*Review* Girl of Nightmares – Kendare Blake

 Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)

Kendare Blake

332 pages

ISBN: 9780765328663

Read 11-29-12

Format: Hardover

Source: Own

Add it on Goodreads!

It’s been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can’t move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they’re right, but in Cas’s eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he’s seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he’s asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong…these aren’t just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn’t know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn’t deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it’s time for him to return the favor.

This was the book that was chosen for my first Random Reads with I’m Loving Books, and it was the perfect selection since I was wanting to read it anyway!  Anna Dressed in Blood was one of my favorite books last year and  wasvery excited for the sequel.  Kendare Blake is an excellent writer and makes wonderfully sassy female characters.  There probably isn’t any characters in her books that aren’t well-written and she does an amazing job of making them all feel like real people.

I enjoyed the way the story wrapped up and my heart went out to Cas with everything he had to go through.  The only real complaint I have is that we don’t get to see much of Anna, aside from the visions Cas has and the last 30 pages of the book, she is nowhere else in it.

The ghost scenes are great with incredibly vivid descriptions.  I loved it!  The hell that Anna is trapped in is such a strange and horrible place, and the Suicide Forest is quite creepy.  I can’t stress enough how great of a writer Kendare is.  If her other books are anything like the Anna books, I will get everything she writes.

Incredible writing, wonderful characters, fast read, not much Anna.

 

Let’s Talk (3): Blogging Time

 

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

How much time do you think you spend on blogging each week, including commenting on other blogs, participating in events, Twitter/Facebook blog talk, etc? Do you have a time management system that works well for you? We’d love to know!

I don’t get to spend near as much time as I would like to on the blogosphere.  I try to spend a couple hours a day (in sporadic bits and pieces) if I can during the week, and I aim for much longer during the weekend (though I usually don’t get a chance for it to be much longer).  It is really hard!  I work 8-5 M-F, so during peak commenting hours, I’m stuck at work.  I try to get in time when I can if I take a quick break here or there to make comments.  I have to have the majority of my work done by 2 pm, so I don’t get a lot of time to do that early morning commenting before then.  I also usually spend my lunch hour when I can doing blogger stuff.  Even though I don’t get as much time as I would like, I still make sure to reply to comments and visit others’ links.  I don’t have a time management system.  I don’t think I have any kind of management system, I’m on of those organized chaos types.  This month has been on the slower side with comments and such because of NaNo, and even though I didn’t finish, it was a fun learning experience for my first NaNo!

Check it out I made a blog signature finally!

*Review* Renegade – J.A. Souders

 Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)

J. A. Souders

364 pages

ISBN: 9780765332455

Read 11-24-12

Format: Paperback

Source: DAC ARC Tours

Add it on Goodreads!

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.

Her memories have been altered.

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb… and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

This book turned out to be quite a fast read and different than what I expected, though I am not sure exactly what it was that I expected.  Right in the first chapter I was dragged in and quite surprised by the way that first chapter ended.  The world of Elysium seems like it would be beautiful, serene and perfect.  The descriptions of Elysium were quite lovely and the action scenes were well written.

Evelyn was an interesting character and she went through quite a transformation from the start of the book to the end.  She had a strange fascination in the Surface and everything that came from there, and that is probably why there was an instant attraction to Gavin.  I think there relationship was sweet with the way Gavin cared about her and made sure she was okay and wanted to take care of her, but “I love you” shouldn’t be said within 2 or 3 days in my opinion, do it felt a bit rushed to me.

I liked Gavin and he looked out for Evelyn once she gained his trust, and there were a few funny and embarrassing scenes for him, which were quite fun to read.  And Mother is the one you love to hate; she is a horrible, horrible person.

I can’t wait to find out more secrets about Elysium and learn the truth.  There were a couple of things, like the nanobots, that I felt weren’t fully explained, but hopefully they will be in the next book.  I really like the way the book ended and I look forward to seeing how the latest issue is resolved.  Great debut, can’t wait for the next installment!

Beautiful descriptions, good action scenes, great characters, a bit of insta-love.

 

Waiting on Wednesday (25)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I am waiting on:

If He Had Been With Me
Laura Nowlin

Release 4-1-13

If He Had Been With Me tells the romantic history of a teen girl and her childhood best friend leading up to his tragic car accident in which the passenger seat was occupied by another girl.

Why I am Waiting:

There is actually a longer and better description of this book somewhere and honestly, I can’t remember who’s blog I found this book and the better synopsis on, but there is one somewhere, and it sounds like it is going to be an absolutely heartbreaking and emotional book.  I think I will prepare for this one by stocking up on tissues from here until the day it comes out!  So what are y’all waiting for this week?

 

Top Ten Tuesday (29)

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and The Bookish.  Each week a new top ten list is posted, and to participate all you have to do is fill in YOUR top ten for the list.

This week the topic is:

Top Ten Most Anticipated Book of 2013

1. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer:  Cinder was one of, if not THE favorite book that I read for 2012.  I loved it so much and I wanted Scarlet as soon as I closed Cinder.

2. Asunder by Jodi Meadows: Another great one!  Incarnate was a wonderful and beautiful read.  The scenes were abolutely artistic and I loved Sam.  This book had a very interesting story idea and a gorgeous cover to go with it.

3. Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter: Alice in Zombieland was another favorite 2012 read!  It wasn’t really a Alice retelling like I thought it was going to be, but it was awesome none the less and has one of the most booty kicking heroines ever, so naturally, I can’t wait for the sequel.

4. My Name is Rapunzel by K.C. Hilton:  Out of all of the retellings coming out, this is the first I have seen for Rapunzel, and being a person who has long hair and gets called Rapunzel, I am a bit partial to this princess!

5. Enders by Lissa Price: I really enjoyed Starters and it was filled with action and twists, so I must know what happens next!

6. Ashes on the Waves by Mary Lindsey:  This is another retelling, but not a fairy tale retelling, but a Poe retelling of his poem Annabel Lee.  The cover is beautiful and I can’t wait to read the story.

7. The Murmurings by Carly Anne West: This one has a promising creep out factor, so I am hoping it scares the bejeezus out of me.  Even the cover is super freaky looking.

8. The Archived by Victoria Schwab:  I loved The Near Witch and this author’s writing style is excellent, one of my favorites.

9. The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd: This one sounds incredible!  It has a crazy man’s horrific experiments and his daughter is afraid his madness run in her veins, too.  I can’t wait to see all the crazy in this novel.

10. Sever by Lauren Destefano:  The final book of the Chemical Garden Trilogy!  I am excited to see how everything is going to end and what happens to who and who gets a happy ending and such.

So what are your top ten anticipations?

Musing Mondays (27)

 Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Each week we will get a fun reading related question to answer.  This week Musing asks:

Have you ever read a book after watching the movie/television version only to find that you don’t like the book as much as the adaptation?

Yes, actually, but very rarely does this ever happen.  I can’t even think of enough examples to fill one hand.  One of the biggest ones I can think of is Beastly by Alex Flinn.  I really liked the movie a lot and I had high hopes for the book, but I turned out being disappointed by it because I felt like I was almost reading Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  For me, the movie was more original than the book; there were just too many similarities to Disney’s version in the book to me!

Deja Vu Review (5)

The Deja Vu Review is hosted by Brittany at The Book Addict’s Guide and spotlights books with a mini review that we have read in the past or before we started our blog.

This week’s topic: Favorite Male Protagonist

 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
J.K. Rowling

 My Rating: 5/5

 That’s easy!  Harry Potter; he’s freaking awesome.  He goes on this huge journey over a 7 year span and changes so much from the first book to the last.  He has great close friends that he would do anything for and awesome wizard powers.  Plus, he is legendary right from the start; he’s The Boy Who Lived. Out of the whole series I would have to say that my favorite is The Goblet of Fire.  It has a lot of action and really cool stuff in it, though the whole series is stupendous!

Cover Crush (8)

Cover Crush is my new meme here at On The Shelf where beautiful and eye-catching covers are spotlighted!  Any cover can be showcased whether it be old or new, read or still sitting in your TBR stack.  Please join in, link up and enjoy some beautiful covers!

My Cover:

“I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . .”

Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that’s been in her family for three centuries. She’s never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she’s never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls.

But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds–and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house’s past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threaten the person she holds most dear, Sarah must do everything she can to get to the bottom of the house’s secrets, and stop the course of history before it is cemented forever.

Why I’m Crushing:

Sorry this one came a bit late, but the internet was being weird and I just finally got connected.  Anyway, I think this cover is so beautiful and the colors mesh so well together.  The whole cover looks so smooth and the house in the maze looks so foreboding.  The dress stands out wonderfully against all the green!  The bottom 2/3 or the cover is so lovely and serene, but that top 1/3 of the cover is so creepy and ominous, I love it 🙂

Let’s Talk (2): Hobbies

Originally hosted by Melissa from i swim for oceans, Smash & Kt took her original inspiration, and made it their own, expanding it to more than just books. Let’s get personal (but respectfully so) and learn more about one another!  Each week, a different question will be posted along with a place to link up your posts and visit other people’s responses. This meme is definitely meant to bring out conversation and meet new people. So, Let’s Talk!

Today’s Question:

Do you have any hobbies other than blogging/reading? How do you balance them along with all of life’s other responsibilities? Feel free to share pictures.

I do have other hobbies, a few actually.  One of my major hobbies is writing.  I know not every reader wants to be a writer, but I am definitely one who does.  I can remember wanting to be a writer even when I was in elementary school.  I don’t get as much time to write as I would like, but I try to write as often as life allows me to.

Another of my bigger project hobbies is genealogy.  I have been working on my family tree since 2007 and I have a binder that is 2 inches thick full of pedigree charts and notes.  It’s quite fascinating what you find, and even who you find (Geoffrey Chaucer is in my tree!).  Photography is another major hobby for me and I love all the different images that can be created.  Black and white is a favorite and I really want to try hand-coloring b&w images.  I even have a couple of ribbons for local photography contests.

Some other hobbies I have a writing penpals (yes, read letters), cross-stitching, scrapbooking and learning tarot.  It is hard to have time for hobbies when work and life take up so much of it.  My major hobbies are the ones I try to find the most time for and my minor ones I tend to when I can spare just a few extra minutes.  I answer my letters as soon as I can so I don’t fall behind or neglect any of me penpals.  There just isn’t enough time in the day!  What kind of hobbies do you have?

*Review* Something Strange and Deadly – Susan Dennard

 Something Strange and Deadly

Susan Dennard

388 pages

ISBN: 9780062083265

Read 10-24-12

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

Add it on Goodreads!

The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

Ok, so I know I am behind on my reviews, but NaNoWriMo takes up a lot of time!  Apparently more time than I am able to put toward it since I am only at 20k words and unless I get a ton of time to get the other 30k words out, I am not going to be able to finish it, sadly.  Though, I figured I probably wouldn’t be able to, but my story is about 70 pages started, so that’s a big accomplishment for me!  We will see what happens by November 30th 🙂  Now, on to the review!

I read this book while participating in the read along with Brittany at The Book Addict’s Guide, and I really enjoyed it.  This was my 2nd zombie YA book and my first book with steampunk elements.  I really liked the world of 1876 Philadelphia that the author showed us; there were really good descriptions for everything.

Eleanor is definitely like no other high society girl.  She is not afraid to get her hands dirty and certainly isn’t worried about how others see her life like her mother is.  I really didn’t care much at all for Eleanor’s mother; she was very materialistic and made her moves based on how she thought others would react.  Eleanor is very strong and does what she feels is right, even if she has to sneak around to do it.  And with how often she ends up making decisions that land her in danger’s way, she is either incredibly brave or incredibly dumb.

Daniel was kind of rude, but I eventually did warm up to him.  He has some secrets and we don’t get to learn too much about him until the second half of the book.  The second half also had a lot of surprises and twists.  I was actually quite surprised by a number of things that happened and I like it when an author can surprise me.

Romance is definitely not something you are going to find in this story, so those who dislike insta-love, no worries with this one.  But I am hoping for romantic development in the sequel.  I really like this cover and the overall darkness and feel of it.  The cover to the sequel is fitting and continues the same kind of style.  I am definitely looking forward to continuing this series.

Surprising, fast read, great descriptions, no romance.