Saturday, June 30, 2012

Stacking the Shelves (1)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly event over at Tynga's Reviews which showcases the books we've purchased, borrowed and received in the mail this week.

This is my first Stacking the Shelves. I got a lot of cool stuff this week:


BOOKS WON: 

Thanks to Tribute Books, EpicReads and Tattooed Books 
I probably entered at least 100 giveaways this week. So happy to finally won some stuff. First time!

 



I'm so excited to have won stuff, especially for this one because it's my first ever printed ARC courtesy of EpicReads! However, I didn't realize this was a sequel so I have to read the other book first.



 

 
I won Hush, Hush through  a giveaway at  Tattooed Books blog. I had a choice of a few different ones and even though I've heard mixed reviews of this I just had to know what this Patch guy is all about!





 
 
 Lastly, I won a digital copy of  Until Next Time: Books 1 of the Angel Chronicles from  Tribute Book Tours









BOOKS FOR REVIEW:

Thanks to Netgalley and Edelweiss


FREE BOOKS:

I think these are all still free on Amazon




I don't think I'll read all these but, hey, why not right? They're free!

Bookish Things:

Random book things I got this week 

Thanks to my bf's parents who came to visit after visiting a Christmas shop. Clearly, they know me.




Friday, June 29, 2012

Book Review: The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

Author: Melanie Dickerson
             Website
             Blog
Series or Stand-alone: 
             Stand Alone
How I got it:
             ARC courtesy of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Pages:284
Publisher: Zondervan
Genre: Young Adult / Christian
First Published: November 29th 2011
Buy it from: Amazon
                   Barnes & Noble

FIRST LINE(S): "Annabel sat in the kitchen shelling peas into a kettle at her feet."

The GIST (From Goodreads):

An unthinkable danger. An unexpected choice. Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf's bailiff---a revolting man who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past. Believing that life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the bailiff's vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her, Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her encounters with Lord Ranulf. As Annabel struggles to confront her feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in grave danger. Ranulf's future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart

OPINION: 

“The Merchant’s Daughter” follows the story of Annabel, a daughter of a…wait for it…yes merchant, whose family has hit hard times after her father’s death. Annabel’s family is responsible to make up their accumulating debt by working in the fields with the other townspeople but they refused because they were either A. Too lazy or B. Too proud. And that worked fine with a corrupt former lord, but with a new lord coming to town, they finally have to pay up or do their fair share of work.

There is a compromise though: Annabel’s family will not have to work as much if one family member dedicates three years of their life to working for the new lord who is rumored to be hideous: eye patch, scars, strange clawed arm. He also has an equally terrible temper to match. His name is Ranulf le Wyse and he is THE BEAST.

Annabel is sweet, innocent, nice and beautiful and, thus, she is THE BEAUTY. So you see this is a retelling (sort of) of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast. Annabel and Ranulf do not initially get along but as the story progresses; they begin to fall in love. Bet you didn’t see that coming did you!

Their love grows over their nightly readings of the Bible. Annabel always wanted to join the convent but she never had a Bible to read from. Although I usually don’t read Christian fiction, it wasn’t a large part of the story and I liked how they started to like each other based on mutual morals and beliefs. A lot a lot a lot a lot of fiction couples these days don’t really have a core reason to like each other so I enjoyed that.

Though I liked Ranulf’s and Annabel’s relationship, Annabel was a little flat for me. She was just too perfect. Also, I couldn’t understand how, if she didn’t want to be thought of as inept and lazy by the townspeople, she hadn’t just been working all along. It made her seem wishy washy for someone who was so concrete in her morals and beliefs.

Oh OH OHHHH yeah I almost forgot this thing that bothered me the most. Ranulf constantly thought that no beautiful woman could ever love someone as disfigured as he was. I felt like he would never be content unless he was loved by a beautiful woman and it got me angry. He was disfigured and horribly scarred yet he was always looking at a woman’s outer appearance. What if Annabel wasn’t “flawless” as he calls her multiple times? What if she were plain or ugly? Would he have been as attracted to her or as appreciative of her loving him? It’s hard to say which diminished the glow of their love story for me.

The ending seemed to work out too perfectly with everything just rounding out in strange ways. Almost like the author just got tired of writing so she just didn't put an imagination into how things would work out.


OVERALL:

It was a decent read and well-plotted. Though it had issues with the characters, I liked the romance. I would recommend it to someone who likes period romances.---7 out of 10.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Feature and Follow (12)

A meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read to connect book bloggers!

Q: Birthday Wishes -- Blow out the candles and imagine what character could pop out of your cake, who is it and what book are they from?

Well, my birthday is right near Halloween so with that in mind I have to pick someone paranormal! 







Maybe Daemon from Obsidian since he is an alien and way hot but I feel like he would be a jerk and no fun......

















Or maybe Puck from The Iron Fey Series! He's funny and spontaneous but I feel like he would ruin the party with his crazy antics. Definitely not Ash, what a bore....






I think I'll choose Lend from the Paranormalcy Series because he can change into any cute guy I want! 

Therefore, Jensen Ackles aka Dean Winchester from Supernatural would be the one jumping out of my cake. Yummy Yummy. I'll have seconds.

 (I don't know how many times Jensen has been on this blog but he is definitely a recurring theme so I have no other choice. It's only right.)

Adorable

Serious

And your welcome


Comment and follow. I'll return the favor. Tell me in the comments if you did.
Oh and I made a new Twitter for those who don't do the FF for Twitter. Follow me and I'll follow you! @HardCoverLife

From The Review Pile (1)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday. 

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.


  This is my first From The Review pile and I have quite a few books I got for review from either Netgalley or Edelweiss or an author that I haven't gotten a chance to read or review yet.

This week I want to showcase:




Released June 12th 2012

THE GIST (from Goodreads): 

  Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him. 

I've never read a mermaid book, especially one where the MC is a male so it seems pretty cool. 

Buy it:
Barnes and Noble

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

W.I.P. Wednesday: Laziness

 Ever heard the phrase "Give a task to a busy person and it will get done, give a task to someone with nothing to do and they won't find the time for it." (Or something like that).

Let me show give you an example:
I stopped working full time on May 11th. Before that I wrote 68,000 words of my WIP after work and on weekends.

From May 11th to today I have 80,000 words written. 

That's 12,000 words in a month and a half of full-time writing! Pitiful!


Basically my goals when I moved and didn't have a job was to finish my first and second draft and find some critique partners to look it over. I considered my half-done first draft a complete draft because I wrote everything out of order and needed to start from the beginning to get my plot holes fixed. So I didn't have all the scenes I knew needed to be written done because I figured I would fix it when I fixed everything before the scenes.

So my second draft was started. I got pretty far editing near the end of May-June but then realized I was missing a lot of scenes at the end of the book. Thus, from the beginning of June to the end, I've been so lazy about doing it that I've only really written about 7,000 words in a month which is pitiful when you have so much time on your hands.

I should be done with my second draft. I should have sent it out to people already. But no. No.


Sometimes I think I'm the laziest person on the planet. I can't make myself do anything and it's frustrating. I need to get myself into a routine but it seems impossible. I need to get a grip on myself because I'm starting to apply for jobs again and won't all the time I have right now.

Grumble. Grumble.
What a waste.

Monday, June 25, 2012

ARC Book Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry



Author: Maureen Doyle McQuerry
             Website
Series or Stand-alone: 
             Stand Alone
How I got it:
             ARC courtesy of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Pages: 354
Publisher: Amulet Books
Genre: Young Adult / Steampunk/ Fantasy
First Published: May 21st, 2012
Buy it from: Amazon
                   Barnes & Noble

FIRST LINE(S): "There's no mistaking what you father was, not when you've got feet and hands like those."

The GIST (From Goodreads):
This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance. On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

 
OPINION:


“The Peculiars” was, like its main character, a little slow. 

Let me explain: Lena Mattacascar is an eighteen year old girl, born with extremely large feet and hands, who decides that she wants to travel to the dangerous land of Scree to find her father. Lena’s father abandoned her at a young age and was rumored to be a Goblin, a person with a volatile temperament and crazy thoughts (at least that’s all I think it means). Lena’s enormous extremities seem to indict she inherited her father’s Goblinism;  she has never fit in (her shoes hehe just kidding) and she wants to go to Scree to see if more people are like her since the land is rumored to have Goblins running amok.

So let’s recap: 1. Goal get to Scree
            2. Find out about father
            3. Find more people like her.
When the book actually gets to that point: near the end.

So what happens in between? Well there is a lot of awing over ancient books and the archiving of those books (I know how exciting) but mostly it consists of Lena making stupid decisions. I don’t know how many times I rested my Ipad in my lap so I could melodramatically shake my fists in the air screaming “Why Lena! Why???” She just kept making strange decisions without trying to gather any information first or use a logical part of her brain. People she trusts/distrusts are so wonky and mixed up that you really have to be blind to not see what’s coming. I really hate it when an author makes such an obvious foreshadowing and the character never connects the dots. So, like I said, Lena was a bit slow.

The romance in the book was not swoon-inducing at all. It was just like she falls for whoever is there and wouldn’t look at her cockeyed because of her disfigurement. She even finds the person annoying (I found him annoying) so I wondered where her feelings came from. 

Somehow a book about Goblins had almost nothing to do with strange creatures and more about archiving books. A distinction I had a hard time making in the book was what a Goblin was exactly and what difference it has to a Peculiar. Are Goblins a subcategory of Peculiars or are they two separate things? I think that’s a big part of world-building, especially in a book called THE PECULIARS, but that’s just me I guess. I did like when other characters were revealed as Peculiars; there stories were even more interesting than Lena’s.

I have to say the book picked up in the end, though, I thought the ending was a bit depressing. I really didn’t have many emotions attached to the book other than a need for some medication. Lastly, kudos to whoever designed that cover; it's absolutely beautiful and intriguing-- But don't be fooled. Almost nothing to do with the book.

OVERALL:

"The Peculiars," to me, was slow and almost had no other interesting elements to contrast this fact (fact aka my opinion). It was enjoyable to read once but I don't think I'll pick it up again. Read it or don't, either why you're not missing out on much.---5.0

Friday, June 22, 2012

Liebster Blog Award

The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers and Liebster is a German word which means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

The rules:
1. Each person must post 10 facts about themselves
2. Answer 10 questions the tagger has given you and give 10 questions for the people you’ve tagged.
3. Choose 10 people and link them in your post.
4. Tell them you’ve tagged them.
5. Remember, no tag backs.

Ten Random Facts About Me:
1) I have two guinea pigs names Fred and Albert Einstein and a new kitty named....nothing yet actually. Just got her yesterday.
They all have reflective eyes which stinks when taking pics. Oh well.
 2) I also have two older sisters and a younger brother and sister. I am the definition of a middle child.

3) My favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and I have no idea why. I can watch it over and over though.
4) I drink my coffee really light with at least three Splenda.

5) One of my best friends is a former co-worker of mine who is 58 (don't tell her I told you her age, she'll kill me...) But she has the spirit of a teenager. 
6) My boyfriend says I have the animal spirit of a Feral Cat. You make up your own answer why.

7) I have been out of work for almost a month and a half to work on my WIP but I hardly work on it. I have no idea what I've been doing all day. It's definitely not looking for a job haha.

8) My favorite painting is Starry Night. Who doesn't love that one?

9) I didn't read Harry Potter until I was in high school. You couldn't get me to touch a book for fun younger than that.
10) I've been to Greece three times (I'm half Greek BTW.)



Questions from Chantel HER BLOG:
 Thanks for tagging me

1) How long have you been blogging?
I've been blogging for about 6 months. 

2) Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging because I found Veronica Roth's blog (author of Divergent), became obsessed with it and so decided to start my own. 

3) Favorite book and author?
Geez, this is always hard. But I would have to say Order of the Phoenix may be my favorite book ever. I never considered Rowling my favorite author though. IDK who that would be. 

4) Have you ever fancied a character from a book?
Well, Jace from TMI of course. Really like Chaol from the new Throne of Glass book.

5) What genres do you like?
I like YA fantasy, paranormal and science fiction. Only with a few exceptions do books I read not have a romance. 

6) What is your least favourite book?
 Probably Fallen by Lauren Kate. I threw it against the wall after reading it.

7) Hardback or Paperback and why?
I would say paperback because I don't like book covers. I take them off to read and they always end up damaged or lost.

8) Do you have an inspiration?
I'm inspired by a lot of young writers in the Young Adult genre like Roth (Divergent), Mafi (Shatter Me) and Maas (Throne of Glass).

9) Favourite place to read?
I like to read on my bed mostly. 

10) Ever felt like you can relate yourself to a character?
Of course! Almost all of them. That's what reading is about right?



Blogs I tagged: Ah, errrr, too much effort to find ones. I looked and didn't find one for ten minutes. If you wanna participate, leave a comment :) I'll keep looking and update.

4) 
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)


My Questions for them:
1) How long have you been blogging?
2) Why did you start blogging?
3) What book are you most excited about reading in the near future?
4) What has been the hardest part of blogging for you?
5) If you could live in the world of a book, what book would that be and why?
6) What is your least favorite book?
7) Girl/ Boy in a book you wish was real? Why?
8)What would you do if vampires were real? Kill them? Hide?
9) Favorite place to read?
10) Got any cool ARCs?

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Feature and Follow (11)

A meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read to connect book bloggers!

Q: If you could "unread" a book, which one would it be? Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time? Or because it was THAT bad? 

If I could "unread" a book it might have to be Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Now, now this is not because I'm a Twi-hater; I was obsessed with it when it came out (I just stopped liking it when I got older). I want to "unread" it and read it again because I want to experience that crazy emotion I had after reading it the first time.

You know the feeling: It's 4 o'clock in the morning on a school night, you have to get up at seven, but all you can do it stare up at the ceiling thinking about the book. Then the next day you pre-order the next book. (And I was pissed when that came out because New Moon was so disappointing...) In the meantime, you consume any book that might remotely give you that feeling again....Yeah, I was sixteen when I read it (give me a break).

Anywho, it's been a long time since I had that emotion about a book. Maybe the Hunger Games came close.. And I don't think reading Twilight again would actually make me feel the way I did the first time but, still, I wish I didn't have the critical eye I have towards books now. I wish I had that all consuming need for books that I used to. Don't get me wrong, I still love love love books, I just don't feel that crazy gotta-have-it feeling anymore. Know what I mean?


Comment and follow. I'll return the favor.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Clockwork Princess Snippet

Courtesy of http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/

So on Cassandra Clare's tumbler...tumber...no....ah tumblr ( I can never get that right), a little snippet of Clockwork Princess was released!

Here it is:
Will rose slowly to his feet. He could not believe he was doing what he was doing, but it was clear that he was, clear as the silver rim around the black of Jem’s eyes. “If there is a life after this one,” he said, “let me meet you in it, James Carstairs.”
“There will be other lives.” Jem held his hand out, and for a moment, they clasped hands, as they had done during their parabatai ritual, reaching across twin rings of fire to interlace their fingers with each other. “The world is a wheel,” he said. “When we rise or fall, we do it together.”
Will tightened his grip on Jem’s hand, which felt thin as twigs in his. “Well, then,” he said, through a tight throat, “since you say there will be another life for me, let us both pray I do not make as colossal a mess of it as I have this one.” - Cassie's tumblr post

Monday, June 18, 2012

Limited Time Prequel: For Darkness Shows The Stars


The Gist (from Goodreads): 

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she’s lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

 _________________________________________________________________________________

Sounds pretty good right? I guess the story starts after Elliott refuses to run away. But you can read the prequel for a limited time! I like this because you can get a sense of the writing and story before you spend any money on it.

Click Here to read the prequel. Courtesy of Epic Reads.

The Host Movie News and Giveaway!

Hey Guys.

So I follow The Host page on my facebook and saw that they just created an official website for the movie.

FIND IT HERE: THE HOST MOVIE


Now I find myself peddling this book to a lot of my seldom reader friends, who only break their reading fast with popular books like Twilight and Fifty Shades of Gray <--- (I don't understand these people).

Anyway, I think I pre-ordered this during my infatuation with the Twilight Series when I was younger. It came out between Twilight books. I really liked it back then but haven't had a chance to re-read it lately. I decided to make a post  about it because I just sent a copy to my old co-worker who just graduated from her nursing program as the valedictorian of her class (applause applause).


She always complained that school on top of a full-time job and planning an upcoming wedding stopped her from reading for fun (and who can blame her. That's a lot of stuff to do!).  

Jeez, makes me tired just thinking about it, she thinks as she drinks cold coffee she was too lazy to reheat and grabs a Hot Pocket, a meal she had to wait a whole two minutes for. Two minutes!

Anyway, I am really excited about the movie. It looks awesome. (As long as Stephanie doesn't make another stupid cameo...though I wouldn't bet on that). Meyer can be really insightful if she's not writing about vampires. Such as this quote, which I love:



And, yes, the book does include a love triangle but it can't be helped when the main character is actually two people stuck inside one body. Here are the love interests:



I love the choices they made for the characters! This being said that I haven't read the book in a long time but still....Maybe I'll do an updated post when I re-read it.

Lastly, I included a except from the book with a new introduction that I've never even read. Enjoy :)

THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer, the author of THE TWILIGHT SAGA. Read the excerpt. In theaters 3/29!






Now for the good part! Here is my first giveaway. I decided my friend shouldn't get all the love, I wanted to spread it through my blog. This is a giveaway for the paperback version of The Host. You have to be a Follower of my blog through Linky or GFC (I prefer GFC though). I will announce the winner on 06/31/2012 and get your info then! This is only in the U.S. Enjoy :-)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, June 15, 2012

ARC Review: Burn Mark by Laura Powell

Author: Laura Powell
             Website
             Blog
Series or Stand-alone: 
             Stand Alone
How I got it:
             ARC courtesy of Netgalley
Pages: 416
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Genre: Young Adult / Urban Fantasy
First Published: June 19th, 2012
First Lines: “The walls of the Burning Court were high and white-tiled, its ceiling one giant chimney. If the young witch at the stake had been able to look up the funnel, she might have glimpsed a distant pane of sky.”
Buy it from: Amazon
                   Barnes & Noble
Book Trailer:
The music is intense, right?

The GIST (From Goodreads): 

Glory is from a family of witches and lives beyond the law. She is desperate to develop her powers and become a witch herself. Lucas is the son of the Chief Prosecutor for the Inquisition—the witches’ mortal enemy—and his privileged life is very different to the forbidden world that he lives alongside.

And then on the same day, it hits them both. Glory and Lucas develop the Fae—the mark of the witch. In one fell stroke, their lives are inextricably bound together, whether they like it or not . . .

 

OPINION:*

“Burn Mark” follows the stories of Glory Starling Wilde and Lucas Stearne, two teenagers who are just getting their powers as witches or what’s called their Fae. The story takes place in a modern day Britain but with an urban fantasy twist; witches are common and well-known with government branches used to either contain or utilize their powers and a lot of prejudice towards them.

Glory’s and Lucas’ experiences getting their Fae are two very different ones. Glory was born into a powerful witch family and she has been eagerly anticipating her powers her whole life so she can become the head witch of her coven. Lucas is the son of a high-up Inquistor (someone who deals with policing and containing Fae powers) and it is the ultimate shame for him to get the Fae.

What I liked the best about this book was the world building. The author crafted an exemplary model of an Urban Fantasy. She easily managed to add modern elements, like current technology, with the history of witches so well that I had no problem believing that Britain doesn’t have witches walking around. Does it? Anyway, the way she wove in British history to connect with modern day witches was great.

I liked the novel’s characters too. They each had pretty distinct personalities and I liked how they interacted. Glory was an overly confident, know-it-all girl who struck me as a little ghetto. What would British people call a ghetto person? Again, anyway, Lucas was smart and funny but reckless with good intentions.

The only problem I have with the book is that I can’t really remember the plot other than Glory and Lucas dealing with getting their powers. And that was interesting enough, don’t get me wrong, but there was a larger plot about warring groups of witches but I’m at a loss about what happened. If I have to flip back, it usually means it wasn’t too strong. 

The book set ups for another with a few loose ends but it’s one cohesive story that can stand on its own.
OVERALL:

I liked it. The ending leaves room for a sequel and I would definitely read that. Credit to the author for the great world building and characterization. I recommend it---7.5/10