Saturday, February 28, 2015

February Wrap Up!

Hey People!

Dinner at Red Lobster with the family.

   This month went by super fast, I actually read this month, new classes in school, and my birthday! Besides that nothing new really happened! For my birthday my friends went all out and got everyone donuts, made my locker all fancy and I got a mixtape from one of my best friends. I honestly don't know what I'd do without them. My parents and close family friends went out to Red Lobster, and I
ate too much cake. You know, the usual.
   In the book world for this month we got the mother load of cover reveals. Oh sweet goodness. I was definitely overwhelmed. So many pretties crossed my screen is was unbelievable. I had a couple of
favourites, they included Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid, Persuasion by Martina Boone and Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman, Nowhere but Here by Katie McGarry! I had a bunch more of course, but these stood out for me. You can see a bind up of most of the February releases here!
   On the 20th my sisters and I, along with my sister's friend went to an advance screening of The DUFF. I really liked the movie! It's probably going to be Lost Ever After! She was such a sweetie!
one of my favourites of the year, and I will definitely be seeing it again! I also got to meet a blogger buddy at the screening, I finally got to meet Kristie from

   That's it for this month people! Now for my bookish stats!


Books Read:



Book Haul:


No Books this month... WOAH


Books Reviewed:




March Releases I'm Excited for:




   That's it for this month! Let's see what's going to happen in March!


Friday, February 27, 2015

Book Review: Talon by Julie Kagawa

Talon by Julie Kagawa


Release Date: October 28th, 2014
Read: February 19-20th, 2015
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: Talon #1
Format: Hardcover, 449 pages
Source: Gift




Description from GoodReads:


   Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

   Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.


   Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons. 



Review:


Contains Spoilers:

   Rnesh karr slithis
   My first Julie Kagawa book was The Iron King, then I went on to finishing the series ( This was when The Iron Knight was still the final book), I cried a little bit then needed more. Julie's Blood of Eden series was next, which was almost even better then her first series! At this point I had become obsessed with Julie's books, it was an automatic buy from there on out. Which is how I came to get myself a copy of Talon, with the copy in my hands I just knew I was in for a ride.
   Julie writes fantasy books, each book featuring it's own creature, Fairies for The Iron Fey, Vampires for the Blood of Eden and finally Dragons for Talon. The dragon genre is somewhat small when it comes to YA, sure you have a few here and there but a lot of times dragons aren't the main focus in the series unlike Talon here. I just loved Julie's take on them, how they lived in a society, that they could change into Humans, the different jobs they had to keep their species alive. I loved all of it, though I did feel like the book edged a bit to close to another YA novel I've read called Firelight by Sophie Jordan.
   Out of all the jobs the dragons were given, I think the Vipers were my favourite! Who would have thought that Dragons would have their own set of assassins. I hope we actually get to see more of them in Rogue and the books after.
   I couldn't stand Riley/ Cobalt, the whole time throughout the book. Every time he was mentioned all I could think of was older guys hitting on me. Someone like 20 years older then me, it freaked me out so much. It didn't help whenever Riley was with Ember she'd get "dragon urges". EW EW EW EW. I just couldn't do it, the same went with Dimitri in Vampire Academy.
   The epilogue in Talon broke me a bit, I knew that Dante was going to tell Talon that Ember was going Rogue. That you could totally see coming, but putting him in charge of bringing her back? I broke a little bit.
   I only had one problem with Talon, how we barely got to see any dragon action. Besides the 3 times, we didn't see much. I hope we get to see more in the future books, considering it's supposed to be a dragon book.
   Talon was yet again a fabulous work from Julie, besides a few kinks here and there it was definitely a must read. After a mini book hangover after the ending, I had to pre-order Rogue most definitely. So I look forward to see where Julie takes us next!


Rating:



Favourite Quote:


"They were so terrified of the big nasty monster out in the water, when there was a bigger, nastier, deadlier one right there on the beach." ~ Ember


Recommend to People Who Enjoy: 


Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Dragons, Hunters




Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday: (32)

The Wicked Will Rise

Danielle Paige
Dorothy Must Die #2
HarperCollins
Expected: March 31st, 2015



Description from GoodReads:


   To make Oz a free land again, Amy Gumm was given a mission: remove the Tin Woodman’s heart, steal the Scarecrow’s brain, take the Lion’s courage, and then Dorothy must die....

   But Dorothy still lives. Now the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked has vanished, and mysterious Princess Ozma might be Amy’s only ally. As Amy learns the truth about her mission, she realizes that she’s only just scratched the surface of Oz’s past—and that Kansas, the home she couldn't wait to leave behind, may also be in danger. In a place where the line between good and evil shifts with just a strong gust of wind, who can Amy trust—and who is really Wicked?


Why I Want It:


   Because I Do.

Why You Should Want It:


   Wizard of Oz retelling, a evil Dorothy, a disturbed Oz, everything a girl can dream of!


  That's my Waiting on Wednesday for this week! What are you waiting on? Will you be picking up The Wicked Will Rise when it comes out? Let me know in the comments!





Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Seize the Tuesday (2): Figuring Out What to Read Next


Seize the Tuesday is a book blogger meme created by myself and the Adi Alsaid Street Team, to share stories about how we’ve seized the Tuesday, with a special focus on the particular book we’re reading. We’ll share our posts online with the hashtag: #LetsAllGetLost. 

   The idea is to share little ways in which you may have embraced Bree’s motto of seizing the Tuesday. To relate it to books, you can talk about what book you’re reading, and how you stole some moments from the day to enjoy reading. It doesn’t have to be about reading, but we all know that a well-read day is a day seized. The idea is not just to help spread the word on LGL, but also to remind people to live fully, even/especially if that means spending a part of your day reading.


   Today is Tuesday, and you know what that means. It's Seize the Tuesday day! Today's Seize the Tuesday is about figuring out what to read next.

   Recently I've got back into reading, unlike my last Seize the Tuesday where I couldn't find the time to read. In the past week I finished Lailah by Nikki Kelly, and Talon by Julie Kagawa and today I finished Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder. You could say that I'm on a roll! Which is perfect because recently I've been so stressed out that I needed some books in my life. The only problem I have now, is figuring out what to read next!

   At home I have a pile of books that I've been meaning to read and have no idea what I should pick up next. Looking at GoodReads helps, asking people on Twitter does too but I can never make the final decision! What do you guys do to pick your next book to read?

   So today I Seized the Tuesday by picking out what to read next, it may seem small but I still feel like I Seized the Tuesday.

   How did you Seize the Tuesday?

   (P.S I picked The Diviners by Libba Bray to read next!)


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Book Review: Lailah by Nikki Kelly

Lailah by Nikki Kelly


Release Date: October 7th, 2014
Read: February 16-19th, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Series: The Styclar Saga #1
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Source: Gift



Description from GoodReads:


   The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.

   On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve even darker forces. Jonah and the few like him, are fighting with help from an unlikely ally – a rogue Angel, named Gabriel.

   In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom?

   Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.


Review:


   I lost you to darkness. You disappeared.
   When ARCs came out for Lailah, the book became all the rage on Twitter. No one could stop talking about it. So obviously I needed to get a copy and see what the commotion was about, but time went by and it was released (October) and I had't gotten a copy yet. I got myself a copy for Christmas, and was finally able to read it. Sadly, unlike my Twitter friends Lailah was not for me.
   Everything bout this book frustrated me, the story, the characters, everything. I can't even explain it, I would constantly role my eyes at everything the characters did, said or thought. The characters were just plain ridiculous to me, there was supposed to be a love triangle in this book but I could not even see a romantic connection between any of the characters. Besides Hanora's obvious interest and Lailah's past memories nothing should have been viewed as romantic.
   The story also felt like it had a bunch of holes in it, the way everything was put together, why the characters went to the places they did, along with a bunch of what I thought was obvious problems. One upside I felt about the book was that even with everything I said above, the book still made you want to finish it.
   I had high hopes for Lailah, considering it was one of my most anticipated books of Fall 2014. As much as I really wanted to love Lailah, I just couldn't because like I said, it just frustrated me too much.


Rating:

Favourite Quote:


   " Much like the road, I was far from living; I merely existed." ~ Lailah


Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Supernatural, Vampires, Angels, Demons, Heaven, Hell





Friday, February 20, 2015

Ohana Talks: Cover Changes


   There is one major thing book collectors tend to hate above others, when book covers change. There are many reasons why publishers end up making the decision to change them. A few being that the series is over and they want a new change, the cover isn't getting as much attention as they like and perhaps a movie is coming out based on the book so they decided to change it to have viewers connect both the movie and the book. But either way it frustrates readers.

   I as a reader, have a love & hate relationship with cover changes. Sometimes I believe the swap is for the best, the original cover is just not just enough to catch my eye but then there are times where the cover is utterly fabulous and they swap it out to mush or what relates to mush. I understand that they change for marketing purposes, but I think Publishings should get an opinion from readers before they swap them. The decisions the publishing makes is not always the best one.

An example:
                              
 

 

   The first two books in the Across the Universe series by Beth Revis were stunning, but when the third and finale book in the series was released all the books got a make over. Thus leaving the first two stunning book covers with out a matching third. ( Just FYI, I believe the UK cover of Shades of Earth matches the first two books if you're a collector or maybe desperate.)

   Another reason besides eye catchiness that frustrates readers, is if a series is not completed and a publishing change the covers then the reader is in a pickle. If they already owned the original set then they will never have a complete set of matching covers now because of the change, unless of course they go out and re-buy them all again. I've had this happen to me a few times already, with Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano and Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott. Sometimes I think that it's a con to buy the books again, but I'm not made of money so that won't be happening for a second time.


 
 


   From what I said above you can see why I think it's a love & hate relationship, everyone has their own opinions over the matter.
   I have collected a list of books and covers that have changed for you all, so I'll let you decide what you think about cover changes.

Note: Not all books in each series are shown, and that the cover go in order from when they were released, left to right. Right being the current cover you can purchase in stores.


The Arcana Chronicles by Kresley Cole

   



Lux Chronicles by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  

  



Study Series by Maria V. Snyder

   
   
 



The Blood of Eden by Julie Kagawa

   




Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi

   


   How do you guys feel about cover changes? Do you love them or hate them? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!