The Knife of Never Letting Go Review!

*cue trumpets* That's right! I finally finished The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness! The first book in the Chaos Walking series, and is I believe one of three books. What a read, ye gods this book was going to be the death of me! It took enough time to finish it let's not dawdle on the review.

Synopsis:
Todd lives in a town where woman don't exist anymore and he's the last boy in town. This means a lot of things for Todd, for the town. A boy growing up in a town of men in a world where thoughts ring out as clear as day. A town with a shady past cut off from the rest of the world and a boy who seems outside their normal. And then Todd finds the silence, slicing through the noise of men's thoughts like a razor and he's running, running, running.

Review:

4/5

I've never wanted to hate a book and love a book so much at once. Hence why it took so long to read. The first day I sat down with this book I wanted to burn it. This is one speshul, annoying,  frushtrating book. And yes, I know how I wrote it and I ain't fixing it! I cringe at it and have grown used to it. If you want to read this book it's words like that that you'll have to get used to. I highly, HIGHLY suggest you read the first couple of chapters in one sitting and then put it down. Rant to high heaven about it's spelling and it's weird fonts and everything that makes you think this is the first book you'll put down this year and scream at it and say 'I'm never picking this stupid book up again!'.

Then do one more thing- a favour to yourself really. Pick. Up. The. Book.

Say what?

PICK UP THE BOOK! *embodies the mom from the new karate kid movie. You know what I'm talking about. (and if for some reason you don't: watch this.)*

Then when you reach the end you can thank me. I swore I was going to hate this book and burn it, but I would read it because it's on my 2015 pop sugar list and I refuse to not read it if it's on my list. Then I read it and things changed. Manchee goes from unbearably annoying to a lovable, enjoyable character. Todd goes from not very enjoyable to that character you're rooting for through everything. And that ending, that ending Patrick Ness! OH THE FEELS! I need the next book, and if I didn't just buy eight more on top of the six I still have to read on my shelves I would finish work and go to the bookstore no stops in between.

STOP. Let's slow down and break it down.

1. That grammar and those words are painful, and at the start you think everyone's going to be talkin' speshul like and then you're so relieved when they don't! And there's weird font changes and random words... let me show you:

*These images are strictly for the intent of showing the uniqueness of the book, they are not intended to violate any copyrights. The writing and all it's glory belong to Patrick Ness and Candlewick Press. 

2. That ^ occurs a number of times. First thought when I saw it: what a waste of paper... You can read some of it, but it doesn't tell you anything important and it doesn't even make sense if you try to string it together, believe me I tried.

3. You quickly find out that all the quirky writing and fonts are to set the mood of the book. Different characters have different ways of talking and spelling and fonts. The pages of words tell you just how busy the world is, what it's like when you can hear everyone's thoughts.

Bottom line:

Let go of everything your brain is telling you is wrong and just read it, you will enjoy it.

WARNING:
If you have the same copy as above, when you get to the end and have read the short story and you see a 'read the next instalment in the Chaos Walking series... blah blah blah' and there's a picture and some blurbs beside it DON'T READ THEM because the third book description has a spoiler in it and now I'm mad.

---------------------------------------------------------

That's it for this series right now, at least until I get a few of my books out of my TBR pile. Be on the lookout for my next review for Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I'm excited for this one, I've heard good things. So until then, my friends.

Blurred Lines Series Review!

It's been a while, but if you've read the title than you may have a clue of what's going on. I haven't read just one book, I have read five and a half since my last review! Coincidentally five of them happened to be books I read on my trip and five of them also happen to be from the same series. However, rather than break these ones up I decided to keep them together due to their similarities and why not do a whole series? I also will be posting a book haul soon because I grabbed up a bunch of really good finds while I was away too!

For now we'll move onto the reviewing!

By the picture above you can learn a few things, like the fact that I read these on my phone, they are some sort of romance and the series in question is Blurred Lines by Erin McCarthy. This is going to be a bit different so I'm going to do series, then break it down to book and wrap up with some full series thoughts at the end. I'll mark individual book reviews by pictures of their covers and because they're e-reads I'll even post the price I got them for... you know what, let's just do this.

So originally the first book in this series came up in my daily BookBub suggestions. (If you don't know what BookBub is check it out here. Basically, gives you lists of cheap e-books!) I'll be the first to admit that I don't like buying e-books, I'll download the free ones and the really cheap ones but I have a fear that I'll lose them and my money will be wasted. So when the first book in the series came up with that glorious word 'Free' beside it, well, you couldn't stop me!

I picked it up to kill time really, but then I ended up bingeing the whole series - it was better than anticipated. Overall, this New Adult Contemporary - Romance was brilliant so let me tell you a bit about it.

Overview:
The Blurred Lines series takes place predominantly in the state of Maine and prominently features a town called Vinalhaven and University of Maine. The series circles around the romances of a group of individuals that are all in some way connected. Through various ups and downs they find their own place in their worlds and their relationships, interlocking together in a way they never thought would be possible. Starting with the story of Cat and Heath and ending with the story of Anya and Kane, covering everyone in between.

Book One: You Make Me

Purchase Info: Purchased for free on the iTunes/ iBook platform.

Synopsis:
Cat is a girl with a less than ideal family situation in her past she's hiding and a determination to become the perfect girl with her prize catch Ethan at her side. With dreams of the perfect job, perfect guy, perfect family, how can she resist when he pops the big question? Had she known the past would come streaking into the future at mach fifty, she might have held off. Enter Heath, Cat's first love - a love that neither of them has let go of with questions that need more than answers, they need explanation. Now Cat is faced with a choice: past self, or future self? And can Ethan marry a woman he has come to realize he really knows nothing about?

Review:

4/5

This is where it all begins, Cat and Heath. From the beginning you're pining for Heath, well, at least I was cause hot ex-marine, come on people! You feel bad for Ethan but... they weren't as compatible, so, moving on. All and all I enjoyed this, it's a contemporary romance, it's not meant to be some Earth shattering story it's meant to be light and fun and easy to read and it was all of these things. However, no matter how much I like a book there are always areas that didn't seem quite perfect. So what kept it from being a 5/5? Firstly, as much as I enjoyed it there were some issues regarding reality, the main one being the fact that she's going to get married and then within days she's in the arms of another man! Despite their past that seems a little far fetched to me, I mean you were prepared to marry someone, is it just me or is that not something you just get over? Putting that aside, I did enjoy the dynamic of the relationships Cat has and the closeness she shares with her foster siblings but not her biological sibling. The twisted history they share and the stories where they all connect. All and all, even though there were a couple typos and a couple minor unrealistic parts the actual story was interesting. The characters had history to them and relationships, they had identities individual to themselves and if you didn't learn as much about them as you wanted it was probably because one of the next books is about them!

Book Two: Live For Me

favourite of the series!

Purchase Info: Purchased for $3.99 on the iTunes / iBooks platform

Synopsis:

Tiffany has been in the foster system for nearly her whole life, despite the fact she has a living grandma nearby. When her grandmother gets sick, Tiffany takes the bait, despite what her foster sister Cat says and goes to help her sick, ungrateful grandmother. It isn't long before she's kicked out once again on her own. Old enough now to not be in the foster system she's left to fend for herself. With the want to help people in life the way they never helped her, she takes on a job as a house sitter for a man who's hardly ever home. What better way to get to nursing school than by hardly seeing anyone and getting paid for it? Of course things change when the owner - music producer Devin Gold stops by one Tiffany's first day of work. She likes him, he likes her, the problem? She may be eighteen but she looks sixteen and he's in his thirties. Hailing from two completely different worlds they're thrown together in a tempting but dangerous relationship.

Review:

4.5/5

I think this one was my favourite in the series as there is a lot going on outside of their relationship. What turned me off that point five you ask? The exact same line, that's what! At one point in this novel (as I was reading this the same day I read the first one) I noticed something so incredibly blatant I actually stopped reading and read it again in hopes it wasn't real! Devin has a line in this book that is the exact same as a line Heath says in the first book. Now I know it's a romance but come on! Once I got past that little tidbit, I'm happy to inform that there wasn't another line that was so blatantly obvious that it was the same in the rest of the series. I liked the dynamic of this duo, it wasn't a love at first sight relationship like the first one, this was a work in progress and even when they got to the point of facing the relationship it was still a work in progress! Plus there was psychotic famous ex-wife action on top of a few other things as well as some other drama both famous world and not famous world that had some big repercussions. I don't want to give away all of the things, but this one had the most action in it and I love me some high action everything!  

Book Three: Let Me In

Purchase Info: Purchased for $3.99 for the iTunes/ iBooks platform.

Synopsis:
After being jealous of Cat for so long about her ability to attract relationships and not losers, Aubrey finally finds herself in a relationship of her own. Little did she know how it would turn out. When her 'man' (I use that term extremely loosely here people) Jared hits her with a belt and knocks her teeth out Aubrey realizes something serious - he might just kill her. She runs, but is constantly afraid of what's behind her. She moves somewhere far away, somewhere he's not likely to find her, she runs to her friend Cat in the small town of Vinalhaven. An island with one way in and out - the ferry and if he catches up with her there, she knows that will be it. Aubrey isn't expecting that her panicked visit to the rocky shore would lead her to fall halfway down a cliff to be rescued by a local guy named Riker. When Riker finds out about Jared it's game on, when Aubrey finds out the truth about Riker will it be game off?

Review:

4.5/5

Though this one didn't quite give me the feels book two did, it certainly deserves it's 4.5/5. This is probably my second favourite in the series as it also has a lot of action in it. It misses the five for one solid reason - Riker and Aubrey remind me a lot of Cat and Heath. Aubrey and Cat are from the same sorority not to mention Aubrey is Ethan's sister, aka Cat's ex fiancee. They're best friends and in a sense, their personalities are fairly close. Enter Riker who's Army to Heath's Marines, difference is Riker isn't ex-army and he doesn't exactly have a stellar job. I'm not going to go further because spoilers but there's a lot Aubrey doesn't know about this guy she's fallen for. The secrets in this book are slightly f#^*%*& up. Seriously, like end game serious here people, but at the same time you can't help but like Riker. All and all I enjoyed the action and the hint of mystery that came with the secrets in this book.

Book Four: Meant For Me

Purchase Info: Purchased for $3.99 for the iTunes/ iBooks platform

Synopsis:
After breaking things off with his fiancee Cat, Ethan finds himself in a downward spiral. Dropping out of law school and getting drunk every night Ethan hates himself for waking up next to various women on a regular basis, but faces it with a 'who cares?' attitude. Hungover and heading out to visit his sister Aubrey in Vinalhaven Ethan is faced with a reality he's struggling to come to terms with - that he will inevitably face Cat on this trip. When he surprises himself by falling for a girl with no voice he's the first and the last to expect it. Frustrated with his inability to communicate effectively with Chloe, his silent girl he begs to know what's going on in her head and when he finally gets it, he's surprised to say the least.

Review:

4/5

This one fell a little flat for me. I enjoyed the story and the characters but I just wasn't feeling this one that much. I was happy to see Ethan finally moved on from his moping, but after the last two books this one was quite a bit less dramatic. This was probably one of my least favourite in the series between this one and the fifth book. Don't get me wrong this is a good book, but come this point in the series I'm kind of sick of hearing about Ethan's downward spiral. I am also thoroughly disappointed that Ethan didn't meet Riker, I would have loved to see how that conversation went, reaction and then the question 'What do you do for work' would have been an amazing addition to this book. That briefest interaction would have had me liking this so much more. I am happy however, that we changed perspectives here! This book is from Ethan's perspective and it was nice for the change, had it been the other way around I'm not sure it would have been as good as it was. I did like the addition to the ending with Anya, won't say much there cause spoilers, but it really broke up the 'I wish I knew what she was thinking' and 'I wish I could hear her voice' thoughts from Ethan. Basically just compared to the last two this one dulled a bit in comparison. Good, not great.

Book Five: Breathe Me In

Purchase Info: Purchased for $4.99 on the iTunes/ iBooks platform.

Synopsis:

After meeting Chloe and Ethan and being kicked out of her apartment in New York Anya's got nowhere left to turn but to them. With nothing but the clothes on her back and her baby on her hip she travels from New York to the door of her just met and last hope sister Chloe. If only it was that easy. After stealing some baby food from a convenience store she passes out and is helped by Kane, a local off duty police officer. Their paths aren't to be split yet as they cross in a dangerous tango of deceit as Anya tries to use her feminine powers to get more than the forty bucks he already gave her out of him. Kane knows that Anya's game can't be true, he knows he's probably going to be conned, but he can't help but feel something for her. Kane hails from a large family unit and Anya hails from a fend for yourself foster care raising with two different mind sets and feelings in between they fight to figure out what it all means.

Review:

3.5/5

This is probably my least favourite in the series for quite a few reasons, but ultimately I felt like this one was really predictable and I wasn't a fan of the end. Their relationship starts off weird from the get go and falls apart which is no shock, at all. What starts to make it unrealistic for me is when she starts listing off her rap sheet and he's still all in. Ok, I'll roll with it, love is blind, yadda yadda. She needs help but refuses it at every turn, and I know she's supposed to be all independent and stuff but when you're passing out because you haven't ate in days and someone gives you money for lunch, you take it no questions asked. It just felt like she was stretching it a little too far. My kid doesn't have diapers, I don't have a job or money, but I won't accept that you want to buy us some? The reality of this one is a little too far off for me, and from experience I know that when you're that down and out, you'll accept a little help survival partially depends on that. I tried to move past that, about mid way things started to get a little more realistic and I was like, 'ok I can deal with this'. I enjoyed that middle section of the book, wasn't super realistic to me, but I enjoyed it. Then that ending happened and it was a little too nonchalant for me. Still a good story, and it was interesting to see both characters point of views but it was little killer to feel so out of reality. 

Series:

Overall I really liked this series, if you like New Adult romances you'll enjoy Blurred Lines. Like every series there's high points and lower points so I wouldn't be turned off by the flux in ratings here, they were all good stories. The fact that I binged them all one after the other in less than a week should tell you that! They are not completely dependant on each other, you can figure out what happened quite easily especially since they primarily focus on their own relationships. However, you do risk spoilers if you jump around in this series, they aren't that disconnected. Overall the whole series I would rate 4/5 and would recommend to anyone looking for a quick, light read.

In other news, as I mentioned at the start, be on the lookout for a new haul post! I am also halfway through The Knife of Never Letting go by Patrick Ness so there should be a review for it soon as I am returning to it now. If you have suggestions for books, let me know! Also, was this post a little too long?

Afterworlds Review!

So after seeing it on my Goodreads currently reading list for what feels like ever, I finally got around to finishing this. Which means that I successfully have knocked another book off of my 2015 Reading Challenge list- the book I started but never finished.

I originally started this book in December and literally about half way through I put it down and didn't pick it up again until now. There's mixed feelings on this one and some definite ups and downs, points I like and points I really don't so this may be a long one folks, but here we go.

Synopsis:
18 year old Darcy writes a novel and finds herself travelling through her first big trip into the world of publication. Meanwhile her character Lizzie lives the life Darcy has wrote her. Darcy follows a path of personal ups and downs living a year of firsts: first time living on her own, first time publishing, first loves, first heartbreaks. Lizzie lives through a life changing terrorist attack that changes her life and death in a way she's never expected.

Review:

3/5

I gave these nearly 600 pages a 3/5 for lots of reasons, which was a little disappointing. I'll start by saying I became interested in this book after watching Benjaminoftomes talk about it in one of his videos on Youtube. The idea is really promising, really interesting and I had high hopes and if I was younger this might have done it for me, but at 22 it really didn't.

For the first half of the book Darcy's personal story is nothing short of boring. In some perfect world maybe everything happening to her would be possible, but it's all just a little too good to be true. She participates in what is obviously Nanowrimo and her 'wrote in 30 days novel' is sent to a publishing company. She gets a massive advance and they think she's going to be mega popular with her first book. Not realistic. If Westerfeld had toned it down a little bit then this could have been a believable story. 30 day novel, fixed up and sent to publishing, they take it on she gets some sort of advance and on and on. But it wouldn't have been as glamorous. 

Ultimately, I only wanted to read every other chapter in the first half - as in Lizzie's story. Then the second half happened and things picked up a little bit on Darcy's end. However, at that point I was getting over Lizzie's situation and was starting to find it a little repetitive. With about a quarter of the book left, both stories heated up for a decent finale. Overall I think I would have enjoyed the actual book Darcy was writing as a full, proper read on it's own. At times I feel like Darcy's stories muddied it up a bit. It almost would have been a better choice to sandwich large sections of each instead of chapter by chapter, I feel like I might have connected quicker and maybe not put this down. 

The characters I thought, were very contrasting. Darcy seemed to wait for things to be handed to her where Lizzie wanted to take action and solve things on her own. This did make it a little difficult for me to set into a 'deep read' and live in the story, which paired with the chapter situation I already mentioned made me want to move on from this book with no urge to pick it up.

This is a really frustrating book to rate as it is basically two drastically different novels binded together. 'Afterworlds' (Darcy's novel), is a story I would pick up and devour. 'Afterworlds' (Westerfeld's story of Darcy) would have made a cute contemporary that I probably would have looked past and never had a second thought about it. 

In the end, the writing was done well and it's a beautiful book and maybe one day I'll read it again. But because I'm so split, I'm giving this book a middle score of 3/5. Next time around I might just read all the black sections and then all of the white and see if that changes my opinion any. Until that time I'll be moving on to another. My next read will be The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. 

Book vs. Movie: Warm Bodies

A book I've been meaning to read ever since I saw the movie, but after my last Book vs. Movie read I was tentative to pick up a new one. However, after many hours creeping the Booktube world I was brought back to it again and this time I went for it.

So if you're reading this and thinking 'Warm Bodies? What is this, some terrible promo?' hahahahaha! No. Zombies ladies and gents, get your heads out of the gutter!

Either way here's a quick run down:

Synopsis:
A group of zombies live in an abandoned airport, they live day to day shuffling and groaning and every so often they go to the city to feed on the living. Things take a drastic change for the main zombie man 'R' on one fate filled hunt that will leave him questioning life as he knows it. Enter Julie, the human girl that has become the eye of R's attraction. From two completely different lives and facing all odds they are thrust into the unaccepting world where they must change the people's minds or die trying.

Review:
I'm relieved to say that this wasn't another Silence of the Lambs as there were some significant differences between this book and it's movie counterpart. But ultimately the movie is a good representation of the book and if you weren't in to reading I would recommend it as a worthy replacement. (Though I'm a reader so, THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN THE MOVIE!........ in like 99% of cases.)

Random cool thing about this book - the chapters aren't actually labelled as chapters which is both cool and terrible. Your chapters are labelled with pictures like this:

(Random Chapter picture from Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion)

Cool because hey, they're body parts and it's warm bodies and they're zombies and they're ripping bodies apart and it's a little genius, right? Terrible because I couldn't imagine having this for a book report or something and trying to find a quote and remember what chapter it was in. 'oh yeah, that's in the ear canal chapter or the eyeball chapter' doesn't seem very memorable or effective to me. Especially because some of them I'd actually have to go back and study the grainy picture to figure out what it was. That neat little nugget aside shall we begin to compare the two?

The book is a lot more of a personal experience than the movie feels. From the movie you gather that the zombies eat the brains, they receive snippets of memories from the owner of said brain. What they don't tell you is that Julie's now dead ex boyfriend is a special case that gives R a little more than a snippet. Also, the movie is very much that R and Perry are two completely separate entities and their memories are two completely different things where the book blurs those lines a bit and makes it maybe a little more realistic. After all, if you're experiencing the emotions and memories of someone else would they not consume you a bit?

Another interesting thing about the book is you realize there's a little more to the zombie life than the grunting and shuffling that the movie portrays. They have their own little twisted society too which makes their saving seem a little more possible. It's interesting to see that perspective and learn a little more about R before Julie.

I love that this is one of those movie adaptations that takes lines right out of the book but isn't word for word. The comedy that fills the movie is shared in the book, I was relieved to see that that wasn't just the hollywood twist on things and that it originated in the book. There were some moments I wish were a little more meaningful, and there were others that I maybe wasn't quite sure why they were kept. I was relieved to find differences between the novel and the movie and if you're a purist like R you might enjoy the read for those little details and the slight changes in how things happen.

Mostly, I want more of this and I'm so glad to see that there's a sequel coming. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a movie to re-watch.

PS. The next book on my list is actually one I started and need to finish, keep an eye out for my review of Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld!

The Infinite Sea Review!

It's about time, am I right? I didn't get back into the swing of reading for a bit after Nano and was surprised to find myself finally gravitating towards this for more reasons than the 52 books challenge.
Expect a lot of reviews coming up because I've got catching up to do! WOO HOO! Another book off then to be read list! This is the sequel to The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey and if you've read that you'll probably understand why I needed to read this one.


Synopsis:
Cassie Sullivan and her other surviving companions are faced with yet another dilemma come the end of the world - winter. With few options on the table it's time the group make their decision: prepare for winter and hope Cassie's Silencer finds them or search out others like them. But like any alien invasion, things aren't quite that simple, or are they?

Review: 

4/5

Let me start by saying that this book was on the brink of falling to 4.5 or 5 but there were a couple obvious things I couldn't ignore that solidified it's fate. So rather than just tell you that, let me explain:

First and I've seen this in a few reviews is the confusion. That is until you realize what the hell Yancey is doing. I attempted to read this book once got like three chapters in and was just really confused and disappointed. So rather than pick up from where I left off, I started it again. This time around I caught on fast. So what makes it so confusing? The character hopping. The first book The 5th Wave did some of this but not nearly to this extent which I think what left a lot of people confused. 

In this book we're in Evan's perspective, Ringer's perspective, Poundcake's perspective, Cassie's Perspective, in short we're in some heads we weren't in last time around. What makes it a little more frustrating is that we open to a prologue that doesn't include any of the characters we know, it's point isn't revealed until more than half-way through the novel.

This wouldn't be a huge problem if things were marked, identifying what character's perspective you're in, instead you're left to figure it out yourself. I didn't figure it out until a few chapters in that part one is Ringer's perspective. Once I figured that out I was searching for the clues in every section until I found them. 

There's quite a bit that happens in this book and it's happening simultaneously, meaning that we get fragments from different characters perspectives which slows it all down a bit. Can you say frustrating? As a result there's lots of action, but I don't see a whole lot of progression in the grand scheme of things. So the next book might be a sh!t show - I look forward to it. 

Casting the negative aside, there's a bunch of great points to this book. There is action and theres all kinds of relationship building and history. In short there was a fair bit of character development going on in this instalment. We learn a lot more about how the aliens work, how the crew got their names and how they lost the ones they loved. We see how the crew works together despite their conflicting judgement. 

I didn't want to stop reading this book and I'm excited for the next one. Was it the most excited I have been while reading a book? No. Was I ever bored while reading it? No. Will I continue reading it? Absolutely.

That's about all I have to say without giving stuff away. I'm starting my next book Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion so be on the lookout for that review soon!

Camp Nanowrimo: VICTORY!

This isn't going to be a terribly long post, more just a quick update. I have finally completed April's Camp Nanowrimo and my goal of 50,000 words in one month. Though it's far from perfect I'm super excited about it and know that all of my work paid off! WOO! So while I'm over here binge watching The Flash, just know that things will be going back to reviews here very soon as I'm almost caught up with my shows. I have plenty of books to review so hopefully I'll be posting lots soon!

PS. If you're still working on your Nanowrimo best of luck! Remember, you still have time!

Evergreen Review!

If you read my last review then you know that I recently finished the first in this series - Everblue. Unlike the first one, this one was not free but it was fairly cheap from the Google Play store so I couldn't resist. I'm glad I didn't hesitate over it now and I'll likely be purchasing book three very soon.

Synopsis:
Ashlyn and Fin have been apart for only a short time but it feels like forever and just as they had thought Fin's house has been re-taken by his uncle and his annoying cousin. As the danger surrounding Ash's family increases, Fin gets more and more irritable about being away his family refusing return. With the biggest choice of their lives on the line, the decision of a Human or Mer life hangs over their heads. Time is running out.

Review:

4.5/5

  What the hell happened here?! There is a drastic change between the writing in book one and the writing in book two. With the first book hanging on Middle Grade I wasn't sure what kind of action was going to happen in this one, I just hoped it would be good. I was not disappointed! This one definitely pings Young Adult right on the head. This book was drastically better than the first.

 First, the actual writing itself, the first one seemed to be geared towards a younger audience which had taken me by surprise with it's YA tag on it. The characters were quite shallow and well... fluffy and just seemed childish. There really wasn't much to the book, it had been a nice quick read and left a nice little hanger at the end that suggested things would happen in the next book. So I read on. Pandos seems to have evolved tremendously between book one and book two, the level of writing increased dramatically. The characters got a bit more substance, the story flushed out more, the details of the world became more real and I felt a lot more connected to the characters in this one than in the last one. I don't know what she did between books but whatever it was she needs to share.

Let me talk about the suspense in this book. I read this on my phone, and I have to say that I'm surprised how many times I found myself squeezing my phone as hard as I could while reading. It's a good thing it wasn't an iPhone... Unlike the first book, this one was packed with action. Rather than the moping on one side and action on the other, there was action in Fin's world and in Ashlyn's world which kept me excited to keep reading. The twists, oh lordy the twist that was in there! I wondered a little but didn't expect it to actually happen. I won't say more 'cause spoilers but let's just say I was guessing what was going to happen all the way through the book. I enjoyed that even the fall from the climax of this book involved more action.

The characters - a little fluffy and shallow in the last book I was impressed by the character development that happened in this one. We learn about Fin's mysterious family, we learn about Ashlyn and her family. I'm happy things focused down for her, I wouldn't continue if she carried on with her fluff and whining she did in the first one. Plus there's a good handful of characters that are introduced in this one, the world is getting bigger!

The first book proved to me that everything wasn't like The Little Mermaid in Mer people stories. It also proved that Mermaid stories are fluffy in general. This one though proved me wrong, Mermaid stories can have substance. I would recommend this to someone that likes a suspenseful book with a touch of fantasy. I applaud Brenda Pandos and I will be reading the next in the series. Also, I would like to note that I would love this series to join my physical collection soon, e-books are great but I can't stare at the covers all day.

The next book has me a little anxious as I read the excerpt at the end of this one and found it in Tatchi's point of view. Though I'm interested in what's happening there, I'm afraid it might take a step back and we'll have to bear through another character developing. I will probably start that one tomorrow so be on the lookout for the review!

Bookstore Adventures! - Mini Haul 01

I finally got out of this boring place and visited beautiful British Columbia! Besides taking like a million pictures, it being my first time seeing the mountains and all, there were a few things on my list that weren't really trip related. Well, one thing: visit Chapters. You see, the city I currently call home only has a Coles and if you're from Canada you'll know the difference immediately, for anyone who doesn't let me explain. Coles, Chapters, Indigo are all the same company but Chapters and Indigo are their big stores, in some cities multiple floors of books in one place. Coles is like the sparks notes of Chapters, small, always found in malls and carry only really newer books but you can find a bit of everything there. They get picked over quick and the selection is limited of course if they don't have it though, they can order it for you. 

Chapters, Chapters has all kinds of books which means lots of books go on sale so naturally, I went straight to those. Coming away with five books, four of which were hard covers for a whopping $23.00 I felt pretty accomplished. 

Here's what I got:

 Top to Bottom:

The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes

Which takes place during the war. A girl gets news that her brother has gone missing in the field believed to be dead. She lies about her age and gets herself sent over as a nurse all while secretly searching for the truth about her brother.

Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

Taking place in the 1920's our main character has the power to read the future. Desperate to keep it a secret from her mother a fake illusionist who would cash out on her powers she finds herself between a rock and a hard place when her visions show her mother in peril. 

Sounds similar to Libba Bray's Diviner's world.

The Red Queen Dies by Frankie Y. Bailey

Taking place in the near future of 2019 soldiers are administered a drug called lullabye to help them cope with post traumatic stress in fact it takes the memories away. So when a murder occurs and the star witness has taken one how do they solve the case? Apparently with clues from the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

A widowed empty nester lives in a beach house on the outskirts of town growing older everyday she doesn't question when a woman shows up on her doorstep claiming to be a care worker. Later she realizes this may not be the case but she's already let the woman in and now she searches for answers. *I got this because it has a gorgeous cover. 

The Host by Stephenie Meyer 

I have always enjoyed this book, so when I saw it for a nice $6.99 I couldn't leave it. 

Aliens come to Earth and take humans as their hosts, but not expecting the emotions and the whirlwind of humanity it's only a matter of time before complications occur. 

Have you guys got any good deals on books lately? The non-sale price of my books here would have been well over $100.00 which is crazy to think about. Where do you guys find good book deals?

The Last Hour...

So my first read-a-thon has come to an end and I have some mixed feelings about it. My day off was busier than anticipated and though I did get some reading in, I'm not all that sure it was more than I would have without the read-a-thon in place. That being said I'm interested in trying again maybe I'll challenge myself next weekend on our road trip to BC, plenty of time there!

In my previous read-a-thon post, I suggested that I may be done The Darkest Part of the Forest before the start of the read-a-thon, however I decided to save it. So I read almost two books in the 24 hours, not bad but I know I could do better. I'll be sure to write up a book vs. movie review for The Silence of the Lambs at some point today as I've always enjoyed the movie but this is my first time reading the book.

Did you participate in the challenge? How many books do you generally read in a read-a-thon?

Next time I think I'll do a couple things to improve my consumption of words.

1. Stay up for the night, or at least later than normal maximize on the opportunity. I definitely would have been about to get that third book in if I had.

2. Plan to be busy and prepare myself with an audiobook. I spent a couple hours out an about, if I had had an audiobook I could have gone along 'reading' while doing everything else.

3. Participate in the group activities to make endless hours of reading more fun than it already is!

4. Have snacks... lots of snacks.

That is everything I accomplished for this first read-a-thon, not too bad I don't think. I'll post the other review after breakfast.

PS. Yes, I love Doctor Who, amongst other things.

A Day of Firsts...

So today is a day of firsts. The first day I've ever blogged for real like, not Tumblr (they call them blogs but are they really?... I just look at the pretty pictures...) and for another first, my first blog post - if that wasn't obvious by that first first I posted. Today also marks the first day of the first read-a-thon I've participated in! It's also the first day of spring (not that you would know that here, at a toasty -17c) but that still means summer is coming so this kid is happy!

Alas, this is a reading blog, so I'll get onto the reading part - you know, that read-a-thon I was talking about? This is the 'First Term Read-a-thon' from the 2015 Reading Challenge group on Goodreads taking place from 8pm CST time (an hour ahead of myself) for 24hours. I don't know where to set my goals for this as I have never done a read-a-thon before so I'm going to set it to something I think may be attainable and I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

I hope to be able to hammer out a couple of books in the prescribed 24hrs and knock a couple more books off my personal 2015 challenge list. So I will be reading (or trying to read):

This is topic four in my challenge - a book published this year. I plan to finish this as I have already started it. Isn't the cover gorgeous?! When I saw it I knew that I had to have it and of course I've also heard amazing things about Holly Black. However, there are many hours between now and the start of the read-a-thon so this may be done or nearly done by then.

This is topic ten in my challenge - a mystery or thriller. I loved these movies, and I actually read Hannibal Rising already so when I saw this at the used book store I scooped it up. Despite being anxious to read it at the time, I never got past the first few pages - too carried away with life. This is the perfect opportunity.

And if time allows I'll finish this one up! This is topic 52 in my reading challenge - a book you started but never finished. I've already read almost half of this book and it was good, but for some reason I decided to put it down and read twenty other books first... I'll be happy to finish this one, another with a nice cover. Quick note: the downfall of this book is that the pages are white and I mean WHITE wash your hands and don't eat anything while you read this one because they pages are easily dirtied.

IN THE EVENT THAT BOOK ONE IS FINISHED BY THE START OF THIS SHINDIG:

I shall read...

Don't judge me... Ok judge all you want. This is week two for the challenge and I bent the exactness of this one a bit - a romance. Many will be up in arms over me calling it a 'romance' and I agree, I don't think there's much of a romance here, maybe a hint here and there. However, the story parts of the series draw me in a bit, even though it drips in it's former Twilight life. Plus there's a relationship there and regardless of if you agree or disagree with it's romance aspect - it's there. Mostly though, I just have a strong urge to finish the series.


So that's it! Call me crazy, and maybe I am, I'll post an update tomorrow night and we'll see where I stand!