Review – Cinder by Marissa Meyer

   

Genre: Futuristic Fairytale Retelling

Hardcover – 390 pgs

Published: 2012 by Macmillan

Add it // Buy it

Rating: 4/5

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

This morning I'm sitting here thinking about Cinder wondering what I could possibly say about this book that another review hasn't. Everyone loves this book. There are so many reviews and posts about this series that gush about the amazing Lunar Chronicles Series. I don't disagree with those people that this series looks like its going to be amazing and I really enjoyed the book. However, like so many books, the hype is so extremely positive and its hard for a book to live up to it. I really enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as the hype made me think I would.

Before I make it seem like I didn't enjoy this, let's jump into all the things I did love about this book. Cinder is an independent and really self-reliant character who has no problem speaking her mind or working for what she wants. I absolutely loved her. She won me over really quickly with her stubbornness and determination to get things done herself. It was also really nice for me to swoon over a love interest more than a main character. Prince Kai was a really fun character and I loved their quick witty banter throughout the book.

Meyer created a complex world around her main character. The writing is simple, but really effective at introducing the reader to the world and characters. I loved her futuristic spin for Earth and the Lunars are really interesting. I am curious to see more of the history of this high-tech world and the Lunars. The human/cyborg/android dynamic is really interesting and consistent throughout the book. Because the next two books are already out, I caught glimpses of things I'm sure are going to be important later on. Overall Meyer has a very engaging writing style and I am hooked on this series.

Because this is a fairytale retelling, it is predictable which bothered me a lot more while I was reading than it does now. Meyers built such a good foundation for her series with this book. I was thoroughly impressed with the elements of Cinderella that she used and how she shaped them within her own story. Even if you didn't know that fairytale, this story can stand by itself.

I can't pin point one thing that disappointed me about this book. I just didn't love it wholeheartedly. By the end of the novel, I was completely absorbed by Cinder and the story but the first half didn't capture me as much. I'm excited for the sequel and have heard things only get better from here so I'll pick up Scarlet soon to see how it goes for me.

So overall I don't have much to add to this discussion. I really enjoyed this story and would encourage people who have trouble at the beginning to keep going and give the story a chance to ramp up. Cinder's adventure is amazing and I'm invested so now I can't wait to see what happens in the next installment!

Happy Reading!

Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

If you've ever visited my blog before, you know I love to participate in Top Ten Tuesday. This feature is so much fun and I've been out of the loop for a while. If you are interested in participating you can check out a list of future topics and the Broke and the Bookish blog.

One of the most widely acknowledged appeals of books is their power to transport to new places and times. They can introduce us to new places in our own world, different versions of our world or entirely new worlds. For me, books have introduced me to so many new places that I wish I could visit. Some of these are fictional and some are real, but they all sound amazing!

1) Hogwarts - Really any magical place in this world would do, but if I ever got the chance to visit Hogwarts, I would go in a heartbeat! I expect this to be on a lot of people's lists because who doesn't want to visit Hogwarts?!

2) Funky Bones - After watching The Fault in Our Stars movie, I had a much clearer view of what the Funky Bones were. Now I'd love to visit them and see one of the places that was so important in that book.

3) Tortall - This was one of the first true fantasy worlds that I read when I was growing up. Whenever I read books based in Tortall or this world in general, I am totally lost within. I love it and all the depth that Tamora Pierce puts in this world. The magic and characters make me want to visit so much. (Plus there is a chance I could find a George Cooper which is a dream in and of itself.)

http://laddybuck.deviantart.com/

4) Camp Half-Blood - Who wouldn't want to visit a camp filled with half-god children, strange creatures, monsters and deadly obstacle courses?

5) Virginia - One of my favorite series at the moment is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Throughout those books the characters are exploring the hills of Virginia and the forests. It sounds so beautiful and someday I would really like to visit the area to see the rolling mountains myself.

http://www.forestwander.com/

6) Brittany, France - I've been a bit obsessed with the His Fair Assassins trilogy by Robin LaFevers. This series takes place in medieval France/Brittany while Brittany is still an independent state. The characters travel all over the countryside and it sounds really beautiful and interesting.

7) The Old Kingdom - This world and especially this country sound so interesting. I'd like to visit in a safer time in its history than when we are introduced to it in Sabriel. The world is so dangerous and scary in that book. I'll visit it in better times and hopefully avoid the greater dead.

8) The United Kingdom - There are lots of books that take place across the UK including The Infernal Devices, Jane Austen's books (Visiting any estate would do), the Sherlock Holmes stories, and many more. Plus as a student of history I find the historical places of this area very interesting and read non-fiction about the UK quite a bit.

[By Mike Colvin from Manchester, UK (IMGP3721) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons] 

9) Prague - After the descriptions of this city in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I just want to walk through Prague all the time. It sounds so mysterious, old and beautiful. If I could have Karou's apartment I would die!!

10) Alicante - The home of the Shadowhunters sounds like an interesting and secretive place that would be so cool to visit. Plus it is right in the middle of Europe so how can anyone not want to visit that amazing countryside?

Pretty Books (1)

Everyone loves a beautiful book. I've started this series so I can feature more of the books on my shelves that are beautifully designed. These first ones I picked out are a mixture books that are popular right now and all time favorites.

Books Mentioned:

My Life Next Door- Huntley Fitzpatrick 
The Winner's Curse -  Marie Rutkoski
Ignite Me - Tahareh Mafi 
This Song Will Save Your Life- Leila Sales
Allegiant - Veronica Roth 
A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Review – Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

    

   

Genre: Historical Fiction

Hardcover – 549pgs

Published: April 2012 by Houghton Mifflin

Add It // Buy It

Rating: 4/5

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

There are so many hauls and posts that contain this book, but I've seen very few reviews about it. Its possible I'm just traveling in the wrong circles, but I haven't seen a lot of buzz following this series. Either way I was drawn into this because of the promise of assassin nuns and a medieval setting.

At first I wasn't convinced by this story or Ismae for that matter, but she won me over in the end. With the word assassins involved, I was expecting the story to be a little more Throne of Glass-esque. This story is in a different vein though. Grave Mercy is much more historical fiction with well-built political drama centered around finding a traitor. While it wasn't what I was expecting, it was still very fun and I found myself reaching for it as often as possible.

The plot was slow to start, but things pick up later on and are very interesting. While Ismae is trained in fighting arts and more dramatic assassin skills, much of her time is actually spent using stealthy techniques which I really like. There isn't a lot of dramatic fighting scenes or sneaking off into the night for solo adventures. (I mean Ismae is an assassin so she does sneak off and do what she wants sometimes so look forward to that!) Even so, the hunt for a traitor is exciting and there are plenty of dangers both in life and love for Ismae.

The romance was one of my favorite parts of the book. A lot of YA have characters are instantly in love with one another. I really appreciated LaFever's approach the the romance in this book. First of all, she considered Ismae may have trouble forming trusting relationships with men because of the brutal abuse she has been subjected to. This felt really important to me as I was reading and an essential part of Ismae's character to explain. Secondly, even though the reader knows from the beginning, even from the description, these two characters will have romantic feelings towards one another, both characters are well-established before any romance happens between them. I loved both of them well before there was any romance involved.

To be honest the book could be a lot less than 550pgs if the margins weren't so big. I felt like I was flipping pages every 30 seconds, but that was the only thing that bothered me about this book. Its a long book, but mostly because of formatting.

The ending was very nicely put together and I am looking forward to the sequel/companion novel because I may have already picked it up.

Unboxing/Book Haul (Parts One & Two)

This week I received a bunch of packages. There was a mixed bag of sources, but since I had the time I thought I would unbox them on camera. Plus I haven't done a haul for a little while. I made two parts because the video would be really long otherwise. Let me know if you've read any of these or which ones you think I should start with!

Books Mentioned: 

Willoughby's Return by Jane Odiwe 

Mr Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentlemen Maria Hamilton

Only Mr. Darcy Will Do by Kara Louise 

The Truth About Mr. Darcy by Susan Adriani 

The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy by Regina Jeffers' 

Books Mentioned: 

The Fall by Bethany Griffin
City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster 
The Madman's Daughter by Meghan Shepard 
Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd
The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan 
The Young Elites by Marie Lu 
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
The Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers 
Sanctum by Madeline Roux 
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey 
Shattered by Mari Mancusi 
Avalon by Mindi Arnette 

Happy Reading! 

Fictional Boyfriend Tag

We all have crushes on fictional characters There are some characters its impossible not to crush on. Luckily a tag has been created that helps everyone talk about their favorite fictional boyfriends. Check out mine!

Happy Reading!! 

September Wrap Up (2014)

This month was really crazy for me as far as reading was concerned. Before this month, the most books I had read in a month was 17. This month I broke that record by one book! So I read 18 books this months. That number amazes me. I cannot believe I read that much last month. So this month I am starting out at 7 books ahead of schedule for my reading goal and I am trying to stay that far ahead. 

 Books Mentioned: 

Novels

The Winner’s Curse by Maire Rutkoski

Scorched by Mari Mancusi

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Lirael by Garth

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Graphic Novels

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

Saga Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughn

Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel by Richelle Mead

Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman

Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

Dinotopia by James Gurney

Ebooks

What Matters in Jane Austen by John Mullan

Mr. Darcy’s Proposal by Susan Manson-Milks

Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward

Bluebeard

Also something I forgot: 

The Audition by Rachel Hartman (Seraphina Prequel)

Happy Reading! 

Review – Scorched by Mari Mancusi

   

Genre: Sci-Fi/Urban Fantasy

Hardcover – 352pgs

Published: September 2012 by Sourcebooks

Add It // Buy it

Rating: 3/5

 

Trinity
Don't leave me here... It starts with a whisper. At first Trinity thinks she's going crazy. It wouldn't be a big surprise—her grandpa firmly believes there's a genuine dragon egg in their dusty little West Texas town. But this voice is real, and it's begging for her protection. Even if no one else can hear it...

Connor
He's come from a future scorched by dragonfire. His mission: Find the girl. Destroy the egg. Save the world.

Caleb
He's everything his twin brother Connor hates: cocky, undisciplined, and obsessed with saving dragons.

Trinity has no idea which brother to believe. All she has to go by is the voice in her head—a dragon that won't be tamed.

Dragons are my favorite mythical creature and I do a respectable amount of fangirling over Dr. Who. So how could I resist a story that had time travel and dragons? I would pin this as Terminator with dragons. I saw someone compare it to Eragon too which is fairly accurate as well. Both descriptions had me itching to read this. After finishing the book though, I have mixed feelings. I have a lot of issues with this book, which I will explain below, but I also really liked it and had a hard time putting it down. 

The characters get a silver star from me. I like Trinity and the brothers, but I had a hard time connecting with Trinity. Connor and Caleb's point of views were too similar. It wasn't always easy to tell who was narrating their chapters. Even though their stances on dragons are different, I've started thinking of them as one unit since they use a lot of the same references and have so many of the the same experiences. The dragons get gold stars. They get gold fiery stars because I love them and their part in the story was great.

The story is a mix of fantasy/contemporary/sci-fi/paranormal and several other things mixed it. Normally I like mash up of genres. It makes things interesting and great combinations make great stories. In this case though, I think things are a little scattered. The action was really good and kept the story flowing, but sometimes the story moved onto a new topic when the other one didn't feel complete. There are a lot of elements to this story, which I liked, but they feel under developed, which I didn't.Mostly I had problems with the world building (or lack there of). I have a lot of questions about the inner working of this world, which isn't always a bad thing. However, in this case I think the questions are ones that should be explained. I'm hoping they will be in book two, but since a lot of the set up/timey wimey explanation happened in this book, my hopes are not high. 

An overall enjoyable reading which I will be picking up the sequel to soon. I'm interested to see what happens to Trinity and the dragons. 

Happy Reading!! 

 

Library Haul (4)

Recently, I visited the library again. So that means another library haul! These are some of my favorite videos to make mostly because it is fun to pick out all these books at the library! Check out my recently picks. 

Books Mentioned: 

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

Maus I by Art Spiegelman

Maus II by Art Spiegelman

Dinotopia by James Gurney

 Happy Reading!!

Three Tips for New Library Patrons

Libraries are lovely places and I absolutely love to visit them. When I started visiting the libraries I really enjoyed it but sometimes found them frustrating or confusing. Every library is different so these are just some suggestions based on my experiences at the library about finding the library that works for you. 

Found Here 

1) Try more than one -

If you strike out at one library, try another. Individual public libraries choose how to spend their funds and each library has its own unique selection of books. If you can't find what you are looking for at your closest library, maybe try out the next closest. Personally, I was finding one library a little stressful because there was limited parking I had to pay for, high demand for the books and it was hard to find books. I have another library that is only a few more minutes away (in the other direction) and decided to try that one. I have found this experience to be much more enjoyable. There is more parking which is free, lower demand on the books and I actually like the selection more. Also the drive there is less stressful. I've ended up going to the library more often since my switch. 

2) Learn the Lay of the Land (aka browse a lot) -

Libraries are not always set up in the easiest way to understand. I've been in ones that have multiple levels, lots of room and many entrances. It takes time to find subjects you are interested in and may take even longer to find the book.  If you don't find what you are looking for easily be sure to ask. Librarians are great people who know their building better than anyone. The section you are looking for might be tucked in a corner just waiting to be pointed out. 

3) Visit Often -

I've had many interesting experiences in libraries and the #1 thing I've learned is libraries are complex beings and you only use them to their full potential by visiting often. 

They have book sales, events of all kinds and offer many services to the community. Librarians are rather wonderful people and I am jealous of their knowledge and expertise. Last time I was at the library the ladies were helping people fill out passport applications and the time before that there was resume help. There are also often programs for kids that include homework help, special events and programs. There are computers to use, databases to explore and of course so many books to read. While searching for services on my library's website, I have learned about so many more.

It is simply amazing the amount of resources to be found at the library. Check them out! 

Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Be-Read list

I love participating in this feature that is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. They select fantastic topics for their Top Ten Tuesday feature. This week's topic is the top books that you want to read this fall. There are so many books that I want to read. My TBR shelf is huge and since fall is my favorite season, I typically pick up quite a few seasonal books during this time of year. I also end up picking up a lot of paranormal and darker books around now.

I have three categories for these 10 books on my Fall TBR list. 

   1) Books that have been on my TBR for    ages 

-        Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

-        Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

-        Cinder by Marissa Meyer

-        The Diviners by Libba Bray

       

 

   

  2)   Books that make me think of Fall

      -         This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppal

      -         Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

      -         The Monstrumologist by Rich Yancey

      -         Conversion by Katherine Howe

      

   

       3)   Random Books I Want to Read

-     Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

-      The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

  

Here they all are! This is my lovely TBR for this fall. I'm really hoping to get through all of these books in the next few months. I'm very excited about all of them.

Happy Reading!