Monday, 20 June 2016

#TBRTakedown 4.0 Read-a-thon and TBR!

Hello guys. Today, I bring you another TBR for a Read-a-thon. Read-a-thon's are so great during the summer. They really help you want to read and I am going to try to get through a ton of books during this one. 

This read-a-thon is called TBRTakedown 4.0 and it is hosted by leaninglights over on youtube.  There are sprints and updates on twitter: @TBRTAKEDOWN  @leaninglights 

This read-a-thon goes from June 20-June 26 and there are a series of challenges that you can complete. 

Challenges: 

1. TBR over a year [longest]
2. Sequel
3. First book in a series
4. Out of your comfort zone [whatever that means for you]
5. Most Recent book haul

I decided to go by the challenges so here are all the books I want to complete. 



For the first challenge I went with Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I have had this book on my TBR for like three years and still haven't read it so now is the time. Considering the fifth book is coming out and I have three of the books and haven't read any. 

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.


For the second challenge I went with The Rose Society by Marie Lu. This book has been on my TBR for a while now and I haven't read it yet. I loved the first book but I haven't found time to read this one yet. 

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all.

Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she flees Kenettra with her sister to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her.

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good when her very existence depends on darkness?



For the third challenge I picked two books and I can either read both or just one. I picked Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter which I already started and it is really good. I also picked These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. I have wanted to read both of these for a while. 

She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

If anyone had told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

These Broken Stars: 

Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive – alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth. 

The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy



For the fourth challenge I picked, Delia's Shadow by Jamie Lee Moyer. This is out of my comfort zone because it is kind of a paranormal adult book and I don't read many adult books so any adult book is out of my comfort zone. 

A dark, romantic fantasy set against the backdrop of San Francisco devastated by the Great Quake...

It is the dawn of a new century in San Francisco and Delia Martin is a wealthy young woman whose life appears ideal. But a dark secret colors her life, for Delia’s most loyal companions are ghosts, as she has been gifted (or some would say cursed) with an ability to peer across to the other side.

Since the great quake rocked her city in 1906, Delia has been haunted by an avalanche of the dead clamoring for her help. Delia flees to the other side of the continent, hoping to gain some peace. After several years in New York, Delia believes she is free…until one determined specter appears and she realizes that she must return to the City by the Bay in order to put this tortured soul to rest.

It will not be easy, as the ghost is only one of the many victims of a serial killer who was never caught. A killer who after thirty years is killing again. 

And who is now aware of Delia’s existence.


For the fifth and last challenge I picked two books but will probably only get through one at most. I picked The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I really want to read these so I put them on this. 

The Crown's Game:

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love... or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear... the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Four minutes changes everything. Hadley Sullivan 17 misses her flight at JFK airport, is late to her father's second wedding in London with never-met stepmother. Hadley meets the perfect boy. Oliver is British, sits in her row. A long night on the plane passes in a blink, but the two lose track in arrival chaos. Can fate bring them together again?

Movie Review #2: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Finally, I am getting another movie review up. I am such a bad person in terms of promising reviews and then never giving them. Today, I just saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and it was a lot better than I had originally hoped for so I'm really happy about that. This is also mostly spoiler free.




Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Director: Burr Steers
Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 5 Crowns
Release Date: February 4, 2016

If you have not read Pride and Prejudice or seen one of the Pride and Prejudice movies, you might be a tad bit confused during this one.

This is basically the original Pride and Prejudice story but you add in zombies so everything changes.


PLOT

The plot was amazing. You got the normal Pride and Prejudice story but the girls are all kickass heroines, fighting zombies and saving people. In this world a woman is accomplished if they trained in Japanese martial arts and less so if she has trained in Chinese martial arts. Elizabeth Bennett of course trained in China. A woman has to have skills of cooking, reading, languages and of course fighting.

This story had zombies milling around and causing havoc but it was Pride and Prejudice down to the dialogue. The witty dialogue still played it's part and if it hadn't been there, I would have questioned this as a Pride and Prejudice adaptation. Lizzie and Darcy still have battles of wits and also actual battles.

Despite this movie being dark it still had a light, humorous tone to it. And the setting was well-developed and gave us a good backstory. I loved how they made the woman warriors as well and not just dainty ladies who sat at home while the men trained and fought. It was hilarious and awesome to see the Bennett sisters getting ready for the Ball by doing their hair and donning dresses as well as strapping knives and swords in because would it be a ball without a zombie invasion?

ACTORS/CHARACTERS




Lily James plays the beloved Elizabeth [Lizzy] Bennett. Lily James stole the show. She was beautiful, clever, determined and her warrior skills were amazing and too hot to handle. Let's be honest. Lily James was amazing as Lizzy and really played the role perfectly. I couldn't have asked for a better actress to play this iconic character.


Sam Riley plays the dashing and infuriating Mr. Darcy. Mr Darcy as so disagreeable [like he always is] but secretly really hot. He was also a great fighter just like Lizzy. While he's not as handsome as Mr. Bingley (Douglas Booth), he's still pretty handsome and the only Darcy so far that I have found handsome. He's also the only Darcy that I could actually stand tbh.


Matt Smith plays the hilarious Mr. Collins. Matt Smith was perfect in this role. He was hilarious and quirky and just fit perfectly. 



Douglas Booth plays the charming, kind and handsome Mr. Bingley. I've always liked Mr. Bingley a lot more than Mr. Darcy because Mr. Bingley always seemed to actually have a heart. Douglas Booth does an amazing job in his role and it was fantastic to see him portray Bingley.


FIGHTING


The Bennett sisters fight scenes were amazing and so well cordinated. I really enjoyed watching them go from ladies to positively badass. 


And the amount of times Darcy and Elizabeth save each other. #Goals 


ROMANCE

The chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth was undeniable and I enjoyed seeing their relationship develop during the length of the movie. Plus it was interesting to see how their relationship changed with a zombie setting.  It was high-stakes romance where they are fighting for their life and their love. Oh and that scene where they fight each other...loved it!






CONTENT FOR OLDER VIEWERS ONLY?

This movie is rated PG-13 for a reason. I feel like it is better if you see this when you are 12 and over because you won't understand everything and the zombies could frighten younger kids but otherwise it is a great movie.

Slaying as they slay is a great tagline for this movie. I highly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

Music Monday #18

I got this idea from the blog Trust in the Words. 









Unstoppable by Sia


There were so many songs I could have put on this post but I decided on this one. This is one of my current favorites.  I really love the message and the song itself. Feel free to give it a listen. 


What's in your headphones?

Happy reading everybody! <3