Goodreads Monday (1/30/2017)

Goodreads Monday is a meme hosted by Page Turner,  and the idea is to post a book that’s on your TBR pile and show it off. This is a great way to show off books I have not yet managed to read!

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This week I have chosen:

Title: Queen of Hearts (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)

Author: Colleen Oakes

Published: May 3rd 2016 by HarperTeen

Goodreads Summary:

As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.

When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.

Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinahs furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath.

Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I bought this book a few months ago when it was on sale on Amazon. Sooner or later I should probably read it so that it can come off of my TBR shelf. =p I have heard mixed reviews on this book, so I am interested to see how it is for myself.

What’s on your TBR shelf this week?

Wilder Book Review

Wilder (Birds of a Feather #1) by Lena North

Published: December 14th 2016 by FAB Publishing

This eArc was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Wilder’s wonderful grandfather is dead, and so is her mother, but Grandpa Willy gives her one final gift in his will – the knowledge that her father is only her step-father.

Once she meets Hawker, the scary man who turns out to be her real dad, her life takes an unexpected turn. She finds out about a heritage she never knew she had, and secrets from the past are uncovered as she fights to save her part of the world from destruction.

And then there’s Mac, with his green eyes and a soft voice that flows through her like sweet honey. He’s there to help Wilder as she struggles with how to fit into the group of people around her dad, and with every bad thing that happens it becomes more important to have Mac in her life .

“Wilder” is the first in the Birds of a Feather series and a spin-off from the Dreughan trilogy. It’s set in modern time and can be read stand-alone.

It is a little hard for me to write a review for this book. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it’s also something that I thought was kind of just meh. It has a lot of potential that I think a good editing session could take care of.

This book starts off with Wilder dealing with her mother and grandfathers death at a lawyers office. There she finds out that Paolo is not her real father and that’s why he has always treated her with disdain. Wilder gets mad and storms out of the office and decides to head to Norton to see her real father. When she gets to Norton, Wilder fights with probably every single person she runs into (this should have been a hint for how the rest of the book would go). As a MC Wilder did not grow at all. Yes, she eventually grew to accept her family and get over the fact that they weren’t there for all of her life, but she didn’t grow as a person. She would fight with everyone even if she had a good reason or not. Mac would say she was being childish and then Wilder would get mad at him. Rinse, lather, repeat.

The dialogue was also super awkward in about half the conversations. For instance, Wilder will be in an argument with someone and then all of a sudden they are all laughing it off like nothing happened. And this happened about 90% of the time!!! I’m all for it happening occasionally, but it shouldn’t be used in every single situation. Especially when this situation happened every other page.

The pacing in this book could have been better as well. It was so slow in some parts that I was dragging to continue reading. North didn’t even bring in the supernatural aspect until about half way through the book. Then North barely explained what it all meant and the prophecy they found was all very confusing. Even at the end when it was supposed to have all come together, I have no idea what happened and why.

Overall, this wasn’t a terrible book to read. I wish that the pacing was better and that there was even a little bit of character development. Wilder could have sure used it.

Eon Review

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Published: December 26th 2008 by Viking Books for Young Readers

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Also Known As: Two Pearls of Wisdom, Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye, and Eon (All the same book just published with different publishers)

Swordplay, dragon magic–and a hero with a desperate secret

Twelve-year-old Eon has been in training for years. His intensive study of Dragon Magic, based on East Asian astrology, involves two kinds of skills: sword-work and magical aptitude. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye–an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune.

But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a boy for the chance to become a Dragoneye. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured.

When Eon’s secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic…and her life.

My friend suggested this book to me about 3 years ago, and I finally picked it up and read it even though it has been on my shelf for ages!! At first I couldn’t get into it. I didn’t really like the main character that much and thought she wasn’t being very smart. For the first half of the book, Eon blamed being crippled for everything! And would always look to someone else for guidance. She (being a he) was so annoying I wanted something bad to happen to her!

Even a cornered rabbit will fight with teeth and claws

What drew me to this book (other than being set in Asia) was the fact that the main character was hiding as a male in order to become the possible next dragoneye. (As I think about it it kind of reminds me a little bit of Mulan, and it has dragons in it.) As the story went on, I thought it was kind of ridiculous the lengths that Eon went to keep up the facade. Especially when Eon didn’t know the true name of the Mirror dragon, he decided to take the sun drug to “snuff” out any womaness in him so that the Mirror dragon would appear. He should have realized that every time he did something to make him more Eon and less Eona, that the Mirror dragon would disappear. I couldn’t but help think that if Eon couldn’t see the parallels then maybe he didn’t deserve to be a dragoneye.

When finally finally Eon finds out that the Mirror dragon is in fact female, and that Lady Dela told Eon that the compass was written in woman script, did things start to make sense. After the discovery Eon lashes out at her servant to keep quiet, so of course Lady Dela figures out that Eon is actually a girl (she seems to be the only smart one in the group). Lady Dela and her guard were rightfully mad and I was happy that Eona was getting what she deserved. This is the part of the book that I started to really enjoy it (and unfortunately it was about the last quarter). From this point on everything is happening fast pace. Eona tells the prince (who is now the emperor) that she is a girl, but that she could still protect him. Lord Ido (the villain of the story) started his rampage against the other dragoneyes and starts killing them off one by one. I could go on, but then I would spoil the ending for you.

I found power in accepting the truth of who I am. It may not be a truth that others can accept, but I cannot live any other way. How would it be to live a lie every minute of your life.

Because of all the action in the last part of the book (not to be confused there was a lot of action all throughout) is what really drove up the stars. I was going to give this 3/5 but I enjoyed the ending so much, I gave it an extra star. I hope that the second book goes more smoothly than this one for me. The world building was very lack luster in this book, and it kind of felt like it was more of a second book than the first. Character development was also a bit lacking as well. Eon(a) was pretty flushed out as well as Ido, but the others could have had a little more. The fantasy aspect of this book was phenomenal and was probably the only aspect that I enjoyed all throughout the book!

 

Waiting on Wednesday (1/25/2017)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by  Jill from Breaking The Spine that shows the upcoming books that many of us are anticipating! This week, I’m waiting for…

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Title: King’s Cage (Red Queen #3)

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Expected Publication:  February  7th 2017

Publisher:  HarperTeen

Goodreads Summary:

In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare’s heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

I wasn’t too impressed with the second book in this series, so I have hopes that this book will redeem the whole series. The first book I thought was fantastic, and I don’t want this series to go down as a should have been a one and done.

What do you think of this series?

What are you waiting for this week?

My Life in Books Book Tag

I found this tag on Thrice Read’s page who found it on jessicamarie493 page! I thought this was a super cute idea and figured I’d join in! Check out my answers below and tag yourself if you would like to participate!

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Book for Each Initial

S- The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

A- And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

M- My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

A- The Assassin Game by Kirsty McKay

N- The Number 7 by Jessica Lidh

T- Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

H- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

A- And I Darken by Kiersten White

Age – Count Along your bookshelf

I decided to just go from the top of my shelf and count down to 27 books. So with that being said I landed on Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. I honestly haven’t read this yet, and I don’t know if I actually will TBH. I read up to book 3 of the MI series, and I just lost interest. I have heard of good things about this spin off, so maybe I’ll give it a chance. Has anyone else read this book? Did you enjoy it?

Book that Represents a Destination You Would Love to Travel Too.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. I would love to be part of the Dregs, learning a thing or two from the wraith!

Favorite Color

Green- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

Fondest Memories of

I know at this point it is probably a cliche to put Harry Potter, but honestly I have the best memories from elementary all the way up to high school with this series. I first discovered the series in 5th grade and I received The Sorcerer’s Stone in paperback for Christmas. I probably read that book about 3-4 times that year alone! Typically a new book would come out during the summer break, and most likely I was at the beach. So my dad and I would go to the bookstore and pick it up while we were vacationing in Myrtle Beach! One year, I was in Alabama and attended a midnight premiere with my good friend. And the very last book came out in the middle of band camp, so my best friend and I got the book and discussed it during our breaks!

Most Difficulty Reading

The book that I had the most difficult time reading was probably Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I loved The Hobbit but I just couldn’t get past page 100 in the first book. I really loved the movies, so that’s why I even stuck it out that long.

Which Book in TBR Pile Will you get the Biggest Sense of Accomplishment From?

I have so many books on my TBR pile and it’s getting a little out of hand! I would have to say that I will get the biggest sense of accomplishment from reading Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. It’s been on there for awhile and then I’ll get to finally read the Christmas present my husband gave me!

 

What would your life in books look like? Do this tag on your blog so I can check it out!

Goodreads Monday (1/23/2017)

Goodreads Monday is a meme hosted by Page Turner,  and the idea is to post a book that’s on your TBR pile and show it off. This is a great way to show off books I have not yet managed to read!

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This week I have chosen:

Title: Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything In Between)

Author: Lauren Graham

Published: November 29th 2016 by Ballantine Books

Goodreads Summary:

In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.

In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, “Did you, um, make it?” She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (“Strangers were worried about me; that’s how long I was single!”), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway (“It’s like I had a fashion-induced blackout”).

In “What It Was Like, Part One,” Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay “What It Was Like, Part Two” reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen DeGeneres, she’s aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls (“If you’re meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, and styling, you’ve already set the bar too high”), and she’s a card-carrying REI shopper (“My bungee cords now earn points!”).

Including photos and excerpts from the diary Graham kept during the filming of the recent Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, this book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing and swapping stories, and—of course—talking as fast as you can.

I received this book a few days ago for my birthday and I am super excited to start reading this! A book by one of my favorite characters in Gilmore Girls talking about her time on the Gilmore Girls set and about the revival?! Yes, please!

Last week I only posted once and that was my Goodreads Monday post, this week I hope to post more! I do have three books I have to write reviews for, so hopefully I’ll find the time to write them and not procrastinate like last week. oops.

What’s on your TBR this week? What do you do to overcome procrastination?

Goodreads Monday (1/16/2017)

Goodreads Monday is a meme hosted by Page Turner,  and the idea is to post a book that’s on your TBR pile and show it off. This is a great way to show off books I have not yet managed to read!

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This week I have chosen:

Title: Eona: The Last Dragoneye (Eon #2)

Author: Alison Goodman

Published: April 19th 2011 by Viking by Penguin Group

Goodreads Summary:

Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon’s army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona’s power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled “Emperor” Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power – and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic story only Alison Goodman can create.

I just finished reading the first book in this series, and hopefully soon I will be able to pick up this book! It has been on my TBR shelf for awhile now, and it’s about time that it comes off!

What is on your TBR shelf this week?

Truthwitch Book Review

Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard

Published: January 5th 2016 by Tor Teen

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery,” a magical skill that sets them apart from others.

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

 I can’t believe I have this on my shelf for months before I picked it up!!! Although now I wished I waited until my copy of Windwitch arrived in the mail so that I could just binge read them both. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the middle of February before my copy comes in because I pre-ordered another book. =( Lesson learned. One pre-order per order!

Each Well was linked to one of the five elements: Aether, Earth, Water, Wind, or Fire.

This book had all of the elements in a fantasy novel that I love most! It was action packed, had some light romance, magic, and a strong connection of friendship and family. The setting starts off when a 20 year peace treaty is about to end, and there are players who want it to continue and others who want it to end. Somehow, after years of keeping her witchery a secret, everyone seems to know that Safi is a Truthwitch.

It was the circle of perfect motion. Of the light-bringer and dark-giver, the world-starter and shadow-ender. Of initiation and completion.

Since everyone seems to be after Safi because of her powers, you kind of wonder what makes her so special. In the beginning, Safi was just your typical “special” snowflake main character who has a knack for getting herself and Iseult into a lot of trouble. Character wise I didn’t see what was so special about her. Thankfully, though Safi starts seeing the world isn’t all about her and that her actions could have some serious consequences. When Safi started changing about halfway through the book, I started to like her more as a character.

If you wanted to, Safiya, you could bend and shape the world.

The character I liked most in this book was Iseult! She was more level headed and more caring between the two. Iseult seemed to also have more of a backstory in how she got where she was before her and Safi went on the run. The one aspect that bothered me throughout this entire book was how everyone had a prejudice against Iseult, and we were never told why! Everywhere the pair went, someone would always say something insulting to Iseult and the extreme racism bothered me. Hopefully in the second book it will be explained! ::crosses fingers::

An epic fantasy is nothing without the villain! And the Bloodwitch, a mercenary for hire, made a fantastic villain. All he cared about was working for the highest payer, and why he couldn’t smell Iseults blood like everyone else. The premise from the second book sounds like him and Iseult are going to have a very interesting time together tracking down Safi. It seems as if our villain might not be a true villain and those make the most interesting of villains in my opinion!

I would definitely recommend this book if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet! It’s full of political scheming, action packed scenes, and sea monsters! The world building could have been a little bit better, but since there will be about 4 books in the series, I guess we have time for that?

Lock & Mori: Mind Games Review

Mind Games (Lock & Mori #2) by Heather W. Petty

Published: December 6th 2016 by Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers

Rating: DNF

Goodreads Summary:

Sherlock Holmes and Miss James “Mori” Moriarty may have closed their first case, but the mystery is far from over in the thrilling sequel to Lock & Mori, perfect for fans of Maureen Johnson and Sherlock.

You know their names. Now discover their beginnings.

Mori’s abusive father is behind bars…and she has never felt less safe. Threatening letters have started appearing on her doorstep, and the police are receiving anonymous tips suggesting that Mori—not her father—is the Regent’s Park killer. To make matters worse, the police are beginning to believe them.

Through it all, Lock—frustrating, brilliant, gorgeous Lock—is by her side. The two of them set out to discover who is framing Mori, but in a city full of suspects, the task is easier said than done. With the clock ticking, Mori will discover just how far she is willing to go to make sure that justice is served, and no one—not even Lock—will be able to stop her.

I should have learned from the first book, but I was hoping that this one would be better. I really only read it because I received it with the first one in my Lit-Cube subscription last month.

I think it was really Mori that just drove me crazy that I had to stop reading it. With her constant back and forth with Lock and thinking that she is superior to everyone else. Mori is just not a relatable character and I have too many books on my TBR shelf to read a book I am not interested in.

Dorothy Must Die Stories Vol. I Review

Dorothy Must Die: Stories Vol. I by Danielle Paige

Published: March 3rd 2015 by HarperCollins Publishers

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Long before Amy Gumm got swept away from a Kansas trailer park…Dorothy Gale received a package on the night of her 16th birthday: a pair of red high-heeled shoes. Dear Dorothy, the note read. I thought about silver to match the ones you lost, but in the end I decided that red was more your color. I think you know what to do with them.

And with a knock of her heels, Dorothy returned to the magical land that made her a star—and Oz would never be the same again.

This bind-up of three prequel novellas to the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series follows Dorothy Gale as she transforms from good girl to Wicked Witch. Kiss the land where troubles melt like lemon drops goodbye. Here there’s danger around every corner, and magical shoes won’t be able to save you.

This volume has short stories #0.1-0.3. The first one is Dorothy’s story on how she got back to Oz and into power, the second one is all about Glinda the Good Witch, and the third one is about the Wizard. I think I’ll break down my review by each story.

No Place Like Oz

Dorothy is back in Kansas and she has basically an attitude from the very first page. This short story does nothing except paint a picture of just how selfish and vain Dorothy is. The only difference between Kansas Dorothy and Dorothy in Oz is that she didn’t have magic. After she discovered that she had magic powers she started using them immediately and didn’t think about the fact that there could be any repercussions.

The Witch Must Burn

At first I was a little excited about this one since it was based upon Glinda. We didn’t really see much of Glinda in the series except when she is mining for magic (really I don’t remember much of her in the series, but it’s also been awhile since I read the first 2 books). So a novella based solely on her was just what we needed! The only problem is that her story was just like Dorothys. Glinda was mean, vain, and manipulative, but there was no backstory as to how she got that way. The only plot in this novella was how the MC became involved with the Wicked, and it was a very predictable plot as well.

The Wizard Returns

I kind of thought this would be about the Wizard leaving Oz and then coming back, but it’s really just him loosing his memories and trying to get them back. So I thought that this story just like the other two were kind of just so so. I don’t think they really helped the series at all, especially in getting a better understanding of who the villains really are in this series.

I felt like these short stories were kind of just meh. I am a little hesitant to read vol II just on how I felt about this volume, and I wonder why there will be a vol III out later this month? It seems as if Paige is going to write more novellas for her series than books!