January RAK turn out!

Hosted by the awesome Book Soulmates like always! 

I got some pretty great books this month, to my surprise!! Here they are:

E-books: 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

from Amy @ Books, College, and Other Random Things

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout  from Emily @ Doodle's Book Blog

Paper books:

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern from Ciska

~~

And in return, I gave my UK paperback copy of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas to Megan @ Southern Owl Reads, and I hope she really likes reading it!



You can find my review of Obsidian here, and my review of Throne of Glass, here. Both great books that I highly recommend! The other three mentioned,  I haven't read yet. ;)

Printed Books Giveaway Hop! (US)

This hop is hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. Complete linky list is here.

   I greatly prefer paper books! I need to smell, touch and flip through books when I read them, not push a button. So I am happy to support this particular hop, because I love the environment and everything, but seriously I don't know what I'd do without my books.

I'm giving away a signed ARC of Blind Spot by Lauren Ellen; perfect condition.

...the thing is, it's personalized. I didn't mean it to get personalized, but that's what happens when you just drop it off at an event because you're sick, and they don't read the "do not personalize" note carefully. So...maybe you'll be lucky and it'll match your name. But hey if not, it's still a book! :)

US shipping only this time, sorry guys.

As usual, enter the Rafflecopter below: (and don't forget to take a look at the giveaway(s) I have on the side ---->> as well!)


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-Jane

Necromancing the Stone: review + Giveaway! (US)

Warning, there are spoilers from the first book in the summary and my review below, so if you haven't yet read Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, you might not want to read any further. But you can find my review of the first book here.

Title: Necromancing the Stone (Neromancer #2)
Author: Lish McBride
Rating: 4 stars
Pages: 344 (hardback)
Summary: With the defeat of the evil Douglas behind him, Sam LaCroix is getting used to his new life. Okay, so he hadn’t exactly planned on being a powerful necromancer with a seat on the local magical council and a capricious werewolf sort-of-girlfriend, but things are going fine, right?

Well . . . not really. He’s pretty tired of getting beat up by everyone and their mother, for one thing, and he can’t help but feel that his new house hates him. His best friend is a werebear, someone is threatening his sister, and while Sam realizes that he himself has a lot of power at his fingertips, he’s not exactly sure how to use it. Which, he has to admit, is a bit disconcerting.

But when everything starts falling apart, he decides it’s time to step up and take control. His attempts to do so just bring up more questions, though, the most important of which is more than a little alarming: Is Douglas really dead?

   I'm a big fan of this new kind of...age group? From my figurings, Sam is about nineteen or twenty years old. He tried a year of college but quit after feeling it wasn't quite his thing, and I'm pointing this out because here's a series which is probably the first "YA" I've read that takes place after high school age. Most of the YA books I come across nowadays have protagonists who are at least two or three years younger than me, so it's not perfectly easy to connect to them anymore. Also, I never went to high school so to me, that's always been an annoying subplot for the 'normal' part in 'paranormal' books. So, I just want to say to all of those authors out there looking for a fresh, barely touched aspect, (or maybe I'm missing a whole bunch of these books that already exist??) take your ideas to the age of in-between. Where young adults are out of that comfort and routine of home and school, and have to dive into the world around them.

   Hopefully that made sense, now on to the rest of my review:

   Pacing starts out sort of slow with recaps, but I probably had less patience than usual because I finished the first book about a week before, not a year like most would. Anyway, it didn't take long for things to pick up, and I got right back into the story like the first one. In some ways I liked this one better than the first, but in second books there's never that freshness of a new story that always comes with the first one, that's why I rated it a little lower.

   The 'bad guy' is once again Douglas, who is not as dead as we're originally led to believe. Whereas before he appeared to me almost too much of a basic villain who has a stupid laugh and not any backstory, we now get a lot of his past revealed. Also, Douglas has more of a legit motive called revenge. That tends to shape a character quite significantly. Sam stabbed Douglas in the neck and now owns all his possessions including his house and servant...you'd get angry too, right?

   There are many secondary characters, and they are pretty much my favorite part of this book. We have Frank again, who has become slightly less of a dork. Then the house guardians: gnomes, a minotaur, little army people, and touchy-feely shrubs. Together, they form a hilarious subplot and underlying comedic feature to the story, which usually frustrates or cheers up Sam. The house guardians come off to a rough start, but when matters clear up, they create a sort of alliance with their new house master. Also, James, the...cat/dragon/human servant dude, becomes more of a main character. His split loyalty for Douglas and Sam is deep rooted and subtle, and his character became really fleshed out and real because of his tough decisions.

Weres, vampires, ghosts, zombies, satyrs and bigfoot. It's safe to say a variety of supernaturalness and creatures appear. They're all part of a Council and get along for the most part, and it's nice to see them all present, but not have to deeply explain each mythology, when really only the weres (at this point) are of importance to the story. So there aren't any boring back stories on creatures that aren't important yet.

   Now, there are hopefully going to be two more books in the series (but not comfirmed...and maybe just set in the same world?) so I look forward to seeing more of Lish's writings!

~~

And now for the giveaway! :) US only, just enter the rafflecopter below for a signed hardback of Necromancing the Stone. (You know, the book I just reviewed above.) Thank you for the copy, Lish!


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Austenland: review

Title: Austenland (Austenland #1)
Author: Shannon Hale
Rating: 4.5 stars
Source: paperback as a gift
Summary: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. 

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It's all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

   Sure, this book had a parody-like quality to it. And among my loud and frequent giggling, I can recognize that there's an intense cheesiness to this story. But I mean c'mon, it's Shannon Hale, and it's Jane Austen.

   Right from the dedication page (directed at Colin Firth) I knew I wouldn't be able to put down Austenland. Circumstances help, of course. I'd been in a kind of reading-rut, and in that awful mood where just sitting and staring at my to-read bookshelf was enough to make me frustrated. So I had gotten Austenland from my friend for Christmas, and figured I'd now give this short, unimposing paperback some attention before it got lost with all the other "I'll get to them" books.

   And here I am, a few hours later, trying not to just Austenfangirl over it. I'm trying.

   First off, this is the first non-YA book I've read of Shannon Hale's. I think I've read all her other YA books, which I love. I just don't read too much contemporary adult fiction because there's nothing I can relate to in them, personally. But even though Austenland is technically an adult genre book, I'd recommend it to Austen fans of any age, because there's really nothing inappropriate in it, etc. Remember, this takes place in a time where there wasn't any of that...publicly. ;)

   The protagonist, Jane Erstwhile, *snigger* was reallly relatable to me. I have a feeling that's a bad thing in normal life, but hey, that made it easier to read the book! So really, there shouldn't be any complaint. I liked hearing about the past failed relationships that separated each chapter, aka cluster of days. Those snippets of the past really give some good insight as to why this kind of vacation is sorely overdue for her. And also, they're hilarious in a depressing way.

   I'm not sure if this is on purpose in tribute to Austen, but there are a lot of characters in this novel. Just enough to have to pay close attention to all of them. And by the end, there's always that, "wait, who were they again? Or they came from...? Remind me who's actor, or player?" This leads to my first slight complaint. I had a terribly hard time figuring out what's real and what's not. I'm also 90% sure it's written to be this way on purpose (like I mentioned before) so I went along with it/Jane, playing along. It didn't bother me as long as I didn't try to hard to differentiate the two. Reality and fantasy. It's not like I do that in my every day life to begin with anyway.

   There is one more thing I just have to point out, that annoyed me: Martin, the gardener. *this paragraph can get kinda spoilery* Okay I didn't realize that Jane (the main character, not me) didn't know he was one of the actors...like duh? He was the gardener, but they had gardeners back then, so obviously he's one of them! That seemed kind of stupid. Maybe I was just too perceptive or something, but it's not a huge deal, so I'm just venting a little.

   The climax and ending includes so many changes of heart that it became borderline over-the-top (is that even possible in a book like this one?) for me. It was a great and perfect ending, but up till the very very end, I was still discombobulated with what was real and not. But again, I think you're supposed to have that surreal attitude while absorbed in Austenland!

   I highly recommend this to any crazy-obsessed Austen fan. Or any person who wishes they lived in Regency-era England. I've even heard the sequel/companion, Midnight in Austenland, is better, so I can't wait to read it!

   And I'm so excited about the movie! I really can't wait to see this brought to life via screen.

-Jane

Brandon Mull Giveaway! (INT)

See, I didn't completely lie about having an international giveaway. I think tubes for a poster may be slightly cheaper and lighter to send overseas, so here you go!

I met Brandon Mull oh...a few months ago. (Jeeze am I really that behind on these things??) He was super-cool and really funny, and he gave me two huge Beyonders posters to giveaway on here, which he signed. Hence this (belated) giveaway.

The posters are pretty big. 17"x 22" (43cm by 56cm if I calculated that right.)

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Hold Me Closer, Necromancer: review

Title: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Necromancer #1)
Author: Lish McBride
Rating: 4.5 stars
Source: library
Summary: Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he’s doing all right—until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.

Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he’s a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces . . . or else. 

With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But even with newfound friends, will Sam be able to save his skin?

   I thought this book would be pretty cool, but now after finishing it my thoughts are that it's totally awesome. A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Lish herself, at Changing Hands. I had never even heard of her before and after listening to her talk a little alongside the other authors present, she was so funny, I figured I just had to read her book. So I talked with her after the signing finished up and a few weeks later I got a copy of Necromancing the Stone (#2) in the mail, signed. (Yep, you guys know what that means!) But I had forgotten to read the first one (this book) in the meantime, so here is my super belated (late?) review, which should have been up long ago.

   You still with me?

   I'll start with the setting. Seattle!! Dreary and mysterious, weird people, and the perfect place for some mis-magic-happenings. Really, no one will question it. And I'm from near there, so I may be a little biased because it's like my hometown. :)

   I really like every one of the characters, and felt none didn't get fleshed out to the max. Sam, our protag, is a college dropout currently working at a burger place, and not really fitting in with the world. I thought he was super-cool for a few reasons: Sam is a vegetarian. Sam's mom is a witch, so holistic and tea and herbal ointments are abundant. Sam is a necromancer. Oops, spoiler alert. Anyway, I got him, and totally can't wait to continue his story. He's very likable.

   For the other mention-worthy characters: Brooke is...well...something else. She's the head of their little group, and her story took a completely different direction than I expected. You find out very soon in the book what I mean by that. Ramon is like the best friend ever. You can't rely on too many people to throw their only skateboard at a cat-sized fire-breathing dragon in order to rescue you from being kidnapped. Frank is like all of their little adopted sibling. He's so naive and funny, I really like what his character brought to the story, and I think/hope he'll be in even more of the second book. Sam's sister and mother, his neighbor, all good characters too.

   About halfway through the book I realized what was so different about the chapter titles. They're all random lyrics of old songs! Johnny Cash, The Beatles....and a bunch more. It's fun to figure them out and how they relate to the chapter ahead. I sure had too much fun every time a chapter started.

   I have two small complaints: The romance, which seemed a little unnecessary. Lighthearted books like these that have that small touch of romance, always feels weird to me. I don't know why. Maybe because it leans slightly to a guy-book (and I hate to make that differentiation) and so his mind is obviously different than mine, but since there wasn't actually too much romance, I'll stop there. The POV is not my favorite, because I prefer first person as opposed to third-person, like this book is. But it is essential we see what the villain and other characters are doing and thinking while Sam is unaware, so I get that.

   All in all, it's just a wonderful novel; full of funnies but in a serious sort of way, and never a dull moment. I will get to the next book, Necromancing the Stone, right away because I already have it. Then there shall be A Giveaway of Said Book.

   There's not an easy category to fit this book into, which makes it unique, but I recommend this book to guys and gals of the mid-teen-and-up range. Possibly to fans of Anna Dressed in Blood (my review here) and/or Heather Brewer's Vladimir Tod books, though I haven't read those, they pop into my mind. But those are also for a slightly younger audience, so I may be totally wrong in that comparison.

Happy reading!
~Jane

Wishlist Wednesday 1-9-13

Wishlist Wednesday is hosted by Dani, at Pen to Paper, and it's a meme in which you can post a book that you've had on your wishlist for a while, but haven't found the time to actually read yet.

This week's pick: Darkness Comes This Way by Pixie Lynn Whitfield (<--click to add on Goodreads!)

Summary: Zarah Duncan is a Guardian. It’s an elite job that protects humans and the untainted vampires from the real monsters: those lost to the bloodlust. Rogues infest the city. Missing humans, unsolved cases…Zarah knows what the real cause is and she’s been trained since childhood to destroy them. 

But she has a haunting past that catches up one day. Zarah was Rogue once, and until her, no one else has ever cured from the poisoned state of mind before. She’s been labeled a miracle, and the mystery only builds. She gets the awful feeling there’s more to it than just a lucky magical come-back. There are deep, dark secrets being kept. Maybe her boss Nathanial knows something? When she gets paired with a partner, Draven Kinsley, it only adds more difficulty. He hates her and swears that with a single look, she’ll poison him. To make matters worse, her Rogue brother has to show up, and he brings with him a shocking announcement. What Zarah learns from him rocks her entire world upside down. She not only begins to question who and what she is anymore, but it can possibly change the Vampire race forever.

The scary part: someone else knows too…and they’ll do anything to get her special blood, spelling disaster for the humans that Guardians have secretly been protecting for decades. 

Vampires, fallen angels, war, betrayal, and romance fill this Paranormal/Urban Fantasy debut, the first book to a high-action trilogy.

Why do I want to read it? COVER. And cool creepy awesomesocks. Vampires, other creatures of the dark! Seriously, why don't I have this on my shelf yet?? Do you?

-Jane

New Look!

As you may have noticed...my blog finally got a make-over! I love it, what do you guys think?

I did not do this myself; it took me three days to figure out how to initially get the default settings all correct, never mind any custom magic. So! I happened to find this lovely gal, Lisseth. She does awesome free blog designs, and if you look at her site below, you can contact her, or see her other work!

Here is the homepage for Read-a-holicz: http://read-a-holicz.blogspot.com

For a direct link to her design page: http://read-a-holicz.blogspot.com/p/read-holicz-free-designs.html

So I really recommend following her in some form! I'll give you time to do that right now.

All good? Great, now one more thing I want to share. :)

While I have this random post, I'd just like to give everyone a 2013 update. This semester I'm much more busy than last fall. Relatively. I'm getting a second job, starting two classes, and planning/saving for a four-month backpacking trip to Europe, for which I leave in June. (Right after BEA!!! ^_^)

I'm just giving you a heads up that my posts will slow down a lot. I'm taking a break from many meme's, and general new-books updates. This gives me time to just read and review in between busy-ness, so I'll try to post my reviews as often as I can. But I can't promise more than that. Also, I'll still do a few giveaways & hops, but I'm saving every penny right now, so shipping books will be a minimum. I hope that's understandable.

That's it! Thanks for following and reading my thoughts, as usual. :) My Facebook page will be looking nice soon (also thanks to Lisseth) so if you want to go 'like' that here (should work), I'll start posting random awesome bookish things!

Happy reading,
Jane

Faeries and Fantasy Giveaway Hop (US)

This hop is hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & The Mod Podge Bookshelf! The complete linky list is here.



Goodreads Summary: All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right  

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.


I LOVE this series, and happen to have an extra once-read paperback copy of the first book, Eyes Like Stars. That's the prize!


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Shards & Ashes (anthology) : review

Title: Shards & Ashes
Author: Melissa Marr, and Kelley Armstrong (editors) & stories by the nine authors listed below
Genres: ya dystopian, short stories
Rating: 5 stars overall!
Release Date: February 19th 2013
Summary: The world is gone, destroyed by human, ecological, or supernatural causes. Survivors dodge chemical warfare and cruel gods; they travel the reaches of space and inhabit underground caverns. Their enemies are disease, corrupt corporations, and one another; their resources are few, and their courage is tested.

Powerful original dystopian tales from nine bestselling authors offer bleak insight, prophetic visions, and precious glimmers of light among the shards and ashes of a ruined world.




This is my second YA anthology! I reviewed Foretold back in September, and if you haven't already, you can see that review here. :) Overall, I liked this just as much, maybe a little more. But these stories are longer, because there are fewer authors. Each story averaged at about 40 pages.

(In order)


Hearken - Veronica Roth
I'll read anything by Veronica Roth, because her Divergent series rocks. This story is beautiful, a little heartbreaking, but inspiring. It's about music, but in a very unique way, and I loved it a lot. Pick the book up, just to read this story, if not any of the others. (Though you'll probably want to keep going.)

Branded - Kelley Armstrong
Interesting medieval twist on dystopian, and reminded me of a kind of futuristic Evernight or something...definitely for the paranormal fan.

Necklace of Raindrops - Margaret Stohl
It took me almost the whole story to get into this one, but worth it because the ending was really cool. The problem I had was feeling connected to anything; characters or story. It's kinda far-fetched which is impressive, but almost too much to actually understand a lot of it.

Dogsbody - Rachel Caine
Not sure I really like this one. It wasn't bad, but nothing really impressionable about it for me, personally. But I'm sure if you're a fan of Rachel Caine, then you'll like reading her work. She's a new author to me. Again though, with the ending, it's a nice knife twist!

Pale Rider - Nancy Holder
I didn't like it. Too odd, and it had some strange fae aspect to a dystopian world...I think? Even for a short story, it felt a little underdeveloped.

Corpse Eaters - Melissa Marr
This is one of the creepier ones. I haven't read any of Marr's work yet, but now I definitely want to! It's a bit gross, what with all the literal corpse eating, but it's really good. So the idea is good, but I would have liked more, to build upon the characters more.

Burn 3 - Kami Garcia
Pretty okay! Didn't love it, but the story is a nice (if really disturbing) concept. Has to do with the ozone, abandoned subway systems, and skin...so ponder that.

Love is a Choice - Beth Revis
Eek!! For fans of her Across the Universe series: Just so you know, it's about Orion's little back-story! I cannot wait for Shades of Earth to come out! It was darker than I had imagined. Otherwise, if you don't read that series, you might still enjoy it, but I'm not sure.

Miasma - Carrie Ryan
I'll read anything by her. Great concept of smells and murky swamps causing disease/plague, and freaky flesh eating monsters and doctors with beaked masks...could give one chills! The story ends the whole book with an almost hopeful charm.

~

Shards & Ashes introduced me to a few new authors, so I shall move up/add to my reading list for these titles: Carnival of Souls, Unbreakable, Icons, and Crusade.

Should I do more anthology reviews? These are pretty fun! I like how there are easy stopping points between each story, to read other books. Anybody have recommendations?

-Jane

Inheritance: review

Warning: There may be spoilers ahead for the first three books in the series. If you're planning on reading them, read further at your own risk! :)

Title: Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle #4)
Author: Christopher Paolini
Rating: 5 stars!
Summary: Not so very long ago, Eragon—Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider—was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.

Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances. 

The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?

   It took me a whole year to get to this, sitting dauntingly on my shelf. But I did it! Only took about a month, and I read a couple of other books between breaks. 900 pages is pretty long, even by my standards. I wasn't originally going to write a review for this, so I'll just share a few things about it, so maybe you'll eventually get to reading it as well. ;)

   It'd been probably a few years since I had finished Brisingr, so I had to ask my brother (who'd read the series as well as listened to it, probably thirty times) to refresh me on what I needed to know. Thankfully it was easy to get back into after that. There is a written prologue that recaps the last three books, but it looked really boring...but you should probably read that if it's been a while.

   In these past few years, I've read a dozen or so fantasy books written by women, mostly, and this is really the only thing that bugged me about the book: I could tell a guy wrote it. I usually stay pretty neutral on this observation, because many times it's hard to tell. But (besides where in the end it got better) Roran's macho-man attitude, really not a fan of. I don't remember if I ever really loved his character, but mostly in here he's kind of annoying like that. Like, really, do you need to yell loudly to exclaim your blood-lust and how awesome you think you are? All right, I'm done complaining about that.

   Eragon grew up more in Inheritance, than in the previous three books combined. At first he acted a little too much like his arrogant human stance, wanting to be a great warrior and beat the elves, just because. But then as the story goes on certain...things...happen which I'll not give away, but on many levels I am really happy to see how he matured and came to some self-realization.

   The pacing throughout this huge book is overall pretty steady going. The beginning immediately welcomes you back to the world of Alagaësia, but parts of the middle dragged, mostly Roran's pov chapters. It was just so much. I did enjoy Nasuada's chapters a lot, because she get seperated from the Varden for a while. That was actually quite fascinating. And a certain part in the middle sped up a lot, was a trip to a certain island...hm. Can't remember it though, I just remember it was good. And toward the climaxe and after, events moved pretty fast.

   I had been skimming reviews of Inheritance a couple months ago, and couldn't help but notice how SO many people were angry/saddened by two things: the battle with Galbatorix, and the ending of the series. I have to say, I really liked both. Sure, I would have wanted things to turn out slightly differently...but it's not my book, or world, is it? So the battle with Galbatorix is probably one of my favorite parts. Actually I'll extend that to the whole battle of Uru'baen. From this point onward, I read the book twice as fast. The face-off with Galbatorix is really creative, and though there isn't as much fighting as I'd expected (though I didn't know how in the world they'd try to usurp him,) I'm really happy with how it played out.

   Now, "the ending" took up the last 150 pages or so. If you've read tLotR trilogy, you'll know what I mean. There are many matters to clean up and fix, as well as people to find, onces battles are over...no matter what the outcome. And for a while, I became sad with decisions some of the characters made. Not to be very vague or anything, but I don't want to give away who ends up surviving. But by the very end, it's sort of bittersweet, and as sad as I am to finish following the adventures of Eragon and Saphira, I will keep an eye out in the future for more stories set in Alagaësia. It's a very unique and beautifully crafted world, and I'm crossing my fingers this will not be the last we see of it.

-Jane

Post script: As an unschooler, I think that it's so awesome the author was homeschooled, and wrote this series as such a young age. :)

Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop! (US)

 

This hop is hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, and see the complete linky list here!! Lots of great books to win!

Here's what I'm offering (to one US winner) the choice of three of these:

I just really need these off my shelf, so please enter!!! ;) The ones that don't get picked will go on my to-trade page.


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The Goddess Inheritance: review

Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the first two books in The Goddess Test series, so read no further if you plan to read these books! :)

Title: The Goddess Inheritance (The Goddess Test #3)
Author: Aimee Carter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: February 26th, 2013
Rating: 4.5 stars
Summary: During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her--until Cronus offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.

   I really wasn't sure what to expect in this book. Honestly, the previous book had been a bit of a disappointment. However, I am super glad The Goddess Inheritance was not a disappointment. I loved it just as much as the first book, The Goddess Test, and the ending is pretty perfect.

   Things finally get cleared up in here, communication wise. That must have been my biggest pet peeve when reading this series. The lack of communication is astounding, and even though I know that's what makes a good story, it was just too much for me sometimes. In here though, feelings and sides are finally open to each other, and someone (coughHenrycough) budges out of his awkward stilted language enough times to actually act normal and loving to Kate.

   Within the first chapter, Kate has her baby, who I shall call 'The Kid' to avoid spoilers. I was initally surprised some dramatic event happened so early, but then I realized that the plot of the whole book is about saving The Kid so to say, then that made total sense.

   The gods and their loyalties are like a game of chess. It was hard at times to keep track of who was on who's side, especially with their 'human' names they use over their original Greek ones. But for the most part, I kept reading along happily, jumping at every unexpected turn of events and not trying to figure out how it would all end, because the story twisted around so much, there's no way you can guess what's going to happen next.

   I lied a little bit there. Very early on in the book, something not-so-happy happened which made me literally scream with anger and throw the book down. But then once I ranted on Goodreads about it, a kind soul (who had finished) comforted me to keep reading, and so I did. Five pages later all was relatively okay again, but it did give me a scare about the character's fates...and that wasn't the only time.

   Kate is a really strong heroine. Her fault is her martyr complex, which even James points out a few times, but it's also her strong point. As much as I usually hate these kind of selfish sacrifices (don't read into that too much) Kate brings out the good in the trait; she loves her friends and family so much, she's willing to do literally anything to keep them alive. I'd probably do the same. The only part I couldn't relate to was her obsession to The Kid. I completely understood it, but personally couldn't put myself in her shoes for things about The Kid.

   In this conclusion to The Goddess Test series, the action and suspense is non-stop, and the stakes are as high as ever as Cronus and the gods of Olympus have their final stand off. Surprises met me in every chapter, and I'm sad to see the series end. A must read series for all fans of mythology.

-Jane

Bringing YA to YOU!

Have you ever wished that a big YA book tour would make a stop in your hometown? Well, here's your chance for that wish to come true! YA2U is a program that features five award-winning and best-selling authors who are holding a contest to see what city they should visit in an exclusive tour stop!

The authors are collecting votes from January 1 to February 15, and any city in the continental US or any Canadian city that has an international airport can win an exclusive visit from all five authors, including an author panel and book signing! Entering is super easy--and if you help spread the word about the contest, you can also enter win a signed copy of all of their books (TEN signed books in total!)--and the book contest is open internationally!

The authors in the program are:

• Marie Lu, the New York Times best-selling author of Legend and the upcoming Prodigy
• Marissa Meyer, the New York Times best-selling author of Cinder and the upcoming Scarlet
• Beth Revis, the New York Times best-selling author of Across the Universe, A Million Suns, and the upcoming Shades of Earth
• Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch and the highly-anticipated upcoming The Archived
• Megan Shepherd, author of the debut novel The Madman's Daughter

And they want to have an event in your home town! To participate, just got to the YA2U website and let them know what city you want them to come to. And while you're there, help spread the word about the contest and you can be entered to win all of their books--TEN signed books in total! 

Here's why the YA2U Team should come to MY hometown! 

I live in Phoenix, AZ and Changing Hands Bookstore is the largest and oldest independent bookstore in the whole state. I would love for all these awesome authors to come here to Phoenix, because if they were to come to CHB, they'd be supporting a local business. And even for any other bookstores in the area: there are great friendly bookish people here, the weather is absolutely wonderful this time of year, aka no snow hassles when flying in; (and well, I'm here. :))

Why should the YA2U Team come to your hometown? Why not join in the fun today and share with others about this program and your hometown. The more votes your town gets, the closer you are to having your very own personal tour stop! Vote for YOUR town here!

And if you help spread the word, you can also participate in the book giveaway. Tell them that you learned about YA2U from me and we both get extra entries in the contest!

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