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
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Faeries and Fantasy Giveaway Hop (US)
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!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Shards & Ashes (anthology) : review
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
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Inheritance: review
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. :)
Thursday, January 3, 2013
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.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Goddess Inheritance: review
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
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Bringing YA to YOU!
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!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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