Monday, May 12, 2014

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Release Date: September 10th, 2013
Read: May 4-12th, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Series: N/A
Format: Hardcover, 438 pages
Source: Bought



Description from GoodReads:


Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan.... But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she's really good at it. She and her twin, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fanfiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.

Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words...and she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind



Review:


What the fuck is 'the fandom'?
   When I first picked up Fangirl and read the summery I had thought "Will this be me when I'm older?" I'm a teen blogger, I live in the now and can't possibly know what the future holds for me. But you can't help but wonder where you'll be in the future. While reading I constantly kept comparing myself to Cather. She's a girl who tends to prefer the company of herself, her fans and her fictional characters, and every once and a while her sister. Cather doesn't like to leave her comfort zone, I find myself in the same situations a lot. Unless I'm put in a position, I prefer to like being alone with my laptop or books as well. My mother's the same, Cather's father was also the same. It made me think on occasion that we've gained these traits from our parents, wither for good or for worse I'm not sure. Either way I could see myself ending up in a similar school wise and writing position when I'm older. 
   I had a soft spot for Cather's Fan Fiction, she was doing what she enjoyed and in the meantime slowly gaining skills for her career when she becomes older. She would practice her grammar, punctuation, spelling with her writing, and even better she was practicing her writing. Not many people know how to build characters and plots like she could. I still haven't developed these skills yet, never less I can never push myself to actually write stories or even to set myself up a schedule for writing a post or two on Ohana Reads. Cather writes writes thousands of words a day, to become a major in the English language that is really important. 
   Besides Cather's writing and Cather herself there were many intriguing characters and scenes in this book. I love myself some Levi, he was one of the sweetest characters in the book, he made me gush and everything. The way he was converted into a book nerd for his girlfriend was just adorable, I think everyone should have a Levi that's for sure. Reagan was another favourite of mine, underneath her 'I don't care about anything' persona was a girl who would do anything for her friends, even when it evolved 'nerdy' things.
   Fangirl made me want to get out of the slumps and actually get to writing stories, maybe fan fiction or maybe even my own stories. It's an adorable read, and I think many people will be able to relate to Cather and maybe even Wren the other twin. It is a definite read for 'Fangirls' and fanboys ever.
   I've also heard many good things about Rainbows other novel, Eleanor and Park, I'll just have to read it now as well! 

Rating:




Favourite Quote:

"She climbed between his knees, and he put his arms around her, pulling her close. She felt  his chin on the back of her head."

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, New Adult, Woman's Fiction, Academic 





Friday, May 9, 2014

Dante Walker Trilogy Readathon!



Heyy-oo 


Welcome to the Dante Walker Trilogy Readathon!
This Readathon is hosted by Jessica at Just a Booklover and me, Stephanie from Ohana Reads.
   First off, I would like to thank you all for participating in Jessica's and I's Readathon, it means a lot to us that you guys want to spend your week hanging out with us:)



   Just in case some of you guys don't know here's how the Readathon works:

  ~ The Readathon will run from the 9-16th of May.

   ~ We will be reading all three books in the series within those dates. The book order goes as following (Right to left):


   


 ~ While reading the books, tweet your process using the hashtag #ReadDanteWalker on Twitter, or if you want you can even tweet your favourite non-spoilery quotes!

   ~ Jess and I  have two different sites running for discussion! A Facebook group and a GoodReads group. ( We will both be running a different site each, with some help from one other. I run the GoodReads group and Jess runs Facebook one.)
The discussion part is already happening as we speak, so if you'd like to participate go ahead and click the links below.


          Facebook                                    GoodReads


   These two groups we have allowed spoilers, just make sure you are in the right section to do so. Ex. Posting a chapter 7 spoiler in a chapter 2 zone is BAD.

   ~ At the end of the Readathon we have a Twitter Party planned! We will have prizes awarded to a couple of the people who come to the Party as well as a bunch of fun activities planned for you guys. (Hint: Victoria, the author might be stopping by;)  The party will start at 8:00pm and end at 9:00pm CST. So make sure to set an alarm so you don't miss it!

   ~ We also have an AMAZING couple of giveaways planned! There will be a winner for each of the sites we are using for discussion. So a winner for the Facebook group, the GoodReads group and the Twitter hashtag. Then we're are also going to have another 2 more giveaways at the Twitter party:) (Hint: Have you seen my book pendants tab yet?)

That's it my lovelies! I hope you enjoy yourselves this week, and I'll see you on the GoodReads group page and at the Twitter Party!



If you have any questions or concerns feel free to ask Jess or I:) 

We can be reached at:

Stephanie: Twitter: @OhanaReads   Email: ohanareads@gmail.com

Jessica: Twitter: @jessbooklover  Email: makesmeworse12@gmail.com





Monday, May 5, 2014

Book Review: Ink by Amanda Sun

Release Date: June 25th, 2013
Read: April 29th- May 4th, 2014
Publishing: Harlequin Teen
Series: The Paper Gods
Format: Paperback, 369 pages
Source: Bought


Description from GoodReads:



On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.



Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.



Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.



Review:


It's worth my life, but it isn't worth yours.
   Three things stood out for me when I first heard of Ink, it was published from Harlequin Teen, the FABULOUS cover and finally the book was set in Japan. As you guys know I tend to love all things Harlequin Teen, they are practically my favourite publishing. The books they published always and I mean always spark a interest for me and I can never put there books down, that wasn't any different with Ink.
   My goodness the cover! Inks' has a totally different look than any of the other covers I've ever seen, it's so unique with it's water-colour picture. I don't think I've seen anything involving watercolour in forever, it was a nice change especially with the beautiful cover design by Petra Dufkova, and to make the water-colour more life like the covers texture actually feels like water-colour paper. The blossoms on the cover were my favourite<3
   Over the years I've read many and I mean MANY different books with different places that the book was set in, most of the time they would occur somewhere in the United States but everyone in a while I would get to experience a new place I'd never heard of before or been to in real life. Some like India, England, Prague, and Canada. But this was my first time reading/being in Japan! I was totally like Katie was when she first came to Japan. A gaijin. The language and the culture were new to me. When Amanda first put a Japanese word in a paragraph I kind of panicked, how would I understand what the characters were saying? Thankfully every time a new word was introduced Amanda would then have Katie translate it for us in her head, but she would only translate it for us maybe once or twice then it would be up to us to remember what it meant. I am not the best when it comes to remembering what words are in different languages so the fact that the back of the book had a glossary of the Japanese words and phrases saved my life. I can't wait to see what other new words and new things I'll learn in Rain Japanese wise. Canada was also mentioned as couple times through out the book, Katie's grandparents lived there. I know it was only mentioned a few times, but it made me few better knowing it was mentioned more then New York was.( Katie's old home) Most of the time Canada doesn't get a into a lot of YA book related things, so it being mentioned in the book and where the author lives made me like the book just a little bit more. ( Sorry I am a little biased that way.)
   The dark mysterious dangerous boy, Yuu Tomohiro was all of it. Even in Japan those types of boys attract the girls, it's like they just can't help it. Well I know I wouldn't if Tomo was the case aha. With teenagers now a days creativity comes in different forms, normally they only with electronics forms now. Calligraphy is sort of rare now, not many people find it interesting. Well I can only speak for North America. Either way it touched my heart to see a boy that loved art, most of the time boys will only focus on sports. Tomo had a healthy balance of both. The only thing that bothered me about Tomo was the way he would try to protect people. Pushing people away while being as rude as you possibly can is not the way to go.
   I see Katie as one of the strongest people in Ink, to loose your mother and have to a completely different continent in a sort span of time takes courage which not everyone has. And to have yourself not a wreak after a few months is even more of a big deal. If something were to happen to my mother and I was put in the same situation as Katie I don't think I'd ever be able to put myself back together.
   The art was phenomenal. The way Amanda would just describe the artwork created the most beautiful images in my head, and to have it come to life? It was magical. Sketches are my favourite, so in the case of the pictures in the book, the pictures Tomo would draw were black and white which made the pictures much more lifelike to me. Then to make the book more realistic artist Ross Siu would recreate the drawings that Tomo would "draw" in the book, so we got to really see what the pictures looked like.
   The Kami intrigue me, I've always been fascinated by mythology. Mythology is one of my favourite things to learn and read about. Greek, Egyptian and Hindi being some of my favourites. So I hope to be able to learn more about the Kami in Amanda's next novel because at this point we don't know a whole lot about them yet.
   I honestly can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Rain, the sequel to Ink which releases June 24th, 2014. But before you do, don't forget to check out the e-novella Shadow that takes place before the events in Ink and learn more about Tomo and Katie.


Rating:




Favourite Quote:


"He wasn't going to... I mean, he wouldn't try to kiss me, would he?
I didn't want him to.
I wanted him to." ~ Katie 


Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology, Urban Fantasy, Cultural, Japan






Saturday, May 3, 2014

Readathon Time!


Hello All!


   I have some exciting news for you,  I will be hosting my first ever Readathon! I will be Co-Hosting with the lovely Jessica from Just a Booklover. (Btw she's my favourite)

   Which books are we reading? Well I'm glad you asked! 

   May 6th is next week, the 6th has so many amazing releases coming out. THE WARRIOR by Victoria Scott is one of them. THE WARRIOR is the last book in the Dante Walker trilogy, so to celebrate we are going to read the trilogy!




   The Details:

   ~ The Readathon will be from the 9-16th of May, The Warrior releases on the 6th so you guys will have plenty of time to go out and buy your copy!

   ~ We will be reading all three books within those dates. The book order goes as following (Right to left):


GoodReads Link

   ~ While reading the books, tweet your process using the hashtag #ReadDanteWalker on Twitter, or even your favourite non-spoilery quotes! 

   ~ Jess and I will have two different sites running for discussion! A Facebook group and a GoodReads group. ( We will both be running a different site each, with some help from one other. I run the GoodReads group and Jess runs Facebook one.)

   **Here are the links, but please note the discussions will not start until the 9th.

          Facebook                 GoodReads


   ~ On the 16th we are going to have a Twitter party! The details are not completely final yet, more info is to come.

   ~ We are also going to have an AMAZING couple of giveaways! There will be a winner for each of the sites we are using for discussion. So there will be a winner for Facebook, GoodReads and Twitter. Then we're are going to have another 2 more giveaways at the Twitter party:)


   That's it my lovelies! Go off and get your copies of the Dante Walker Trilogy and have your discussion questions ready! I hope you guys will be able to join us! 

If you have any questions feel free to ask Jess or I:)


Just note! There will be a second post with only the details posted on the 9th, the day the readathon starts!:) 





Thursday, May 1, 2014

April Wrap Up!


  Hey everyone! 


   So this is my first ever Monthly Wrap up! Starting now each month I will tell you how my month went blog wise, and tell you what reviews I did, what books I read, my book haul for the month and a couple other things:P 

   This month I didn't get a lot of books read, but it certainly was a big book haul month and a good reviewing month! 



Books Read in April:


   My goal for the year was to read 150 books, I've currently read 33 books. I'm 22% done with my goal this year:)



April Releases I'm Excited For:

Reborn by C.C Hunter (20th)
Dangerous Creatures by Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia (20th)
The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes (20th)
The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz (27th)
City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (27th)

   I think I'm most excited for The One, The Warrior and City of Heavenly Fire:)


Book Haul for the Month:





   This is probably my biggest book haul ever :O


Books Reviewed:


   What I tell you? It was a good reviewing month!


   That's all for this month my people! Until next month, and happy readings!


   ALSO: There will be a big announcement sometime this weekend! Ohana Reads and Just a Booklover have something planned for you:)






 





Friday, April 25, 2014

Book Review: Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow

Release Date: February 25th, 2014
Read: April 21st-24th, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: The Secret Diamond Sisters, #1
Format: Paperback, 382 pages
Source: Won


Description from GoodReads:


   Savannah. Courtney. Peyton. 

   The three sisters grew up not knowing their father and not quite catching a break. But it looks like their luck is about to change when they find out the secret identity of their long-lost dad—a billionaire Las Vegas hotel owner who wants them to come live in a gorgeous penthouse hotel suite. Suddenly the Strip's most exclusive clubs are all-access, and with an unlimited credit card each, it should be easier than ever to fit right in. But in a town full of secrets and illusion, fitting in is nothing compared to finding out the truth about their past.


Review:


   Some secrets grow to big to keep.
   To most people finding out that you have a billionaire father would be quite a shocker, mostly because he's a billionaire, but not in this case. Savannah, Courtney and Peyton Diamond could care less about their father. When the situation changed the girls were forced to make a decision, either embrace Vegas and the unlimited amount of money thats goes with it or fight it and hope for the best.
The book is written in four different characters points of view, Savannah, Courtney, Peyton Diamond and Madison Lockhart. Each character having a totally different unique way of seeing the world. Courtney with her mature and responsible ways were my favourite out of the four. Don't get me wrong the others are amazing as well! Savannah with her carefree ways, Peyton's sass, then there's Madison. I couldn't stand her ugh. I found her a spoiled brat who had to be the centre of attention because of her parent issues. So being in her head was sort of painful aha.
   Out of the sisters though I think Savannah had the right idea, the girls had barely enough money to live off of in their old lives so spending a few hundred dollars couldn't hurt. To be honest I would have probably gone straight to the closest/biggest bookstore and bought all of my favourite books and maybe more.
   One thing that would continuously bug me throughout the novel was the teenagers ages. I am currently Courtney's age, and no matter what the situation is I would never drink, purposely go into bars, that sort of thing. The relationships were my biggest issue though. I would be a year older than Savannah, I feel like she wasn't mature enough for her age. Especially when it came to that one scene with Damien, you would never see me going that far in a relationship at that age. Heck you probably wouldn't see me going that far now. Even though it was Michelle's choice, I feel like the girls ages should have been different. As in they should have been older by at least 2 years.
   After this novel I will definitely be visiting Vegas when I turn twenty-one.
   I can't wait to read Diamonds in the Rough, ( The sequel to Secret Diamond Sisters) when it releases October 28th, 2014.
   Michelle has also written the Transcend Time Saga, which includes Remembrance, Vengenace and Timeless. 

Rating:



Favourite Quote:


"These people were going to see right through her."


Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Siblings, Las Vegas






Thursday, April 24, 2014

INVISIBLE Cover Reveal by Dawn Metcalf


Heyy Everyone! 


So last year I had discovered a book called Indelible by Dawn Metcalf. It was an incredible read! I was definitely hooked by the time Joy's eye was attempted to be cut out aha. This book made my top favourites as you can see from my sidebar:) 
Anyhow, today I have the honour of revealing to you the INVISIBLE cover, which is the sequel to Indelible. 
I can't wait for you guys to see it! But first let me introduce you to Indelible!



Indelible by Dawn Metcalf


Released: July 30th, 2013
Publishing: Harlequin Teen
Series: The Twixt #1

Description from GoodReads:


Some things are permanent.



Indelible.

And they cannot be changed back.

Joy Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all-black eyes across a crowded room—right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her eye. Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible world—a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep, and a life that will never be the same.

Now, Joy must pretend to be Ink’s chosen one—his helper, his love, his something for the foreseeable future...and failure to be convincing means a painful death for them both. Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honor and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.

Somewhere between reality and myth lies…

THE TWIXT



You guys love it right?

And I was lucky enough to had win a copy on GoodReads:)

Alright so without further adoo..


The master piece...


Drum roll please.....












TAAA DAAAA!! 


Ain't she a beauty?
Here's her blurb and some links to preorder:)




Invisible by Dawn Metcalf


Releases: September 30th, 2014
Publishing: Harlequin Teen
Series: The Twixt #2


Description from GoodReads:


Some things lie beneath the surface. 

Invisible. 

With the power to change everything. 

Joy Malone wants it all—power, freedom and the boyfriend who loves her. Yet when an unstoppable assassin is hired to kill her, Joy learns that being the girl with the Sight comes with a price that might be too high to pay. Love will be tested, lives will be threatened, and everyone Joy knows and cares about will be affected by her decision to stand by Ink or to leave the Twixt forever. 


Pre-order:

Amazon   Barnes and Noble   IndieBound   





Dawn Metcalf


Dawn Metcalf has always lived on the edge between reality and magic, which explains her current profession and love of fantasy books and games. Her passions include karate, fairy tales, Victoriana and dark chocolate, often combining one or more of them in unexpected ways. Currently, she lives with her husband and fa
mily in northern Connecticut. If they had a sign, it would be: Confounding the Neighbor Children Since 1999.

You can find Dawn on her website, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Website   Twitter   Facebook   Tumblr



You guys are also in luck!

There is currently an advance readers copy of Invisible giveaway going on, on GoodReads
here's the link to enter! You guys have till May 5 to enter:)

Giveaway


I can't wait for this one guys:)

   I hope you guys are excited to read the series too!