Library Book Haul October 2015

Hello lovelies,

       Here we have another blogpost. I am supposed to be doing a review of The Scorch Trials Movie right now but I just went to the library and got some books so I thought I’d do a different type of blog post for today! :)

The first book I checked out was Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

This is the first book in a Sci-fi series.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.

I had never heard of this book before so I thought it would be cool to just check it out and see how it was.

The second book I checked out was The Iron King by Julie Kagawa.

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

So, I have heard so many things about this book and it looks sooooooo good. I really can’t wait to read this and it is so going on my TBR for next month.

The third book I checked out was Prophecy by Ellen Oh

The greatest warrior in all of the Seven Kingdoms... is a girl with yellow eyes.

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope...

Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.

I have never heard of this book EVER so I naturally thought why not…

The fourth book I checked out was Defy by Sarah B. Larson

Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king's army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince's guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can't prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.

The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she's sworn to protect?

Sooooooo many people didn’t like this book which I found rather odd. I love these types of books and considering it is almost a retelling of Mulan that makes it sound even better!

The fifth book I checked out was Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

On the Fives court, everyone is equal.

And everyone is dangerous.

Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family, she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for the Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors.

Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbable friendship between the two Fives competitors—one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy—causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

This book just sounded awesome, nothing else to really say about it! :)

The sixth book and final book I checked out was Starling by Lesley Livingston

Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name—the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family—with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods—is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Considering this has Norse Gods in it, I naturally thought Give me that book and let me read it. This will be going on my next month’s TBR! :)

Well, that’s all for this blogpost. I will see you soon with a Scorch Trials movie review, maybe a tag blogpost, another haul, some more book reviews and a top 10 post! :)

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson Review

This review will contain spoilers!

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Genre: Fantasy/Young Adult

Publisher: Henry Holt

Pages: 492

Recommended Age: 13 and up

Summary:

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

Review:

When many people recommended this book to me I was like “Okay, I guess I could give this a try.”

Lia is fierce and DOES NOT want to be forced into a marriage alliance with someone she has never seen before.

Everything about this book was:

I am often struggling to find time to read and it is very problematic. I really wanted to read this book all at once so I read it whenever I could.

I loved this book so much:

It is basically a mix of historical fantasy:

And then a quest like story:

There was also a love triangle but it was better than most:

And the love interests were both swoon-worthy:

And for some reason I like Kaden better than Rafe. He’s just bad boy material:

Over all this book was AWESOME!

Now on to the REAL Review:

I’d never read one of her books before so I wasn’t really sure what to expect but from what people had said, I knew this book was the type of book I like to read. I had high expectations for this book and I really can’t say that I was disappointed.  The plot was well developed as was the world. The characters were also wonderful and well done.

Lia is a heroine through and through. She is fierce, determined, and willing to do the unthinkable for what she wants. She doesn’t want to be forced into an arranged marriage so she runs away with her best friend to a small rural village where she then works in a tavern.

For the first half of the novel, the characters were developed and so was the world. We got to know the main characters fairly well before the action began. I didn’t really expect it to suddenly turn into a quest like atmosphere for the second half of the novel.

This novel was wonderful. I was surprised she didn’t actually put magic into the novel. There was talk of it but nothing ever came close to magic.

I also didn’t mind the love triangle as it wasn’t distracting and annoying. It was well crafted and you kind of knew she wasn’t going to trifle with one of them. The two guys are perfection. Rafe is a handsome ‘farm-hand’ whom Lia seems to like at once. And then Kaden is more of a dark mysterious handsome person. He was my favorite even though he’s the one who (SPOILER ALERT!) betrays her. I wasn’t expecting him to betray her as he was pretty sweet and seemed to actually have an interest in her as a person.

At the end of the book, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the next one but you can guess that something terrible will happen to one of the main characters. I am so worried that she will kill of Rafe or Kaden.

I can’t wait to read the next book soon and I am sure it is going to be the most wonderful sequel.

If you don’t have this book on your TBR, rethink that decision. Pick this up from your local library, buy it from a bookstore or borrow it from a friend ‘cause this is seriously a book worth reading. I can’t recommend it enough and I am actually thinking about re-reading this soon or buying it!

The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas Review

The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas Review

Finished this book awhile back on my TBR! This review will not contain spoilers!

The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Genre: Fantasy/Young Adult

Publisher: Balzar+Bray

Pages: 464

Recommended Age: 12 and up

Summary:

It all began with a ruined elixir and a bolt of lightning.

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's been told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the most powerful tyrant and mage the world has ever known. This would be a suicide task for anyone, let alone a reluctant sixteen-year-old girl with no training.

Guided by his mother's visions and committed to avenging his family, Prince Titus has sworn to protect Iolanthe even as he prepares her for their battle with the Bane. But he makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the tyrant closing in, Titus must choose between his mission—and her life.

Review:

So, this book was amazing and I did really want to read it to just see how it was. Many critics and reviewers have compared it with the Harry Potter series and now I know why.

The main character Iolanthe is easy to like and is a proper heroine. She even saves the prince’s life instead of the other way around.

The other character, Prince Titus is adorable and just a little bit conceited.  This is basically what I would say to Iolanthe if I was in that story because Prince Titus is perfect <3

These characters will seriously steal away your heart and never give it back.

The Burning Sky was a little hard to follow at times.

I still think that she needed to build up the world a little bit more as that would have made me happy but her character development was pretty on point.

Prince Titus is both strong, but at the same time courteous and vulnerable. He can also be a little rude, obnoxious and cocky as I said before. My heart has been completely stolen by him. For some reason I often get smitten by obnoxious princes or guy characters. There are quite a lot of those <3

I also totally ship the two main characters. Their romance is beautiful and developed. That was one of the reasons that kept me going during reading the book. I needed to know what happened between the two.

And now I can’t wait to read the next one :) It’s going to be AMAZING!

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner Review

Sorry all of you who haven’t read this book. This review is going to be full of spoilers so I suggest you go read this book and then come back and read this review. Now that we’ve gotten that settled...

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian/Young Adult

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 368

Recommended Age: 12 and up

Summary:

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end.

Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch.

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off.

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive.

Review

I wasn’t actually going to read the next two books after I had finished The Maze Runner.

Yeah, I know. I was going to be a horrible person. It wasn’t that I didn’t like The Maze Runner. I loved it but I just didn’t want to get attached and then have an emotional breakdown when more characters died.  Yes, I did have a kind of mental breakdown when Chuck was killed. Like why do author’s try to kill the innocents and beloved characters???

Basically me. I seriously did want to kill James Dashner. I’m sorry but why???:

This book was awesome and yet there were still a couple of things I didn’t like about it.  First I’ll tell you about the things I did like and enjoy.

I love the characters especially Newt, Thomas and Minho.  I love Minho’s sass and Thomas and Newt are both adorable in different ways.  Thomas is adorably sweet and yet tough at the same time. He is almost completely clueless when it comes to girls and relationships which I find adorable.  He just didn’t seem to understand that Brenda was often trying to make a move on him and also Theresa.  Poor Thomas, he’s so clueless.

I also loved how Thomas managed to get in a couple of witty combacks as normally that’s Minho’s job.

I also really liked how there was more action in this book and most of the characters got to involve in it.

Things I didn’t really like:

I didn’t like how there was an extra love interest.  For some reason I felt like that was all Brenda was used for. Sure, she was a good fighter and I love a strong female character but it seemed as if she wasn’t that much of one. She seemed to often be clinging around Thomas. That’s just my opinion…

And I didn’t like how it was a bloody love triangle.  If he had to have a love interest he should have stuck with Theresa. I mean after all they did have a past together and everything. It’s not like she was just placed with him for no reason…

"Thomas found himself hoping she was the Brenda girl Jorge had mentioned."

"Brenda didn't take her eyes off Thomas. As for him, he still felt the tingle that had shot through his entire body when she'd touched him with her lips."

"Something stirred inside him, mixed with guilt and longing for Teresa."

"Once again, Thomas felt a ridiculous surge of guilt like he was cheating on Teresa. He couldn't help that this girl was so touchy-feely."

I was also a little disappointed that Thomas didn’t get to hang out with his old buddies, Newt and Minho as much. Newt is my favorite character and Minho...well I love his sass. The three of them made a good team and Thomas was constantly being separated from them so the three of them didn’t spend that much time together sadly. Oh well, there’s always the third book...

That concludes my review.

P.S. If any of my favorite characters are killed off for some stupid bloody reason. I will hunt you down…  

Loved the book! :)

My Rating: 

Four out of Five Crowns

October 2015 TBR

October 2015 TBR

Hello lovelies,

       So, yesterday I posted my September Wrap Up and now here is my TBR.  It’s a little overambitious and most likely I’ll only get through around half of the books on it but I really want to read a ton of books soon and I am going to try. :)

The first book I have on my TBR is The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson.  I have already started this book and am on like chapter 20 or something and it is pretty awesome. This book is about a princess who flees on her wedding day. It is an arranged marriage meant to secure a political alliance.  Lia doesn’t want to marry a stuffy old prince so she along with her best friend and servant flee to a distant village. She settles in among the common folk until two handsome strangers arrive….  I can only say that this book is going to be awesome!

The second book I have on my TBR is The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas. I read the first one for my last TBR and it was awesome. It was a little slow but as soon as I actually got into it, it was so awesome that I could hardly put it down. (Sadly I had to, often because of school, homework and sleep)  I have rather high expectations for this book and I am hoping it meets some of them. I’m excited to see how the two main character’s love blossoms and if she saves the land.

The third book I have on my TBR is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. This book has been recommended by booktubers, friends and blogs. This is supposedly a slight retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I love fairytale retellings. Just going to get that out there. This also supposedly more of a New Adult book which is for older teens but I think it would be fine for younger readers too. Can’t wait to start this.

The fourth book that I have on my TBR is The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. This book seems really interesting and my sister has recommended it to me. It is a Dystopian novel and I love dystopian books.  Plus if there is a hot love interest and a storng female lead I will surely enjoy it. But one question, why is his name Thomas?? Like hello Maze Runner already took that name...

That brings me to my fifth book on my TBR which is The Death Cure by James Dashner. I really didn’t want to read this book because I will probably be a sobbing mess by the end. Yes...supposedly this book hits you right in the feels.  But I just saw The Scorch Trials in the theater and it was so bloody awesome so I need to read the next book.  I will be sure to do a review of this once I finish it.  I just need to get my hands on it first….

The sixth book I have is Rook by Sharon Cameron. This book looks really good and I can’t wait to start it. This is set in the future in Paris and is about a wealthy girl who is the last chance to save her family.

The seventh book I have is The Dark Unwinding also by Sharon Cameron. This is a sort of steampunk gothic type story. I believe I am going to enjoy this book and possibly want to read the next one. I will be reading this soon! :)

The eighth book I have on my TBR is Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Yes, I have read this book and yes it was awesome. I just want to read it again in preparation for the last book coming out in November! This is a retelling of Cinderella set in the future.

The ninth book I have on my TBR for this month is The Spiritglass Charade by Colleen Gleason. Okay, so the first book was amazing and I have had this book for almost a year now and have never actually read it.

My Reaction:

Anyways, I will be reading this either this month or next month if I don’t get the chance to read it now.

The tenth book on my TBR is The Young Elites by Marie Lu. This book seems really interesting. This is also a sort of future book. I can’t wait to read it! I’ve heard good and bad things about it so I’ll see how I feel :)

The last book I have got here on my TBR is Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking.  Okay, the first book was amazing. There was a hot guy:

And plenty of action and a strong female lead.  I will surely enjoy the next one.

Well, guys. That concludes my very overambitious TBR for the month of October. See you again soon for a couple reviews and even a movie review!