Monday, August 31, 2015

August Wrap Up 2015

   August was definitely more jammed packed than July was, from camping to working, to even everyday things. I can 100% say I have not had a full on lazy day this month. 
   Anyhow at the beginning of the month my sisters and I went on a bookish adventure. We went to about 6 different bookstores in my city, some new and some old. Obviously some of the visits were a bust, but one stop was a gold mine! Red River Books, is now my favourite bookstore in the city, next to McNally Robinson of course!
   I finally had the chance to visit our local zoo! I used to visit maybe 2 times each summer, when we were younger but a few years ago they renovated. So I hadn't gotten to see it since! They based it around Churchill Manitoba! ( A place in our province that makes us popular.) It was fun to see how everything turned out!
   School starts back up on the 9th, and my body is not ready. My fam already has done our back to school shopping, now all that is left is the wait.
   Oh! And I discovered that Lawrence Hill will be making a stop in Winnipeg! So I'll see if I go to his signing or not!
   That's a wrap on August, September will undoubtedly be slower and have less action. So we'll see how that goes! 

   Time for the bookish stats!


Books Read:

Book Haul:


Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Original Hardcover)
Bison Books 

Books Reviewed:


September Books I'm Looking Forward Too:




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Summer Blogger Promo Tour 2015 Wrap Up


   With the end of the summer approaching, it also means the time for the Summer Blogger Promo Tour to come to an end! 

   I had such a blast getting to know everyone on the tour! As this was my first year being apart of the tour, I can now officially say that it was a phenomenal experience.

   I got to meet a bunch of new bloggers, as well as get to know the ones I did know even better. The ideas each blogger had for their posts was amazing! 

   One of my favourites that I did would have to be either talking about Book Adaptions with Giselle from book-Nerd Canada or for Preethi's (Time Turning Reads) post about how I got into blogging!

   Honestly it was such an overwhelming experience that I definitely can't wait to sign up again next year!

   Thank you so much to The Book Bratz for organizing the tour! And to everyone else that participated!


Here are the bloggers I hosted on my blog!

Jessica from Crossroads Reviews

Kaitlin from Reading is my Treasure 

Ana from Ana Loves..

Jessica and Amber from The Book Bratz

Jaclyn from Living in a World of Book Quotes

Kaitlin from Next Page Please!

Giselle from Book-Nerd Canada

Preethi from Time Turning Reads


   Until next year, that concludes this year's Summer Blogger Promo Tour!



Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Thursday, August 27, 2015

ARC August Wrap Up!

   Unfortunately I didn't get all the books I had wanted read, read. I really didn't get any reading done this month, besides the few books I read while camping at the beginning of the month. I've never been good with keeping a reading schedule, and this month sure proves it.
 
   I read a whole 2 1/2 ARCs this month, Illuminae, Vengeance Road, and I'm currently reading Walk on Earth a Stranger. I had also planned to read Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto and The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow but I just never got to them, I'm sure I'll read Scorpion Rules next month before it releases!
 
   In all I think I actually did pretty well! Anyhow that concludes ARC August for me, I hope I'll do better next year!
 
   Stay tuned for my reviews of Illuminae and Walk on Earth a Stranger closer to their release dates!
 

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff


 Release Date: October 20th, 2015
Publisher: Knof Books for Young Readers
Series: The Illuminae Files, #1


Description from GoodReads:


   This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

    This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

    The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

    But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

    Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Review to come closer to the publication date!




Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman


 Release Date: September 1st, 2015
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Series: N/A



Description from GoodReads:


   When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate.
   
In the spirit of True Grit, the cutthroat days of the Wild West come to life for a new generation.

You can check my review here!



Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson


Release Date: September 22nd, 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Series: The Gold Seer Trilogy, #1


Description from GoodReads:


   Lee Westfall has a secret. She can sense the presence of gold in the world around her. Veins deep beneath the earth, pebbles in the river, nuggets dug up from the forest floor. The buzz of gold means warmth and life and home—until everything is ripped away by a man who wants to control her. Left with nothing, Lee disguises herself as a boy and takes to the trail across the country. Gold was discovered in California, and where else could such a magical girl find herself, find safety? Rae Carson, author of the acclaimed Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, dazzles with this new fantasy that subverts both our own history and familiar fantasy tropes.

   Walk on Earth a Stranger, the first book in this new trilogy, introduces—as only Rae Carson can—a strong heroine, a perilous road, a fantastical twist, and a slow-burning romance. Includes a map and author’s note on historical research.

Review to come closer the Publication date. 

 
   How did you do with ARC August? Let me know in the comments!
 
 


 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Blog Tour: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman


   Hey Y'all!

   Welcome to the Vengeance Road Blog Tour! If you're following all the stops on the tour, then boy do we have some special treats for you! Today I have my review of the book for you to enjoy! So without further ado, lets check it out!

   Also! Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a finished copy of Vengeance Road!


Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman


Release Date: September 1st, 2015 
Read: August 18th-24th, 2015
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Series: N/A
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for review

Description from GoodReads:


   When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate.
   
In the spirit of True Grit, the cutthroat days of the Wild West come to life for a new generation.


Review:


    Sometimes you gotta let the people you love go.
   The minute I heard the synopsis for Vengeance Road I knew it was going to be the book for me, and when the cover was released, I just knew this was going to be a great one.
   Then BEA 2015 came and everyone got ARCS, including a good friend of mine, (who couldn't help but brag, that little nut.), it wasn't till I came across the sign ups for the blog tour that I finally got lucky and was able to get a copy to review!
   Vengeance Road was the second YA Historical Fiction that I've ever read, the first being Walk on Earth a Stranger! Like I did with WoEaS, I found myself thinking of Indiana Jones and The Lone Ranger (With Johnny Deep), through out the book, growing up with Indiana Jones I couldn't be happier! Bowman wrote the book perfectly so that we could actually hear the western slang when we read it.
   Not only did she get the slang perfectly, but her descriptions of scenes and locations actually made me feel like I was in the book. It was fantastic, I truly felt like I was living in the wild west.
   Katie became an instant favourite character, she was fierce, she stood up for herself, used her strengths to get what she wanted and never took a no for an answer. Who couldn't love her.
   The Colton brothers were also a hoot, the constant bickering and knocking heads, is definitely relatable. I am always doing the same with my sisters, I definitely able to relate to the two!
   Vengeance Road was an adventure made you apart of the story, and I'd love to experience more!

Rating:


Favourite Quote:


"I can't hear words that ain't spoken." ~ Katie


Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Romance, Cowboys, Revenge, Indiana Jones







   Erin grew up in rural Connecticut, where she spent most of her childhood telling stories. It is rumored that her first words were not "Mama" or "Dada," but "Once upon a time." In middle school, when kids were going off to sleep-away camp for the summer, Erin was attending writing camp and penning short stories.
   She studied web design (and minored in Creative Writing because she couldn’t stay away from stories) at the Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York. After several years working in advertising and designing websites for various brands, she moved from Boston to New Hampshire, where she now lives with her family and writes full-time.
   When not writing, Erin can often be found hiking, geeking out over good typography, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter. She drinks a lot of coffee, buys far too many books, and is not terribly skilled at writing about herself in the third person.

She is represented by Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, and is the author of the Taken Trilogy (available from HarperTeen) and Vengeance Road (HMH Books for Young Readers).




a Rafflecopter giveaway

   Thanks for checking out my tour stop, I just can't wait for you all to read the book! Stop by tomorrow, and see what Novel Novice as in stored for you!







Week One:

8/24/2015- Creatyvebooks- Review
8/25/2015- Ohana Reads- Review
8/26/2015- Novel Novice- Guest Post
8/27/2015- Two Chicks on Books- Interview
8/28/2015- A Perfection Called Books- Review

Week Two:

8/31/2015- The Book Cellar- Interview
9/1/2015- Fiction Fare- Guest Post
9/2/2015- Moonlight Gleam Reviews- Review
9/3/2015- Once Upon a Twilight - Interview
9/4/2015- Mundie Moms- Review



Tour Hosted by:

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Summer Blogger Promo Tour: Book Swag with Time Turner Reads


   The Summer Blogger Promo Tour was created by The Book Bratz as a fun way to promote blogs and make blogger friends.

Today I have Preethi from Time Turner Reads!


   She's a bibliophile whose interests extend into TV shows and romantic comedies. She loves web design. She loves to meet other bookaholics in the blogosphere!



   Today she's going to tell us about what she does with her bookish swag!

   Book Swag! Bookmarks, bookplates, and buttons! What are your favourite kinds of book swag? What do you use your swag for?

Preethi:   I don't own any bookplates or buttons, unfortunately, but I do have some random swag at home I keep in a shoebox - these are promotion items and whatnot that I sometimes receive along with review books (believe it or not they really are treasured despite their location). I also once received this gorgeous letter from an author for reviewing one of her books, and it was really sweet. It's probably the prettiest letter I've ever received: it's very glittery. All of this may lead you to believe that I'm not big on book swag, but if there's one thing I'm known for, it's my collection of bookmarks. Now, I don't have fifty bookmarks or anything, but I do own maybe a little more than twenty, and they all live in this old, tin chocolate box of mine. I like to switch out the bookmark I'm using each time I finish a book, which is why the variety of bookmarks comes in handy. I also tend to match the color of my bookmark to my book, which is another reason I have as many as I do. I think I buy more bookmarks than I do books haha.

   I know that many readers ask for books as presents, but this is rarely me. When I buy physical books, it's only if I know I'll re-read them again or if they're a personal favorite. Instead, I ask for book-themed products. For example, I love phone cases that are book-themed or based off of my favorite characters. I love book-turned-movie merchandise, and of course the DVD's. Figurines of some of my favorite characters are totally my thing. I just find these things more "buyable" since I'm so picky with the books I purchase. This year, I'm super excited to ask for Maggie Stiefvater's tarot deck based on The Raven Cycle for my birthday.

   What are your favorite types of book swag? As a bibliophile, what is your preferred form of presents (Barnes & Nobles gift cards included)? I'd love to hear your thoughts!


 Steph:  Ever since I went to YALLFest 2014 I've had a HUGE collection of swag, everything ranging from bookmarks to posters and buttons! I currently keep all of them in a bag in my room.

   My favourite kinds of swag would have to be buttons and unique stuff, like lipgloss (Michelle Madow has a very pretty lipgloss for her Secret Diamond Sisters series!), or Bracelets. (Ashley Mansour has a very pretty bracelet for her Blood, Ink & Fire novel, the same goes with Martina Boone and her Heirs of Watson Island series.)

   If it's not bracelets or jewelry I like to frame a few of my swag. Some of the first pieces of Swag I got are framed on my dresser in my room, or if I have too much of one bookmark or banner I like to go to book stores and put them into their books! or even books from the same author if it's not released yet!

   

   Thanks so much Preethi for stopping by! You can give Preethi a follow here:

Blog: http://www.timeturningreads.blogspot.ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/timeturningread 


   And that's a rap on the Summer Blogger Promo Tour for me! Stop by next week so I can tell you about what I loved about the Tour!






Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, August 21, 2015

Book Review: Reawakened by Colleen Houck

Release Date: August 25th, 2015
Read: June 4th-6th, 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Series: Reawakened, #1
Format: ARC, 400 pages
Source: McNally Robinson/ Two Thumbs Up Program & Publisher 


Description from GoodReads:


   When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.

   And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe to find his brothers and complete a grand ceremony that will save mankind.

   But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.

   From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself


Review:


   How sad not to be able to weep.
   I read my first Colleen Houck book on a trip to Churchill Manitoba, odd considering the book was about tigers and I was visiting Polar Bears. Either way, I became obsessed. The moment I returned home I rushed to the Library and grabbed the next two books in the series. Lucky I only had to wait about a month and a half for the fourth book to be published, so the book hangover wasn't that bad. (It was still terrible). After Tiger's Destiny, Colleen Houck was an automatic must read. That is how I came to read Reawakened. 
   Mythology is my obsession, any myth fascinates me. Where there are tons of myths out there, Egyptian Mythology is up there for my favourites. The stories about Anubis especially, which made Reawakened perfect. Houck certainly did her research when it came down to it all, she also added to the stories and made some of the myths her own which gave the story a new twist.
   I noticed how Houck kind of did a complete 180 when it came to the backstory of the main character, Lily when compared to her Tiger's Series character Kelsey. Where Kelsey is an orphan and always misses the parents who she loved, Lily was somewhat scared of her parents, they put too much pressure on her to be their little puppet. It was nice to see the swap as well as pleasant to see a change, not everyone has the perfect home family life, Houck was diverse in her books to show us some examples of the different lives people live.
   Honestly the book itself was just fabulous, in the beginning I was a little bit skeptical because the description reminded me a lot of Tiger's Curse but in the end it was it's own story, and a great one at that. Colleen Houck's writing continues to leave me speechless and adoring.
   Recreated, the sequel to Reawakened is set to release sometime in 2016, but honestly I just need it now.

  You can find my review on McNally Robinson's Two Thumbs Up review page here.


Rating:





Favourite Quote:

 
   "We are in death, as we were in life." ~ Asten

   "A desert lily need not turn jealous eyes toward the common violet." ~ Amon

   " Have you ever loved something enough to shave your brows in mourning?' ~ Lily


Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Egypt

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Book Review: Storm by Amanda Sun

Release Date: June 30th, 2015
Read: July 13th-15th, 2015
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: The Paper Gods, #3
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
Source: Bought



Description from GoodReads:


    After almost a year in Japan, Katie Greene has finally unearthed the terrible secret behind her boyfriend Tomohiro's deadly ability to bring drawings to life—not only is he descended from Kami, the ancient Japanese gods, but he is the heir to a tragedy that occurred long ago, a tragedy that is about to repeat. 
   Even as the blood of a vengeful god rages inside Tomo, Katie is determined to put his dark powers to sleep. In order to do so, she and Tomo must journey to find the three Imperial Treasures of Japan. Gifts from the goddess Amaterasu herself, these treasures could unlock all of the secrets about Tomo's volatile ancestry and quell the ink's lust for destruction. But in order to complete their quest, Tomo and Katie must confront out-of-control Kami and former friend Jun, who has begun his own quest of revenge against those he believes have wronged him. To save the world, and themselves, Katie and Tomo will be up against one of the darkest Kami creations they've ever encountered—and they may not make it out alive. 

Review:


Contains Minor Spoilers:

   The world is rotting.
   The Paper God Chronicles was one of my favourite series from the past two years, I was super excited for Storm to be released. The covers to the books, the books themselves, they were all fabulous. A little before Rain, the sequel, was released the publishing house was bought over by another. I didn't really think much of it at first but with this book I noticed some changes.
   The cover design was a bit of a different theme then the original two, but it still fit, so again I didn't think much of it. The MAJOR thing that ticks me off about the book was that it was a centimetre shorter then the first two books. If you go out and buy the first two books you can now get the shorter versions to match the third book, but to people who owned the series before the last book released they'll be different.
   Honestly, as much as I loved Amanda Sun's writing style and the whole theme of the novel, I think Storm was my least favourite of the series. It felt a bit rushed to me, the book felt like it should have been stretched out a bit more, along with having more things explained.
   There were a bunch of little things that were thrown into the book, some things necessary and some not. I really enjoyed seeing Shiori in the Hospital with her baby, or how Ishikawa was in love with Tomo, I always knew something was up with him. But I didn't like how Katie's Dad was brought into the novel, I understand that her having powers needed to be explained but I didn't think it needed to be done like that.
   And finally like always, it's fabulous to have learnt more about Japan and the culture. That's always my favourite with Diverse YA novels. I am always thinking of the Japanese words now.
   Even if Storm wasn't for me, the rest of the books were and so I look forward to reading Amanda Sun's next book Heir to the Sky, which releases April 2016.

Rating:



Favourite Quote:


" Monsters can smile, too. And this is the monster who longed to be human." ~ Jun

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


 Young Adult, Fantasy, Cultural, Mythology, Japan, Kami




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)