first, I was genuinely vested in the story. But as time goes by, my interest started waning. <br />
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I know a good mystery novel does not reveal its secrets until you get closer to the bitter end. Notes from Ghost Town certainly accomplished that. But for an impatient reader like me, it became a painful practice in the art of waiting - waiting for the story to unravel; waiting for the characters to reveal their true selves. <br />
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Herein lies the frustration I have with this novel; which, to be honest is probably the same reason it works for fans of this genre. It was stingy with clues; it gave no hints, and gave away no suspects. Oh don't get me wrong, the author threw me a bone; but if clues were bones, she gave me a stirrup (smallest bone in the human body). As such, it wasn't substantial enough for me to bite. It took away the enjoyment of solving the mystery in the midst of reading, and as a result, I grew bored. <br />
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Olivia, while she was a fantastic actualization of a girl on the cusp of possibly losing her mind, was a little hard to reach. She didn't appeal to my sense of empathy, to be honest. She was a mixture of a lot of things but nothing definite. <br />
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The <i>grey space </i>that Olivia found herself was something I didn't enjoy reading. I don't know how a kiss could bring on such a dramatic change to her world. Was the kiss that good that it spurred on such a drastic/traumatic reaction? Not to mention it's the equivalent to an injury suffered by a blunt force trauma to the head? Perhaps it's to add on to the sense that she's completely losing her mind? However, it felt unnecessary to me. As if seeing Stern's ghost is not enough to warrant a trip to her therapist's couch. <br />
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The novel itself seems a little disorganized, and lacking - from its characters to the small arches that encompasses the entirety of the story as a whole - I felt dissatisfied over all. <br />
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If you're a true lover of mystery novels in a Young Adult milieu, this book is probably more your forte. I'm not saying I don't enjoy a mystery novel from time to time, but it has to sustain my interest throughout. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-72903941852099419502014-03-05T06:42:00.000-06:002014-03-05T06:42:34.699-06:00Photo Vomit #8: Penguin VintageLast week, I found myself at a used book store. I really wish I had the time to take pictures of this place but I figure, I'd probably need a permission to do so. One of these days, I'll find enough courage to approach the owners. <br />
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I've recently found the wonders of Tumblr. I follow some pretty cool blogs that feature lovely photographs of books and readers alike. I've also seen them post pictures of those orange vintage covers from Penguin. So last week, I had the inkling to find some copies for myself. Here are the books that I've found:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0aqMSMtZzyc/UxYbh1jYvjI/AAAAAAAAKn8/j6pgNypFqzA/s1600/photoCAHO0PZ7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0aqMSMtZzyc/UxYbh1jYvjI/AAAAAAAAKn8/j6pgNypFqzA/s1600/photoCAHO0PZ7.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XSAVr-fxknw/UxcZwQFtWGI/AAAAAAAAKow/ptR5t6OgrMo/s1600/IMG_5920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XSAVr-fxknw/UxcZwQFtWGI/AAAAAAAAKow/ptR5t6OgrMo/s1600/IMG_5920.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AkRwV97nbv4/UxYbqjFwYXI/AAAAAAAAKog/kMx89QpdF_A/s1600/photoCAXFT6C3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>It was tough finding these old Penguins. The <a href="http://www.nermansbooks.com/"><b><span style="color: #073763;">bookstore</span></b></a> that I found myself in had wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelves of antique books. The prices vary from $4.00 to $20.00. In the end, I had to put some back because it was getting ridiculously expensive. As it is, this pile cost me $65, to my husband's dismay. Anyway, I love them, and they make such a good addition to my collection of vintage books. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-43089304927093280542014-03-04T06:00:00.000-06:002014-03-04T06:00:00.975-06:00The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wf5rFW_ewKE/UxU9ih6gPKI/AAAAAAAAKnU/CJnTkYVq5xM/s1600/17987215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wf5rFW_ewKE/UxU9ih6gPKI/AAAAAAAAKnU/CJnTkYVq5xM/s1600/17987215.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe<br />
Viking's Children | Hardcover, 400 pages<br />
February 6th, 2014<br />
Young Adult | Contemporary<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
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Verse novels are my favourite things to read, but they're difficult to review. I never know what to say, because I feel like I can never give the sparsely written, yet more often powerful novels, their due justice.<br />
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The Sound of Letting Go, though beautiful in its own right, had me conflicted. On the one hand, I think Ward was very successful in conveying what it's like for a family to make a difficult choice of relieving themselves of caring for a violent autistic child. And on the other, she didn't really convince me that Daisy's anger towards her parents is in the right place. It's in the way she rarely interacted with her brother. Never once did I feel that she was really that close to her brother in the first place, and therefore, I didn't think her anger and her cause for the mild rebellion could be deemed justified.<br />
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This is the story of a prodigy whose family life is on the verge of an upheaval. Having lived most their life in the shadow of fear, they knew it would only take one episode for their carefully constructed life to fall apart. They have talked about it, expected it even. But when it finally happened, they were consumed by guilt that all they could only feel was relief.<br />
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I have an 18-year-old niece with autism. She's beautiful and quiet who likes the chatter of the radio, but never violent. She mostly sits contemplatively with a serene smile on her face. Before, when we didn't know what would appease her, she'd burst out and cry and all we could do was look on helplessly. We didn't know what she want…until you turn up the radio. Then she goes quiet.<br />
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Daisy's brother is different. He doesn't like noise. He gets violent. He hurts himself. The everyday struggle within their home is exhausting to watch. And the heartbreaking (understandably) way each of them tries to escape persisted throughout the novel.<br />
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The mild rebellion that Daisy tried to do didn't really do much. Because her parents were so focused on her brother, they didn't seem to care. I think the better half of the synopsis is wildly exaggerated. If you think there will be a full on rebellion with the bad boy, you'll be sorely disappointed. In fact, Dave is a sweetie. Also, if you're not a fan of love triangles, don't let that summary fool you. There is no love triangle. I don't know why the author would scare me like that.<br />
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Over all, I was mildly satisfied with this novel. And if it's romance you're after, you'll get that in spades here.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-43801769122970066882014-03-02T06:18:00.000-06:002014-03-02T06:18:04.583-06:00Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 103<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N2iXJrIM2hQ/UxMaOhwwEDI/AAAAAAAAKmo/SHNF8NXKYRU/s1600/17860739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N2iXJrIM2hQ/UxMaOhwwEDI/AAAAAAAAKmo/SHNF8NXKYRU/s1600/17860739.jpg" height="100" width="70" /></a>Last week was a sluggish reading week. I was trying to finish this book, since it has been in my CURRENTLY READING shelf for the last couple of months. It's not because it's characteristically slow; it's just the way the book is written. If you'll remember, I featured <a href="http://joyousreads.blogspot.ca/2013/11/the-coolest-fucking-book-i-havent-read.html"><b><span style="color: #073763;">this book</span></b> </a>a while back and have mentioned about the uniqueness by which it was written. This book is really meant to be read in stages, and is the primary reason why it took me a while to finish it. All in all, it was an amazing book! You should definitely experience it for yourself.<br />
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Other than that, I didn't read much of anything. This weekend, I have started a couple of books that I thought were fairly good: Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison and The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe. I'll have my reviews hopefully up by next week.<br />
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Anyway, here is my haul:<br />
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These are door stoppers; they're so huge, they almost look like text books. But I'm looking forward to reading them. House of Leaves, especially, is a book that was recommended to me from someone on Instagram. She said it reads much like S by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst.<br />
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Sue Grafton's suspense series is one that I've wanted to read for a while. So when I saw it at my bookstore for $10, I didn't hesitate. This one is even cooler because it's a 3-for-1 type of deals.<br />
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I distinctly remember Youth in Revolt coming out in the theatres about a year or so ago. I need some funny reads so this one just be what the doctor ordered.<br />
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The rest of my pile are, of course, Young Adult. I can't resist, yanno? Anyway, I hope these are good. Like I mentioned earlier, The Sound of Letting Go is pretty good so far. The other books are ones that I've not really read too much about.<br />
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I hope your weekend is going great. I start my new position at my job tomorrow. I'm equal parts terrified and excited. I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead, for sure. :)<br />
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Have a wonderful week, everyone!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-10687232941140254522014-02-27T06:00:00.000-06:002014-02-27T06:00:01.346-06:00Ink is Thicker than Water by Amy Spalding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ink is Thicker than Water by Amy Spalding<br />
Entangled Teen | Paperback, 285 pages<br />
Published: December 3rd, 2013<br />
Young Adult Contemporary<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
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<b>Quick Story:</b><br />
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Mediocre teen Kellie Brooks has no illusions as to where she stands in her lot in life. She's content going through her high school tenure with average grades, using very little effort to apply herself. She leaves the brilliance and overachieving to her older sister.<br />
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One upheaval after another disturbs her unassuming existence, however. First, her sister found her biological mother, which led her to realize exactly how she fits (or doesn't) with her adopted family. Then the boy-man she almost had sex with comes strolling back in her life with a few secrets of his own. She's losing her best friend, and her world is changing fast.<br />
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<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
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So this is your typical contemporary romance novel where the heroine is about to discover herself and her place in the world. Her family is bit queer and pleasantly so. I love the tattoo artist step dad who knows his place in everybody's lives. I love the hippie mom who's not at all loopy but very much involved in her kids' lives. I love the family dynamics, which sadly is about the only thing memorable about this novel.<br />
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Kellie Brooks is pretty flat, to be honest. She's got very little personality to speak of, as are the rest of the characters in this book. It was either that or that I just didn't find it in me to reach them at a level where I could summon some semblance of empathy.<br />
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I don't know what happened to her supposedly best friend or their falling out. She was in her life until she decided she's becoming too cool for her own good. In which case, I surmised that she's a lousy excuse for a friend if being cool meant more to her than the years that they've spent being friends.<br />
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Her sister was unlikeable as well. She's a little self-absorbed who thinks that she's also way too good for Kellie and the family that loved her from day one.<br />
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I would talk about Oliver but I'd probably end up ranting so I'm going to leave this review right here. Over all, it's a fast read but nothing really earth-shattering or even mildly remarkable. If you're looking for an easy read with the usual elements of a contemporary fiction in this genre, then you'll probably enjoy this book.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-30808194658081070962014-02-26T06:00:00.000-06:002014-02-26T06:00:11.236-06:00Photo Vomit #7: Pulp! The Classics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-63226960752892388692014-02-25T06:00:00.000-06:002014-02-25T06:00:12.636-06:00Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout<br />
Disney Hyperion | E-ARC via Net Galley<br />
Publication Date: April 14th, 2014<br />
Young Adult, Suspense<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;">Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars</span></b><br />
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If you've ever read a book where the character woke up not remembering a single thing about them, then you'd pretty much know the gist, actually, the bulk of this story.<br />
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<b>Quick Story:</b><br />
<br />
Sam disappeared for four days only to stagger back into town without a single memory of what happened. She also came back a changed person - not even a shadow of who she was. The queen bee of the school lost the chip on her shoulders and was quite disgusted by the personality of her old self. The company that she kept was also the type of clique that rules the campus. In other words, they're the type of people that I despised in teen novels. Ugh.<br />
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<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
<br />
The mystery of her disappearance and memory loss is the major component of the plot. Jennifer didn't really do a very good job of hiding the culprit's identity. It used to irked me when people would claim to know who did it by the first few chapters and now, I can definitely relate.<br />
<br />
This book was also chockfull of clichés. I think someone else has mentioned this on their review. At this point, I'm waiting for JLA to come up with something of her own, original, if I may. She's done a lot of taking bits and pieces of story lines from other people's works. I'll tell you this though, she's probably well read. As in, she's read a lot of YAs.<br />
<br />
So why give this book four stars? Well, it's simple really. I have been disillusioned with her recent works. I know she's a popular author with a huge following to boot. But to be honest, I'm not sold. Even though this book was, yet again, a copy cat of every other books that have the same trope, the truth is, I enjoyed it.<br />
<br />
However, I'm still waiting for the day when she can come up with plot lines of her own.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-38412788991496289282014-02-24T06:00:00.000-06:002014-02-24T06:00:08.352-06:00Hoarders, Books Edition: Episode 102<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week's haul are books bought from our recent trip to Las Vegas. We took quite an adventure, my husband and I, trying to get to the nearest Barnes & Noble. There used to be one just minutes away from the Strip but it closed down, so we had to cab it to the 'burbs to get to the next closest one. At least, my husband thought it was the closest. I have a feeling it wasn't, because we spent $115 in cab fare! Yeesh. Anyway, we had to ask the lady driver to stay and wait for us. Needless to say, I didn't get to browse as long as I normally would. So very disappointing.</div>
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I got one book from Simon & Schuster Canada. Funny story, I requested this book because I thought it's a children-appropriate book but it wasn't. Regardless, much love, Anneliese of Simon & Schuster! </div>
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Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants </div>
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Price of Shadows by Rachel Caine</div>
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The Memory of After by Lenore Appelhans</div>
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One More Thing by B.J. Novak</div>
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Vengeance by Megan Miranda</div>
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Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick</div>
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I could never resist an airport bookstore. Lucky for me, they were giving these totes away. :)</div>
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The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick</div>
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The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan</div>
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That's it for me this week. Real life is absolutely bonkers right now, especially my job situation. I will try to visit your blogs as soon as I can breathe. I apologize for this loop of apologies. Sorry, sorry, sorry. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-12638883239492482232014-02-21T06:00:00.000-06:002014-02-21T06:00:01.834-06:00Cress [The Lunar Chronicles, #3] by Marissa Meyer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Cress [The Lunar Chronicles, #3] by Marissa Meyer<br />
Feiwell & Friends | Hardcover, 550 pages<br />
February 4th, 2014<br />
Young Adult<br />
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #131313;">Rapunzel’s
tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. </span><span style="color: #131313;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>In this
third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain
Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together,
they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Their
best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood
with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an
excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track
down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>When a
daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom,
but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her
marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to
save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.</i></span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
Once again, Marissa Meyer continues to awe. Cress was the perfect blend of action, romance and a futuristic fairy tale only Meyer could pull off - and in a near flawless fashion at that!<br />
<br />
<b>Quick Story:</b><br />
<br />
Cinder, Capt. Thorne, Wolf and Scarlet continue to evade Emperor Kai's army and Queen Levana's clutches. With the help of Cress, an exile that has spent her last seven years living in solitary confinement, they're virtually hidden in plain sight. But when an attempt to rescue Cress goes awry, the group suffers an unfortunate setback.<br />
<br />
As the impending wedding of Emperor Kai and Queen Levana looms in the horizon, Cinder had no choice but to seek out the man responsible for her escape in prison. Meanwhile, she will have to use her Lunar powers if they have any hopes of defeating the evil Queen.<br />
<br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
<br />
Nothing short of brilliant! If you haven't been on the Lunar train, then you're missing a fantastic ride. Meyer delivers another perfect installment to what's quickly becoming a perrenial favorite. Though the wait for each release is painstakingly tortorous, the reward is an absolute bliss. The hazard of loving these books as much as I have been is that I am running the risk of repeating myself. There really is no helping it, though.<br />
<br />
In here, we find a new character in Cress, a lonely soul trapped in a satellite whose main purpose of existence is to spy on the Commonwealth. Her fascination with the Earthens, however, had led her to protect Cinder and her crew. It doesn't help that she's got some mad love for a dashing Captain in the person of Thorne. Their story did not go too far, so I'm looking forward to the next succeeding books.<br />
<br />
This book made me want to relive Scarlet and Wolf's story. They had very limited interactions here made even less by the events that happened after Cress' failed rescue. Wolf's anguish was very palpable and that's all I'm going to say about that. You'll have to read the book to know why.<br />
<br />
I have a feeling that I'm probably going to like any pairings that Meyer will offer up, and that's already obvious in the next book, Winter. I already like the crazy princess and I can't wait to read more about Jacin Clay.<br />
<br />
I've become more aware of the magnitude of Levana's (and the Lunars' for that matter) powers in this book. The Earthens are simply no match for their mind manipulation. How in the world could Cinder lead a revolt against her will be an insurmountable mountain to climb. One that I look forward to reading in the future, I might add.<br />
<br />
Emperor Kai and Cinder finally reunited! Even more awesome? It involved a tranquilizer. Oh how sweet it is!<br />
<br />
If the 5-star rating isn't enough to persuade you, then I don't know what else I can say. Fantasic, brilliant, wonderful - words that all seem redundant considering I gave it a 5.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107816571044347474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761724712557780911.post-47604805393351087852014-02-20T05:54:00.000-06:002014-02-20T05:54:06.832-06:00Once in a Lifetime by Jill Shalvis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1rrPSi9jfoM/UwXmPfwiHqI/AAAAAAAAKkY/KEDavhu5ZZg/s1600/17899855.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1rrPSi9jfoM/UwXmPfwiHqI/AAAAAAAAKkY/KEDavhu5ZZg/s1600/17899855.jpg" height="320" width="198" /></a></div>
Once in a Lifetime [Lucky Harbor, #9] by Jill Shalvis<div>
Grand Central Publishing | E-ARC via Net Galley</div>
<div>
February 18th, 2014</div>
<div>
Adult Fiction, Romance</div>
<div>
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u><b>BUY THE BOOK:</b></u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Once-Lifetime-Lucky-Harbor-Shalvis/dp/1455521132"><b><span style="color: #073763;">AMAZON</span></b></a> | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/once-in-a-lifetime-jill-shalvis/1115250959?ean=9781455521135"><b><span style="color: #073763;">B & N</span></b></a> | <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781455521135"><b><span style="color: #073763;">INDIE BOUND</span></b></a> | <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/once-in-a-lifetime/id645573997?mt=11"><b><span style="color: #073763;">iTUNES</span></b></a></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SOMETIMES
WRONG IS OH-SO-RIGHT<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a
wrenching loss, Ben McDaniel tried to escape his grief by working in dangerous,
war-torn places like Africa and the Middle East. Now he's back in his hometown
and face-to-face with Aubrey Wellington, the hot-as-hell woman who is trouble
with a capital T. Family and friends insist she's not the one to ease his pain,
but Aubrey sparks an intense desire that gives Ben hope for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Determined
to right the wrongs of her past, Aubrey is working hard to make amends. But by
far, the toughest challenge to her plan is sexy, brooding Ben - even though he
has absolutely no idea what she's done . . .<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #131313;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can this
unlikely couple defy the odds and win over the little town of Lucky Harbor?</span></span></div>
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Jill Shalvis is back with another story from my favorite
fictional (?) town of Lucky Harbor. This time, it’s the story of the town
troublemaker, Aubrey Wellington and the town favorite, Ben McDaniel. I can say in all honesty, that this is
the only romance series that I follow with gusto. It’s hilarious, quirky and
lovely. I look forward to each installment with bated breath. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Two headstrong characters in a tiny town can’t be good for anyone, but as a signature Jill Shalvis romance, these two will have you laughing at the most inopportune moments, and sniffling at the sudden on-set of the feels. </div>
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<b>Quick Story:</b></div>
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Aubrey Wellington has a lot of people to answer to in her life. However,
Lucky Harbor being the quasi-Mayberry town that it is, don’t really expect a
lot from a once troublesome beauty. Armed with a list of people that she’s done wrong in the
past, she sets out to make amends and make up for the troubles and mistakes
she’s caused. However, there’s one person in the list that she’s terrified of
‘fessing up to: Ben McDaniel.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Ben McDaniel has done everything in his power to escape the
grief of losing his wife. Even to the extent of putting his life in danger all
for the sake of helping war-torn countries rebuild. Back to Lucky Harbor with
the intention of finally moving on, he never once expected the fiery Aubrey
Wellington. The woman got under
his skin in seconds like an annoying sliver. However, if there’s one thing
Aubrey is good at, it’s that she’s managed to make him forget the past that
he’s been trying to escape. The woman made him overly curious – too curious for
his comfort. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>My Thoughts:</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Jill Shalvis is not your typical drugstore romance author. Her work is never cut and dry, nor a one-dimensional plot. Her characters are larger than life that would make you think they're acquaintances you've met once in your life. Her stories are wonderful and never boring. I'm not one to read these types of contemporary romance but after reading the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7863423-simply-irresistible"><b><span style="color: #073763;">first book</span></b> </a>to this series, I was hooked. This series is one of the few that I look forward to every year. I just wish Jill can write faster!</div>
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<b><span style="color: #073763;">About the Author:</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">New York
Times </span></span></i><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">bestselling author Jill Shalvis
lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance
to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for
Jill's bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit
her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her
city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="http://jillshalvis.com/"><span style="color: #073763;">Website</span></a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JillShalvis"><span style="color: #073763;">Facebook</span></a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/JillShalvis/"><span style="color: #073763;">Twitter</span></a> | <span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22370.Jill_Shalvis"><span style="color: #073763;">Goodreads</span></a> </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div>
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