Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 82

Waiting on Wednesday #26

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

Author: Catherynne M. Valente

ETA: October 2, 2012

Summary from Goodreads: September returns to Fairyland to reunite with A-Through-L, Saturday, and Gleam, and to confront her shadow-self, who has become the queen of Fairyland-Below, the upside-down world beneath the Fairyland of the first novel, filled with creatures of water and shadow, tales of ancient Fairyland before the human world was born, and not a few hungry buffins, blind birds of ice and moonlight. The yearly revels of Fairyland-Below climax in a mysterious rite September must avert or else lose her shadow forever.

Why I’m Waiting: GUYS. Clearly you did not see the part where, one, I MET Cat Valente. (You can see that HERE.) No, I have yet to finish Fairyland #1, but that would be the fault of college, not the book. Trust me, I will be soon because GUYS. When you find a book and you KNOW there is nothing else like it out there, you just HAVE to read it and every book to come after it.Seriously.

Top Ten Series I Haven’t Finished

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

Alright guys, this was actually a pretty hard one. Mostly because I had to resist the temptation to include all the series I LIKE that don’t have other books released yet and screaming about how those authors and publishers have to work FASTER. BUT! I think I managed to actually stay on topic…

1. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

I know, this is CRAZY, right? I mean, it’s NARNIA. To be fair, I read the first through fourth books. However, there was something about the fifth and sixth books that I just couldn’t get into, so I never read them. Somehow I’ve never been bothered by not knowing how it all ends.

2. Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

Honestly, I thought these were quite funny when I started reading them. And for a while I thought there was actual tension in the whole love triangle thing. But after, what, nineteen books? I’m officially bored with the whole thing. Actually, though I did make it into the teens, I honestly forget at which book I stopped reading. Sixteen, maybe? Sadly, these just got way too old for me to care.

3. Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson

It is honestly almost impossible for me to coherently explain how sick and angry The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo made me. It’s A LOT. I CANNOT believe that multiple people recommended this to a sixteen year old girl, which is when I ended up reading it. I had honest to goodness nightmares afterwards. I certainly will not ever be reading the other books or seeing the movies.

4. The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris d’Lacey

Honestly, I didn’t stop reading this because I didn’t like them. I loved these books as a kid. I guess I just stopped reading because I grew out of them. My brother read the whole series though, and is still reading them, so he gives me the synopsis on what’s happened.

5. The Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo

Another series I never stopped liking, but just grew out of. Honestly, I’m still rather curious about how these all turned out. Anybody out there want to help me out?

6. Maximum Ride series by James Patterson

This series I refused to finish. Honestly, I should have known something was up when the fourth book was just SO BAD. I made it through Max and tortured my way through Fang, but I just couldn’t get myself to pick up Angel. I heard some things about the final book, and now I’m so glad I stopped reading when I did. (Frickin’ Dylan.)

7. House of Night series by PC and Kristin Cast

Oh dear Lord these books. They weren’t spectacular to begin with, and they just got worse and worse. After I don’t even remember how many books, I just gave up. They weren’t worth the money I was spending on them, and my library didn’t have them, and I didn’t care to go looking for them anyways.

8. Graceling Realm books by Kristin Cashore

So, technically this isn’t REALLY a series, but they’re still connected books. Either way, I’ve only ever read Graceling. Honestly, I don’t know why I haven’t read the other two. I wasn’t too excited about Fire because it didn’t seem to have the same characters, and by the time Bitterblue came around I’d moved onto other books. If I could I totally would read them, though. It’s just not a MUST HAVE for me.

9. The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan

Several people I know and love are probably screaming at the top of their lungs right now. I don’t think I’ve ever outright admitted this before. However, breathe easy–I didn’t quit after the first book because I didn’t like it! I stopped reading because the library didn’t have the others, and honestly I never realized it was a trilogy at all until a little while ago. I’m working on getting around to the others when my TBR pile is even halfway manageable.

10. Matched trilogy by Ally Condie

Okay, so I know that the final book in this series isn’t out yet, but this is me wishing I’d never read Crossed and just stopped at Matched. I put so much faith in Matched because I thought it had potential (Review HERE). Yet, Crossed betrayed me is ways I’d never thought possible (Review HERE). I’ll wiki the ending, but I think I’ve already got it figured out.

ARC Review: “Crewel” by Gennifer Albin

Crewel (Crewel World #1) by Gennifer Albin

Goodreads | Amazon

“May Arras flourish at her touch.”

For generations, girls known as Spinsters have been called by Arras’ Manipulation Services to work the looms and control what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die. Gifted with the unusual ability to weave time with matter, sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys is exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But Adelice isn’t interested. Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for this eARC! You can get a copy for yourself on October 16th, 2012.

I honestly don’t know how to write this review. I’m sitting here, staring at my screen, trying to figure out what words to put in the box. I cannot for the life of me understand how there are so many reasons I LOVE this book, yet so many things that bothered me. Let’s try to puzzle this out together, shall we?

For one, the book was certainly slow to start. The first chapter seems to promise instant action, but it slowly dies off for a while until the plot gets a direction again. Personally, I thought that took a lot longer than it should have, but then I’m easily annoyed when things don’t start to move instantly.

The main character of Adelice was also very conflicting for me. On the one hand, she’s my kind of girl: snarky, witty and totally rebellious without care of the power of the people she’s pissing off. She had some of–no wait, THE–best lines in the book. On the other hand, her character felt very stagnant. It seemed like she certainly SHOULD have grown throughout the book, but I didn’t believe it.

The world building is what drew me to this book originally, and the originality factor was off the charts. I can’t even fathom how Albin came up with this idea, but I LOVE it. LOVE IT LOVE IT. So it was frustrating that most of the information I learned about this world came in large infodumps that still left me feeling a tad bit confused. Or maybe that was because I started skimming because I wanted something to happen besides talking.

Some elements of the romance in the book–yes, of course there’s romance, what did you THINK this is YA–that surprised me: 1) Love triangle. No, this isn’t a spoiler, because it is SO OBVIOUS SO FAST that it’s being set up. Especially if your love-triangle-o-meter is as fine tuned as mine. 2) A frank and very modern discussion of lesbian women. After spending time in the world it makes total sense, but it certainly came out of left field for me. Whether or not these two elements are connected is something I’ll leave you to find out for yourselves.

All in all, I think the thing that bothered me most about this book is that it felt like a set-up book. Like Albin felt she had created this world so crazy and different that she had to spend an entire book explaining it with some beginnings of plot around it so that she could zoom into the next book without having to worry about all this backstory business. To be fair, after reading this I have absolute and total faith that she can and will ROCK Crewel #2. The second half/end of the book almost bumped this review up to four and half stars because I was so in love with a certain plot twist. And then so annoyed by another. BUT! I do believe that Crewel as it’s own story suffered under the load of the world that Albin tried to put on it.

Still, Albin totally and completely achieved the ultimate goal, which is to get me interested in the next book. Though I had issues with Crewel, there is no doubt in my mind that I will be getting Crewel #2. Also, she got me to rate it four stars, which certainly isn’t bad, and I’ll still recommend it to people without a doubt. The problem is just that I’m not recommending it for the story within the 368 pages of the book itself–I’ll recommend it for the story I believe it will become.

ARC Review: “Mystic City” by Theo Lawrence

Mystic City (Mystic City #1) by Theo Lawrence

Goodreads | Amazon

A magical city divided.

A political rebellion ignited.

A love that was meant to last forever.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City’s two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents’ sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths.

But Aria doesn’t remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can’t conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place.

Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

3 1/2 stars

Thank you to Edelweiss and Random House Children’s Books for this eARC! You can pick up a copy for yourself on October 9th, 2012!

Well that … was exactly what I expected.

I mean, of course I’d hoped for something more, but at least my expectations weren’t unfounded, right? …let me explain.

After you read that blurb, you have a ridiculously good idea about what’s going to happen in the novel. You’ve basically got this backwards Romeo and Juliet thing going on. (That was actually mentioned several times.) (I hated Romeo and Juliet. Just sayin’.) ANYWAYS. Right from the get go, something is clearly amiss. They say that Aria got the memory loss because she overdosed on drugs, but she is clearly not the kind of girl who does that sort of thing. The fact that she even partially accepts that story completely boggled my mind.

I’m going to attempt not to make things any more obvious than they are, but I guessed the reason for Aria’s memory loss from the very first chapter. It was not entirely subtle, or even halfway concealed. If you can pick out YA clichés, you can pick out where this is going to go from a mile away.

You know what? I’m fine with novels that draw the readers to conclusions the narrator is too stupid to grasp right away. IF IF IF we don’t take too long before we bring the narrator in on the secret before you start screaming, “ARIA YOU IDIOT HE-LLO!” My major critique of this book is that it gave us a very obvious plot line and then took an overly long time to spell it out for Aria.

That being said, though, I am usually the first to critique slow pacing in a book and that’s not at all what happened here. Aria may have remained far too clueless for far too long, but there were ALWAYS things happening. I could almost, ALMOST forgive her slow brain because of the fast plot. Again, none of the revelations were particularly surprising for the most part, but they were presented in an aesthetically pleasing way. The plot was not complex, but I still enjoyed what I was reading.

The world building was also nice. I didn’t find too many obvious plot holes, but then it wasn’t particularly complicated, either. You have your mobster elite who rule the city, their supporters, regular people, and then you’ve got the mystics they drain to keep from being dangerous. I would have loved to have spent more time in the mystic underground than we did, but I guess that’s for the second book. And there was plenty of magic usage, so that makes me happy.

And, of course, let’s talk romance. Awkward semi-love triangle/square? Check. Clichéd lines? Check. It didn’t annoy me–which is a good mark!–but I certainly am not about to sing its praises, either.

The second half of the book is where it really gets interesting in places. It did manage to surprise me a few times, and I always love a good display of magic, especially when there’s fighting involved. There was a distinct attempt to give several characters depth, which I appreciated, but most of the characters–including Aria, Hunter and Thomas–remain fairly unimpressive. They were okay, yes, but just not very unique. Although, I must say Aria DOES pick up some heavy machinery in the final battle that is impressive, if a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I didn’t LOVE it, but I certainly liked it. It was a very fast read that was an enjoyable way to spend the day. If dystopian romance is you thing, then you might like this one! Actually, it reminded me very much of Matched by Ally Condie. (See my review HERE.) Very, very romance centric, but there is also plenty of guns and magic flying around. If you’re looking for a quick read with an easy plot that doesn’t require much thinking–EXACTLY what I wanted when I read this!–then this is for you!

The second and yet untitled book in the Mystic City series is slated for a 2013 release.

Blog Tour: “Nerve” by Jeanne Ryan – Review + Giveaway!

Welcome to my stop of this great blog tour, as hosted by A Tale of Many Reviews and made possibly by Dial Books (Penguin)! I’ve got some great stuff for you guys today, so let’s get going! Don’t forget to check out the other blogs that are participating in this blog tour HERE.

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Author Website

A high-stakes online game of dares turns deadly

When Vee is picked to be a player in NERVE, an anonymous game of dares broadcast live online, she discovers that the game knows her. They tempt her with prizes taken from her ThisIsMe page and team her up with the perfect boy, sizzling-hot Ian. At first it’s exhilarating–Vee and Ian’s fans cheer them on to riskier dares with higher stakes. But the game takes a twisted turn when they’re directed to a secret location with five other players for the Grand Prize round. Suddenly they’re playing all or nothing, with their lives on the line. Just how far will Vee go before she loses NERVE?

3 1/2 stars

Thank you to A Tale of Many Reviews and Dial Books (Penguin) for this eARC! Nerve is now available for your reading pleasure!

Holy hair raiser.

Holy stomach churner.

Dear sweet “I WANT TO STOP READING BUT I CAN’T.”

That, in three sentences, was Nerve.

To be honest, this book didn’t set off on a good foot with me. The prologue chapter takes place at the end of the book, with the first chapter backing way up in time. This is a pet peeve of mine, and personally I thought it took a ton of suspense out of the ending, which upon reading the prologue still didn’t make any sense. But once you hit the first chapter, all that is forgotten.

It actually goes through that whole, “everything is perfect” phase before heading into hair rasing territory. Vee is the best friend of the most popular girl in school but pining for the hottest guy. She is quiet, she’s more of a loner–she’s basically the best friend cliché. It is this normalcy and the distinct want to feel something different that forces Vee into the game of NERVE in the first place. As far as reasons go, it was a fairly believable one, even if it was never developed as fully as I’d have liked.

The game of NERVE is sickening on several levels–and it’s meant to be. Vee is forced to do a whole lot of things that NO sane person would do. The reasons she keeps going after things clearly start getting sketchy were, again, not as developed as I’d have liked, but this book seemed to sacrifice fleshing out of the plot in a lot of places to make room for the pacing.

And OHMYGOD was that some pacing.

Nerve never stops. Not once. Even when you want to because your stomach is attempting seven kinds of sailor’s knots. Vee’s rationale towards NERVE at the beginning is one I’ve used a thousand times to scoff at reality TV shows: it’s scripted, it’s fake, it’s just a game. NERVE pulling information about her from her ThisIsMe page sounds creepily similar to the kinds of things people maintain Facebook does. The book takes on all these secret fears we have about technology and throws them into one fiery explosion. There were several times when I felt like I had to step back and breathe or even stop reading all together because OHMYGOD, but I couldn’t do it because the book just kept charging forward into darker and darker territory.

As I said, though, the downside of this was that many aspects of the plot were never fleshed out. This goes for characterization and key plot points alike. There were passing comments made for some things and half-baked explanation for others, but all in all many parts of the story almost became useless in the HOLY CRAP THIS IS MADNESS of NERVE. Though I’d say Ryan managed to make it work because of her awesome pacing, the nitpicky side of me can’t let it go.

Personally, I was not entirely satisfied with the ending. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you why because part of my blog tour compliance is that there are no spoilers. Sorry! However, I CAN tell you that I’m begging someone to tell me there’s a sequel coming, because you CANNOT end it like that and leave us all hanging. But then, there were several things I thought you could not do and then Ryan did them and left me reading faster with a dryer mouth.

IN FOR A THRILLER? THEN ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

That’s right, GIVEAWAY! The prize is one hardcopy of Nerve, SIGNED. The giveaway is open to US/Canada only. Please click HERE to enter!

Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop!

YES, ANOTHER GIVEAWAY HOP! Let’s just get right to the deets, shall we? This one is hosted by I’m a Reader, Not a Writer and Stuck in Books. There are almost 130 blogs participating, and you can check them out HERE.

And here’s my giveaway!

THE LUXE SERIES BY ANNA GODBERSEN!

Interested? Click HERE to enter! Please note the giveaway is US only!

Waiting on Wednesday #25

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: Valkyrie Rising

Author: Ingrid Paulson

ETA: October 9, 2012 from HarperTeen

Summary from Goodreads: Nothing ever happens in Norway. But at least Ellie knows what to expect when she visits her grandmother: a tranquil fishing village and long, slow summer days. And maybe she’ll finally get out from under the shadow of her way-too-perfect big brother, Graham, while she’s there.

What Ellie doesn’t anticipate is Graham’s infuriating best friend, Tuck, tagging along for the trip. Nor did she imagine boys going missing amid rumors of impossible kidnappings. Least of all does she expect something powerful and ancient to awaken in her and that strange whispers would urge Ellie to claim her place among mythological warriors. Instead of peace and quiet, there’s suddenly a lot for a girl from L.A. to handle on a summer sojourn in Norway! And when Graham vanishes, it’s up to Ellie—and the ever-sarcastic, if undeniably alluring Tuck—to uncover the truth about all the disappearances and thwart the nefarious plan behind them.

Deadly legends, hidden identities, and tentative romance swirl together in one girl’s unexpectedly-epic coming of age.

Why I’m Waiting: Is it just me, or is there are TON of stuff coming out with a mythology bent? Well, I’m lapping it ALL up. After seeing a bunch of Greek stuff, I’m SO EXCITED to see some Norse. I read ALL those myths in middle school and I can still tell half of them from heart. (What? I’m a nerd and proud of it.) I also enjoy the tag “ever-sarcastic.” I have a soft spot for those kinds of boys.

Top Ten Bookish People I Want to Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

Once upon a time, I would have thought this subject would be really easy. But then I met Tamora Pierce, Cathrynne Valente, Kij Johnson and John Joseph Adams. And then I met Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare. Oh no, wait. This is still a really easy list because there are SO MANY AMAZING AUTHORS OUT THERE.

1. Rachel Hawkins

Do you guys follow her on Twitter at @LadyHawkins? Because if you don’t and you have a Twitter, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. There are few Twitter accounts that I actually search for updates on, and this is one of them.

2. Jodi Meadows

I’ve had far more Twitter conversations with this woman then I’d ever dreamed possible (YAY TWITTER), and now I would LOVE to meet her in person. She is clearly super awesome.

3. Courtney Allison Moulton

Another author I’ve been able to talk to on Twitter and have decided is supremely awesome. Also, writes kickass heriones. These two things combined makes for a very happy Gretchen (who talks about herself in the third person…?).

4. Richelle Mead

Her Vampire Academy books and Bloodlines books make me SWOON AND DIE. I love those books with a fiery, fiery passion and I would ADORE a chance to squeal about Adrian and Dimitri with her for just five seconds.

5. Sarah J. Maas

Though I’ve never spoken to her on Twitter, I stalk her mercilessly. (Really, Twitter is just a stalking tool.) She seems really awesome, and also writes AWESOME AMAZING BOOKS. Clearly she’s a winner.

6. Nina Berry

Not only did she write an AMAZING book called Otherkin, but we’ve also chatted on Twitter several times. More than that, she’s been a huge friend in retweeting several of my messages about my blog, which I’ve never been able to thank her properly for. I’d love to be able to do that in person.

7. Julie Kagawa

It’s Julie Kagawa. I fail to see why I must explain this to you.

8. Stephanie Perkins

Have you ever looked at her author picture? Followed her Twitter? Then you’ll understand how Stephanie seems like the kind of person I refuse to live without seeing at least once.

9. Katie McGarry

I want just five seconds to blubber about how much Pushing the Limits pushed my emotions. And I mean literally blubber, because OHMYGOD THAT BOOK.

10. Kat Zhang

What’s Left of Me was a SUPER FANTASTIC BOOK, and I would die for a chance to pick Kat’s brain about what it was like to write multiple people in the same bodies because OHMYGOD was that amazingly done.

ARC Review: “Stormdancer” by Jay Kristoff

Stormdancer (The Lotus Wars #1) by Jay Kristoff

Goodreads | Amazon

A DYING LAND

The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST

The hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL

Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire.

4 stars

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this eARC! You can get a copy for yourself on September 18th!

There are some times that you have great, high hopes for a book and then you are disappointed.

This is not one of those times.

For the most part. Let’s get those parts over first.

It is undeniable that this is a fantastically written book. I mean, holy moly Jay Kristoff. It isn’t often that you find that level of prose in a YA book. Every sentence was written with complex visuals that left you able to image the scene or object being discussed right down to the smell. Kristoff remembers there is five senses to deal with. However, while I enjoyed this as I tried to understand his equally complex world, I found this to be a problem in action scenes. Often, a section of the book would be bogged down with flowery language that, while impressive, just isn’t what I like to read. I prefer my books to go FAST. It’s strange to explain but the point of this convoluted paragraph is: while I am amazed at the level of prose, it slowed down an otherwise fairly action heavy plot.

While we’re discussing words, let’s talk terms. Japanese terms. Made up terms. Technical terms. There are a LOT of terms in this book. When you pick up a copy of this (which you will, and I’ll explain why in a minute), please remember that there is a glossary in the back. If you’re reading this as an eARC PDF, as I was, there is no easy way to skip between the glossary and the part you’re currently reading. In the first chapter, especially, my mind was BLOWN by all the terminology and I continued to struggle to wrap my head about it for a large portion of the book.

Both those two things are what caused the book to be hard for me to settle into. I was, at the same time, skimming and rereading to try to understand all the terms, but to also have the book move forward in some way. The beginning of the book isn’t very fast (and I don’t like books that start with a chapter and then begin the second chapter with “X amount of time previous”). However, this betrays the rest of the book, especially the entire second half. The second half of the book MOVES.

Despite (and sometimes because of) the way the book was written, I felt that the world building was very solid. I may not have understood every facet, but Kristoff has this down watertight. Despite the crazy premise–I mean, JAPANESE STEAMPUNK?–I never once felt like the world was imaginary. Everything felt real, from most of the characters to all of the settings.

It should be said that this book included two personal pet peeves: unneccessary POV switches and a love triangle. Several, actually. (Some of which occurred in the past but were still prevalent for reasons I didn’t entirely understand.) (And no, the love triangle isn’t a spoiler because it’s really obvious really fast. All of them.)

The POV switches were TOTALLY unnecessary, that is why they irk me. I don’t mind them if they have a purpose, but for me the entire book could have been told by Yukiko and nothing would really have changed. I mean, the book is third person anyways. It was further annoying that the switches could happen over a paragraph break with no warning. If you are going to switch POVs all over the place, please at least use chapter breaks.

Absolutely none of the love triangles in this book were ever fleshed out. There was simply not enough time in this complicated plot. Given that they didn’t really serve a purpose either in the overarching plot, they annoyed me even more than usual.

Alright, alright, I know that’s a lot of negativity right there. But remember, ALL THAT only made me dock ONE STAR from my review. That’s it. All that, just one. Trust me, there is a reason.

For one, I HAVE to admire Kristoff’s prose. I’ll have to return to this when I’m in the mood to really focus on a book, because there will still be so much more new information I can read. I’ve used complex and complicated a lot in this review for a REASON. Stormdancer is, at the very least, ambitious beyond belief in terms of the world-building, the vocabulary and the plot structure. It is then even more impressive that Kristoff manages to present all of it with watertight confidence. I also really enjoyed the characters. Yukiko is my kind of girl (though I’m not sure all that swearing was necessary; I get that she’s tough). Even better, the thunder-tiger’s voice popped off the page and really grew throughout the book. He was probably my favorite character of them all.

Oh dear, this review is getting way longer than I like mine to be. Oh dear. Uh. I’ll try to wrap this up quickly. Basically, here’s the deal: a lot of things that annoyed me in this book were personal preference and require the right mood from me. The important thing to remember is that even though there WERE all those things, I’m still giving this book 4 stars. It was SO GOOD it overcame all the annoying parts. It was SO GOOD that I slapped my keyboard when I realized Goodreads has neither a title nor a release date for book 2. Was it perfect? No. But it was pretty darn close.

Stacking the Shelves #8

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews!

Sadly, though I love vlogging, my computer is totally not cooperating me and has an issue with it’s fan. This means that anything I tried to record, you wouldn’t here. So this week’s Stacking the Shelves is just pictures!

Bought – Physical Copies

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr ~ Angelfall by Susan Ee

Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout ~ Watchmen by Alan Moore

Bought – Kindle Copies

Easy by Tammara Webber ~ Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Masque of Red Death by Bethany Griffin

For Review

Doomed by Tracy Deebs (Netgalley) ~ The Messenger’s Handbook by Pamela DuMond (Blog Tour)