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1/29/2016

Interview with Laurie E Flynn!

1/28/2016

Book Buddies: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with Lauren @ Bookmark Lit. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Lauren's blog! (Link at the bottom)

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The Dream Thieves

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Pages: 439

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: September 17th 2013

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take? Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself. One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams. And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things. Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake. Of The Raven Boys, Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Maggie Stiefvater's can't-put-it-down paranormal adventure will leave you clamoring for book two." Now the second book is here, with the same wild imagination, dark romance, and heart-stopping twists that only Maggie Stiefvater can conjure.

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If you would like to read the other half of the discussion click here to go to Lauren's blog!

(There are some spoilers in this discussion so be cautious!)

1. The perspectives always seem to change within this book. Sometimes it follows one character, then in the next chapter, another. What are your thoughts on that and how does it affect your enjoyment in the book?

L: I think it's actually done really well! A lot of times multiple points of view can be confusing, but I think she does a really great job of distinguishing the characters and their personalities. It's nice that it's not first person point of view for all of them either - that would make it much harder. Because the story focuses so heavily on all of them as a group and how their powers/strengths/weaknesses feed off of each other, it's really beneficial to have all of their viewpoints. I feel like it's so much easier to get to know the characters when we can be in their heads and see what motivates them.

K: I agree! It takes a moment to adjust and figure out who you're reading from but once you do, everything runs pretty smoothly. The only problem for me when it changes all the time is when the characters are off doing their own thing and what happens is, sometimes I get bored because I don't want to read about what this character was doing, but the character in the previous chapter. I came across that a few times in this book and that slowed down my reading pace a bit.

2.Was Ronan's dreaming aspect what you had expected it to be or did you have different expectations for it?

L: I honestly had no idea what to expect! The ending of the first book got me really intrigued for the second one and I was wondering how it would all play out and tie in. That was my biggest question - how would Ronan's power work to help them in the quest for Glendower? This book did a really fantastic job of integrating his power and made Ronan really important to the whole operation. I didn't see that coming at all. I was also surprised with how it related to his dad, and that Kavinsky had the same power. I thought it would be something unique to Ronan.

K: We got a small taste of it in The Raven Boy's but I had an idea of the concept of being able to take things about of your dreams. Another person being able to do it though, was not what I had expected and it probably must have been interesting for Ronan to know that there were more people out there like him. I didn't expect his dad to be able to do what he was able to do that so that surprised me in ways as well. It also surprised me on what the dad had been able to do with his abilities to take things about of his dreams.

1/28/2016

Let's Talk!: Transferral by Kate Blair

Transferral

Author: Kate Blair
Pages: 194
Publisher: Dancing Cat Books
Release Date: October 24th 2015

London, England, present day. This is the world as we know it, but with one key difference: medical science has found a way to remove diseases from the sick. The catch? They can only transfer the diseases into other living humans. The government now uses the technology to cure the innocent by infecting criminals. It is into this world that Talia Hale is born. Now sixteen and the daughter of a prime ministerial candidate, she discovers that the effort to ensure that bad things happen only to bad people has turned a once-thriving community into a slum, and has made life perilous for two new friends. When Talia’s father makes an election promise to send in the police to crack down on this community, Talia can only think of how much worse things will be for her friends. Will she defy her father to protect them, even if it means costing him the election? Transferral , the debut from Kate Blair, is a chilling look at a world gone wrong because of its efforts to do right.

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I got an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. None of my opinions are altered by that.

I was pretty intrigued by the synopsis about Transferral. The world definitely seemed super interesting because sickness is definitely a very common thing among us and getting through a sickness is not always the prettiest thing. Seeing a world with technology that helps people get rid of sickness so easily, intrigued me. I wanted to learn more about what happens with Talia and more about being able to transfer sickness. Transferral was a pretty good read but it did have it's flaws and I will get more into them later. But, if you like short dystopian reads with an interesting world, give Transferral a read!

Talia: Talia is a pretty good main character. She is not my favorite of all the ones I have read but I definitely enjoyed reading from her. She is a really brave character and I really do love how she stands up for what she believes in, even if that thing is against everything she has grown up believing. The one small thing that bugged me about Talia was how not smart she was about certain situations and a lot of bad things could have been avoided if she had been smarter about her actions.
Plot: I enjoyed the plot for this book. It wasn't bad and I had no problem reading it but I did think that the pacing was a bit rushed for me. It just didn't seem realistic with the pace this whole book was in and I think Transferral would have went a little smoother if the pacing slowed down a bit. I also felt the romance in this book was a little rushed as well. It was one of those situations where you raised your eyebrow at how people got together when they had just met about 2 weeks ago.
Writing: The writing style was pretty okay but I really was not a huge fan of how choppy it was at some points. It didn't affect my enjoyment but I do wish it could have been smoother and less choppy.

I gave this book 3 stars because I enjoyed the characters and plot but the writing was choppy, pacing was off, and I had an issue with the main character.

1/27/2016

Waiting on Wednesday #38

1/26/2016

Let's Talk!: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Illuminae

Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Pages: 599

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Release Date: October 20th 2015

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again. Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

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(There is honestly so much to talk about so this review may got long.) Illuminae is such a talked about book among the book blogging community and for a really great reason. It had taken me awhile to finally pick up Illuminae but I am so glad I did because it was honesty such a great book. I had pretty high expectations for it because everyone loved it so I was excited to see what it was all about. Illuminae was such an awesome, epic, and suspenseful book. I loved the characters and the wonderful plot it had as well.

I was excited to meet Kady and Ezra when I first the synopsis for this book. I had actually read about twenty pages from the book when I had an eARC of it (Had to stop unfortunately because I couldn't read some of the text because it was so small and I wasn't able to zoom in.) and I went into this book having a small taste of the personality of the characters. But if it's one thing I can say about them, Kady and Ezra definitely have opposite personalities. I feel like they're the "opposites attract" kind of couple. One likes to plan ahead, one just wings it. They are different but they both are such awesome and (in their own way) badass. Both of them care for the other so deeply for each other and think very rationally (sometimes) in certain situations.

A sci-fi novel where a planet was invaded? I'm already excited. Throw in a couple who had just broken up? Where is my money? As if things were already going wrong! Now here! Deal with a betrayal from you AI and plague!

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I was expecting a lot to happen in Illuminae and for it to keep me on my toes. Amie and Jay delivered and omg they gave me two-day shipping when I was supposed to get 5-12 business day shipping. It was so great and definitely exceeded the expectations I had had. Sogoosogoodsogood. Constantly kept me on my toes and wanting to know what happennnsss. I stayed up reading this book and I definitely haven't done that in forever. So many things surprised me, broke my heart, made me excited. Illuminae was really just a rollercoaster of emotions and I am so excited to ride it again in Gemina. (Synopsis, where you at?)

Illuminae is a truly special book because of the way it is told. I had seen pictures of the book before reading it but there is just something special and different. Turning the page to find a spectacular picture made of words was just awesome. The formats this book was told in was really cool as well. Getting to read conversations through chats and emails, reading action scenes through a security feed (It makes more sense if you have read the book) and reports, all of it was just really awesome. There were so many ways that not doing the traditional style could have gone wrong but Amie and Jay pulled it off perfectly.

I gave this book 5 stars because it was such a perfect read. I loved the characters, plot and the whole format of this book.

1/25/2016

Blog Tour: The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

Hey everyone and welcome to today's stop of The Year We Fell Apart blog tour! I'm super excited about this book and what this post features. I hope you guys enjoy this guest post and make sure to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post! This tour was hosted by the Fantasy Flying Book Club.

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The Year We Fell Apart

In the tradition of Sarah Dessen, this powerful debut novel is a compelling portrait of a young girl coping with her mother’s cancer as she figures out how to learn from—and fix—her past. Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan. Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different—he’s taller, stronger…more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis. While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from. As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all. In this honest and affecting tale of friendship and first love, Emily Martin brings to vivid life the trials and struggles of high school and the ability to learn from past mistakes over the course of one steamy North Carolina summer.

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Thoughts and Story Behind the Cover for The Year We Fell Apart

Emily Martin

So, I haven't exactly made it a secret that I'm completely smitten with my cover. I was very fortunate in that my editor and the team at S&S kept me in the loop o Martinn cover design, and I had the opportunity to see it evolve from sketch to final product, which was awesome.

This was the second "final" iteration of the cover--the first was lovely as well, a different take on an illustrated tree, with the title carved into the stump. But ultimately it was decided that the first cover was a bit too young and didn't capture the depth and scope of the story. On to version number two!

I'll admit, I loved the first iteration, and was super sad to lose it. ...Until I heard what they had in mind for the new cover design. The design team was able to work with the artist Sarah Dennis, who creates her illustrations using cut paper, which I adore. I pulled a bunch of images from the story that felt particularly relevant, including the oak tree leaves from Harper and Declan's treehouse, and the water image representing the quarry where they go swimming. Developing the final product was a very collaborative process between my editor, the S&S design team, and the incredible illustrator. And in the end, it turned out more beautiful than I could have imagined! I couldn't be happier, and feel the wonderful details perfectly reflect the history between Harper and Declan.

I hope you like it, too!

Emily Henry

Emily Martin lives and writes in the Greater Boston area, though she will always call Michigan home. She has a penchant for impromptu dance parties, vintage clothing, and traveling to new places. When not writing, she can be found hiking New England’s peaks, searching for the perfect cup of hot chocolate, or baking something pumpkin-flavored. Emily’s debut young adult novel, THE YEAR WE FELL APART, comes out January 26, 2016 from Simon Pulse. Her work is represented by Lara Perkins of Andrea Brown Literary.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

1/21/2016

Blog Tour: Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace (Review and Giveaway!)

Hello and welcome to the Shallow Graves Blog Tour, held by the lovely ladies at Fantasy Flying Book Club! Today, I am going to be talking about my thoughts on Shallow Graves, a book I had really been anticipating. Hope you enjoy and make sure to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post!

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Shallow Graves

For fans of Holly Black and Nova Ren Suma, a gripping, hauntingly atmospheric novel about murder, revenge, and a world where monsters—human and otherwise—lurk at the fringes. When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous. Tense, complex, and wholly engaging, Shallow Graves is a stunning first novel from Kali Wallace.

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I got an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. None of my thoughts are altered by this.

I was pretty excited about Shallow Graves thanks to its synopsis. I mean who wouldn't want to read about a girl who comes back from the dead and doesn't remember anything that had to do with her death? Shallow Graves was a really great read. It definitely was not what I expected it to be but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Some very interesting aspects were introduced and I also really liked the characters that showed up in the book and helped Breezy in her coming back from the dead. It was a great paranormal, but I also really loved the mysterious feeling this book gave off, especially with Breezy not remembering who had killed, why she was dead, and why she is even alive. All in all, it was a pretty good read and readers of paranormal will definitely enjoy Shallow Graves.

Breezy was definitely an interesting character to be reading from. Yeah, because she is a person who is now back from the dead but also because she is a mixture of different people. She is so calm and collected but also loves to have fun. She screws around sometimes, but is also a huge astronomy person. I had definitely not expected that from her and it was a pleasant surprise. Her character development within this book was really well written. I really love how Kali writes about that as she begins to learn more about why she is alive and get used to her abilities and what she can now do. I love the position she is in at the end of the book and it really showed how much she has grown due to her situation and that she is okay.

I mentioned that this book wasn't what I expected it to be and that pretty much came within the plot. I really enjoyed it, but it went in directions that I definitely didn't expect it to. This plot was just as great though. I loved how suspenseful it was and also shady, shall I say. The whole situation this plot had was so shady and at one point I had to keep reading because I needed to find out everything behind this shadiness.

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I really enjoyed the writing style Kali wrote in! It went from talking in the past then back to real life and this allowed me to read from both the present but also read some stories about Breezy's past. It was definitely different from writing styles I had read from before and it really allows Shallow Grave to stand out a bit.

There are two things that brought my review down however. 1) The pacing was a bit slow for a while before things started going on and that really let getting into this book take a little longer than I hoped. After that little period of pages, when it was slower, it got faster and it was a lot easier to get into it! 2) The ending kind of bugs me a bit. It was going so well but ended so quickly and kind of felt a bit incomplete. I have so many questions on what happens to x character and what happens to Breezy. It ended but it didn't tie up the story as much as I had hoped it would.

I gave this book 3.5 stars because I really enjoyed the plot and characters but the pacing was a bit off and the ending bugged me a bit.

1/20/2016

Waiting on Wednesday #37

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme created by Breaking The Spine where we share upcoming releases that we are excited about!

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Starflight

Author: Melissa Landers

Pages: 320

Publishing by: Disney-Hyperion

Publishing on: February 2nd 2016

Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith. When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world--and each other--the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

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Why I'm Waiting...

I'm a pretty big Melissa Landers' fan, if you didn't know. I adore the Alienated trilogy and am super excited to be knowing that Melissa has another book out! (And book 2 of Alienated out later this year!)

I enjoy reading sci-fi books. I love those space books and books that don't take place in this real world! It's great to get out of this world once in awhile and sci-fi books are able to help me with just that! Based on the synopsis, I can already tell (and hope!) I am going to enjoy it. Solara and Doran sound like great and interesting characters. Also, the synopsis kind of reminds me of These Broken Stars and I really enjoyed These Broken Stars. Super excited to read Starflight and enjoy it! (Also, they changed the font on the cover! Honestly, I really loved the typography for the original cover but this one works just as fine.)

So tell me: Have you heard of this book and what are your thoughts on it? I would love to know!

1/19/2016

Top Ten Tuesday #17

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme held over at Broke and Bookish. Each week there is a topic and we list off our top ten items based on that topic.

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Top Ten Books I've Recently Added To My TBR

1. Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

This one is part of my Flights of Fantasy challenge for 2016 and I had always intended to read this series, but didn't realize that I had never put it on my to-read shelf on Goodreads! This trilogy sounds really good and I can't wait to read it this year!

2. Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

Learning to Swear in America is a 2016 debut I am pretty excited about! It sounds like a lighter contemporary, if the title doesn't tell you that already. I can't wait to meet Yuri and Dovie, read about their friendship and more on this asteroid coming towards earth...

3. Wink Poppy Midnight by April Tuchlke

This book is pretty anticipated by some of the ladies at Lit Up Review and when I read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to read it. The synopsis really reminds of the We Were Liars synopsis and how vague the synopsis was towards the actual story. All we know is that there are three people, one incident, and more to the situation than we know.

4. Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I've actually had this duology on my shelf for a few months and I just realized I never stuck it on my TBR list! I have read the other three Gayle Forman books and enjoyed those ones a pretty good amount. I have heard pretty good things about this duology so I can't wait to read it soon!

5. The Case of Lisandra P. by Helene Gremillon

I stumbled across The Case of Lisandra P when I was looking through Edelweiss one day and the cover immediately attracted my eye. I read more into the synopsis and it sounded pretty interesting. I don't read many mysteries but The Case of Lisandra P. sounds like a really good read. Can't wait to find out more about Lisandra...

6. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Okay, so I admit, I have not read anything from Victoria (OOPS) but I definitely plan to do so soon because so many people love her! I saw This Savage Song on Edelweiss as well and really like the synopsis (AND THAT COVER.) Super excited to read this book and find out more on August and Kate!

7. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows

The synopsis for this book is very short but it still makes me really interesting in reading! I can't wait to find out more on Lady Jane and everything that goes wrong with this story. So much could happen Jane and I am looking forward to what it could be....

8. Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

I don't read many retellings, I think y'all know that. That is why whenever I come across a retelling that sounds super interesting, I jump to add it to my TBR. Obviously, I wanna read more of them. Queen of Hearts is an Alice in Wonderland retelling and I am so looking forward to reading it. The synopsis is super intersting and that is exactly what I am expecting for Queen of Hearts!

9. Marked by Jenny Martin

Marked is the sequel to Tracked, which was an awesome read. I am really excited for the next book because the way things ended in Tracked was not okay and left me reaching for a novel that wasn't out yet. Looking forward to reading more this series and to see where Jenny takes Marked!

10. The Imposter Queen by Sarah Fine

This fantasy sounds so good oh my lord. It's about a girl who basically was supposed to inhert magic powers but doesn't so she runs away in shame and finds out there is more to the magic than she knows and now there is a war going on. So yeah, there is a lot of stuff going on in this book and I am so excited to get more into it.